Pillsbury is proud to announce a writing competition on legal issues relating to virtual worlds. Participants can elect to write a paper on a topic within one of the categories listed in the document attached. The papers must be submitted by June 30, 2010 and will be judged by members of Pillsbury’s Virtual Worlds team. Judges will select a best paper in each of the five categories, including a best overall paper. The best overall paper will be awarded $2000. The best paper in each of the other categories will be awarded $500. Winning and other notable papers will be recognized on Pillsbury’s Virtual World Law blog. Please see additional details and rules and regulations here (pdf).

Just in time for finals! Peer counseling is now available for all students!

Feeling overwhelmed? Frustrated? Down? Confused about what you are doing in law school? Need to talk about school, stress, friends, family, LIFE? Tired of pretending everything is fine?

Law Students for Law Students (LSLS) is a new student organization dedicated to providing support for law students through peer counseling and wellness programming. LSLS allows students to talk honestly to other students who understand what law school is like. Trained peer counselors offer free, confidential peer counseling services in an empathetic and non-judgmental manner. We don’t care if you don’t have everything together. We don’t care if you don’t even know what you are doing in law school. Come talk to us. Seriously.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, email:  lawstudentsforlawstudents@gmail.com or visit http://boalt.org/lsls/.

Professor Anne Joseph O’Connell seeks a part-time Research Assistant (possibly two) for Summer 2010 (for at least one month between early June and the start of fall classes) to help with various research projects, including one on agency rulemaking and one on qualifications of agency leaders. Familiarity with Excel (to deal with FEC contribution files) is necessary. Interested students should email a resume and unofficial transcript to aoconnell@law.berkeley.edu.

If you are a New American, please plan to attend the information session for the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. The session will be held in 110 Boalt Hall, 2-3 P.M., on Thursday, April 15. Warren Ilchman, Director, Stanley J. Heginbotham, Consulting Director of Selection, and the current Boalt 1L who is now a Soros Fellow, will provide information and insights about how to be a successful applicant for this prestigious $90,000 two-year national fellowship.

A New American is a person who holds a Green Card, or is already a naturalized citizen, or the child of a naturalized parent (the other parent cannot be a US born citizen). A candidate must not be more than 30 years of age as of November 1 of the year of application. Please go to www.pdsoros.org for more information about the fellowships.

Dennis Tominaga
Assistant Dean of Financial Aid

Professor Jennifer Urban would like to hire a summer research assistant to work with her on copyright and privacy research projects. This will include research related to the remix practices of American fans of Japanese anime, copyright takedown notices and “three strikes” policies, and privacy within the home.
She is also conducting research on cloud computing, software patents and IP and technology law clinics.

First year law students interested in this position should submit a resume and writing sample to Professor Urban at jurban@law.berkeley.edu by April 12. Completion of the Intro to Intellectual Property Rights class is not necessary, although it may be helpful. Previous empirical experience may also be helpful, but is not necessary.

The undergraduate Legal Studies Program may have openings for JD/JSD students to serve as Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) in the fall semester of 2010. For a given course, a GSI attends and helps facilitate faculty lectures, organizes and teaches discussion sections, grades examinations and papers, holds office hours, and provides individual mentoring of undergraduate students.

The courses for which there may be openings are: LS 105, Theoretical Foundations of Criminal Law; LS 138, Supreme Court and Public Policy; LS 147, Law and Economics II; LS 151, Law, Self and Society; LS 155, Government and the Family; LS 170, Crime and Criminal Justice; LS 177, American Legal and Constitutional History; LS 177, Law, Politics and Society; and LS 184, Sociology of Law. See this schedule of classes for the days and times of lecture classes and discussion sessions. Be sure to check these days and times before applying for a particular course because there is no flexibility to adjust them to your schedule.

To be considered, send a brief statement (no more than 1 page total) about your qualifications related to one or more courses you are available to serve as a GSI in the fall term; a resume/CV; and an informal transcript electronically to: Michael Musheno at mmusheno@law.berkeley.edu no later than Friday, April 16, 2010.

The Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund at the University of California, Berkeley, is now accepting grant applications for its 2010-11 grant cycle. The fund will distribute $225,000 in grants this year to support projects and programs that link UC Berkeley faculty, staff and students with residents and community-based organizations to improve the quality of life in Berkeley.

Established in 2006, the fund has awarded more than $800,000 to over 60 diverse neighborhood improvement projects and community service programs that utilize collaborative relationships between UC Berkeley and the community to address critical needs.

This year, campus and community members are encouraged to develop collaborative partnerships that will yield real-world results in the areas of community safety and livability, environmental stewardship, education, and arts and culture.

“I am excited about the opportunities the fund offers to help forge closer connections between the community and the campus,” said Caleb Dardick, director of UC Berkeley’s Local Government and Community Relations Office.

An advisory board of city, campus and community representatives developed the goals, criteria and process for awarding partnership grants and will review and recommend projects for funding. Grant proposals are due by May 14, 2010. The grant awards will be announced in July 2010.

The fund will host a workshop for interested applicants as well as potential community or university partners on Wednesday, April 7th from 5:30 – 7:30 PM at the North Berkeley Senior Center (1901 Hearst Avenue at Martin Luther King Jr. Way).

The Chancellor’s Community Partnership fund Web site is http://communityrelations.berkeley.edu/ccpf. Its e-mail address is calpartnershipfund@berkeley.edu

Opportunity for collaboration on a publication in support of Informal Advanced Directives with faculty from the Cal School of Public Health.

Professor Marc Pollock (Public Health) is in the process of writing an article in support of “informal” written or oral advanced directives, and is seeking a law student assistant to go through the legal literature and find recent court cases that begin to establish a foundation for this approach. The paper is a guaranteed publication and the assistant’s name would be listed on the paper as well. Work could be completed during the summer months.

The student would need to review the legal foundations beginning with the California Health Care Decisions Act that took effect in 2000, and all pertinent litigation either in support or opposition to Informal Advance Directives.
Two examples would be Conservatorship of Wendland, 28 P3d 151,(2001) here in Calif. or the Michigan case of Martin, 538 NW2d 399. In both cases lower court rulings in favor of oral Advanced Directives, were over-turned by State Supreme Courts.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please reply to Professor Marc Pollock at marcp@berkeley.edu.

The new seminar will explore the burgeoning field of cleantech law and policy from multiple perspectives: environmental protection; energy regulation; technology and intellectual property policy; and business finance. The class would be jointly taught by Professors Peter Menell and Steven Weissman, with assistance from Sarah Barker-Ball (Fall 2010 Energy & Cleantech Program Fellow) and other faculty and fellows of Berkeley Law centers.  The seminar will develop a framework for analyzing the interrelationship between cleantech and environmental policy. Based upon this framework, each student in the seminar will develop an in-depth case study of a major cleantech project. Possible projects include major wind initiatives, building transmission capacity in the Mojave desert, biofuels, electric vehicles, smart grid technologies, high-speed trains, and nuclear energy. Students are welcome to propose other topics as well. Students will meet with advisers — from the faculty and legal practice — as they explore their projects.

The course will extend over both the fall and spring semesters, with 2 units offered each /semester.  The class would comprise: (1) lectures by faculty and guest lecturers on topics such as climate change, environmental regulation, environmental ethics, intellectual property, and cleantech financing frameworks; (2) meetings among students and TAs / professors to discuss project progress; and (3) a special lecture series involving cleantech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. During the Fall semester and early Spring semester, students will be required to meet a series of research and writing deadlines, such as topic summary, pathfinder, outline and various drafts.

Application: Admission is based on an application process. The application is here and must be submitted to the box outside Boalt 354 no later than April 30, 2010. 

Teaching Assistants: The course will use 2-3 TAs, who will receive academic credit for their participation. Please use the same attached application to apply to be a course TA.

The Boalt Hall Women’s Association is offering the Herma Hill Kay Summer Fellowship to Boalt students who dedicate their summer work to improving women’s lives through the law. Students may apply for the fellowship by sending both the general Boalt Hall Funding Application plus answers to the supplemental questions (see below) in one document to saragiardina@berkeley.edu by Thursday, April 1st. If you are selected as a Herma Hill Kay Fellow, you will be required to attend the HHK Fellows Reception on April 26th at 5PM in the Goldberg Room.

Supplemental Questions:

1. Herma Hill Kay has dedicated her professional life to improving women’s rights. Please describe any activities you have undertaken to promote women’s equality and empowerment. Activities may be academic, work-related or volunteer, and may be in or outside of law school.

2. Please describe the particular population of women your work will benefit.

Questions? Contact Sara at saragiardina@berkeley.edu.

Professor Pamela Samuelson would like to hire a summer research assistant to work with her on intellectual property research projects. This will include research about the derivative work right, copyright reform, and the origins of and justifications for statutory damages. She is also conducting research on software intellectual property rights, including an empirical project on the importance of intellectual property rights for software start-up companies. First year law students interested in this position should submit a resume and writing sample to Professor Samuelson at psamuelson@law.berkeley.edu by April 5. Completion of the Intro to Intellectual Property Rights class is not necessary, although it may be helpful.

Boalt students interested in independent study for supervised legal research and drafting concerning revision of the CAMPUS CODE OF STUDENT CONDUCT, should contact Stephen Rosenbaum, Lecturer, at srosenbaum@law.

Professor David Gamage seeks one or more part-time summer Research Assistant(s) for Summer 2010 to assist with research related to tax and budget policy. Interested students should contact David Gamage at: dgamage@law.berkeley.edu.

Scholarships are available to all students, both male and female, and are based on financial need, academic excellence, residential or other ties to San Mateo County, and involvement in activities, whether legal, scholastic, public, private or community. Applicants for the scholarship should submit a letter stating their qualifications for the award and the information about why they should be chosen. Please include in the letter, or as a separate attachment, the following information: All law school scholarships received and in what amounts, specify how the law school education is being financed, and include a copy of the current law school transcript.

Please send letters to:

San Mateo County Women Lawyers Education Foundation, P.O. Box 341, San Carlos, California 94070

* Deadline: April 1, 2010
* Award: $1,000 to $4,000
* Contact: Vivian L. Kral
* Phone: 650-367-1771

The Kern County Women Lawyers Association (KCWLA) of Bakersfield, California is an organization that supports and promotes women in the profession as well as issues of gender, diversity and equality. The KCWLA, through its Foundation, awards scholarships to both female and male law students, each year, in April or May. In order to receive a scholarship, the applicant must have ties to Kern County, California, have financial need and/or hardship and have good academic standing and scholarship. The Foundation is interested in candidates who have interests and experiences concerning issues facing the procession and, in particular, those issues important to women. Each year, at least one scholarship for a second, third or fourth year law student is awarded.

* Deadline: April 2, 2010
* Awards: $250-$3,000
* Contact:
Cynthia C. Norris, Secretary
Kern County Women Lawyers Foundation
P.O. Box 2702
Bakersfield, CA 93302
* Phone: 661-868-2736
* Download the Application