Sue Schechter has spent most of her career since graduating from law school in 1988 in law school administration and law student support positions. Prior to coming to Berkeley Law, Schechter worked at Golden Gate University School of Law as the Associate Dean for Student Services; the Honors Lawyering Program Administrative Director; and Assistant Dean for Law Career & Alumni Services.
For more than a decade, Schechter has been teaching in and helping to administer field placement programs. She was an Adjunct/Clinical Professor at Golden Gate and is currently Berkeley Law’s first full-time Field Placement Coordinator working with students doing general field placements, judicial externships, and away placements.
Prior to her work at law schools, Schechter was the Project Director for the Public Interest Clearninghouse’s Public Interest Law Program in San Francisco; a Patients’ Rights Advocate/Attorney at the Mental Health Advocacy Project in Santa Clara County; and as a Campus Organizer/Staff Attorney with the National Association for Public Interest Law (NAPIL, now known as Equal Justice Works) in Washington, DC.
Schechter has served on a number of committees and maintains memberships in many organizations including but not limited to: AALS, Clinical Section and former Executive Committee Member for the Student Services Section (2003-2005); Co-founder and member of Bay Area Consortium on Externships (1998 – present); former board member and treasurer for La Raza Centro Legal (1998-2000) in San Francisco; Far West Regional Coordinator (1998-1999), Mark of Distinction Award Committee Member (1997-1998), Co-founder and member of the Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Transgender Committee (1994-2000), Vice-Chair Small/Medium Employers Committee (1995-1996) for NALP, the National Association for Law Placement; Board Member and Summer Fellowship Committee Chair for Pride Law Fund (1998-2000); and chair of the State Bar of California, Legal Services Section, Committee on Moderate Income Delivery Chair (1996-1998).
Education
B.A., Washington University School of Law (1982)
J.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Law (1988)
Susan Schechter is teaching the following courses in Fall 2023:
• 289A sec. 001 - Judicial Externship Seminar
• 295 sec. 001 - Civil Field Placement Ethics Seminar
• 295 sec. 002 - Civil Field Placement Ethics Seminar
• 295.6A sec. 001 - Civil Field Placement
• 295.6B sec. 001 - Criminal Field Placement
• 295.6C sec. 001 - Environmental Field Placement
• 295.7A sec. 001 - Away Field Placement
• 295.8A sec. 001 - Judicial Externship:Away
• 295.8B sec. 001 - Judicial Externships: Bay Area
• 295.9A sec. 001 - UCDC: Law Field Placement
• 295B sec. 001 - Field Placement Workshop
• 295B sec. 002 - Field Placement Workshop
• 295C sec. 001 - Criminal Law Ethics Seminar
• 295D sec. 001 - UCDC: Law and Lawyering in the Nation's Capital Seminar
• 295F sec. 001 - INHR: Geneva Field Placement Seminar
• 295J sec. 001 - Away Field Placement Workshop
Teaching Evaluations