Countering Climate Change Through Law
Hello! I’m Marina Angulo and I am a law student at Insper-Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa in Brazil. Studying law as an undergraduate is a bit different here in Brazil as many other countries have law studies during their graduate years.
Because the law program is quite new at my university, I had the opportunity to become the founder of the first student organization for legal studies at the school, InsperLaw. I also participated in internships at Fiquem Sabendo and TozziniFreire Advogados and am currently working with Technology and Litigation at Pinheiro Neto Advogados.
I also got a full-ride scholarship to study at the University of Chicago and the chance to participate in a visiting-student program at UC San Diego for Legal English during the summer of 2023. I loved studying in California so much that I came back—this time for the Berkeley Haas Global Access Program (BHGAP) for the Spring 2024 semester. Interestingly, my twin brother did this program at the same time as me!
I applied to BHGAP because I knew that it was an extremely comprehensive program: I could take classes on innovation and sustainability at Haas, as well as take other courses from different campus departments. I could have a little bit of law, a little bit of leadership, a little bit of negotiation—that combination is what really attracted me to the program.
Courses Impact Career Dreams
My experience at Berkeley, in particular, gave me new perspectives on my future goals.
BHGAP had a great impact on what I envisioned for my future career because I was able to take classes on sustainability and leadership, and then connect the two with law.
I’m also very excited about working in innovation, and am constantly thinking about how it can lead our society to a better place. For example, one of my future goals that I had not considered prior to coming to UC Berkeley came to me during the Business Models for Sustainability course with professor Andrew Isaacs. He showed us data on solar panels and how they were helping our planet. This was really eye-opening, but also quite underwhelming. So I wondered how we could tackle this problem—especially in Brazil because we currently have little investment in solar panels, but we do have a lot of investment in other types of low carbon–emission technologies.
When my brother and I went to Hawaii during spring break, I could only focus on the fact that there were solar panels everywhere! I thought, “This is what Brazil could be like in 10 or 15 years, and this is where we need to go.”
I was so moved by this that now that I’m in my final year at Insper, I chose to do my final research paper around the topic of solar panels and low-carbon emissions. I'm using my BHGAP classes as guidelines as I work on this. The paper is focused on how law and regulation can help with the implementation of solar panels. I'm trying to get a sense of what are the most impactful regulations and correlate them with law.
The other class I really enjoyed was Negotiation and Conflict Resolution with professor Holly Schroth. She gave us material to prepare beforehand, which created a great dynamic every time we met. This approach really sparked a motivation in me: Every class would cover a different ability. Having students from other countries was helpful because I could negotiate with people from diverse backgrounds and their negotiation styles were quite unique, especially when compared to the ones that I would normally find here in Brazil.
For my electives, I took The Global Environmental Crisis and the Undergraduate Colloquium on Business Topics, where we had business leaders give a talk about an issue they are facing. But it is my BHGAP courses that continue to stand out for me!
Interestingly, at Insper, our courses are really practical, just like at Berkeley. But the difference I saw was that there is a unique approach at Berkeley: There were a lot more dynamic conversations in class—not just with the professor, but with each other as classmates.
BHGAP had a great impact on what I envisioned for my future career because I was able to take classes on sustainability and leadership, and then connect the two with law.
Outside of Class
I'm a Jewish student, and I really enjoyed being part of UC Berkeley’s Rohr Chabad Jewish Student Center and Berkeley Hillel. I would really recommend students to connect with communities that are from campus: It’s one thing to have this experience with other international students, but it’s another when you have experiences of being with people from California and all over the U.S.
Just say yes to the opportunities that you have and to explore because your time in Berkeley will go by really quickly.
My Advice for You
I received this piece of advice when I started BHGAP: “Just say, ‘Yes.’”
Just say yes to the opportunities that you have and to explore because your time in Berkeley will go by really quickly.
Academically, listen to your professors because they have great knowledge, so ask them a lot of questions! Try to be someone that's constantly speaking in class, but be humble because you're there to learn.
