Alumni Newsletter | August 2020
Our Community

The hallways, courtyards, classrooms, and offices of Berkeley Law have been empty for months, with students, faculty, and staff spread out around the state, the nation, and the world. The COVID-19 pandemic gripping the globe has created an enormous disruption, canceling event after event, including commencement and even some states’ bar exams. 

Yet the school’s close-knit community continues to thrive — learning, working, and connecting remotely. With a virtual fall semester on the horizon, the lessons learned from the sudden pivot this spring are being applied to a fresh slate of online courses. Continue reading the article here.
Come listen to one of the leading experts on the American response to COVID-19 and learn what the country is doing to control the disease’s spread. Dr. Anthony Fauci will discuss how the coronavirus could affect the abilities of colleges to re-open safely and the broader impact of the virus on our country. Thursday, August 27, 5 PM to 6 PM PDT. Watch the discussion on Facebook.
What's New
Dean Erwin Chemerinsky continues to write on the most pressing constitutional issues of the day. Los Angeles Times subscribers can read his op-ed from August 10 here. Others can read the op-ed here.
New Faculty Appointments
“Precisely the kind of legal scholar the moment demands,” Rahim earned his Ph.D. at Berkeley Law’s Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program.
The position brings a renewed focus on teaching for Hoofnagle, a renowned privacy expert and a faculty co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology.

A few weeks into the academic isolation forced by the global coronavirus pandemic, Berkeley Law Professor Orin Kerr realized he missed talking to his colleagues. So Kerr — already a prolific scholar, popular teacher, well-known blogger, and ardent Twitter user — decided to add another title: podcaster. Read the article here.

California’s electrical grid is vital to the state’s ambitious renewable energy goals, but also a source of community vulnerability. A report from the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment and UCLA Law’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change highlights policy recommendations from a convening of state energy regulators, local government leaders, grid experts, and clean energy advocates. Read the report here.
Faculty Scholarship
Professor Rebecca Wexler is one of two winners of the 2020 Reidenberg-Kerr Award, which rewards exceptional privacy law papers submitted by a pre-tenure scholar. The Privacy Law Scholars Conference program committee selects the recipients. This year it reviewed entries from more than 300 participants, including Wexler’s “Privacy as Privilege.”

Professor Frank Partnoy raises eyebrows and heartbeats in the latest issue of The Atlantic. His buzz-generating article, “The Looming Bank Collapse,” explains how the U.S. banking system is replicating risky blunders from 2008’s financial crisis — this time through collateralized loan obligations — and why the end result could be even worse.

On The IP VIP List
Berkeley Law professors authored two articles judged to be among the best law review scholarship relating to intellectual property in the last year: "The Paradox of Source Code Secrecy by Sonia Katyal" and "The Disgorgement Remedy of Design Patent Law" by Mark Gergen and Pamela Samuelson. Both will be published in an anthology by Thomson Reuters.
Virtual Enrichment Programs
Death Penalty Clinic Director and Professor Elisabeth Semel and Professor Jonathan Simon examined the system’s inextricable links to race and agreed that meaningful reforms must acknowledge that reality. Watch the recording and read about the event.

This special event marks 100 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing and protecting the constitutional right of women to vote in America. A century later significant progress has been made, although bigger opportunities lie ahead to further reduce the gender equity gap. This webinar takes place on August 18 at 2:00 PM PDT. Learn more or register here.

The Berkeley Center for Law and Business is launching a Leadership Lunch Series, beginning on September 2, in conjunction with the Berkeley Business Law Journal. You will hear from general counsel, industry leaders, and faculty members on cutting-edge issues in the business world. Speakers include alumni Nick Khadder (JD ’98) of Fluidigm, Donnie Clay (BA ’08) of Accel, and Cecilia Ziniti (JD ’09) of Lambda School. Webinars will begin in September and will take place from 12:45 to 1:15 PM PT followed by a half-hour Q&A session. Watch the webinars here.

Judge Jeremy Fogel, BJI’s executive director, and Professor Terry Maroney will discuss Maroney’s cutting-edge research on the elements of judicial temperament and the constellation of psychological traits that predict how judges will respond to the challenges of their work. This is a second program on this topic. You are strongly encouraged to watch the first program before participating in the second.
Wednesday, September 9, 12:00 PM PDT. Register here.
Events


Each year we celebrate our alumni at Reunion. This year, we mark special milestone anniversaries for the Berkeley Law classes ending in '0s and '5s, though all alumni are encouraged to attend.

While our reunion celebration will be conducted virtually this year, we hope you will join in the festivities with classmates from all over the world. We believe our program has something for everyone — opportunities to learn, reconnect, and celebrate together.

We hope to “see” you on Friday, October 2. Learn more and register here.
Regional Alumni Chapter Events - Save the Date

  • The Los Angeles Alumni Chapter will host a Virtual Trivia Night for Los Angeles alumni on Thursday, September 17 at 5:30 PM PDT. More details to follow.

  • The San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles Chapters will co-host a virtual lecture given by Professor Jonathan Simon '87 titled Police Defunding on Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 12:00 PM PDT. More details to follow.
Berkeley Law Executive Education Online Programs

Finance Online: This certificate program focuses on how to apply financial information analysis and corporate valuation in a variety of corporate settings and throughout the legal practice. It's designed for practicing attorneys and other non-financial professionals and is delivered online through a series of pre-recorded lectures and interviews. Participants will have access to live weekly virtual office hours with instructors. The next cohort launches on September 15. Alumni discount available. Learn more and register today. 

VC University Online: This virtual certificate program provides practical training on venture finance. A joint initiative of Startup@BerkeleyLaw, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), and Venture Forward, VC University instructors include Berkeley faculty and leaders from the venture world, including executives from Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, NVCA, Flourish Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Salesforce, and Uncork Capital, among others. Registration is now open for the September cohort. Alumni discount available. Learn more and register today.
Student Spotlight

Waen Vejjajiva ’22 was born in Bangkok, Thailand, and lived there for most of her life before moving to the United States for college. She attended Columbia University, where she studied political science and art history. Before law school, she worked as a litigation paralegal in New York City at Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit which advocates for gun control and against gun violence. Her legal interests include data privacy, cybersecurity, and intellectual property. 

Vejjajiva describes her summer work experience as a legal associate at Salesforce: "My summer at Salesforce has been incredible. I chose to spend my summer there because I wanted to gain valuable in-house experience at a major tech company." Continue reading the article.
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