National Advisory Council member Pamela Duffy, a partner at San Francisco law firm Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP, has been selected as the "Real Estate Lawyer of the Year" by prestigious legal ranking company Chambers and Partners. Duffy was awarded the honor at Chambers' first annual Women in Law Awards, which took place in New York City on Feb. 2 and recognizes the leading women in the legal profession nationwide.

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Mike Synar Graduate Research Fellowship! Five awards of $3000 each are granted annually to noteworthy UC Berkeley graduate students writing a dissertation on an aspect of American politics.
Read more about this year's recipients and their research projects in the latest installment of the IGS Zipline.

IGS is pleased to announce that Peter Brightbill ('87) has joined its National Advisory Council. Peter Brightbill, Senior Director of Government Relations for Wells Fargo, is based in San Francisco. In this role, he is responsible for managing the organization’s state legislative and political agendas in California.
Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Peter served in various management and policy positions in California state government. He also served on the White House staff of two U.S. Presidents.

After last Tuesday's Republican primary election in Florida, former State Senator Dick Ackerman weighs in on the race to win the Republican nomination. Read his observations on the road ahead for the candidates in the latest edition of the IGS Zipline.

The California Supreme Court today twice cited a new IGS study in its decision declaring that the 2012 state Senate elections will be conducted under maps drawn by the Citizens Redistricting Commission, even if a referendum challenging the commission maps is certified for the ballot.
The study, "Redistricting California: An Evaluation of the Citizens Commission Final Plans," will appear in a forthcoming special issue of the California Journal of Politics and Policy, which is published online by IGS. The study, which is already available at the IGS website, was authored by Eric McGhee of the Public Policy Institute of California and by Vlad Kogan of the University of California, San Diego.
Critics of the Commission have submitted signatures for a referendum that would block use of the panel's Senate maps. However the referendum cannot go to voters before November of 2012, giving rise to a dispute over the maps that should be used for the 2012 elections. The Supreme Court ruled that the Commission maps will be used.
The Supreme Court quoted the IGS study: "Academic observers have concluded that the Commission's maps, including the certified state Senate map, 'represent an important improvement on the legislature-led redistricting of 2001. The new district boundaries kept more communities together and created more compact districts while at the same time increasing opportunities for minority representation. ... These maps ... have the potential to modestly increase competition in California elections and the responsiveness of the legislative branch to changing voter preferences.'"
The high court also cited the IGS study in discussing the history of the redistricting that followed the 1980 census.
The court's opinion is here, with citations of the IGS study on pages 48 and 61.
McGhee and Kogan found that the Commission's maps are less gerrymandered than the districts in place since 2001, and will likely lead to more electoral victories for Democrats. The IGS press release regarding the study is here, and the full study is here.

Each fellow is given a stipend of $27,500 and an opportunity to work at the governmental or non-profit organization of their choosing for 10 months. During their fellowship, they are placed with a high-level senior mentor. Three graduating seniors from UC Berkeley and three from Stanford University receive the fellowship annually.
See the program page for application details.