Pepperdine Law - Vol. 31, No. 1 (Spring Summer 2012)

Spring/SUMMER

2012

Making Her Own Way Laure Sudreau-Rippe discusses the highs and lows of her success as a lawyer, and her determination to save her husband’s life.

accountability amid chaos Three army veterans respond to a new manual on preventing civilian casualties.

pride in Print

FAculty Essay

The Pepperdine Law Review Celebrates 40 Years Since Conception.

Kris Knaplund on the legalities facing assisted reproduction.

Pepperdine is a place where the focus is on people. Not only did the School of Law provide me with an exceptional education, but my professors and deans encouraged me to use my unique talents and abilities to enrich the lives of others, from playing jazz at a professor’s house to performing the national anthem at our recent graduation ceremony. With the entrepreneurial skills I gained as a Fellow at the Palmer Center, Pepperdine emboldened me to take risks, leading me to start my own company. Now, with support from the law school’s expansive alumni network, I am well poised to achieve my dreams.

Isaac Agyeman (JD ’12) Fellow, Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law

change lives. give today. www.pepperdine.edu/campaign

Malibu • West Los Angeles • Encino • Irvine • Silicon Valley • Westlake Village • Washington, D.C. Heidelberg • London • Florence • Buenos Aires • Lausanne • Shanghai

Vol. 31, No. 1

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Spring/Summer 2012

Pepperdine Law, the magazine of Pepperdine University School of Law, is published by Pepperdine University.

Pepperdine Law staff Jannette Jauregui – editor

Features

Keith Lungwitz – art director Vincent Way – copy editor

11 Making Her Own Way

Ron Hall (’79), Jake Alba – photographers Jill McWilliams – production manager Gareen Darakjian, Sarah Fisher – contributing Writers Kimberly Robison (’10) – Web Developer

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School of L aw A dministration

Laure Sudreau-Rippe discusses the highs and lows of her success as a lawyer and her determination to save her husband’s life.

14 capitol gains School of Law students and alumni experience the value of the Washington, D.C. externship program.

Deanell Reece Tacha – Dean L. Timothy Perrin – Vice Dean Carol A. Chase – Associate dean, academics

18 Accountability amid chaos

Herbert E. Cihak – associate dean, library and information Services

Three army veterans respond to a new manual on preventing civilian casualties.

Selina Farrell – assistant dean, career development James A. Gash – associate dean, student life Steve Schultz – Interim Assistant dean, student life Maureen Weston – associate dean, research

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22 a Pioneer on the bench The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin shares stories of her journey to the Canadian Supreme Court.

The Office of Public A ffairs Rick Gibson (MBA ’09) – Chief Marketing Officer and Associate Vice President for Public Affairs and Church Relations

25 pride in Print

Matt Midura (’97, MA ’05) – Assistant Vice President for Integrated marketing communications

The Pepperdine Law Review celebrates 40 years since conception.

Megan Huard – director of content development Brett Sizemore – director of creative services

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Ed Wheeler (’97, MA ’99) – director of web and multimedia

Alumna Ashley Messenger defends freedom of speech in the media.

Please direct address changes, letters to the editor, comments, and requests to:

30 Faculty essay

Pepperdine Law

BRITTANY STRINGFELLOW Otey

Pepperdine University School of Law 24255 Pacific Coast Highway Malibu, California 90263 p: 310.506.4629

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28 from dj to jd

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f: 310.506.7440

e-mail: jannette.jauregui@pepperdine.edu

Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic: Preparing for Practice, Meeting Needs

32 Faculty essay Kristine Knaplund

School of L aw Offices

Identifying “Mom” and “Dad”: The Legalities Facing Assisted Reproduction

Admissions...................................................... 310.506.4631 Advancement and Alumni Relations...............310.506.4492 Career Development ......................................310.506.4634 Global Justice Program ..................................310.506.4734 International Programs ..................................310.506.7597

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Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution . ........310.506.4655 Geoffrey H. Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law .................310.506.4681

In Every Issue 2 3 34 38

Message from the Dean News Shorts Faculty Activities Class Actions

Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics . .........................310.506.7635 Clinical Programs .......................................... 310.506.7449

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Read the magazine online at lawmagazine.pepperdine.edu

M e s s a g e f r om t h e D e a n humbled by the opportunity to work with a law school with a strong and obvious sense of its mission, aspirations, and commitments.

It is a privilege to be the dean of such a school.

The “Tour” has made me feel like a rock star! I just need a T-shirt that lists all my stops! Every stop has been energizing and affirming. I thank all those hundreds of alumni and friends who have made the tour so rewarding. You have stepped up to help your law school in remarkable ways. I am so grateful personally and your law school is strengthened by your contributions.

stepped up to purchase new, much-improved lockers for our students. These are just beginning steps toward a much-needed building renovation, which must await a generous donor who might help with this important project.

It has been a great year! Our moot court and trial teams have won almost everything they entered! We had a wonderful School of Law Dinner with Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of Canada and my former colleague, Robert Henry, president of

Our work is characterized by constant care for the academic, personal, and spiritual needs of our students.

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his year at the Pepperdine School of Law has been a whirlwind of activity.

I have been so gratified with the spirit of community, mutual support, and common purpose that pervades this law school. The commitment that our faculty and the University make to be in service to our students and the world is a working reality here. Every faculty office door is open and welcoming to our students. Our work is characterized by constant care for the academic, personal, and spiritual needs of our students. At the same time, members of our faculty continue to engage in robust and rich scholarly endeavors that are recognized for their excellence throughout the legal profession and beyond.

Our alumni are in leadership positions throughout the profession, and model the ideal of the Pepperdine lawyer leading lives of service and purpose. In short, I am P E P P ER D I N E L AW

The faculty has been hard at work on the curriculum this year. After having studied law school curricula nationally and the recommendations of various groups studying legal education, I concluded that Pepperdine needed to take a hard look at its curriculum to stay competitive and to serve the needs of our students in a rapidly changing legal environment. At a recent faculty meeting, I am gratified to say, the faculty voted to change significantly the first-year curriculum beginning with next year’s 1L class. This change brings the Pepperdine first-year curriculum more closely into line with the prevailing norms at other law schools around the country. I give the faculty enormous credit for their bold willingness to change the curriculum.

We have the most beautiful spot on earth to study law, but our building needs some updating! If you have been in the building lately, I hope you noticed that the atrium has undergone a bit of a facelift. I am grateful to President Benton for providing funds for us to replace the furniture and carpet. Also, the plant is gone and the old brown lockers are gone. Instead, many alumni and friends 2

Oklahoma City University. The law school achieved, for the first time, a ranking in the top 50 law schools in the country. Our firstyear class is the most academically qualified in the history of the school. The list goes on and on! Above all, our alumni and friends have been my partners and fellow advocates for the Pepperdine Law School. I treasure these relationships and look forward to continuing to work toward our mutual aspirations for this law school.

Finally, I close with a note of gratitude for the leadership and service that Tim Perrin has given to Pepperdine University and the School of Law. He leaves us to serve as president of Lubbock Christian University, where he will bring his characteristic thoughtful, spirit-driven, wise leadership to that great institution. We will miss him, but wish him and his family all the best in this new adventure. Our prayers are with them.  Deanell Tacha Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law

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california state bar releases results for July 2011 Exam

Results of the July 2011 California Bar Exam were made public in February and Pepperdine School of Law students had another strong showing.

The overall passage rate for all takers was 54.8 percent and the pass rate for schools accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) in California was 76.2 percent for first-time takers.

Pepperdine’s passage rate, however, was significantly higher at 86.3 percent.

The 86 percent ranks Pepperdine School of Law in the top four of all California ABA-accredited

schools. Only USC, Stanford, and Boalt were higher.

In addition, Pepperdine achieved a perfect record among out-of-state, first-time takers with 100 percent passing among the 30 exam takers.

Since 2008, 109 out of 110 Pepperdine law students have passed out-of-state bar exams on their first attempt.

“We are very gratified that our graduates have done so well on the California Bar Exam,” Dean Tacha said. “The examination is rigorous and

challenging. Passing the bar is an important step toward meaningful and productive work in the legal profession. Pepperdine Law School strives throughout its academic programs to provide a legal education that will equip our graduates for success in the profession. We will watch all aspects of their future careers with pride. We applaud the hard work, dedication, and talent that they brought to the bar examination, and will, we are confident, bring to their professional endeavors.”

Law School Renovations

In December 2011, the School of Law began its latest renovation, the first since 1992.

Additions include new furniture in the atrium, carpeting throughout the building, new tile in the entrance and atrium, and a reception desk designed to greet visitors to the school. The lockers that were once housed outside of the Mendenhall Appellate Courtroom were removed and relocated. Additional lockers will be installed in a new location, providing more storage space for each enrolled student. The third floor’s clinical education space was also revamped to include meeting and work space for students and faculty.

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news shorts

Melissa Thornsberry

Straus Institute

Finds Success as a Presidential Management Fellow

Hosts Three International Scholars

Pepperdine School of Law’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution has a history of drawing students and professionals from throughout the world to study the program’s unique curriculum. In its 25 years of existence, and with its eight-year stint at the top of the U.S. News & World Report Elena Seryapina, Oleksandr Volkov, rankings for dispute resolution Yazmina Batista programs, Straus has hosted nine academic scholars associated with either the Fulbright or Muskie Fellowship programs. These scholars stem from diverse backgrounds in Germany, El Salvador, Egypt, Panama, Tunisia, the Czech Republic, and Moldova.

Melissa Thornsberry (JD ’10) knew she wasn’t going to take the traditional route of a new law school graduate when she accepted a position as an acquisitions management specialist with the Space Life Range and Network Systems Division at the Los Angeles Air Force Base (LAAFB).

As a third-year law student at Pepperdine, Thornsberry took a chance on applying for the Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF), a highly competitive program that provides a two-year fast track into the doors of the federal government.

Upon completing her application, Thornsberry was required to receive an official nomination from the School of Law and complete a standardized test. After she was chosen as a finalist, Thornsberry boarded a plane to Washington, D.C., to attend a three-day job fair. She interviewed with LAAFB on the third day, and was offered the position almost immediately. Her two years as a Fellow will end in September, and Thornsberry says she is looking forward to continuing to advance her career. In addition to her work at LAAFB, Thornsberry serves as a mentor for Pepperdine law students applying for the PMF. This year Victoria Mitchell, Tiffany Norris, and Landon Derentz joined the growing number of Pepperdine Law students who have been chosen as finalists.

The Fulbright Program is an international educational exchange program sponsored by the United States government and is designed to promote positive relationships between Americans and citizens of other countries.

Similarly, the Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program promotes involvement with the United States among scholars from Eurasia. Both programs are highly competitive and seek to include individuals with the highest standards of research and academia.

This year, Straus welcomed three internationally recognized scholars to the Malibu campus, continuing its legacy as one of the top dispute resolution programs in the country. The international fellows include: Yazmina Batista, a native of Panama and Fulbright Scholar; Elena Seryapina, a native of Russia and Fulbright Scholar; and Muskie Scholar Oleksandr Volkov of Ukraine.

“Pepperdine provides a practical education, and a lot of leadership opportunities that are nurtured by faculty and the alumni network,” Thornsberry said. “They are developing more than lawyers. They are developing service-minded professionals.”

Nootbaar and Glazer Institutes Host

“The competing claims of law and religion” The Pepperdine School of Law Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics and the University’s Diane and Guilford Glazer Institute for Jewish Studies teamed to host the third annual Religious Legal Theory conference, The Competing Claims of Law and Religion: Who Should Influence Whom? The event was held on the Malibu campus February 23 through 25.

The three-day conference welcomed professors, alumni, students, members of the legal community, and more than 80 speakers from throughout the world, including South America, Asia, Europe, and Canada. The conference was the largest religious theory conference Pepperdine has hosted.

The conference addressed a host of sub-questions, all at the forefront of contemporary

debates over the respective roles of law and religion. Topics included constitutional law, good citizenship, and matters of religious faith.

Among the notable speakers were Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, Emory School of Law; Andrew Koppelman, Northwestern University School of Law; Ayelet Shachar, University of Toronto; Suzanne Last Stone, Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University; Steven D. Smith, University of San Diego School of Law; Dallas Willard, USC Department of Philosophy; Richard Garnett, University of Notre Dame Law School, and James Davison Hunter, University of Virginia.

Featured were four plenary sessions and multiple breakout sessions, each addressing a variety of topics.

on the WEB: law.pepperdine.edu/nootbaar

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“We had people approaching each conference topic from most major angles: conservative, liberal, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, secular, feminist, multicultural,” said Robert Cochran, Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law and director of the Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics. “Many feel that we are in a time of transition as to the question of law and religion and no one knows where we will wind up.”

Christopher Lund, assistant professor of law at Wayne State University Law School said this of the conference: “At other conferences, I look at the program and have trouble finding anything I really want to go to. Here what troubled me was that there was nothing I felt I could miss.”

Pepperdine Law Celebrates

Passover with Seder Students, faculty, and staff from the School of Law gathered to celebrate Passover by participating in an on-campus Seder hosted by the Jewish Law Student Association in March. More than 40 members of the Pepperdine Law community came together in a roundtable formation surrounded by matzo and conversations about the history of Jewish traditions, specifically about the liberation of the Israelites from the slavery of ancient Egypt.

“This kind of event really marks the coming together of all ages,” said Tzipora Goodfriend, president of Pepperdine Law’s Jewish Law Students Association.

“It is not an exclusive event. It is a time of learning and enjoying each other’s company.”

A traditional Seder is led by the patriarch of a family and is comprised of a dinner table setting in which the father or grandfather shares stories with his children or grandchildren that focus on the Jewish culture. Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, a member of the adjunct faculty at the law school, led the Pepperdine Law Seder.

Jay Milbrandt’s Latest Book

“It is an amazing tradition because young children are given the opportunity to ask questions about anything they want,” Goodfriend said. “It’s a key moment in the education of their heritage.”

The Seder, which was among others held on the Malibu campus, is an annual event that has continued at the School of Law for more than a decade.

Challenges Readers to “Go + Do”

Goodfriend noted, “We were so happy to embrace this opportunity to join together, especially with Dean Tacha who has been a huge supporter of ours since joining the Pepperdine Law School family.”

Jay Milbrandt’s (MBA ’07, JD ’ 08) latest book, Go + Do, was welcomed by readers at an official release reception held at the School of Law in April. Published by Tyndale House, the book is a compilation of firsthand accounts of Milbrandt’s work overseas as the director of Pepperdine’s Global Justice Program. According to Milbrandt, it serves as a challenge to “go out into the world, witness the raw edges of humanity, and then do something about what you see.”

Pepperdine School of Law Hosts

Special Education Law Symposium

Nearly 100 students and faculty attended the reception, many with their own stories of having traveled abroad as part of the Global Justice Program. Among them was vice dean Tim Perrin.

“So often a book is about things that don’t reflect the character and experiences of the author,” Perrin said. “That’s what makes this book so special. It really is a reflection of Jay and his work.”

The Pepperdine School of Law Special Education Advocacy Clinic hosted the Special Education Law Symposium: Examining the IDEA in Theory and Practice in February with various panel topics that ranged from social and behavioral issues to the effects of gender and race.

Robert Cochran, director of the Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics, and Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law, says the book shines a unique light on law school publications.

The daylong event included six panels with 14 key experts in the field, each with a focus on discussing the elements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as well as the rule of law and its relationship with, and obligations to, special education. Additional topics included the role of socioeconomic status in special education and its tie with race and gender.

“In law schools, as in other corners of universities, there is a tendency to talk a lot about fighting injustice, poverty, and powerlessness, and to leave it at that,” he said. “Jay’s book calls us to put our theory into practice, in his, and Jesus’, words, to ‘Go and Do.’ Jay has led many of us at the law school to get on the ground and to try to change some part of the world. This book wonderfully challenges a much broader audience to do so.”

Students and alumni alike were involved in and invited to the symposium, which was the first of its kind to be hosted by Pepperdine.

“The students were intricately involved in the planning, preparation, and activities of the conference,” said Richard Peterson, director of the Pepperdine School of Law Special Education Advocacy Clinic and assistant professor of law. “It was a great opportunity for them to not only enhance their knowledge and understanding of the law, but also to meet with the people who author the treatises they use in their study of the law, as well as network with local practitioners who are potential employers in the future.”

When asked about his purpose for writing the book, Milbrandt said, “When we look out at the world, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. We want to help, but we don’t know where to start or what to do. I hope that Go + Do encourages readers to overcome these obstacles and make a small corner of the world a better place. It’s a dare to embark on a journey.”

The book is available for purchase at the Pepperdine Law School bookstore, at Barnes & Noble, and on Amazon.com.

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Distinguished Visiting Faculty

Pepperdine Law’s

Legacy in Leadership As the Pepperdine Law community bid farewell to vice dean Tim Perrin in May, there was a certain amount of pride left in knowing Pepperdine’s legacy in leadership.

Four prominent figures in law and legal education returned to the School of Law for the Spring 2012 semester: Paul L. Caron, Laurie L. Levenson, Roger Cossack, and Gary Haugen.

Perrin, who was named president of Lubbock Christian University (LCU) in Lubbock, Texas, effective June 1, became the fourth individual associated with the School of Law to have taken on the lead role at a university within the last seven years.

“The Pepperdine Law School was privileged indeed to welcome world class legal academicians as visitors this spring,” said Dean Tacha.

“They brought the finest in teaching and research to a faculty that welcomes and inspires this kind of excellence.”

Caron

Levenson

Cossack

Haugen

Paul L. Caron, a leading entrepreneurial tax scholar and Charles Hartsock Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati joined Pepperdine Law for a third time as the D & L Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor, taking on the instruction of two classes: Federal Income Taxation and Federal Estate and Gift Tax.

Perrin

Laurie L. Levenson, professor of law, William M. Rains Fellow, and David W. Burcham Chair in Ethical Advocacy at Loyola Law School, returned to the School of Law for a second stint as D & L Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor. Levenson taught Criminal Law to a section of first-year students.

Lowry

L. Randolph Lowry III, founder of Pepperdine’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, took office as the 17th president of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, in September 2005, after serving on the Pepperdine faculty for nearly 20 years.

Additionally, Kenneth W. Starr, who joined Pepperdine Law as dean in 2004, began his stint as president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, in 2010.

Roger Cossack’s career as a prosecutor and defense lawyer spanned 22 years. He currently serves as a legal analyst for ESPN, a role he’s held since 2002, and weighs in on the relationship between sports and the law. The spring Distinguished Practitioner in Residence for five years, Cossack taught Media and the Law. His course was recognized by The National Jurist magazine in 2011 as a “bucket list” must for law students.

Starr

Gary Haugen, who joined the School of Law for a week in April, is the founder, president, and CEO of human rights agency International Justice Mission. He returned for a second time to teach Human Rights and the Rule of Law in the Developing World. Haugen is the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Laws from Pepperdine and served as the 2009 commencement speaker. deSteiguer

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Perrin, who is a 1984 graduate of LCU, practiced law in Corpus Christi, Texas, in both state and federal courts before joining Pepperdine Law in 1992, where he has served with distinction on the faculty and the administration as professor of law, associate provost, and vice dean. He also participated in Pepperdine’s acclaimed juvenile justice program in Uganda and served for many years as a coach of the trial teams.

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Pepperdine alumnus John deSteiguer (JD ’89) took the lead role as president of Oklahoma Christian University in May. He was previously that university’s senior vice president for advancement. Prior to that deSteiguer spent nearly two decades in higher education, including nine years as the director of development at Northeastern State University located in his native Tahlequah, Oklahoma. “ Pepperdine is a place where leadership is a central value that permeates the educational process, the aspirations, and the calling of our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends,” said Dean Tacha. “As we live out our faith commitment, we understand it in terms of leading others and modeling purpose, service, and leadership. All four of these individuals have stepped into significant presidencies as examples of the powerful impulse that suffuses the Pepperdine experience and enriches institutions and communities far beyond this campus.”

Among the presenters was Paul D. Carrington, professor of law at Duke University; Connie Collingsworth, general counsel, secretary, and member of the Management Committee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Chris Cox, president of Bingham Consulting LLC and partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP; James C. Duff, president and CEO of the Freedom Forum, Inc. and CEO of the Newseum and Diversity Institute in Washington, D.C.; Stephen Gillers, Elihu Root Professor of Law at New York University School of Law; William Henderson, professor of law and Val Nolan Faculty Fellow at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law; James E. Moliterno, the Vincent Bradford Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law; Patricia K. Oliver, president and executive director of Christian Legal Aid of Los Angeles; Deborah L. Rhode, the Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law and director of the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford University Law School; Richard Watts, founder and president of Family Business Office; and Malcolm Wheeler, founding partner of Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP in Denver, Colorado.

Each symposium presenter articulated the role that he or she sees lawyers serving in society. Given the cacophony of public and political rhetoric concerning the practice of law, the symposium addressed a new form of lawyer for the future: one who models civil discourse, seeks the orderly resolution of conflict, and participates in informed public discussion and debate. The underlying purpose of the symposium was to gain a better understanding of the role that American lawyers have played in the past, what challenges and opportunities they face in the present, and how lawyers will best be equipped in the future to meet the needs and expectations of their clients.

Pepperdine Law Review Hosts Symposium: The Lawyer of the Future

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This year’s symposium was the first to be led by School of Law dean Deanell Reece Tacha.

he Pepperdine School of Law and members of the board of the Pepperdine Law Review hosted The Lawyer of the Future, a symposium that explored the impact of past and present lawyers and the lessons they provide for future generations. The one-day symposium was held on the Malibu campus on April 20.

“The Law Review Symposium was an important step in our effort to examine the path that legal education should follow in responding to dramatic changes in the legal profession,” Dean Tacha said. “Our distinguished panelists were each superbly qualified to talk about these changes and to inform our understanding of the ways in which law schools can best prepare students to continue to be effective, ethical, creative problem-solvers and attorneys, who serve both their clients and the broader community. The interchange among the speakers was inspiring, challenging, and visionary. Their presentations will help this law school and others in legal education steer an informed course in training the lawyers of the future.”

With 12 presentations from top experts in the field, The Lawyer of the Future symposium showcased the lawyers of the past and present, the variety of roles they serve within American society, and what their experiences and models teach us about who the lawyers of the future can and should be.

From public servants to philanthropists, government officials to business entrepreneurs, the symposium focused on the role of lawyers as working models of the rule of law.

Palmer Center’s MicroEnterprise Program Launches Latest Group of Entrepreneurs

Dean Tacha addresses attendees

Janet Kerr

Howard Spunt

The Geoffrey H. Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law launched the latest group of entrepreneurs to complete its 24-week microenterprise program. A ceremony at the Villa Graziadio Executive Center on the Malibu campus in April celebrated the successes of each of the 14 entrepreneurs. Howard Spunt, cofounder of Landmark Retail Group, served as keynote speaker.

The program, which began as a 12-week set of courses in 2010, hosted individuals from the Los Angelesbased Union Rescue Mission; Hope Gardens, a shelter for women and children; and Upward Bound House.

The focus of the program is to provide each entrepreneur-in-training with personal, professional, and entrepreneurial skills. With the assistance of student mentors from each of the five Pepperdine schools, each

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candidate was taught basic techniques of management, marketing, accounting, and business planning.

Each entrepreneur presented their business plan to members of the community and to Pepperdine students, faculty, and staff at the April 19 event. They will continue to work with mentors in the coming months as their businesses are introduced to the public.

“The Palmer Center’s microenterprise program is a wonderful example of the University’s mission at work,” observed vice dean Tim Perrin. “Through our partnership with the Union Rescue Mission, men and women who are seeking a new start are given training in business and hope for a better life. It is inspirational to see these aspiring entrepreneurs prepared for lives of purpose, service, and leadership. We wish them every success.”  L AW. P E P P ER D I N E . E D U

team competitions

Mane Sardaryan, Destiny Ramsey, professor Michael Mewborne, Alyssa Ayotte, Chalak Richards Champions • Best Advocate, Chalak Richards • National Civil Trial Competition • Loyola Law School • Los Angeles, California • November 2011 photograph: Kim Fox

Pepperdine Appellate and Trial Team victories The pepperdine school of law appellate, trial, and alternative dispute resolution (adr) teams enjoyed a successful year of competitions.

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he appellate teams, led by professor Nancy McGinnis, participated in 14 competitions throughout the country and two international competitions in England and Hong Kong, placing in all but three. Pepperdine made it to the quarterfinals in seven of those competitions, reached the semifinals in two competitions, and clenched three championships.

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Pepperdine earned a spot as one of the 26 of 200 teams to compete in the American Bar Association National Appellate Advocacy Competition moot court nationals in Chicago in April. The team of third-year students Brittney Lane and Megan Young Rechberg left the competition as national finalists and with secondplace honors for their brief.

“It was a particularly spectacular year on the appellate side,” McGinnis said. “There are two things I am 8

proudest of: that the students competed with integrity and that they left an impression that Pepperdine is a force to be reckoned with.”

The trial teams, led by professor Harry Caldwell, competed in six competitions in California and Nevada, placing in all but one, and earning two spots as finalists in addition to two championship titles.

“This year’s successes ranked very high in the traditions of an already very successful program,” Caldwell

Professor Harry Caldwell, Brittney Lane, Jason Grutter, Stefani Coggins, and Daniel Taylor Finalists • ABA Labor and Employment Law Trial Regional Competition • Los Angeles, California • November 2011

Brittney Lane, and Megan Young Rechberg Champions • 2nd-Place Brief • National Moot Court Regional Competition • San Diego, California • November 2011

said. “Pepperdine’s trial team of Alyssa Ayotte (’07), Mane Sardaryan, Chalak Richards, and Destiny Ramsey successfully defended Pepperdine’s championship from last year in winning the National Civil Trial Competition. This elite competition is by invitation only and consistently has one of the strongest group of teams of any competition in the country. No school save Pepperdine has won this competition more than once, and this was Pepperdine’s third

front (from left): Dan Spitzer, Destiny Ramsey, Stefani Coggins, Daniel Taylor • back: Professors Harry Caldwell, Terry Adamson, Michael Crowe Champions • American Association for Justice National Student Trial Advocacy Regional Competition • Los Angeles, California • March 2012

win and second consecutive win.”

Pepperdine’s ADR teams competed in three competitions in California and one international competition in Paris, placing in each competition and making it to the final round in one. In the ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition in Paris, France, Pepperdine was ranked in the top 16 of an international field of 66 teams.

“They were engaged as partners and not as competitors,” said 9

professor Maureen Weston, advisor to Pepperdine’s team in the ICC competition in France. “They learned in-depth skills of how to think like lawyers and how to be lawyers.

They received feedback from experienced judges. That is tough to get in any other kind of academic environment.” 

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team competitions

Ardy Pirnia and Kelline Linton

Caitlin Leonard and Robert Dudley Champions and Best Brief • Chicago Bar Association National Moot Court Competition • Chicago, Illinois • November 2011

Champions • J. Braxton Craven, Jr., Memorial Moot Court Competition • Chapel Hill, North Carolina • February 2012

Best Brief and 3rd-Place Team • William McGee National Civil Rights Moot Court Competition • Minneapolis, Minnesota • February 2012

Victoria Mitchell and Laura Sambataro Finalists and 2nd- and 3rd-place Advocates • Stetson International Environmental Arbitration Moot Court Competition • North American Regional • Denver, Colorado • February 2012 Best Brief and Semifinalist • Stetson International Environmental Arbitration Moot Court Competition • International Competition • Gulfport, Florida • April 2012

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Chalak Richards, Alyssa Ayotte, and Mane Sardaryan (with professors Harry Caldwell and Michael Mewborne) Finalists • Texas Young Lawyers Association National Trial Regional Competition • San Diego, California • February 2012

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Making Her Own Way Laure Sudreau-Rippe discusses the highs and lows of her success as a lawyer and her determination to save her husband’s life.

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raduation day 1997 at Pepperdine School of Law. The moment of truth. The culmination of three years of hard work. For Laure Sudreau-Rippe (JD ’97), it was just the beginning. The ceremony served as a stepping-stone to the obstacles that lie ahead.

“I remember that day like it was yesterday,” she said. “And when you look at that moment and you think, ‘Oh my. It’s finally over.’ But you are still looking out at the future thinking, ‘Am I going to make this?’ It’s pretty daunting because you are just starting off.”

There was the bar to pass, the job at the law firm to find, and the financial expectations to fill that often accompany the role of a lawyer. And on top of it all, there was the sadness that her father couldn’t be there. He had lost his battle to lung cancer when SudreauRippe was just 21.

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“You need to have faith and hope, and even in the face of really, really bad odds, you should never give up,” she said. “You make your own way.”

She has made her own way with a successful career, and in May, 15 years after she left the Malibu campus, Sudreau-Rippe returned to receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award at a time, she says, marks a turning point in her life.

then secured a position as a joint attorney for Disney and ABC upon their merger.

Soon after the tragedies of September 11, 2001, ABC joined NBC, CBS and Fox in airing a celebrity telethon. CBS contributed their studio for use, while ABC committed their legal team, which included Sudreau-Rippe.

“I remember looking around realizing that here I was working with George Clooney, Will Smith, Sylvester Stallone, and

commodities. She moved to the east coast, leaving the entertainment business for Wall Street. Everything seemed to have fallen into place when cancer hit hard once again.

A New Perspective In 2006, Sudreau-Rippe lost her mother to breast cancer. Her death, and the disease, sparked a change in her view of life. But it wasn’t until 2008 that cancer thrust Sudreau-

Success in Hollywood Sudreau-Rippe left her native [My husband’s cancer] was a France in 1993 to practice law wake-up call that maybe the in the United States. She had real purpose of our lives is received France’s equivalent of not to be chasing the almighty a juris doctor and found a job as dollar or the corner office or the a foreign consultant for Dewey corporate acknowledgement, but Ballantine in Los Angeles, where that there may be other paths she worked on the MGM v. Credit that we don’t necessarily know Lyonnais case, which involved we have to go down.” celebrities like Kirk Kerkorian.

“It was a rare position for a first-year lawyer,” she said. “But because I spoke French fluently, I was called to translate, including at a deposition in Paris.”

The young lawyer wanted to get an edge on the competition in entertainment law, so she decided to apply to an American law school. “Pepperdine took me without a traditional background,” Sudreau-Rippe said. “They reached out when a lot of others probably wouldn’t have.”

She enrolled in courses at the Straus Muhammad Ali,” she said. “It was amazing to Institute for Dispute Resolution. Graduation see all these people work so fast to make the came and went. The bar exam, though show happen. What was so great about those grueling, was passed. And Sudreau-Rippe three days was I was with people from the began what became a successful career in highest level of everything. But we were in entertainment and intellectual property law. the midst of focusing on what really matters.

She first secured a position with Fox On 9/11, everyone was equal.”

Kids, preparing intellectual property and Within two years, Sudreau-Rippe was offered a position with her family’s Louis intellectual rights documents for the Dreyfus Group, a diversified French private network’s acquisition of material from company involved in agriculture and energy companies like Marvel Entertainment. She

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Rippe into making the life-changing decision to retire 11 years into her career. Her husband, Bill Rippe, had been diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer.

“It was pivotal point when all of a sudden I needed to dedicate my time to figuring out a way to save him,” she said.

Side-by-side the couple fought the disease until Bill was in remission. Sudreau-Rippe joined the Lung Cancer Research Foundation board and the holding company board of the

Dean Tacha (left) and Janet Kerr (second from left) pose with Sudreau-Rippe and her husband Bill.

Louis Dreyfus Group. She catapulted herself into a role of building awareness of the disease that took her mother and father’s lives and threatened the life of her husband.

“The diagnosis was a wake-up call that maybe the real purpose of our lives is not to be chasing the almighty dollar or the corner office or the corporate acknowledgement,” she said, “but that there may be other paths that we don’t necessarily know we have to go down.”

With her new perspective, Sudreau-Rippe decided to also give back to the university that took a chance on a once unknown student.

In 2011 she became the first Pepperdine Law School alumna to fund an endowed faculty chair. Her $3 million commitment to the School of Law was designated to support a faculty member who has overcome significant obstacles. Janet Kerr became the first to occupy the chair for her work as executive director of the Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law, which guides law students in becoming entrepreneurs, or lawyers for entrepreneurs, and also maintains the microenterprise program, which seeks to train and equip underserved populations in life and entrepreneurial skills.

Sudreau-Rippe noted, “Part of the reason I supported Janet Kerr and endowed the chair is because I really recognize and am very impassioned about Janet’s work on the charitable, microfinance side and the kinds of projects the school has been involved with, like its work with the missions and holding poverty law clinics for the students that want to get involved with that.”

Coming Home Sudreau-Rippe reflected on being selected to receive the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award at the School of Law commencement ceremony in May. “It has come at an interesting time,” she said, noting the 15-year mark since she graduated from the School of Law. “Fifteen years is kind of an iconic time in terms of years out of graduate school. And for me, it sort of comes at a time when, interestingly enough, I’ve moved my life away from being a lawyer, so I find it ironic that at this time I am receiving this honor. What I think that means to me is that this is really more about being recognized for having given back and being aware of where all of us started.

That we started with Pepperdine, and that Pepperdine was the school that gave us a chance and set us off into our lives.”

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Joining their classmate in the commencement audience were fellow members of the Class of 1997. “In part it was about coming together with those that were such a close part of your life in school at a place that was so meaningful at one point,” Sudreau-Rippe said.

“And it wasn’t about comparing achievements. It was more about saying ‘Wow, look how far we’ve come.’”

Her message to new lawyers, she says, “is really that the world they are entering into is no longer a world about people being individuals or being the center of things.

The world they are entering into as lawyers is a world that is about community. The world has become a village.” She continued, “The award, for me, is about recognizing the community that has supported you, the school that you are in, and the classmates that will end up becoming, in a lot of cases, people that you will stay in touch with and who will be there to support you professionally or personally. It’s about recognizing the greater family that we all belong to.”

She also says that in a challenging job climate, she encourages new lawyers to consider opportunities beyond law firms.

“There are other jobs available that allow you to give back and have a meaningful and fulfilling personal and professional life,” she said. “It’s also a question of how you measure success. What does it mean to be successful? And how do you make an impact?

There isn’t just one right answer. You have to stick with what feels right to you.” 

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Capitol Gains School of Law students and alumni experience the value of the Washington, D.C. externship program.

By Gareen Darakjian

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Nancy Hunt, program director (2nd row, right), with the students.

hile practicing in Washington, D.C., School of Law alumna Nancy Hunt (’01) recognized a gap in Pepperdine alumni representation in the federal government and related D.C. institutions.

“The law school fosters rational thinking and that is something I thought we could certainly use more of in Washington,” she thought. Hunt signed on to help Pepperdine law students build connections to secure postgraduation jobs in the U.S. capital and, 18 months later, the School of Law Washington, D.C. externship program was brought to life.

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Now in its second year, Professor Hunt coordinates the åspring semester program, which provides students interested in careers in Washington, D.C. the opportunity to experience the local legal world, while demonstrating to employers their commitment to working in the hub of the U.S. federal government. “The Program offers unique opportunities for our students to work with federal agencies, public policy groups, lobbying and governmental relations organizations, and a host of other Washington-based legal settings,” says School of Law dean Deanell Tacha.

In addition to supporting students’ full-time externships, the D.C. program offers an externship seminar and an advanced legal writing course to complement the work students are doing in their placements. Area alumni, including the newly formed Alumni Advisory Committee, provide invaluable support to the D.C. program by mentoring students as they work their way into the D.C. legal market.

Next spring Pepperdine’s Washington, D.C. facility at 2011 Pennsylvania Avenue. will include graduate student apartments among its residential accommodations available to School of Law students in the program.

In two semesters, the program has provided School of Law students myriad experiences that have shaped the course of their personal and professional future. Here are some of their stories. 

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Julia MacDonald 3L

Kyle Matous 3L In 1999 13-year-old Kyle Matous watched, wide-eyed, as President Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearing was broadcast on CSPAN, attempting to understand the nuances of the trial and implications of the verdict. One year later Matous planted himself by the television to track the days-long Bush/Gore election. “My mom commented that I was probably the only kid in the country watching it,” he recalls.

These defining moments, coupled with an innate interest in government and society, became emblazoned in the mind of the School of Law student currently completing an externship at the Institute for Justice (IJ). “I’m just passionate about the direction in which our country is and should be going,” Matous explains.

As a law clerk extern at the IJ, Matous has taken part in influential litigation that supports social-choice reform, private property rights, free speech, and the right to work. Most notably, Matous has worked with attorneys to argue for school vouchers issued by the government that give parents the ability to choose where to send their children to school. “Not only is it interesting litigation for the sake of the Constitution itself, but it’s also making an impact on these children’s lives, because they are going from failing public schools to thriving private and charter schools,” he explains.

For the third-year student, studying 100 hours for federal tax or wills and trusts did not give him enough leverage to propel his legal career. “Anyone who is interested in working in Washington, D.C. has to be in this program. If your passion is politics, you need to get here, you need to do this.”

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Most legal institutions in Washington, D.C. assume that if a student aspires to work in the U.S. capital, they attend law school there, a notion that Julia MacDonald found to be true when she worked in the city for Judge Ricardo Urbina last summer. “I knew that I wanted to end up here, but it’s very difficult to find jobs on the East Coast,” she explains, of the competitive edge the D.C. externship program gives students. “There are several law schools out here that feed people into jobs.

Employers just don’t know very much about Pepperdine’s program yet.”

Originally interested in commercial banking, MacDonald pursued a business administration degree at Baylor University, but found herself unfulfilled after two years of working in the industry following graduation. “I was interested in trial work prior to going to law school, but was unaware of how little time most lawyers spend in the courtroom,” she recalls.

MacDonald now attends court almost daily with Chief Judge Royce Lamberth as a legal extern, where she works on both civil and criminal cases. “I have learned a lot about the litigation process and different areas of the law that I maybe wouldn’t have been taking classes on,” she says.

MacDonald has come a long way from her former career in banking. “I wasn’t really doing anything that mattered or anything I was interested in doing, as opposed to what I’m doing now, where I really enjoy what I do and feel like I am making a difference.”

John Yarbrough (JD ’11)

Kate Larson 3L In her first week as an extern for Heather Podesta + Partners, a leading democratic government relations firm, Kate Larson was tuned in to a conference call with President Obama just days before his State of the Union Address. “It was pretty amazing just to hear his voice on the other line and finally feel like I was part of something important,” Larson recalls of the call that also connected state and local governmental officials across the country.

The five-minute conversation with the president and his advisors was just one of the highlights of Larson’s D.C. experience. She also had the chance to attend a budget hearing on Capitol Hill, where she watched House members argue about payroll tax cuts and health care in the Ways and Means Committee. “Watching these very influential people argue and seeing the legislative process firsthand is unreal,” says the third-year law student, who discovered a thirst for politics at the age of 10 on a family trip to the capital. “I love history and the passion that people have for politics in D.C.” At the firm, Larson was introduced to the world of lobbying, an industry she now finds “fascinating.” “Lobbyists are influencing governmental policy, instead of fighting for a party,” says Larson, who hopes to work for a committee on Capitol Hill after taking the California Bar Exam and, eventually, return to lobbying. “The greatest value of the D.C. program is perspective,” she reflects. “A career in law doesn’t necessarily have to be in litigation or at a big firm, it can be a lot of different things.”

Alumnus John Yarbrough wanted experience out of the classroom and applied to several federal agency internships (including the IRS) before being accepted to the Law Student Observer Program for the office of mergers and acquisitions at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “It literally set me on this path. If I hadn’t done this, I wouldn’t be where I am now. It put all the pieces into place,” says Yarbrough of his current position at Proskauer Rose, one of the largest law firms in the United States.

At the SEC, Yarbrough notably assisted with drafting letters for no-action process requests and helped senior special counsel redraft beneficial ownership rules that were required by Dodd–Frank. “That was interesting to work on as far as the rulemaking side,” Yarbrough recalls. “It was something unique that you don’t get to do on the private side.”

Now at Proskauer, the associate attorney is armed with the ability to make suggestions and advise the firm whether the SEC will approve or deny submissions, an attribute Yarbrough suggests helped him get the prestigious job. “[Because of my internship] I know what goes on, so when I’m on the other side now, I know everyone in the office and can just make a call to say, ‘We’re trying to do this, we need this to go faster, what should we do about this?’ and that’s, of course, invaluable.”

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Shannon Johnson 3L For Shannon Johnson, applying to the program was a strategic career move to establish stronger ties within the region and utilize her West Coast degree in an area saturated by East Coast talent. “I thought it might be a good move to go somewhere where my degree wasn’t the same as everybody else’s,” she explains.

After applying to a wide range of externship opportunities, Johnson was hired by the Department of Justice as an extern at the Office of the Pardon Attorney, which processes federal prisoner appeals for presidential pardons. “President Obama has granted one favorable sentence commutation this year,” explains Johnson, of the lengthy process. “I don’t think anything I’ve processed will reach the attorney general or president before I leave the office.” However, the Colorado native recognizes the impact that her experience has had on her knowledge of federal sentencing law.

Among the more technical aspects of the law, Johnson has learned valuable lessons that she will carry throughout her legal career. “Though you need to be competent, intelligent, and have legal understanding. It is also important to work well with other people, because you need to have strong relationships with the legal community,” she explains.

Johnson is also passionate about the relationships she will build with her clients. “Everything I’ve encountered in the legal community has been about protecting someone’s rights and interests,” she says. “Real human lives are changed by lawyers and laws.”  L AW. P E P P ER D I N E . E D U

accountability Three Army Veterans Respond to a New Manual on Preventing Civilian Casualties P E P P E R D I N E L AW

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amid chaos There are no boundaries in combat.

From the American battlefields of the Civil War to the islands of the Pacific and into the backyards of Afghanistan, each location is someone’s home, and in each location, civilians have been killed. War doesn’t discriminate. Blood spills through both uniformed and civilian attire and tragically, the innocent almost always die.

Though avoiding civilian deaths has traditionally been a focus of advanced combat training, there was never an established guidebook specifically designed to prevent civilian casualties. But in the spring of 2011, a group of U.S. Army officials gathered to combine the results of a then-recent study with a new method of engaging in combat, all with the focus of preventing harm to civilians.

Timing was ironic. Work on the project began in May 2011. By June, the United Nations reported that May had been the deadliest month for civilians in Afghanistan since 2007.

In October 2011 army officials brought a draft of the manual to the Pepperdine School of Law for discussion and edits with Greg McNeal, former army officer and Pepperdine professor of law. Released in January with the approval of the Secretary of the Army, the manual became the first of its kind in the history of warfare, and will be widely distributed to army units throughout the country.

Army Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures 3-37.11, has garnered both applause and scrutiny since its release.

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Some say it’s too political and perhaps even unnecessary because the laws of war already address harm to civilians. Others support its ingenuity and the ways in which it supplements the laws of war.

But what do army veterans think? McNeal and two Pepperdine Law students weigh in based on their military experience.

A Guideline for S av i n g L i v e s Imagine life for a military unit in today’s war zones. They are responsible for fighting the enemy, representing their country, and doing their part to secure freedom.

But they also carry the heavy burden of protecting the innocent in all military operations from airstrikes to the use of artillery to combat patrols and checkpoints.

According to McNeal, the manual’s focus is on not repeating the mistakes of the past.

McNeal’s career in the army began as a commissioned officer in 1999. The Lehigh University graduate worked in communications both stateside at Fort Meade, Md. and in South Korea, where he led 80 communication specialists, 16 of whom were civilians. At the time, his was the most forwardly deployed American unit.

“What we did was nothing compared to the duties that were ahead for those who were to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said. “The mindset of the military was different then. The military has learned a lot of lessons since I was in and I think it has changed in a good way.”

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By the time he enrolled in courses at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, his interest in international law had grown. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were worsening and some of the soldiers that trained under McNeal were still actively serving. The issues hit close to home.

When he graduated from law school, McNeal began advising the chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, while also working on issues facing the Department of Justice’s counter-terrorism efforts.

Additionally he provided legal support to the Iraqi High Tribunal and the Regime Crimes Liaison Office during and after the prosecution of Saddam Hussein. All the while he had been conducting research on the prevention of “collateral damage” (civilian casualties) in air strikes and in ground combat.

When he asked a friend about additional projects to sit in on, McNeal was led to Dwight Raymond, a staff member at the U.S. Army War College who currently serves with the army’s Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute. It was Raymond who was developing the manual.

McNeal contacted Raymond and offered another set of eyes. With the support of School of Law dean Deanell Reece Tacha, McNeal offered the Malibu campus as the site of a two-day workshop in which a dozen army officials and three representatives of human rights groups collaborated on edits to the manual.

“The way it’s intended to be used is in current conflicts or anytime we go into another conflict,” McNeal said.

“When the planning section starts to figure out how they are going to prevent civilian casualties, instead of reinventing the wheel and making all the mistakes we made in Iraq and Afghanistan, they pull this manual off the shelf and they follow a planning cycle and a training cycle. Before you even go to combat, part of your training is how to make sure you don’t cause civilian casualties. If you do cause them, how do you ensure that you mitigate the damages? How do you make sure you can help the civilian population recover? How do you learn lessons so as to not repeat these mistakes in the future?”

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Areshenko is leery of political influence.

“As history has taught us in places like Vietnam and Mogadishu, when a politician is weighing a tactical decision and places more weight on the political side of the scale, as opposed to the recommendations of the military leadership, disaster can ensue.”

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The impact of such tactics, McNeal says, is threefold. American military units, civilians, and human rights groups all benefit from the guidelines of the manual. Guidelines that McNeal noted will be a continuous work in progress as the military continues to establish effective methods of combat.

Reaction from Those Who Served Criticism of the manual stems from active troops and veterans with concerns regarding the suggested restrictive use of artillery and air support, a tactic that is opposite of the original approach to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Such restrictions, some say, pose a greater threat to American troops.

“My concern with the manual will be the way it is applied at the tip of the spear,” said Raymond Areshenko, a veteran lieutenant of the National Guard and student at Pepperdine Law. “This is really going to be a command issue and hopefully this does not result in a mechanism whereby civilian leaders with deficient levels of tactical knowledge micromanage the battlefield.”

Areshenko enlisted in the National Guard in 1997 at 17. His duties at the time were primarily in the maintenance of Blackhawks both stateside and in Iraq. He then became an army officer, piloting UH-60 Blackhawks.

“Soldiers have been placed under rules of engagement that many feel are too restrictive in that they allow the soldier to be placed in too much danger because they restrict the soldiers’ ability to pursue or engage enemy combatants unless the combatants are blatantly attacking the coalition forces or civilians,” Areshenko said, noting the case of staff sergeant Robert Bales, who was charged in March with the murder of 17 Afghan civilians.

“The facts of the recent shooting involving SSG Bales may be an example of the frustration soldiers experience when dealing with civilians,” he said. “Civilians, especially in small village areas, often have a very good grasp of what is going on in their area. It is very common for the local civilians to know where an

IED [improvised explosive device], weapons stock, or ambush site is located, but for whatever reason, whether it’s indifference or fear of combatant reprisal, they say nothing and allow the soldiers to fall prey. The soldiers know that the locals know these attacks are coming yet remain silent. It is extremely frustrating to watch your friends and countrymen be killed.”

Faridoon Baqi, president of Pepperdine Law’s Veterans Legal Society and vice president of Pepperdine’s Student Bar Association, has a different view. Born in Afghanistan, Baqi’s family fled to the United States during the Soviet invasion. They arrived as refugees on May 5, 1980. He was just 8 years old.

Baqi entered the army as a commissioned officer in 1994. He served with an air defense artillery unit in several deployments, including to Southwest Asia.

His support of the manual, specifically of the artillery restrictions, stems from childhood memories of a war-torn Afghanistan. He noted a study completed by the International Council on Security and Development that found that 92 percent of Afghan civilians don’t know about the events of September 11, 2001—events that brought American troops into their villages. He says that lack of understanding has led to Afghan villagers turning on American troops.

Villagers, he says, have come to pose more of a threat than the Taliban.

“Imagine you live in your town and one day a foreign invader comes into your country, into your homes, bombs your neighbors, and kills your children,” Baqi said. “They have some serious firepower, so you can’t do anything but just take it.

You have no idea why they are there. No idea why they are doing this to you and your land. They claim to be here helping you, but they are shooting down your children intentionally, indiscriminately.

I would imagine you would get mad and take up arms. Well, that’s sort of what the local civilians in Afghanistan are going through.”

Areshenko is leery of political influence.

“As history has taught us in places like Vietnam and Mogadishu, when a politician is weighing a tactical decision and places more weight on the political side of the scale, as opposed to the recommendations of the military leadership, disaster can ensue.”

Baqi believes it is a matter of accountability.

“We went in knowing that the only way to win was through their ‘hearts and minds,’” he said. “We lost that part of the battle. If we want any chance of success, this [the manual] is a turn in the right direction.” 

Baqi believes it is a matter of accountability.

We went in knowing that the only way to win was through their “hearts and minds.” We lost that part of the battle. If we want any chance of success [the manual] is a turn in the right direction.

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The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin shares stories of her journey to the Canadian Supreme Court.

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s she sat fireside at the 39th Annual Pepperdine School of Law Dinner in February, Canadian Supreme Court chief justice Beverley McLachlin took a moment to reflect.

In the company of the Pepperdine Law dean Deanell Reece Tacha and the Honourable Allen M. Linden, Chief Justice McLachlin was being honored with the Robert H. Jackson Award for contributions as a pioneer in law.

In the audience that evening were more than 600 guests, many of whom were law students eagerly awaiting her advice and guidance. Her success from humble beginnings offered hope in a trying time for new graduates entering a tough economy and even tougher job market. She advised law students to remain optimistic despite obstacles that may lie ahead.

“It’s a difficult time that we are going through, and what does one do?” she asked.

“I would say be persistent. I think there will always be a need for lawyers and legal thinking. I think it’s a time when people have to try new approaches rather than relying solely on the mainstream, big-city law firms.”

She continued, “The law is a service profession, and lawyers are the connection,the vital link, between the people who need justice and getting justice.

This applies universally. As a lawyer, the most important thing that you have is your reputation. That’s all you have. In tough times you have to be particularly careful to protect that important commodity, which you are going to trade on for the rest of your life.”

During her visit to Malibu, Chief Justice McLachlin interacted regularly with students at the School of Law, including presiding over the 38th annual Vincent S. Dalsimer Moot

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Court Competition alongside Dean Tacha and the Honorable Robert Henry, president of Oklahoma City University and retired judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. Chief Justice McLachlin congratulated competitors Karissa Hurst (’09), Amie Vague, Ardy Pirnia, and Andrew Quist for their professionalism.

“They remained poised and their arguments were technical and strong,” she said.

She continued, noting her overall reaction to Pepperdine Law, “My encounters with the students have been among the best that I’ve ever had,” she said. “I found the level of questions and discussions that I encountered to be very mature. I was enormously impressed.”

a Pav ing t h e Way Chief Justice McLachlin herself had never planned on becoming a lawyer. A lack of confidence was her biggest adversary. When she was appointed as the 17th chief justice of Canada’s Supreme Court in January 2000, the first woman to hold the position, she found herself feeling more obligated than ever to make decisions based on integrity to uphold the rule of law.

Her academic career began near her hometown of Pincher Creek at the University of Alberta in northwestern Canada. Her plan was to teach philosophy.

“I wasn’t sure about it at all,” Chief Justice McLachlin said. “Things hadn’t worked out quite how I had wanted. I wasn’t excited about it. Someone said why don’t you consider a law degree, which I had never considered. So I thought about it. I wasn’t convinced. I wrote over the summer for information from the law dean, and he wrote back and said ‘You’re accepted.’ So I thought I would give it a try.”

That was the fall of 1964. There weren’t many women practicing law at the time. Of the approximately 65 students that entered her law school class at the University of Alberta, only nine were women. Of those, approximately half completed their degree.

“It was lonely,” she said. “I’ve always been fortunate as a woman in the law. The men L AW. P E P P E R D I N E . E D U

Justice McLachlin’s swearing-in to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1989

The law is a service profession and lawyers are the connection,the vital link, between the people who need justice and getting justice.

—The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin

Chief Justice McLachlin signing the oath with Prime Minister Chretien for her swearing-in as chief justice in 2000.

I’ve encountered have always been fairminded people who have helped me in my career. But there were obviously situations where you weren’t chosen for something for whatever reason. And there were always people that didn’t have great attitudes toward women in the profession. But I always just worked around that.”

Chief Justice McLachlin’s background in philosophy helped strengthen her studies as a law student.

“Philosophy teaches analytical thinking and the development of arguments,” she noted. “So you have to think very clearly.

You have to think analytically. You have to think persuasively. When you think about it, in addition to all the ideas and principles that you study, you are actually learning analytical technique, which I think provides a good background for law.”

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In addition to completing her LLB in law, Chief Justice McLachlin earned a master’s degree in philosophy, further developing the analytical skills she held in high regard.

But she lacked confidence in terms of becoming a successful lawyer. She found guidance from professors and professional mentors.

“They made me think I could do it,” she said. “My main challenge was always confidence. ‘How can I do this? I don’t think I am up to this.’ These people saw that I could when I didn’t believe in myself. And then gradually I realized that I could.”

Chief Justice McLachlin was called to the Bar of Alberta in 1969 and to the Bar of British Columbia in 1971. She held dual roles as a practicing lawyer and as a professor at the University of British Columbia until 1981, when she was appointed to the County Court of Vancouver and then to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

In 1985, she was appointed to the British Columbia Court of Appeal before taking the role of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 1988. Her career as a justice with the Supreme Court of Canada began in March 1989.

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Chief Justice McLachlin joined some of Canada’s most historical figures in becoming the first woman appointed as chief justice.

Agnes MacPhail was elected the first member of the Canadian parliament in 1921, just three years after women received voting rights in Canada. Cairine Wilson was the first Canadian woman elected into the Senate in 1930. Bertha Wilson became the first woman justice of the Canadian Supreme Court in 1982.

“The main contribution we all want to make is in helping people find justice,” Chief Justice McLachlin said. “Whether you are a man or a woman, the goal is the same. I think women bring different insights and their different cultural experiences and social experiences, which is really important to the law. So much of the law is concerned with family, children, and criminal justice issues. It is about how people are expected to live and women have a great understanding and experience in those areas. I think the feminine perspective is important in general.”

Addressing Chief Justice McLachlin’s career, Dean Tacha says, “She has risen meteorically and is held in high respect throughout the world.” 

Pride

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n a small storefront in Santa Ana, California, in the fall of 1970 emerged the newly established Pepperdine School of Law. Just as the school earned provisional accreditation from the State Bar of California, 34 full-time students walked through the doors, and a new era in Pepperdine history began.

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Print The Pepperdine Law Review Celebrates 40 Years Since Conception

Two years later, as the School of Law received provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association, administrators had the idea to establish a law review unique to Pepperdine. A team of 39 student board members was selected by then Dean Ronald F. Phillips to create the first volume of the Pepperdine Law Review.

Published in 1973 in a blue hardcover copy bearing the name of Dean Phillips, the publication proved successful as it received positive feedback from legal professionals.

“We were a young law school with this quality piece of work under our belt,” Phillips said. “Those first board members paved the way for future publications.”

Now, 40 years since drafting the first volume, four alumni speak about their role as editorsin-chief of the Pepperdine Law Review.

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Barbara McDonald

Selina Hewitt Farrell

Editor-in-Chief, 1972–1973

Editor-in-Chief, 1991–1992 As the first editor-inchief of the Pepperdine Law Review, the pressure was on Barbara McDonald (JD ’73) to not only publish quality articles, but also to lay solid ground rules of dos and don’ts for future law review board members to use as a guideline.

Selina Hewitt Farrell (JD ’92) was selected as editor-in-chief by the law review board in 1991 after having served on the staff the previous year.

“One thing that is unique about law school journals, as opposed to medical school journals, is the fact that the law school boards are made up entirely of students,” she said. “Here at Pepperdine, they are either in the top 10 percent of their class or they are chosen through a rigorous ‘write-on’ competition. Either way, they hold high standards.”

Farrell recalls the camaraderie among the staff and board. “Here we were, excited to publish a scholarly journal,” she said. “We knew it would help our careers. We understood the prestige that came with it. I made some of my best friendships through that experience.”

Among the greatest qualities of that staff, Farrell says, was their dedication. “I remember coming in at eight in the morning and Loye Barton (JD ’92), the managing editor, had been there since 6 a.m.,” she said. “It was that kind of commitment, to carry the weight of the publication schedule almost single-handedly, that raised the caliber of the review.”

Farrell went on to work as a tax attorney in the Los Angeles office of Latham & Watkins, an international corporate law firm. She then became a professor of law at Whittier Law School before returning to the Pepperdine School of Law as a professor and assistant dean for career development, where she continues her commitment to excellence.

“It was tough because we literally started from scratch,” McDonald said.

“We had to solicit articles, and not just any articles, good articles. But no one knew who we were and we were up against other law schools that wanted the same articles we wanted. Only they had a reputation behind them. We really had to prove ourselves.”

McDonald came to Pepperdine at 30 as a mother of four. She had been selected by Phillips to serve as the editor-in-chief because she led the class with the highest grade point average. She says she wanted to create a niche for Pepperdine by publishing a successful law review.

“We were determined to achieve excellence that first publication,” she noted about the first group of board members. “We studied every element of other law reviews. Everything from the articles to the cover design, the paper quality, and even colors. Our in-depth surveys of law reviews we found most admirable led us to put together a publications manual for the use of future Law Review staff members.”

The hours put into working on the publication proved to be long.

Editing was tedious. Technology was, quite simply, limited. But the final 464-page copy began a tradition that strengthened in the years that followed.

McDonald went on to a career as a public defender in both Orange County and San Diego County. She also served as a federal prosecutor in the criminal section of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Additionally, she spent seven years in private practice, during which time she successfully handled the complex civil case, Valdez v. Toto. The case found her client, Alberto Valdez, 40, fighting to live independently after being wrongly labeled as “mentally retarded” and institutionalized since he was 7 years old.

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Derek Brown

Nicole Rodger

Editor-in-Chief, 1999–2000

Editor-in-Chief, 2011–2012 Now campaigning for a second term in the Utah House of Representatives, Derek Brown (JD ’00) reflects on his professional influences. Among them are the two years he spent working on the Pepperdine Law Review.

As the most recent editor in chief, Nicole Rodger (’02, JD ’12), holds the traditions of the Pepperdine Law Review in high regard.

“You feel like you’ve been entrusted with something that is much bigger than yourself,” she said. “It is something that is so important.

I have felt like I want to live up to that challenge. I want to build on what other editors-in-chief have done.”

Among the projects under Rodger’s leadership included implementing a website dedicated to the Pepperdine Law Review that will be going live in the coming months, as well as a digital library of all published volumes. In addition, Rodger and her team of 80 staff and board members organized a reception, with invitations extended to all who have been involved in the review throughout the past 40 years. She hopes the event becomes a new tradition.

Rodger will launch her legal career in the corporate department of the Los Angeles office of White & Case LLP, a firm based in New York City.

“There is a lot I will take with me from my experience as editorin-chief,” she said. “Mostly, it’s how inspired I am by the staff and board. We are a volunteer army. No one gets paid, yet they give so much of themselves. It’s definitely left a lasting impression.” 

“Deciding to take on the role of editorin-chief turned what would have otherwise been a relaxing year into a really, really busy one,” he said.

“But the experience, especially the managerial role, is something that helped me in a lot of ways.”

Brown strayed from his initial career choices in English literature and music to pursue a career in law. The Salt Lake City native became active in trial competitions and student conferences held throughout the country and internationally. Brown went to past editors-in-chief of the review for advice before agreeing to lead the next volume of the publication.

“The offices that year had been temporarily moved to a small office in the George Page complex,” he said. “I became immediately engaged in producing a great end product.”

That experience, he says, has stayed with him throughout his career as a lawyer, which lasted more than five years before his direction changed to politics.

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From DJ to JD Photograph: Kainaz Amaria/NPR

Alumna Ashley Messenger defends freedom of speech in the media

By Sarah Fisher

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In Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the late 1990s, Ashley Messenger (JD ’94) was engaged in a phone conversation about the city’s homeless population and agreed with her counterpart that the police could be unnecessarily aggressive.

“I made a comment like, ‘Oh yes, I’ve seen some horrible incidents,’” Messenger recalls.

The thing that makes her comments stand out in memory years later is that this was no ordinary phone call—as the host of a call-in talk show on KTEG-FM she was conversing on air with a listener and had, essentially, publicly accused the city’s police of brutality.

“As soon as I said that,” she remembers, “I got a call from a police officer who said, on the air, ‘You really should go on a ride-along with the police, because you don’t know what it’s like until you’re out there.’ So I arranged a ride-along and it was one of the best experiences of my life.”

She ended up hosting a police officer as a guest to discuss the issues—even admitting on air that her earlier comments 28

had been hasty. She has thought about the incident many times over the years as she transitioned from her role as a member of the media to her current role as a First Amendment and media lawyer. Today she continues to walk the line between the media and the law as associate general counsel for NPR and as an adjunct professor of media law at the American University School of Communications, training aspiring journalists to go out into the real world as prepared as possible to defend freedom of speech whenever necessary.

“Being on air was the best possible experience I could have had to provide advice to journalists,” she says. Before accepting the hosting job in 1996 she had graduated Pepperdine School of Law in 1994 with an emphasis in entertainment law, thinking that the most interesting First Amendment cases would transpire from music and film. But she found herself mostly dealing with contracts.

“I was more interested in those great First Amendment cases—those very deep, philosophical cases about freedom of speech and why speech should be permitted or not permitted. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it turns out that most of those cases are really based on news media or protesters, or other people who are trying to present news in a public forum.”

Messenger works with the journalists on a day-to-day basis, advising them on legal issues in the gathering of information, reviewing articles before publication to make sure that the organization is aware of potential controversy and will be able to legally defend its choices, and dealing with complaints about stories after publication.

At the end of every day, she strives to ensure that risks are taken knowingly.

“You just have to feel both legally and ethically comfortable with what you’re doing, and sometimes that means knowing that it’s possible someone is going to be angry, but that you still feel like you did the right thing.

It’s not really my job to prevent all legal risks—that’s not really possible. People can sue you for anything.”

One case in particular caught her off guard, when she was the editorial counsel for U.S. News & World Report in the mid2000s. There was almost no way she could have anticipated the plaintiff’s complaints before publication.

The story was about the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, in which an historical figure named Nicholas Flamel is mentioned as an alchemist who could turn lead into

and he was about to release his new invention showing everyone how to turn lead into gold, and that our story impugned on his credibility,” Messenger explains.

It was exactly the kind of case that she loves, as it allowed her to stand up for free speech in defined legal terms. “He clearly had no justifiable claim for a few reasons, the main one being that he was not identified in the story, and in the U.S. you have to be identified in order to bring a libel claim. The U.S. doesn’t recognize a group libel—you can’t defame all alchemists by making a claim about one alchemist.”

That incident stands out in memory as a culturally interesting case, and as appealing to her past as a philosophy undergraduate

interpret or understand various forms of communication, which is very much a philosophical question,” she enthuses.

“I like being able to legally defend what we do when questions come up or when people claim we shouldn’t be allowed to say something.”

As an avid enthusiast of communications, she is merging the two somewhat with articles about media law due for publication later this year in the University of North Carolina’s First Amendment Law Review and Communications Lawyer. She is also completing a textbook manuscript for Pearson about media law, which is tentatively scheduled for publication in the summer of 2013.

Messenger does, however, prefer to be on the legal side of the proceedings; even though she had such a positive experience with the police officer incident as a radio DJ in Albuquerque, she has no plans to quit the law and take up journalism instead.

“A lot of it has to do with just personality and character traits—it takes a certain kind of person to be a journalist day-in and day-out. It’s very difficult to keep that up and maintaining contacts and trying to find out the truth of a story and I was getting burned out at KTEG,” she says. “But I really love the news media business, and I think it serves an important function in our society.” 

I like thinking about why speech should be protected and about how you should interpret or understand various forms of communication. gold. The article included mention that Flamel, in real life, had claimed to be an alchemist but that when he died it was revealed to be a hoax.

“So a man sued us, claiming that we defamed him because he was an alchemist

at the University of Massachusetts. In fact, she has found in her media law work a perfect combination of her interests in law, journalism, and philosophy.

“I like thinking about why speech should be protected and about how you should 29

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BRITTANY STRINGFELLOW Otey Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic: Preparing for Practice, Meeting Needs

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olleen Vitali (JD ‘10) still remembers the day she first felt like a lawyer. It was the afternoon that brought a frantic mother to her office, terrified of an abusive ex-husband who threatened to move her only daughter with him to a country on the State Department’s watch list. This client’s fears went beyond her daughter’s safety and distrust of her ex-husband, who claimed to have already purchased the airline tickets. Her fears were deepened by poverty that would prevent her from ever being able to see her daughter again, should she be moved so far away. As a student in

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the Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic, Vitali immediately got to work on an ex parte motion to block the move. In 24 hours, she interviewed the client and witnesses, researched applicable law, and drafted and filed a motion that succeeded in keeping mother and daughter together.

At the Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic, a community-based clinic located on Los Angeles’s Skid Row, students are given the opportunity to learn valuable, transferable practice skills while making a meaningful difference in the lives of real clients. Like Vitali, currently a family law attorney in the South Bay area, clinic alumni have gone on to utilize this practical training in areas as varied as public interest, international justice, civil and criminal law, corporate tax, land development, and entrepreneurial pursuits. Teaching students how to practice law through the structured experiential learning environment of its legal clinics is one way that Pepperdine School of Law is providing its graduates a much-needed bridge to practice.

The clinical experience is more than an externship. It is a true apprenticeship, more akin to the field of medicine, in which students practice law under the supervision of faculty. In addition to students’ work at the clinic, the course curriculum includes exposure to the leading voices of both academics and practitioners on issues of professionalism, legal ethics, and the complex issues surrounding poverty. Students are encouraged to not only learn what to do as a lawyer, but also to examine what it means to be a lawyer. In conversations both in the classroom and at the clinic, students reflect on the value of their education and its inextricable connection to the responsibility to speak for those who would not otherwise be heard.

The clinic’s location itself, on the fourth floor of the Union Rescue Mission, serves as a valuable part of the students’ education. Students work with clients who, in addition to obvious socioeconomic hardships, often live with the difficulties of addiction, abuse, and mental illness. Simply placing students in a diverse environment exposes the various cultural, socioeconomic, and racial differences that exist between a student and a client. In order to help students begin to understand their clients, and eventually build trust and rapport, a significant portion of the curriculum focuses on crosscultural lawyering. Students are encouraged to explore their own cultural assumptions and biases and address the ways that these differences act as barriers to successful representation. Developing cross-cultural understanding and self-awareness is essential to effective lawyering in this global economy, regardless of one’s eventual field of practice.

Taking primary responsibility of client cases brings their doctrinal courses to life. For third-year law student Tyler Stock, nothing has 30

The clinical experience is more than an externship. It is a true apprenticeship, more akin to the field of medicine, in which students practice law under the supervision of faculty. invigorated a fuller understanding of the California Evidence Code more than preparing for an upcoming hearing, where he will seek to protect a mother’s custody arrangement. Working in the clinic also forces students to think outside the box and embrace alternatives to litigation. All too often, the significant problems that clinic clients face are not remedied by filing a lawsuit. Other times, clinic clients are not in a position to win such a lawsuit.

Regardless of the merit of their case or the available remedy, the fact remains that a client needs assistance in solving a problem.

This calls upon the student to clearly understand the client’s goals and think creatively about possible solutions. These creative problem-solving skills will serve students well in practice, as it is unlikely that every client will want to “win” at any cost.

Additionally, participation in the clinic provides students the opportunity to become more flexible and intellectually agile, applying legal reasoning skills to a variety of situations and cases.

Due to the nature of the clinic’s docket and clientele, a student may be prepared to assist a client with a post-incarceration reentry issue, only to find that it is a public-benefits appeal that is truly pressing on the client’s mind. Last semester, second-year law student Jonathan Christie was prepared to file a simple tax return for his client. Instead, he discovered and ultimately reported a “community activist” who was preying upon his low-income neighbors and committing thousands of dollars worth of tax fraud.

This need to respond to new and unexpected situations requires students to exercise a very different skill set than that of being prepared to be called on in class. However, it is one that more accurately reflects the adaptivity needed for legal practice.

The uniqueness of the clinical setting allows Pepperdine School of Law to train students in both the theoretical and practical aspects of law practice, while providing tangible, essential services to those in need. The Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic is one way that Pepperdine School of Law is living out its mission to prepare students for lives of purpose, service, and leadership.  Brittany Stringfellow Otey directs the Pepperdine Legal Aid and Family Law Clinics located in the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles. Utilizing law clerks and volunteer attorneys, the clinic serves more than 100 homeless and formerly homeless clients each month in the areas of family law, resolving tickets and warrants, expungements, housing, and government benefits.

Professor Otey also teaches the accompanying legal aid and family law clinical courses.

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KRISTINE KNAPLUND Identifying “Mom” and “Dad”: The legalities facing assisted reproduction

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n Discover magazine’s annual “Year in Science” issue for 2010, J. Craig Venter’s announcement of the first synthetic organism was the number two-ranked story of the year, behind the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Venter’s team created a bacterium genome and inserted it into another bacterium that had been stripped of its DNA. The new cell successfully replicated. Alarmed commentators quickly speculated about the fearful results of Venter’s creation escaping from the lab and mutating. Those same fears were expressed back in 1973, when Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer reported that they had isolated fragments from one bacterium and inserted them into another, thereby creating a new bit of living cellular material. As with Venter’s experiment, the 1973 debate initially focused on the wisdom of releasing new life forms outside of the controlled laboratory environment. To address these fears, the federal government eventually empowered the FDA to review and license genetically engineered drugs for people and animals. Similarly, the EPA received similar powers for biotechnology pesticides, and the Department of Agriculture gained regulatory authority over gene-altered crop plants and livestock. This regulatory scheme, still in place today, makes it unlikely that Venter’s bacterium will be released in the wild any time soon.

Contrast this research with that related to in vitro fertilization (IVF). Worries about possible birth defects and the discarding of gametic material, among other issues, led to a ban on the use of federal funds for IVF research in 1973, but research continued in other countries. A 1978 press release in the United Kingdom, in which Drs. Steptoe and Edwards introduced the first “test tube baby” to the world, radically altered the discussion.

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Similar to Venter’s synthetic genome, the success of IVF was termed the “medical media event of the year” by journalists. After roughly 100 unsuccessful attempts at in vitro fertilization, in which the egg and sperm are joined in a petri dish and later implanted in a woman’s uterus, the process ended successfully with the birth of Louise Brown.

Once an apparently healthy baby was born, the U.S. lifted the ban on federal research funds, but otherwise left oversight of IVF to the states. Today, IVF clinics report to the Centers for Disease Control, and various state regulations incidentally affect IVF, such as bans on the sale of ova, or refusals to enforce surrogacy contracts. However, generally speaking, the free market has reigned. By determining that the procedure for Louise Brown’s mother was a treatment for her infertility rather than medical experimentation on human subjects, the IVF industry was allowed to develop in the United States before a plan was in place to deal with parentage, inheritance, and other issues.

As a result, not only has there been considerable uncertainty in the law governing IVF and the rights of children of assisted reproduction, but also plenty of litigation. A case now before the United States Supreme Court, Astrue v. Capato, will decide whether children born years after a wage earner’s death qualify as his “children” for purposes of Social Security survivor benefits. Robert Capato’s widow used his frozen sperm to conceive twins born 18 months after he died. The applicants argue that a genetic test should be used, while the Commissioner of Social Security and most Courts of 32

Appeals have deferred to state intestacy laws to determine parentage. The issue also arises in federal arenas other than Social Security, such as awarding of citizenship. To determine whether a child born outside of the United States is a U.S. citizen at birth, the State Department has adopted a genetic test of parentage. While a genetic test may be attractive in these cases because of the scientific reliability of DNA

As the use of assisted reproduction becomes more widespread and technologically advanced, the debate over genetic versus intended parents will demand resolution.

testing, the results raise problems for children conceived using assisted reproduction.

In many instances involving assisted reproduction, the genetic parent does not intend to be the parent of the child.

Whenever donor sperm, ova, or embryos are used in assisted reproduction, the donor has usually agreed not to seek parentage rights in a resulting child. With gestational carrier agreements, the carrier is biologically connected to the child as the birth mother, but she has agreed she will not claim to be the resulting child’s mother (although her agreement may not be enforceable in all states).

Should we move to a regime of intended parents for children of assisted reproduction, as the Uniform Probate Code has urged? Such a move would require a fundamental shift in the way states approach parentage: away from biological and genetic markers, and toward intent (or consent) to be a parent of the resulting child. As the use of assisted reproduction becomes more widespread and technologically advanced, the debate over genetic versus intended parents will demand resolution. 

Professor Kristine Knaplund joined the Pepperdine faculty in 2002. She teaches Property, Wills and Trusts, Advanced Wills and Trusts, and Bioethics. She is an invited author on SCOTUSblog for the U.S. Supreme Court case Astrue v. Capato which will be decided this term. Professor Knaplund has written extensively on the legal and ethical issues that arise when children are conceived and born years after a genetic parent has died, including articles in the Arizona Law Review, Kansas Law Review, the Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy, the Michigan Journal of Law Reform, and the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Journal. She is an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and serves as vice chair of the ABA Elder Law, Disability Planning and Bioethics Group. This article is adapted from Professor Knaplund’s article in the Valparaiso Law Review, Synthetics Cells, Synthetic Life, and Inheritance, which was named one of the top ten articles of 2011 by Tax Notes.

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Selected Faculty Publications and Presentations for Spring and Summer 2012

Robert Anderson IV

The Role of Ethics in Private International Law, in The Role of Ethics in International Law (Donald Earl Childress III ed., Cambridge University Press 2011).

Article Law, Fact, and Discretion in the Federal Courts: An Empirical Study, 2012 Utah L. Rev. (forthcoming).

Articles The Alien Tort Statute, Federalism, and the Next Wave of International Law Litigation, 100 Geo. L.J. 709 (2012).

Babette E. Boliek

Forum Conveniens: The Search for a Convenient Forum in Transnational Tort Cases, 52 Va. J. Int’l. L. (forthcoming).

Article FCC Regulation Versus Antitrust: How Net Neutrality Is Defining the Boundaries, 52 B.C. L. Rev. 1627 (2011).

Rethinking Legal Globalization: The Case of Transnational Personal Jurisdiction, 54 Wm. &. Mary L. Rev. (forthcoming).

Presentations

H. Mitchell Caldwell

The Concept of Law in Transnational Dispute Resolution, speaker, American Society of International Law, Washington, D.C.

Books Criminal Mock Trials (Vandeplas forthcoming).

Forum Conveniens, speaker, Virginia Journal of International Law Annual Symposium, Charlottesville, Virginia.

Criminal Pretrial Advocacy (Vandeplas forthcoming).

Projecting U.S. Legal Norms Abroad, speaker, The Constitution and the World Conference, Stanford Law School, Stanford, California.

Articles Coercive Plea Bargaining: The Unrecognized Scourge of the Justice System, 61 Cath. U. L. Rev. 829 (2011).

Transnational Litigation and Civil Procedure, speaker, Our Courts and the World Conference, Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles, California.

Timeless Advocacy Lessons from the Masters, Am. J. Trial Advoc. (forthcoming).

Other Activities Caldwell continues to coach the highly successful Pepperdine trial teams.

Jack J. Coe, Jr. Book Chapter Restatement of Law (Third) International Commercial Arbitration (ALI forthcoming).

Carol A. Chase Citations and References Chase was quoted in the article, “Rockefeller” Trial Hampered by Lack of Physical Evidence, The Boston Globe, January 2012.

Richard L. Cupp, Jr. Articles Children, Chimps, and Rights Arguments from “Marginal” Cases, Ariz. St. L.J. (forthcoming 2013).

Seeking Redemption for Torts Law, 27 J.L. & Relgion 101 (2011) (reviewing Timothy D. Lytton, Holding Bishops Accountable: How Lawsuits Helped the Catholic Church Confront Clergy Sexual Abuse (Harvard University Press 2008)).

Donald Earl Childress III Book The Role of Ethics in International Law (Donald Earl Childress III, ed., Cambridge University Press 2011).

Presentation

Book Chapters

Critique of Comparisons Between Childrens’ Rights and Animal Rights, speaker, conference at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia (March 2012).

The Concept of Law in Transnational Dispute Resolution, in Legal Positivism in International Legal Theory (Mark E. Herlihy, ed., Cambridge University Press forthcoming).

Interview Cupp was interviewed in January and February 2012 focusing on products liability cases and animal rights on the Los Angeles-based CBS radio station KFWB 980.

Introduction, in The Role of Ethics in International Law (Donald Earl Childress III ed., Cambridge University Press 2011).

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Citations and References

Interview

Cupp was quoted in dozens of newspapers about a potential trend to low-value products liability lawsuits in small claims courts.

Kmiec was interviewed by Bloomberg regarding issues facing the U.S. Supreme Court.

Other Activities Cupp has been appointed vice dean of the Pepperdine School of Law, and will assume his new duties beginning in June.

Kristine S. Knaplund Articles Children of Assisted Reproduction, Mich. J.L. Reform (forthcoming) (symposium on the Uniform Probate Code).

Christine Chambers Goodman

Schafer v. Astrue: The Fourth Circuit Weighs in on ‘Who Is a Decedent’s Child?’ ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law eReport (2011).

Presentation Strategies for Preventing and Responding to Discrimination and Bias in the Legal Profession, lead presenter, MCLE teleconference, State Bar of California Intellectual Property Section (January 2012).

Citations and References

Other Activities

Knaplund was quoted in the U.S. News & World Report article titled Posthumous Births: An Emerging Estate Challenge.

Goodman continues to serve on the board of directors of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Other Activities Knaplund is the only law professor to have two articles included on the list of The Top 10 Estate and Gift Tax Articles of 2011, as compiled in 134 Tax Notes 1453 (March 12, 2012).

Naomi Harlin Goodno

Knaplund’s argument preview for Astrue v. Capato, a case that was argued in the U.S. Supreme Court on March 19, is available on Scotusblog.

Article Global Criminal Prosecutions: Should Criminal Laws Follow U.S. Citizens Overseas? (forthcoming).

Edward J. Larson

Michael Helfand

Books Creationism in the Classroom: Cases, Statutes, and Commentary

Book Chapter T he Persistence of Sovereignty and the Rise of the Legal Subject, in Legal Positivism in International Legal Theory (Mark Herlihy ed., Cambridge University Press forthcoming 2012).

(Thompson-West forthcoming).

Property Law: Cases and Materials (Wolters Kluwer 3d ed. forthcoming).

Articles

An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science

A Liberalism of Sincerity: Religion’s Role in the Public Square, 2 J.L. Religion & St. (forthcoming).

(Yale University Press 2011).

Litigating Religion, 92 B.U. L. Rev. (forthcoming).

Constitutionality of Lame Duck Lawmaking, Utah L. Rev. (forthcoming).

Purpose, Precedent, and Politics: Why AT&T Mobility Covers Less Than You Think, in Y.B. Arb. & Med. (forthcoming).

The Deadlocked Election of 1800: Jefferson, Burr, and the Union in the Balance—By James Roger Sharp, 42 Presidential Stud. Q. 425 (2012) (book review).

Articles

Anti-Canonical Considerations, 39 Pepp. L. Rev. 1 (2011).

Douglas W. Kmiec

Medical Rationing, Death Panels, and the Rising Cost of Health Care, 33

Book Lift Up Your Hearts (Embassy International Press 2012)

Whittier L. Rev. 13 (2011).

(a faith-based book that focuses on his career in politics and the climate of today’s political campaigns).

Poles Apart: Scott, Amundsen, and Science, 35 Endeavour, 129 (2011).

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fa c u lt y a c t i v i t i t e s Putting Buck v. Bell in Scientific and Historical Context: Response to Victoria F. Nourse, 39 Pepp. L. Rev. 119 (2011) (symposium article).

The U.S. Practice of Collateral Damage Estimation and Mitigation, was cited in Foreign Relations and National Security (Jack Goldsmith, Harvard forthcoming).

Antarctica: Turning the World Upside Down, Nature, Dec. 2011, at 29.

Other Activities

Presentations

McNeal was recently made a contributor to Forbes where he writes about law, policy, and security.

Fourteen lectures, speaker, locations include the University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, Virginia; Royal Society, London, U.K.; National Maritime Museum, Sydney, Australia; Oxford University, Oxford, U.K.; National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.; Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, California; Explorer’s Club, New York City, New York; and the Free Library Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

McNeal aided the Department of Defense, Rule of Law and Peacekeeping Operations Institute, assisting with the drafting of Civilian Casualty Mitigation, the first manual in the history of the U.S. military dedicated to preventing harm to civilians in combat.

McNeal was named the Distinguished Educator for Turning Technologies, makers of classroom response systems and serves as an executive committee member of the Federalist Society’s International Law and National Security Practice Group.

Other Activities Larson served as a visiting professor of law at the University of Melbourne School of Law, Winter Term 2011, and at Stanford University School of Law, Winter and Spring Quarters 2012.

Gregory S. McNeal

Grant S. Nelson

Book Chapters

Books Contemporary Property (West 4th ed. forthcoming) (with

A re Targeted Killings Unlawful? A Case Study in Empirical Claims Without Empirical Proof, in Targeted

Shelley Ross Saxer, Dale A. Whitman, and Colleen Medill).

Killings: Law and Mortality in an Asymmetrical World

Teachers’ Manual for Equitable Remedies, Restitution and Damages (8th ed. 2012) (with Candace Kovacic-Fleischer & Jean Love).

(Claire Finkelstein, Jens David Ohlin & Andrew Altman eds., 2012).

Presentations

New Approaches to Reducing and Mitigating Harm to Civilians, in

Conference presentation, moderator, The Competing Claims of Law and Religion, Pepperdine Law School, Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics, Malibu, California (February 25, 2012).

Shaping a Global Legal Framework for Counterinsurgency: New Directions in Asymmetric Warfare (William C. Banks ed., forthcoming).

Articles

Colloquium, participant, Constitutional Economics, Federalist Society and Liberty Fund, La Jolla, California (March 23–24, 2012).

The Federal Protective Power and the Targeted Killing of U.S. Citizens, CATO Unbound (2011).

Other Activities

The U.S. Practice of Collateral Damage Estimation and Mitigation (forthcoming).

Nelson served as a member of the Association of American Law Schools – American Bar Association Sabbatical Inspection Team, Brigham Young University Law School, January 31–February 2, 2012;

Presentations Presentation of portions of The U.S. Practice of Collateral Damage Estimation and Mitigation, speaker, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; UC Irvine, Irvine, California; Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California; Loyola University New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana; Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana; LSU, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; University of Idaho, Idaho; and Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington. The article’s current draft is ranked as a Top 10 most downloaded paper of all time on four SSRN lists and is receiving favorable reviews by law professors writing at various international law and national security blogs.

Robert J. Pushaw, Jr. Articles Explaining Korematsu: A Reply to Dean Chemerinsky, 39 Pepp. L. Rev. 173 (2011) (symposium issue).

The Original Meaning of the Commerce Clause: Identifying Historical Limits on Congress’s Powers, U. ILL. L. REV. (forthcoming).

Citations and References McNeal was quoted by NPR regarding the U.S. Navy SEAL rescue of hostages, as well as by CNN regarding Wikileaks.

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Presentation

Thomas J. Stipanowich

A Critique of Professor Jack Balkin’s Theory of the Commerce Clause, presenter, Originalism Works-In-Progress Conference, University of San Diego Law School Originalism Center, San Diego, California (February 4, 2012).

Articles T he Arbitration Fairness Index: Using a Public Rating System to Skirt the Legal Logjam and Promote Fairer and More Effective Arbitration of Employment and Consumer Disputes, U. Kan. L. Rev. (forthcoming) (symposium on arbitration).

Peter Robinson

Olivia de Havilland v. Warner Bros. Pictures: Changing the Landscape of Hollywood Contracts (forthcoming).

Articles An Empirical Study of Settlement Conference Nuts and Bolts: Settlement Judges Facilitating Communication, Compromise, and Fear, 17 Harv. Negot. L. Rev. (forthcoming).

The Third Arbitration Trilogy, 22 Am. Rev. Int’l Arb. 323 (2012). This special issue focuses on recent Supreme Court arbitration jurisprudence.

Opening Pandora’s Box: An Empirical Exploration of Judicial Settlement Ethics and Techniques, 27 Ohio St. J. on Disp. Resol. 53 (2012).

Maureen Arellano Weston Article The Death of Class Arbitration After Concepción?

U. Kan. L. Rev. (forthcoming) (symposium).

Shelley Ross Saxer Books Environmental Sustainability: Law & Policy (forthcoming)

Presentations NCAA and the Debate over Paying Student-Athletes, presenter, University of Oregon, Sports and Entertainment Law Conference, Portland, Oregon (January 2012).

(with Craig “Tony” Arnold, Hari Osofsky, and Dan Tarlock).

Contemporary Property (West 4th ed. forthcoming) (with Grant S. Nelson, Dale A. Whitman, and Colleen Medill).

The Public Costs of Private Justice, Conference on Justice, Conflict, and Well-Being: Interdisciplinary Work in Social Sciences and the Law, presenter, University of Nebraska (December 2011).

Article Judicial State Action: Shelley v. Kraemer, State Action and Judicial Takings, Widener L. Rev. (forthcoming).

Other Activities Weston served as a coach for Pepperdine School of Law’s team in the International Chamber of Commerce, Mediation Competition in Paris, France, in February 2012.

Presentations Presentation, speaker, Widener Takings Conference, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (February 2012).

Conference presentation, speaker, Competing Claims of Law and Religion, Pepperdine School of Law, Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics, Malibu, California (February 2012).

This is a partial list.

For more faculty writings visit: lawmagazine.pepperdine.edu/ facultywritings

Presentation, speaker, ALPS Conference, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. (March 2012).

Mark S. Scarberry Books Business Reorganization in Bankruptcy: Cases and Materials (West, 4th ed. 2012).

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C l a s s Ac t i o n s

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2

1978 Charles H. Buckley, Jr. was presented with the Local Hero Award by the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA), hosted by the WSBA Board of Governors.

1983 Robert Malove was selected by Thompson-West to write White Collar Crime: Health Care Fraud, a law practice guide as part of a multi-topic initiative to expand West’s coverage of white-collar crime.

1985 Lisa Monet Wayne (1) was sworn in as president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) at the Association’s 53rd annual meeting in Denver, Colorado, in August 2011. She maintains a private practice, Wayne Law Firm, in Denver and Boulder.

1986 Mike Leach’s book Swing Your Sword (Diversion Publishing) was released in July 2011 and was listed among the top five bestsellers in the New York Times. He was recently named head football coach at Washington State University.

1989

5

1992

Judith Alex (2) is the business manager for Calhoun & Company Communications, a dynamic public relations and marketing communications agency with a specialized focus on the fine wine and premium spirits industries. She lives in San Francisco with her husband Peter and two daughters, Katherine and Madeleine.

John deSteiguer (3) was selected as the sixth president of Oklahoma Christian University effective June 2012.

Raymond Kolter (4) is teaching in China as a foreign expert for the People’s Republic of China, and has taught American law at several top universities in Shanghai. Most recently he accepted a position as professor of law and international affairs at Shanghai International Studies University where he is teaching courses in the American legal system, western legal theory, world politics, and international affairs. In addition, he is serving as an adjunct professor of law at Shanghai Jiaotong University and assists Chinese students with their applications to study at American universities and colleges, including Pepperdine. He is completing a postdoctoral master’s degree in Chinese Politics and Diplomacy at Fudan University, School of International Relations and Public Affairs.

Nicolas Kublicki (5) released his second book, a thriller, in January. The Tesla Formula (A Patrick Carlton Adventure) was published by Rellihan Satterlee.

1993 Victor Parker was sworn in as the Los Angeles district director for the U.S. Small Business Administration in October 2011.

1995 Timothy Burr, director of the Foreclosure Mediation Unit at Arizona State University’s College of Law, was selected as one of “Arizona’s Finest Lawyers,” a highly competitive legal association membership.

B. Harlan Field’s book, The New Nationalism: How the Next Great American Debate Will Restore Our Country

by Recasting Our Politics,” has been published by Branden Books.

Kimberly Reiner and Jenna Sanz-Agero released their nationally recognized cookbook, Sugar, Sugar: Every Recipe Has a Story (Andrews McMeel Publishing), in October 2011.

1996

1991 Rob Force joined USAID/Serbia as a senior rule of law advisor at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade in 2011. Force previously served as a governance technical advisor with USAID/Cambodia.

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Kelly Lynn Anders’ (6) book, Advocacy to Zealousness: Learning Lawyering Skills from Classic Films (Carolina Academic Press), was released in January 2012.

James R. Griffin was appointed chair of the subcommittee on public company acquisitions of the American Bar Association’s M&A Committee.

7

6 1997 Tracy Cashman Dalton (7) was chosen to lead the Dallas office for Counsel On Call. She is a former senior attorney with Hewlett-Packard, Bank of America, and Countrywide Home Loans.

Robin Sax, former prosecutor who now writes and comments on criminal cases, was honored on March 24, 2012, by the National Council of Jewish Women, Los Angeles Section, with the Remarkable Woman Award, in recognition of her work as a victim’s advocate.

1999 Belinda Ann Begley published a book about her life with former UCLA volleyball great and Pepperdine coach Kirk Kilgour.

Lucky Break: A Love Story was published in November 2011 by 4th Street Press.

2000 Jason M. Adams was named as one of the “Top 40 Under 40” by the National Trial Lawyers Association. The invitation-only membership included just 40 trial lawyers from California.

Vasu Muthyala, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Fraud and Public Corruption Section of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington, D.C. joined O’Melveny & Myers LLP as a firm counsel in October 2011.

Jonathan Rubenstein was named partner at Baker Botts LLP in Dallas in January.

David B. Schaffer was named partner at Wiggin and Dana LLP in January. He is with the firm’s corporate practice department in Stamford, Connecticut.

2003 Alison Emerson was named partner at Bryant, Emerson & Fitch, a nine-attorney firm in Redmond, Oregon.

2004 Tara Ferguson Presnell joined Littler Mendelson as a shareholder in the group’s Nashville office.

Alexis Ridenour (8) welcomed her second child, Parker Ethan, in July 2011.

Ridenour practices wine and education law in Ventura County.

2005 Daryl Binkley was quoted in U.S. News & World Report, providing tips for future law students in the article “5 Tips for Current and Prospective Law School Students in a Difficult Economy” in November 2011.

Chris DeRose’s book, Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election That Saved a Nation (Regnery History), was released in November 2011.

2002 Shadrick King (JD, MDR ’02) is currently working with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at a refugee camp in Kenya.

9

8

10

Corbett Daniel Parker was named one of “The 2011 Five Outstanding Young Houstonians” by the Houston Junior Chamber of Commerce.

2007 Theona Zhordania-Taat (9) was selected as one of California’s “Top Five Associates to Watch in 2012” by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals.

This prestigious and very short list recognizes young attorneys throughout the state who have demonstrated extraordinary capabilities and have gone above and beyond the expectations typically set for professionals with their level of experience. She is a business and insurance litigation attorney with Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP. In April 2012 she was named among the 50 “Fast Track” lawyers by The Recorder.

2008 Matthew R. Dildine (10) was named a Northern California “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers Magazine in 2011 for the second year in a row.

Robin V. O’Shea joined Klinedinst PC as an associate in the group’s San Diego office, focusing her practice on defending businesses and individuals in construction and general liability matters.

2009 Ryan Wheeler joined Fisher & Phillips LLP in Irvine, California, in October 2011.

2006 Peter and Amber Leavitt welcomed their second child, Jude Solomon Leavitt, on July 29, 2011.

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I n M e mo r i a m Douglas Waugh (JD ’76) passed away on July 24, 2011. He was 62.

Randal Klein (JD ’84) passed away on December 18, 2011. He was 54.

Doug worked as an attorney at Ocean Monmouth Legal Services for 32 years and was honored as the James B. Larsen Outstanding Attorney of the Year in 1996. He resided in Wall Township, New Jersey.

Randy joined the firm of Tobin Lucks LLP in 1987, and through his dedication, loyalty, and professionalism, rose to the position of managing partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office. He was respected and liked by both those with whom he worked and against whom he litigated as a certified specialist in workers compensation law.

Scott Nebergall (JD ’77) passed away on January 19, 2012. He was 60.

An attorney and partner with Edwards Wildman Palmer in Providence, Rhode Island, beginning in 1984, Scott served as cochair of the tax department. Prior to joining Edwards Wildman, he was a trial attorney in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and was a recipient of the Justice Department Outstanding Attorney Award. For 19 years, he served as the municipal court judge in Tiverton, Rhode Island. An avid golfer, he was a member of the Rhode Island Country Club. He also enjoyed sailing, particularly cruising each summer with his family on his Baltic 38, Eroica.

Martha Ann Spikes (JD ’83) passed away suddenly on April 28, 2012, in Irvine, California. She was 57.

Martha worked for various law firms in the Los Angeles area and eventually went to work in-house at Mission Energy, where she made lifelong friends, including her law partner Mary Ellen Lowrey, with whom she started the practice Spikes Lowrey. But her favorite and most precious role was that of wife and mother. Two months after meeting Larry Cope on a white-water rafting trip on the American River, and having her tired feet massaged for hours on the bus ride home, Martha and Larry were married in Gainesville, Texas, in 1986. The couple had three children.

Martha is survived by her husband Larry and her three children Catriona, Zachary, and Nicholas. She is also survived by her sister Mary Pat Koos.

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Randy was held in high regard and true affection by all who were lucky enough to be his friend or acquaintance, and his presence will be greatly missed.

Klein, who never married, is survived by a brother, Doug Klein, and sister, Debbie Klein.

Edward N. Seelandt (JD ’93) passed away on August 9, 2011, after a three-year battle with colon cancer. He was 43. Survivors include his mother Norma Seelandt; brothers Michael, Karl, and Charles; sisters Katherine and Karla Seelandt, and Risé Jones; three nieces; and five nephews. He was preceded in death by his father Karl Seelandt and his sister Laura Seelandt.

Stephen Frank Hendrick (MDR ’98) passed away on October 5, 2011, after a brief illness. He was 63.

Chace W. Swatek (JD ’02) passed away on February 15, 2012.

Known for his infectious smile and laugh, Chace was active in his community of Indian Springs, Alabama, and volunteered his time as a pro bono attorney for those in need and with the local children’s charities, where he played Santa Claus at Christmas. Chace is survived by his parents Bill and Lana Swatek, sister Barret Swatek, brother Dax Swatek, sister-in-law Rachael Swatek, and niece Amelia Mae.

School of Law commencement • 2012

Laure Sudreau-Rippe (JD '97) (below top right) was presented with the Distinguished Alumnus Award at the commencement ceremony held May 18. Isaac Agyeman (JD '12) (below bottom right) performed the national anthem, while Chalak Richards (JD '12) (below bottom left) gave the student address.

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