Saira Mohamed
Professor of Law
Saira Mohamed is a Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law and the 2025 recipient of Berkeley Law's Rutter Award for Teaching Distinction. Her scholarship focuses on international criminal justice and responses to mass atrocity, and she has published in the Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, and California Law Review. Before joining Berkeley Law, she served as Senior Advisor in the Office of the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and as an Attorney-Adviser in the State Department's Office of the Legal Adviser. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an elected member of the American Law Institute.
Teaching Style
Professor Mohamed combines careful doctrinal instruction with deep engagement in the moral and philosophical questions underlying criminal law and human rights. She uses the Socratic method to push students to think critically about concepts of responsibility, complicity, and justice in the context of both domestic criminal law and international atrocities. She cold-calls regularly and is known for creating an inclusive classroom where students feel encouraged to grapple with difficult and emotionally complex material.
Cold Call Tips
- 1Be prepared to discuss criminal law concepts like intent, complicity, and duress in contexts ranging from domestic crimes to international atrocities
- 2Think carefully about competing theories of justice including retributive, restorative, and transitional justice
- 3Read the assigned international law materials alongside the domestic criminal law cases to draw connections
- 4Be ready to engage with difficult moral questions about accountability in situations of collective violence
Areas of Expertise
Education
- J.D., Columbia Law School
- M.I.A., Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
- B.A., Yale University
Notable Publications
- Articles on responsibility and culpability in mass atrocity in the Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, and California Law Review
Research Interests
More Professors at UC Berkeley School of Law
Constitutional Law, Federal Courts, Civil Rights, First Amendment
Criminal Law, Family Law, Reproductive Rights and Justice, Critical Race Theory
Environmental Law, Constitutional Law, Legislation and Regulation, Climate Change Law
Constitutional Law, Feminist Legal Theory, Law and Social Movements, Immigration Law