Faculty Profile

Jessica Berch

Visiting Associate Professor of Law

B.A., summa cum laude, Humanities/Classics, 2004, Barrett Honors College, Arizona State University; J.D., 2008, Columbia University; Phi Beta Kappa; Member, Arizona State Bar

Courses    Publications

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Phone: (213) 738-6864
Office: BW313

Jessica Berch gained experience in constitutional law, class action defense, administrative law, and corporate governance as an associate in the Litigation and Appellate practices at the firm of Perkins Coie LLP. As a member for the firm's Investigations and White Collar Defense subgroup, she has also represented clients in connection with investigations by federal and state authorities regarding tax, securities, and environmental issues. She has briefed cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Arizona Supreme Court, and has argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Active in pro bono practice as well, Professor Berch has handled immigration actions, constitutional impact litigation, and family law matters. She was part of the team in Doe v. Reed, in which the United States Supreme Court held that the disclosure of the names of referendum petition signers does not violate the First Amendment, and she won an appeal in an immigration case before the Ninth Circuit.

Professor Berch is the co-author of a book and teacher's manual on Introduction to Legal Method and Process (West Publishing, 2010). Her articles have been published in Temple Law Review and the Minnesota Journal of International Law. Her professional activities include serving as a member of the board of the Arizona Women Lawyers Association, and as Report Chair and Recorder for Arizona Town Hall. She has presented CLE courses on "The Uniform Contribution Among Tortfeasers Act and Non-Parties at Fault."

During law school at Columbia, Professor Berch was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar her first year and a James Kent Scholar her second and third years. She served as Articles Editor of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law and was a competitor, coach, and editor on the Environmental Law Moot Court Team. She also served as a Teaching Fellow in Legal Methods. Following law school, she clerked for the Hon. Mary M. Schroeder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.