Alumnus Co-Chairs U.S. Child Safety Task Force
Robert Listenbee, Jr. ’78 has been named co-chair of the Defending Childhood Task Force formed by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The 13-member task force will hold nationwide public hearings and conduct research about the impact of children’s exposure to violence. Listenbee and co-chair Joe Torre will present their findings and policy recommendations to the Obama administration by late 2012. Chief of the Defender Association of Philadelphia’s Juvenile Unit, Listenbee serves on several boards and committees that advocate for children’s interests. He advises Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett on juvenile justice policy and has participated in assessments of the Indiana and Louisiana juvenile justice systems. (12/22/11)
Henderson Center Student to Aid Commission
Johnny Vasquez, an undergrad assistant at the Henderson Center for Social Justice, has been appointed to the California Student Aid Commission, which gives $1.4 billion yearly to students in financial straits. Vasquez, who himself has received various forms of financial aid, and Ishan Shah of Ohlone College are the commission’s first student members since 2007. The son of a single mother who worked two jobs, Vasquez represents the first generation in his family to attend a four-year university. He has been a legislative liaison in UC student government and a community outreach assistant for the Health Initiative of the Americas. (12/22/11)
Wash. Supreme Court Taps Steven Gonzalez ’91
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire has appointed Steven Gonzalez ’91 to serve on the state’s Supreme Court. Only the second Hispanic judge ever named to the high court, Gonzalez will replace retiring Justice Gerry Alexander. Judge Gonzalez has served on the King County Superior Court since 2002, winning reelection in 2004 and 2008. He also worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington and as a domestic violence prosecutor for the City of Seattle. Gonzalez currently chairs Washington’s Access to Justice Board and is co-chair of its Race and Criminal Justice System Task Force. (12/22/11)
Immigration Immersion Institute
The Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy co-hosted a four-day intensive program in November for working journalists seeking expertise in immigration issues. The program was designed to generate more knowledgeable, in-depth coverage of immigration by providing research- and data-supported insights. Twenty journalists from around the country—selected from nearly 50 applicants—attended the training. Workshops focused on topics ranging from the costs and benefits of immigration to the U.S. economy and immigrants’ role in the national workforce, to immigration enforcement strategies and the ways government handles detention and due process. (12/08/11)
Law School Experts to Examine Campus Incidents
UC President Mark Yudof has appointed former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso ’58 to chair a task force to investigate the Nov. 18 incident in which UC Davis students were pepper-sprayed by police. The task force will review an independent fact-finding report and recommend steps to ensure the safety of peaceful protesters on campus. Yudof also tapped Berkeley Law Dean Christopher Edley, Jr. to co-lead a system-wide examination of police protocols and policies as they apply to protests at all UC campuses. Professor Jesse Choper chairs the UC Berkeley Police Review Board, which is investigating the use of police force at the Nov. 9 Occupy Cal protest. The board will submit a report by Jan. 31. (12/08/11)
BCLT Co-sponsors Advanced Patent Law Institute
The Berkeley Center for Law & Technology will co-sponsor the annual Advanced Patent Law Institute for practicing lawyers at the Four Seasons Hotel in Palo Alto Dec. 9-10. The two-day event includes IP counsel from Apple, Google, and Cisco; practitioners from around the nation; and academics from Stanford and Berkeley Law. Topics include patent reexamination; rule, policy, and process changes at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; and China’s growing influence on intellectual property. Dan Lang ’93 of Cisco Systems will discuss patent reform and planning for changes to come. Other speakers include former Berkeley Law professor and alumni board member Mark Lemley ’91 and Suzanne Michel ’93 of Google. (12/06/11)
Mori Rubin ’80 Named to High-Level Labor Post
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has appointed Mori Rubin ’80 to serve as Regional Attorney in the board’s Los Angeles office. In her new position, Rubin will supervise legal cases filed under the National Labor Relations Act in parts of L.A. and six nearby counties. The NLRB conducts elections for labor union representation and investigates and remedies unfair labor practices. Rubin joined the agency as a field attorney in 1980; she was promoted to supervisory field attorney in 2007 and deputy regional attorney in 2008. (11/08/11)
Mike Tuchin ’90 Joins Gov Perry’s Finance Team
Texas Governor Rick Perry has named Mike Tuchin ’90 one of five finance leadership team chairs for his presidential campaign in California. Tuchin is a founding member and co-manager of Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff and Stern, a business reorganization law firm. He represents debtors, equity holders, and creditors interested in acquiring assets from troubled companies. His firm clients have included MGM Pictures, Frederick’s of Hollywood, Viacom, Paramount, and CBS. An editor of the California Bankruptcy Journal, Tuchin is a past president and board member of both the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum and the Financial Lawyers Conference of Los Angeles. (11/08/11)
Student Team Wins Trial Competition Regional
A razor-sharp Berkeley Law team recently won the San Francisco regional round of the American Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Law Student Trial Advocacy Competition. Winners Veliz Perez ’13, Collin Tierney ’14, Ciara Mittan ’13, and Kristen Corpion ’13 will advance to the national finals in Miami Jan. 28-29, 2012. Berkeley Law Director of Professional Skills David Oppenheimer said the team, coached by Carolyn Zabrycki ’08 and Stephanie Clark ’11, “showed levels of poise, polish, and cooperation that are rare among all but seasoned trial attorneys. The judges called our team’s performance in the final round ‘amazing’ and ‘outstanding.’” (11/08/11)
Sheila Foster ’88 Named Fordham Law Vice Dean
Sheila Foster ’88 has been promoted to Vice Dean at Fordham University School of Law. The former Fordham Law associate dean for academic affairs is also the co-director of its Stein Center for Law and Ethics. Foster, who spent four years as a lecturer and academic support coordinator at Berkeley Law, has received two Ford Foundation grants for her work on environmental justice and urban development and has consulted with many community-based groups in New Jersey and New York on environmental racism. Among her most recent published work is “Integrative Lawyering: Navigating the Political Economy of Urban Development,” (California Law Review, 2007). (10/14/11)
Henderson Center to Honor Eva Paterson ’75
Civil rights lawyer and activist Eva Paterson ’75 will receive the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice’s 2011 Trailblazer for Justice Award at an evening reception Oct. 27 at the Oakland Museum of California. President of the Equal Justice Society, Paterson formerly served as executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, helping the organization provide free legal services to low-income individuals and litigate class action civil rights cases. Past award winners include former U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights John Doar ’49, former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso ’58, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. (10/14/11)
Alexa Koenig Awarded Prestigious Fellowship
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has awarded an American Fellowship to Alexa Koenig, a doctoral candidate at Berkeley Law’s Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program. The largest of AAUW’s fellowship and grant programs, American Fellowships are given to top women scholars completing their doctoral dissertations, postdoctoral research, or articles for publication. Koenig’s AAUW fellowship will support her final dissertation, which is based on interviews conducted with former Guantánamo detainees across 13 countries. It examines institutional cruelty in prisons and the interplay of power and resistance in penal settings. (09/28/11)
Rabinder Singh ’86 Joins High Court of England
Rabinder Singh (LL.M. ’86) has become the first Sikh and first male from an ethnic minority to be appointed judge at the High Court of England and Wales. In 2004, Singh successfully represented a human rights group against the indefinite detention without trial of non-UK nationals suspected of terrorist activities. The following year, he successfully represented families of civilians killed during the British occupation of Southeast Iraq. Named England’s Barrister of the Year by Lawyer magazine in 2001, Singh has specialized in administrative law, employment and commercial law, European Community law, human rights law, and international law. (09/28/11)
Daniel Rodriguez Named Northwestern Law Dean
Former Berkeley Law professor Daniel Rodriguez has been named dean of Northwestern Law School, effective January 2012. Currently a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, Rodriguez is a nationally prominent scholar in administrative law, local government law, and state constitutional law. Before joining the faculty at Texas, Rodriguez spent seven years as dean at the University of San Diego School of Law. There, he expanded the size and stature of the faculty, created interdisciplinary programs and new academic centers, and undertook the school’s first major capital campaign. Rodriguez is a Harvard Law School graduate. (09/09/11)
Berkeley Law Adds Public Interest Skills Fellow
Tracy Petznick ’11 has been named Berkeley Law’s new Public Interest Skills Fellow. In that role, she will direct the Student-Initiated Legal Services Projects (SLIPS)—public service programs run and staffed by students—and other pro bono and professional skills initiatives. More than 400 Berkeley Law students currently participate in a SLIPS program. As a law student, Petznick was as director of the Advocates for Youth Justice (AYJ), whose programs provide Berkeley Law students opportunities to serve Bay Area youth. She helped lead AYJ’s Juvenile Hall Outreach and Surrogates for Foster Youth projects, as well as its Expulsion Representation Clinic. (09/09/11)
Two Alumni Nominated to Federal Court Bench
President Obama has nominated Judge Evan Jonathan Wallach ’76 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Miranda Du to the U.S. District Court of Nevada. Wallach is a judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade. He has served as general counsel and public policy advisor to Nevada Senator Harry Reid and attorney-advisor to the Nevada Army National Guard. Wallach served in the Vietnam War from 1970-71 and received a Bronze Star Medal. Du, a partner at McDonald Carano Wilson in Reno, specializes in complex civil litigation and employment law. A refugee of Vietnam who came to the U.S. at age nine, she would be the first Asian Pacific American federal judge in Nevada history, if confirmed. (09/09/11)
Instructor Henry Hecht Elected to New Position
Longtime Berkeley Law lecturer Henry Hecht has been elected as an ex officio member of the Board of Directors for the Practice Board of the U.S. District Court for Northern California.The Practice Board organizes and presents continuing legal education programs for practitioners throughout the district. Hecht, who joined the Berkeley Law faculty in 1983, teaches courses on depositions, interviewing, and negotiations. He is also an independent consultant on skills training for lawyers and co-founder of The Hecht Training Group, a coalition of attorneys who have each taught lawyering skills for more than 20 years. (08/09/11)
Faculty Duo Write Top Sociology of Law Article
Berkeley Law faculty members Calvin Morrill and Lauren Edelman have won this years American Sociological Association (ASA) Sociology of Law Distinguished Article Award for co-authoring Legal Mobilization in Schools: The Paradoxes of Rights and Race among Youth. Co-authored with Karolyn Tyson and Richard Arum, it was chosen as the nations best sociology of law article published between 2008 and 2010. Morrill directs Berkeley Laws Center for the Study of Law and Society. Edelman, a professor of law and sociology, is associate dean of the Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program. They will receive the award at the ASA Annual Meeting in August. (08/09/11)
Michael Fitzgerald ’85 Tapped for District Court
President Barack Obama has nominated Michael Fitzgerald 85 to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. His impressive career stands as a testament to his formidable intellect and integrity, Obama said in a statement. A named partner at Corbin, Fitzgerald & Athey LLP in Los Angeles since 1998, Fitzgerald works on civil and criminal litigation matters infederal and state courts.He previously worked at the Law Offices of Robert L. Corbin PC from 19951998; and at Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe from 19911995.Between 1988 and 1991, Fitzgerald served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles. (08/09/11)
Frampton Co-directs Rural Poverty Program
Mary Louise Frampton, faculty director of the Henderson Center for Social Justice, will co-direct a program that tackles problems faced by California’s poor rural communities. Working with UC Davis law professor Lisa Pruitt, Frampton aims to develop legal and policy research and advocacy for such communities. Partly funded by the UC Center for Collaborative Research for an Equitable California, the program will cultivate partnerships with community associations and rural nonprofits, train students in methodologies that inform law and policy advocacy, and launch a multi-campus effort to support and invest in rural California. (07/23/11)
Helen Norton ’89 Honored at Colorado Law
Helen Norton ’89 has been named Associate Dean of Research at the University of Colorado Law School, where she received the Excellence in Teaching Award in 2008, 2009, and 2011. Her research and teaching focus on constitutional law, employment discrimination, employment law, and torts. Norton has testified before both houses of Congress on civil rights law and policy issues, and was the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s lead agency reviewer as part of the 2008 Presidential Transition. A former California Law Review associate editor, Norton also served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice. (07/15/11)
Trina Thompson ’86 Joins Obama Commission
President Barack Obama has appointed Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson ’86 to the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. An independent body within the executive branch, the council coordinates federal juvenile delinquency prevention programs, and federal initiatives and activities that detain or care for unaccompanied juveniles and that relate to missing and exploited children. Thompson, who presides over Alameda County’s Juvenile Court, was the first African-American woman elected to the county’s Superior Court. She is also a former private criminal defense attorney and county public defender. (07/15/11)
Jonathan Stein ’13 Named UC Student Regent
Berkeley Law student Jonathan Stein ’13 has been named student regent for the UC Board of Regents for the 2012-13 school year. The 26-member Board of Regents is the governing body for the UC system. Stein will serve as the student regent-designate and participate in board deliberations during the upcoming school year, and will gain full voting privileges when his one-year term officially begins in July 2012. Chosen from a large pool of applicants from across UC Berkeley’s 10 campuses, Stein is working toward a master’s degree from the Goldman School of Public Policy as well as his J.D. from Berkeley Law. He earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard. (07/15/11)
Summer LL.M. Program Kicks into High Gear
Berkeley Law’s Summer LL.M. Program has begun its third year with 54 incoming students from 28 countries, and 36 returning students from 18 countries. The program offers an LL.M. degree after two consecutive summer sessions of 10 weeks each. It attracts practicing lawyers for whom it would be difficult to attend a full academic-year program, and currently includes attorneys from several top international firms. "We’ve been able to add several courses to our curriculum, making it richer than ever, and we have once again been fortunate to get a great lineup of faculty to teach," said Professor Andrew Guzman, the law school’s Associate Dean for International and Executive Education. (06/22/11)
Terry Leach ’85 to Direct UC Health Center
Terry Leach ’85 has been named director of the UC Center for Health Quality and Innovation. She was interim executive director of the center, which supports innovations at the UC health campuses that can transform the way Californians’ health needs are addressed, since it opened in October. Leach spent eight years working on health policy, and has taught the subject at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. As a lawyer, she spent several years representing hospitals and medical staffs. Leach was also a public health nurse in Spanish-speaking communities in California’s Central Valley, helping patients with chronic diseases learn how to care for themselves at home. (06/22/11)
Gwendolyn Leachman ’11 Claims Two Awards
Gwendolyn Leachman ’11, a doctoral candidate in Berkeley Law’s Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, has won two recent honors. The National Science Foundation (NSF) issued a grant for her dissertation titled "Institutions and Dominance within Social Movements: How Legal Strategies Shape the Agendas of Movements for Social Change," and she also received a UC Dissertation Year Fellowship. The NSF grant provides funds for dissertation-related expenses, and the UC grant provides living expenses. In 2009, Leachman won the national Law Students Association Graduate Paper Prize for "Who Frames the Message? Counter Movements and Public Perception of Social Movements’ Legal Agendas.". (06/22/11)
Richard Andrews ’81 Chosen for District Court
President Barack Obama has nominated Richard Andrews ’81 to serve on the U.S. District Court in Delaware. Andrews has been Delaware’s State Prosecutor since 2007 and oversees the state justice department’s criminal division, which includes about 190 lawyers, investigators, social workers, paralegals, and others. He was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Delaware from 1983 to 2006, during which time he served as Chief of the Criminal Division, First Assistant U.S. Attorney, and acting U.S. Attorney. The nomination, which requires Senate confirmation, will first be sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee for its approval and then on to the full Senate for a vote. (05/22/11)
Allison Hartry ’12 Wins National Writing Prize
Allison Hartry ’12 has won the Sarah Weddington Writing Prize for New Student Scholarship in Reproductive Rights. Hartry earned the $750 top prize for “Birthright Citizenship and Reproductive Justice in Immigration Detention Centers.” She wrote the article in Professor Kristin Luker’s Reproductive Rights class last fall, and honed it during an independent study with Professor Leti Volpp. It marked the first time a Berkeley Law student has won this national award, and Hartry’s article will be published in a forthcoming volume of the New York University Review of Law and Social Change. The competition’s theme was “Beyond the Books: Realizing Reproductive Rights in Real Lives.” (05/22/11)
Warren Institute Looks at Low-Wage Workers
A new report by Berkeley Law’s Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy offers insights for policymakers, advocates, unions, and scholars seeking to better protect the rights of low-wage migrant workers. Because the way low-wage labor migration to the United States is structured often encourages abuse, advocates assert that immigrants and resident workers would benefit from greater mobility and full, enforceable workplace rights. The report, available here, explores the extent to which the European Union free movement regime has delivered on promises for new nationals doing low-wage work in Great Britain, and how similar efforts could be achieved in the U.S. (05/22/11)
JSP Program Students Win National Awards
Two students from the Jurisprudence and Social Policy (JSP) Program have received national honors. Shauhin Talesh won the Law and Society Association’s Graduate Student Paper Prize for “How Organizations Shape the Meaning of Law: A Comparative Analysis of Dispute Resolution Structures and Consumer Lemon Laws.” Talesh had won best graduate student paper awards from the American Political Science Association (twice) and American Sociological Association. Keramet Reiter received a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation for “The Most Restrictive Alternative: The Origins, Functions, and Ethical Implications of Supermax Prisons, 1976-2010.” . (05/04/11)
Obama Names Anuj Desai ’94 to Key Position
President Barack Obama has named Anuj Desai ’94 to the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, an independent agency within the U.S. Department of Justice which adjudicates claims of U.S. nationals against foreign governments. A Chinese Studies expert, Desai has been an associate law professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School since 2001 and a visiting professor in China and Taiwan. He has practiced law at the firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, was among the American arbitrators at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, and clerked for two federal judges. At Berkeley Law, Desai was editor-in-chief of the California Law Review. (05/04/11)
Legal Planet Named a Top Environmental Blog
LexisNexis has named Legal Planet, maintained jointly by Berkeley Law and UCLA School of Law faculty, as one of the top 50 environmental law and climate change community blogs for 2011. Legal Planet was one of just six blogs in the Academic/Educational category. LexisNexis describes it as “a collaboration of academic giants” that uses the schools’ legal scholars and think tanks to provide insight on energy and environmental law and policy. The blog analyzes Supreme Court decisions, regulatory actions, and legislation that impacts water resource management, toxic waste disposal, renewable energy, air quality, land use, and other issues. (05/04/11)
Ramona Martinez Given Townsend Fellowship
Reference librarian and Boalt Express manager Ramona Martinez has been awarded a Townsend Library Fellowship for the coming academic year. The Townsend Fellowship is the longest running program of UC Berkeley’s Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities. Each year, one fellowship slot is held for a campus librarian whose research proposal is chosen by the center. Martinez, whose research focuses on the early history of California Supreme Court case reporting, will attend weekly meetings with the other Townsend Fellows. They consist of graduate students and both junior and senior faculty who are working on individual projects. (04/04/11)
Death Penalty Clinic Garners Major Award
Berkeley Law’s Death Penalty Clinic will receive this year’s Abolition Award from Death Penalty Focus (DPF), a large nonprofit dedicated to eradicating capital punishment. Clinic director Elisabeth Semel and associate director Ty Alper will accept the honor at DPF’s annual awards dinner May 12 in Beverly Hills. The event, which draws numerous celebrities, will also recognize two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank for her performance in “Conviction,” Southern Center for Human Rights President and Senior Counsel Stephen Bright, DPF Executive Director Lance Lindsey, television director/producer Tommy Schlamme, and the sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, CA. (04/04/11)
Two Students Receive Jim Fahey Fellowships
Tia Canlas ’11 and Heather Warnken (J.D. ’09, LL.M. ’11) will receive Berkeley Law’s Jim Fahey Safe Homes for Women Fellowship. Each gets a $1,000 award and will be honored at an upcoming ceremony. Candidates are chosen based on their commitment to ending domestic violence against women, academic excellence in relevant courses, and financial need. A criminal defense attorney, Fahey argued People v. Humphrey in 1996 before the California Supreme Court, which held that expert testimony of Battered Women’s Syndrome should be considered for a defendant’s actual belief that her life was in danger—and for the reasonableness of that belief. (04/04/11)
Two First-Year Students Named Soros Fellows
Diana Rashid '13 and Homaira Hosseini '13 have been awarded Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. Each year, 30 fellows—all children of immigrants—receive up to $90,000 to help cover two years of tuition and other educational and living expenses at a U.S. graduate school. The program was created in 1997 to recognize the contributions New Americans have made to American life, and in gratitude for the opportunities the U.S. afforded the donors and their family. Fellows are selected on the basis of merit, with an emphasis on creativity, originality, initiative, and sustained accomplishment in annual national competitions. (03/16/11)
Amelia Miazad ’02 Returns to Berkeley Law
Amelia Miazad '02 has been named Executive Director of the law school's Advanced Degree Programs Office, which oversees its LL.M. and J.S.D. degree programs. Miazad had been a senior counsel at Hanson Bridgett in San Francisco, where she gained extensive trial and project management experience. Born in Afghanistan, Miazad is active in legal development and policy issues relating to that country and has been closely involved with the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law's "Rule of Law" project on Afghanistan. Miazad is also a board member of the Boalt Hall Alumni Association. (03/16/11)
Research Center Weighs in on SEC Rulemaking
The Berkeley Center for Law and Business (BCLB) recently submitted comments on the “Proposed SEC Rulemaking Regarding Exemption for Venture Capital Funds.” One pivotal element of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is its mandate that most private fund advisers register under the Investment Advisers Act. The Dodd-Frank Act, however, specifically exempted venture capital funds from this registration requirement. BCLB’s submitted comments on the SEC’s proposed implementing rules, which would significantly expand the scope of the Investment Advisers Act, are available here. (03/16/11)
Marie Gilmore ’86 Elected Mayor of Alameda
Marie Gilmore ’86 has begun her first term as mayor of Alameda, Calif. Alameda’s first African American woman city council member, Gilmore has held leadership positions there for more than 15 years. Gilmore, the daughter of immigrant parents from the Caribbean island of Dominica, chaired Alameda’s Recreation Commission and led the Alameda Planning Board. A former litigation attorney who practiced labor and employment law in San Francisco, Gilmore won the mayoral election by 13 percent over the first runner-up. She is married to Berkeley Law classmate Rod Gilmore ’86, a business attorney and college football sportscaster for ESPN. (02/23/11)
Symposium Eyes Financial Regulatory Reform
On March 11, the Berkeley Business Law Journal (BBLJ) and Berkeley Center for Law and Business will host a symposium, “Financial Regulatory Reform: Dodd-Frank and Beyond,” at the Bancroft Hotel. Speakers from UC Berkeley will join other scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to address issues arising from the legislative and regulatory response to the financial system’s collapse: securitization, consumer protection, and capital access for early stage, growth-oriented businesses. The proceedings will be published in a special BBLJ issue. For more information, contact Phyliss Martinez at 510 642-0532. (02/23/11)
Justin McCrary Pinpoints Test Irregularities
Berkeley Law assistant professor Justin McCrary is one of three economists to conduct a statistical analysis for a Wall Street Journal study of the high-school Regents test, a prerequisite for graduating in New York. They estimated that 3 to 5 percent of students who received passing grades for the main Regents exams in June 2009 actually failed the tests. In New York City, the figure jumped to between 5 and 10 percent. McCrary and his colleagues have published a paper on its findings, which heighten suspicion that some high-school teachers—who score their own students’ tests—push borderline scores into the passing category. (02/23/11)
Panel to Dissect Paid Family and Medical Leave
Faculty members Ann O’Leary ’05, Gillian Lester, and Stephen Sugarman of the Berkeley Center on Health, Economic & Family Security will discuss their proposals and key issues in the area of work-family policy on Feb. 10 (3:30-5 p.m., Goldberg Room). In December, the center issued a report with the Georgetown Law Center to explore the best policy model in the United States—one of the few developed countries that does not provide workers universal paid family and medical leave benefits. Their report asserts that such leave increases the economic security of workers and the well-being of children, elderly adults, and disabled workers. (02/02/11)
Dave Frohnmayer ’67 Honored by Law Review
The California Law Review (CLR) has chosen Dave Frohnmayer ’67 as its Alumnus of the Year. He will be honored at CLR’s annual banquet on April 14. Frohnmayer was President of the University of Oregon from 1994–2009 and previously was dean of its law school, where he remains on the faculty. A national prize-winning author on the U.S. Constitution, Frohnmayer has also served as Oregon’s Attorney General and was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives. As attorney general, he argued and won six of seven cases before the U.S. Supreme Court—the most cases and best record of any contemporary state attorney general. (02/02/11)
Poetry Fair Use Best Practices Guide Released
Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic co-director Jennifer Urban ’00 is one of four experts who have helped the Poetry Foundation publish “Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Poetry.” The Code aims to spur poetic innovation and distribution by clarifying fair use and anticipating potential clearance issues. Devised for the poetry community, it clarifies proper uses of copyrighted materials in new and old media and instructs poets, teachers, and scholars about the opportunities and limitations of fair use to help prevent permissions conflicts. The publication can be downloaded for free at www.centerforsocialmedia.org/fair-use. (02/02/11)
Stuart Brotman ’78 Joins State Department Committee
Stuart Brotman ’78 has been appointed to the U.S. Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy. Comprised of senior-level officers who represent a broad range of expertise, the 43-member committee advises the U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information on major economic, social, and legal issues in the field. A lecturer at Harvard Law School and president of the global consulting firm Stuart N. Brotman Communications, Brotman teaches telecommunications at Harvard Law and was its first research fellow in Entertainment and Media Law. He has authored more than 300 articles on communications information and entertainment law. (01/18/11)
Law School Sponsors Arbitration Internship in Beijing
The Berkeley Center for Law and Business (BCLB) is sponsoring a summer internship at the Beijing Arbitration Commission. Established in 1995, the commission offers services in arbitration, mediation, and other dispute resolution procedures. It has accepted more than 15,000 cases since its creation in 1995, with parties coming from such jurisdictions as the United States, England, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. The internship provides a chance for students to broaden their knowledge about Chinese dispute resolution mechanisms and legal practice. Applications are due on January 24, 2011. More information is available here. (01/18/11)
Josh Wall ’86 Takes Over Massachusetts Parole Board
Josh Wall ’86 has been named interim executive director of the Massachusetts Parole Board, and reportedly will soon become chairman of the board. He is charged with examining the board’s practices and establishing stricter policies for overseeing offenders serving life sentences who are at high risk of reoffending—and who have been convicted of the most serious crimes. A prosecutor at the Suffolk Country District Attorney’s Office since 1993, Wall was described by Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley as possessing “a profound commitment to justice, the deepest empathy for victims, a proven record as a reformer, and unassailable credentials protecting the public safety.” (01/18/11)
Obama Names Paula Boggs ’84 to New Council
Paula Boggs ’84 has been appointed to the newly-created White House Council for Community Solutions. The 25-member council will advise President Obama on the best ways to mobilize citizens, nonprofits, businesses, and government to work more effectively together to solve community needs. It will also enlist non-profit, private, and philanthropic sector leaders to push forward key policy goals; provide strategic input to help the federal government promote greater innovation and cross-sector collaboration; and honor those making a notable impact in their own communities. Boggs, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Starbucks, has served on the boards of several philanthropic organizations. (01/04/11)
Kevin Quinn Named Univ. of Scranton President
The Reverend Dr. Kevin Quinn ’88 has been named president of the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He is now a professor of law at Santa Clara University, where he also serves as Executive Director of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. Quinn’s scholarship focuses on ethical issues in health care, and he has also published many book chapters and journal articles on issues of contemporary culture, bioethics, and genetics. Prior to joining the Santa Clara law faculty in 2007, Quinn taught at Georgetown University, first as an assistant professor in 1994 and then as a professor of law in 2000. He entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1973 and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1985. (01/04/11)
Third-Year Student Given Skadden Fellowship
Berkeley Law student Sushil Jacob ’11 will receive a prestigious Skadden Fellowship to establish the Green-Collar Community Clinic (GC3) at the East Bay Community Law Center. GC3, which launches this fall, will provide free legal and business consulting services to low-income entrepreneurs who wish to form green-collar ventures in their communities. In doing so, it will bring together law, business, and other UC Berkeley graduate students to help clients create green-collar community-based projects. Examples of ventures GC3 would support include solar panel installation, home weatherization, green home cleaning, biodiesel-related auto-mechanic and gas-station services, and sustainable landscaping. (01/04/11)