Willian Fernholz ’93, the Appellate Program Director, commended team members for “honing their arguments and examinations to a razor-sharp edge” and proclaimed their success “a reward for lots of very hard work.” Fernholz remarked that the Professional Skills Program “tries to give our students the tools to not merely survive, but also thrive in the practice of law. Successes like this show we’re on the right track.”

For the full press release, go here.

The imitative, sponsored by Bank of America, has held one-day workshops at UCLA and Berkeley focused on climate change issues in the California region since 2009. Ethan Elkind, a research fellow working at Both Berkeley and UCLA law, used these conferences as a starting point for white reports focused on how climate change can benefit business sectors. Elkin feels that climate change will actually create opportunities for growth and includes recommendations for how policy can foster these initiatives.

Elkind remarked that “We turned these discussions into targeted recommendations for California’s decision-makers in business and government. Along the way, we worked closely with key stakeholders and became a kind of clearinghouse for the latest research on climate change policies.”

The initiative plans to continue its work by meeting with policy makers, developing a new white paper and hosting informational sessions in 2012.

For the full press release, go here. 

U.S. Law schools profiles include:
University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
University of Chicago Law School
Columbia Law School
Georgetown University Law Center
Harvard Law School
University of Michigan Law School
New York University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
University of Pennsylvania Law School
Stanford University Law School
University of Virginia School of Law
Yale Law School

Each guide includes a detailed overview of every aspect of law school from student body demographics and academics to career placement and life on campus.  Not only will these guides help you save time during the school research process, but they also allow you to easily compare peer programs by presenting key data side-by-side .

Whether you’re a college junior considering applying to law school next fall, an experienced professional looking to enter the legal field or an applicant who’s in the throes of drafting his or her applications for admission in fall 2012, our free guides are the best place to turn for easy-to-read school-specific information.

Visit the “Law School Guides” tab on our blog to get your free guides today.  Best of luck in the law school admissions process!

Many leading U.S. law schools require their 1Ls to complete a professional skills program, though the format and scope of this program differs from institution to institution.  Most offer at least one course on legal research and writing that focuses on teaching basic lawyering skills, such as choosing the most appropriate resources for the purpose of writing a memo or legal brief.  Part of the reason for this instruction is to help students learn to construct clear arguments based on their research into abstract interpretations of the law – in short, to begin thinking like a lawyer.

Berkeley Law teaches legal research, writing and advocacy through its Professional Skills Program, a group of required courses aimed at giving students both in-depth exposure to essential lawyering skills and opportunities to practice them under the guidance of experienced lawyers.  The program is made up of two core courses, a variety of electives and a moot court competition.  Students complete the core courses during 1L, taking Legal Research and Writing in the fall of 1L and Written and Oral Advocacy during the spring.

In Legal Research and Writing, students develop their lawyering skills in small groups of 10 to 12 students.  Through various research and writing projects, including two legal memos of 10 to 12 pages each, 1Ls learn to read cases, build effective legal arguments and navigate the U.S. court system.  Throughout the semester, students receive one-on-one help with their assignments from the teaching assistants, 2Ls and 3Ls assigned to each section who meet individually with students to give feedback and share strategies.

Written and Oral Advocacy, meanwhile, focuses on preparing 1Ls to apply their research and legal writing skills to a trial court case, which they will argue in front of a real judge.  During the semester, students research one side of a hypothetical case, create a brief laying out their argument and then deliver it orally in a moot court, after which the judge provides feedback on their work.

Following the completion of the two 1L core courses, Berkeley Law students take at least one of the Elective Skills Courses offered by the Professional Skills Program in order to satisfy the lawyering skills requirement.  These courses are designed to impart practical skills that will be essential in various legal practices, such as litigation and transactional work, and to help 2Ls and 3Ls become immediately effective in their summer internships and full-time post-graduation jobs.

For information about Berkeley Law’s academic offerings and other approaches that leading U.S. law schools take to teaching lawyering skills, be sure to check out the Clear Admit School Guide for Berkeley School of Law and the other 11 titles in our Clear Admit Law School Guides line!

While the primary goal of legal education at these and all other leading law schools is to teach the analytical skills and foundational doctrinal disciplines necessary to be a competent lawyer in any practice area or industry, schools recognize that lawyers are increasingly called upon to be knowledgeable about the issues and methodologies of their clients’ businesses.  To meet this need, many leading law schools have created opportunities for students to tailor their education to acquire depth and breadth of knowledge in a broad content area through the study of related law and non-law topics.  At Penn Law and Berkeley Law, these opportunities include certificate programs that reward students who take a unified program of study at the law school and least one other school housed at the university.  The certificates are appended to students’ transcripts after all requirements have been completed.

Penn Law’s Certificates of Study generally require students to take between three and four courses outside the law school in a single subject area, along with another one or two related courses from Penn Law itself.  In addition, some Certificates require students to write a paper tying together the student’s cross-disciplinary study in the Certificate topic.  The most popular is the Certificate in Business and Public Policy, offered jointly with the Wharton School, which requires students to take three courses from Wharton’s MBA elective curriculum along with one Penn Law course that deals with a regulatory topic.  Other Certificates of Study include Environmental Science, Cross Sector Innovation, and Middle East and Islamic Studies.

At Berkeley Law, students interested in specializing are encouraged to follow one of the Curricular Programs, which are suggestions for courses, workshops and extracurricular activities offered within the law school and elsewhere at UC Berkeley in a well-defined practice or academic area.  Within the Curricular Programs structure, Berkeley Law offers only a couple of certificates – most of the Programs are suggested paths to take, and students are free to follow them to any extent they choose – and participation in them is competitive.  The certificates are in two areas for which Berkeley Law and UC Berkeley as a whole are particularly well known: Law and Technology, and Environmental Law.  Each requires students to take core courses at Berkeley Law and allows some flexibility to choose among several electives offered at the law school and with an associated UC Berkeley school, such as Haas School of Business (in the case of the Law and Technology Curricular Program) and the Goldman School of Public Policy (in the case of the Environmental Law concentration).  In addition, students are expected to fulfill a writing requirement, participate in relevant clinics and internships, as well as get involved with extracurricular activities on campus that are related to their certificate’s focus.  For example, students pursuing the Law and Technology certificate are required to work on a journal, such as the Berkeley Technology Law Journal, or participate in a student organization, such as Boalt.org, for at least two terms.

For more information about specialization programs offered by leading U.S. law schools, be sure to read the Clear Admit Law School Guides for Penn Law and Berkeley Law!

Berkeley / Boalt
Application Period: September 1 – February 1

Boston College
Application Period: Mid-September – March 1

Boston University
Binding Early Decision Deadlines: December 1
Application Period: September 15 – March 1

Chicago
Early Decision Deadline: December 1
Application Period: September 1 – February 1

Columbia
Early Decision Deadline: November 15
Application Period: September 1 – February 15

Cornell
Early Action Deadline: November 1
Application Period: September 1 – February 1

Duke
Early Decision Deadline: November 4 (Round I) and January 7 (Round II)
Application Period: September – February 15

Emory
Application Period: September – March 1.

Fordham
Early Decision Deadline: October 15
Application Period: September 1 – March 1

George Washington
Early Decision Deadline: December 15
Application Period: October 1 – March 31

Georgetown
Early Decision Deadline: March 1
Application Period: October 1 – March 1

Harvard
Application Period: September 15 – February 1

Illinois
Early Decision Period: October 31
Application Period: September 15 – March 1

Iowa
Application Period: September 1 – March 1

Michigan
Early Decision Deadline: November 15
Application Period: September 1 – February 15.

Minnesota
Early Action Deadline: November 15
Application Period: September 1 – April 1

New York University
Early Decision Deadline: November 15
Application Period: September – February 15

Northwestern
Early Decision Deadline: December 1
Application Period: September 1 – February 15

Notre Dame
Early Decision Deadline: November 1
Application Period: October 1 – February 15

Stanford
Application Period: September 1 – February 1

UCLA
Early Decision Deadline: November 15
Application Period: September – February 1

University of Pennsylvania
Early Decision Deadline: November 15
Application Period: September 1 – March 1

USC / Gould
Application Period: September 1 – February 1

U Texas-Austin
Early Decision Deadline: November 1
Application Period: September – February 1

U Virginia
Application Period: September 1 – March 1

University of Washington
Application Period: October 1 – February 15

Vanderbilt
Application Period: September 10 – March 15.

Washington and Lee
Application Period: September 1 – March 1

Washington University in St. Louis
Application Period: late September – March 1 (recommended deadline; applications accepted after this date on space-available basis)

William and Mary
Application Period: September 1 – March 1

Yale
Application Period: September 15 – February 15

Most of the top schools are already on the road and ready to wrap up in mid-November, so we recommend looking into the travel schedules for programs of interest and planning accordingly. Keeping in mind that these schedules are updated and amended throughout the fall, here are some of the top programs’ itineraries for the weeks ahead:

Berkeley / Boalt:
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/199.htm

Chicago:
http://www.law.uchicago.edu/events/admissions

Columbia:
http://www.law.columbia.edu/jd_applicants/visiting/ontheroad

Duke:
http://www.law.duke.edu/admis/travel/

George Washington University:
http://www.law.gwu.edu/Admissions/JD/Pages/Recruitment_Schedule.aspx

Harvard:
http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/jd/experience/recruiting.html

Michigan:
http://www.law.umich.edu/prospectivestudents/admissions/Pages/meetus.aspx

Minnesota:
http://www.law.umn.edu/prospective/recruiting.html

New York University:
http://www.law.nyu.edu/admissions/jdadmissions/visitingnyu/offcampusvisitsandlsacforums/index.htm

Notre Dame:
http://law.nd.edu/admissions-and-financial-aid/recruitment-schedule

UCLA:
http://www.law.ucla.edu/prospective-students/fall-recruitment-events/Pages/2011-Fall-Recruitment-Events.aspx

University of Pennsylvania:
http://www.law.upenn.edu/prospective/recschedule.html

University of Washington:
http://www.law.washington.edu/Admissions/Recruit.aspx

USC / Gould:
http://lawweb.usc.edu/how/jd/recruitingSchedule.cfm

Vanderbilt:
http://law.vanderbilt.edu/prospective-students/admissions/campus-visit-calendar/index.aspx

Yale:
http://www.law.yale.edu/admissions/recruiting.htm

Need more law school information?  Make sure to check in with the Clear Admit Law School Admissions Portal next week for further details.

In recent years, Berkeley Law has made a concerted effort to provide its students with an interdisciplinary legal education in which instruction in traditional legal subjects is supplemented by an exploration of related academic disciplines.  By emphasizing cross-disciplinary study, Berkeley Law encourages its students to not only acquire a comprehensive knowledge of doctrinal law and a well-honed ability to “think like a lawyer,” but also to become deeply familiar with the issues and methodologies of other disciplines, which they can later draw upon to more completely understand their clients’ needs.  At Berkeley Law, students may earn up to 8 of their 85 required units of credit from classes offered outside the law school. These eight units count toward the maximum of fifteen units that can be earned for work completed outside of law school classes, whether in student-run journals, independent research projects, externships or clinics. Many Berkeley Law students take advantage of courses offered by the Walter A. Haas School of Business, the Goldman School of Public Policy and the law school’s Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, as well as the UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science’s Departments of Economics, History and Journalism.

Another option for students interested in pursuing a multidisciplinary course of study is to follow one of the school’s Curricular Programs. Developed by Berkeley Law faculty members, the Curricular Programs are structured suggestions for courses, research projects, practical opportunities and extracurricular activities, both inside and outside the law school, that are designed to give students both breadth and depth of knowledge within a single subject area. Through this concentrated multidisciplinary study, students are expected to acquire a broader perspective on legal practice in their chosen field, which prepares them to pursue advanced research in that area and to become effective legal practitioners immediately after graduating from Berkeley Law.

For each of the school’s seven Curricular Programs, which include areas such as Environmental Law, Social Justice and Law and Technology, faculty members have suggested a mix of law and non-law courses to help students develop a nuanced understanding of the legal issues involved in a specific practice area, as well as contextual knowledge about the industries covered by that practice area. For example, students who are focusing on Intellectual Property law through the Law and Technology Curricular Program, one of the school’s most popular, can take at two or more relevant law courses, including Patent Law and Cyberlaw, as well as courses from UC Berkeley’s MBA program at the Haas School of Business. For the newest Curricular Program in Energy and Clean Technology Law, which was announced in May 2011, students take energy law courses taught by faculty from Berkeley’s innovative Energy and Cleantech Program.

For more information about interdisciplinary opportunities at Berkeley Law, such as certificate programs and the role of extracurricular activities in some Curricular Programs, be sure to read the Clear Admit Guide to University of California, Berkeley, School of Law – available now for immediate download!

The University of California, Berkeley, is home to over 100 graduate degree programs in a wide variety of disciplines.  Berkeley Law students are encouraged to take advantage of their proximity to these programs by taking courses outside the law school, pursuing joint degrees and engaging with students in the university’s other graduate programs through workshops and extracurricular activities.

Students may earn up to 8 of their 85 required units of credit from classes offered outside the law school.  The most popular schools and departments in which Berkeley Law students pursue non-law study are the Walter A. Haas School of Business, the Goldman School of Public Policy and the law school’s Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, as well as the UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science’s Departments of Economics, History and Journalism.  In addition, students in Berkeley Law’s environmental law program are encouraged to take advantage of environmental studies offerings in other UC Berkeley departments.

There are also opportunities for Berkeley Law students to pursue foreign language study while in law school.  Students may use up to 5 units of credit to study a foreign language, as long as they are intermediate or advanced courses that do not solely focus on developing reading skills.  Foreign language courses must result in a “B” grade for the student to receive credit.

For more information about interdisciplinary study opportunities at leading law schools, be sure to check out the Clear Admit Law School Guides!

The ERG, which was established as a degree-granting program in 1973, offers graduate level programs, including a PhD, and an undergraduate minor.  Recently, the ERG has been involved in projects focusing on solar energy, Smart Grid design and electricity transport.  The cross-departmental nature of the ERG has resulted in research that spans from biodiversity and climate systems to water policy and international development.

Plans for the new concurrent degree were revealed to administrators last year and approved after a university review process.  Berkeley Law students who are pursuing a career in environmental law and opt for a single degree will continue to benefit from the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, the newly created certificate in Energy and Clean Technology Law, and energy law courses taught by the Director of the Energy and Cleantech Program.

According to Professor Daniel Farber, the director of the law school’s Environmental Law Program, “this [partnership] enhances the law school’s overall energy program and gives us an important competitive edge.”