Professor Kate Bloch Honored with 2011 Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching
University of California Hastings College of the Law is proud to announce that Professor Kate Bloch has been honored with the 2011 Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Professor Bloch was selected for the award by a committee comprised of Frank H. Wu, Chancellor and Dean (ex officio); Shauna I. Marshall, Academic Dean; Professor Hadar Aviram, 2010 Rutter Award recipient; Josh Horowitz (class of 2010); and Noemi Gallardo, current ASUCH President.
“Kate Bloch exemplifies the thoughtful, ethical professional we want our students to become,” said Chancellor and Dean Frank H. Wu. “She sets an example as well through her dedication to teaching them.”
Professor Bloch teaches courses in Criminal Law, Roles & Ethics in Practice, Jury Instructions, and the Criminal Law & Theory Concentration Seminar. She also teaches in the Criminal Practice Clinic, through which UC Hastings students work in selected Bay Area prosecutors' and public defenders' offices where, under careful supervision, they engage in client and witness interviews, case planning and investigation, plea negotiations, motion practice, and witness examinations during evidentiary hearings and trials.
Professor Bloch attended Stanford Law School where she was a Senior Note Editor on the Stanford Law Review. Following graduation and the California Bar, Bloch clerked for the United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. Prior to joining the UC Hastings faculty, she represented the People of the State of California as a Deputy District Attorney for the County of Santa Clara.
When asked what she would like to share with her students, Professor Bloch identified “the intellectual excitement of legal inquiry in addition to the practical application of theory and doctrine to make a positive difference in legal systems and society.”
The Rutter Award is generously sponsored by William Rutter, founder of the Rutter Group, one of the leading legal publishing companies in the U.S. The official presentation of this year's award took place on October 17th in the Alumni Reception Center at UC Hastings.
Professor Bloch donated a portion of the $10,000 Rutter Award Honorarium to three UC Hastings affiliated organizations she has found “provide substantial opportunities for students to engage in important legal work in direct services or legal education” – the General Assistance Advocacy Project (GAAP), the Hastings Public Interest Law Foundation (HPILF), and the Hastings-to-Haiti Partnership.