Join Berkeley Law Professor, Elisabeth Semel, Brendon Woods, the first African-American Chief Public Defender of Alameda County, and Tamani Taylor, San Francisco Deputy Public Defender, for a discussion of the history of racial discrimination in jury selection in California.  In 2020, Semel and students in Berkeley Law’s Death Penalty Clinic published, “Whitewashing the Jury Box: How California Perpetuates the Discriminatory Exclusion of Black and Latinx Jurors,” which provided evidentiary support for the California Legislature’s passage of AB 3070.  Woods, Semel, and clinic students played instrumental roles in the legislative process.  This statute dramatically reforms jury selection in criminal trials, and in 2026 it will also apply to civil jury selection.

Panelists
Elisabeth Semel, Co-Director, Death Penalty Clinic, Berkeley Law
Brendon Woods, Chief Public Defender, Alameda County Public Defender's Office
Tamani Taylor, Deputy Public Defender, San Francisco County Public Defender's Office

Moderator
Cara Sandberg, Of Counsel, Conrad Melitzky Kane