Hastings professor Joan C. Williams has been called a “rock star” in the field of gender studies. For more than a quarter of a century, her work in the areas of pregnancy discrimination and work-family accommodation have helped define the issue of gender equality under the law. At Hastings, in 1997, she founded—and still runs—the Center for WorkLife Law, and she’s written many academic articles and books on the topic, including her recent much-lauded title What Works for Women at Work....

In 1970, as a 20-year-old college student, Eva Paterson famously debated Vice President Spiro Agnew on The David Frost Show. She went on to become a fierce advocate for civil rights, eventually working for 26 years at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights – including more than a dozen years as its executive director. In 2003 Paterson co-founded the Oakland-based Equal Justice Society, which works to close racial divides “through law, social science, and the arts.” Along with advocacy, the...

John Henry Browne is a criminal defense attorney in Seattle who is best known for his work on behalf of the notorious. One of his first clients was Ted Bundy—a vicious, serial killer who murdered scores of women in at least a half-dozen states. More recently, he represented Robert Bales, a former U.S. Army sergeant who is now serving a life prison sentence for the murder of 16 Afghani civilians. These were, to say the least, extremely difficult cases for a defense attorney to take on. But no...

Over the 67-year history of the CIA, no agency staff attorney has ever wielded more influence or power than John Rizzo. A self-described “company man,” Rizzo joined the Central Intelligence Agency back in 1976 and over the next three-and-a-half decades helped guide the agency through a host of controversies and scandals—from Iran-Contra to the extraordinary rendition of suspected terrorists. Earlier this year, after the publication of his fascinating memoir (“Company Man: Thirty Years of...

Over the last two decades no criminal defense lawyer in America has had a more profound impact on advancing the rights of the convicted than has Barry Scheck. In 1992, when DNA testing was still in its infancy, Scheck, along with his colleague Peter Neufeld, founded The Innocence Project, which has since figured prominently in the release of hundreds of prison inmates. Scheck also achieved lasting fame for defending O.J. Simpson when the former football star was charged with murder. Scheck...

Kenneth Feinberg is best known for the work that he did as the Special Master of the Victim Compensation Fund that was established by Congress to distribute billions of taxpayer dollars to those who were either injured or lost loved ones during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Since then he has presided over the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to compensate the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings, the BP Oil Spill Fund, the Aurora Victim Relief Fund, and the Boston Marathon Fund. Currently, Feinberg...

As both a diplomat and a scholar, Dennis Ross has had a truly extraordinary career. Under President George H.W. Bush, he led the U.S. State Department's Policy Planning Staff. He also served as a Special Envoy to the Middle East under President Bill Clinton, and was a Special Advisor to President Barack Obama before stepping down in 2011 to become a full-time fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. In March, just one month before the breakdown of yet another series of...

As the 46th Solicitor General of the United States, Donald B. Verrilli Jr. is best known for the case he made before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 in which he successfully defended the constitutionality of President Obama's Affordable Care Act. Also that year, he scored a big victory when the High Court largely struck down an immigration law passed by the state of Arizona. Verrilli speaks with UC Hastings Law Professor Rory Little in San Francisco two years after those rulings about what it...

In late 2012, an NSA contractor named Edward Snowden leaked to the press almost 200,000 classified documents exposing secrets about the scope and methods of American intelligence gathering. To some this made him a hero; to others a traitor. In this very special edition of Legally Speaking we pose a set of hypotheticals to an all-star panel of experts including New York Times reporter Charlie Savage, former NSA director Michael Hayden, and Washington, D.C., trial attorney Abbe Lowell that in...

During the waning days of South Africa's apartheid era, Judge Richard Goldstone led a series of investigations that exposed the human rights abuses committed by his own country's security forces--an effort that may well have prevented a full blown civil war. He then went on to serve as the chief prosecutor for two international war crimes tribunals; one for the former Yugoslavia, the other for Rwanda. In early December, Judge Goldstone spoke with California Lawyer magazine's contributing...

In a country where as many as 100,000 rape cases are now pending in its courts, human rights attorney Rutuparna Mohanty has devoted herself to fighting for the rights of abused women and their families. In September, as a guest of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice, Mohanty spoke with California Lawyer editor Martin Lasden. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 25720]

No attorney in the United States has done more to weaken, if not kill, campaign finance laws than James Bopp Jr. As the principal plaintiffs attorney behind the Citizens United case, he paved the way for the U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to support the political candidates of their choice. Bopp also serves as general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, and as a conservative Republican he believes that Barack Obama is a...

In 2008, Sadakat Kadri began an intellectual journey that would take him to Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, as well as to his father's birthplace in Northern India, in order to better understand both the history and the meaning of Shari'a law. Kadri recounts this odyssey in his highly acclaimed 2012 book Heaven on Earth. In May, Kadri spoke with California Lawyer editor Martin Lasden. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 25086]

Former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis) is perhaps best known as the co-sponsor of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (a.k.a. McCain-Feingold). He also cast the only vote in the Senate against the USA Patriot Act, which he believed posed an unacceptable threat to civil liberties. In May, Feingold spoke with UC Hastings law professor Evan Lee about the war on terror, the Obama presidency, and how the Senate has changed. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 25085]

At a time when the debate over new gun laws couldn't be more divisive, Adam Winkler's 2011 book, Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, has drawn praise from both opponents and advocates of stricter measures. In April 2013, the UCLA law professor spoke with California Lawyer editor Martin Lasden. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 25084]

More than any other lawyer in the country, Paul Hoffman is responsible for turning an obscure 1789 law called the Alien Tort Statute into a potent weapon. Under the ATS, Hoffman has, on behalf of the tortured, successfully sued foreign nationals, as well as corporations, in U.S. federal courts for acts committed abroad. In March 2013, UC Hastings law professor Naomi Roht-Arriaza interviewed Hoffman in San Francisco. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 25196]

Once, he presided over the third largest newspaper empire in the entire world. He also was a celebrated author with massive biographies of both Franklin Roosevelt and Richard Nixon to his credit. But that was all before he served three years in federal prison for fraud and obstruction of justice. From his mansion in Toronto, Conrad Black talks to California Lawyer editor Martin Lasden about his spectacular rise and fall, and the protracted legal battles that he has waged to clear his name....

It was while working as an assistant U.S. attorney that David Lat fell in love with blogging. For Underneath Their Robes, his first blog, Lat went undercover to poke fun at the very judges he tried cases in front of. Then, in 2006, he founded Above the Law, which has since become one of the country's most widely read legal blogs. Lat talks about the outrageous risks he took and the successful online business he built with UC Hastings law professor Evan Lee in San Francisco. Series: "Legally...

UC Hastings Law School Alum Lloyd Braun began his career as an entertainment lawyer, but eventually moved over to the creative side of the business. Since then he's had a hand in developing some of the biggest hit shows in television history, including Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Boston Legal, and The Sopranos. He was the inspiration for the character of George Costanza’s childhood friend Lloyd Braun on Seinfeld. In 2007, after a stint as head of Yahoo's media group, Braun...

Los Angeles attorney Paul Morantz has devoted his professional life to fighting cults. But in the late 1970s that life almost came to an abrupt end when one of the cults he litigated against planted a live rattlesnake in his mailbox. Morantz speaks with California Lawyer editor Martin Lasden about his career and the dangers he faced. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 24671]

As the top lawyer for the U.S. State Department, Harold Hongju Koh is the man who both President Barak Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have most depended on to insure that the administration's policies conform with international law. In this in-depth discussion, Koh speaks with California Lawyer editor Martin Lasden about his time at State and the most difficult questions he's had to wrestle with. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 24504]

For prosecutors, as well as priests, how we have sex has long been a matter of serious concern. So serious, in fact, that whenever community standards are challenged, the response is often repression, and, sometimes, severe punishment. Eric Berkowitz is an attorney in San Francisco who has studied this phenomenon. His new book is called “Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire” (Counterpoint, 2012). Berkowitz speaks with California Lawyer editor Martin Lasden. Series:...

As a partner with the Cooley law firm in San Francisco, Sandy Tatum became over the course of four decades one of America’s most influential lawyers. He's also known as the "Dean of American golf." Tatum was a moving force behind the multi-million-dollar renovation of Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco in the early 2000s. And he was instrumental in creating a nationwide program called “First Tee,” which introduces the game to the youth of underserved communities. Tatum speaks with UC...

MacArthur genius award recipient Elyn Saks has written extensively about the rights of the mentally ill. She has also written at length about her own bouts with serious mental illness. In this very candid interview Saks, who is a tenured law professor at the University of Southern California, speaks with California Lawyer editor Martin Lasden. Series: "Legally Speaking" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 23630]