For the East Bay Community Law Center, Stopping Unjust Evictions and Utility Shutoffs Is Less About Lawsuits and More About Brin

University of California, Berkeley, School of Law Spring 2009 Vol. 41, No. 1

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER Boalt’s Career Development Office guides alumni and students through dire straits. 3 RELIVING THE DREAM After five years at Boalt, Dean Edley warns us that he’s only just begun. 18 ONE TOUGH CASE Eleanor Jackson Piel ’43: More than six decades of doing it her way. 26 Justice League For the East Bay Community Law Center, stopping unjust evictions and utility shutoffs

is less about lawsuits and more about bringing From left: Laura Lane ’96, EBCLC Housing Practice director; PAGE 20 Gabe Podesta ’10, former clinical people together. student; Gracie Jones Whitaker, EBCLC housing intake specialist transcript

Executive Director, Communications Sybil Wyatt EDITOR & ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATIONS Jared Simpson Senior Staff Writer Andrew Cohen STUDENT ASSISTANT EDITOR Will Leivenberg

Contributors John Birdsall Nancy Donovan Will Leivenberg Bonnie Azab Powell Fred Sandsmark Photographers Jim Block Evan Kafka Stephen Voss Winni Wintermeyer ILLUSTRATORS Terry Colon Jean-Francois Martin Lloyd Miller photo editor Jason Goldheim DesignED by Arno Ghelfi, l’atelier starno

update your address Email: [email protected] Web: www.law.berkeley.edu/alumni/services/ updateinfo.html Phone: 510.642.1832 U.S. Mail: Alumni Center University of California, Berkeley School of Law 2850 Telegraph Avenue, Suite 500 Berkeley, CA 94705-7220 Visit www.law.berkeley.edu Transcript is published by the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Communications Department.

SPECIAL: Boalt CAMPAIGN FOCUS ON FINANCIAL AID

Dressed for Success! ...... 1. 6 Samika Boyd ’10 is proud of her amazing journey from New Orleans poverty to a Berkeley legal education, and deeply grateful for the help she’s received along the way . By Fred Sandsmark FEATURES

Reliving the Dream ...... 18 A retrospective of Dean Edley’s first five years at Boalt’s helm, including a timeline of milestones and a Q&A that looks toward the future . By Jared Simpson

Cover story

It Takes a Community...... 20. How the students and staff of the East Bay Community Law Center helped pull together a collaboration of area public agencies to stop illegal utility shutoffs . By John Birdsall

One Tough Case...... 26. Profile: Eleanor Jackson Piel ’43—88 years old and still going strong—has been a scrappy defender of the underdog for more than six decades . By Bonnie Azab Powell

Columns departments

From the Dean . . . . . 2. In Brief ...... 3. Forefront ...... 9. On the Move ...... 32. EB CLC) ( The Career Development Office North Pole or Bust; Clipping Boalt Student Action Figures ...... 36. Insight Is There for You; Study Law the Hedge Funds; Boalt’s Don’t Cry (Too Much) for Us WINTERMEYER at Trader Joe’s; Boalt Goes to Capital Steppers; A Boalt- On the Shelves . . . . . 34. By Neil A.F. Popović ’87

WINNI Sierra Leone; Helping Students Hosted G5 Assesses the G20 .

). ). New and Notable Works from Pass Their Stress Tests; Nuts &

E DL EY the Boalt Community . Boalts Passes the Bar; Frickey, CK ( B L O CK Festshrift, Funds, Fun; Calitopia (and Copenhagen), Here We L). J IM PIE L). ( Come; Admit Day Madness; ...... 37 K A FK Clerkshipping News; BLCT, the Class Notes

EVAN FTC, and IP . All in the Boalt Family .

Cover photography by winni wintermeyer spring 2009 | Transcript | 1 FROM THE DEAN

n this job, time flies whether you’re having fun or not. July 1 will mark five full years as Boalt’s dean. While I can’t say that every minute has been fun, I can emphatically state that the experience has been exhilarating and gratifying beyond what I’d thought possible—and it’s passed by far too quickly. As you can see from the timeline that begins on page 18, together we haveI accomplished a great deal. Yet, despite all the contrary evidence, I can’t shake the sense that we’re just getting started. We have too much momentum to be stopped by the current economic crisis. The mercifully brief Q&A which accompanies the timeline makes the point: We can be “Despite all the gold standard for legal education without being wealthy, but we need your financial support to make it so. the contrary Our terrific magazine editor, Jared Simpson, assures me that he could go monthly with all of the news generated by the school, and that his evidence, most frustrating task is story triage. This issue he’s chosen to run a fascinating feature about the East Bay Community Law Center (page 20). I can’t shake EBCLC embodies both Boalt’s commitment to its public mission of tackling important challenges, and the professional mission of producing the sense crack lawyers who see themselves as problem solvers. On page 26, we that we’re offer an inspiring profile of a most remarkable alumna, Eleanor Jackson Piel ’43—still practicing law in Manhattan at the age of 88. And there’s just getting plenty more here, but not nearly enough. As a final note, we are absolutely committed to helping our community started.” of current and incoming students, as well as alumni, who have been rocked by the recession. Recently I sent a memo to students and alumni –Christopher Edley, Jr. enumerating several initiatives that my staff and I have developed to most William H. Orrick, Jr. effectively be of assistance. For your convenience, the memo is posted at: Distinguished Chair and Dean http://www.law.berkeley.edu/alumni.htm. When, after 23 years as a professor, I left Harvard for Berkeley, President Larry Summers told reporters that I wanted a new mountain to climb. It turns out that the view is fabulous, and there’s more than one peak here to keep me—and all of us—motivated and ambitious for our future together. JIM BLOCK JIM

2 | Transcript | SPRING 2009 NEWS FROM THE BOALT IN BRIEF COMMUNITY Upbeat Help for

Career the Downturn Development Office Data s the Assistant Dean in charge of Boalt for managing student loan debt, and ways 3Ls can Monthly average Hall’s Career Development Office enhance career development skills. “Beyond number of alumni (CDO), Terry Galligan not only has a increasing the number of programs,” he says, contacts* front-row view of the battered econo- “we’ve worked very hard to make sure they’re per- *visits, phone calls, emails my’sA impact on Boalt’s alumni and students—he’s tinent to what our audiences need for this current 2007–08 also working full tilt to help them repair the market.” school year: ...... 15 damage. Galligan’s diligent staff has been ramping up 2008–09 First, let’s do the numbers: More than 2,000 big- outreach to the less economically vulnerable school year: ...... 60 firm lawyers have been laid off nationally over the small- and medium-sized firms. The CDO has also past year. The CDO, which typically receives 15 improved its government and public-interest Student contact alumni contacts per month, now gets around 60. advising resources, strengthened ties with alumni during 2008–09 Approximately 70 Boalt 3Ls graduating with a practicing in those areas, and expanded its online school year: job are facing deferrals. And the num- search options. Half-hour ber of law firms scheduled to visit For alumni, the CDO assists with appointments: . . .800 Boalt for student interviews this job-search basics ranging from Designated fall is down about 30 percent cover letters to networking drop-in hours: . . . 400 from last year—and it’s likely skills. Galligan says career Unscheduled some of those that do come development fundamentals drop-in visits: . . 1,000. will make fewer offers than “become more critical when Email usual. jobs are harder to find.” inquiries: . . . . .4,000 “The rules of the game The scenario for Boalt’s have changed for alumni, deferred 3Ls varies: Some firms Summer graduating 3Ls, and 2Ls,” are deferring their new hires until fellowship Galligan says. “There are no magic January, some until March, and funding requests bullets, but our office is doing some for an entire year. Galligan in 2008–09 everything it can to help.” urges students presented with Up 25% from 2007–08 The CDO has greatly deferral options to talk increased the number of with CDO staff: “We can 2008–09 school its informational and advise how to use that days on which advice sessions—which time to develop skills a CDO event took Galligan calls pro- and expertise that’ll help place: grams—on topics such them hit the ground run- 70 as the state of the legal ning when they start.” market, financial planning As for 2Ls, the new

illustration by LLOYD MILLER SPRING 2009 | Transcript | 3 IN BRIEF presumption, says Galligan, “is that you have to interest career advisor and took over the CDO in demonstrate real value during your summer and 2006. “It’s a very supportive community, which earn a full-time offer rather than just not screwing makes a world of difference.” it up.” In response, the CDO recently presented Although the CDO staff’s workload has programs that showed 2Ls ways they could maxi- increased exponentially, morale remains high. mize their productivity this summer. “They absorb a lot of the stress of people who The office also offers guidance on developing come in for career counseling,” says Galligan, expertise in growth areas such as climate change, “yet they’re taking on this challenge with a posi- public-private infrastructure development, and tive approach.” And with a high regard for the mortgage industry. In addition, staff mem- Galligan, whom they nominated for the An Apt App? bers are coordinating with public interest organi- Excellence in Management Award from the With more than 30,000 zations that may want to hire a deferred associate, Berkeley Staff Association—which he won. apps available for the and strengthening a social networking site for Galligan admits to some sleepless nights, and ubiquitous iPhone, it’s no alumni that also matches them to students with fervently monitors industry trends by scouring surprise there’s one that similar professional interests. legal media from American Lawyer down to targets law students. “I’ve never had an alum tell me, ‘I’m too busy rumor- and hearsay-type blogs. “Right now we “Law in a Flash,” is a to talk with a student,’” says Galligan, a former can’t leave any stone unturned,” he says. study guide series com- attorney who came to Boalt in 2002 as its public —Andrew Cohen prised of 16 apps—at $30 a pop—each devoted to a major area.

We asked 1L Jeff Bae to TRAIL BLAZERS: Asa Solway critique the Torts ’09, Kiywhanna Kellup ’09, application: and IHRLC program officer Jamie O’Connell are push- If you’re waiting for ing for progress in Sierra BART or standing in line Leone. at Trader Joe’s, this is a neat way to review black- Sierra Leone’s Human letter law. Using onscreen Rights Clinic. The two, flash-card questions, the plus Sierra Leonean program breaks down a and American part- broad subject into ners, are developing a smaller units. fellowship program to The interface is user- recruit talented indi- friendly and intuitive. You viduals with cross- can easily navigate the cultural experience. cards, arrange or search “I knew Jamie from them in several ways, taking his Transitional make comments, book- Justice class a few years mark, and shuffle the Freetown Fellows ago. The class spent a deck. Also helpful are week on Sierra Leone, mini-hypotheticals that bservers were surprised in September which of course had especially personal meaning let you apply what you’ve 2007 when Ernest Bai Koroma—the for both of us.” says Maybarduk. “We’ve examined learned, though the pro- newly-elected president of Sierra potential frameworks and pitfalls for this kind of gram doesn’t provide in- Leone—appointed human rights program, and reached out to people who could depth coverage of the O activist Zainab Bangura as the small West African help us make it work.” nuances that make law country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. Some saw Last year, they entered a proposal outlining a so interesting. this as a first step in the political reform candidate broad affiliation between Sierra Leone and UC As for the million-dollar Koroma had promised for one of the world’s least Berkeley in the Big Ideas at Berkeley’s “Partnerships (or in this case $30) developed and most troubled nations. for Social Innovation” competition. It won a question—should stu- With one-third of educated Sierra Leoneans second-place prize of $6,000, enabling Maybarduk dents buy Law in a Flash? living abroad, Bangura contacted foreign col- and graduating senior Ian Mountjoy to spend July I don’t think it adds more leagues to help bring international professionals 2008 in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital. There, value than a standard to assist understaffed government ministries. they met with government officials, civil society commercial study guide, Among them were attorney Peter Maybarduk professionals, and United Nations staff to pinpoint so probably not. If it were ’07, who had lived in Sierra Leone as the son of administrative needs, assess logistical issues, and cheaper, I’d certainly an American diplomat, and Boalt lecturer Jamie determine the best structure for the program. ee town) (Fr block

consider it.—Jeff Bae ’11 O’Connell, who had directed the University of “Peter and Ian used the trip to Sierra Leone to Ji m

4 | Transcript | SPRING 2009 get a deep understanding of the current situation ’09 and others expected to soon follow. there and build relationships that are proving criti- “We’re also looking for a healthy dose of humil- cal to turning this program from a great idea into a ity,” says O’Connell. Fellows will learn about real contribution to reform,” says O’Connell. Sierra Leone’s culture and institutions, and be sen- Government officials identified law, public pol- sitive to their status as foreigners assisting a sover- “You learn a bit icy, health, education, engineering, information eign government. “You learn a bit about how to about how to technology, and accounting as areas of need. Boalt design institutions and legal processes in law design institu- participants may help with such tasks as drafting school, but it’s far harder to help change real sys- legal documents, promulgating regulations, and tems of governance, which are always bewilder- tions and legal assisting in the development of policy proposals. ingly complicated and deeply entrenched.” processes in Boalt has played a key role in launching the pro- While stability has returned to Sierra Leone fol- gram. “Thanks to support from Dean Edley and lowing its brutal civil war of 1991 to 2002, colossal law school, the Miller Institute, the first fellows will arrive in challenges remain. Maybarduk recognizes their but it’s far Freetown in early fall,” Maybarduk says. “Their magnitude, but believes an infusion of professional vote of confidence is proving invaluable as we seek talent can make a contribution as one component harder to help additional resources to send more fellows.” of a broad effort to help the country surge forward. change real Fellows will be selected for their diligence, self- “One of the great things about a program like systems of motivation, analytical skills, experience working this is that it tends to attract exactly the sort of per- across cultural or national boundaries, and tem- son you need,” he says. “Minister Bangura and our governance.” perament. Ideally, they’ll have worked in resource- other partners in the Sierra Leonean government —Jamie O’Connell poor settings. Asa Solway ’09 joins the Ministry of have asked us to recruit exceptional people, and Foreign Affairs this fall, with Kiywhanna Kellup that’s exactly what we’re doing.” —Andrew Cohen

questions or concerns about students. He hopes to actively engage student organizations, with an Stress Buster emphasis on helping underrepresented groups such as student of color. or students in any top grad-school pro- Also a staff psychologist at UC Berkeley’s Tang gram, stress is a common byproduct of Center, Lyda has spent six years at college counsel- demanding classes, intense competition, ing centers helping students in individual sessions, and pressure to excel. “However,” says Dr. support groups, couples counseling, and career F James Lyda, Boalt’s new mental health specialist, and academic counseling. “law schools present unique challenges.” Having worked at the University of Minnesota Lyda—a psychologist who began working at and University of Oregon, where he earned Boalt half-time in January to help students with his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, Lyda feels such issues as anxiety, fear of public speaking, time right at home in Berkeley. “I love the constant management, grief, and depression—says 1Ls intellectual energy,” he says, “and helping young THE DOCTOR IS IN: James Lyda helps Boalt students often have difficulty adjusting to the unfamiliar adults transition into the real world is particularly cope with the rigors of ways of law school classes and even learning to gratifying.” —Andrew Cohen law-school life. think like a lawyer. “And at Boalt,” he says, “students used to being the cream of the crop are suddenly surrounded by other brilliant minds. That can be a real blow to their system.” Part of Lyda’s Boalt mission is to enlighten students about lingering misconceptions they may have regarding mental health assistance. “The general stigma has been greatly reduced,” he says, “but it’s still prevalent in law students because of their competitive nature and concerns about how counseling may affect their job prospects.” Lyda notes that his services are strictly confidential, and that students can seek his help without worrying about anything appearing on their records. At Boalt, Lyda will offer stress mitigation work- block block

Ji m shops and consult with faculty members who have

SPRING 2009 | Transcript | 5 IN BRIEF IN 6 happy to be recognized.” presence, and we’re public image and cultural dents to shape Boalt’s ful instrument for stu ously, it’s been a wonder istrates the blog. “Seri- Bageant ’10, who admin rumors,” says Patrick spreading unfounded & Boalts is great for sitting in Contracts, Nuts dose of levity while you’re here—wicked smart. and often—no surprise meet is rarely boring, drops? The idea swap rings whom when a call cell-phone etiquette: Who stimulator, and debated giveness as an economic touted student debt for prison overcrowding, schemes to reduce Recent posts offered anything is fair game.” schools, law, politics, or framework: “Boalt, law the blog’s free-wheeling Armen Adzhemyan ’07 set Training” category. top five in its “J.D.’s in criticism—among the and sometimes withering insights, helpful advice, aged mashup of sharp Boalts again named Bar Association has once legal blogs, the American list of the nation’s best On its second passes bar Student blog

— boaltalk.blogspot.com “Aside from providing a In 2004, founder |

Transcri pt — a student-man Andrew Cohen

Nuts & annual annual

| -

SPRING 2009 - - - - New Funds Honor Frickey T and friend Suzanne Park. Gerald Torres, Frickey’s wife Mary(Clockwise, Ann Bernard, from thetop Universityleft) Yale’s of Minnesota’s FROM WilliamALL CORNERS: Eskridge, E. Thomas Jr., Sullivan, Boalt’s Pace’s Mary StevenLouise Goldberg,Frampton and Wilda White, the University of Texas’s n t se ol suet ad lmi raising alumni and money for these new funds.” students Boalt see to ing “many years later, it’s extraordinarily heartwarm “Andsince. evernow,” it taughtsays, has he and “quicklybutlove” basisinshort-term sumed fell 1983, Frickey began teaching Indian law me.”In on fascinateda pre just issues the and cases law the Supreme Court,” he says. “We got a few Indian about it until I clerked for Thurgood Marshall on nothing knew “I chance. by began scholarship federal Indian law and policy. ent and hasn’twell-developedand been ent by U.S. law. or for issues inadequately addressed disenfranchised the for advocating involvesthat position law public or Indian an in employment summer any from accepts 2L who school law accredited or 1L award a to $4,000 will Fellowship Frickey Philip The law. interest public or Indian on paper student Boalt best law,public moreor and$500 to the or Indian a to and commitment strongneed financial with 3L or Fund will award $2,000 to a Boalt 2L h Pii Fiky ulc Law Public Frickey Philip The law Indian in preeminence to road Frickey’s “Indian law is frequently incoher public law experts with a specialty in in specialty a with experts law renowned public most nation’s the of one honor of Boalt professor Philip Frickey, wo studenthave funds been created in Top academics and friends take part in a full-day symposium celebrating Boalt professor Philip Frickey: - Indian law and policy. authority on federal Frickey is a leading STAR SCHOLAR: - - and played a huge role in hiring—and mentor hiring—and in role huge a played and committee appointments faculty the chaired he beyond his own classroom. After arriving in 2000, special issue of the a in published be will country, the across from scholars “Festschrift,” featured top demic which aca the at Papersteaching. and scholarship his symposium Boalt hosted on April 24 to celebrate contribute in this area is gratifying.” are quite stark, so that to give students an to opportunity of consequences social “The subject. eachco-authoredhason and casebooks popular Boalt at law Indian law,and constitutional tion, intellectually,”legisla teaches Frickey, who says Philip u Fikys mrn o Bat xed far extends Boalt on imprint Frickey’s But full-day lively a by gratified also was Frickey rocating in kind.” recip they’re and them, for this do they perceive how much I wanted “over to think I been support. their by whelmed has and students, spring-semester his informed He will take administrative leave in July. Frickey treatment, special requires colleagues.” wonderful some getting in deal the responding and to concerns, and listeningclosing decisions, guiding Joseph softly at “He’s brilliant O’Connell. Ann professor assistant broker,”honest “Phil’stors.an says ing—many talented young instruc u t a eiu iles that illness serious a to Due California Law Review — Andrew Cohen . ------

terry colon (illustration). Jim block (4x) Boalt Students Shine at Admit Day Draws Big Global Climate Summit Turnout s his law-school peers deftly probed a expert environmental negotiators, ran through On April 4, more than series of thorny climate change topics hypothetical questions, and prepared opening 370 prospective 1Ls at an international negotiation compe- statements. The competition focused on the packed Boalt Hall for tition in Copenhagen, Ian Fein ’11 had Clean Development Mechanism, an arrange- the Admitted Students an epiphany: “It struck me that some of these stu- ment under the Kyoto Protocol that allows Visit Program. They A took part in a mock dents will eventually be political leaders negotiat- industrialized countries to invest in projects that ing the same issues on a bigger stage.” lower emissions in developing countries as an class, toured Boalt and The Copenhagen Competition—a run-up alternative to more costly reductions at home. the Berkeley campus, event to December’s UN Conference on Climate “The main issue was which developing nations lunched with current Change—featured law-school teams from Boalt, would have to join an emissions reduction pro- students, attended NYU, India, Chile, South Africa, Singapore, gram,” Payne says. “When would they take this career, clinical, and Australia, and Denmark. Having advanced to the on, and how could they ensure environmental financial aid presenta- oral round on the strength of integrity while advancing tions, and met faculty their written proposals for Boalt’s team spent sustainable economies?” and alumni. how to achieve targeted Negotiations were con- reductions in greenhouse gas three days representing ducted in English—which emissions, the teams spent the fictitious nation of half the teams didn’t speak as three days in March negotiat- their first language. “I was in ing on behalf of fictitious Calitopia. awe of how eloquent some of nations roughly equivalent to these second-language speak- those from their own region. ers were,” says Fein. “They Boalt’s team—Fein and 2Ls Jeslyn Miller, truly sounded like dignitaries.” Heather Matsumoto, and Tyler McNish— Team members met with Denmark’s top dig- represented Calitopia, a loose hybrid of California nitary, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and the general United States. Last fall, they and attended the International Scientific emerged from 45 Boalt students who tried out for Congress on Climate Change with more than the team in a moot court-style audition and an 2,500 delegates from nearly 80 countries. They environmental Q&A session with coach Cymie also got to peruse the teams’ written proposals— Payne ’97. “Students don’t have much substantive which were published for distribution at the experience in this area,” says Payne, associate upcoming UN Conference on Climate Change. director of the Center for Law, Energy, and the “It was great connecting with law students from Environment, “so we looked for people who could across the world who share a passion about the bring different experiences and expertise.” environment and international law,” Fein says. Fein had covered environmental issues as a “Over a short period of time, we made some really journalist, McNish possessed in-depth knowledge strong friendships.” —Andrew Cohen of cleantech, and Matsumoto worked in different cultures for the United Nations. Payne credits Miller—a moot court star with a strong grasp of international environmental treaties—for organizing the team’s written proposal and sharpening its negotiation skills. To prepare for the oral round, the team met with ay) d CLIMATE CLUB: Ian Fein ’11 (stand- it Adm it ing, second from left) and fellow law students from seven countries block ( block

Ji m convene in Copenhagen.

SPRING 2009 | Transcript | 7 IN BRIEF

Clerkshipping News By adding one-year judicial clerkships to the bundle of public interest jobs covered by its Loan STARTUP: Professor Robert Repayment Assistance Merges chats with panelists Program (LRAP), Boalt as attendees begin taking their seats. Hall has further strengthened one of the nation’s most generous loan forgiveness plans. ment where constituencies Clerkships now qualify that disagree can air their for loan forgiveness if the BCLT Hosts differences in a setting that is graduate then works for more open and honest than a minimum of three years a legislative hearing. And he at either nonprofit public FTC to Talk IP praises the FTC for taking interest organizations or advantage of that openness. government agencies. “The FTC does a tremen- While clerkships often couple of bubbles ago, when biotech dous service in helping to ventilate these issues,” lead to high-paying, big- and high-tech industries took root and he says. firm jobs, a growing num- thrived on the west coast, Boalt Hall In addition to exploring ways to improve the IP ber of students planning emerged as a western center for the marketplace, multiple panels addressed such a public service career study of intellectual property law. A round of salient issues as the notice function (providing want to add one to their A Federal Trade Commission clear and timely information resumes. (FTC) hearings on the inter- about patents and patent “They’ve become a section of intellectual property A blue-ribbon gathering applications), transparency, useful bridge to public law and competition was held explained their needs damages, and remedies. interest jobs that are in Washington and Berkeley in About 90 attendees listened increasingly competi- early 2002, and had a substan- and expressed their as the panelists, including tive,” says Eric Biber, tial impact on later patent frustrations with the Boalt alumni Mary E. Doyle chair of the Financial Aid reform legislation. ’78, Rebecca Eisenberg ’79, Committee. “The training On May 4–5, the Berkeley current patent system. Ron Epstein ’89, Mark A. is extremely valuable.” Center for Law & Technology Lemley ’91, and Lee Van Pelt Daniel Pollak ’08—who (BCLT) cosponsored FTC ’93, examined the present turned down a private- hearings exploring how and why life sciences and system and debated improvements. Suzanne firm offer to clerk at the information technology firms buy, sell, and license Michel ’93, the FTC’s assistant director for policy, Alaska Supreme Court— patents. Discussion at the Haas School of Business’s helped organize the hearings. agrees. “Knowing I might Wells Fargo Room was polite but pointed as a blue- BCLT executive director Robert Barr says the get LRAP coverage defi-

ribbon assortment of patent law practitioners, aca- FTC brings useful perspective to patent debates. e s) e rg (M block nitely influenced my deci- demics—including BCLT co-directors Professors “The patent office tends to look only at whether to sion,” he says. “And I’m Peter Menell and Robert Merges, and Samuelson grant patents to protect inventors in accordance very glad it did, because Clinic director Jason Schultz ’00—and government with the law,” he says. “The FTC looks at the sys- clerking has been officials explained their needs and expressed their tem’s impact on competition and innovation and fantastic.” frustrations with the current patent system. whether the law should be changed. It’s a more bal-

—Andrew Cohen Menell says the center provides an environ- anced point of view.” —Fred Sandsmark Ji m (illustration). colon t e rry

8 | Transcript | SPRING 2009 AT THE LEADING EDGE OF RESEARCH FOREFRONT AND SERVICE

Polar Land Grab Global warming may heat up tion than a gambit by Russia to support its claim to a huge swath of Arctic territory. conflicts over claims to Arctic The circumpolar nations—Canada, the United territory States, Denmark, Russia, and Norway—have squabbled unendingly over territorial rights in ne August day in the summer of the Arctic, making claims and counterclaims to 2007, two small submarines dove international regulatory bodies. But the effects of down to the ocean floor directly climate change have raised the stakes. According beneath the North Pole. A robotic to some models, accelerated warming will render O arm unfolded from one and planted a Russian the Arctic Ocean ice-free in summers as soon as flag—made of titanium—into the seabed. The 2015. What had once been a dream may soon be New York Times called the act—carried out by possible: the exploitation of Arctic oil and gas, what Russia’s government said was a scientific estimated to be as high as 40 percent of the plan- expedition—“an openly choreographed public- et’s untapped reserves. ity stunt.” But it was less a grab for global atten- The prospect of relatively easy access to the

illustration by Jean-FRANCOIS MARTIN SPRING 2009 | Transcript | 9 FOREFRONT Arctic floor has created a “schizophrenic world,” diate hostilities: Existing international law grants says Boalt professor and ocean law expert David each nation territorial rights to the waters and Caron ’83. On one hand, there are those who are seabed at least 200 miles from its coastline. “pretty giddy” at the prospect of tapping into the Additionally, the countries can claim as national Arctic’s subterranean resources. On the other, territory sea floor that extends considerably far- “somber and concerned” people are hoping to ther based on its geomorphic similarity to the protect the environment and establish coopera- mainland. Just a handful of minor border dis- tive regional governance. putes need to be resolved, Caron says, and they For now, the other circumpolar nations are fol- can wait decades because there’s so much uncon- lowing Russia’s lead. “At a minimum,” says Caron, tested territory to exploit first. “they all want to make a claim. They don’t want But lack of conflict doesn’t equal consensus on to have been silent, and therefore to lose.” regional issues, particularly in environmental matters. Russia—the number one Arctic pol- Cold war? luter—is the region’s behemoth: Its Arctic coast- The five nations appear grimly serious about pro- line sprawls almost twice as far as that of Canada, tecting their territorial prerogatives in the region. and more than three million of Russia’s inhabit- ARCTIC CIRCLER: As a For example, in a CNN.com interview on August ants live above the 60th parallel north, many in Coast Guard officer in the 9, then-Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper industrial cities. By comparison, Canada has 1970s, ocean law expert Professor David Caron ’83 stated that “Canada has a choice when it comes fewer than 100,000 people living that far north. flew over, walked on, and to defending our sovereignty over the Arctic.” Russian river systems contribute 88 percent of dove under Arctic ice. Those sound like fighting words, but Caron—a the Arctic Ocean’s fresh water, much of that preeminent expert on international law as well as tainted with industrial pollutants. ocean law and policy—sees no danger of imme- But most alarming is the fact that the Soviet Union has dumped massive amounts of nuclear waste in the Arctic for decades. Russia, amidst the openness of the early 1990s, committed itself The Ice Age Goeth to addressing this nuclear legacy, but the funding Some climate models predict ice-free summers in has been slow in coming. And while most cir- the Arctic as soon as 2015. cumpolar nations have robust environmental regimes, Caron politely says Russia is “playing Arctic Region catch-up” in building the regulatory agency presence needed in its Arctic areas. In time, Arctic governance and environmental protection will come from two institutions, Caron expects. First, the current Arctic Council, an informal organization of circumpolar and other nations, needs to be strengthened. Today, it can be hamstrung by politics; for example, by mutual agreement the Council RUSSIA will not discuss the nuclear waste dumped by the USSR in the Kara U.S. ARCTIC and White Seas. OCEAN The second type of institution would be regional fishery man- NORWN WWAAY agement organizations (RFMOs), multilateral treaty organizations CANADA GREENLGREENLAND for fishery management on the (DENMARK) high seas. Caron thinks the Arctic Ocean’s size—5.43 million square ) miles—may require two RFMOs. Asian nations seem particularly interested in fishing Arctic waters. Broad international participation in these institutions would help to counter f o g raphi c (in Ghel f i A rno Russia’s influence. “I’d like to see other coun- k (Caron). (Caron). k tries besides the United States talking with B lo c

Russia. We already have so many things to work Ji m

10 | Transcript | SPRING 2009 Jim Block Funds the Hedge Clipping 2009 last January. introducing the Hedge Fund Transparency Act of in Iowa of Grassley Charles Senator saidkets,” on as their watchdog for our nation’s financial mar their operations to the agency that Americans rely transparent andbasic disclose information about be should day every power market in dollars of organizationshundreds that billions of canwield exception.“Anyno of groupis crisis current the Capital Term Management Long in 1998 or Amaranth in 2006—and arise—think problems financialwheneverreceivescrutiny funds hedge shouting matches, observers are wary. Historically, show finance cable-TV current for ammo much provided vehicles—hasn’t investment private secretive, funds—large, hedge of role the And while punish. to someone for meltdown—and market another prevent to ways for looking are coolers (among those who still have water jobs). around and newspapers) have hedge fund regulations legislators seeking to expand A BCLBE researcher cautions a followed 2020, by waters surface Arctic ply easily imagine that a convoy of destroyers could can one and decades, for Ocean Arctic the ing their claims. There have been nuclear subs prowl alwaysbecause possible nations want to protect not to be assumed,” he says, and militarization is “Cooperative governance as a historical matteris out with them,” Caron says. T Legislators, regulators, and the general publicgeneral the Legislators,regulators,and so. cautiously but optimistic, is Caron is is on the front pages (in cities that still chicanery and the need for regulation financial about buzz the and tatters, in remains system financial global he - - the last decade.” August 1975 has been ice-free in every summer for stood I where place “The wistfulness. some change is so dramatic in my lifetime,” he says with over, walked on, and dove flew under Arctic he ice. “The 1970s the in officer Guard Coast a As warming’smatters—and global effects. military decade later by aircraft carriers. Caron has had personal experience with Arctic —Fred Sandsmark COUNSELING CAUTION: to fully understand hedge funds before enacting SPRING 2009 Anita Krug urges lawmakers more regulatory laws. |

Transcript

11 FOREFRONT Not so fast, says Anita Krug, a director with the until the market tanked, collectively greater than business department of Howard Rice Nemerovski $2 trillion—make sudden or unexpected moves. Canady Falk & Rabkin and a research fellow “I think most people knew that there would be a studying financial legislation for the Berkeley bevy of proposals that either were directed specifi- Center for Law, Business and the Economy cally at hedge funds or their managers, or directed (BCLBE). “I get the sense that policy makers often at the activities that hedge funds tend to engage don’t have a clear understanding of how hedge in,” Krug says. What surprises her is the lack of funds are structured,” Krug says. “There seems to focus in the current legislation. be a lack of awareness of what a hedge fund is ver- The aforementioned inability to differentiate sus what a hedge fund manager is.” She also thinks between hedge funds themselves and the man- that Transparency Act authors may not fully agement companies that operate them is a major understand hedge fund activities and the extent to deficiency that can lead to well-meaning but which those activities pervade the capital markets. poorly-targeted legislation. For example, the pro- “It’s hard to see how they can achieve effective posed Transparency Act requires annual filing regulation without with the SEC of the names and addresses of all becoming informed on beneficial owners of the hedge fund, and further “I get the sense that policy all of those topics,” requires the SEC to make that information pub- makers often don’t have a clear Krug says. lic. “That implies to anybody who is relatively well-versed in hedge funds that the fund needs to understanding of how hedge Willing and able report the name and address of each investor,” funds are structured.” That’s an information Krug says. “That seems really, really unusual— gap Krug is ready to egregious almost. But it’s not what [Transparency — Anita Krug help fill. She certainly Act co-author] Senator [Carl] Levin intended. knows the topic: About He issued a press release a few days later saying 95 percent of her cli- he intended that anybody that has participation ents are investment managers, and most of them in the fees coming off the hedge fund would be are hedge fund managers. After she taught a course identified to the SEC.” on hedge fund law at Boalt in fall of 2008, Ken Taymor, executive director of BCLBE, approached A congressional oversight Krug to apply her practical knowledge to dissect- Krug also disputes Senator Grassley’s assertion ing and analyzing proposed financial regulations. that hedge funds operate “free of government reg- She has authored two papers so far: “The Hedge ulation and oversight.” Krug insists that there are Fund Transparency Act of 2009,” and “The regulations and she cites the experiences of her Regulatory Response to Madoff,” both available at California clients, many of whom are already http://www.law.berkeley.edu/4335.htm. required to become registered with the state. Most Given the current crisis, the push for regulation hedge fund managers “know what regulation, in doesn’t surprise Krug. The proposed law, she says, one form or another, is like, and they deal with it has two worthy goals: protecting individual inves- on a day-to-day basis,” Krug says. “Additional regu- tors from fraudulent activity, and protecting the lation is probably not the end of the world for larger markets against systemic problems that can them. It would increase their operational costs, occur when hedge funds—whose assets were, legal costs, and compliance costs. All things being equal, their lives are easier with less regulation rather than more. But they can carry on.” Krug’s goal is to play a significant advisory role in tempering regulatory measures with pragma- tism. In addition to authoring papers, she hopes to convene roundtables of regulators, legislators, investment managers, lawyers, and academics to inject some reality into the process. Professor Jesse Fried, co-director of BCLBE, says that Krug’s timing is apt. “This is an unprec- edented period of regulatory action, as far as the TOP RECRUITER: BCLBE executive director Ken financial markets and private investment funds Taymor tapped Anita are concerned,” he says. “We’re poised to play a Krug’s expertise to help role in that initiative. We’re trying to be in front unravel proposed hedge fund regulations. of the action, or at least right alongside it, rather than lagging behind with commentary after the fact.” —Fred Sandsmark

12 | Transcript | SPRING 2009 stephen voss I sion of the UC system’s successful undergraduate dle important situations was pretty incredible.” han to how governmenttellingofficials student, full-time placements this past semester. “Me, a law Rights Division as one of seven Boalt students in workedfor the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil nize job discrimination issues,” says Quizon, who session for 75 federal employees on how to recog wasin,Iasked to help lead substantivea training snowboard just seemed cruel,” she laughs. decade. “And to see thatall snow no placewith to a than more in January Washington, coldestDC of Law—was a smart move. Capital Gains full-semester programs in Washington, DC Boalt Hall is among only a handful of law schools boasting This fledgling program—an innovative expan fledgling innovative program—an This The gain’s been worth the pain.“Just two weeks Granted, it wasn’t easy leaving California for the placement effort by Boalt and UCLA’s School the UCDC Law Program—a new joint field Dyanna Quizon ’10 to see that taking part in t didn’t take much time inside the Beltway for - - - Senate and House committees, national representatives, nonprofit congressional and senators for doctrine,real-worldand practice. Studentswork DC effort—immerses law students in legal theory, list list of details to clear the program for takeoff. coordinatorment SchechterSue long finalized a place field Boalt year, Last facilities. and ments Washington and securing commitments for place developing the program, exploring its feasibilityin role pivotalin a DC—played in leave on rently semester programs in Washington. is Boalt among only result,a handful of law a schools boasting full- As involvement. level school grad- of participation first the marks partnership UCLA’s and Boalt year, each program UCDC Justice, and various regulatory agencies. U.S.organizations,advocacyDepartmentof the “The UC“The system as awhole was really support ’92—cur Shelanski Howard professor Boalt hundreds of While UC undergrads flock to the

SPRING 2009 - - - - QUICK STUDY: Civil Rights Division. Department of Justice’s assignment at the U.S. received a major Dyanna Quizon ’10 after arriving in DC, |

Transcript Two weeks

13 FOREFRONT ive,” Shelanski says, “and I’m extremely pleased at realizing a longtime career aspiration. The attor- how the program has taken shape.” neys in his office have been “extremely generous” In addition to their full-time placements, stu- with their time, involving him in advocacy before dents take a weekly seminar that spotlights the a human rights commission, advising a State range of perspectives involved in federal law- Department bureau on statutory mandates, and making, expands their awareness of career substantive work on pending human rights choices in Washington, and explores different treaties. ways of being a lawyer. “Our program is unique “I think practical training is the most important in that it brings students’ varied workplace expe- and most neglected aspect of legal education,” says riences into the classroom,” says program direc- Israel. “Boalt is really pushing to expand those tor Karen Lash. opportunities for students, and this program is a Thanks to Lash’s extensive DC connections, the perfect example.” seminar features a powerhouse list of VIP guest In addition to Quizon and Israel, Boalt mem- speakers that includes senior counsel at the U.S. bers of the inaugural UCDC Law Program include State and Treasury Departments, top Senate Eleanor Blume ’10 (House Committee on Committee staff, lead- Financial Services); Eric Fong ’09 (Senator “Boalt is really pushing to ing nonprofit directors, Barbara Boxer’s office); Aaron Gershbock ’09 expand practical training oppor- major lobbyists, and (Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, reporters from National Technology, and Homeland Security); Sam tunities for students, and this Public Radio and The Houshower ’10 (International Affairs Office of the program is a perfect example.” Washington Post. General Counsel, U.S. Department of the For Brian Israel ’09, Treasury); and Henry Stern ’09 (House Energy — Brian Israel ’09 working in the Human and Commerce Committee). The recently estab- Rights and Refugees lished UC Irvine School of Law will eventually Division of the U.S. join Boalt and UCLA in the program. Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser, Interested students may contact Schechter at the program is a natural and timely fit. “Without it, [email protected] or 510-643-7387. “I being in Washington would’ve required an extra strongly recommend it,” says Quizon. “I got to semester,” he says. “Instead, I’m earning credits here actively apply legal theories we learned in class to and finishing on time, which is a huge benefit.” real-life situations, which is the best possible train- With a background in international law, Israel is ing for future lawyers.” —Andrew Cohen The Group of Five A Boalt center hosts a UC Berkeley panel on the G20’s role in the world financial crisis

wo weeks before the Group of 20 Taymor, the center’s executive director. “It’s one Finance Ministers and Bank way to keep building our body of concrete Governors (G20) convened in knowledge from various viewpoints and use it to London, another group—four UC inform and advise our target audiences on key BerkeleyT economists and one Boalt law profes- issues.” sor— gathered at Booth Auditorium to offer and Boalt and economics Professor Aaron Edlin discuss their predictions and prescriptions for moderated the forum, which featured Professor the critical international summit. Andrew Rose of the Haas School of Business, Sponsored by the Berkeley Center for Law, and Professors Barry Eichengreen, Maurice Business and the Economy (BCLBE), the forum Obstfeld, and Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas of the “Global Economic and Financial Crisis: What Department of Economics. Each dissected a key STIRRING THE POT: Boalt Should the G20 Do?” is representative of the aspect of the G20—comprised of nations that professor and panel mod- multidisciplinary component of BCLBE’s represent about 85 percent of the global erator Aaron Edlin pushed k

research and public policy strategy. “Events like economy. B lo c the economists to amplify

their positions. this are at the core of our mission,” says Ken The panelists offered critical assessments of Ji m

14 | Transcript | SPRING 2009 the G20 body and suggestions for making it more Treasury market: “You’d have access to whatever effective. Eichengreen recommended revamping you deposit, and could potentially earn a much the G20’s unwieldy organizational structure, not- higher return. That would also avoid excess capi- ing that “getting 20 nations together on a confer- tal flows into places like the U.S., which can cre- ence call in an emergency situation isn’t easy.” ate instability.” Examining the perils of plummeting trade and rising protectionism, Obstfeld revealed that 85 Digging Deeper percent of G20 countries have recently instituted Edlin didn’t hesitate to drill down when he or raised trade barriers; Rose urged that nations thought more explanation was required. “That rely on the World Trade Organization’s dispute was my role,” he says. “I wanted the panelists to settlement mechanisms, not retaliation, to nego- engage each other and flesh out the core issues.” tiate lowering or eliminating them. For example, he questioned Gourinchas’s sug- gestion that the IMF recycle reserves from Eye on the IMF emerging countries, asking why countries that Beseeching G20 leaders to strengthen the role have accumulated their own reserves would of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), invest in the IMF. Gourinchas explained why the organization has Gourinchas replied that these sovereign declined in influence over the last several years. reserves are tied up in long-term assets and that “A growing number of countries believe it pro- “you want a lot of liquid assets in case something PRAGMATIC PLANNER: UC vides too little resources too late,” he said, “and happens in the middle of the night.” He also said Berkeley economist Barry that the strings attached to the lending are too global management by the IMF “would make it Eichengreen called for tough.” Consequently, many emerging nations easier for those resources to be invested in reshaping the G20’s bloated organizational accumulated their own large reserves over the higher-yielding instruments.” structure. past 18 months—and have generally fared much Taymor declared the panel a success. “We’re better than those reliant on the IMF. providing forums where experts can interact and “There’s particularly strong IMF distrust in critique each other’s work, which makes them Asia,” said Gourinchas, winner of the 2007 more accountable for their analysis and offers a Bernàcer Prize for best European economist valuable perspective,” he says. “Collaborating under 40 working in macroeconomics and across disciplines makes it easier to pinpoint THINKING GLOBALLY: Award- finance. “They’d rather fall on their own sword where there are important information gaps. winning economist Pierre- Olivier Gourinchas of the and self-insure in times of crisis.” Then we try to figure out the most useful way to UC Berkeley Department Gourinchas will no doubt be encouraged that fill them.”—Andrew Cohen of Economics. G20 leaders did in fact agree to for- tify the IMF with new resources and functions, pushing through a U.S.-supported plan to triple its main lending reserves to $750 billion. They also created a $250 billion special drawing rights alloca- tion and made $100 billion of lending available to multilateral development banks, meaning the IMF will have $1.1 trillion in tow. Still, that pales in comparison to the $7 trillion emerging countries have raised themselves, up from $4 trillion in 2005. Beyond simply bol- stering IMF reserves, Gourinchas outlined possible—if improba- ble—options such as a stronger insurance program, erasing certain lending conditions, and reforming the IMF’s voting structure. Gourinchas suggested that the has) IMF directly manage and invest reserves from emerging econo- c (Gourin k mies—as opposed to them earning B lo c

Ji m just 1 to 2 percent in the U.S.

SPRING 2009 | Transcript | 15 A Campaign Priority: Financial Aid Dressed for Success!

Samika Boyd ’10 Does It Right with Help from Friends and Financial Aid

t’s springtime in Berkeley—weather that brings out the flip-flops, shorts, and sun- dresses—but Samika Boyd ’10 wears a navy-blue suit, shiny navy-blue pumps, andI pearls. Is she making a presentation, or interviewing? “No,” she says. “I always wear a suit to school.” Her grandmother taught her that if she practices something right, she’ll do it right, she explains. She’s training to be a lawyer, and being comfortable in the uniform is part of that. But there’s a practical reason, too. “It’s easy,” she says, laughing. “Everything’s on one hanger.” Even having the option to wear a suit to law school shows how far Boyd has come—and the vital importance of Boalt’s generous financial aid. She grew up in poverty in New Orleans. Raised by her mother, a shy and once illiterate woman, Boyd found herself filling out paperwork and sending off the family bills at age 12, and speaking up for her family. “I always had a voice,” she recalls. “I was a little advocate for my mommy, my grandma, my cous- ins, for people who felt they couldn’t advocate for themselves.” School was her refuge from the crime, drugs, and hopelessness of her neighborhood. There she learned about Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and other African Americans

who used the law to change BLOCK JIM “When I was asked why I deserved a scholarship, I said it’s not Dressed because of what it for Success! would do for me. Ultimately, it’s what it would allow me to do for others.”

American history. When she graduated as making a contribution to the future well-being valedictorian, she selected Howard of society. “When I was asked why I deserved a University—her heroes’ alma mater—and scholarship,” Boyd explains. “I said it’s not earned a tuition scholarship and other assis- because of what it would do for me. tance (including a scholarship from Wendy’s, Ultimately, it’s what it would allow me to do the fast-food chain where she worked full-time for others.”—Fred Sandsmark while in high school). She left New Orleans for the second time—her first time was on the senior class trip—in her life, arriving in Washington, DC in 2001 with “three raggedy suitcases, $75 in my pocket, and an unshake- able dream of being a lawyer.” She thrived, graduating—summa cum YOU MAKE THE DIFFERENCE laude—completing a Master’s degree, studying in South Africa, and serving as an intern Samika’s proud of her amazing with Hillary Rodham Clinton. And in DC, journey but also deeply grateful Boyd met African-American professionals, including Scharn Robinson, Ph.D. ’98, for the help she’s received along Assistant US Attorney for the District of the way, including the need-based Columbia, who helped guide her toward Boalt financial aid that made her legal Hall. “God puts little angels in my life to guide me along the way,” Boyd says of Robinson and education possible. others who have supported and mentored her. Andrea Peterson, who taught Property in Please help other outstanding and Boyd’s first semester at Berkeley, is another of deserving people like Samika get a her angels. “As I got to know her, I realized that superior legal education by making she wasn’t just smart,” Peterson says of Boyd. “She is unusually eager to get the maximum out a gift to the Boalt Hall Fund today. of her years in law school. She’s the type of per- You’ll find a remit envelope on the son that Boalt is justifiably proud of.” Boyd often speaks to young people about last page. the seven Ps that guide her life: prayer, pur- pose, passion, a plan, preparation, patience, and perseverance. She’ll keep working with kids after graduation. “I want to be a go-to litigator,” she says. “I’m very interested in appellate work. But I have a personal responsibility to reach back and help, because many people have helped me.” Helping Boalt Hall guarantee a superior law school education to students like Boyd is also

SPRING 2009 | Transcript | 17 Q&A Reliving the Dream Dean Edley looks back with satisfaction and forward with confidence. Interviewed by Jared Simpson

This July will mark the completion of Dean Edley’s first five years at Boalt Hall’s helm. The timeline highlights major milestones of a heady, invigorating, and enormously productive period in Boalt’s history—a time when words like dream and vision have seemed less like ephemeral ideals and more like unequivocal marching orders. Transcript managed to catch up with Edley—not as easy as you might think—to get his assessment of how we’ve done so far and what the future holds.—J.S. Dean Christopher Edley, Jr.’s First Five Years

JULY 1, 2004 2005 2006 Christopher Edley, Jr. begins ten- Collaboration begins with Haas Negotiations initiated with ure as the 11th Dean of Boalt Hall School of Business on designing campus to restore dispro- with plans to restore Boalt’s stand- a shared new building between portionate state funding ing as a premier law school. He the two schools cuts imposed on law and immediately sets a goal to expand business schools earlier in the core faculty by 40 percent, ren- 2005 the decade ovate facilities, create multidisci- Dean proposes multiyear budget- plinary policy think tanks, expand ing model, including increased 2006 financial aid, and launch a capital fundraising and student tuition; Dean proposes phased campaign long-term tuition benchmarked at growth of LL.M. program FALL 2006 “market minus $5,000,” with Boalt announces an exten- 2005 to 100 per year from 40, financial aid and public interest sive revision of its LRAP pro- Long-term remodeling plan to and expansion of 2L loan forgiveness to be the gram, making it the most expand and transform Boalt’s “superstar” transfers to 40 nation’s most generous generous of any law school in facilities begins with the library’s from 20 the nation Wilson, Sonsini, Rosati & FALL 2005 Goodrich reading room, putting Chief Justice SPRING 2006 Dean establishes guaran- FALL 2006 Wi-Fi and electricity for laptops in Earl Warren teed summer stipends for Campus puts a “hold” on the the large lecture rooms, and cre- Institute on students to work in public site for the planned Law & ating new seminar rooms Race, interest or public service Business building, and Ethnicity and jobs, citing Boalt’s public planning is launched for an Diversity mission alternative—the 55,000 FALL 2004 launched square feet South Addition Berkeley Center for Law, replacing the courtyard FALL 2005 SPRING 2006 Business and the Economy facing Bancroft Way (BCBLE) launched Center for Law, Energy & the A total of five new faculty Environment launched added since the dean’s FALL 2004 arrival Chancellor agrees to share finan- FALL 2005 cial burden of faculty expansion $125-million Campaign for Boalt Hall launched

FALL 2004 Planning begins for multiyear building and renovation 2005 2006

18 | Transcript | Spring 2009 Jared Simpson: You joined Boalt with a very ambitious “Our important innovations in agenda for change and growth. Do you feel that after the first five years, we’re on track to realize all of your hopes and curriculum and real-world dreams for the school? Dean Edley: We are on track and we’ve exceeded any reason- research will be the envy—and able expectations—although not mine, I confess. Our strength and competitiveness have improved in every respect, from model—across legal education.” faculty to facilities, and from student services to summer fellowships. There’s a giant hole outside my window, and almost —Dean Edley nonstop construction noise that shouts “Progress!” rather convincingly. What will the school look like after your tenth year as dean? What will we be adding to the timeline in the spring 2014 A comprehensive answer would be quite lengthy, but tell issue? us in broad strokes what you think the economic downturn Oy! I can’t wrap my mind around that premise. Hard enough to means for the law school’s future? believe I’m closing in on just five. But I can tell you with abso- I’m most worried for our students and recent graduates. The lute confidence that we’re going to be stronger. Our important tighter private and public interest job markets will require innovations in curriculum and real-world research will be the more aggressive and flexible job-hunting strategies, and there- envy—and model—across legal education. Our facilities will fore more support from Boalt. Paid summer positions for 1Ls be dramatically improved, from the South Addition to a major and 2Ls will be fewer in number, which means more demand overhaul of the interior of our 55 year-old structure. Our for summer fellowships from Boalt and more debt upon gradu- students will be far too smart, but our faculty will love them as ation. So we need to find the resources to invest in our stu- much as we do today. Couldn’t possibly love them more. dents—from financial aid to career counselors. At the same time, we are expanding services for alumni job-seekers. When you announced in your message in Transcript (spring Our challenge is on the revenue side. Alumni and founda- 2008) that you were going to stay, you mentioned—-a bit tion support is doing a stutter-step, as nervousness and portfo- wistfully, it seemed—that you hoped to sail more. Have you lio declines are forcing folks to hold back. But our needs are up realized that vision? at the same time that donors are feeling squeezed. There’s no That’s been a total, abject failure. But a good dean must be a

Jim block (Dean & Timeline) & (Dean block Jim pretty way to describe it. dreamer, don’t you think? n

2007 2008 SPRING 2008 FEB. 2009 Ambitious construc- Competitive Compensation Campus-wide Climate Policy Dean Edley named special tion and remodeling Initiative launched to keep Institute formed as part of advisor to University of continues with a new Boalt’s faculty salaries competi- Boalt’s Center for Law, Energy California President Mark classrooms project tive with other top-tier schools; & the Environment Yudof, focusing on UC’s role on and modernized funding made possible through key state and national research large lecture halls an increase in the LL.M. program SPRING 2008 priorities, such as school for foreign lawyers The $125-million Campaign for reform and climate change Boalt Hall passes the halfway mark SPRING 2009 2007 For the second year running, Boalt Hall is Center for the Study of Law and Society undertakes SPRING 2008 ranked No. 6 among law schools by US effort to retain international leadership in empirical Concurrent with his appoint- News & World Report legal studies through additional faculty hiring and ment as UC president, Mark research activity Yudof joins Boalt’s faculty SPRING 2009 Launch of UCDC Law Program—a new joint field placement effort by Boalt and UCLA’s SPRING 2007 FALL 2008 School of Law, making Boalt one of only a Berkeley Center for 2008 Need-based financial aid pro- handful of law schools boasting full-semester Criminal Justice launched West Terrace patio, new student gram extensively revised, programs in Washington center, 18 new faculty offices, underscoring Boalt’s commit- SPRING 2007 completely refurbished moot ment to enhance access and SPRING 2009 At this point, a total of 16 court facility, and two new mid- inclusion even while raising Boalt announces a new Accelerated Summer new core faculty hired size classrooms tuition LL.M. Program for International Students to since the dean’s arrival begin summer 2009 2008 FALL 2008 New high-tech classroom cre- Berkeley Center on Health, SPRING 2009 ated through a Koret Foundation Economic & Family Security Berkeley Law Center for Research and FALL 2007 gift launched Administration at 2850 Telegraph Avenue UC Board of Regents approves opens, including offices for Boalt’s several Dean’s tuition strategy, includ- SPRING 2008 FALL 2008 research centers ing commitment to let the pro- Launch of The Honorable G. Groundbreaking for the ceeds be used exclusively at William & Ariadna Miller Institute 55,000-square foot South SPRING 2009 Boalt, a move necessary to for Global Challenges and the Addition expansion, with move- Graduating J.D. class attains 96% participa- maintain Boalt’s status as a Law in scheduled for August 2011 tion rate for its fundraising campaign, mak- premier law school ing it the fifth consecutive class to exceed SPRING 2008 90%, despite sharp tuition increases Boalt jumps from No. 13 to No. 6 in US News & World Report’s SPRING 2009 At this point, Boalt has hired 32 new core ranking faculty since Dean Edley’s arrival 2007 2008 2009

SPRING 2009 | Transcript | 19 COMMUNITY SPIRITS: (From left) Gracie Jones Whitaker, EBCLC housing intake specialist; Laura Lane ’96, EBCLC Housing Practice director; Gabe Podesta ’10, former clinical student FEATURE It Takes a Community

To keep the water flowing for tenants in foreclosure, Boalt students at the East Bay Community Law Center tapped new strategies. By John Birdsall

mates had decided to do, erkeley tenant Melvin Green recalls visiting his landlord Green sought EBCLC’s help. at her five-bedroom home in Livermore. As a courtesy, Housing intake specialist Gracie Jones Whitaker—one he took his shoes off before going inside. But, says the of the center’s front-line service providers—was swift 51-year-old disabled army veteran, she failed to show simi- and effective. She called Green’s landlord and told her lar courtesy when, in mid-March, Green found a foreclosure notice that if she couldn’t come up B with a solution for the unpaid tacked to the door of his Sacramento Street apartment. No water bills, she’d refer the matter to small-claims court. The warning, no explanation from the landlord. woman promptly settled with the East Bay Municipal Utility “I came home and was caught in a situation,” says Green. “It District (EBMUD) and, after two humiliating days of relying was bad. Hurtful. Stressful.” But this was only the beginning on the plumbing at the Howie Harp Center, Melvin Green was of his ordeal. A week and a half later, Green’s water was turned once again soaping up in his own shower. off. “It was very humiliating. All of a sudden you’re having to Though a small skirmish in the larger battle for tenants’ do things you’ve never had to do”—like showering and using rights, Jones Whitaker’s intervention on behalf of Green per- the bathroom at an Oakland homeless shelter. “Mind-bog- fectly illustrates a central component of EBCLC’s mission: gling,” Green says, “especially when you don’t know your problem solving. Though it has a staff of full- and part-time rights and don’t have many options.” attorneys—and, in any given semester, as many as four dozen Green may not have known his rights, but he did know about neophyte lawyers in the form of clinical students—the Berke- the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), which pro- ley clinic is more than just an engine of litigation for the under- vides free legal services to low-income residents in northern resourced. “We’re always going to keep in mind what our cli- Alameda County. Founded by Boalt students in 1988, EBCLC ents are experiencing, and either open the door so they have is a community-based component of the law school’s clinical a place at the table, or advocate for them,” says Tirien Stein- program. Rather than giving up and leaving like his two room- bach ’99, the center’s executive director. “We try to look at

Photography by winni wintermeyer spring 2009 | Transcript | 21 things more as problem-solvers rather than as litigators.” than extolling the benefits of flossing, a poster on the wall asks: The recent epidemic of foreclosures nationwide has hit “On probation? Off parole? YOU CAN VOTE! Even if you Alameda County particularly hard—Oakland saw over 15,000 have a felony conviction. Register Now!” That, and Housing foreclosure filings in the third quarter of 2008 alone—and intake specialist Gracie Jones Whitaker’s voice suddenly ECBLC-style problem solving is in especially high demand breaking the quiet. these days. Throughout 2008, the center was inundated by “I understand there’s illegal activity happening in this unit,” pleas for help from tenants’ whose power, heat, and water was she says into the phone. abruptly cut off. The student volunteers in EBCLC’s Housing Jones Whitaker is speaking on behalf of a client, a gray- Practice suddenly found themselves not only in the midst of haired man standing at the reception desk. There’s mold creep- client interviews and deposition taking, but also at the center ing up the walls near his bed, and the landlord refuses to deal of a maelstrom of sometimes contentious policy discussions with it. “So you could have somebody come there and do the among public agencies. That wasn’t where Gabe Podesta ’10, work, right?” she asks the landlord, in a tone that seems to leave a member of the student team that addressed utility shutoffs little room for equivocation. “No, sir, there’s no way you can in fall 2008, expected to be. But it gave them—and the tenants paint over mold. That’s gotta be a rip-out,” she says. The land- they were advocating for—a powerful voice. “Having a wider lord speaks. “Can you put that in writing?” Jones Whitaker reach can result in a better long-term outcome for your client,” asks sharply. “When is that person going to come out and start Podesta says. that work?” But first, Podesta and his fellow students would have to get The man whose mold problem will soon be a thing of the someone to listen. past is one of about 20 clients Jones Whitaker will see on this day. She’ll also field between 60 and 70 calls from renters like Tenants Squeezed him and like Melvin Green. The foreclosure crisis has added It’s late morning, and bright light is filtering through the high precipitously to what had already been a crushing demand for windows of the carrel-crammed offices of EBCLC in South help—Oakland saw over 15,000 foreclosure filings in the third Berkeley. With its gray walls, gray carpet in the waiting area, quarter of 2008 alone—causing EBCLC to institute a recent and hushed air, it feels a bit like a dentist’s office. But, rather ban on drop-ins. Today, only clients with appointments will Education + Advocacy = Justice At EBCLC, Boalt students get real

Since its founding in 1988, more than 1,000 law facing reductions in grants and services. students have interned at The East Bay Community • Community Economic Justice, which works Law Center (EBCLC), participating in the organiza- with local activists, politicians, and labor and tion’s ambitious mission: justice through education neighborhood groups to realize progressive and advocacy. In addition to Housing and Clean change for Oakland’s working-class Slate, EBCLC practices include: communities.

• The HIV/AIDS Law Project, which delivers a In 2007, EBCLC launched the Community Legal wide range of legal services to low-income cli- Access Service Site in a Shattuck Avenue store- ents in Alameda County; the Medical-Legal front in South Berkeley. Staffed by Boalt students, Partnership with Children’s Hospital Oakland EBCLC staff, and volunteer attorneys, the self-help serves kids and their families. The Health & center offers free public access to computers, Immigration Project helps residents’ regularize legal forms, and referral guides. EBCLC also their legal status so they can access medical directs both a weekly Workers’ Rights Clinic and services. Tenants’ Rights Workshop in Berkeley. The Suitcase Clinic does homeless legal outreach at • Income Support, which supports welfare four Berkeley drop-in sites. And twice a week, the recipients—especially people with language Low Income Eviction Project provides free legal

barriers in the Southeast Asian community— help at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland. W intermeyer inni W inni

22 | Transcript | spring 2009 get to see someone. dential occupants or the pub- Between July 1, 2007, and lic.” What’s more, in Oakland June 30, 2008, the center’s and Berkeley, cities with Just Housing Practice—the larg- Cause for Eviction ordi- est of EBCLC’s five prac- nances, the simple fact of tices—served almost 4,000 foreclosure can’t end an oth- clients. You might expect this erwise lawful tenancy. And in year’s figure to exceed that. 1985, Gross v. Superior Court Except, of course, that the affirmed that renters who stay practice has only one Jones on in foreclosed properties Whitaker, and a small hand- do so under essentially the ful of attorneys and a few same terms—meaning that, dozen clinical students. “It if the previous landlord paid doesn’t matter if a million the water bill, the new land- people are seeking help,” says lord is obliged to do so, too. Housing Practice director But these new owners— Laura Lane ’96. “The demand what EBCLC staff attorney for services always exceeds Marc Janowitz characterizes our ability to provide them.” as financial institutions that For the fiscal year are worldwide in their reach, ending June 2008, EBCLC generally represented by received $1.6 million in out-of-town legal counsel— grants and contract support, don’t always play by local and just under $1 million in rules. “What we’ve found,” donations. Janowitz says, “is that these “We try to look at things financial institutions and Tapped Out their attorneys ignore these Tenants who face eviction more as problem-solvers laws at will and are extremely due to foreclosure live in an reticent about spending any anguishing limbo of uncer- rather than as litigators.” of their resources on any- tainty and helplessness. Per- thing such as keeping the haps nothing better illustrates —Tirien Steinbach ’99, Executive Director utilities on.” their vulnerability, and their Throughout the summer need for advocacy from ser- of the East Bay Community Law Center and fall of 2008, amidst a vice providers like EBCLC, growing clamor for help from than the practice of utility shutoffs. East Bay renters, clinical students like Suzanne Martindale ’10 Here’s how it often plays out: When rental properties slip began to seek ways to put a permanent stop the practice. into foreclosure, financially strapped owners often leave behind a stack of unpaid utility bills. Banks or other financial The Memo That Roared institutions that find themselves titleholders may be unwilling Fall 2008: Martindale’s first semester as a clinical student. to pay for lights and water, and utility companies are under- After listening to scores of EBCLC clients relate stories she standably eager to cut their losses. In single-unit properties, calls “infuriating,” it was clear that low-income East Bay ten- or in buildings where each unit has its own meter, tenants ants were facing a perfect storm of foreclosure-generated might be able to transfer service to their names (assuming they abuses. can come up with the deposits and processing fees). But in Matindale describes the tenants’ predicament in much the multi-unit buildings with a single meter, that’s rarely an option, same terms as Janowitz. “Many banks (especially if they are since any one tenant is probably unwilling—if not financially not headquartered in the Bay Area) do not know about the unable—to assume responsibility for service to all units. So tenant protections in place in Berkeley or Oakland,” Martin- suddenly, without warning, the lights go out and the water dale explained via email. “As a result, they post illegal notices stops—and often, as in Melvin Green’s case, an eviction notice telling tenants to move within 24 or 72 hours, or simply shut goes up. In many cases a notice is unnecessary; a dwelling with off the utilities. Banks have no interest in being landlords. They no utilities is uninhabitable and a shutoff is just as good—or simply want to buy properties on the cheap so they can fix rather just as bad—as an eviction. them up a bit and flip them at a higher price.” Before you say that there oughta be a law, rest assured that When it came time to propose a final project, Martindale regulations exist. The California Public Utilities Code states and her fellow clinicals wanted to do something big, tackle a that a utility provider must not cut service when “a public seemingly intractable injustice that many clients had endured health or building officer certifies that termination would and many more would be likely to face. Stopping utility shut- B lock

Jim Jim result in a significant threat to the health or safety of the resi- offs seemed a no-brainer.

spring 2009 | Transcript | 23 Says Podesta, one of Mar- December, sent it to Andy tindale’s student teammates, “The clinic’s housing Katz, a director on EBMUD’s “Instead of doing it tenant by publicly elected seven-mem- tenant, building by building, authorities are ber board. Far from accusing we thought of trying to come the utility of acting the vil- up with a bigger solution that lain, the memo’s wording is would—hopefully—posi- incredible. The service conciliatory. “Our goals are tively impact as many of the to maintain service to tenants tenants as possible.” And the they provide is so crucial and ensure that EBMUD may group wanted to devise not collect payment from the just a theoretical fix, but a to the community, that owner financial institutions,” solution with teeth. it reads. “After careful consid- It may be initially surpris- eration of the issues involved, ing to learn that the teeth- I can’t imagine the we have come to the conclu- baring tactic was writing a sion that achieving both is memorandum. However, the suffering that would go possible.” memo was carefully crafted Suzanne Martindale de- and targeted to begin a public on without them.” scribed the approach. “We conversation that could effec- demonstrated to EBMUD tively end utility shutoffs. Or —Sheena Wadhawan, Oakland City that, while they would have at least suspend them. Attorney’s office. to comply with public offi- “One of our supervising cials’ orders when water ser- attorneys tipped us off to the vice was ordered to remain California Public Utilities Code,” Martindale recalled. The on, they still had legal grounds to pursue delinquent banks.” students found the clause about utilities’ obligation to keep the power and water on if a public official asserts health and Katz, who represents District Four, which includes Berkeley safety reasons. And, Martindale says, “the PUC also provides and North Oakland, had already been working to put a shutoff that the utility has a cause of action against property owners moratorium in place. In March 2008, he’d sponsored a suc- who act or fail to act in such a way that causes termination of cessful resolution designed to suspend water shutoffs in mul- service.” tifamily rental properties, with a six-step review process for Bingo—the students had discovered a way for the utilities each case. A second resolution kept the moratorium alive to collaborate with city attorneys to protect tenants. They through September 2008. drafted a four-page memo on EBCLC letterhead and, in early That’s the date Katz was expecting legislation by Berkeley assembly member (now state senator) Loni Hancock to table shutoffs once and for all. But Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed AB1333, which would have given the district lien authority over foreclosed properties, a remedy for unpaid A New Chance bills. At the time, Katz told the San Francisco Chronicle that, “with the governor’s veto, any option will require a tenant to take some action to continue water service.” EBCLC helps ex-offenders But, the same Chronicle story noted, Katz was looking into reintegrate into society whether EBMUD could seek to collect the bills in small-claims court. And that’s precisely what EBCLC’s clinical students’ After Housing, EBCLC’s biggest practice is Clean Slate, which— memo provided Katz and his fellow directors. At the same among related services—offers free legal information and other time, the students reached out to Oakland City Attorney John assistance to those seeking to clean up their criminal records. Russo, whom they’d worked with through Russo’s Neighbor- Even after paying their debt to society, people find it difficult to hood Law Corps, which does legal outreach to low-income reintegrate themselves into society because of the stigma of an Oakland residents. In essence, the students’ memo upped the open record. Eligible clients are those not on parole, or who have incentive for the attorney’s office to work with EBMUD, to finished at least half of their probation. Like Housing, Clean Slate’s identify the financial institutions responsible for keeping rent- approach involves both policy advocacy work and roll-your- ers’ utilities on. sleeves-up assistance by law students and attorneys with job and It’s not as if EBCLC’s memo broke ground. Instead, it served housing discrimination, education, and voting rights. As a result of as a kind of catalyst for cooperation among public agencies. ongoing outreach and state and nationwide collaborations, Clean “The conversation was already well under way,” notes EBCLC Slate has become, as its Web site states “. . . a leading voice for Housing director Lane. “EBMUD was actively looking for a criminal records policy reform at the local, regional, state, and way to not turn off people’s utilities.” federal levels.” —John Birdsall Today, Katz speaks of EBCLC as de facto partner. “I’ve

always relied on the EBCLC as a helpful resource, and look

24 | Transcript | spring 2009 forward to their help in protecting tenant rights.” Gabe Pod- esta seems somewhat awestruck. “We ended up working with the city attorney, with public utilities—groups you never thought would be a partner.” A Mighty Trunk Attorney Sheena Wadhawan had seen it all in Neighborhood Law Corps: the pregnant woman who had to haul heavy jugs of water from the corner liquor store back to her apartment, just so she could flush the toilet. The man desperate to get his electricity restored, since his wife depended on oxygen support. “Nothing more quickly deteriorates the quality of a family’s life than the lack of utilities,” says Wadhawan, an attorney in John Russo’s office. Last December, two weeks after Martindale and Podesta’s team released their memorandum, the Oakland City Attor- ney’s office produced a declaration asking public utilities for the kind of shutoff moratorium Andy Katz had championed at EBMUD. “Until December 31, 2010,” the declaration states, “neither East Bay Municipal Utility District nor Pacific Gas and Electric Company shall terminate the utilities at a tenant occupied foreclosed property where the owner was responsible for utility payments for the duration of 120 days from the date of the first notice provided to tenants at the address of service.” “We asked for a limited amount of time—120 days—without a shutoff, to be reasonable,” Wadhawan explains. “To allow us time to figure out who the new owner is. We don’t want to completely burden the utilities, but just give us a window so we can sort things out.” The attorney says PG&E has agreed, in spirit, to the moratorium. “We’re still talking with EBMUD,” she notes. “We’re able to really bring folks to the table and get press around it,” Wadhawan says. “Create public pressure on the real estate and lender community not to do these shutoffs.” EBCLC, whose attorneys and students have been in constant communication with the City Attorney’s office, has been an essential partner. “Their housing authorities are incredible,” GREEN’S SCENE: Melvin Green of Oakland relaxes with a glass of water in Wadhawan says. “The service they provide is so crucial to the his back yard after EBCLC helped restore his utilities. community, I can’t imagine the suffering that would go on without them.” then we’re the trunk, taking the nutrients—the wonderful The dialog between City Attorney and utility companies ideas—from the roots all the way up to the branches and the that EBCLC students helped spark has had an effect. Robbie leaves at the treetop. The trunk,” she adds, “is necessary for Clark of Just Cause Oakland, a nonprofit advocacy group for bringing all the various pieces together.” low-income Oakland tenants, says that, since December, Meanwhile, Melvin Green is thinking about the impending EBMUD’s service shutoffs have decreased dramatically. For auction of his foreclosed apartment. Sitting in an office chair the students involved, the shutoff initiative sparked some- in his living room—the only other seat is a plastic patio thing else. chair—he wonders what will happen to him if he’s forced to “This exercise represented the best lesson that a clinical move. “I’d like to keep this place,” he says. “I don’t want to end education provides,” says Gabe Podesta. “There’s this idea that up in no drug atmosphere, no rat- or roach-infested place. It’s lawyers prosecute cases, that the only way to get something bad for folks that are not well off. Society takes advantage of done is through litigation. What I learned in the clinic is that people who don’t know their rights.” You get the feeling that, an attorney should strive to be a problem-solver, sometimes one way or another, Green hasn’t turned to EBCLC for the through litigation, sometimes through other means.” last time. Executive director Tirien Steinbach ’99 says she’s been trying to come up with a tree metaphor to describe EBCLC’s role. John Birdsall is an independent journalist who lives in Oakland. He

W intermeyer “If there’s grassroots organizing and clients at the roots,” she has written forSan Francisco magazine, the East Bay Express, the inni W inni says, “and at the top, the policy makers and policy advocates, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Contra Costa Times.

spring 2009 | Transcript | 25 FEATURE One Tough Case In a unique career spanning six-plus decades, Eleanor Jackson Piel ’43 has been a scrappy defender of the disenfranchised. By Bonnie Azab Powell

26 | Transcript | Spring 2009 photography by Evan Kafka Tk Piel ’43 is still practicing law in Manhattan. decade of her nonstop life, Eleanor Jackson THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS: In the eighth Spring 2009 |

Transcript FEA TURE

27 issues. Very few chose the gritty business of representing convicted murderers.” Greenhouse, who covered the Supreme To hear Eleanor Court for the New York Times until last year, first met the diminutive, elegant Piel back in 1971, while a cub reporter assigned to a murder-by-arson case. “Eleanor has devoted her Jackson Piel energies to the most downtrodden, despised, friendless segment of our society.” Not surprisingly, Piel has collected a bottomless treasure tell it, she didn’t chest of stories, and she relates them with a delightful Audrey Hepburnesque diction. They reveal that Piel is no accidental activist—her ambition has always been to make a difference set out to in the world, and her stubbornness originates from a fierce, idealistic desire to see that justice is served for everyone. Chosen by circumstances be a pioneer. Piel’s profound distaste for injustice came naturally. Born in Southern California, she encountered prejudice firsthand at a young age. Her mother was a concert pianist and “a con- She was just firmed traditional Anglo-Saxon,” as Piel puts it, who’d married a Jew and may have wished she hadn’t. Her father, a Lithuanian who immigrated to New York at 15, had overcome tuberculo- ambitious sis to become a doctor. When fellow members of a Santa Monica beach club he’d belonged to for five year learned he was Jewish, they asked him to leave. “He sued; I think he lost, and stubborn. but I never really knew the facts,” she says. After reading the Old Testament at her Christian maternal grandmother’s home, the young Eleanor told all her friends Women weren’t that she was one of God’s chosen people. “My mother was just horrified,” she recalls, and told her never again to talk about being Jewish. “I was upset about the fact that people didn’t supposed to go like Jews, when I was half Jewish, and then I had my mother being anti-Semitic,” Piel says. “It just didn’t seem fair.” From that moment on, she thinks, she began to take the side of victims of discrimination. to law school, At first, she planned to expose injustice through journalism. Piel transferred to Berkeley as a senior after three years at UCLA: She’d run for student office and lost, and as a result so she did. had also lost her job with the Daily Bruin. “I had to leave—the newspaper was my life,” she laughs. After graduation, she con- Big firms didn’t want her, so she worked for herself. “With no sidered journalism school, but her father wouldn’t pay for one to monitor me and tell me I couldn’t, I’ve taken all kinds Columbia. Others in her class were going to law school, but of cases and issues,” she says. “I’ve done it all! And it’s been some of them said she wasn’t smart enough, she recalls indig- wonderful.” nantly. “So of course I applied,” she chuckles. “Imagine this Eighty-eight years old and still actively practicing law—Piel being my motivation! Because Barney Schapiro said I has flouted convention all her life. Not only did she enter law couldn’t!” school at a time when few women pursued a graduate degree, Boalt initially turned her down. But after she excelled at the but she chose criminal law and proceeded to work alone. Piel University of Southern California for a year, Boalt accepted is also unusual for her unwillingness to specialize in one area her as a transfer student, and she was the only woman to grad- of criminal law. She’s taken on civil rights cases, class-action uate in the law school’s 1943 class of roughly a dozen. suits for gender discrimination, and, in her later years, death Wanting to be a labor lawyer, she applied to a big San Fran- penalty appeals. But she has also handled the odd case of pat- cisco firm, but was rejected. Through Boalt, she got a job as a ent infringement (over the Movado watch), anarchy, and libel law clerk to Judge Louis E. Goodman of the U.S. District Court (including for Nobel Peace Laureate Linus Pauling; she lost). in San Francisco. Goodman had specifically been looking for a She has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court four times— female clerk, but not for politically-correct reasons. “He thought “but I only won once,” she is quick to point out. if he had a woman she would stay there forever,” says Piel. Says Linda Greenhouse, Yale Law School’s Knight Distin- She and Goodman hit it off, and often engaged in heated guished Journalist in Residence, “Back then, women lawyers debates about constitutional law. And in the summer of 1944,

mostly got channeled into trusts and estates and matrimonial Piel got a front-row seat at a civil rights case that would prove

28 | Transcript | FALL-winterSpring 2009 2008 to be a historical landmark and a touchstone for the idealistic young lawyer. Wartime injustice Every year, Humboldt County asked a San Francisco District Court judge to come up to rule on a few cases, usually minor ones, in the small town of Eureka, about six hours north of San Francisco. Piel drove Goodman up, expecting a few hours of morning work followed by lazy summer barbecues. Instead, they walked into a shameful case brought by the federal government in a town with a long history of anti-Asian prejudice that had been greatly exacerbated by the war. In United States v. Masaaki Kuwabara, 27 Nisei (American- born citizens of Japanese ancestry) were arraigned for failing to appear for a draft physical—the first step in the conscription process. Like 120,000 other people of Japanese descent, they had been taken from their U.S. homes after Pearl Harbor and placed in internment camps. This particular group, however, were among those classified as especially “disloyal” and incarcerated behind barbed wire the nearby Tule Lake Segre- gation Center. Piel was shocked that the men’s refusal to fight for a country that had found them disloyal could result in felony charges. And her boss, she says, was dismayed that he was expected to rubber-stamp the proceedings. So, after an intense huddle with Piel, he decided against it. He called a sympathetic lawyer A BUSY DAY: On the friend in the area to mount a genuine defense, and told Piel to same day that she married Gerard Piel, find supporting case law. Not so easy without a law library. publisher of Scientific In a copy of the Selective Training and Service Act—the American, Piel 1940 law (and America’s first-ever peacetime conscription) represented—and won dismissals—for that required adult men to register with local draft boards— a group of three they found something on which to hang the case: The law’s defendants. prefatory Declaration of Policy stated that “in a free society the obligations and privileges of military training and service should be shared generally in accordance with a fair and just system of selective…service.” Arguing that the case against the Nisei was neither fair nor just and that they had been deprived of due process, Goodman dismissed the indictment. The 27 men were sent back to Tule Lake. The decision, which was not appealed, was the only one of its kind issued that was favorable to the Japanese-Americans. Goodman, who was Jewish, took the opportunity to caution the government against “overzealousness in an attempt to

Pe rm issi on. reach, via the criminal process, those whom we may regard as th w i th undesirable citizens.” As Eric L. Muller and Daniel K. Inouye write in their book, Free to Die for Their Country: The Story of

Re pr i nt ed the Japanese American Draft Resisters in World War II, “Behind this defense of the Tule Lake ‘undesirables’ can be seen the , © 1955. 1955. © , passionate views of an immigrant’s son on the role of tolerance Ti m es in good American citizenship.” And, it can be said, an inspira- A ng eles tion for the passionate views of another Jewish immigrant’s

. Lo s . daughter.

AN Z ANO The freedom to fight In 1945, Piel traded her clerkship for a job with California Innocence mission: UIS L O UIS PR ESS/L Piel and Innocence Project cofounder Barry Senator Sheridan Downey in Washington, DC. She hated it. Scheck ’74 flank Warith Habib Abdal on the day in 1999 that he was What she saw of politics in action offended her idealism. “It released from prison after serving 13 years. Piel worked for over a

ED ED A SS O CI AT did not fit my ideal of wonderful government or make me want decade to overturn Abdal’s rape conviction.

Spring 2009 | Transcript | 29 “ —Eleanor —Eleanor Jackson Piel ’43 wonderful.” been it’s And done it I’ve all! issues. and kinds of cases I’ve taken all tell me I couldn’t, monitor me and With no one to 30 her daughter, Eleanor Jackson Piel, Jr. 1970 when she argued TWO BIG JOBS:

Transcript top: Piel on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in

| Spring 2009 Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co

. . bottom: Piel with

during during the McCarthy era. At one of Kenny’s blacklistedmany screenwritersTen—the parties, Hollywood she the sented Kenny,Robert Attorney GeneralCalifornia had who repre laneous cases, and then rented an office in the suite of former woman office. Over the next several years, she handledmiscel was charged with helping to rebuild the Japanese economy. group under General Douglas MacArthur’s command, which and going to work for the Economic and Scientific Section,resigning a up ended She charged. being not was out, carried of Japan, whose orders the defendants war-crimes had merely But the work bored her and she felt it unfair that the emperor fumo Affair.” “He was quite a good dancer,” Piel recallsto wryly.) the British Mission in Japan and as yet unsullied by the “Pro beaus was Brigadier General John Profumo, then chief of staff theroom assembled with dancing” dignitaries. (Among her ria and worked mainly as a “geisha, going to parties and ball in a draftyYWCA in bombed-out Tokyo, she caughtdiphthe crimes tribunal. war-But this also proved international disappointing. Housed the in part taking group American the lusioned.” to participate in it,” she says. “I got very discouraged and disil by the FBI as well as “threatenedas well rednecks”—Pielbyas FBI the by a filed taken. woman the orders whose students, black her with was freedom-school teacher named Sandra Adickes because she white young, a serve to refused hadlunch-counterwaitress Kress a which in case a across stumbled she Hattiesburg, in While Mississippi. to expedition Guild Lawyer’s a joined knew, Piel she West mother Upper Side whose Philadelphia the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but lost. ing the overthrow of the New York state government. Piel took Fred Fernandez, charged with, among other things, advocat yer for political radicals; she next represented Black Panther of 1964. lost Piel the case but became known as the go-to law inflammatory Riotsstatements the Harlem during made he for riot inciting and anarchy with charged was organizer, in New York since 1925. Epton, a Maoist communist and labor taking on the defense of William Epton in the by 60s firstthe of anarchyturmoil trial political the into first feet jumped Piel A lawyer for tumultuous times of Scientific editions American. foreign 11 creating and scientists visiting els, and edited her briefs; she accompanied him on his world where trav case, Mississippi U.S.Court Supremeher initiated she to her with went He partnership: cial since,” she says wistfully. ever Thesea marriageat been was a“has mutuallyshe benefi 2004; in death his until together Piel moved to New York City to join her husband. They were and Lawyer Wed” in the of the wedding, earning her the headline “Three Youths Freed man of its board of editors. ofGerard publishermetPiel, In 1948 she returned to Los Angeles and opened a one- a opened and Angeles Los to returned she 1948 In She next jumped at the chance to go to Japan to work with Incensed by intimidation—she and Gerard were followed in worker a civil-rights of murder by the appalled In 1964, Theywere inmarried 1955; Pielwent to thecourt morning Los Angeles Times Scientific AmericanScientific . Shortly afterward, Adickes v. Kressv.Adickes , and chair and , had ------,

civil lawsuit against Kress in New York, where the company One day before the execution was scheduled, Piel admits to was based and Adickes was a resident. She lost the case twice losing her composure in court and tearing up. It was a rare in New York courts before the Supreme Court agreed to hear breach of her self-control. “She’s very tough in the courtroom,” it. In the fall of 1969, she argued the case before new Chief says Leon Friedman, the Joseph Kushner Distinguished Justice Warren Burger and won. Adickes settled out of court Professor of Civil Liberties Law at Hofstra University, who with Kress, donating the money she received from the settle- has known Piel since the ‘60s. “She will not take any shit from ment to the Southern Conference Educational Fund. anybody, whether it’s opposing counsel or the judges.” Other civil rights cases Piel handled involved gender dis- In 1988, after two more long years in jail, Miller and Jent crimination. In 1969 she lobbied for a 13-year-old female math ended up making a bizarre deal: In return for their immediate genius who wanted to attend the all-boy Stuyvesant High release from prison, they agreed to plea guilty to murder. School. In the 1980s she represented the appeal of 50 women The state offered no compensation for their ordeal. Piel and professors at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in a her co-counselor were there waiting with new suits that they class-action suit alleging that they were not paid salaries equal had bought for the brothers. At the press conference that fol- to male faculty. Einstein settled the suit with a lump-sum pay- lowed, reported the St. Peterburg Times, Piel distributed a ment. Less successfully, she represented Cynthia Fisher, a seven-page statement proclaiming their innocence despite biology professor who claimed she was denied tenure by Vas- the guilty plea. sar College because she was married: That victory was reversed “It was a travesty,” she says, still angry. “But they were on appeal. freed.” As was Warith Habib Abdal, whom Piel had first represented Tackling the death penalty for manslaughter in the 1970s. Abdal—then known as Vincent Piel volunteered for her first death penalty appeal in 1982, after Jenkins—was later convicted of rape in 1983. Although she reading in the New York Times that there were more than 2,000 was not his lawyer then, he wrote to her for help in the appeal, people on death row in America—it is now more than 3,000— and she agreed. In 1991, after learning that there was still many of whom wanted to appeal but had no lawyer. She called physical evidence from the rape trial, she approached Barry the Florida legal center mentioned in the story and was Scheck ’74 of the Innocence Project to help her obtain the best assigned William Riley Jent v. State of Florida. DNA testing. Piel paid $3,000 out of her own pocket for the “That case,” she says. was a real lulu.” tests, but DNA science was still in its infancy, and the results And that it was, from start to finish. In 1979, a young woman were inconclusive. Still, she battled on. A long 10 years after was strangled, doused with gasoline, and set on fire in a game Abdal first contacted her, findings based on more sophisti- preserve in Pasco County, about 60 miles from Tampa. Her cated DNA tests led to the conviction being thrown out. body was not immediately identified, and the police and pros- “It’s hard to tell how I feel,” Abdal told the New York Times ecutors fabricated an identity for her and a guilty case around in 1999 upon his release, “because your heart is like your toe. Earnie Miller, a roofer and suspected marijuana grower, and It grows skin on it and it gets hard. But people like Mrs. Piel his visiting half-brother, “outlaw biker” Bill Jent. soften it up.” As chronicled in David Von Drehle’s 2006 book Among the Piel is modest about her accomplishments, but her friends Lowest of the Dead: The Culture of Capital Punishment, the case and colleagues, such as Leon Friedman, are eager to pick up presented a truly breathtaking breach of justice. At every step, the slack. “Here’s someone who, on her own, has handled the the Pasco County police and prosecutors intimidated and most unsympathetic cases—against the government or others even jailed witnesses, suppressed evidence, and even tried to where the opposing side has unlimited resources—and some- prevent the body from being properly identified. (The real times she’s won, which is incredible,” says Friedman. “Think victim’s family was pretty sure her boyfriend had killed her, about it. Big criminal trials are so difficult. She does all her own not the two brothers.) Piel got the appeal just a month before exhibits, all the scutwork, everything. She’s amazing.” the brothers were to be executed, and there wasn’t time to And Piel is still working. In early March she was handling, spare: The state of Florida was eager to resume capital punish- she estimates, about 16 habeas cases assigned to her by the ment afterFurman v. Georgia, and for political reasons wanted Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Talking about them, she to start with white death-row inmates. sounds as animated and as passionate as any fresh-faced young Working with another female lawyer, representing Miller, defense attorney. Then she stops herself. Piel threw every resource she had into freeing the brothers, “I do go on,” she says apologetically. When her listener reas- including—by chance—the persuasive powers of her husband. sures her that she’s not once been boring during several hours’ Finding himself on a plane with a former Washington Post man- worth of chatting, Piel admits with a touch of pride: “I’ve had aging editor, he convinced the man to have the Post assign an a fascinating life, I think.” investigative reporter. The reporter was able to get a fingerprint No argument there, counselor. match that identified the corpse as the missing woman with the suspicious paramour—he was suspected of having torched Oakland freelancer Bonnie Azab Powell has written about the another female friend. The Florida newspapers ate up the new technology business for Red Herring, the New York Times, evidence. Piel got the television news show 20-20 to cover the and Corporate Board Member, and about food politics for case, and not long after, the judge issued a writ of habeas corpus the Washington Post, Mother Jones, Meatpaper, and other granting the brothers a new trial. publications.

Spring 2009 | Transcript | 31 Boalt Student Action ON THE MOVE Figures

That mutual commitment was rewarded. The team opened its season by vanquishing top-ranked Stanford, Keeping His Balance bested their arch-rival twice more in multi-team events, surged to a No. 2 ccording to his pro- the fall and taking a lighter load in the national ranking, and placed 4th at file page notes on UC spring—was off the table. the NCAA Championships in April— Berkeley’s sports por- “No wiggle room whatsoever,” their best finish during Brady’s time tal, Calbears.com, Kyle he says with a laugh. “This is when on the team. Brady’sA coaches consider him “an you’ll be in class, and if any of that Individually, Brady capped his incredibly driven person.” That—plus conflicts with practices, tough luck. career in spectacular fashion at the the possibility that Brady doesn’t Fortunately, my coach (Barry Weiner) NCAA meet—placing second in the sleep—explains a lot. was amazingly flexible. Last semester parallel bars and sixth in the still rings. Somehow, while shouldering the he came to the gym three days a week That gave him double all-American legendary academic burden of a at least an hour early just to help get honors, awarded to the nation’s top Boalt 1L, Brady managed to be a top my training done.” eight gymnasts in each event. performer on UC Berkeley’s “Law school and gymnastics powerhouse men’s gymnas- are both so time-consuming tics team. “Our team prac- that mentally I’d prepared tices 3½ hours a day, six days myself for the worst,” he says. a week,” he says. “Then there’s “But first-semester exams another hour of strength train- went well and I was able to do ing at night three to four days better than I expected in the a week.” gym. It wasn’t easy, but that Practice makes perfect, made the process even more and Brady is an old hand at rewarding.” deftly juggling the demands As for his future legal of academics and athlet- career, Brady is still process- ics. As a Cal undergrad, he ing the myriad possibilities. received the 2006 Golden Bear He cites antitrust and intel- Achievement Award for high- lectual property as potential est GPA on the team, and was focus areas over the next cou- a three-time Mountain Pacific ple of years, and he’s eager to Sports Federation all- learn more outside the class- academic team selection. room. This year however, thanks to “There’s a lot I wish I could the law school’s immutable 1L do as a 1L, especially with class schedule, Brady’s balanc- helping refugees gain politi- ing act became exponentially cal asylum,” Brady says. “But tougher. While Cal’s gymnasts I still have two years for those practice year-round, their sea- kinds of things. This was my son unfolds during second Kyle Brady ’11 last go-round on the gymnas- semester. Brady’s former strat- tics team, and I just couldn’t egy—piling up course work in give it up.” —Andrew Cohen

32 | Transcript | SPRING 2009 Making Waves Her mentors have called Lindsay Harris ’09 a “hurricane” and a “force of nature.” Both fitting descriptions for someone who took three Boalt clinics by storm. The winner of this year’s Sax Prize for Clinical Advocacy, Harris has worked at the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), the International Human Angelica Guevara ’10 (center) with Rosie Rights Law Clinic (IHRLC), and the student-run O’Donnell (left) California Asylum Refugee Clinic (CARC). and Tyra Banks “Each experience was different,” says Harris, “but incredibly gratifying.” At EBCLC, Harris represented HIV-positive immigrants seeking asylum, facing visa revocation, and applying for immigration relief as domestic A Real Showstopper violence victims. Her clients included a Tanzanian woman who’d suffered an rowing up in an impover- tribute and allowed her to keep the full attempted rape by her uncle—and later the ished home, surrounded by scholarship; The Kellogg Foundation abduction of her child—, an Algerian man who domestic violence and alco- followed up by donating $100,000 feared persecution because of his sexual ori- holism, and with little sup- in her name to the 9/11 cause. “I was entation and HIV status, and a Caribbean port from her family, Angelica Guevara totally stunned,” Guevara says. “It woman suffering from AIDS and a stroke. “I G won’t pretend I never cried or lost sleep or ’10 hardly seemed destined for law was quite a shock to have come from school—let alone Boalt Hall. nothing and now have this amazing over these cases,” says Harris. When Guevara was a high school opportunity.” At IHRLC, Harris worked with a sophomore in southern California, her Guevara, who just finished her second Washington, DC organization to craft legisla- mother urged her to drop out to help year at Boalt, hopes to practice civil tion to improve the U.S. response to genocide pay expenses at home. She refused, and rights law and eventually become a law and crimes against humanity. Her tasks, says persevered with the help of a willing professor. “I’m extremely lucky now, but IHRLC program officer Jamie O’Connell, teacher who took her in. “School was I want to make sure the cycle I grew up “required incredible intelligence, creativity, my escape,” says Guevara, who took with is not repeated,” she says. “That’s and a staggering work ethic.” additional classes at a local junior col- why I hope to one day teach Chicano Last year, Harris won a campus Golden lege while also cleaning houses and Studies through the lens of the law.” Circle Outstanding Student Leader Award for babysitting. “It gave This summer her work running CARC, which trains students me independence and “The victims’ families Guevara will intern to become legal advocates for international taught me how to fend needed that money, at The Impact Fund, asylum seekers. Under her guidance, a for myself.” the nonprofit that record 117 students participated—and Her remarkable so I donated half my sued Wal-Mart in the obtained winning verdicts in every case. After story gained recogni- scholarship to the largest employment clerking for Judge Harry Pregerson of the U.S. tion in 2001, when she discrimination class 9th Circuit, Harris hopes to become a clinical was featured on 9/11 Relief Fund.” action to ever go to professor. “It’s important work,” she says, “Beating the Odds,” a trial. The Berkeley- “and it’s what I love to do.” —Andrew Cohen news segment on the based organization NBC affiliate in Los Angeles. The Rosie provides funding, training, and advice O’Donnell Show took notice, and sur- to lawyers seeking to bring public- (harris) k prised the UCLA-bound Guevara with interest litigation in civil rights, pov- b loc a four-year paid scholarship. She erty law, and environmental justice. accepted gratefully—and gracefully: Part of Guevara’s time will be spent “It was a week after 9/11 and the vic- working on an initiative designed to tims’ families needed that money. I help organizations manage volunteers could still work, so I donated half my more effectively. “Los Angeles has bet- scholarship to the 9/11 Relief Fund.” ter weather,” Guevara laughs, “but I Lindsay Harris ’09 A week later, a visibly moved just love Berkeley’s political activism.” (left), with a client

Warner Bros./Karl Giant (Guevara). Jim Jim (Guevara). Giant Bros./Karl Warner O’Donnell gave Guevara an on-air —Will Leivenberg

Spring 2009 | Transcript | 33 new and notable works from the boalt ON THE SHELVES community

BOOK: David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring Deadly Expedience

ention global capital punishment, and what comes to mind? Maybe it’s the thousands put to death in China every year for crimes that include racketeering and tax evasion, or the fact that,M in Singapore, firearms possession and drug trafficking are both capital offenses. It’s tempting to look at these as expres- sions of their societies’ deeply lodged cultures. But, suggest the authors of a new book about law and executions on the world’s most populous continent, capital punishment is hardly an Asian value. Indeed, writes former South Korean President Kim Dae BOOKISH: Professor Frank Zimring Jung in his foreword to The Next Frontier, “the prac- is a prolific writer and an expert tice of capital punishment is inconsistent with the on criminal sanctions. main currents of philosophical and religious thought in Asia.” Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam—all are steeped in recognition of human dig- As the book’s title hints, the global trend away from nity and compassion, if not explicit injunctions capital punishment is already curtailing Asian execu- against all forms of violence. So how did Asia become tion rates. Johnson, professor of Sociology at the the place that carries out more than 95 percent of the University of Hawaii, and Boalt’s Zimring, a leading world’s executions? expert on criminal sanctions, note that only a handful The answer, argue David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring of Asian nations have large numbers of state-sanctioned over some 500 pages of detailed case studies and painstaking deaths; the rest have low rates or none. Even China’s govern- analysis from China, Vietnam, Singapore, and North Korea, is ment, which won’t be abolishing the practice anytime soon, political expediency. Asia’s shocking capital punishment rates is—like others in Asia—inching toward the moral high ground are the result, not of culture and values, but of hard-line govern- of reduced executions. Chalk one up for the long, slow squeeze ments determined to exert control over their people. China, for of international public opinion. —John Birdsall example, is too vast and crowded to maintain police forces that compare on a per capita basis with those in other countries. The Next Frontier: National Development, Political Change, and the “This is one reason why it has frequently been attracted to Death Penalty in Asia ‘cheap deterrence’ strategies,” the authors write, to maintain By David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring jim Block jim social control—especially over political dissidents. Published by Oxford University Press, 2009

34 | Transcript | SPRING 2009 BOOK: Michael C. Donaldson ’67

MUSIC: JOHN MARTEL ’59 Long-Awaited Stories Set Sequel to Music Many Boalties know ichael C. Donaldson’s nuanced realm of fair use, which a John Martel ’59 as the extensively updated Massachusetts court ushered into U.S. author of four best- reference book is as copyright law in 1841, when the selling novels. One, essential for filmmakers Reverend Charles W. Upham wrote a Billy Strobe, will soon as the vente latte. Written originally for book quoting letters of George be a major motion M picture. But in the indie auteurs treading tricky legal Washington owned by a Mr. Sparks. waters, Clearance & Copyright has It’s not hard to imagine some aspiring early 70s, well before he began penning become a leading resource for guiding Michael Moore poring over the table prose, he bought his first guitar, and— even seasoned Sundance that lays out the lim- guided by diverse muses like the Beatles, moguls through the its of fair use in doc- Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, and Leon perils of insurance, fair umentaries: using Russell—he wrote and performed songs. In use, right of privacy, copyrighted mate- 1973—as his musical alter ego Joe and licensing. rial in political cri- Silverhound—he assembled a touring band. Donaldson notes in his tique, say, or quot- “I gigged by night and litigated by day,” he introduction that the ing copyrighted says laughing. guide is now used in works to illustrate Martel is equally at home going country, some 50 film schools in an argument. The having been steeped in the hillbilly likes of the U.S. and abroad. latest edition fleshes The Maddox Brothers and Rose while grow- Revised, updated, out copyright law ing up in Modesto, California. and expanded with for the Internet. In 2008, he self-produced two collec- three new chapters Donaldson tions: Now and (including one on acknowledges the Then, a rock and international copy- flashpoint legal bat- pop feast—some- right), this latest edi- tles involving Napster, times gritty, some- tion reflects changes to eBay, and SONICblue, before settling times sweet, statutory and case law and includes a on more practical ground, like what to always tasty—and multitude of examples of contracts and do if you stumble onto infringing copies the deliciously other forms. Donaldson’s lively style— of your movie online. down-home Country Hound, that offers, and careful selection of enticing exam- Clearance & Copyright delivers says Martel, “short stories about romantic ples—renders potentially dry-as-dust wisdom that has a whiff of the hard- despair, loneliness, adultery and murder, material engaging and often humorous. learned lesson. “If you back away from and the inevitable black train.” For Martel, A Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer, doing business with those you don’t the move from tunes to novels was a natu- the author draws examples from a film trust, with whom you don’t connect on ral transition: “Lyrics and story are critical roster as varied as some wildly improb- a human level,” Donaldson writes, “you to music, and words alone can evoke music able Netflix queue:Animal House; have reduced the odds of unhappy and magic, too.” Beyond Control: The Amy Fisher Story; encounters….” Pick your friends and Will Joe Silverhound be making a come- even the vintage porno flick,Debbie business associates carefully, he back any time soon? “Hard to say,” says Does Dallas. advises, and “you won’t have to spend Martel. “I’ve shelved new music projects Chapter One sketches a brief history so much time with lawyers.” until after filming and post-production work of copyright, from English kings’ vir- —John Birdsall on my screenplay adaptation of Billy tual censorship of books and pam- Strobe—and I complete the new novel I’m phlets (“I guess the world has always Clearance & Copyright: Everything You working on.” —Jared Simpson worked in a certain way,” muses Need to Know for Film and Television Donaldson) to 1776, when the U.S. Third Edition, Revised, Updated, and Now and Then (original rock and pop) Constitution granted citizens “exclu- Expanded Country Hound (original country) sive right” to their writings and inven- By Michael C. Donaldson By Joe Silverhound tions. Chapter Two wades into the Published by Silman-James Press, 2008 Order CDs or download MP3s at CDBaby.com

SPRING 2009 | Transcript | 35 Insight: Don’t Cry (Too Much) for Us

by Neil A.F. PopoviC´ ’87 that contributed in many ways to civic life is truly sad. But perhaps there is a silver lining. Perhaps n apt soundtrack for a future movie our troubles reflect a much-needed “correction” about the ongoing financial crisis in the legal market. What needs correcting? For might include a continuing loop of starters, astronomical billing rates; billable hour bursting bubbles: the housing requirements that discourage efficiency and bubble, the stock market bubble; drive too many able lawyers out of law firms (if even the executive pay bubble. The collective not out of the profession altogether); and reversalA of fortune has brought hardship to many, inflated salaries that put enormous pressure on including law firms and individual lawyers. The law firms to generate profits. consequences can be devastating for those The new realities have forced many law firms “At the risk of affected. But let’s pause a moment before we add to confront these issues, and the results are not too many doleful violins for lawyers to our imagi- all bad. Reining in attorney billing rates and sala- alienating nary soundtrack. At the risk of alienating some of ries (and perhaps de-emphasizing billable my fellow alums and Boalt friends, I offer the hours) may have salutary effects, such as alleviat- some of my proposition that our current misfortunes might, ing the pressure on individual lawyers and in the end, yield a net positive. improving the accessibility of high quality legal fellow alums The legal community continues to take its hits. services. Creative billing arrangements such as Venerable law firms (including my former firm, success fees can help align client and law firm and Boalt Heller Ehrman) have closed their doors, leaving imperatives, ensuring that effective law firms friends, I offer many lawyers and more non-lawyers without remain profitable. jobs. As of April 2009, American Lawyer reported Besides their obvious functions, law firms the proposition that more than 90 well-known law firms had have a lot to offer. They facilitate commerce; acknowledged laying off attorneys and staff, they help resolve disputes peacefully and, at that our current including partners. Many eager new lawyers have their best, efficiently. Law firms train lawyers been frustrated as firms postpone start dates, who often go on to important positions in busi- misfortunes rescind offers, freeze, and even reduce salaries. ness and government. They also provide pro Some firms have cut partner compensation and bono legal services, often shining a light on injus- might, in the some have asked non-equity partners to contrib- tice. There is nothing wrong with law firms mak- ute capital. The law firm bubble. ing high profits—especially when it allows them end, yield a net Law firm chairs everywhere find themselves to give something back to the community. Per- in the unfamiliar position of cutting costs, and haps the rocky economy we are living through positive.” reducing or eliminating perks that many of us provides an historic opportunity for law firms to have come to enjoy and even rely on. Fringe recalibrate their metrics, shed some inefficien- benefits can bolster productivity and morale, cies, and emerge better equipped to serve their and their disappearance can be annoying, and in clients, society, and themselves. some cases counterproductive. Put in perspective, however, the hardships many in the legal profession are suffering, painful as they are, can seem relatively trivial to those truly in need. Neil Popovi´c ’87 is a partner at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton in San Francisco. His practice includes interna- Don’t get me wrong. I sympathize with the tional litigation, complex commercial disputes and white many individuals who—like me—lost their jobs. collar criminal defense. He also practices international environ- And the disappearance of esteemed law firms mental law, which he taught at Boalt Hall from 1996–2007.

36 | Transcript | SPRING 2009 HTTP://GIVE.LAW.BERKELEY.EDU THE BOALT The fastest way HALL to get financial aid to the students FUND who need it.

This year, Boalt Hall is setting a lot of records: The most applications for admission ever recorded: 7,959 ❱❱ up 8% from last year The highest number of applications for financial aid: 829 ❱❱ up 28% from last year And the biggest commitment of financial support in the school’s history: $8.2 million ❱❱ up 14% from last year

More than ever, current and admitted students are struggling to pay for their legal education. Some even fear they will have to drop out if they don’t get the help they need. Interested in securing their hard-earned spots at Boalt this fall? Make a gift to the Boalt Hall Fund now. It’s the fast-track route from your heart to their minds. Tick. Tick. Tick.

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reunite. renew. rebuild.

4 days 2 cities 18 events

2009 Boalt Hall All-Alumni Reunion • Thursday, October 8 – Sunday, October 11

Join us for this year’s All-Alumni Reunion , which will span both sides of the Bay— a moveable feast of good food, fine wine, old friends, and intellectual stimulation. Take part in our 2009 events at UC Berkeley and the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

510.643.6673 • [email protected] • www.law.berkeley.edu/alumni