UCI law school’s Chemerinsky takes new position at UC Berkeley

Erwin Chemerinsky, a leading constitutional scholar and the founding dean of UC Irvine’s 9-year-old School of Law, has accepted a position as dean of UC Berkeley’s law school.

Chemerinsky will serve a five-year term beginning July 1, according to a UC Berkeley announcement.

“Dean Chemerinsky is an acclaimed researcher, gifted teacher and accomplished administrator,” Carol Christ, Berkeley’s interim executive vice chancellor, said in a statement. “And I believe he will be a phenomenal leader for our law school, someone who will ensure that Berkeley Law remains not only a powerhouse of legal scholarship and training but also a community built on mutual respect and inclusion.”

Replacing Chemerinsky as interim dean at UC Irvine is L. Song Richardson, a UCI law faculty member since 2014. She is senior associate dean for academic affairs. Richardson begins the interim post July 1.

“I want to express my enormous gratitude to Dean Erwin Chemerinsky for all he has contributed to the success of the law school and the entire university during his tenure as dean,” UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a statement. “I’m very grateful that Song Richardson has agreed to serve as interim dean, knowing that she will work with the law school community to maintain our extraordinary momentum.”

According to Chemerinsky’s biography on UCI’s website, he is the author of 10 books and more than 200 law review articles. He has argued cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and earlier this year was named by National Jurist magazine as the most influential person in legal education in the United States for 2016.

The magazine also gave him the honor in 2013.

bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZint