Don’t you wish you had Edley’s ear?

Particularly if you're worried about your big-law job ...

We’ve written before about California legal types who’d thrown their weight heavily or early behind Barack Obama’s candidacy. And we’ve wondered who might be angling for a job if he ended up in the White House.

Now it appears that the Bay Area legal eagle closest to the inner circle may be UC-Berkeley School of Law’s Dean Christopher Edley: He just got named to the advisory board for Obama’s transition team.

It’s not the biggest surprise, given that they’ve known each other for forever, and that Edley had been advising the campaign in some capacity already. But it does show that the dean’s a good person to know if you’re looking for a job in the new administration. (Berkeley to No. 5?)

—  Pam Smith