2012 News

Marci Hoffman Chosen for 2012 Distinguished Librarian Award

Marci Hoffman, Associate Director of the Berkeley Law Library and a Lecturer in Residence, has been chosen as one of the two recipients for the 2012 Distinguished Librarian Award. This award is given every two years by the Librarians’ Association of UC Berkeley to librarians whose careers demonstrate a consistent embodiment of the highest standards of librarianship and whose work enhances the quality of the campus’ intellectual community. She was honored at a reception on November 28 attended by Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau and University Librarian Tom Leonard.

In announcing her award, the selection committee, composed of librarians and faculty from across campus, said: “Marci Hoffman’s brilliant career as the Associate Director of the Law Library, International, Foreign and Comparative Law Librarian, and a Lecturer in Residence at Berkeley Law is acknowledged by her colleagues and legal scholars on the UC Berkeley campus and nationwide. As a colleague noted, ‘Painting a complete picture of Marci’s accomplishments is no easy task.’ It was observed, ‘In addition to her storied mastery of the printed and historical literature of international law, Marci brings to her teaching, advising on research and consultations with faculty research projects an invaluable mastery of digital trends….’ She has pushed law librarianship to a rare level; at UC Berkeley, in the UC system, nationally and internationally. She is an excellent researcher, teacher and scholar. It wasn’t enough to teach the course on law research; she co-wrote the textbook, International Law in a Nutshell.”


Remi Moncel (’15) Awarded Inaugural Miller Institute-ASIL Student Fellowship

This Fall, the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law established the Miller Institute-American Society of International Law Student Fellowship to fund the participation of a Berkeley Law student to attend the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington, DC in April 2013. We are pleased to announce that the inaugural Fellowship has been awarded to Remi Moncel, first-year Berkeley Law Student and Dean’s Fellow.

Remi’s travel support is just one of the benefits of the Miller Institute-ASIL Student Fellowship. Berkeley Law is an Academic Partner of ASIL. As such, the Miller Institute is able to provide one Berkeley Law student with a complimentary one-year membership in ASIL, which Remy is using to “learn from leading scholars with a view to exploring the various facets of international law in the three main areas of practice I am considering: academia, international institutions, and practice.”

Students interested in applying for the 2014 Fellowship should refer to the Fellowship page


Amy Belsher (’14) and Holly Hoch (’13) Named to International Law Society Advisory Committee

Amy Belsher (’14) and Holly Hoch (’13) have been named as the Berkeley Law student representatives to the International Law Society Advisory Committee of the California State Bar’s International Law Section.

The International Law Section has a very active outreach program to law students. Among other things, they have a longstanding student writing competition, as well as holding international law career fairs throughout the state. The Committee was recently formed to enhance and add to the Section’s current outreach efforts with law students. 


Shaina Hyder (’14) Receives TIAW World of Difference Award

The Miller Institute provided financial support for Shaina Hyder (’14) to travel to Washington DC to receive The International Alliance for Women (TIAW) World of Difference Award (Young Women Leaders Under 25) for her research on women’s financial independence amongst female garments workers in Bangladesh. According to TIAW, “Shaina began her work with women’s economic empowerment at the age of 18, teaching at Nari Jibon, a non-profit organization providing technical skills to underprivileged young women in Dhaka, Bangladesh as they pursued bachelor’s degrees as first-generation college students. She traveled to Dhaka on a Fulbright Fellowship to study women’s empowerment and financial independence amongst garments workers, the first large-scale class of working women in Bangladesh.”

For a summary of Shaina’s research, click here.

Shaina Hyder TIAW Award
Shaina Hyder (center) receiving the TIAW World of Difference Award from Sherry Fotheringham Gysler, immediate past TIAW President (left) and Lisa Kaiser Hickey (right), incoming TIAW President, Canadian Embassy, Washington, DC, October 18, 2012

 

 


Andrew Smith (LLM ‘12) Awarded 2012 Helton Fellowship

Andrew Smith (LLM ‘12) was one of the recipients of the American Society of International Law’s Arthur C. Helton Fellowship, which provides financial assistance in the form of “micro-grants” for law students and young professionals to pursue field work and research on significant issues involving international law, human rights, humanitarian affairs, and related areas. The 2012 Fellowship was awarded to nine outstanding individuals from over 50 applications received from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Andrew used his Fellowship to work with Article 19, a freedom of expression organization, at their East Africa office in Nairobi, Kenya. He provided legal assistance to a project on the protection of journalists from violence, and worked to promote the information rights of internally displaced people. As a consequence of the fellowship, Andrew was offered a permanent position as a legal officer in Article 19’s London office. He will continue working on Eastern Africa issues, as well as leading the organization’s advocacy at the UN Human Rights Council. Andrew said, “The fellowship is a great initiative and I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to participate and for the support it has given me in furthering my career.”

ASIL established the Helton Fellowship Program in 2004 in honor of Arthur C. Helton, the internationally renowned lawyer and advocate for protecting the rights of refugees and internationally displaced persons, who died in the 2003 bombing of the UN Mission in Baghdad.

The Miller Institute / Berkeley Law is a member of the ASIL Academic Partnership Program.