Marilyn Berger
Professor of Law
Room 440, Seattle University School of Law
Phone: (206) 398-4072
E-mail: mjb@seattleu.edu
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Marilyn Berger | |
Teaches Civil Procedure; Film and the Law, Gender and Justice
B.S. Cornell University 1965. J.D. University of California/Berkeley 1970: Moot Court, A. Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer fellow.
Professor Berger has been a visiting professor of law at South Bank Polytechnic, London, and at Kyoto University, Japan, and a scholar-in-residence at the University of London and Washington University in St. Louis. Professor Berger established the Films For Justice Institute in 1996. Through the Institute, Professor Berger produced three educational documentary films in the series, Lessons from Woburn. The Untold Stories" with Henry Wigglesworth (2000), "The Rules of Procedure" (2002), and "Conduct and Settlement" (2002). These documentaries are about a lawsuit brought by families in Woburn, MA, alleging contamination of their drinking water. The original participants appear in the documentary, based on the lawsuit, Anderson v. W.R. Grace, the book by Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, and the Hollywood movie by the same name. The films are used in 100+ law schools.
Professor Berger is the Director of the Comprehensive Trial Advocacy Program and also the Director of Films for Justice Institute at Seattle University School of Law.
Professor Berger is co-author (with Professors John Mitchell, Ronald Clark, and Monique Leahy) of Pretrial Advocacy: Planning, Analysis, and Strategy (Aspen, 2nd Ed, 2007). Along with co-authors, John Mitchell and Ronald Clark, she also authored Trial Advocacy: Planning, Analysis, and Strategy (Aspen, 2nd Ed. 2008), Trial Advocacy: Assignments and Case Files (Aspen, 2008).
Professor Berger lectures and writes in the areas of gender, film and the law, and advocacy, exploring issues about the relationship of storytelling and its intersection with law.
She is currently directing and producing the documentary, Out of the Ashes: 9-11 which is about 9-11 families and their experiences with the Victim Compensation Fund and litigation. Eleven days after the terrorist attack, the federal government put in place the largest public entitlement program: The Victim Compensation Fund. It distributed seven billion dollars to over 5,500 families. Out of the Ashes: 9-11 highlights the stories of seven families and provides an unprecedented window into the psychology of harm and justice. The documentary explores key legal and societal issues such as: Was giving the claimants money a misguided failure or a lifeline to survival? Did the Fund undermine our legal system, or did it offer 9-11 families justice by avoiding lawsuits?