Bear with Me @BerkeleyLaw Berkeley Law Alumni Association

Jami Floyd '98 talks with lawyers in Sacramento, Oakland and Los Angeles about sixty-years of racial justice lawyering:

John Burris graduated in 1973 and worked at Jenner & Block in Chicago before he moved back to California. He’s worked on the highest profile police brutality/excessive force cases in California, including LA (Rodney King), Fruitvale (Oscar Grant), San Francisco (Mario Woods), and Oakland (Celeste Guap; Oakland Riders). Karin Wang ’95 worked to secure and defend public benefits and labor rights in Los Angeles and the Southwest, including in the civil rights office of the Dept. Health & Human Services and as the Vice President at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA. Now, she runs the public interest program at UCLA Law. Jackie Gonzalez ’09 defends families targeted by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, first in San Francisco. She has led networks of organizations serving low-income immigrants before becoming the policy director of a group focused on abolishing immigration detention facilities in California (Recent Publication in English; Publicación reciente en español). Jami Floyd worked at the White House, ABC News, MSNBC and is the Senior Editor for Race & Justice at New York Public Radio.


Jackie's Book

John's Book

Smita Rajmohan, Senior Counsel at Autodesk and Director at the Berkeley Law Alumni Association, leads the conversation with  ex-LLM (masters) students at Berkeley Law, that are now widely successful attorneys in the US. This episode showcases a truly diverse set of voices with Helena Engfelt, Partner at Baker McKenzie, SF (from Sweden), Anna Maria Galinska, Senior Director at Gritstone Bio, SF (from Poland), Nneka Okafor, Counsel at International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group, DC (from Nigeria). The discussion is in equal parts funny, candid and insightful and covers many facets of the foreign attorney experience - from culture shocks and choosing classes, to networking, job hunting and beyond. 

Continuing our series on first jobs out of law school, we connect with four public defenders. Two members from the Class of 2011 are with the Oakland Public Defender (Joe Goldstein-Breyer & Stephanie Clark); Armilla Staley Ngomo '08 works at the Federal Defenders in San Diego, and Ricardo Garcia '95 runs the largest public defender office in America (Los Angeles). The four alums discuss the job's strains and rewards, misperceptions about the profession, and why they love what they do. Bear With Me is a project of the Berkeley Law Alumni Association. 

Starting your Clerkship

Host Cara Sandberg '12 leads a conversation with Luke Apfeld '18, Noor Hasan '20 and Vikram Swaruup '12 about beginning a federal clerkship. This podcast is for law students and current/future clerks, and anyone interested in what it really means to spend a year working for an Article III judge. The discussion ranges from first-day hopes and apprehensions to clerking-during-covid. Cara, Luke, Noor and Vikram clerked in California, Illinois, Arizona and New York, at both federal district and appellate courts. 

Are you a fresh law grad looking for advice on what to expect at a law firm or how to navigate the law firm life? Look no further. We've got Berkeley Law alums (and BigLaw experts) Morgan Sawchuk ’11, Taimur Case ’15 and Jose Lopez ’09 here to share some invaluable insight. Host Smita Rajmohan, Class of 2014 joins this bunch to take a trip down memory lane to remember that most magical time of their lives as first year associates. 

On the first episode of Bear with Me @BerkeleyLaw, we talk about the experience of taking the bar exam! We're joined by a rockstar panel of alumni including Sarah Weiss, Sara Haji and Noah Ickowitz and Chip Hall ('21), who is currently in the midst of bar prep. Hosted by Smita Rajmohan (Class of 2014) Chair of Mentorships at the Berkeley Law Alumni Association. Come listen!