Law Schedule of Classes

NOTE: Course offerings change. Classes offered this semester may not be offered in future semesters.


244.4A sec. 001 - Postconviction Resentencing Practicum (Fall 2024)

Instructor: Chesa Boudin  
Instructor: Andrea Crider  
Instructor: Chesa Boudin  
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Units: 2
Grading Designation: Graded
Mode of Instruction: In-Person

Course Start: August 19, 2024
Course End: December 05, 2024

Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 6
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 7
As of: 10/03 09:57 PM


Students in this course will work to resentence people incarcerated in state prison out of Alameda County. Pursuant to a memorandum of understanding between the District Attorney's office and Berkeley Law’s Criminal Law & Justice Center, students will be assigned cases of people who have already served lengthy prison terms and who may be appropriate for resentencing and early release. Under supervision, students will evaluate case files and, where appropriate, draft motions for the DA to initiate recall and resentencing to reduced terms. This work, known as prosecutor-initiated resentencing, typically occurs pursuant to Penal Code Section 1172.1.

The Seminar portion of the course will be split between lessons and guest speakers on the laws, policies, and practices of prosecutor-initiated resentencing. The seminar and practicum will be led by both Chesa Boudin, the executive director of the Criminal Law & Justice Center, and Andrea Crider, a staff attorney at the Center experienced in post-conviction litigation. The instructors will be deputized by the DA's office to appear in court on these cases. Students who have taken Evidence may have opportunities to appear in court under supervision.

Topics covered will include: post-conviction law; sentencing; victim's rights; reentry; prison discipline and programming reports; and more.

Students may be required to pass a background check to access DA case files.

Instructor Bios:
Chesa Boudin is the founding executive director of UC Berkeley School of Law’s Criminal Law & Justice Center. He served as San Francisco’s elected district attorney from 2020 until 2022. During that time his office resentenced over 100 people from state prison using the legal process in this practicum. Prior to his election Boudin clerked for two federal judges and worked for years as a deputy public defender. He is a graduate of Yale college and Yale law school and attended Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship.

Andrea Crider is a Staff Attorney for CLJC. Prior to her role at UC Berkeley School of Law, she was a Deputy Public Defender at Contra Costa Public Defenders where she led the Resentencing Pilot Program in the Post-Conviction Unit advocating for resentencing and release for those serving inequitable sentences in CDCR, among various other roles. Andrea was also recognized by the Contra Costa Bar Association’s Pro Bono Honor Roll after serving as a volunteer attorney with For the People, a nonprofit that works to identify individuals for prosecutor-initiated resentencing. She earned her B.A. from UC Santa Barbara and her J.D. from American University Washington College of Law. She is also an alumni law clerk of the East Bay Community Law Center.

Admission will be based on an application process (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GjV9INAuHDaSXMGFvtUIEIHKYTgqV3IHEYO38B9QnDg/edit). Applications from current JD and JSP students are due July 15th. For LLMs and transfer JDs, applications are due July 31st.


Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.


Prerequisites:
Evidence
Criminal law
Criminal procedure (either/both)

Requirements Satisfaction:


Units from this class may count towards either the J.D. Experiential Requirement or the J.D. Race and Law Requirement but not both.

This class may count towards only one academic requirement.

The Race and Law Requirement applies to the class of 2026 and beyond.

Student Services is available to answer questions.


Submit teaching evaluations for this course between 05-DEC-24 and 10-DEC-24

Exam Notes: (None) Class requires a series of papers, assignments, or presentations throughout the semester
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Course Category: Criminal Law
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Practicums
Race and Law
Social Justice and Public Interest

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