Bruin Affiliates: Bruin Affiliates Luncheon
Wed 1/21 • 11:30AM - 5PM PST
James West Alumni Center •
“Captivating Clips from Classic Courtroom Movies"
Paul Bergman, UCLA Professor of Law Emeritus, will be back with us to present his amusing and enlightening take on courtroom drama. He'll share how real trials and courtroom movies are made for each other. Lawyers are storytellers and courtrooms are theaters; trials can provide drama, surprise,
suspense, laughs, and sometimes truth. He will educate and entertain us by showing and discussing clips from familiar and not-so-familiar courtroom movies. Plus he will be adding clips that feature Oscar-winning actors and actresses as we head into awards season.
Paul Bergman is a Professor of Law Emeritus at the UCLA Law School. He received his J.D. from UC Berkeley, clerked for a federal court of appeals judge, and worked at a law firm before joining the UCLA law faculty and pioneering one of the earliest and finest clinical law programs in the country. Paul continues to publish books and articles, teach Evidence, and give courtroom film clip-based presentations regularly to judges, lawyers and community groups, including adult education courses for UCLA Extension.
Paul’s awards include the University Distinguished Teaching award (UC’s highest teaching honor), the Dickson Award for Distinguished Service and Scholarship, and the American Board of Trial Advocacy award for trial scholarship and teaching. Paul has also written and co-authored numerous law review articles and books on a wide range of subjects. Pop culture related essays include an award-winning essay discussing the contribution of the 1970's TV show Emergency! to the development and legalization of paramedics. As a result, Paul appeared in a 2022 documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of the show’s debut.