Spencer Pahlke is a Shareholder at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger.
Spencer’s practice focuses on catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases involving defective medical devices, vehicular collisions, dangerous conditions of public and private property, and medical malpractice.
In addition to lecturing in trial advocacy at Berkeley Law, he directs Berkeley Law’s external trial competition program, and coaches multiple trial advocacy teams. Under Spencer’s guidance, the program has risen to national prominence, having won many national honors and distinctions, including several national championships. Spencer has also taught and lectured on trial advocacy and tort law at institutions including the University of Michigan School of Law, Universidad de Monterrey (Mexico), and San Francisco State University.
Spencer has also provided ongoing legal education, including developing and co-chairing programs produced in conjunction with Berkeley Law, with a special focus on providing training to young attorneys. He has also co-chaired a presentation on governmental liability and design immunity, spoke to leading trial associations regarding governmental liability, made presentations on liability for commercial carriers, and lectured on the topic of liability insurance in the context of products liability.
Spencer is a co-author of Introduction to Trial Advocacy: The Elements of Trial, a pioneering all-online video lecture series that teaches aspiring trial attorneys at all levels the fundamentals of trying a case. Introduction to Trial Advocacy has been published through Trial Guides, a renowned legal publishing house, and is designed for both self-study trial advocacy learning and use in a trial advocacy course.
Spencer was selected as a Super Lawyer from 2013-2021, and before that was Rising Star in 2011 and 2012. In 2014-2021, he was listed by Best Lawyers.
For more information on Spencer’s work, see his full bio.
Education
J.D., UC Berkeley School of Law (2007)
B.A., University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2004)
Spencer J Pahlke is teaching the following course in Fall 2024:
• 244.49 sec. 001 - Trial Competition
Courses During Other Semesters
| Semester | Course Num | Course Title |  Teaching Evaluations | Fall 2023 | 244.49 sec. 001 | Trial Competition | View Teaching Evaluation |
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