Renata Hesse ’90 to Lead U.S. Antitrust Division
Renata Hesse ’90 has been named acting head of the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. She previously led the department’s Networks and Technology Enforcement Section, but left to become partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s Washington, D.C. office. Hesse returned to the agency in March 2012 as special adviser for civil enforcement and deputy assistant attorney general for criminal and civil operations. Last year, while at Wilson Sonsini, she oversaw a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) review of AT&T’s $39 billion bid to buy T-Mobile. FCC and Justice Department opposition forced the companies to abandon the deal. (12/21/12)
Elena Cardona ’85 Takes Top Post in Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico recently hired Elena Cardona '85 as its new full-time public defender. The Santa Fe City Council voted in August to create the full-time position for its Municipal Court, a marked departure from the city's longstanding practice of contracting for public defender services. Previously, Cardona handled felony cases for the New Mexico Public Defender Department, which takes on about 70,000 cases each year. Cardona's work included representing clients through appeal and post-conviction proceedings. (12/05/12)
Orrick Names Mitchell Zuklie ’96 as Chair-Elect
The global law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has chosen Mitchell Zuklie '96 to become its chairman in January 2014. Zuklie’s selection capped an 18-month process in which Orrick's nominating committee obtained direct input from its 370 partners. Zuklie leads Orrick's Corporate Business Unit and is one of the country’s leading advisers to entrepreneurs, technology companies, and the venture capital community. As a student, he won Berkeley Law's Young Alumni Award in 2011 and served as editor-in-chief of the California Law Review. (11/30/12)
Justice Steven Gonzalez ’91 Wins ABA Award
The American Bar Association Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division has given Washington State Supreme Court Justice Steven Gonzalez ’91 its annual Difference Makers award. A former criminal and civil law attorney, Gonzalez regularly provided pro bono representation to disadvantaged clients. He also served as a trial judge on the King County Superior Court, as a top domestic violence prosecutor for the city of Seattle, and as an assistant U.S. attorney. Long active in community affairs, Gonzalez currently mentors students through the Future of the Law Institute. (11/27/12)
Henry Hecht Honored for 30 Years of Teaching
Lecturer in Residence Henry Hecht was recently honored for his 30 years at Berkeley Law. The first instructor to teach specific lawyering skills at the law school, Hecht guided its first courses in client interviewing, counseling, and negotiation. Three decades later, professional skills comprise more than 15 percent of Berkeley Law’s academic program, with a significant portion taught by leading practitioners and judges. Hecht is also an independent consultant on legal skills training and co-founder of The Hecht Training Group, a group of attorneys who have each taught lawyering skills for over 25 years. (11/06/12)
Brian Walsh ’72 Elected Presiding Judge
Brian Walsh ’72 has been elected Presiding Judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court for the 2013-15 term. Currently the court’s Assistant Presiding Judge, he will take over his new post on Jan. 1. First appointed to the Superior Court in 2000, Walsh worked in private practice and was managing partner at McTernan, Stender, Walsh, Weingus & Tondreau. He also co-directed the Legal Aid Society of Monterey County from 1972-1974. "Having worked closely with Judge Walsh over the past two years, I know that I’ll be leaving the court’s helm in incredibly capable hands," said Presiding Judge Richard J. Loftus, Jr. (11/05/12)
Alumna Rejoins Disability Rights Advocates
Shawna Parks ’99 has been appointed co-director of litigation at Disability Rights Advocates, a non-profit dedicated to securing the civil rights of people with disabilities. She began her legal career as a legal assistant with the organization in 1994 and returned as a fellow and staff attorney from 2000-2003. Recently, Parks served as legal director for the Disability Rights Legal Center in Los Angeles. She was named a Southern California Rising Star by Super Lawyers magazine from 2006-2009, one of California’s Top 100 Women Litigators by the Daily Journal in 2010, and a juvenile law attorney of the year by California Lawyer in 2011. (10/11/12)
Michael Bamberger Honored
Berkeley Law lecturer and attorney Michael Bamberger has received the 2012 Freedom to Read Foundation’s Roll of Honor Award. Bamberger, a staunch defender of free speech legal protections, is a partner at SNR Denton. As general counsel of the Media Coalition, he successfully challenged dozens of federal, state, and local laws that sought to censor material protected by the First Amendment. Author of the 2000 book Reckless Legislation: How Lawmakers Ignore the Constitution, Bamberger is an expert on limited liability companies and partnerships. He has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court and nine federal courts of appeals. (10/04/12)
Claudia Wilken ’75 Named Chief District Judge
Claudia Wilken ’75 has been named chief judge of California’s Northern District. Wilken also served as a Federal Public Defender’s Office staff attorney, a private-practice lawyer in Berkeley, and a federal magistrate judge in the Northern District before joining the U.S. District Court bench in 1993. Some of her major decisions have included limiting but upholding San Francisco’s domestic partners law, overturning California’s term-limits law, and allowing lawsuits against school officials for ignoring sexual harassment against students. A former Berkeley Law lecturer, Wilken will remain in the court’s Oakland division. (09/24/12)
Bradley Foundation Honors Edwin Meese ’58
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation awarded a 2012 Bradley Prize to former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese ’58. Meese is the Heritage Foundation’s Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy and chairs its Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. He served as U.S. Attorney General from 1985-1988 and Counselor to President Reagan from 1981-1985. Meese also worked for Reagan in various positions during his years as California’s governor, including chief of staff and senior policy advisor. Previously, Meese worked as an Alameda County deputy district attorney, a solo practitioner, and a University of San Diego law professor. (09/18/12)
New Chief Financial Officer at Berkeley Law
Kevin Argys has been named chief financial officer (CFO) at Berkeley Law. An expert in UC Berkeley data and reporting systems and financial management functions, he most recently was deputy CFO at the Haas School of Business. Previously, Argys worked as the College of Engineering’s Budget and Data Officer, the campus Business & Administrative Unit’s Budget and Strategic Planning Officer, and the College of Environmental Design’s Budget Planning Coordinator. One of three campus-wide leads for the university’s new Financial Planning and Analysis Outreach Initiative, Argys also chaired the Chancellor’s Staff Advisory Committee. (08/24/12)
Professor Robert Cooter Honored in Peru
The Universidad de San Martin de Porres in Lima, Peru, has awarded an honorary doctorate to Berkeley Law professor Robert Cooter. Audience members included the chief justice of Peru and more than 60 judges. The award recognized Cooter’s role in founding the Latin American Law and Economics Association, the importance of his scholarship in Latin America, and his latest book Solomon’s Knot: How Law Can End the Poverty of Nations. Cooter, who has taught at Berkeley Law since 1980, co-directs the school’s Law and Economics Program and is co-editor of the International Review of Law and Economics. (08/17/12)
Miguel Marquez ’96 Joins 6th District Court
Governor Jerry Brown has named Santa Clara County Counsel Miguel Marquez ’96 to serve on California’s 6th District Court of Appeals. Marquez is the first Latino justice on the San Jose-based court in its 28-year history, and the first who did not rise from the trial-court bench. Under his direction, Santa Clara was the only county to join the state in its legal battle against cities to abolish local redevelopment agencies, a position backed by the California Supreme Court. The son of Mexican immigrants, Marquez previously worked for the San Francisco Unified School District and San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. (08/10/12)
Vicki Young ’76 Receives Prestigious Honor
Vicki Young ’76 received the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ most prestigious honor, the Robert C. Heeney Award, July 27 in San Francisco. The annual award recognizes the lawyer who best exemplifies the goals and values of the association and the legal profession. A court-appointed counsel in state and federal courts, Young was given the award at a gala commemorating the 50th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright, the U.S. Supreme Court case establishing the right to counsel. Before entering private practice in San Francisco, Young was a deputy public defender for Sacramento County and a federal public defender. (08/03/12)
Legal Studies Students Win Writing Awards
Incoming Berkeley Law student Chase Burton won the Law and Society Association 2012 Undergraduate Student Paper Prize for "Spare the Cell, Spoil the Child: Early History and Philosophy of American Juvenile Justice," which also won UC Berkeley’s Library Prize for Undergraduate Research. Fellow Legal Studies honors student Cathy Wang won the American Sociological Association Sociology of Law Undergraduate Paper Prize for "Effect of Work-Family Policy Design and Culture on Women’s Employment Outcomes and Men’s User Rates." Legal Studies Program Director Michael Musheno supervised Burton; Professor Catherine Albiston ’93 supervised Wang. (07/30/12)
Classmates Nominated to Federal Judgeships
President Barack Obama has nominated Jon Tigar ’89 and Fernando Olguin ’89 to federal district court judgeships in California. Tigar was appointed to the Northern District, Olguin to the Central District. Currently a judge for the Alameda County Superior Court, Tigar previously worked as a litigation attorney (at Keker & Van Nest and Morrison & Foerster) and as a public defender in San Francisco. Olguin, the first member of his family to attend college, is now a federal magistrate judge for the Central District. He also worked as a U.S. Department of Justice trial lawyer and is a former partner at Traber, Voorhees & Olguin. (07/11/12)
Robert Cooter Lends Insight at G20 Summit
Professor Robert Cooter was part of a high-profile panel chaired by Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the recent G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico. Other panelists included the heads of the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, African Development Bank, and World Health Organization. When Chairman Calderon asked Cooter what agenda he'd set for the G20 in the coming years, Cooter replied: "The G20 should build the legal infrastructure for economic growth. Economic analysis identifies the laws that promote growth. Sustained growth comes from creativity, and creativity requires freedom. Freedom is the presence of good laws, not the absence of law. The G20 should legalize economic freedom." (07/05/12)
Faculty Duo Wins National Prize
Professors Lauren Edelman ’86 and Catherine Albiston ’93 have won the 2012 Law and Society Association Article Prize for "When Organizations Rule: Judicial Deference to Institutionalized Employment Structures"; co-authors include former Berkeley Law professor Linda Krieger, Virginia Mellema ’87, and Scott Eliason. The article analyzes how deference to organizational structures such as hiring, grievance, and evaluation procedures influence judges’ notions of legality and compliance with anti-discrimination law. Katherine Beckett, chair of the award committee, said the article "promises to make a significant contribution to a variety of disciplines and to socio-legal studies." (06/26/12)
Harry Scheiber Receives Berkeley Citation
Professor Harry Scheiber has received a 2012 Berkeley Citation, the highest honor of scholarly achievement awarded by UC Berkeley. Scheiber, who joined Berkeley Law’s faculty in 1980, is a prolific author and a renowned scholar in American legal history and ocean law. He has been chair of the law school’s Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, director of its Center for the Study of Law and Society, and faculty director of its Sho Sato Program in Japanese and U.S. Law. Currently faculty director of the Institute for Legal Research, Scheiber is an active mentor to junior faculty, law students, and UC graduate students. (06/12/12)
Vermont Law Names Marc Miahly ’74 Dean
Vermont Law School has appointed Marc Mihaly ’74 president and dean, effective August 1. Mihaly is currently the school’s associate dean of environmental programs and director of its environmental law center. After graduating from Boalt, where he was editor-in-chief of Ecology Law Quarterly, Mihaly served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Central America. He later worked in the environmental unit of the California Attorney General’s Office and with the San Mateo County Legal Aid Society. In 1980, Mihaly co-founded Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger in San Francisco, one of the nation’s top public interest environmental law firms, and served as its managing partner for 17 years. (04/05/12)
Alan Harris ’68 to Lead National Association
Berkeley Law adjunct professor Alan Harris ‘68, a partner at Farella Braun + Martel, has been elected president of the American College of Construction Lawyers. A fellow with the college since 1992, Harris succeeds his Farella colleague Deborah Ballati. The college consists of the top one percent of the construction bar and includes lawyers, professors, and judges from the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, and France. A construction lawyer for more than 40 years, Harris has mediated hundreds of disputes as an arbitrator and court-appointed special master and has appeared in Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, and Legal 500 USA. (03/21/12)
Dr. Linda Zaruba Starts Work at Berkeley Law
Tang Center psychologist Dr. Linda Zaruba recently began a half-time appointment at Berkeley Law. Zaruba, who has worked at UC Berkeley for 25 years, will help students confront issues such as time management, fear of public speaking, stress, grief, anxiety, and more. As a staff psychologist, she's worked with students from across disciplines and has met with law students at UC and in her private practice. Zaruba is also available to consult with faculty members regarding concerns they may have about a student's well-being. (02/29/12)
Laura Heymann ’97 Receives Teaching Award
Laura Heymann ’97 has become the first law professor at The College of William & Mary to win the school’s Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award. Established in 1970, the annual award recognizes a William & Mary faculty member with fewer than 10 years of service who has displayed exemplary personal character, concern as a teacher, and influence on students. Heymann, whose research focuses on copyright and trademark law, teaches Torts to first-year students and intellectual property courses to upper-level students. While a student at Berkeley Law, she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as Book Review Editor on the California Law Review. (01/30/12)
Vincente Martinez ’97 Assumes Whistleblower Post
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has hired Vincente Martinez ’97 as the first director of its new Whistleblower Office. The office pays awards to individuals who voluntarily provide original information about Commodity Exchange Act violations. Martinez joins the group from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he served as an assistant director in the Division of Enforcement. He also helped establish and run the SEC’s Office of Market Intelligence, which handles collection and analysis of tips, complaints, and referrals from the public, government agencies, and professional organizations. (01/30/12)
Barry Krisberg Receives Major Criminology Award
Berkeley Law’s Barry Krisberg has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Criminology. The director of research and policy at the Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy, Krisberg is a past president of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and the Western Society of Criminology. He currently chairs the California Attorney General’s Research Advisory Committee, as well as an expert panel investigating the conditions in California’s youth prisons. Krisberg was recently named in a consent decree to help develop remedial plans and monitor many of the mandated reforms within the California Division of Juvenile Justice. (01/30/12)
Holly Fujie ’78 Joins L.A. County Superior Court
California Governor Jerry Brown has appointed Holly Fujie ’78 to a judgeship in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. An equity partner at Buchalter Nemer since 1991 and an expert in insurance and surety industry litigation, Fujie served as president of the State Bar of California from 2008–2009 and president of the Boalt Hall Alumni Association from 2010–2011. Fujie, named a Southern California Super Lawyer every year from 2004–2011, has received numerous service awards from area bar associations. She often writes articles and gives presentations on issues of litigation, insurance coverage, and diversity in the legal profession. (01/06/12)
Thomas Klitgaard ’61 Receives Shanghai Award
Thomas Klitgaard ’61 has received the Magnolia Silver Award, the highest honor Shanghai’s Foreign Affairs Office bestows upon foreigners. Klitgaard was the only lawyer to receive the annual award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to Shanghai’s social-economic development and international exchange. A partner at Dillingham & Murphy, Klitgaard was recently a guest professor at Shanghai Economic College, where he led a business management training program for specially selected Chinese managers. He is also an international arbitrator and mediator, and serves on major arbitration panels in Beijing, Hong Kong, and New York. (01/06/12)
Karen Tani Wins National Dissertation Award
Berkeley Law assistant professor Karen Tani has won the annual John A. Heinz Dissertation Award from the National Academy of Social Insurance. She will receive $2,500 for the award, which honors outstanding research by new scholars addressing social insurance policy questions. Tani’s dissertation, judged by a five-person committee, tracks the evolution of welfare rights. Committee chair Christine Bishop of Brandeis University praised her “use of primary sources encompassing local variations in the administration of public assistance between 1935 and 1965 to provide an elegant and revealing analysis with far-reaching implications.” (01/06/12)