UC Berkeley School of Law

03/21/2025

"We all learned long ago, perhaps on the playground, that giving in to a bully only makes things worse. That is why it is shocking to see capitulation on the part of those being illegally bullied by President Trump. This will only embolden him. On Thursday and Friday, a law firm and Columbia University surrendered."

Opinion from Dean Chemerinsky, via Los Angeles Times Opinion

President Trump's illegal actions against Columbia University and disfavored law firms must be fought. Otherwise, like all bullies, the president will only be emboldened.

03/19/2025

"The Constitution is based on checks and balances. President Trump is claiming unprecedented authority to control federal spending without any checks or limits. Courts must continue to deem this unconstitutional and stop it."

Dean Chemerinsky via The Sacramento Bee: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article302231589.html =cpy

The Republican leadership in Congress has sat idly by as the president has usurped its power to control spending. That leaves judges as the backstop.

03/14/2025

Dean Chemerinsky and Prof. Brian Fitzpatrick (Vanderbilt Law) to debate the merits of originalism at the inaugural Thomas David and Judith Swope Clark Symposium on Constitutional Interpretation. Monday, March 17th, at Berkeley Law!

RSVP:

The inaugural Thomas David and Judith Swope Clark Symposium on Constitutional Interpretation debating the merits of originalism.

03/12/2025

Colin Allred ’14, Former Congressman and NFL Player, to be UC Berkeley Law’s Commencement Speaker

Ex-U.S. Rep. Colin Allred ’14 will speak at UC Berkeley Law’s commencement ceremony on May 16 at the Greek Theater.

“I am delighted that former Congressman Colin Allred, a graduate of UC Berkeley Law, has accepted the invitation to be our commencement speaker,” Dean Erwin Chemerinsky says. “His many impressive accomplishments, and his dedication to public service, make him the perfect person to address this year’s graduates.”

Allred, a Democrat, served three terms representing Texas’ Dallas-area 32nd District before waging a Senate campaign against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz in 2024.

Raised in Dallas by a single mother, a public school teacher, Allred attended Baylor University on a football scholarship, earning First Team Academic All-Big XII honors and graduating with a degree in history. He was set to start law school when the National Football League came calling, and played for the Tennessee Titans as a linebacker before a serious neck injury ended his career in his fifth season.

Allred met his wife, Alexandra Eber ’14, in a Law of Democracy class at UC Berkeley Law when they were both 2Ls.

After graduating, Allred returned to his home state to work for Wendy Davis’s gubernatorial campaign, overseeing the state’s first statewide coordinated voter protection program. He then joined Perkins Coie LLP as a voting rights litigator, representing a range of clients and organizations in election and voting rights law.

In 2016, Allred was appointed by President Barack Obama as a special assistant to the general counsel at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — then led by fellow Texan Julian Castro — helping families access affordable housing and fair treatment by landlords and banks.

After returning to Texas, Allred ran for Congress in 2018 and defeated an entrenched Republican incumbent in a nationally watched, high-profile race. Allred was elected as the co-president of his congressional freshman class and became the first member of Congress to take paternity leave when his first child was born just weeks after he was sworn in.

During his time in Congress Allred was a nationally-recognized leader in protecting voting rights and preventing election subversion, a staunch defender of democracy and human rights while serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and a tireless advocate for protecting women’s reproductive rights after the fall of Roe v. Wade.

Allred has kept strong ties to the law school, earning its annual Young Alumni Award in 2022. Last fall, he helped kick off UC Berkeley Law’s new leadership academy program, speaking to the inaugural cohort of 1L students on Zoom about how pivotal the school was in his career arc, the importance of meaningful relationships he built there, and how leadership skills are vital throughout all aspects of one’s professional path.

Allred says he’s excited by the opportunity to celebrate this year’s graduates.

“I am very proud to be invited to be the featured commencement speaker at my alma mater,” he says. “I look forward to congratulating the graduating class and their families on this momentous accomplishment, and to sending them off into their legal careers with a reminder of the responsibility that comes with their legal training during these challenging times.”

The former NFL player who served three terms in Congress will send off the graduating class at the May 16 ceremony.

03/06/2025

Class ring found in Kansas. Anyone know "TAT," Class of 1980?

03/05/2025

It’s no secret among law school clinics that great collaboration increases the odds of great results. The more closely students work with clinical supervisors, the more connected clinic leaders are with communities they serve, the stronger relationships clinics forge with outside partners — it all empowers their mission and maximizes their impact.

That’s why Mridula Raman wanted to renew an annual gathering of Northern California law school clinic leaders that had been dormant for several years.

Deputy director of the school’s Death Penalty Clinic, Raman was raving about the annual national clinical conference last spring with Co-Director Ty Alper. When she noted that she knew many more clinicians from far-off parts of the country than from her own area, Alper said there used to be a yearly meeting for local school law school clinics — the Northern California Clinical Conference — and suggested reviving it.

“I took that suggestion and tried to run with it,” Raman says.

Read "UC Berkeley Law Revives Northern California Clinical Conference for Area Law School Clinics to Better Collaborate"

The gathering drew clinic leaders from six law schools to help maximize their impact.

03/04/2025

Meet the Class of 2027 Public Interest Scholars! Public Interest Scholars come to Berkeley Law with a strong commitment to public interest work pre-law school, demonstrated leadership and initiative, and a desire to continue in public interest work at the law school and beyond. Read about the new scholars, and past recipients, in the link-in-bio!

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02/28/2025

Please join us for the inaugural Thomas David and Judith Slope Clark Symposium on Constitutional Interpretation, featuring Dean Chemerinsky and Brian Fitzpatrick from Vanderbilt University Law School debating the merits of originalism. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/clark-symposium-on-constitutional-interpretation-tickets-1259935273319

02/12/2025

“The next generation of corporate leaders needs to understand that legal risk analysis isn’t a constraint – it’s a tool for identifying opportunities others might miss,” Berkeley Center for Law and Business leader Angeli Patel ’20 explains. “At BCLB, we’re teaching them how to navigate complexity while driving meaningful innovation.”

Conferring with world business leaders in Switzerland, Patel emphasized the law’s importance in ensuring sound corporate oversight, fostering trust in private transactions, and creating accountability for all stakeholders.

02/10/2025

National Broadcast Debut for Alum’s Award-Winning Documentary! "American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton," which won six best documentary awards, is airing on over 200 PBS stations in February and premieres in the Bay Area Feb. 10. Written by Lise Pearlman ’74, also among the producers along with her husband Peter Benvenutti ’74, the film explores the tension-filled 1968 murder trial of Black Panther leader Huey Newton and his legal team’s unprecedented defense strategy. Renowned alumni lawyers Lowell Jensen ’52, Barry Scheck ’74, and Penny Cooper ’64 are also featured. You can see where the film is playing, buy the DVD, or get a digital copy to stream or download. https://www.law.berkeley.edu/spotlight/national-broadcast-debut-for-alums-award-winning-documentary/

01/15/2025

Are California’s Death Penalty Laws Applied in Racially Discriminatory Ways, Violating the State Constitution?

3Ls Niki Kates and Robin Martinez in UC Berkeley Law’s Death Penalty Clinic played pivotal roles in an amicus brief for OSPD v. Bonta, recently filed with the California Supreme Court, which argues that California’s death penalty laws have been applied in a racially discriminatory manner violating the state constitution’s equal protection guarantee.

Kates and Martinez worked tirelessly on the brief, submitted on behalf of the Office of the State Public Defender (OSPD) and other petitioners by Professor Elisabeth Semel, the clinic’s co-director. Dean Erwin Chemerinsky is co-counsel on the brief, with Professors Khiara M. Bridges and Ian Haney López and other legal scholars as the amici (friends of the court).

“So much of Niki’s and Robin’s work was impressive,” Semel says of their research and writing. “But I especially recall several times during our many meetings pausing at a suggestion one or the other raised that struck me as exquisitely insightful.”

Read:

Death Penalty Clinic students help fuel an amicus brief for a California Supreme Court case on the issue.

01/14/2025

Part 1/3: Throwing it back to last year's Halloum Negotiation Competition where Berkeley Law & Haas School of Business - UC Berkeley minds joined forces! Nothing beats watching these cross-disciplinary teams discover their collaborative magic. Stay tuned for parts two and three, coming this week.

1Ls: Ready to experience the thrill of deal-making? Join the Spring Info Session this Wednesday at 1 PM to learn how you can compete in Halloum or the Bales Trial Competition – focused on criminal law, designed to introduce first-year students to the fundamentals of trial advocacy – this spring!