Spotlights

The President has nominated U.S. District Court Judge Amul Thapar ’94 to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Thapar, the first South Asian Article III judge, is also on Trump’s short list for the U.S. Supreme Court. He now serves in the Eastern District of Kentucky.

On March 28, PBS will air a three-hour series about investigators and prosecutors pursuing notorious war criminals. Eric Stover of Berkeley Law’s Human Rights Center co-produced Dead Reckoning, which explains how the tactics from past pursuits inform efforts to bring current human rights violators to justice.

The latest faculty member to weigh in on Calexit calls it “a foolhardy attempt at self-harm.” If California were to secede from the Union, writes David Carrillo, residents would be stripped of rights as U.S. citizens and the state would lose billions in annual federal funding, among other consequences.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor visited UC Berkeley March 9 for a conversation and Q&A moderated by Interim Dean Melissa Murray, who once clerked for the justice at the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Justice Sotomayor has served on the high court since 2009 and is its first Hispanic justice.

More than 100 students from law schools in four states will attend the annual Trina Grillo Public Interest Conference March 4-5 at Berkeley Law. The event allows social justice-oriented students, faculty, staff and practitioners to explore career opportunities and craft strategies to protect marginalized communities.

Members of Berkeley Law’s staff and faculty opposed to Trump’s executive orders on immigration and border control are expressing their views through a #NoBanNoWall photo project. In a unified statement, the participants say the orders threaten our “values of diversity and inclusion, which ensure a vibrant democracy.”

Berkeley Law offers professionals a new opportunity to attend law courses in the summer. Participants can enhance their specialty, explore a new practice area, or keep pace with a fast-changing field. The program is open to anyone who has an LL.M. or J.D. degree, or three-plus years experience in law-related work.  

Machines, such as a cameras and computers, increasingly provide facts in legal disputes. Andrea Roth notes that courts are assessing this evidence through old rules of testimony. Her new paper finds that machine-based facts should not be evaluated that way, as it limits a jury’s ability to assess the machine’s credibility.

Uttam Dhillon ’87 is joining a White House legal team that will address ethics and compliance issues. Appointed Special Assistant and Associate Counsel to the President, Dhillon last served as Chief Oversight Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee.

California’s climate policies are benefiting the San Joaquin Valley far more than expected, according to a new economic study co-authored by Ethan Elkind. The trio’s op-ed explains how the state’s energy efficiency, renewable and carbon cap-and-trade programs are creating jobs and boosting economic activity.