With the rule of law under unprecedented pressure, they’re standing up in courtrooms, classrooms, lecture halls, the media, and internationally to fight for justice.
Ly, a first-generation college student whose parents were factory workers, describes why his work at the plaintiff-side firm Bryan Schwartz Law is expanding both his skills and resolve.
The catalyst for the State Bar of California’s new Privacy Law Specialization, Serrato has built a practical training initiative for senior leaders in data strategy, innovation, governance, and risk management.
Now pursuing a career in public defense, Jones says volunteering at San Quentin underscored the need “to see clients as more than the facts that brought them into the legal system.”
For Veena Dubal, mentorship from Catherine “KT” Albiston meant more than academic guidance. It meant permission to pivot, confidence to keep going, and a model for scholarship grounded in care and public purpose.
This year’s honors went to John Burris ’73, Professor Peter S. Menell, Lillian Hardy ’06, and U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Nicole Berner ’95, with a special accolade for Dean Erwin Chemerinsky.
Taught by Berkeley Center for Law & Technology Executive Director Wayne Stacy — a former Big Law litigator and U.S. Patent Office leader — the course will focus on enhancing legal skills without lowering the threshold for human judgment and input.
“I can’t even imagine what statute Congress would enact protecting racial equality in voting, especially when it comes to dilution, that would survive a Supreme Court judgment that will rely on Callais,” said Berkeley law professor Bertrall Ross.
“A tragic pattern of the Supreme Court’s recent decisions is leaving individuals who have been seriously injured and whose rights have been violated with no remedy whatsoever,” Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Berkeley law school, told CNN. “Rights are meaningless without courts to provide remedies when they are violated.”
