2022

December 9

Location: Zoom

Join Berkeley Judicial Institute as we toast the end of the year!  BYO good cheer!

December 6

Location: Zoom
Speakers: Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.), Professor Mary Hoopes, & Associate Justice Goodwin Liu

Please join Berkeley Judicial Institute’s Executive Director Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.), Professor Mary Hoopes, & Associate Justice Goodwin Liu for a discussion of the results of the law clerk diversity study BJI just released.  

This work considered why, despite good faith efforts, there is a persistent lack of diversity in law clerk hiring in the federal courts, particularly at the appellate level.

October 24

Location: Zoom
Speakers: Professor Botirjon Kosimov & Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.)

Professor Botirjon Kosimov analyzes how judicial independence is ensured in the United States of America and what lessons Uzbekistan may take from these practices. The paper embraces a wide range of issues related to judicial independence, namely the history of judicial independence, its theory and relationship with judicial accountability, challenges to judicial independence, and legal foundations for ensuring judicial independence and judicial discipline. Professor Kosimov’s paper also considers the role of digitalization of courts in ensuring judicial independence, which is very important in today’s world.

October 21

Location: Zoom
Speakers: Dahlia Lithwick & Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.)

Join Berkeley Judicial Institute’s Judge Jeremy Fogel as he interviews Dahlia Lithwick about her book, Lady Justice.

October 14

Location: Zoom
Speakers: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) & Professor Amanda Tyler (Berkeley Law)

Should U.S. Supreme Court justices be held to the same ethical code of conduct as other federal judges? Is legislation needed to increase the transparency and accountability of the Court? What would be the implications of such legislation?

Join us as Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) & Professor Amanda Tyler (Berkeley Law) talk about topics including the pending legislative proposal, “The Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act.”

September 26

Location: Warren Room 295, Law Building

Please join us in welcoming our new Visiting Scholars to the Berkeley Law Community! The welcome reception is open to all faculty sponsors and all current and new visiting scholars who would like to attend. 

September 14

Location: Zoom

Join Berkeley Judicial Institute as we celebrate all things autumn! Come prepared to chat, make some new friends and connect with others, share, congratulate and commiserate. 

July 22

Location: Zoom
Speakers: Professor Laurie Levenson & Bankruptcy Judge Sandra Klein

Join Berkeley Judicial Institute, Professor Laurie Levenson, and Bankruptcy Judge Sandra Klein as we discuss things we wish we had known starting law school. Ethical advocacy, your personal and professional reputation, seeking experiences and people that expand your life, classmates as colleagues (not competitors) are all topics on the agenda. Your thoughts and questions welcome!

July 19

Speakers: Judge Michael Simon, 9th C DEI Officer Amrita Mallik, Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.), & Judge Johnnie B. Ralwinson

Recording

Judges rely on law clerks to contribute not only clear analyses but also fresh perspectives and the latest learning from the legal academy. Law schools are continuously evolving to provide cutting edge legal education to the next generations of law clerks and lawyers. This panel will inform judges about recent developments and innovations in legal teaching to better prepare law students to work in, and serve, increasingly diverse communities.

July 5
–
July 8

Location: Berkeley Law

Co-sponsored by Berkeley Law and Berkeley Judicial Institute

June 24

Location: Zoom
Speakers: Judge Zia Faruqui & Judge Sandra Klein

Join BJI and faculty Judges Zia Faruqui and Sandra Klein to consider the role judges play in public outreach. What are judges doing? And why?

We’ll consider:

• What judges are doing
• What does the public get out of judges participating in public outreach
• What does the judge get out of participating in public outreach

June 3

Location: Zoom
Speakers: Magistrate Judge Allison Claire & Magistrate Judge Mustafa Kasubhai
General CLE Credit Available

Recording

Join Berkeley Judicial Institute, Magistrate Judge Allison Claire and Magistrate Judge Mustafa Kasubhai as we consider how courts should strive for more inclusive language, and why that effort matters (both to those coming before the court, and for the court’s integrity) that courts make that effort.

June 2

Location: Zoom
Speakers: Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.), Judges Johnnie B. Rawlinson, & Judge Bridget Bade

Recording

The law student series Effective Communication Across Differences (“ECAD”).  This hands on four-part series will transform your law school experience, and your career and professional relationships, where the ability to communicate productively across differences is essential.  Led by experienced mediators and with small group interaction with Federal Judges, this program for rising 1-3Ls attending 9th Circuit law schools is not to be missed.

Join Berkeley Judicial Institute’s Judge Jeremy Fogel for an ECAD info session featuring Ninth Circuit Judges Johnnie B. Rawlinson and Bridget Bade, and our amazing facilitator team. 

May 26

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Press Release

Berkeley Judicial Institute is working with an extraordinary team to develop an in-person program, DEMOCRACY’S LAST LINE OF DEFENSE, a symposium on why and how to preserve the rule of law and an independent, impartial judiciary.

July 9, 2021
–
May 13, 2022

6 Sessions
Location: Zoom
Speaker: Dr. Julie Empric of Eckerd College

Using great works as text, these programs provide participants the opportunity to reflect on how literature provides insight into contemporary issues. All are welcome to register to participate; we ask those participating to be prepared to discuss the readings.

May 6

Location: Zoom
Speaker: Dahlia Lithwick & Professor Michael W. McCann (University of Washington)
Co-Sponsored by: the Civil Justice Research Initiative and Berkeley Judicial Institute 

Over the last few years, the relationship between the media and courts in the United States seems to be undergoing rapid change. How are these changes impacting the courts and public perceptions of legal rulings? 

This program will feature journalist Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor and legal correspondent for Slate, in conversation with Professor Michael W. McCann, Gordon Hirabayashi Professor for the Advancement of Citizenship at the University of Washington and the author of several prize-winning articles and books discussing the role that the media play in reporting on litigation and legal rulings.

May 1
–
May 3

3 Sessions
Location: Zoom
Speaker: Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.)

Recordings

Berkeley Judicial Institute will offer a virtual program for judges featuring some of the many bright lights of the Berkeley faculty.

Program sessions will include:

• Bias in the courts
• Criminal law
• Decision-making
• Intellectual property law
• Mindfulness

April 15

Location: Zoom
Speaker: Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.)

Recording

Join Berkeley Judicial Institute as we speak to representatives of SFPL’s Jail and Reentry Team Jeanie Austin and Rachel Kinnon and VCU Professor Blythe Balestrieri to find out more about the library’s ambitious plans for this grant. Judge Alexandra Robert Gordon will moderate the conversation, which will include these questions:

• What are the most important challenges they face?
• How will this work help better meet needs of incarcerated people?
• How can judges and the interested public find out more about these efforts?

April 15

Location: Zoom
Speaker: Judge Jeremy Fogel (ret.)

Recording

Join Berkeley Judicial Institute as we speak to representatives of SFPL’s Jail and Reentry Team Jeanie Austin and Rachel Kinnon and VCU Professor Blythe Balestrieri to find out more about the library’s ambitious plans for this grant. Judge Alexandra Robert Gordon will moderate the conversation, which will include these questions:

• What are the most important challenges they face?
• How will this work help better meet needs of incarcerated people?
• How can judges and the interested public find out more about these efforts?

March 31

Location: Zoom
Speaker: Senior Judge Kevin Burke and Chief Judge Mildred Cabán
General CLE Credit Available

Recording

Good judges strive to be lifetime learners; what part does coaching play in that growth?

Join Berkeley Judicial Institute, Senior Judge Kevin Burke and Chief Judge Mildred Cabán as we consider some of the formal and informal methods of judicial coaching.

March 16

Location: Zoom

Join BJI as we celebrate the six month countdown to Constitution Day Eve! Come prepared to chat, make some new friends, share, commiserate, and enjoy the beverage of your choice!

March 10
–
March 11

Location: Zoom
Speaker: Wm. Matthew Byrne, Jr. Judicial Clerkship Institute, Federal Judicial Center

Recording

February 9
–
March 2

4 Sessions
Location: Zoom

Twenty four 2Ls and 3Ls from fourteen law schools in the 9th Circuit will participate in this inaugural virtual program, offered four weeks in February and March. Offered by the Ninth Circuit Historical Society, the Law School Admission Council, and  the Berkeley Judicial Institute, the program features great faculty.

February 28

Location: Zoom
Speakers: Bankruptcy Judge William J. Lafferty, District Judge Frank W. Volk, & Professor Melissa Jacoby
General CLE Credit Available

Recording

Nearly four decades have passed since the birth of a radical experiment in procedural collectivism: using chapter 11 bankruptcy to manage mass tort litigation, starting with Johns Manville (asbestos) and A.H. Robins (Dalkon Shield IUD). Today, lawyers in mass tort bankruptcies routinely assert that bankruptcy is the only forum that offers complete resolution and global peace. Could it really be that the bankruptcy system is the right home for these disputes? Is there something inherent in the bankruptcy system that has caused, or at least facilitated, this apparent expansion?  What are the institutional limitations on any type of court to tackle the problems these cases raise? 
 
Bankruptcy Judge William J. Lafferty, District Judge Frank W. Volk and Professor Melissa Jacoby discuss why so many controversial mass tort cases find their way to bankruptcy court, and consider how the courts might respond.

January 28

Location: Zoom
Speakers: U.S. Magistrate Judge Celeste F. Bremer (IASD, Recall) and California architect Susan Oldroyd FAIA
General CLE Credit Available

Recording

U.S. Magistrate Judge Celeste F. Bremer (IASD, Recall) and California architect Susan Oldroyd FAIA will show how types of Courthouse interior and exterior designs and their art influence our understanding of the Court’s role in the community. They will identify features that you may no longer notice, but that represent barriers to the delivery of Equal Justice For All.

January 14

Location: Zoom
Speakers: Alicia Bannon of the Brennan Center, The Honorable Reggie B. Walton (U.S.D.C. D.C), Dean Erwin Chemerinsky (Berkeley Law), Professor Nora Engstrom (Stanford Law), Professor Leslie C. Levin (UCONN Law), Professor Elizabeth G. Thornburg (SMU Law), James Brosnahan (Morrison & Foerster), and Denyse Clancy (Kazan Law)

Recording

This Berkeley Law Civil Justice Research Institute event will focus on some of the ethical issues raised by increased attacks on the independence and legitimacy of the courts. The program will feature practitioners, scholars and judges. Topics will include the effects of the attacks on courts and the implications for legal practice. This event is supported by a generous gift from AAJ’s Robert L. Habush Endowment, in collaboration with Berkeley Boosts.