Prof. Gail Silverstein helps law students build purpose-driven careers
After more than two decades at UC Law SF, Professor Gail Silverstein says she remains inspired by the students, colleagues and community partners she encounters through her work.
- Gail Silverstein has taught at UC Law SF since 2005, helping students gain hands-on experience and encouraging them to use their skills to serve the public interest.
- As associate dean for experiential learning and founding co-director of the Center for Social Justice, she has expanded opportunities for law students.
- Her former students credit her with shaping their careers in mediation, public interest law, legal education and advocacy.
For Gail Silverstein, the most rewarding part of teaching law is helping students discover what kind of lawyers they can be — and equipping them with the skills, confidence and opportunities to use the law in service of others.
Since joining UC Law SF’s faculty in 2005, Silverstein has taught in the Mediation Clinic, Individual Representation Clinic and Social Justice Lawyering Concentration Seminar, helping students go from learning the law to using it to make a difference for clients and communities.
As associate dean for experiential learning since 2020, she oversees the College’s clinic, externship and pro bono programs. She is also a founding co-director of the Center for Social Justice, where she has helped expand opportunities for students to pursue public interest work.
Silverstein reflects on her most memorable moments at UC Law SF and what has kept her teaching here for over two decades.
What do you like most about teaching law?
It’s an honor to teach budding lawyers. I get to help shape their understanding of the law, legal processes, and the role of the lawyer and the legal profession. As a clinical professor, I often witness students make a jump in their professional identity development. They go from being passive recipients of knowledge to legal actors using the law to help real people and impact their lives. It can be a real high for students, and I get to be right there with them, cheering them on and helping them integrate the experience into their self-identity.
What makes UC Law SF a special place, and what’s kept you teaching here for decades?
I love the different communities that I interact with at UC Law. They range from faculty and staff to the legal and social service community in the Tenderloin and throughout the Bay Area. The clinic, externship and pro bono program interact with many of these communities, all of which share core values of justice, education and service. They also exercise an enormous amount of grit and resolve in their missions. It’s inspiring to be surrounded by others with strong moral compasses, particularly at a time when individual self-gain and financial worth seem to be overly prized in our society.
What contributions have made your time at UC Law SF especially meaningful?
I’m proud of co-founding the Center for Social Justice with Professor Brittany Glidden and bringing in our first full-time pro bono director, Simone Lieban Levine, to lead the Center’s flagship program. The Center has broadened social justice programming across the College and expanded the Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program, which last spring sent 110 students to work with 22 organizations in 14 cities.
During the pandemic, Professor Carol Izumi and I co-developed a first-of-its-kind virtual mediation program for San Mateo County’s Small Claims Court. The program has been replicated in other counties and continues to thrive today, helping people resolve conflicts without litigation and saving courts valuable time and money.
As associate dean for experiential learning since mid-2020, I’ve worked hard to remove financial barriers to students in the clinic, externship and pro bono programs. I advocated for dedicated funding for the pro bono program and for other costs associated with clinics and externships. I’m particularly proud of co-founding the Restorative Justice Advisory Board’s Summer Fellowship Program with Professor Jo Carrillo, which allows students to spend the summer providing legal services to Indigenous communities, thanks to support by Provost & Academic Dean Morris Ratner and Chancellor & Dean David Faigman.
How has donor support made a difference in your work?
Donor support has been critical in helping the law school provide social justice and experiential programming to law students. All the programs I’ve helped develop are made possible through donor support directed to the clinical program, Center for Social Justice and Dean’s Priorities Fund.
Alumni reflect on Silverstein’s influence
“Twenty years ago at the legal clinic, I had plenty of fire but little sense of how to use it — until Professor Silverstein stepped in. She believed in me before I believed in myself and helped me understand that my intensity, when focused, was my greatest strength. Her mentorship changed the trajectory of my career and the person I became within it. She encouraged me to believe that I am enough!”
— Kelly Y. Chen ’07, founder of Law Office of Kelly Y. Chen
“I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Professor Gail Silverstein for over a decade, and in that time she’s been a professor, mentor, and a friend. As a clinical student, Gail affirmed my presence and sense of belonging in the legal profession at a time when I often felt out of place in law school. She encouraged me to show up authentically as an advocate. Her teaching made the law accessible and its impact tangible to me. I can’t thank her enough for supporting me as a student and throughout my career.
She’s a gifted educator, providing valuable frameworks and foundations for legal advocacy. She also supports students’ creativity and champions practicing empathy to better understand the complex lives of clients and how best to serve them. She has, for as long as I’ve known her, been a fierce advocate for public interest students, supporting meaningful professional pathways for those interested in using their law degree to advance social change. UC Law SF would be lucky to have her around for another 20 years!”
— Arneta Rogers ’15, executive director of the Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice at UC Berkeley School of Law
“During my tenure at UC Law SF, Professor Silverstein was a constant source of support and inspiration. Professor Silverstein opened my eyes not only to what the law is, but what is should be. While a student in the Mediation Clinic, she taught me the power of intentional active listening — a skill I use every day as a young lawyer.
— Mallory Wilson ’25, associate attorney, Law Office of Scott Righthand, P.C.
Decades in the Making highlights the contributions of faculty members who have spent 20 or more years at UC Law SF, recognizing their enduring impact on students’ lives and careers.