Santa Clara Law Magazine Spring 2018 by Santa Clara University

T H E M A G A Z I N E O F S A N TA C L A R A U N I V E R S I T Y S C H O O L O F L AW | S P R I N G 2 0 1 8 | V O L 2 4 N O 2

magazine

COMING HOME TO CHARNEY HALL March marked a historic moment for Santa Clara Law: a new high tech home with great neighbors. Page 6

F RO M T HE D E A N magazine

SKIP HORNE Senior Assistant Dean, External Relations ELIZABETH KELLEY GILLOGLY B.A. ’93 Editor LARRY SOKOLOFF J.D. ’92 Assistant Editor MICHELLE WATERS Web Designer ALICIA K. GONZALES B.A. ’09 Copy Editor AMY KREMER GOMERSALL B.A. ’88 Art in Motion Art Director, Designer KAREN BERNOSKY B.S. ’81 ELLEN LYNCH JENNIFER MACHADO MARJORIE SHORT Law Alumni Relations & Development

Santa Clara University School of Law, one of the nation’s most diverse law schools, is dedicated to educating lawyers who lead with a commitment to excellence, ethics, and social justice. Santa Clara Law offers students an academically rigorous program that includes certificates in high tech law, international law, public interest and social justice law, and privacy law, as well as numerous graduate and joint degree options. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara Law is nationally distinguished for its faculty engagement, preparation for practice, and top-ranked programs in intellectual property. For more information, see law.scu.edu. If you have any questions or comments, please contact the Law Alumni Office by phone at 408-551-1748; email lawalumni@scu.edu or visit law.scu.edu/alumni. Or write Law Alumni Relations & Development, Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053. The diverse opinions expressed in Santa Clara Law magazine do not necessarily represent the views of the editor or the official policy of Santa Clara University. Copyright 2018 by Santa Clara University. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

To view the digital edition of the magazine, visit law.scu.edu/sclaw. Santa Clara Law is printed on paper and at a printing facility certified by Rainforest Alliance to Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) standards. From forest management to paper production to printing, FSC certification represents the highest social and environmental standards. The paper contains 10 percent postconsumer recovered fiber. AIM 4/18 11,750

Welcome home. Santa Clara Law has always been a welcoming community committed to the success of our students, and we will now develop those future lawyers in the Howard S. and Alida S. Charney Hall of Law—a bright, modern, and technologically sophisticated 96,000-square-foot facility. Our law students are already finding the many special study spots throughout the building. From collaboration centers to study carrels to cozy couches tucked away in quiet hallways and corners, students have plenty of beautiful spaces with bountiful natural light to organize their outlines, study for finals, and prepare for the bar exam. It was thrilling to host our first Admissions event in the Panelli Courtroom and Mabie Grand Atrium in March. We also welcomed the ABA president, Hilarie Bass, and a number of accomplished alumni—including Thomas Romig J.D. ’80 and Dorian Daley J.D. ’86—for an all-day conference focusing on how leadership development and training is critical to the success of law firms, corporate law departments, and other organizations. We hope that all of you join us for Charney Hall’s official Dedication and Grand Opening on Oct. 12, 2018—the opening event of Grand Reunion Weekend across campus. In addition to our magnificent new home, you’ll see progress on the University’s STEM complex: the Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation. With the move to Charney Hall, we are excited about a new Legal Technology course, and more opportunities for law, business, and engineering students to collaborate. With new gifts supporting artificial intelligence initiatives and conflict resolution programming, we are preparing our students for the future. Our gorgeous clinical space and increased skills offerings enhance our Jesuit devotion to training the “whole person.” Beginning this spring, all first-year students now take Critical Lawyering Skills, designed to help them achieve the competencies that employers report are missing—and greatly needed—among new attorneys. In addition to the excitement surrounding our new home, this issue of the magazine celebrates a number of accomplishments by our students, faculty, staff, and alumni. In the 2019 U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, we rose 19 spots, to 113, and our Intellectual Property Law Program ranking remains a stellar fourth in the nation (see page 3). I am especially thrilled that our graduates continue to outperform our peer schools on the California bar exam. This year we enjoyed a 79 percent pass rate among ABA– accredited law schools in California (see page 2), exceeding the state average for the third year in a row. As the members of the Class of 2018 prepare to graduate and study for the bar, please keep them in your thoughts and send good wishes their way for a successful outcome. And please keep sending us those employment opportunities and networking connections; it is an incredible way to make a difference in the lives of our newest alumni! Thanks so much for your support. God bless,

A Lisa Kloppenberg Dean & Professor of Law Santa Clara Law

CONTENTS S P R I N G 2018 | VO L 24 N O 2

F EAT U RES

Coming Home to Charney Hall BY ELIZABETH KELLEY GILLOGLY B.A. ’93 PHOTOS BY KEITH SUTTER

March marked a historic moment for Santa Clara Law: a new high tech home with great neighbors.

Getting a Tech Edge BY DEBORAH LOHSE PHOTOS BY CHARLES BARRY

Santa Clara Law’s new Tech Edge J.D. certificate hones essential job skills for the tech industry and represents the next wave of innovation in legal education.

16 Top: The Panelli Courtroom is a high tech, 230-seat lecture hall that can be divided into two 115-seat lecture halls. This space enables Santa Clara Law to livestream moot court and other events to students from around the world. This space was named in honor of Justice Edward A. Panelli B.S. ’53, J.D. ’55, former associate justice of the California Supreme Court. Above: The Fremont Bank Concourse, which features the information desk for Charney Hall and a café (to open in August 2018). This space was named in honor of The Fremont Bank Foundation through the generosity of Terrance L. Stinnett J.D. ’69 and the members of the Foundation board. Photos by Keith Sutter.

READ THIS MAGAZINE ONLINE Visit us online for additional content, including the very latest news about our faculty, students, and alumni. Our magazine website also makes it easy to share articles from this issue (or previous issues) with friends and colleagues.

law.scu.edu/sclaw

Turning Anger into Action BY ELLEN KREITZBERG

A Q&A about passion and prison reform with Jessica Jackson Sloan J.D. ’11, founder of #cut50.

Celebration of Achievement BY ELIZABETH KELLEY GILLOGLY B.A. ’93

In April, the Santa Clara Law community gathered to honor lawyers who have made a difference for Santa Clara Law. D EPART M ENT S 2 22 27 28

LAW BRIEFS CLASS ACTION ALUMNI EVENTS CLOSING ARGUMENTS

Cover: Charney Hall, Santa Clara Law’s new 96,000-square-foot home, opened its doors on March 5, 2018. It is located adjacent to Vari Hall, the home of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (on the left in the cover photo). Also next door to Charney Hall is Lucas Hall, home of the Leavey School of Business. Photo by Keith Sutter.

LAW B RI E F S

Santa Clara Law Bar Passage Rate Exceeds State Average for Third Consecutive Year

raduates of Santa Clara University School of Law have exceeded the California ABA– accredited law school average pass rate on the state’s bar examination for the third year in a row. Santa Clara Law’s pass rate for first-time takers for the July 2017 exam was 79 percent. This is nine points higher than the average for first-time takers from California ABA–accredited law schools, 17 points higher than the average for all first-time takers, and 30 points above the overall pass rate. This 79 percent pass rate puts Santa Clara Law among the top six law schools in California, behind Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, UC Irvine, and tied with UC Davis. “Our students worked hard, and we should all be tremendously proud of them,” said Lisa Kloppenberg, dean and professor of law. “As a law school community, year after year we have risen to the challenge of training our students for this exam by making careful changes to our curriculum, offering additional lectures for bar preparation, and focusing on the bar without sacrificing other important lessons needed to train our future attorneys.” Professor Michael Flynn, director of the Law School’s Office of Academic and Bar Success and associate clinical professor of law, worked tirelessly to help Santa Clara Law students perform at their best

in addition to spearheading the efforts of faculty and staff. “We are deeply proud of our graduates’ success,” said Flynn. “They rose to meet the challenge of the most difficult bar exam in the country with dedication, hard work, and support for each other. Our faculty and staff continue to come together and support our students’ academic and personal

“We are deeply proud of our graduates’ success. They rose to meet the challenge of the most difficult bar exam in the country with dedication, hard work, and support for each other.” —ASSOCIATE DEAN MICHAEL FLYNN

needs from the first day they walk through our doors.” Reviewing available data for the July bar exam since 2002, this marks Santa Clara Law’s second-highest overall pass rate and greatest spread above the California ABA–accredited average. “Yet there are still challenges ahead, and we must remain diligent and dedicated,” Flynn continued. “We look forward to building on this success and fostering the next generation of attorneys who will serve with conscience and compassion.”

percent of Santa Clara Law graduates who passed the July 2017 bar on first attempt

points higher than average for first-time takers from California ABA–accredited law schools

points higher than the average for all first-time takers

points above the overall pass rate

Top 6 in CA Santa Clara Law’s ranking for bar passage rate

Special Congratulations to New Admittees

anta Clara University School of Law extends its congratulations to its graduates who passed the July 2017 California State Bar examination. A swearing-in ceremony for graduates who passed the bar, co-sponsored by the Santa Clara County Bar Association, took place on Dec. 4, 2017, at Mission Santa Clara de Asís, located on the Santa Clara University campus. New admittees were sworn in by the Hon. Patricia Lucas, presiding judge, Superior Court of

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Santa Clara County, and the Hon. Edward J. Davila, United States District Court, Northern District of California. The ceremony also featured remarks and congratulations from Brad Joondeph, Inez Mabie distinguished professor at Santa Clara Law; Kate Wilson J.D. ’06, president, Santa Clara County Bar Association; and Natalie Gomez J.D. ’11, 2018 co-chair, Santa Clara County Bar Association Barristers’ Committee.

Santa Clara Law Tops National Jurist’s List of Best Law Study Abroad Programs

Visit law.scu.edu/international to read students’ stories and view photos related to the 2017 Santa Clara Law Summer Abroad experience.

GRACE H.

anta Clara University School of Law, known for its international programs, has had five programs named to the National Jurist list of the best law study abroad programs. National Jurist also noted that Santa Clara “dominates the externship study abroad landscape.” Santa Clara Law has the largest law summer study abroad program in the country, with 10 academic programs on four continents and externships in over 30 locations on six continents. The programs have been in existence since the 1970s, which makes Santa Clara’s programs some of the longest-running as well. The programs offered cover international business, human rights, intellectual property, and environmental law, in addition to the Oxford Class Tutorials. The programs are open to all law students, and typically 40 schools are represented each summer.

Santa Clara Law students Konetta C., Sabrina R., Alexandra L., and Grace H. enjoy the Botanical Gardens in Geneva, Switzerland, during their law summer abroad program.

U.S. News Again Ranks Santa Clara Law’s IP Program Fourth in the Nation

anta Clara University School of Law enjoyed the second-highest increase in rankings among law schools in the 2019 U.S. News & World Report rankings of best graduate schools in the country. Rising 19 spots, Santa Clara Law was ranked No. 113 out of nearly 200 ABA–accredited schools for its full-time program and No. 40 among law schools that offer a part-time option. As in many past years, the school’s powerhouse Intellectual Property Law Program was ranked among the top in the nation—this year at No. 4. Starting this fall, the program will include both a unique Tech Edge J.D. certificate, which will help students obtain extensive real-world experience before graduation, and the popular Privacy Law Certificate. “We are delighted to see our outstanding programs honored in the U.S. News & World Report rankings,” said Santa Clara Law Dean Lisa Kloppenberg. “This is yet another example of the exciting momentum behind Santa Clara Law, which includes our outstanding July 2017 California bar

passage results and the move into our collaboration-focused, cutting-edge new home, the Howard S. and Alida S. Charney Hall of Law.” The rankings took notice of several points of improvement at Santa Clara Law: ● A 61.4 percent J.D.–specific employment rate of students 10 months after graduation, an improvement of more than 7 points ● An improvement in the median undergraduate GPA of the incoming class, up from 3.17 to 3.29 ● A nearly 35 percent employment rate of students at graduation, up 6.6 points from the previous year For more information, see usnews.com/best-graduate-schools.

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LAW BRIEFS

NCIP Helps Clear Man’s Name Based on New Evidence and New Law

hanks to new evidence and a California law enacted in January 2017, a man’s 1991 conviction has been vacated by the Butte County Superior Court. Attorney Paige Kaneb of the Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) made the motion to vacate Darwin Crabtree’s child molestation conviction and was able to do so based on the newly enacted California law, which allows one who is no longer incarcerated or restrained to pursue a motion to vacate when that person provides “newly discovered evidence of actual innocence...that requires vacation of the conviction or sentence as a matter of law or in the interest of justice.” The district attorney’s office conducted its own investigation of the case, agreed that the conviction be reversed, and issued an apology to Crabtree for its role in his conviction.

Crabtree served nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit. In 1991, he was convicted of sexually molesting his two sons who were 12 and 8 at the time of the trial. False statements made by the boys during their parents’ tumultuous divorce were the only direct evidence against Crabtree. Both sons, now adults, have maintained for more than nine years that their father is innocent and never molested them. In the care of an unlicensed therapist in training, the young boys “remembered” incidents under what is now deemed suggestive and improper questioning. In 2008, the sons reunited with their father and apologized for their actions as children. By that time, Crabtree had been tried and convicted, had served his sentence, and had completed his parole. He remained a lifetime sex offender registrant and was subjected to the stigma associated with this status.

After their reunion—and in an effort to correct the injustice—the sons contacted NCIP and submitted written statements explaining Crabtree’s innocence. But it wasn’t until the newly enacted law that NCIP was able to bring this case forward. According to Crabtree, “The new law gave my boys the opportunity to right the wrong, to alleviate the burden they’ve carried for all these years. This allows them to be good with the world.” “With the adoption of Penal Code 1473.7, California has recognized that innocent people are entitled to have their names—and records—cleared regardless of when new evidence is discovered,” said Linda Starr, NCIP executive director and co-founder. It’s been 27 years since his conviction, and Crabtree has experienced many struggles associated with the stigma of registering as a sex offender. But, he’s also prevailed. For the past 10 years, he has worked as a contractor. He has a wife and grandchildren, and he continues to rebuild his relationship with his sons. “These 27 years have made me who I am. I have a voice that can be heard now,” he says.

LO R I R EINA UE R, NCIP

About the Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP)

Darwin Crabtree, center, with his sons Abijah, left, and Joed, right, after his conviction was overturned in Butte County Superior Court in Oroville, California, on Jan. 17, 2018.

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NCIP is a nonprofit clinical program of Santa Clara University School of Law whose mission is to promote a fair, effective, and compassionate criminal justice system and protect the rights of the innocent. Since its inception in 2001, NCIP has processed over 10,000 requests for inmate assistance, investigated hundreds of cases, pursued litigation or collaborative resolution in dozens, and obtained the freedom of 23 wrongfully convicted individuals who collectively have spent more than 297 years in prison. law.scu.edu/ncip

2018 Alexander Law Prize Awarded to Founder of Leading Global Refugee Human Rights Organization serving others. In this time of crisis for refugees around the world, Emily’s leadership lights the way for them and all of us. We are thrilled to honor her with this award,” said Santa Clara Law Dean Lisa Kloppenberg. ABOUT THE PRIZE The first Katharine & George Alexander Law Prize was presented in March 2008 and has been awarded annually thereafter. This award is made possible through the generosity of Katharine and George Alexander to Emily Arnold-Fernández listens to a client’s story at the Asylum Access office in Bangkok, Thailand. bring recognition to legal advocates who have used their legal Santa Clara University, participates in careers to help alleviate injustice and lectures and classes, and may choose to inequity. The hope is that recognition of serve as a teacher, mentor, and scholar such individuals improves the image of for a limited period at Santa Clara Law. lawyers around the world. For more information, see The winner receives a substantial law.scu.edu/alexanderprize. cash award, is honored via ceremony at

T H O M AS DE C I A N

n March, Santa Clara University School of Law honored Emily ArnoldFernández, the executive director of Asylum Access, with the 2018 Katharine & George Alexander Law Prize. After learning that refugees often spend more than two decades in camps, Arnold-Fernández founded Asylum Access in 2005 with the vision to create a world where refugees live safely, move freely, work and send children to school, and rebuild their lives. Today, Asylum Access is a leading global refugee human rights organization that has impacted the lives of more than 2 million refugees. The nonprofit works intensively both in six countries and at the global level to dismantle barriers to refugees’ economic and civic participation and to ensure all refugees have a fair chance at a new life. Arnold-Fernández was selected as a Social Entrepreneur in Residence at Stanford University in fall 2012 and has served on the advisory board of the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University. She holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. cum laude from Pomona College. “Emily’s work has helped millions of refugees build new lives, and she is a shining example of a lawyer who is truly

FACULTY NEWS

Mike Flynn Named New Associate Dean

K ET IH S UTT E R

anta Clara University School of Law is pleased to welcome Mike Flynn as the new associate dean for Academic Affairs beginning on June 1. He replaces Bradley Joondeph, who served in this role for five years. Flynn joined Santa Clara Law in 2010 and teaches a variety of courses, including Legal Research and Writing as well as Advanced Legal Writing. He earned his J.D. from UC Hastings College of Law and his B.A. from Tufts University. Dean Lisa Kloppenberg expressed her gratitude to Joondeph for his service. “His calm, wise presence has been invaluable to our community during the past five years,” says Kloppenberg. “As a brilliant yet humble scholar and data guru, Brad has been very helpful in making informed decisions and adapting to changes in our market. He also has served as a helpful counselor—to students, faculty, and staff members—and he has created many collaborative, productive teams.”

Associate Dean Mike Flynn SPRING 2018 | SANTA CLARA LAW

Santa Clara Law Comes Home to Charney Hall BY ELIZABETH KELLEY GILLOGLY B.A. ’93

| PHOTOS BY KEITH SUTTER

On March 5, fewer than 600 days after breaking ground, Santa Clara Law began moving into its new home, the Howard S. and Alida S. Charney Hall of Law. This dream of a new building for the Law School became a reality thanks to a $10 million lead gift in 2014 from trustee and alumnus Howard Charney MBA ’73, J.D. ’77 and his wife, Alida, as well as the generous support of hundreds of alumni, friends, law firms, businesses, and community members of Santa Clara Law. “This is a historic moment in the history of the Law School, and we are so deeply grateful to the Charneys and the many others whose generosity and vision made this building possible,” said Dean Lisa Kloppenberg. “In Santa Clara Law’s 100-plus years of operation, it has been more than 40 years since we have had almost all of our programs under one roof. We are thrilled at the possibilities that this new building offers our students, faculty, and staff. The enthusiasm and momentum is palpable.” Collaboration and connectivity are two strong themes that resonate throughout the building. The building’s location, adjacent to Lucas Hall and the home of the nationally known Leavey School of Business, and Vari Hall, home to the respected Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, places Santa Clara Law squarely in the campus’ professional neighborhood, and will encourage interdisciplinary collaboration among students of business, law, technology, social justice, and ethics.

Panetta Plaza is a major outdoor plaza named for Leon E. Panetta B.A. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;60, J.D. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;63, and his wife, Sylvia, who have been longtime supporters of the school. Located at the south entrance to Charney Hall near the gateway to the SCU campus, Panetta Plaza will serve as a prominent outdoor location for large Law School community events.

The 96,000 squarefoot, eco-friendly building will serve up to 650 J.D. and 100 non-J.D. students. With flexible learning spaces and sophisticated classroom technology, Charney Hall will help Santa Clara Law continue to evolve its programs and offerings to keep pace with changes in the legal field, while continuing to support a high-achieving student body and attract exceptional faculty.

The Mabie Grand Atrium greets visitors as they enter Charney Hall through the south entrance. The two-story space features bright lighting, clean lines, and multiple gathering spots for students. This space was named in honor of the William and Inez Mabie Family Foundation through the generosity of Ron Malone J.D. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;71 and his wife, Sara.

C HA R N EY H A L L BY T H E N UM B E R S

96,000 SQUARE FOOTAGE

$58 million BUDGETED COST OF THE PROJECT

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10/12/18 OFFICIAL UNIVERSITY DEDICATION CEREMONY AND OPEN HOUSE (see back cover)

THE GREATEST NUMBER OF SEPARATE BUILDINGS PREVIOUSLY OCCUPIED AT ONE TIME BY SANTA CLARA LAW

565

DAYS BETWEEN GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY (Aug. 17, 2016) AND FIRST OCCUPANCY DATE (March 5, 2018)

FILTERED WATER FOUNTAINS AND FILLING STATIONS, REDUCING OUR DEPENDENCE ON PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES

Top: Albanese Alcove is the west entrance to Charney Hall, and it connects the Leavey School of Business and the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics to Charney Hall. From here, visitors can access Law Clinics and the Enrollment Management offices, and reach the Fremont Bank Concourse. Left: The law library includes 4,300 square feet of stacks and a large reading room with new technology-based research capabilities. In addition to more than 80 study carrels throughout the space, the library features multiple collaborative study spaces, including booths, tables, and high tech conference rooms with LED screens.

324.5 59.5

HEIGHT IN FEET OF CHARNEY HALL’S TALLEST POINT

13,877

16,052

LENGTH IN FEET OF CHARNEY HALL

SQUARE FOOTAGE OF INTERIOR WOOD PANELING

SQUARE FOOTAGE OF WINDOWS

COFFEE BAR IN THE BUILDING (slated to open August 2018)

NUMBER OF ELEVATORS

NUMBER OF FLOORS

OUTDOOR SPACES: Panetta Plaza, Albanese Alcove, Lounge Terrace, and Dean’s Terrace

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Throughout the new building, there are numerous cozy corners, couches, tables, benches, and conference rooms for students to gather, collaborate, and study together. And of course, the technology in Charney Hall is cutting edge, from numerous LED monitors to smart keys for classrooms to an Artificial Intelligence Lab. Charney Hall also features many open spaces, modern design, and plenty of natural light from hundreds of large windows. Brad Joondeph, Inez Mabie Distinguished Professor of Law (pictured at right), is teaching one of several classes in the new building this spring, a great opportunity to try out the new space and technology and iron out any wrinkles before all classes move to the new building in the fall. “The classrooms are beautiful, with abundant natural light and state-of-the-art technology,” said Joondeph. “They offer a very pleasant learning environment for our students.”

C HA R N EY H A L L BY T H E N UM B E R S

CLINICS AND CENTERS HOUSED IN CHARNEY HALL: Entrepreneurs’ Law Clinic, International Human Rights Clinic, Northern California Innocence Project, Center for Global Law & Policy, Center for Social Justice and Public Service, and High Tech Law Institute

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CLASSROOMS

RESTROOMS

COLLABORATION ROOMS

230

CAPACITY OF NEW PANELLI COURTROOM, which is also divisible into two 115-seat classrooms with a 16-foot-high and 50-foot-long adjustable wall that folds into the ceiling

STUDY CARRELS THROUGHOUT THE BUILDING

53 NUMBER OF FACULTY OFFICES

Opposite: The classrooms feature bountiful natural light and clean white desks. Top: The Lounge, which is an integrated space serving students, faculty, and staff, features a full kitchen, eating tables, comfortable couches for informal meetings, and a beautiful outdoor terrace. Left: In the Mabie Grand Atrium, there are plenty of gathering spaces for students to collaborate, study, and relax.

CONFERENCE ROOM NAMED IN HONOR OF CYNTHIA MERTENS, RETIRED PROFESSOR AND FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE KATHARINE & GEORGE ALEXANDER COMMUNITY LAW CENTER (KGACLC will remain in its current home at 1030 The Alameda in San Jose.)

35,000

8,000

NUMBER OF BOOKS AND DVDS ABLE TO BE HOUSED IN THE RESERVE ROOM

4,545

LINEAR FEET OF SHELVING IN THE LIBRARY

ENTRANCES TO CHARNEY HALL

VOLUMES MOVED FROM HEAFEY LAW LIBRARY TO CHARNEY HALL (in only two days!)

ROOMS FOR ON-CAMPUS INTERVIEWING DURING RECRUITING SEASON

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GETTING A TECH EDGE Santa Clara Law’s innovative new certificate challenges students to hone essential job skills for the tech industry while in law school. BY DEBORAH LOHSE | PHOTOS BY CHARLES BARRY

Many years ago, tech lawyers might have been hired strictly for their ability to identify and flag legal risks in the activities of others: a copyright infringement by the marketing team, an executive’s bad behavior at a companysponsored party, a sales team accepting poor contract terms to get a deal done quickly. Few would have expected them to help solve the problems they flagged and serve as de facto partners alongside major business units. But these days, that’s what many companies expect, even of junior attorneys. And Santa Clara has launched a new program that prepares lawyers to speak the language of their business clients, work to solve problems on multidisciplinary teams, and ultimately add value to a business organization. Two years ago, Santa Clara Law Professors Eric Goldman and Laura Norris J.D. ’97 saw a chance to give their students a hiring edge. They set out to create a fast track for students specializing in tech law, one that would ensure that they graduate with not only traditional legal skills but also with those most in demand from employers today. They also looked for ways to help students understand how Silicon Valley’s “secret sauce” actually works. The result is the new Tech Edge J.D. (TEJD) certificate. It's unlike any other certificate offered by Santa Clara Law—or any other law school. The Tech Edge J.D. represents the next wave of innovation in legal education. It’s heavy on self-direction, creativity, and hands-on learning and is guided by intensive mentorship for both academic and professional goal-setting and success. The first cohort of TEJD students starts in Fall 2018. “We’re seeing more and more that our clients expect creative advice from their legal advisors that incorporates both technology and business acumen,” says Seth Gottlieb J.D. ’07, caption to come 12 SANTA CLARA LAW | SPRING 2018

a partner at Cooley LLP. His observation echoes a trend that leaders of Santa Clara Law’s High Tech Law Institute have been hearing from alumni and Silicon Valley employers. While admittedly adding to an already daunting law student workload, the TEJD certificate provides an exciting, real-world dimension for students who know they want to specialize in tech law, and it offers these students a unique competitive advantage once they hit the job market. How It Works Instead of focusing solely on courses completed, the TEJD certificate requires students to achieve certain knowledge or skill milestones. These milestones signal the students’ actual development of knowledge and skills that employers want—making them more valuable. Along the way, TEJD students also build a professional portfolio that showcases their accomplishments. To reinforce that classes are not the certificate’s metric, the only required course is a semester of the Entrepreneurs’ Law Clinic. Otherwise, students can complete certificate milestones in courses, externships, clerkships, and even extracurricular activities. “TEJD is one of the most important strategic initiatives the Law School is currently pursuing,” says Goldman, TEJD’s assistant director and the co-director of the High Tech Law Institute. “We are educating a new kind of graduate—one who is much more specialized and integrated into the Silicon Valley professional community than we’ve produced in the past. This model may illuminate the law school’s path for producing specialized graduates for a wide range of practice areas.” The TEJD certificate is a natural extension of Santa Clara Law’s nationally ranked high tech and intellectual property

“Santa Clara’s new TEJD certificate will help put students at the front of the line when competing for jobs,” says Santa Clara Law Professor Eric Goldman, TEJD’s assistant director and the co-director of the High Tech Law Institute.

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program, which benefits from the school’s location in the heart of Silicon Valley. The High Tech Law Institute faculty includes a dozen full-time faculty members with expertise on every aspect of IP and high tech law—plus two dozen part-time faculty working on the front lines of IP and high tech law at leading Silicon Valley law firms and technology companies. Moreover, the IP and high tech curriculum is one of the most comprehensive in the country. Due to its breadth and depth, students are able to create a highly personalized course of study. In-House Origins To craft the Tech Edge J.D., Goldman and Norris started by asking current and former Silicon Valley in-house lawyers, venture capitalists, and tech executives to think about how Santa Clara Law should anticipate the next generation of high tech legal education—and how the law school could help make its graduates more valuable to Silicon Valley employers. The answers proved exciting, but also challenging. Not surprisingly, given the contraction in law hiring in the past few decades, employers wanted first-year hires who could hit the ground running in the type of lawyering most in demand. They want professionals who not only know applicable law, but can add value on multidisciplinary teams, creatively solve problems, and provide useful and

TEJD MILESTONES The TEJD certificate requires students to achieve knowledge and skill milestones that include: 1. Drafting and negotiating a transaction related to the student’s desired career path 2. Participating in a cross-disciplinary team that includes businesspeople and engineers 3. Presenting a set of options, with a recommendation, to decision-makers 4. Modeling cash flow projections and analyzing financial statements 5. Learning about Silicon Valley’s business norms and practices related to startups, financing, mergers and acquisitions, licensing, employment practices, cash and stock compensation, and Silicon Valley lingo and culture 6. Becoming familiar with basic technology concepts and the ways emerging technologies are being developed, commercialized, and distributed

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understandable guidance to decision-makers. And they require experts in law who are not only able to point out legal risks but are also able to resolve them. While this sounds great, one big challenge to frontloading real-life lawyering skills into law school is, clearly, time. For instance, more extensive accreditation standards continue to soak up students’ time, and the perennial need to ensure students adequately prepare for the bar exam also eats up precious hours. The challenge was to get students to complete these vital requirements while also obtaining the level of expertise and specialization demanded by the market. The TEJD certificate offers a solution that is simple, but radical— at least in the context of traditional legal education. Those who master the juggling and intellectual challenge to earn a TEJD certificate will be ahead of many peers in professional development before graduation. This certificate will send a strong signal to employers that the students are organized enough to complete the certificate’s multitudinous requirements, and they have the self-drive and smarts needed to get the job done. In this way, too, the TEJD certificate students will appeal not just to employers in Silicon Valley, but to those at the global level. Because of the milestones’ generalizable nature, many employers outside Silicon Valley eagerly welcome people who understand the “secret sauce.” A Network of Support for TEJD Students All TEJD students will have a faculty or staff advisor to counsel them and help them figure out ways to complete each milestone. Students will also be assigned two professional mentors, such as alumni or local practitioners, to provide additional perspectives and help integrate the students into the professional community. Another innovation: Santa Clara Law will start working with TEJD students as soon as they are admitted. During the summer before law school starts—known as 0L summer— TEJD students will take part in a group orientation with professional development and team building. Also during 0L summer, advisors and mentors will work with TEJD students to help them develop a personal career plan. For many students, this will be the first time they have tried to formally articulate their professional development goals. Setting goals at the outset of students’ law school careers will help them maximize the full value of their three years of graduate education. Norris, the program’s founding faculty director, is already a proven program developer, having built the Entrepreneurs’ Law Clinic from the ground up in 2013. As former vice president of legal affairs at Cypress Semiconductor, she also keenly understands the mindset of the Silicon Valley hiring manager. “As a hiring manager, I recognized that there was a learning curve, even for seasoned attorneys, to get up to speed on the technological and business priorities of our clients,” she says. “The TEJD certificate will help shorten that learning curve and produce attorneys who can speak the same language as their clients.”

Sona Makker J.D. ’16 (center, bright blue shirt) met with an enthusiastic group of Santa Clara Law students on a visit to Facebook, where she is public policy associate manager.

“As a hiring manager, I recognized that there was a learning curve, even for seasoned attorneys, to get up to speed on the technological and business priorities of our clients,” says Laura Norris, founding director of the TEJD certificate program. “The TEJD certificate will help shorten that learning curve and produce attorneys who can speak the same language as their clients.” Already a Tactic of Top Santa Clara Law Grads Some of Santa Clara Law’s most successful graduates actually accomplished precisely these sorts of milestones on their own while students at Santa Clara, which helped set them apart in the eyes of employers they wanted to impress. Sona Makker J.D. ’16, public policy associate manager at Facebook, says she essentially created her own version of the TEJD certificate by acquiring skills outside the traditional law school curriculum to better prepare her for the Silicon Valley job market. “I gained critical writing skills and recognition in the privacy community by looking for opportunities to publish blog posts on privacy and technology subjects,” she recalls. “I started small with high-level pieces and eventually published a paper in a journal.” She volunteered to educate children about privacy at a local library as a way to build up her public speaking skills in a low-pressure environment. She also discovered, through reading

descriptions of job openings, that many companies were looking for experienced privacy trainers. So she offered to develop a training module as part of an internship assignment. “The skills gained through my extracurricular activities, combined with my internship experience, helped transform my résumé into that of a valuable advisor with relevant skills, despite being a new graduate,” she says. “Students who earn the Tech Edge J.D. certificate should see the same benefits, positioning them for success in landing that first job out of law school.” Gottlieb says that, even 11 years out of law school, he’s still constantly challenged to stay abreast of trends that affect his clients. “As corporate attorneys, we are always in the boardroom, where business decisions are being made. The better we understand our clients’ challenges, the more valuable our advice,” says Gottlieb. For instance, he says he’s currently spending his free time reading books on emerging technologies like blockchain, “to try to keep up.” Predicts Gottlieb: “Graduates with the Tech Edge J.D. certificate are going to be in a much better position in the legal marketplace.” Seeking Help from Santa Clara Alumni “We know the value of our strong Santa Clara Law alumni network, and we encourage alumni to get involved with this groundbreaking program,” says Norris. Alumni can help TEJD students by offering campus tours or shadow days, sponsoring externships or clerkships, and acting as mentors. Please direct all inquiries to techedge@scu.edu. For more information: law.scu.edu/techedge/. DEBORAH LOHSE is assistant director of media and internal communications for University Marketing and Communications at Santa Clara University. SPRING 2018 | SANTA CLARA LAW

TURNING ANGER INTO ACTION A Q&A about passion and prison reform with Jessica Jackson Sloan J.D. ’11, founder of #cut50 and Mill Valley City Council member

Jessica Jackson Sloan is a human rights attorney who began her career representing California death row inmates in their appeals. She now oversees DreamCorps #cut50 initiative to end mass incarceration. She sits on the Committee for a Fair Judiciary, serves as an advisory board member of the American Constitution Society Bay Area Chapter, and represents Congressman Jared Huffman on the Democratic Central Committee of Marin. In November 2013, she became the youngest ever elected official in Marin County when she joined the Mill Valley City Council, becoming the mayor of Mill Valley in November 2016. Jackson earned her B.A. in political science from the University of South Florida Honors College and her J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law, where she received the Dean’s Outstanding Student Leadership Award. This past January, Jackson sat down for a talk with Ellen Kreitzberg, Santa Clara Law professor, former director of the Center for Social Justice and Public Service, and the creator and director of the Death Penalty College, a residential training program held each summer at Santa Clara Law to train lawyers assigned to the defense of a capital case.

16 SANTA CLARA LAW | SPRING 2018

ELLEN KREITZBERG: Your life has been described as a journey of both passion and necessity. Do you think that is accurate? JESSICA JACKSON: I would say that is accurate. A lot of what has driven me to get involved in all the projects I am involved in right now, whether it is criminal justice reform or affordable housing, has been personal experience. I set out on a very different path. I did not like school coming out of high school. I thought I would be a writer, have children, and be a housewife in Georgia. It wasn’t until my husband was incarcerated that I decided to go back to school and become a public defender. It wasn’t until I moved back to Mill Valley and was unable to find a home that I got involved in politics because of the lack of affordable housing there. So both passion and necessity—and learning to turn my anger into action. EK: When we hear where your journey has taken you, it certainly hasn’t been a linear journey. What happened to bring you out to California? Can you describe how that led you ultimately to law school? JJS: I was a strong-willed kid. Somewhere in my sophomore year of high school, I decided I didn’t want to go the traditional route, and I dropped out. Even though I had grown up in Mill Valley, I had strong Georgia ties. I moved down there, I met my first husband, and fell in love. When our daughter was on her way, unfortunately he ended up being arrested as a result of a drug addiction he developed. In court, he accepted a plea deal for three and a half years. He handed me his keys, wallet, and wedding ring. I suddenly felt this overwhelming sense of

P HO T O CO URT E S Y O F #CUT 50

In April 2017, Jessica Jackson Sloan J.D. ’11 moderated a sold-out City Arts & Lectures event in San Francisco with Van Jones, president and co-founder of Dream Corps. A Yale-educated attorney, Jones worked as the green jobs advisor to the Obama White House in 2009. He is the author of two New York Times best sellers: The Green Collar Economy and Rebuild the Dream. Visit law.scu.edu/sclaw for a link to the video from this event.

responsibility. It was devastating for our family. We were unable to stay in contact—it was $21 for a 15-minute phone call! The system literally ripped our family apart.

EK: You moved from Florida to California with your daughter. Did Santa Clara give you the kind of support that you thought you would need to bring you to where you are now?

EK: And that’s still a problem for families making phone calls to have any kind of contact while someone is incarcerated.

JJS: Absolutely. Beyond an exceptional education, it also gave me a real community. The faculty was very supportive and some of them are still very involved in my life. Before I started law school, I attended a panel about the Supreme Court through an organization called the American Constitution Society (ACS). I really enjoyed it, and I really enjoyed the mission of the ACS, although at the time there wasn’t a chapter at Santa Clara Law. I think it is probably unusual for first-years to start organizations at the school, but when I came there my first year, I reached out and got to know some of the faculty, and they were also supportive of having a chapter there, so we started a chapter. We had a ton of faculty support, and we were able to host 35 events, which is crazy for a group of 1Ls to do.

JJS: There had been some progress on that under the last administration. I came back out to California and my mom asked, “What’s next?” I said, “I am going to be a public defender.” But I hadn’t even been to college yet, so my mom explained that I would need to get my degree, take the LSAT, then go to law school and become a public defender. EK: After taking many of those preliminary steps to get into law school, what made you pick Santa Clara Law? JJS: I was so ashamed and so isolated, I felt I needed to be back near my family. I did my honors thesis on death penalty. I knew I wanted to be a public defender. To me, the death sentence is the ultimate injustice in our justice system. I wanted to work on those cases. I only applied to law schools with death penalty clinics. Santa Clara Law has a death penalty clinic, which you run. After learning more about this clinic, I was really interested in coming to Santa Clara.

EK: By the end of the year, didn’t your new chapter receive national recognition? JJS: Yes, we won national chapter of the year from ACS that year. It was incredible and invigorating, and I don’t think that would have been possible at a lot of law schools. SPRING 2018 | SANTA CLARA LAW

EK: After law school, you were doing some death penalty work for the Habeas Corpus Resource Center (HCRC), representing people on death row, and then you moved into this new project, #cut50.

brothers and sisters and sons. They are good people who made a bad decision. We have got to look at them as worth more than the way we are treating them right now. And secondly, I wanted to pass laws and bring people home—and really focus on bringing them home in a safe and supportive way, in a way that would make our community safer.

JJS: Even during law school, I didn’t talk about my ex-husband’s incarceration. In a lot of ways, I felt like it would discredit me. Being a young woman who was there because I was driven with a passion for my own husband being incarcerated, I thought people wouldn’t take me seriously. I started my job at HCRC my third year. I loved doing the state and federal habeas cases. It is a lot of research and writing, and then you don’t get answers for decades. I went to an event and I met Van Jones and I was talking to him about his choice to leave the criminal justice field and get into the environmental movement and I asked him: “How could you stop working in criminal justice? There are still people in cages!” And he said, “Why are you so passionate? What is driving this passion?” I told him that my ex-husband was incarcerated and it ripped my family apart. And that was one of the first times I said that out loud and acknowledged it to someone. After talking with him, I realized I was feeling pretty unfulfilled, because to me, it was still hard to talk about. Even though there are 60 to 70 million people out there with criminal records, there are still so many stigmas around having a criminal record or even having a loved one with a criminal record. There are 2.2 million people behind bars. I wanted to have a broader impact. I felt that the way to do that would be to both change the narrative around criminal justice and the system and let people know that this isn’t just a bunch of bad people who are being locked up—these are moms and dads and

EK: And you founded, with Van Jones, #cut50. It is a very interesting time for criminal justice reform because, even in today’s contentious political arena, you and your organization have been able to find common ground with conservative politicians. How have you been able to do that—and how has that allowed your program and your initiatives to move forward? JJS: We kicked off in 2014, and in 2015, we hosted the first bipartisan summit on criminal justice reform. I think people felt we were a little crazy when we said we were going to host an event that was co-sponsored by Van Jones, Donna Brazile, Pat Nolan from the American Conservative Union, and Newt Gingrich. They didn’t know quite what to expect. But when the day came, we ended up having more than 800 attendees. We had more than 80 speakers, with everybody from Cory Booker to then-Governor Rick Perry, as well as Governor Kasich and Rand Paul. Georgia’s Governor Nathan Deal talked about how he had cut the prison population of African-American men by 20 percent and how proud he was of that. And he talked about the ways he was trying to change laws to support people coming home from prison, which obviously resonated deeply with me having been through my own experiences in Georgia. EK: To clarify for people: The name of your program, #cut50, represents your goal of trying to cut the prison population by 50 percent, is that right?

P HO T O CO URTE S Y OF # CU T50

JJS: And you know, if we cut the population by 99 percent, I would be happy with that, too. When I moved into this space, a lot of people were having to celebrate very incremental wins, like a 2 percent slowdown in the growth of the prison population. Not a reduction in the prison population, but a slowdown in the growth of the population. We wanted to come out of the gate saying, “We are a bipartisan initiative—and people on both sides agree that we need transformative change to this system that is broken.”

Jessica and Van at the City Arts & Lectures event in April 2017.

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EK: In addition to cutting the prison population, you have a lot of initiatives regarding how the people who are in prison could be treated. One of them is called Dignity for Incarcerated Women. Can you describe that initiative? JJS: Our organization, #cut50, has continued with the original approach of humanization and legislation. We are really a place where people like myself, who have been directly impacted, can come and lead campaigns. Currently we have got a campaign called Still Not Free, which is being led by Shaka Senghor and Michael Mendoza, both on our staff, who were incarcerated for

15 to 18 years as youth; one is dealing with collateral consequences of conviction. We just introduced AB 1940, which was written by Michael Mendoza, and is a bill here in California that helps people earn their way off parole a little more quickly. I am proud to also have conservative support on that one. The Dignity for Incarcerated Women campaign, being run by Topeka K. Sam—a woman who knows what it is like to live in a prison—is probably one of the most heart-wrenching campaigns that we have done. First of all, the women’s prison population has ballooned by 700 percent in the past two decades. Prisons really weren’t meant for women, and they weren’t built for women. Many prisons are converted men’s prisons that are now holding women, and the policies weren’t built for women. So you have things going on like the shackling of women while they are in childbirth. You have babies being ripped away from their moms. You have women who are being denied tampons and pads when it is their monthly time. In a population that is 86 percent sexually traumatized, you have male guards standing there watching women undress. We have testimony of a woman in Sacramento who was in the middle of a pap smear and a male guard walked in and was staring at her. She didn’t want to go to medical again. She actually avoided medical help for

“I am excited to have three Santa Clara Law students starting this semester to work on the Dignity for Incarcerated Women campaign, help us do some research, and change some state laws.” —JESSICA JACKSON SLOAN J.D. ’11

many years. Even now, when she’s outside, she’s traumatized by that experience. So the Dignity for Incarcerated Women’s Act is focused on women’s prison conditions and also on making sure women have access to their children and aren’t moved all around the state or all around the country in the federal system away from their children. EK: This initiative has actually brought you back to Santa Clara. What is your partnership with Santa Clara Law in connection to the campaign? JJS: I realized this was a huge undertaking. This was a bill that was written by formerly incarcerated women and currently incarcerated women. I helped introduce the Dignity for Incarcerated Women’s Act last July with Senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. We started getting calls from all across the country, people saying, “I saw this bill. I am a state legislator and I would be interested in doing something similar in my state.” We quickly realized that there were so many calls pouring in that we needed to build this into

a larger campaign that was about more than just the federal prisons. We needed to look at how women are treated in prison all across the country, in county jails, in state facilities, and in federal prisons. We ended up setting a very difficult goal of 20 bills by 2020, so being in 20 states by 2020. We have made an unlikely partner in the American Conservative Union, which also agrees that these abuses of women are just inhumane and need to come to an end. So realizing we are a small team at #cut50 and there was a whole lot of work to do, I called you, Ellen, and asked, “How might I get some support?” I remember being a young, hungry law student, eager to work on these issues and fight for justice, and it seemed like a really good match, so I am excited to have three Santa Clara Law students starting this semester to work on the Dignity for Incarcerated Women campaign, help us do some research, and change some state laws. EK: You are also working on a project that took you into San Quentin. Can you describe the impact of actually hearing some of these men’s stories on a much more personal level? JJS: There is nothing like being in the prison and having these conversations. It’s amazing, because I have been in this work as a family member, intern, attorney, and now through #cut50 for 13 years, and I still am surprised every time I go in there by the stuff that I hear—and amazed by the work that is happening inside the prisons. We undertook the First Watch program in 2017 and put out the first two chapters, and it turned out to be such a successful program that it has actually spun out on its own now, and the men inside whom we partnered with have founded their own organization. There is a group that we worked with initially who are filming lots of videos inside, not just videos about upcoming parole dates or their particular cases but videos that really show what’s going on inside the prison. While I was in there I met a man named David Jassy, and I got to know him and found out about an interesting rap music composition and recording program he is running for youth in prison. I am lucky to be able to go in and help support that project and am hoping to see it spread to other prisons as well. EK: Your work related to the death penalty, incarcerated women, the prison system, it is all very emotionally draining. How do you balance that with your political life and your need to not have that paralyze you but instead empower you to be able to go forward? JJS: I find the most reenergizing experience is to be in the prison with the folks who are living the impact of mass incarceration every single day. Their positivity and outlook despite the conditions they are in gives me the strength I need to continue. They inspire me, they motivate me, they are able to do so much with so little; that drives me when I get out here and have access to so many resources to keep on going and keep on doing the work.

SPRING 2018 | SANTA CLARA LAW

ELEBRATION OF ACHIEVEMENT HONORING LAWYERS WHO LEAD

The Santa Clara Law Amicus Award The Honorable Edward J. Davila This award is given to a true friend of the Law School, someone who has demonstrated the highest level of leadership in the legal profession and the community, and who has significantly advanced the mission and reputation of Santa Clara Law. The Honorable Edward J. Davila earned his bachelor’s degree from CSU San Diego in 1976 and his J.D. from UC Hastings in 1979. He began his legal career with the Santa Clara County Office of the Public Defender, and in 1989, he established the criminal defense firm of Davila & Polverino. In 2001, Governor Gray Davis appointed Davila to the Santa Clara County Superior Court, where he sat as a trial judge. In 2010, Senator Barbara Boxer recommended Davila to the White House, and President Barack Obama nominated him for a seat on the Federal District Court; the Senate confirmed him

The Alumni Special Achievement Award Colleen T. Davies J.D. ’83 This award publicly recognizes outstanding achievements of Santa Clara Law alumni who have distinguished themselves in their profession, community, and in service to humanity. Colleen T. Davies J.D. ’83 is senior counsel at Reed Smith and a member of the firm’s life sciences health industry group. During her 35-year career, she has been a partner at both Reed Smith and the firm with which it merged—Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May. For 10 years, she served on Reed Smith’s senior management team as global chair of the litigation department and head of legal personnel. During this time, the firm underwent rapid global expansion across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, growing to 1,600 lawyers in 23 offices around the world. She has focused her litigation

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in February 2011. He has been actively involved with the Santa Clara County Bar Association, serving as president, trustee, barristers’ club president, and a member of various committees. He is a past president of the Santa Clara County La Raza Lawyers Association and has been recognized by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of the 100 most influential Latinos in the United States. Davila is chair of the Ninth Circuit Space and Security Committee; he also sits on the Ninth Circuit State and Federal Judicial Council, was the program chair for the 2017 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, and is the Ninth Circuit Conference chair for 2018. A member of Santa Clara Law’s Advisory Board, Davila is a recipient of the Beryl Salsman Award and Unsung Heroes Award from the Santa Clara County Bar Association, and the Social Justice and Human Rights Award from Santa Clara Law. He is married to the Hon. Mary J. Greenwood, Associate Justice for the California Court of Appeal, Sixth District.

practice on complex product liability and commercial defense, and her experience includes national counsel roles and the management of enterprise risk for pharmaceutical, medical device, and consumer product manufacturers. She has been recognized by Chambers USA for both product liability defense and life sciences; named by the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Daily Journal as among the Top Women Litigators; and featured as one of California’s top women rainmakers by California Law Business. She is a member of Santa Clara Law’s Advisory Board and serves as chair of its Executive Committee. A UC Davis undergraduate alumni who majored in English language and literature, she is married to Joe Ronan, formerly general counsel and senior vice president of government affairs at Calpine, and they are the proud parents of Katie (a Boston College graduate) and Patrick (a junior at Columbia University).

In April, Santa Clara Law alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends gathered for the Celebration of Achievement, an annual event that honors individuals who have made a difference for Santa Clara Law and greater legal community. Visit law.scu.edu/alumni for a link to photos of the event.

The Edwin J. Owens Lawyer of the Year Award Philip L. Gregory J.D./MBA ’80 This award honors a distinguished member of the law school community who is devoted to the highest ideals of the profession and has made significant contributions to the University, the community, and the law. The award is named for Edwin J. Owens, a longtime dean of the Law School who was later a superior court judge. Philip L. Gregory J.D./MBA ’80 recently launched his own firm, the Gregory Law Group, based in Redwood City. His practice emphasizes complex business and environmental litigation, including antitrust, financial fraud, employment, securities, and intellectual property matters. In this position he draws from his vast array of experiences, including serving as the articles editor for the Santa Clara Law Review and the first chair of the State Bar’s Trade Secrets Subcommittee. Gregory is co-lead counsel on a federal lawsuit by a group of young people who accuse the federal government of violating their

The Young Alumnus Rising Star Award Karen W. Schulz J.D. ’10 This award recognizes a Santa Clara Law graduate who has distinguished himself/herself after less than 10 years in practice— and has made a positive impact in the community through service and commitment to the law. Karen W. Schulz J.D. ’10 has a passion for providing muchneeded legal services to the low-income communities in the Bay Area. At Santa Clara Law, Schulz enrolled in Skills I and II classes at the Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center (KGACLC) under the mentorship of Professor Lynette Parker, and she continued to volunteer there even after becoming licensed. At KGACLC, Schulz’s first pro bono client retained her in 2011, and that experience cemented the formation of her nonprofit organization, Step Forward Foundation, which began serving clients in the San Jose area. In 2013, Schulz developed a close partnership with

constitutional right to life with fossil fuel policies that promote climate change. In March, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the case can proceed toward trial. Gregory has written articles for and lectured before county bar associations, law school classes, and colleges on a wide variety of subjects, including e-commerce, source code escrows, and legal ethics. He has been a partner with Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP; Ropers, Majeski, Kohn & Bentley; and Hoge, Fenton, Jones & Appel, Inc. He has also worked for Spectra Laboratories, Inc., where he served as general counsel; vice president, legal and regulatory affairs; and corporate compliance officer. He started his legal career as an associate with Fenwick & West. He earned a bachelor of arts in English and government from Bowdoin College. He has served on the boards of a number of civic and services organizations in the Bay Area, including serving on the board of Samaritan House of San Mateo County, and as former chairman of the board of EHC LifeBuilders.

Community Solutions in Morgan Hill, and she moved the headquarters there. Step Forward now serves hundreds of clients per year on a pro bono basis, focusing on Santa Clara and San Benito Counties, and has the support of hundreds of thousands of dollars in government grant funding. Schulz serves as managing attorney and employs a team of eight. Step Forward was an initial partner in the Santa Clara County Family Justice Centers, which provide free legal consultations to victims of domestic violence, and is led by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Since 2013, Step Forward has been a member of the South Bay Coalition To End Human Trafficking, and Schulz has provided dozens of trainings on human trafficking to social services agencies and other attorneys. A 2006 graduate of UCLA with a B.A. in political science, Schulz lives in Campbell with her husband, Brandon, two-year-old daughter Evelyn, and newborn daughter, Adrienne. SPRING 2018 | SANTA CLARA LAW

C LASS ACT I O N

Nahal Iravani-Sani J.D. ’93 was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the Santa Clara County Superior Court. She has served as a deputy district attorney for Santa Clara County since 1995. She is the first IranianAmerican judge ever appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Her investiture ceremony was held at Santa Clara University. P H O T O C O URT E S Y O F NA HA L IR AVA NI-S A NI

Alumni Keep your fellow law alumni posted on what’s happening. Email your news to lawalumni@scu.edu or send to: Law Alumni Relations Santa Clara University 500 El Camino Real Santa Clara, CA 95053

1960 Allan Nicholson

has seven great-grandchildren, including three who have attended Santa Clara University: Andrea McCandless B.A. ’07, Jenny Nicholson B.A. ’12, and Brooks Nicholson B.S. ’18. Two of his children, Bruce Nicholson B.S. ’75 and Alicia Raj B.A. ’92, are also alumni.

1970 James Morris has

joined Downey Brand as counsel, working out of the Stockton office. In his more than four decades of practicing law in the Central Valley of California, he has represented clients in every aspect of agriculture, and his practice has covered a wide spectrum of litigation and transactional matters for individuals, small businesses, and international corporations.

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1972 Hon. Ronald

Hansen B.A. ’69 retired from the Merced County Superior Court. He now tends 170 acres of almond orchards in Merced and Stanislaus counties.

1973 Hon. Richard

C. Livermore retired in 2017 from the San Mateo County Superior Court, where he served since 1991. Previously, he was an administrative appeals judge on the California Workers Compensation Appeals Board. He was a pioneer in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) efforts, and a founding member of the ADR committee of the San Mateo County Bar Association in 1981.

1974 John C. Cruden has joined Beveridge & Diamond as a principal in the firm’s

Washington, D.C., office. He is president of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and most recently was assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Timothy “Pat” Hannon B.A. ’70 earned an LL.M. in transportation and logistics from Florida Coastal School of Law.

1976 The Honorable Risë Jones Pichon B.S. ’73, Superior Court of California, was honored at the third annual Black Legend Awards Silicon Valley ceremony in February, where she received the Hardeman-Sweet Award and was inducted into the Black Legends Hall of Fame. The Black Legend Awards is the fundraising event for the

1981 Lloyd A. Schmidt

B.S. ’78 practices at Hoge Fenton, where he focuses on corporate advising, mergers and acquisitions, and business transactions. Previously he was a shareholder at Hopkins & Carley, where he chaired the corporate, tax, and business transactions department.

1983 Todd Howeth is

chief public defender for Ventura County. He has 27 years of experience with the county. He and his wife, Marty, have three children.

1985 Mark Ghan is acting president of Western Nevada College.

1989 Thomas Watson

is city attorney for Tracy, California. Previously he served as city attorney for South Lake Tahoe, California. His wife, Jennifer, is a professor at Fresno State.

1990 Belinda Hanson

was named 2018 San Francisco Family Law Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America. Her family law firm, Hanson Crawford Crum, is headquartered in San Mateo. The firm recently opened an office in San Francisco. Chris Morales traveled to Poland to teach constitutional and criminal law at the Nicolaus Copernicus University Law School. Colette Rausch is the editor of Fighting Serious Crimes: Strategies and Tactics for Conflict-Affected Societies, published in 2017 by United States Institute of Peace (USIP) Press. Rausch is associate vice president, global practice

and innovation, for USIP, America’s nonpartisan institute to promote national security and global stability by reducing violent conflicts abroad.

1991 Claire (Serrao)

Schissler is managing director and fiduciary manager of Boston Private’s West Coast operations in San Mateo. She manages trust administration and oversees a regional team of trust officers.

1992 David W. Epps,

alternate public defender for Santa Clara County, was honored at the third annual Black Legend Awards Silicon Valley ceremony in February, where he received the Hardeman-Sweet Award and was inducted into the Black Legends Hall of Fame. The Black Legend Awards is the fundraising event for the creation and development of the San Jose Black History Museum Silicon Valley. Stephen Sullivan is a shareholder at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt in Mountain View, where he practices intellectual property law.

district attorney for Santa Clara County since 1995 and has taught trial advocacy at Santa Clara Law and Stanford Law School. Allan Manzagol is deputy general counsel for Cypress Semiconductor Corporation in San Jose, supporting commercial and merger and acquisition transactions. Practicing in the semiconductor space for the last 20 years, he has previously held positions at Advanced Micro Devices, Applied Materials, and Spansion.

1994 Deborah Moss-

West, executive director of the Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center, was recognized by the Minority Bar Coalition for advancing the cause of diversity in the legal profession. Shannon Soqui was appointed as the managing director and head of U.S. Cannabis Banking for Canaccord Genuity, which is a Canadian company expanding its presence in the U.S. Soqui, who will be based in San Francisco, most recently served as partner and head of cannabis investment bank-

ing at Ackrell Capital. Tyler Wall MBA is chief legal officer for Nutanix, a leader in enterprise cloud computing. Previously, he held senior leadership positions at local software companies including Red Book Connect, Brocade, Chordiant Software, and Oracle.

1998 Roy Maharaj B.S.

’93 is vice president of global patent licensing at Ericsson IPR & Licensing. He previously was vice president of licensing at Intellectual Ventures. Hon. Dora Rios has been appointed as a Solano County Superior Court judge. She had been a deputy alternate public defender in Solano County since 2000.

1999 Peter Gielniak

is president of the MillsPeninsula Hospital Foundation. Previously, he was executive director of gift planning for Sutter Health in the Bay Area, a major gift officer at SCU, and an attorney in private practice. He lives in San Mateo with his wife and three children.

1993 Janlynn Fleener

B.A. ’90 was recognized as a 2017 Top Lawyer by Sacramento Magazine. She is a partner and chair of the litigation practice group at Downey Brand. Other Downey Brand attorneys who were also recognized by the magazine include classmate Robert Soran, Scott McElhern J.D. ’94, Matthew Ellis J.D. ’02, and Sean Filippini J.D. ’04. Hon. Nahal Iravani-Sani (see page 22) has been appointed a judge on the Santa Clara County Superior Court by Gov. Jerry Brown. She served as a deputy

COU RTE S Y OF WH ITNE Y, T HO M P S O N & J EF FCO ACH

creation and development of the San Jose Black History Museum Silicon Valley.

Grads Launch New Boutique, Women-owned Firm Mandy (Kochersperger) Jeffcoach J.D. ’04 (second from right), formerly a partner with Fresno law firm McCormick Barstow, has joined with three others to form Whitney, Thompson & Jeffcoach, a new boutique firm that is majority women-owned. Other firm partners include (from left) Niki Cunningham, Marshall Whitney, and Tim Thompson J.D. ’87 (far right). SPRING 2018 | SANTA CLARA LAW

CLASS ACTION

C O U RT E S Y O F WAY N E J. C H I J. D . ’ 08

2000 Marcus O.

Aloha Life

COU RT ES Y O F CA R L O S A. G AR C I A J . D. ’ 1 6

Wayne J. Chi J.D. ’08 created a Hawaii-based real estate and lifestyle show named Aloha Life. The pilot premiered on HGTV in November 2017. Chi is an experienced, Chinese-speaking realtor in Hawaii specializing in luxury oceanfront, waterfront, and multifamily real estate.

Colabianchi has been named a partner at Duane Morris LLP. He works in the San Francisco office as part of the firm’s Business Reorganization and Financial Restructuring Practice Group. Elizabeth Loh MBA is a shareholder at Trucker Huss, where she focuses on ERISA and employee benefits law. She is co-chair of the women’s committee of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area.

2001 Jennifer Calvo is

general counsel of the E.C. Development Group LLC and its affiliated companies. A native of Guam, she served as judicial clerk for the Hon. Joaquin Manibusan, Jr., Superior Court of Guam, from 2001–03. She is admitted to the bar in California, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. She is a member of the board of directors of the Guam Election Commission and a member of the Supreme Court of Guam Subcommittee on Alternative Dispute Resolution, Commercial Arbitration Internal Subgroup.

2003 Patricia (Ball)

Grad Appears On Jeopardy! Carlos A. Garcia J.D. ’16 appeared on Jeopardy! in an episode that originally aired in February. “It was a great experience,” says Garcia, adding “once the game starts, it is very easy to forget you are on television.” Garcia is an immigration attorney for the Aguirre Law Firm in Los Angeles. “I thoroughly enjoy what I do because as a first-generation American, the issue is intensely personal to me,” says Garcia. “Being an immigration attorney allows me to live a life of service toward an underserved and often marginalized population.”

24 SANTA CLARA LAW | SPRING 2018

Alberts B.S. ’98 and her husband, Erik, welcomed a son, Robert Reginald, on June 29, 2017. He joins brother Evan. The family lives in Santa Monica. Patricia is a partner at Manion Gaynor & Manning, and Erik has his own practice.

2004 Ricky Le leads the

House of Representatives Democratic outreach efforts for the Information Technology Industry Council. Previously he served as chief of staff for Representative

Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), and deputy chief of staff and counsel for Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.). Karen Webb MBA was named to the 2017 Silicon Valley Business Journal 40 under 40 list. She is a partner at Fenwick & West, focusing on brand strategy and protection of brand assets.

2005 Adam Bloom is

partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he advises clients on general business and corporate law matters. He has represented many public and private technology companies, venture capital firms, and private equity firms. Han Le is the chief financial officer and general counsel at Atlantis Computing. Previously, she was an associate at Heller Ehrman and Cooley. Kevin Rodriguez B.S. ’00 is chair of the trust and estate litigation practice group at Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean in Oakland.

2006 Sheeva Ghassemi-

Vanni is a partner at Fenwick & West in Mountain View, where she focuses on labor and employment law. Justin Miyai is an administrative law judge at the California Department of Health Care Services in Sacramento, California. Hon. Emma Smith has been appointed as a Riverside County Superior Court judge. She had been assistant public defender in the Riverside Public Defender’s Office, where she worked since 2009.

2007 Mary Carlich

B.S. ’04 and her husband welcomed a boy on Sept. 7, 2017. The family, which also includes a daughter, lives in Newberg, Oregon.

Hendrik Pretorius co-chairs the high growth practice at Pearl Law Group.

2009 Brad Jacklin was

appointed to the 2018 governing board of directors for the Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis, Indiana. Guided by the vision to champion the health and well-being of vulnerable populations in Indiana, with special focus on the HIV/ AIDS community, The Health Foundation of Greater

Indianapolis’ mission is to support health-related projects and organizations that serve the community’s most vulnerable citizens. Crystal Riggins was named to the 2017 Silicon Valley Business Journal 40 under 40 list. She is a shareholder at Hoge Fenton.

2012 Shyla Jones is

an associate in intellectual property at Ice Miller in Chicago, Illinois. She is a licensed patent attorney.

2013 Eric Blank is an

intellectual property attorney in the Mountain View office of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt. Mia Butera is an associate in the Business Practice Group of Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP in Oakland. Butera has nearly five years’ experience in business and contract law. Previously, she worked with Rogoway Law Group and has experience as a contract attorney for Stripe. Butera was the first in-house

attorney for Instacart, overseeing all legal matters, and she also worked as a deal specialist for Oracle, drafting contracts and counseling business teams on high-value commercial agreements.

2014 Jack J. McMorrow

is a family law attorney at Harris Ginsberg in Los Angeles. He is presidentelect of the barristers’ section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association.

In Memoriam 1949 Michael C. O’Neil,

Feb. 7, 2017. He attended St. Francis Grammar School, Christian Brothers and Sacramento High Schools, and SCU. He served in the Navy during WWII, and after law school, he worked for his family’s gas and oil business. He later began a 20-year career as a social worker with Sacramento County. He is preceded in death by his wife, Margaret. Survivors include his first wife, Jean, eight children, 26 grandchildren, and 15 greatgrandchildren.

1950 Joseph Santana

B.S. ’48, March 10, 2017. He served in World War II before attending SCU. He worked for the California State Automobile Association as assistant general counsel and manager of claims litigation for San Jose and San Francisco. He was president of Kiwanis and a grand knight in the Knights of Columbus. He is survived by a daughter, a brother, and four grandchildren.

1958 Daniel J. Sullivan

B.S. ’56, Nov. 4, 2017. He served in the Marine Corps. He also served as a deputy district attorney in Sacramento County and later had a long and successful career in private law practice. The Sacramento alumni chapter of Santa Clara University named him Santa Claran of the Year, recognizing his significant contributions to the chapter and to the legal community as well as his charitable work. Survivors include four children and 13 grandchildren.

1960 John “Jack”

Dawson, Dec. 10, 2017. He attended the School of Law after graduating from Seattle University. He practiced law in Campbell, and was involved in Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce there. He was president of La Rinconada Country Club. He served on the SCU Board of Fellows. Survivors include his wife, Lynn, three children, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Hon. Roy McFarland B.S. ’57,

Oct. 9, 2017. He served in the U.S. Army. After working for the U.S. Treasury, he started a private law practice in Willows, California. He was appointed to the Superior Court in 1976. Survivors include six children and 11 grandchildren. Dan Oneal, Sept. 9, 2017. He enjoyed a 49-year career as a thirdgeneration lawyer in Santa Clara County, where he primarily practiced criminal defense. He loved hunting, fishing, golfing, and playing bridge. Survivors include his wife, Margaret, two children, including Jeffrey B.S. ’83, J.D. ’86, three stepdaughters, and three grandchildren.

1969 Harvey Diemer,

Sept. 19, 2017. Bruce Foulds Stewart, June 1, 2017. He worked at Lockheed until he graduated from SCU. He was a sole practitioner in Palo Alto until 1976, when he became general counsel for Sacramento Savings & Loan. He also was general counsel for several large commercial

real estate developers. He was an active member of the Folsom Rotary Club. Survivors include his wife, Kathy, and three children.

1963 Edmund “Ed” Allen,

B.A. ’58, Feb. 5, 2018. In high school in Seattle, he was a star football and baseball player. As a running back, he was MVP of the state high school football All-Star game. He practiced law in Seattle for 48 years. As a King County prosecuting attorney, he tried numerous high-profile homicide cases and argued seven cases before the Washington State Supreme Court. He later went on to a successful career in private practice. Ed loved running, skiing, boating, and time with his family at their beach house on Whidbey Island. He is survived by his wife, Gerrie, two children, and two granddaughters.

1970 Robert L. Hultzen,

December 2017. A graduate of West Point, he served in the Army until 1961, when he joined Lockheed as an

SPRING 2018 | SANTA CLARA LAW

CLASS ACTION

engineer. He later earned his law degree and served as deputy attorney general in Sacramento and assistant county counsel for Santa Cruz. He started his private law practice in 1979. Survivors include his wife, Thesa, two children, Bobby and Hilary, and three grandchildren. James M. King, Nov. 11, 2017. After college at Holy Cross, he served two years in the U.S. Navy as a reserve officer and lieutenant. He practiced law in Santa Cruz for more than 40 years. He was a workers’ compensation and employment attorney. He served on many boards, including the Air Quality Review Board and the Homeless Service Center. Survivors include his wife, Sharon, two stepsons, and five grandchildren. Carolyn Salciccia, Oct. 28, 2017. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University. She practiced family law in San Jose and served as a child advocate for CASA Silicon

Valley. Survivors include six children, nine grandchildren, and two brothers.

1971 Hon. H. James

Ellis B.A. ’63, Dec. 8, 2017. He attended SCU as an undergraduate on a basketball scholarship prior to serving in the Army in Vietnam. He worked for the district attorney’s office in San Francisco and Alameda counties and in private practice. He served for more than 20 years as a San Mateo County Judge. He is survived by his wife, Vicki, two children, and one grandchild. Paul S. Nesse, Dec. 7, 2017. A resident of Morgan Hill, he practiced law in San Jose for 45 years. He loved travel, history, reading, and a spirited conversation, but most of all he loved family. Survivors include his wife, Eden, sons Ryan and Kevin, and one grandchild.

1972 Howard May, Dec. 23, 2017. He served in the

Patricia Rauch (1947–2018)

CO URT ES Y O F GARY NE US TA D TE R

Patricia Rauch J.D. ’87, February 19. Santa Clara Law faculty member and spouse of Law Professor Gary Neustadter, Patty taught in the Legal Research and Writing Department for many years and shaped the lives of countless students and colleagues. She spent numerous summers supervising summer abroad programs for the Center for Global Law & Policy, most recently serving as co-director of the Oxford program with Gary. A beloved member of the Santa Clara community, Patty lived the mission of the University fully and generously. Survivors include her husband, Gary, and their daughters, Rachel Mino and Stephanie Neustadter B.A. ’03. 26 SANTA CLARA LAW | SPRING 2018

Peace Corps in Honduras after graduating from college at UCLA. He was a worker’s compensation attorney in San Jose for 45 years, defending injured workers. He is survived by his wife, Patricia, and three daughters.

1974 William Gordon

B.A. ’70, Sept. 24, 2017. He worked for State Farm for 37 years. Survivors include his wife, Marlene. Hon. Nancy Hoffman, Nov. 9, 2017. She was an elementary school teacher before attending law school. She worked as a public defender before being appointed to the bench by Gov. Edmund G. Brown in 1980. She later was elected to a seat on the Superior Court. Survivors include three children and two grandchildren.

1975 Timothy J. Lewy,

Dec. 28, 2017. He worked as an attorney with Occidental Petroleum and later went into private practice and started his own oil company. He also explored other business ventures including restaurants, creating his own brand of chewing gum, and developing residential and commercial real estate. He is survived by his wife, Tina, sons Tim and Jasen, and five grandchildren.

1976 Ronald T. Adams,

Aug. 14, 2017. He lived in Portland, Ore., where he practiced law with Black Helterline until 2013. He was an avid tennis player and bicyclist. Survivors include his wife, Debbie, three children, and grandchildren. Joseph Uremovic, Aug. 19, 2017. He practiced agricultural law in the Central Valley for more than 30 years. He was a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Survivors include his wife,

Linda, two children, one stepson, and three sisters.

1979 Raul Pino, Sept. 19,

2017. Born in Cuba, he practiced law in Miami, Florida. He published seven books and also painted. He was devoted to his wife, Isaura, and two daughters.

1980 Linda Callon, Jan. 6,

2018. She was student body president at Mount St. Mary’s College, where she majored in mathematics. She was a systems engineer at IBM. She served on the Saratoga Planning Commission and was the city’s first female mayor from 1980 to 1983. She worked for 35 years for the Berliner Cohen law firm and was a partner focusing on land use, environmental and municipal law. Survivors include her husband, Jack, three sons, and nine grandchildren.

1985 Hon. Terre Sadosky, Sept. 29, 2017. She was a California Workers’ Compensation administrative law judge. She had a private pilot’s license and traveled the world to scuba dive. She was an active volunteer with the SPCA.

2000 Carl E. Switzer,

Sept. 11, 2017. He was a partner at Farella Braun & Martel.

2013 James Danko, Aug.

22, 2017. He graduated from Vanderbilt University and worked as a construction project engineer. He practiced law in South Carolina, where he focused on construction defect litigation. Survivors include his wife, J. Sterling Chillico, a son, his parents, three siblings, and his grandmother.

ALUMNI & FRIENDS 2018 UPCOMING EVENTS APRIL 2018

SEPTEMBER 2018

SAN FRANCISCO NCIP/Justice for All Awards Gala, Julia Morgan Ballroom

SANTA CLARA Center for Social Justice and Public Service Benefit for Justice Auction, Santa Clara University Campus

SAN JOSE Celebration of Achievement Awards Evening, Fairmont Hotel

SANTA CLARA Entrepreneurs’ Law Clinic 5th Anniversary, Santa Clara University Campus

OCTOBER 2018

SANTA CLARA Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center Annual Celebration, Adobe Lodge

MAY 2018

SANTA CLARA Baccalaureate Mass, Mission Santa Clara de Asís

SANTA CLARA Commencement, Mission Gardens

AUGUST 2018

SANTA CLARA Law School Convocation, Santa Clara University Campus

4-5

SANTA CLARA 14th Annual Jerry A. Kasner Estate Planning Symposium, Santa Clara Convention Center

SANTA CLARA Law School Building Dedication Ceremony, Charney Hall

12-14

SANTA CLARA Law Reunion/Grand Reunion Weekend, Santa Clara University Campus

SANTA CLARA Diversity Gala, Charney Hall

For more details, visit law.scu.edu/alumni/alumni-events. We send a monthly email to alumni with events and other updates. Please be sure that we have your preferred email address by sending a message to lawalumni@scu.edu.

SPRING 2018 | SANTA CLARA LAW

CLOSING ARGUMENTS

LEGALIZING MARIJUANA: CALIFORNIA V. THE FEDS B Y G E R A L D F. U E L M E N , P RO F E S S O R O F L AW A N D D E A N E M E R I T U S , S A N TA C L A R A U N I V E R S I T Y S C H O O L O F L AW

NOTE: This essay is excerpted from Uelmen’s most recent book, If It Doesn’t Fit (Xlibris, 2017).

On Jan. 1, 2018, California opened the doors to full implementation of a 2016 initiative measure to legalize the distribution of marijuana for recreational and medical use. A carefully structured regulatory scheme was in place to prevent distribution to minors and closely monitor and tax every step in the cultivation, production, and distribution of cannabis. On Jan. 4, 2018, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the U.S. Department of Justice was “rescinding” the Obama-era Cole Memorandum that instructed federal prosecutors to forego federal prosecution of marijuana distribution or use that was in full compliance with state laws. For over 20 years, California served as a principal battleground to contest federal prosecution of patients using cannabis as medication. With the Santa Clara Law students enrolled in my seminar Drug Abuse and the Law, I was at the forefront of that battle. In 200l, 12 students who assisted in briefing the case accompanied me to Washington, D.C., for the oral arguments in the case of United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative. A unanimous court rejected our argument that a defense of medical necessity should be recognized under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

28 SANTA CLARA LAW | SPRING 2018

Despite losing the Oakland Cannabis Cooperative case, I had a continuing part to play in the vindication of medicinal marijuana through my pro bono representation of WAMM, the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz. WAMM is a legitimate collective serving patients who use the drug to alleviate the side effects of cancer treatment, the wasting syndrome of AIDS, and other painful ailments. For me, representing Valerie Corral, the founding director of WAMM, was like representing Mother Teresa. She is the most compassionate person I have ever met. Each October, I would accompany my students for a visit to WAMM’s marijuana garden in the Santa Cruz Mountains to meet Valerie and observe the annual harvest. After the Drug Enforcement Administration raided WAMM and arrested Valerie, we went to federal court to seek an injunction to prevent federal authorities from interfering with its operation. The case was settled with an agreement by federal authorities to leave WAMM alone, a precursor to the Cole Memorandum. After the frustration of watching the federal war on drugs become a federal war on medical marijuana, it was a great relief to see a modicum of sanity return to our federal drug policy

FAT CA M E R A

With regard to the legalization of recreational use of marijuana, I remain a skeptic, but believe we should keep the door open despite the risks. My fear is that we are creating a mass market that will multiply the health dangers we already face from cigarettes and alcohol. through the Cole Memorandum. Its demise is a misguided attempt to turn back the clock and shows contempt for the recent scientific breakthroughs that have demonstrated legitimate medical uses for cannabis. With regard to the legalization of recreational use of marijuana, I remain a skeptic, but believe we should keep the door open despite the risks. My fear is that we are creating a mass market that will multiply the health dangers we already face from cigarettes and alcohol. But long ago, we recognized that the solution to alcohol abuse was not the enforcement of a total prohibition. Having a legitimate market can minimize the role of the illicit drug cartels, which have become a national scourge and

corrupted so many developing nations. But by turning over the production and sale of recreational marijuana to private entrepreneurs whose goal is to maximize profits, we will replicate the patterns that characterize alcohol and tobacco marketing. Their profits come from the 10 percent who are the heaviest users, and their marketing strategy is to turn users into heavy users. With respect to medical use, however, we should not restrict the availability of a useful medication to those who suffer pain simply because some people will abuse their access to this drug. No one would argue that the widespread abuse of opioids would justify cutting off the availability of opioids to patients who need the drug to alleviate their pain. SPRING 2018 | SANTA CLARA LAW

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID San Jose, CA Permit No. 1 Santa Clara University Santa Clara Law 500 El Camino Real Santa Clara, CA 95053-0435 The Law School of Silicon Valley CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

K E ITH SU TTE R

SAVE THE DATE: OCT. 12, 2018 Howard S. and Alida S. Charney Hall of Law Dedication and Open House

Join SCU President Michael Engh, S.J., Dean Lisa Kloppenberg, members of the University Trustees, the Law Advisory Board, donors, students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends as we gather to dedicate and celebrate Charney Hall, the new home for Santa Clara Law. The dedication ceremony begins at noon, followed by lunch and an open house with self-guided tours. For more information, contact Marjorie Short at mjshort@scu.edu or call 408-551-1748.