University of California, Berkeley School of Law Spring 2007 Vol. 39 No. 1 boalt halltranscript ClimateClimate ChangeChange GoesGoes toto CourCourtt AA NewNew BoaltBoalt EnvironmentalEnvironmental LawLaw CenterCenter TakesTakes onon RisingRising ChallengesChallenges Features 16 Climate Change Goes to Court Boalt’s California Center for Environmental Law and Policy tackles the rising challenges ahead BY JARED SIMPSON AND JOHANNA WALD 19 Sidebar: Stick Trumps Carrot Why market-based solutions to global warming may be ineffective BY RUTH GREENSPAN BELL ’67 22 Alumni Profile: Shooting for the Championship For Dallas Mavericks CEO Terdema Ussery II ’87, life is a slam dunk BY CHRISTOPHER E. BUSH ii Transcript Spring 2007 Contents Boalt Hall Transcript / Spring 2007 Vol. 39 No. 1 Departments 2 From the Dean 4 In Brief Record Attendance at Admitted Students’ Day, New Courses in Wine and Video Game Law, Post-Katrina Labor Woes, A New and Improved LSAT, Boalt’s Revamped LRAP Program, Checking out Legal Blogs 8 Forefront Money Talks 8; Patent Troll Tales 9; Bringing Law to the High Seas 11; Doctors, Lawyers, and Legal Relief 12; New Criminal Justice Director Makes His Case 14 26 On the Move Boalt Student Action Figures 28 On the Shelves New and Notable Works from the Boalt Community 30 Insight For Women Only BY JAN BLAUSTEIN SCHOLES ’77 31 Class Notes Transcript Spring 2007 iii From the Dean It’s been a while since a Boalt Hall Transcript arrived in your mailbox. Seventeen months, to be exact. You probably weren’t counting. But we were. And now that we’re back, I want to provide a bit of background on how we got to this point—and where we’re going from here. Boalt lost its communications director in January 2006, immediately after publishing the last issue of the Transcript. And in the months that followed, our communications group shrank further. The timing was especially bad because the school was in an unprecedented state of revitalization: adding faculty, creating research centers, reforming financial aid policies, establishing new partnerships, and conducting a capital campaign to fuel the entire enterprise. The communications professionals who remained on duty last year performed valiant service— which I can only describe as triage. In that environment, a number of important projects, including the Transcript, had to wait on the sidelines. We’ve come a long way since then. Last September, we hired an executive director of communi- cations and marketing, Sybil Wyatt, who has been moving swiftly to build the kind of program Boalt needs to advance its ambitious agenda. One of our top priorities has been to conduct a “strategic identity” project that is helping us define the school’s character, mission, and value to society. Over the past few months, we have interviewed dozens of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and legal-opinion leaders to get a bead on our distinct identity and to clarify our competitive position among our peers. The insights we gain through this process will feed directly into our strategies for fundraising—especially critical now, in the high- energy stages of our $125 million campaign—and will inform our plans for attracting stellar students and faculty, strengthening our research and service programs, and advancing all the school’s goals. We also put a high priority on staffing, and succeeded in attracting outstanding communications professionals to fill three key positions. First among them is Jared Simpson, who joined Boalt on a temporary basis to edit this issue of the Transcript, and did such an excellent job that we hired him to fill the position for the long term. In his new capacity, he serves as both editor of the Transcript and editorial director for the communications and marketing group. In March and April, we also hired a media relations director and an editorial director responsible primarily for the Web. We hope you’ll start noticing evidence of their work immediately—beginning with this issue of the Transcript, and continuing with more robust press coverage of our people and programs, a more effective Web presence, more compelling marketing materials, and more vibrancy and consistency in Boalt’s identity across the board. Boalt is alive with activity. We’ll be telling you more about it soon. C HRISTOPHER E DLEY, JR . D EAN AND P R OFESSOR OF L A W 2 Transcript Spring 2007 BOALT HALL TRANSCRIPT Assistant Dean, Advancement Louise Epstein Centers and Institutes Executive Director, Communications & Marketing Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice Sybil Wyatt Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy Editor Berkeley Center for Law & Technology Jared Simpson California Center for Environmental Law & Policy Class Notes Editor Center for the Study of Law and Society Linda Anderberg Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity Student Assistant Editor Global Challenges and the Law Sarah Garrigan Institute for Legal Research Contributors Kadish Center for Morality, Law and Public Affairs Linda Anderberg Ruth Greenspan Bell ’67 Robert D. Burch Center for Tax Policy and Public Finance Christopher E. Bush Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice Abby Cohn Leslie A. Gordon Fred Sandsmark Jan Blaustein Scholes ’77 Clinical Programs Helaine Schweitzer Johanna Wald Death Penalty Clinic Kevin Wong Domestic Violence Practicum Copy Editor East Bay Community Law Center Colleen Sharp Field Placement Program Contributing Photographer International Human Rights Law Clinic Jim Block Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic Design AMorleyDesign Cover Illustration by Arno Ghelfi Journals Update Your Address Asian American Law Journal E-MAIL: [email protected] Berkeley Business Law Journal WEB: www.law.berkeley.edu/ alumni/updates Berkeley Journal of African-American Law and Policy PHONE: 510-643-2036 Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law U.S. MAIL: Alumni Center Boalt Hall School of Law Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law 2000 Center Street Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law and Justice Suite 400 Berkeley, CA 94704-7220 Berkeley Journal of International Law Berkeley La Raza Law Journal Visit Our Web Site www.law.berkeley.edu Berkeley Technology Law Journal California Law Review The Boalt Hall Transcript is published by the University of California, Berkeley, Ecology Law Quarterly School of Law, Communications & Marketing Department. © 2007 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Transcript Spring 2007 3 IN BRIEF Big Easy ADMISSION (ALMOST) Exploi tation Blues ACCOMPLISHED he thousands of migrant workers On April 13, a record number of who were lured to post-Katrina New prospective students attended Orleans by the promise of unlimited Boalt’s Admitted Students’ Day. T opportunities have found plenty of Boalt treated over 340 men and work, but also extremely hazardous working women from around the country conditions, enormous wage discrepancies, and and the world to an all-day little or no access to health care. information fest designed to put Professor Laurel Fletcher, director of the to rest any lingering doubts that International Human Rights Law Clinic at Boalt Boalt is their best choice. Hall (IHRLC), isn’t surprised by the heightened “Boalt isn’t a hard sell, but we TABLE TALK: Jiny Kim and Eunice Koo, both 1L’s, level of abusive conditions as New Orleans discuss the Asian American Law Journal with don’t take any chances,” says the prospective student Kristen Rogers. rebuilds. “Reconstruction after natural disas- director of admissions, Ed Tom. ters exposes workers to some of the worst on- “We’re competing with other top schools for the cream of the crop.” the-job hazards in situations where services, Along with lively panel discussions with current students and faculty, and a rousing especially access to health care, are scarce.” evening reception, prospective students attended a standing-room-only mock class Last year, clinic students traveled to New taught by Assistant Professor Erin Murphy in Booth Auditorium. The room crackled Orleans to interview hundreds of undocu- with energy, intelligence, and humor—all of which bodes well for the class of 2010. mented workers as part of a joint study with “easy to learn”) game segment. Among Playfirst’s games is the Rules of the Game record-breaking hit Diner Dash, which has more than 150 mil- lion online players worldwide and has sold over 1 million units. In 1982, a 10-year-old video game fanatic became fascinated Intimate knowledge of the industry has prompted Simon with a seminal copyright dustup that pitted the one-time video to take an atypical approach to teaching law. His game giant Atari against a brash upstart, Philips International. students examine a range of legal doctrines in While Atari’s Pac-Man chewed up Philips’s K.C. Munchkin in the context of the life cycle of a product’s creation the courts, a future Boalt alumnus was born. Brad Simon ’97 is and distribution. now 35 and the instructor of one of the first video game law Simon’s platform of choice? “I am currently courses in the country. enjoying the Nintendo Wii, and I’m almost at pro Simon’s precocious calling to the bar underscores the fact level in tennis. I’m really into Trauma Center right that lawsuits are as much a part of the video game industry as now as well.” (Wannabe surgeons, be forewarned shooting and dodging. Bitter litigation has characterized the that this simulated surgery game is not for the industry as far back as 1976, the Wild West days of primitive faint-hearted or the casual gamer.) arcade games. “But really,” he says—maybe a touch wist- Simon, whose academic career has included successful stops fully—“I just don’t have the time anymore to at Brown, University College London, Boalt Hall, and Harvard, play games five hours a day.” is enthusiastic and eloquent on his favorite topic.