News Briefs

State Supreme Court Coming to Berkeley Law

Berkeley Law will host a full-day special outreach session of the California Supreme Court on November 3 in Booth Auditorium. For the ninth consecutive year, the Court will hear oral arguments outside chambers as part of its community outreach efforts. The whole Boalt community is invited to attend; cases to be argued and links to the briefs will be made available in early October.

Jonathan Simon ’87 Joins Popular Faculty Blog

Professor Jonathan Simon ’87 recently signed on as a regular contributor to PrawfsBlawg, a popular law blog written by various law school faculty members, for the balance of the academic year. The Associate Dean of Berkeley Law’s Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program and faculty co-chair of the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice, Simon had been a guest blogger with PrawfsBlawg.

Michael Posner ’75 Nominated to High-Ranking State Department Position

President Barack Obama has nominated Michael Posner ’75 for Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in the U.S. Department of State. Now president of Human Rights First, formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, Posner has traveled to more than 50 countries on behalf of that organization and others like it. In particular, he has promoted the rights of refugees and displaced people, and pushed for stronger industry standards to ensure fair labor conditions in global manufacturing supply chains.  

John Phillips ’69 to Chair White House Fellowships Selection Group

John Phillips ’69 has been named 2009-10 chair of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, which recommends candidates for the leadership development and public service program that includes Jason Snyder ’02 among this year’s 14 members. Phillips founded the Center for Law in Public Interest in 1971 and was its co-director for 17 years. Corporate fraud lawsuits filed by his firm, Phillips and Cohen, have returned $4 billion to the government. Over the past decade, he has been named among the National Law Journal’s “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.”  

Laurel Fletcher Takes Over at International Journal

Laurel Fletcher, director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic, has been named Co-Editor in Chief of the peer-reviewed International Journal of Transitional Justice. Berkeley Law will serve as a sponsoring institution for the journal, published three times a year by Oxford University Press; the co-sponsor is the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in South Africa. Fletcher seeks to bring prominent scholars and practitioners to the law school to engage with students and faculty, host topical workshops and symposia, and help establish Berkeley Law as a leader in transitional justice.

Jawwad S. Khawaja ’75 Joins Supreme Court of Pakistan

Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, who earned his LL.M. from Berkeley Law in 1975, has been appointed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Khawaja served on the Lahore High Court for eight years before resigning in protest during Pakistan’s 2007 constitutional crisis. He then joined the Lahore University of Management Science faculty as head of its Law and Policy Department. An expert on constitutional law, legal reform and policy, and commercial laws, Khawaja has decided many cases involving issues of first impression. Several of his judgments have been reported in law journals and are included in Pakistani law curriculums. His research on improving Pakistan’s quality of justice has targeted institutional reforms to deliver prompt and inexpensive redress to litigants, and gathering accurate data from court records to ascertain causes for delay in deciding cases.

James McManis ’67 Named President of the Boalt Hall Alumni Association

James McManis '67 has succeeded Nan Joesten '97 as president of the Boalt Hall Hall Alumni Association. Jim has been a member of the alumni board since 2002, and among his many leadership roles on campus, he served previously as chair of the reunion campaigns (2007) and chair of the Boalt Hall Fund (2005). New members to the BHAA Board of Directors include Greg Broome '90, Gail Dolton '86, Hector Huezo '08, John Kuo '88, Mark Lubin '77, Jay Shafran '63, Gail Title '70, Diane Yu '77 and Mitchell Zuklie '96.

Thai Judges Visit Berkeley Law

The Judiciary of Thailand is sending 35 judges to Berkeley Law from June 8th to 19th to study consumer protection laws. They are taking a customized course designed and taught by Professor Kenneth Bamberger as part of the International Program for Judicial Studies. The program, organized and run by the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law, strives to increase the knowledge and experience of judiciaries worldwide, thereby promoting the rule of law. For more information on the International Program for Judicial Studies, visit the Miller Institute's website: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/index.htmlcenters/the-miller-institute-for-global-challenges-and-law/.

Robert Barr Named Top IP Specialist

Berkeley Center for Law and Technology Executive Director Robert Barr has been named one of Intellectual Asset Management's IAM 250. The magazine's list identified "individuals who are regarded as world class IP strategists by their peers." This is the first time the magazine has compiled a list of top of IP specialists.

Thai Judges Visit Berkeley Law

The Judiciary of Thailand is sending 35 judges to Berkeley Law from June 8th to 19th to study consumer protection laws. They are taking a customized course designed and taught by Professor Kenneth Bamberger as part of the International Program for Judicial Studies. The program, organized and run by the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law, strives to increase the knowledge and experience of judiciaries worldwide, thereby promoting the rule of law. For more information on the International Program for Judicial Studies, visit the Miller Institute's website: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/index.htmlcenters/the-miller-institute-for-global-challenges-and-law/.

Robert Barr Named Top IP Specialist

Berkeley Center for Law and Technology Executive Director Robert Barr has been named one of Intellectual Asset Management's IAM 250. The magazine's list identified "individuals who are regarded as world class IP strategists by their peers." This is the first time the magazine has compiled a list of top of IP specialists.

Dinah Shelton ’70 Makes History at Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

On June 4, Dinah Shelton ’70 became the first American woman elected Commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Voted in by the Organization of American States General Assembly, Shelton—a leading authority on international law and a prize-winning author—will begin serving her four-year term in January 2010. The seven-member commission reviews and investigates human rights cases within the framework of the inter-American system’s legal instruments. A professor at George Washington University Law School, Shelton was nominated for the commissioner position by the Obama Administration on March 3. A former visiting lecturer at Berkeley Law, Shelton has been a human rights consultant to the United Nations and Council of Europe and has assisted major health and environmental organizations. A Vice President of the American Society of International Law, she sits on the board of several nongovernmental organizations concerned with human rights, including the rights of indigenous peoples.

Obama Nominates Berkeley Law Alum for DOJ Post

President Obama has nominated Berkeley Law alum Christopher Schroeder '74 to be assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Policy. Schroeder is currently the Charles S. Murphy Professor of Law and Professor of Public Policy Studies, and director of the Program in Public Law at Duke University. Schroeder was editor of the California Law Review when he was at Berkeley Law. Read more at the White House web site.

Clinton, Lavrov and Berkeley Law Student Rebecca Callaway

Berkeley Law student Rebecca Callaway (center) takes notes during a recent meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Conference on Afghanistan at the Hague. Callaway is a field placement student working at the U.S. Embassy in the Hague. Photo by Krister Evenhouse www.efg-design.nl