Santa Clara Law DISCERN Fall 2024

DISCERN

FALL 2024

TERESA DO KOPRIVA

Assistant Dean, External Relations

ELIZABETH KELLEY GILLOGLY B.A. ’93

Editor

AMY KREMER GOMERSALL B.A. ’88

Art in Motion

Art Director, Designer

CHRIS DANIEL

Website Manager

SAMANTHA PRASAD

Copy Editor

CONTRIBUTORS

Elizabeth Kelley Gillogly B.A. ’93

Larry A. Sokoloff J.D. ’92

Susan Vogel

Allison Brownell Tirres

Kellen Zunich B.A. ’21

Santa Clara University School of Law, one of the nation’s most diverse law schools, is dedicated to educating lawyers who lead with a commitment to excellence, ethics, and social justice. Santa Clara Law offers students an academically rigorous program that includes certificates in high tech law, international law, public interest and social justice law, privacy law, and sports law, as well as numerous graduate and joint degree options, including a hybrid part-time program. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara Law is nationally distinguished for its faculty engagement, preparation for practice, and top-ranked programs in intellectual property. For more information, visit law.scu.edu.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact the Law External Relations Office by phone at 408-551-1748; email lawmedia@scu.edu or visit law.scu.edu/alumni. Or write to Law External Relations, Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053.

The diverse opinions expressed in DISCERN magazine do not necessarily represent the views of the editor or the official policy of Santa Clara University. Copyright 2024 by Santa Clara University. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

FROM THE DEAN

Welcome to our latest issue of DISCERN, where we share stories about the work of our amazing students, the powerful research and teaching of our renowned faculty, the dedication of our incredible staff, the generous leadership of our donors, and the important contributions to the legal profession made by our loyal alumni.

While this issue includes much to celebrate, it also includes the sad news of the passing of two prominent and beloved members of our Santa Clara Law community. One of our most distinguished alumni, the Honorable Edward A. Panelli B.S. ’53, J.D. ’55, passed away in July (page 31). We are so grateful to him for his decades of dedication to the legal profession and to our Law School. We also mourn the passing of Donald J. Polden, Santa Clara Law professor and dean emeritus, who died in October (page 29). As Cynthia Mertens, professor emerita at Santa Clara Law, wrote: “Don left a lasting mark on literally thousands of students throughout his career, as well as on numerous faculty and staff.”

In this issue, we are proud to highlight the inspiring and powerful work of Keith Wattley J.D. ’99, founder of UnCommon Law and the winner of the 2024 Katharine and George Alexander Law Prize, which recognizes legal advocates who have used their careers to help alleviate injustice and inequity (page 12).

We also share the beautiful story of a group of Santa Clara Law alumni and friends who created a memorial scholarship in honor of B.T. Collins B.A. ’70, J.D. ’73. For 30 years, they have kept B.T.’s memory alive in their hearts while also collaborating to nurture this scholarship that has inspired generations of Santa Clara Law students to follow in B.T.’s legacy of service to others.

In our news section, we congratulate our latest Santa Clara Law graduating class of 211 students for their dedication, service, and scholarship. We also share the fantastic results of our 2024 Day of Giving, which raised more than $560,000, thanks to the generosity of our alumni and friends. And we are proud to announce our new Sports Law Certificate, a new Transpacific Negotiation Institute, and a new partnership with IBERO, a Jesuit law school in Mexico. We also share highlights of our recent rankings and what’s ahead for our popular and engaging Dean’s Democracy Series.

I am also proud to introduce several new faculty and staff-educators. I give them my most hearty welcome, and I am inspired by and grateful for their impactful research, professional experience, dedication, and enthusiasm to support this learning community.

We hope these stories will inspire contemplation, deep reflection, dialogue, intellectual nourishment, and pride in our Santa Clara Law School community. We welcome your ideas for future issues and we invite your feedback on our content.

Sincerely,

MICHAEL J. KAUFMAN Dean & Professor of Law

Cover photo by Adam Hays

Dean Kaufman

BY ELIZABETH K. GILLOGLY B.A. ’93

Edward A. Panelli B.S. ’53, J.D. ’55, Hon. ’86, joyfully attended the 2024 Santa Clara Law commencement in May (accompanied by Lisa Kloppenberg, Santa Clara Law professor and dean emerita). He passed away in July. See page 31.

BRIEFS

NEWS FROM SANTA CLARA LAW

Dean’s Democracy Series Celebrates Year Two

Last year, Dean Michael J. Kaufman launched the popular Dean’s Democracy Series, which is dedicated to exploring and upholding core democratic values, including freedom from tyranny, equal justice under the rule of law, judicial independence, voting rights, educational opportunity, reflective discourse, evidence-based inquiry, respect for diverse viewpoints, and the peaceful resolution of disputes. In addition, this initiative seeks to foster collaboration with scholars and thought leaders of U.S. and global democracy.

Last academic year’s series included several excellent presentations, such as “Common Ground Democracy,” featuring Edward B. Foley, Director, Election Law at Ohio State & Charles W. Ebersold, and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law, that crossed political science to American History and jurisprudence, as well as data analysis.

In partnership with the Center for Social Justice and Public Interest and the Family Action Network, the second year of the series covered a range of topics including the science of human goodness; the role of women’s labor in America as a social safety net; how COVID-19 exacerbated racial inequalities that existed on college campuses; and other topics. Fall series highlights so far include:

• Professor David Sloss moderated “An Overdue Reckoning: The Law and Politics of Campus Free Speech After October 7,” featuring our lecturer Professor Howard Schweber (UW-Madison).

• In observance of Constitution Day, Professors Margaret Russell, David Sloss, and Bradley Joondeph offered presentations on the U.S. Supreme Court’s evolving case law regarding executive power.

• Professor W. David Ball moderated an esteemed group of authors–

Premal Dharia (Harvard Law), James Forman, Jr. (Yale Law), and Maria Hawilo (Loyola University Chicago Law)–discussing their book, Dismantling Mass Incarceration.

• The Center for Social Justice and the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center co-hosted “U.S. Immigration Policies Past and Future: Looking to the Next Administration,” featuring a panel of experts that explored the pursuit of a just and humane immigration system.

• Santa Clara Law also hosted “The Future’s Happening: Fostering Civic Imagination,” featuring Lisa Kay Solomon, Futurist in Residence at Stanford University’s d.school and futures facilitator and educator Jeffrey Rogers (UT-Austin).

For more information about joining the upcoming in-person and virtual events, visit the Santa Clara Law events calendar.

Santa Clara Law hosted “The Future’s Happening: Fostering Civic Imagination” as part of the Dean’s Democracy Series, featuring distinguished speakers Lisa Kay Solomon (right) and Jeffrey Rogers (left). In this engaging workshop, they unveiled cutting-edge strategies from Stanford University’s acclaimed d.school program, The Future’s Happening.

New Sports Law Certificate Is Unique in SF Bay Area

To meet the growing demand for legal services in the nearly $100 billion national sports industry, Santa Clara University School of Law is now offering a certificate in Sports Law—the only one of its kind in the San Francisco Bay Area, and one of only a few offered in the state.

The certificate, which will be piloted for three years, was spearheaded and will be supervised by adjunct professor of law Leonard Lun J.D./MBA ’00, who previously worked for the San Francisco 49ers, San Jose CyberRays, Sacramento Kings, and The Walt Disney Company. The program is designed for law students interested in careers in various facets of sports law, including business, contract, labor, antitrust, and intellectual property law, athlete representation, and more.

“This certificate is a wonderful fit for Santa Clara Law in an area of law that is growing in exciting ways,” said Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Laura Norris J.D. ’97. “It draws upon our sports-rich location, our expertise in IP law, our connections among alumni athletes and sports-law professionals, and our ethical grounding as a Jesuit institution.”

The new certificate also takes advantage of the nationally recognized high-tech law curriculum and it builds on current sports law offerings at Santa Clara Law, including a student-run Sports & Entertainment Law Society with more than 100 members and a sports law class taught by Lun. Lun also helped to organize and host a recent Sports Law Conference, which featured 17 speakers and attracted an enthusiastic audience of more than 100 attendees from around the world. (In the past, Santa Clara Law hosted a few other sports law events, including a 2011 Sports Law Symposium, organized by then-Dean Donald Polden along with student groups.)

Omar Habbas J.D. ’85, a personal injury attorney and founding partner of Habbas and Associates, was the signature sponsor of the recent conference and a key supporter in launching the Sports Law Certificate. “I felt that this extremely valuable and unique program would

be beneficial for students—especially in Silicon Valley with all of our sports teams—and I was sold on it immediately,” says Habbas.

To earn the certificate, students will engage in focused coursework, writing, and professional networking. Students will have the opportunity to:

• Develop a broad knowledge base in relevant areas of law likely to be in demand in the sports industry.

• Increase their marketability to teams, leagues, agencies, brands, and other potential employers.

• Network with sports-law practitioners and attend sports-law-related events.

Top: The January 2024 Sports Law Symposium featured a panel on “The Future of Sports Investment and Expansion Teams” and it included (from left) moderator Brian Anderson, partner, co-leader of Sports and Advertising Industry Teams, Sheppard Mullin; and panelists Leslie Osbourne B.A. ’04, founder, Bay FC and former member of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team; Danielle Slaton B.S. ’02, founder, Bay FC and former member of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team; and Carmine “CJ” Napolitano, CFO, Side. Bottom (from left): Leonard Lun J.D./MBA ’00, Omar Habbas J.D. ’85, and Donald Polden, Santa Clara Law professor and dean emeritus (who passed away in October; see page 29).

“It is extremely exciting to see this new certificate come to fruition,” said Lun, who also represents professional soccer players through his sports agency, Upper V Athlete Management. “There is a lot of energy in this field, and our students are eager to learn and discover their place in sports law.”

“I see this as an incredible opportunity for the students of Santa Clara University School of Law,” said second-year law student Máire Rock. “I believe this program has amazing potential, and I am looking forward to seeing how it grows to fit the needs of its students.”

Santa Clara Law Hosts Inaugural Transpacific Negotiation Institute

Santa Clara Law’s Center for Global Law & Policy hosted the inaugural Transpacific Negotiation Institute last April at Charney Hall. The event featured 12 prominent attorneys from Japan’s major corporations who joined 50 students and recent alumni for a week of intensive negotiation training and simulations.

This innovative cross-Pacific educational program is the result of the leadership and the long-standing collaboration between Professor Emeritus Phil Jimenez, founder and long-time faculty director of the Tokyo summer abroad program, and Etsuo Doi, a partner at Foley Lardner and a dedicated supporter of Santa Clara Law’s Japanese initiatives.

Etsuo Doi expressed gratitude to Santa Clara University faculty, noting the success of the program and the high satisfaction of the Japanese participants. He emphasized the impressive enthusiasm of first-year students and anticipated added value for the university.

Professor Laura Love, who has led negotiation instruction at Santa Clara for a decade, crafted the curriculum and conducted the morning sessions. “What I hope [students] learned is that there are always differences between cultures and people, but that we have more similarities than differences,” she said. “The more you can talk to other people, [the more] you can build that bridge and find the connection point so that you’re able to communicate more effectively, person-to-person wherever you come from in the world.”

Participants also visited Intuitive Surgical and Google to engage with attorneys and explore business and negotiation practices. At Intuitive Surgical, they toured the production floor and interacted with Santa Clara Law alums Cyprian Okafor J.D. ’98, Wendy Cheng J.D. ’08, and Diwei Zhang. At Google, they met with alum Azita Saghafi J.D. ’04 and other industry professionals. “The Santa Clara Law alumni network in Silicon Valley is unparalleled, and it was a privilege to connect our outstanding graduates and their colleagues with our visiting guests,” noted Michael Flynn, associate dean for global engagement and clinical professor of law.

The week included networking opportunities through group dinners, a baseball game at Stephen Schott Stadium, and a closing reception at the Adobe Lounge.

Student Oren J. Rosenberg said he found the negotiation simulation highly valuable. “It was interesting to learn more about the cultural differences between American and Japanese negotiations,” he said. “I was able to learn from their experience practicing law and how that translated to their negotiation styles.”

“The launch of this new initiative was a roaring success,” said Flynn. “Building on Santa Clara Law’s spirit of innovation, it was a pleasure to grow our global impact this year as we celebrate 50 years of law study abroad. It is a testament to the talent and dedication of our staff, faculty, and participants.”

Students and staff leaders gather outside Charney Hall during the inaugural Transpacific Negotiation Institute, including Philip Jimenez, professor emeritus (center back in sunglasses), Sarah Brockmeyer, senior program manager (second from right), and Michael Flynn, associate dean for global engagement and clinical professor (far right).

The International Human Rights Clinic Presents at Landmark Hearing on Climate Change

At a recent groundbreaking hearing on climate change and human rights held in Brazil, the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) at Santa Clara Law IHRC Deputy Director Britton Schwartz presented critical observations to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which is considering issuing an advisory opinion on climate responsibilities. This opinion could set influential legal precedents, shaping climate policy across the Americas and globally.

The IHRC’s involvement followed extensive research and a detailed report advocating for stronger environmental protections within the Inter-American Human Rights System. The clinic highlighted government obligations to ensure public access to environmental information, participation in decision making, and access to justice to address environmental harm. Additionally, it stressed the need to support vulnerable

groups and environmental defenders. The clinic urged the Court to refer to the Escazú Agreement—the first environmental human rights treaty in the Americas—in its deliberations.

Collaborating with the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, Santa Clara’s clinic has demonstrated a dedication to merging academic insight with practical advocacy. This work, supported by IHRC Director Francisco Rivera and Santa Clara Law students, aims to influence legal frameworks that safeguard vulnerable populations from climate impacts and hold states and industries accountable.

The clinic also submitted a report on the right to access environmental information to the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change and is planning a fall summit on these issues at Santa Clara University.

Their efforts highlight the vital link between human rights advocacy and environmental sustainability, aiming to engage legal practitioners, policymakers, and the public in promoting a rightsbased approach to climate justice.

New Partnership with IBERO Law in Mexico City

Earlier this year, Santa Clara Law and the Universidad Iberoamericana (IBERO) Law, a Jesuit law school in Mexico City, created an official exchange agreement, which will allow for rich collaborations with faculty, clinics, and students. IBERO Law has a robust international law program that requires all graduates to take a course in International Law. As part of this new partnership, Santa Clara Law will also host study abroad and LL.M. students from IBERO this academic year.

In a January visit, Evangeline Abriel, clinical professor of law and director of the Ninth Circuit Immigration Clinic, and Francisco Rivera, clinical professor of law and director of the International Human Rights Clinic met with Professors Jorge Peláez and Luis Xavier Carrancá from the IBERO’s Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Legal Education to explore and discuss the collaboration. “I was so impressed by the extent and effectiveness of the work the Aleida Foppa Refugee Law Clinic does,” said Abriel. “The Clinic has five full-time lawyers, supported by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. It was so inspiring to hear from these amazing lawyers.”

“I very much look forward to receiving students from IBERO who are interested in gaining practical legal experience through Santa Clara Law’s International Human Rights Clinic,” said Rivera.

Evangeline Abriel (left), clinical professor of law and director of the Ninth Circuit Immigration Clinic, and Francisco Rivera (right) clinical professor of law and director of the International Human Rights Clinic

During the visit, Michael Flynn, associate dean for global engagement and clinical professor of law, also presented to IBERO faculty about Santa Clara Law’s Journal of International Law. In addition, the Santa Clara Law visitors also had the opportunity to reconnect with the president of IBERO, Father Luis Arriaga Valenzuela, who served the Santa Clara Law community from 2016-18 as the chaplain and visiting human rights scholar.

Britton Schwartz, deputy director, International Human Rights Clinic, and adjunct professor of law

2024 Day of Giving Raises More Than $560,000

On April 10, the Charney Hall Atrium buzzed with excitement for the 2024 Day of Giving, a special 24-hour fundraising event to support critical programs at the school. Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends gathered from near and far to enjoy the fun and to celebrate the transformational impact of scholarships for students, clinics, research, and experiential learning opportunities.

The initials of the day—D.O.G.—inspired lots of caninethemed fun, and many furry friends joined the festivities. Five caricature artists evoked smiles with more than 150 sketches— some attendees brought a favorite pet photo to be drawn, while others brought their pets in person to strike a pose for the artists. Attendees also enjoyed guessing how many dog biscuits were in a large jar near the entrance to Charney Hall.

The fundraising, however, was a serious and successful project. Thanks to the generosity of numerous donors, the 24-hour event raised more than $560,000 for a variety of Santa Clara Law programs including scholarships. Several alumni stepped forward with generous leadership and matching gifts, including Dorian Daley J.D. ’86 and Michael Krautkramer, Jo and Andy Kryder B.S. ’74, J.D./MBA ’77, Omar Habbas J.D. ’85 and his family, and Mita Datta J.D. ’16. “We are filled with

“We are filled with amazement and gratitude for the overwhelming generosity of our Santa Clara Law community.”

JOLEE

DAVID MBA ’01 Assistant Dean for Advancement

amazement and gratitude for the overwhelming generosity of our Santa Clara community,” said Jolee David MBA ’01, assistant dean for advancement. “These generous matching gifts, as well as our dedicated Law Advisory Board members who helped lead the charge, were especially pivotal in motivating our community and alumni to give as well as keeping the excitement going throughout the day,” she added.

“The vibrant energy on our annual Day of Giving reverberated throughout the four corners of Charney Hall,” said Ash Farrington, director of development. “The lively spirits of our faculty, staff, students, and alumni was a testament to the strength of our Santa Clara Law community. We share our heartfelt gratitude for your generous contributions and collective support—on April 10 and always.”

KELLEN

The 2024 Annual Day of Giving (D.O.G.) was filled with dogs and smiles. Top left: (left to right) Danielle Gaxiola J.D. ’26, Cassandra Armenta J.D. ’26, and Lizbeth Aguilar J.D. ’26; Rianna Mendoza, Assistant Director, Student Life (bottom middle).

Annual Benefit for Justice Supports Students Serving the Community

In March, nearly 200 faculty, staff-educators, alumni, students, staff, and friends gathered for the annual Benefit for Justice Celebration, which raises funds for Santa Clara Law’s Center for Social Justice and Public Service. Each year, the center provides summer stipends that enable law students to work in non-profit organizations and government agencies, resulting in valuable student work experience as well as great public service to the community.

“Tonight we are going to ‘Mind the Gap’… a profound chasm which we know as the justice gap,” said Dean Kaufman, as he set the scene for the evening. “Ninety two percent of the legal needs of our community, our neighbors, go unmet,” added Kaufman. “How are we going to close that gap?”

The evening included an auction, led by Professor David Yosifon, a charismatic and comedic auctioneer who rallied high bids on many unique experiences donated by law professors and staff. Bidders also vied for a number of silent auction items.

At the event, three students who received summer stipends in 2023 spoke about the work experience this program supported—Nikole Slaton (SAGE: Advocacy & Services for LGBTQ+ Elders), Nicholas Voytilla (East Bay Community Law Center), and Melina Torres (Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County).

“I went into law school with a passion for immigration law and nonprofit work,” says Torres, who earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from U.C.

Melina Torres 3L utilized her summer stipend to work for the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo, CA.

Santa Barbara in 2021. “With the generous help of the summer stipend, I was able to spend my summer at the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County doing meaningful work. I helped domestic violence survivors apply for U-Visas and abandoned juveniles seek legal guardians. My experience at Legal Aid solidified my passion in public interest, which would not have been possible without the financial security from the stipend. As I go into my third year at Santa Clara Law, I am hopeful for more paid opportunities in public interest work.”

Many people helped create this successful event, including the student planning committee—Alisha Hacker, Jack Ladgenski, Alexia Torres, Melina Torres, and Eamon Condon—as well as Center Faculty Director Evangeline Abriel, former Director Caitlin Robinett Jachimowicz J.D. ’10, Kerrie Bindi, many student volunteers, and generous faculty and staff members who donated unique experiences for students.

BY THE NUMBERS

INCOMING CLASS OF 2024 25%

Identify as women 54%

Identify as a member of a minority community

Identify as first generation 60%

Ranking of our Intellectual Property program among U.S. law schools according to the 2023 U.S. News & World Report

Ranking of our High Tech Law Program according to National Jurist Spring 2024

Ranking of our Intellectual Property Program according to PreLaw Spring 2024

Ranking of our International Law Program according to National Jurist Spring 2024

Top 10 Most Innovative Programs in the Nation

Ranking of Santa Clara Law among all U.S. law schools for student diversity by U.S. News and World Report 2024 A+

Ranking of our Privacy Law Certificate by Bloomberg Law’s inaugural Law School Innovation Program

Ranking of our Practical Training Program from PreLaw magazine Spring 2024

Top 20

Flex J.D. Program Gears Up for a Second Year of Success

Santa Clara Law’s Flex J.D., a hybrid, part-time program tailor-built to allow students to maintain full-time commitments while earning a J.D., is celebrating a successful first year and its second cohort. The program launched in Fall 2023 with 34 students under the leadership of inaugural director Anna Benvenue. The second cohort of 54 students began in Fall 2024.

In the program, students attend two-thirds of their classes on-site at Santa Clara Law and complete the rest online. To minimize in-person days, the schedule is concentrated, with students on campus for the first week of each semester plus one weekend per month for the remainder of each semester. Online courses are conducted asynchronously.

Building upon Santa Clara University’s Jesuit value of cura personalis, or care for the whole person, this hybrid format gives students the ability to tailor their educational experience to their personal needs, whether it be balancing a full-time job, reducing commute times, or caring for family.

“The Flex J.D. program has allowed me to pursue my legal career while being a stay-at-home dad to my 19-monthold son,” says Daniel Velasquez, a Flex J.D. student. “The hybrid schedule is a dream come true for parents like myself who are looking to continue their higher education without sacrificing the wellness of their family.”

“The Santa Clara Flex J.D. is a perfect blend of flexibility and structure,” says law student Jeremy Britt, an engineering program manager at Apple. “Its carefully planned residency schedule and course cadence have made it feasible for me to pursue a law degree at a topnotch university while supporting my family and nurturing a career. I could not recommend this program more!”

Santa Clara Law Welcomes New Attorneys at Swearing-In Ceremonies

Twice each year, Santa Clara Law and the Santa Clara Bar Association host a swearingin ceremony for the newest members of the California Bar in the Mission Santa Clara de Asís, an event that brims with joy, excitement, and proud friends and family. At each gathering, a representative administers the attorney’s oath, formally admitting the attorneys to the practice of law in California.

On December 4, after a warm welcome by Santa Clara Law Dean Michael J. Kaufman, The Honorable Beth McGowen, presiding judge of the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, and the Honorable Edward J. Davila, district judge of the Northern District Court of Santa Clara County, each offered words of advice. “Sometime during the next 30 years, there will come a time when your integrity is called into question, and I hope that you’ll remember this advice: no client, no supervisor, no case, is worth it,” McGowan said. “Your legal reputation starts today. Make sure it’s an honorable one.” Other speakers included Richard Schramm J.D. ’90, president of the Santa Clara County Bar Association, and Chris Rosario, chair of the Barristers section of the Santa Clara County Bar Association.

“Sometime during the next 30 years, there will come a time when your integrity is called into question, and I hope that you’ll remember this advice: no client, no supervisor, no case, is worth it. Your legal reputation starts today. Make sure it’s an honorable one.”

At the May 13 event, Santa Clara Law Professor Devin Kinyon welcomed those who gathered, and The Honorable Julie Emede, assistant presiding judge of the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, offered advice to those assembled. “In addition to taking the oath today, you have to agree to do three other things,” Judge Emede said. “There is no case and no client that is worth it for you not to follow your own ethics. Give back to the community … And don’t forget to have a life as you go forward.” Other speakers included Andrea Justo, president of the Santa Clara County Bar Association and Erika Lee J.D. ’20.

—HON. BETH MCGOWEN

Santa Clara Law is proud to honor and celebrate new attorneys at festive swearing-in ceremonies twice each year.

What Will Your Legacy Be? Santa Clara Law’s 2024 Commencement

In May, Santa Clara University School of Law celebrated the graduation of its Class of 2024, with reminders that the law can be wielded in pursuit of compassion, dismantling of injustice, and building communities of kindness.

“It is never too late to ask, ‘What will your legacy be? …Who will be the beneficiaries of your work?’” said commencement speaker Vernā Myers to the 211 graduates. Currently vice president for inclusion strategy at Netflix, Myers is a lawyer, author, diversity and inclusion pioneer, cultural innovator, thought leader, and social commentator. Her TED talk on overcoming biases has been viewed over 5 million times and translated into 27 languages.

“You are going out into a world where some people have forgotten that the only way forward is forward, not backward,” said Myers, who received an honorary doctor of law degree during the ceremony. Myers noted that, in deciding on clients to represent and which cases to pursue, graduates may have to decide between “propping up the status quo of inequity and injustice,” and “fighting mightily for the rule of law, the rights of the dispossessed and opening doors … creating opportunities for those who have been excluded and underrepresented.”

Other speakers included University President Julie Sullivan, who reminded graduates that their Jesuit-based legal education is vitally needed to humanely confront today’s complex ethical and societal problems. Santa Clara Law Dean Michael J. Kaufman quoted Pope Francis as he challenged graduates to continually grow, not only in impact and responsibility, but also in tenderness and “acts of loving kindness.” Such acts “are indispensable to your own happiness and well-being (and) critical to your professional success,” said Kaufman. “They distinguish merely good attorneys from exceptional attorneys like you all are about to become.”

About the Graduating Santa Clara Law Class of 2024

• 43.6% male, 56.4% female

• 59.27% identify as Black, Latiné/x, and other non-white

• 50 earned certificates in various areas of high tech law, including privacy law and Tech Edge J.D.

• 18 earned certificates in public interest and social justice law

• 5 earned certificates in international law

• 4 earned combined J.D./MBA degrees

• 2 earned master’s degrees in U.S. law for foreign lawyers

• 1 earned LL.M. degree in intellectual property law

Left: Vernā Myers, vice president for inclusion strategy at Netflix, gave an inspiring address to the 2024 Santa Clara Law graduates.

From AI to IP

Santa Clara Law welcomes new faculty and staff

BY ALICIA K. GONZALES ’09

In 2023-24, Santa Clara Law welcomed several new additions to its world-class faculty and staff-educators—scholars who will teach, research, and lead new programming, ranging from public interest to externships to the new Flex J.D. program. The school also hosted a worldrenowned historian and legal scholar for the 2023–24 academic year.

TWO NEW PROFESSORS

“At Santa Clara Law, we recognize that our stellar faculty team is at the heart of the top-notch legal education we offer. I am thrilled that Edward Lee and Zahr K. Said have joined our community,” says Santa Clara Law Dean Michael J. Kaufman. “Enthusiastically chosen by our appointments committee after a rigorous recruitment and interview process, these two new members of our Santa Clara Law family are superstars in every way— renowned scholars, beloved teachers, dedicated public servants, and wonderful human beings. I look forward to seeing the many ways they will enhance our student experience and enliven our law school community.”

Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Law, Eric Goldman, echoed the Dean’s sentiments. “Ed and Zahr are exceptional professors and revered colleagues,” says Goldman, who codirects Santa Clara Law’s High Tech Law Institute and supervises the Privacy Law Certificate. “Together, they greatly enhance Santa Clara Law’s position as a leader in technology law. On a personal note, I have known and respected Ed and Zahr for many years, and I’m excited and honored to be their colleague.”

Professor of Law

J.D., Harvard University

Edward Lee joined Santa Clara Law from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he was a professor and co-director of the Intellectual Property Law Program. Lee’s research focuses on the ways in which the Internet, technological development, and globalization challenge existing legal paradigms. A prolific scholar, he is the author of numerous articles as well as the book Creators Take Control: How NFTs Revolutionize Art, Business, and Entertainment (2023). Lee is also the founder of ChatGPTiseatingtheworld. com, which provides news and analysis of the intellectual property disputes involving AI.

Professor of Law

J.D., Columbia University

Ph.D., Harvard University

Zahr K. Said joined Santa Clara Law from the University of Washington School of Law. Her areas of expertise include art law, copyright law, music law, social media and digital media law, torts, and trademark law. Said’s scholarship has appeared in edited volumes on intellectual property and law and the humanities published by Edward Elgar, Frontier Publishing, Cornell University Press, and Oxford University Press. Said is also the author of Tort Law: A 21st-Century Approach, a free, interactive, open-source casebook that centers on tort law on issues of race, gender, class, and ability.

“I’m ecstatic to join the outstanding faculty of Santa Clara Law. It is a remarkable institution known for its deep commitment to social justice and diversity, as well as its top-ranked high tech and IP program. I count my blessings to return back to the Bay Area, where I started my legal career, and join such a vibrant institution and phenomenal faculty in the heart of Silicon Valley. To do so at a time of epochal technological innovation is an opportunity of a lifetime.”

—EDWARD LEE

EDWARD LEE (Fall 2024)

ZAHR K. SAID (Fall 2024)

MORE NEW FACULTY AND STAFF

ANNA BENVENUE (Fall 2023)

Director, Flex J.D. Program; Associate Clinical Professor

J.D., Golden Gate University

As director of Santa Clara Law’s new Flex J.D. Program, Anna Benvenue collaborates with students, faculty, deans, and the director of Online Legal Programs to ensure that Flex J.D. students obtain the same exceptional education and opportunities available to all Santa Clara Law students. In addition, she teaches in both the full-time and Flex J.D. programs, bringing a wealth of experience in civil procedure and constitutional issues in immigration law. Previously, she cofounded the Immigration Law Clinic at Golden Gate University Law.

NICHOLAS EMANUEL J.D. ’05

(Fall 2023)

Director, Externship Program; Assistant Clinical Professor of Law; J.D., Santa Clara University School of Law

Nicholas Emanuel teaches a variety of courses at Santa Clara Law, including Remedies, Torts, Appellate Advocacy, and Advanced Legal Writing. As director of the Externship Program, he helps Santa Clara law students earn credits toward graduation for their work at one of Silicon Valley’s many industry-leading

legal employers. He is a former judicial attorney for the California Court of Appeal, having spent six years as senior appellate court attorney for the Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose. He also worked in private practice for more than a decade, focusing on civil rights litigation and civil appeals. From 201422, Emanuel served as a lecturer at Santa Clara Law. His recent scholarship includes the casebook Remedies: Basic Principles, Authorities, and Problems (2022).

CAITLIN JACHIMOWICZ J.D. ’10

(Summer 2024)

Senior Assistant Dean of Enrollment Strategy and Operations; Adjunct Faculty

J.D., Santa Clara University

Caitlin Jachimowicz was named Senior Assistant Dean of Enrollment Strategy and Operations in October 2024. She previously served as the director of the Public Interest

J.D. program and director of the Center for Social Justice and Public Service. As an adjunct faculty member and advisor since fall 2021, she teaches Election Law, Local Government, and Interviewing and

Counseling. In addition to her 14 years as a practicing attorney, Jachimowicz is the elected treasurer for the city of Morgan Hill and a former City Council member. In 2020, Silicon Valley Business Journal named her one of its Top 40 Under 40, and she also received the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year award.

KELLY J. RODRIGUEZ

(Fall 2023)

Assistant Director, Office of Academic and Bar Success; Lecturer in Law

J.D., University of San Francisco

Kelly J. Rodriguez teaches Legal Analysis and Advanced Legal Writing: The Bar Exam and develops and oversees the curriculum of the 1L Critical Lawyering Skills course. As the assistant director of the Office of Academic and Bar Success, she provides Santa Clara Law students with a wide range of support including transitioning to law school, effective learning strategies, academics, and bar preparation.

ALLISON TIRRES (2023–24)

Visiting Professor of Law

J.D., Harvard University

Ph.D., Harvard University

A leading scholar, historian, and educator in immigration law, citizenship, and civil rights, Allison Tirres taught courses in property law, immigration, and constitutional law during her academic appointment at SCU. Tirres is an associate professor at DePaul University College of Law, where she served for six years as associate dean of Academic Affairs and Strategic Initiatives. In 2020, Tirres received DePaul University’s Excellence in Teaching award, and she has also received College of Law awards for faculty scholarship, faculty service, and faculty achievement.

Left to right: Nicholas Emmanuel J.D. ’05, Anna Benvenue, and Kelly J. Rodriguez.

RESTORING HUMAN DIGNITY IN AN UNCOMMON WAY

Law

BY SUSAN VOGEL

“[It is] our ethical duty to believe in redemption and the possibility of doing justice differently.” This was a key theme of the 2024 Katharine and George Alexander Law Prize ceremony, which recognizes legal advocates who have used their careers to help alleviate injustice and inequity. Santa Clara Law Associate Professor Margalynne Armstrong spoke these words as she honored the selection committee and the Alexander family for “bravely embracing” this duty in selecting Keith Wattley as the 2024 recipient.

Doing law differently is what Keith Wattley J.D. ’99, this year’s prize winner, planned to do “probably from the time he applied to law school,” mused Armstrong. And Justice Done Differently is the motto of UnCommon Law—the nonprofit Wattley founded in 2006 “in the service of those who our society considers the least of us.”

That means challenging the closed-off-to-the-public process of parole hearings for the 30,000+ people in California prisons serving life sentences with the possibility of parole—a process our criminal justice system uses to lock up people it sees as “the worst-of-the-worst.”

But Wattley believes we are grievously wrong in doing so, that people serving life sentences are the most misunderstood people in the system. He and UnCommon Law are proving that these individuals actually present great promise, not only for themselves and their families, but the communities they go home to.

THE HOUR OF CHAOS

Wattley has traveled to prisons throughout California over the past 24 years to represent hundreds of people at their parole hearings.

When a person has served the required minimum years of their life sentence with the possibility of parole, the Board of Parole Hearings holds a hearing to decide if releasing them

would pose an “unreasonable risk to public safety.” Based on this, the board decides if the person is “unsuitable” or “suitable” for parole. If unsuitable, they may wait as many as 15 years in their cell for their next hearing.

On his drives from Oakland to Pelican Bay, at the Oregon border, or to Centinela, at the Mexico border, Wattley uses the time to center himself—by blasting his “theme song,” Public Enemy’s Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos, a hip hop song about the harsh reality of many Black men’s lives in the U.S. He says it reminds him “of all the powers that put people in prison and keep them there. And that I am up against all of them.”

Wattley meets his client at the prison’s parole hearing room, a small conference room where everyone will be clustered for hours or even days: he and his client, the commissioners, and victims or the victim’s families. Everyone is dressed as if for court, except the client, who is in prison blues. (Since COVID, everyone but Wattley and his client attends by video.)

The hearings, says Wattley, can be a roller coaster ride. His client might start out composed, but if victims or their families appear, emotions usually skyrocket. Wattley’s clients are “so deeply ashamed of what they did,” he says, they “find it very difficult to face the people whose lives they’ve shattered.” The presence of victims cuts in half their chance of parole.

At a hearing involving his client’s assault of a police officer, the officer and his family brought blowup pictures of the officer in the hospital right after the assault, which had happened 25 years earlier. In another, a prosecutor in attendance pulled out a bloody shirt and waved it around, further traumatizing the victim’s family, Wattley’s client, and everyone in the room.

To Wattley, these hearings are unnecessary, a cruel burden that re-traumatizes everyone. That’s because in California, the rate of recidivism for people released on parole after life sentences is just 1-3 percent (1 percent for those who are in for violent

A Profile of Keith Wattley J.D. ’99, founder of UnCommon

In 2018, Keith Wattley J.D. ’99 was selected as one of the inaugural Obama Fellows for his transformational work. He also received the 2020 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award.

crimes, like most of Wattley’s clients), compared to 65 percent for people sentenced to non-life, determinate terms. A combination of fear and ignorance, he thinks, is what fuels this process that keeps people who pose almost no risk to society locked up at a taxpayer cost of more than $132,000 per person per year.

AN EDUCATION IN EMPATHY

Wattley’s career path began at a lunch in Bannan Hall his first year of law school. There he met prison reform activist Dorsey Nunn and a staff attorney from the Prison Law Office. Nunn co-founded and worked at Free at Last, an East Palo Alto recovery center for substance abuse founded by formerly incarcerated people, and at Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. Nunn shared his struggle with addiction, how his experiences in prison turned him into an activist, and his belief in the ability of people to transform themselves and their lives.

Wattley interned the following summer at Free at Last. He saw the passion and energy that the founders brought to their community and the far-reaching results for people on parole or probation.

Armstrong says Wattley’s study of psychology—he has a B.A. in Psychology from Indiana University—was apparent to her in class. “He had empathy that was both natural and trained. He showed a knowledge of people in how they truly are, not just how they present,” she says.

In 2006, Keith Wattley J.D. ’99 founded UnCommon Law, which “supports people navigating California’s discretionary parole process through trauma-informed legal representation, mental health counseling, legislative and policy advocacy, and in-prison programming led by those who have been through the process themselves,” according to its website.

His next school year, his interests converged in Professor George Alexander’s class, Psychiatry and the Law. He learned about the policies of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s that shut down many public health care options for people with mental illness, sending many to the streets and to prisons.

The following summer, Wattley became an intern at the Prison Law Office, monitoring prisons’ compliance with federal

court injunctions ordering California prisons to fix their mental health care system, which it found to be cruel and unusual punishment.

On his visits to Pelican Bay supermax prison, he learned first-hand of the barbaric conditions people with serious mental illnesses suffered, often at the hands of untrained guards. They’d be kept in the brutal confinement of isolation units until their mental health deteriorated, then, per the court order, transferred to a new court-sanctioned unit, but shockingly, once stabilized, returned to solitary confinement. “Back and forth for months… years sometimes,” says Wattley. “And that was the result of successful litigation.”

These experiences—learning about policy decisions limiting access to mental health services, seeing the post-incarceration challenges of people seeking to rebuild the communities they’d harmed, and witnessing how society’s response to harm, i.e. mass incarceration, only made things worse—resonated with Wattley’s own family experiences.

Wattley was the eighth child born to a single mom in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Years before his birth, the family lost his fiveyear-old brother when a car struck and killed him. His sevenyear-old sister, who had been walking the child home from school, felt responsible and suffered deep shame and eventually

“The prison and criminal justice systems tend to dehumanize people,” Wattley says, “removing all of the complexities that make them human in order to justify what we do to them in prison.”

depression that led to her drug addiction and incarceration, where she spent most of the next 30 years. Wattley recalls his occasional shame upon answering the home phone to hear “this is a collect call from …,” a sister from whom he felt disconnected. It would not be until he was a lawyer working in prison law that he would first visit her in prison.

Wattley continued working at the Prison Law Office as a 3L intern and then for seven years as a staff attorney. The more he met people in prison face to face, the more he wanted to help them—now—not many years down the road, as was the snail’s pace of litigation. So when his office received a letter from a person at San Quentin whose parole was on the verge of being rescinded—a minor matter in the world of class action litigation—Wattley jumped on it.

REIMAGINING HIS FUTURE

Just yards from the languid palms and soothing lapping waves of the San Francisco Bay, Wattley learned from the man of a parole system at San Quentin that was Kafkaesque. It focused only on the crime—usually of decades past, gave no clues as to what the person needed to do to be paroled, and, adding to the mystery,

once a person was granted parole, either the parole board or the Governor would routinely block their release.

Wattley also learned that when a person exercises the right to a free attorney for their hearing, appointed by the state, as do 90 percent of people, it reduces their chances of being granted parole by over half, from 34 percent to just 16 percent in 2023. The lawyer might meet with a client once or twice, sometimes for only 10 minutes.

As he worked with the client on his parole issue, Wattley’s education in psychology and in law, and his now-extensive knowledge of prison operations and conditions coalesced to create the process that would become UnCommon Law.

With Wattley’s representation, his client returned home. Wattley attended the client’s college graduation the next year, celebrated his client’s first baby, and helped his client get his first job. This work spoke to Wattley in a way traditional lawyering had not: “It felt like how I wanted to spend my time,” he says. “Like the most authentic sense of my own self-expression.”

A PATHWAY HOME

In 2006, Wattley left the Prison Law Office to found UnCommon Law, “centered on the idea that we need to reimagine our response to violence in order to help clients find a pathway home,” he says. UnCommon Law helps its clients “find healing and personal transformation through restorative justice programs that deepen their accountability for and understanding of the harm they caused.”

With roots in indigenous traditions of healing circles, restorative justice began to be used in the ’70s, but its use declined during the “tough on crime” ’80s Reagan years—the same time public mental health facilities were defunded—and during the ’90s when the “three strikes and you’re out” law began a trend of mass incarceration.

UnCommon Law champions a return to the concept. According to the UnCommon Law website (uncommonlaw.org), they “support people navigating California’s discretionary parole process through trauma-informed legal representation, mental health counseling, legislative and policy advocacy, and in-prison programming led by those who have been through the process themselves.” (The website also provides a 98-page guide to the parole process for people navigating the process.)

By the day of their parole hearings, Wattley’s clients have worked for eight or more months—sometimes years—with UnCommon Law’s team of therapists, peer counselors, and attorneys. Many have had an intensive, 10-month program of group counseling, healing, and peer mentor training led by formerly life-sentenced people in conjunction with the legal team.

Not everyone is up for that, Wattley says. The program requires deep emotional work—work that is anathema to the entire prison experience, especially at “the most violent men’s prisons in California where survival requires adherence to informal codes of gangs and violence that makes vulnerability and self-exploration unsafe and virtually impossible,” says Wattley.

But facing and then sharing “their most ‘painful and shameful secrets,’ with the people whose lives they shattered as a result,” he says, is “crucial to their journey, their path home. They find empathy for their victims, an understanding of them-

selves, and confidence in their abilities, including the ability to write the next chapter of their lives. And that is the chapter that they present to the parole board.”

FIGHTING THROUGH FEAR

As the commissioners question them at the hearing, Wattley says that his clients “fight through their fear” to tell their story, in the hope it will rehumanize them in the eyes of the commissioners. “The prison and criminal justice systems tend to dehumanize people,” Wattley says, “removing all of the complexities that make them human in order to justify what we do to them in prison.”

Their story often begins with painful childhood experiences that led to feelings of inadequacy, anger or isolation: having been beaten for having a speech impediment or learning disability, or told their parents didn’t want them.

As Wattley listens, he sometimes has to push back his feelings of hope. The Public Enemy song that plays in his head is a reminder. At the hearings, “the bias against Black and Brown people and those with disabilities or other differences is palpable,” he says. “The parole board seems to equate ‘different’ with ‘dangerous.’”

While the racial and ethnic makeup of the board has improved, he says, the commissioners are still from law enforcement—“people who have worked in systems focused on locking people up,” he says.

Bias was at work, Wattley is certain, in the denial of parole to a Black man when a police officer witness stated he did not believe that Black people have any reason to be afraid of the police. At another hearing, the commissioner asked the client, “You were a big scary Black man, weren’t you?”

Black and Brown people, who make up roughly 75 percent of people serving life sentences in California, are historically less likely to be granted parole than whites convicted of the same crimes and with similar records while incarcerated.

UNCOMMON OUTCOMES

As the board deliberates, Wattley and his client wait on pins and needles. Sometimes he says his clients “think they’ve bombed it,” other times they’re sure they’ve aced it. Wattley is never sure. When the decision is read, his clients often react with a blank stare because, he says, the decision “usually arrives wrapped in convoluted language” that he has to explain. But “once they get it, they just lose it—crying in joy,” he says, “They float away in happiness.”

If they hear “not suitable for parole,” it’s often so devastating that his client may ask him to break the news to their family who have been waiting decades for them to come home. “I call and hear the wailing of a mother’s grief,” says Wattley.

The efficacy of Wattley’s and UnCommon Law’s process is reflected in their clients’ success after release. Of the nearly 350 people UnCommon Law has helped obtain their freedom from life sentences (a nearly 60 percent success rate, compared to the state average closer to 20 percent), 99 percent have remained out of prison. A recent survey shows 100 percent are housed, 91 percent are employed, and 52 percent are volunteering in their communities. Ninety-five percent reported a high level of mental wellness.

PUTTING HUMAN DIGNITY AT THE CENTER

At the Alexander Law Prize Award ceremony at Santa Clara in March, Wattley gave a talk in which he shared his gratitude for how his education and the people at Santa Clara Law have helped shape his career. He said he was profoundly changed by the practical learning opportunities Santa Clara Law provided. “I was still a law student when I went to Pelican Bay,” he said, “and I was hooked.”

He also thanked his wife, who he called “my main pillar holding me up.”

Wattley has stayed connected to Santa Clara Law. In 2017, Margaret Russell, one of the Santa Clara Law professors who nominated him for the prize, created a class on Restorative Justice. She says a highlight has been having Wattley visit as a speaker, and for the students to visit San Quentin, where the incarcerated men speak of him with great respect and gratitude, calling him “Brother Wattley.”

Wattley has created his own educational pipeline of teaching students and hosting internships about Restorative Justice: half of the attorneys and fellows working at UnCommon Law began working there as students.

At the ceremony, Professor Armstrong spoke of how Wattley and his work so perfectly exemplify Santa Clara’s vision of “educating citizens and leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion while cultivating knowledge and faith to build a more humane, just, and sustainable world.”

And, in wrapping up an inspirational evening, Dean Michael J. Kaufman praised Wattley for his work and added how perfectly it aligns with the Pope’s teachings on justice, saying “Justice does not really exist without putting human dignity at the center of all that we do.”

Susan Vogel is a frequent contributor to Santa Clara Law publications. She has practiced law in California and Utah and she interned at the National Prison Law Project of the ACLU in Washington, D.C., and at the Prison Law Office at San Quentin, where she addressed due process issues in prison gang segregation.

Wattley Sought Support From Santa Clara Law Professor Alan Scheflin On a Case

By the time Wattley began representing Patricia Krenwinkel in 2010, she’d been denied parole 14 times.

In her 1992 hearing, she broke down in tears, saying she knows that nothing will convince them she has remorse— other than killing herself.

For her 2022 hearing, Wattley reached out to his former Santa Clara Law professor, Alan Scheflin M.A. Counseling Psychology ’87, a nationally known expert on cults and mind control. “He helped the board understand how Ms. Krenwinkel could have committed the horrible crimes and how she escaped the control of the Manson cult,” says Wattley. The Board finally granted parole, but Governor Newsom reversed the decision.

Note: See Scheflin obituary, page 30.

BEYOND EXONERATION

Client Services at the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara Law help exonerees return to society.

BY LARRY SOKOLOFF J.D. ’92

During its 23 years of operation, the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara University School of Law has helped 36 people get released from prison. Many of those clients were exonerated, meaning they were cleared of all charges. But how do those clients adjust to their return to society?

NCIP’s most recent exoneree is Miguel Solorio, who was released from prison in November 2023 after his murder conviction was reversed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Solorio spent 25 years behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit in Whittier, California. He was convicted of a fatal drive-by shooting after a police investigator provided false testimony about what an alibi witness had said. He was sentenced to life without parole.

NCIP got involved in the case in 2022, with students in the NCIP clinical program working diligently on the case. Santa Clara Law students Caitlin Edwards J.D. ’24 and Selamawit Solomon J.D. ’23 worked on Solorio’s case during the entire 2022-23 academic year. They summarized trial transcripts, attended strategy meetings, briefed legal issues, and helped draft his habeas corpus petition. They worked under the supervision of NCIP Staff Attorney Sarah Pace.

“The case is a tragic example of what happens when law enforcement officials develop tunnel vision in their pursuit of a suspect,” Pace says.

The experience has been profound. Edwards noted that Solorio went to prison the same year she was born. “It was a literal lifetime that he was locked up,” she says. “To be able to be a part of this, and to turn the wheels of justice no matter how slowly…was the best experience of my life and in law school.”

“This nightmare started when I was 19 years old,” said Solorio when he was released. “I’m now 44. This was going to be my 25th Christmas in prison—being home this year will be the best present ever.”

In addition to extensive legal assistance from NCIP’s legal staff, Solorio’s return from Mule Creek State Prison was aided by NCIP team member Cy’mone Stewart, whose job is to help smooth the re-entry of former prisoners back into society. Stewart is a client services specialist who functions as a social worker. The work she now does was previously handled by NCIP’s attorneys on an informal and ad hoc basis.

Sarah Pace, NCIP clinical supervising attorney (left), celebrates the November 2023 release of Miguel Solorio, who spent 25 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

CARLA SPAIN

Exonerees leave prison without many resources. They often struggle to find housing or to use technology that evolved while they were behind bars. They may face mental health challenges and often have limited job training.

Initially, Stewart communicated with Solorio via text before his release to learn what resources he needed. She met him at prison with clothes, shoes, a blanket, and a journal—“things that would help the transition home be easier,” she says.

She took him shopping the next day at a Target in the East Bay. “I wanted to let him pick out specifically what he wanted… to allow him the opportunity to make choices for himself,” she says. “There’s a very big difference in being able to spend time, pick and choose, and make decisions for yourself that you haven’t necessarily had the opportunity to do for the last two decades,” she added.

Stewart also took Solorio to the DMV to start the process of getting his license and provided him with a short-term cell phone. “I’m not tech savvy,” Solorio says. “She was very helpful on that.”

Solorio says Stewart continues to help him. They work together via telephone and Zoom calls. She has a “big heart,” he says, adding “she cares a lot about other human beings.” He has plans to enroll in classes at the local community college.

Stewart’s job duties include teaching a course in NCIP’s clinic on secondary trauma and self care. She also participates in other NCIP activities, including a workshop held in August for freed and exonerated clients to share their stories after release.

“She (Cy’mone) approaches her work with empathy and professionalism in what is often a really difficult job— providing emotional support and navigating the trauma our clients have and continue to experience is no easy task.…”

—TODD FRIES, NCIP Executive Director

Stewart helped Solorio make travel arrangements to attend that workshop.

Todd Fries J.D. ’09, executive director of NCIP, gave Stewart high praise for her work. “Cy’mone’s dedication to our clients is unwavering,” he says. “She approaches her work with empathy and professionalism in what is often a really difficult job—providing emotional support and navigating the trauma our clients have and continue to experience is no easy task. She has instilled confidence and trust with our clients, and she has contributed to the overall success and impact of NCIP.”

Larry Sokoloff J.D. ’92 is a freelance writer. He is a professor emeritus at San Jose State University, where he taught media law.

A huge group of friends, family, and NCIP team members gathered to celebrate the exoneration of Miguel Solorio (center, black tie), who was freed in November 2023 after serving 25 years for a murder he didn’t commit.

CARLA SPAIN

Blind Acceptance

New NCIP Report Works to Address Issues with Eyewitness Procedures

Eighteen of the 36 clients that the NCIP has helped to get released from prison and/or exonerated were originally convicted based on mistaken eyewitness identifications, according to Todd Fries J.D. ’09, executive director of the NCIP. So NCIP has pushed for reforms in this area, including changes to the state’s penal code that it helped get enacted in 2020.

The NCIP followed up recently to see if the reforms were working, issuing a 74-page report, Blind Acceptance, in April. Fries and 13 Santa Clara Law students studied the manuals of California law enforcement agencies to learn more, and they discovered that many of the reforms weren’t being implemented.

One of the study’s findings has to do with admonishment forms, which are instructions given before a police eyewitness lineup is done. Among other things, admonishment forms are supposed to let a potential eyewitness know that they don’t have to make an identification.

The study found that only about half of the 381 agencies studied were using admonishment forms that contained all the legally required instructions. Many of the remaining agencies were using the same forms they had used since at least 2010, with no changes made to reflect the changed laws.

One of the research team’s key findings is that Lexipol, a for-profit company hired by a vast majority of police departments to produce policy manuals, has developed an eyewitness identification policy that is not in adherence with the law. This master policy, contrary to the law, substitutes the word “should” in place of “shall,” which wrongly implies that compliance with the required best practices are discretionary rather than mandatory. More than 90 percent of California police agencies use Lexipol policies, and 90 percent of the study sample adopted the eyewitness identification master policy with little to no substantive changes.

The report offers several recommendations to bring law enforcement agencies into compliance with the law, including Lexipol revising its eyewitness identification master policy; educating lawyers and judges to challenge identifications used in court that did not comply with legal mandates; and amending current law to strengthen it and provide a remedy for law enforcement’s failure to comply.

“Our society’s ability to prevent tragic eyewitness mistakes and wrongful conviction practices depends on our police following the best practices enshrined in this law,” says Fries. “Nothing less than full compliance with the law will prevent the next innocent person from going to prison.”

Visit ncip.org/research to learn more about this and other NCIP research projects.

One of the research team’s key findings is that Lexipol, a for-profit company hired by a vast majority of police departments to produce policy manuals, has developed an eyewitness identification policy that is not in adherence with the law.

The Larger-than-Life Legacy of B.T. COLLINS

A Memorial Scholarship Turns 30

BY ELIZABETH KELLEY GILLOGLY B.A. ’93

“A man of the people.” “Bold.” “Irrepressible.” “A force of energy and enthusiasm.” These are some of the ways that longtime friends describe B.T. Collins B.A. ’70, J.D. ’73 (19401993). Thirty years ago, a group of Collins’ friends chose to express their love, admiration, and gratitude to this man by creating a Santa Clara Law scholarship in his name. Over the past three decades, this fund built with love has given hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships to nearly 100 third-year law students at SCU. On this scholarship’s 30th anniversary, Santa Clara Law wanted to take a look back at this unique and outstanding alum who continues to inspire public servants–and make us laugh–more than three decades after his death.

Bold B.T.

“Is the world a better place because you are here?” This was a question Collins regularly asked others … everyone from friends to the hundreds of audience members in his frequent public lectures. It was also a question he asked himself—and over and over, Collins’ life and accomplishments answered: “yes.”

On June 20, 1967, Collins was serving a second tour of duty with the U.S. Army as a captain in the Green Berets in South Vietnam when his life changed in an instant—during a firefight, a hand grenade landed near him, and as he picked it up to throw it out of the area, it exploded. He lost part of his right arm and his right leg, and spent 22 months undergoing 19 surgeries and rehabilitation in seven different military hospitals. (Longtime friend, colleague, and retired judge Allen Sumner J.D. ’76 says Collins called June 20 his “life day,” celebrated it annually, and considered it more important than his birthday.)

Collins learned to walk with a prosthetic leg, replaced his right hand with a hook (and started calling himself “Captain Hook”), learned to write with his left hand, and overcame many other obstacles to earn his bachelor’s degree in history from Santa Clara University in 1970. But when he applied to law school, his

application was initially rejected until SCU Associate Professor of history George Giacomini, Santa Clara Law Professor Mary Emery J.D. ’63 (1937-2011), and others appealed to the admissions committee, helping Collins gain admission to the class of 1973.

At Collins’ swearing in to the California Bar in June 1974, longtime Santa Clara Law Professor and Associate and Assistant Dean George A. Strong J.D. ’55, Honorary Doctorate ’93 (1923-1995) introduced Collins with some of his own signature humor. “Born in Mount Vernon, New York, forged in Gary, Indiana, and fabricated in Rochester, Minnesota, Mr. Collins overcame the obstacles of class preparation and attendance to earn the degree of Juris Doctor at the University of Santa Clara School of Law, within the maximum time and minimum unit requirements,” said Strong. “His perseverance has demonstrated that he is a man with a steel will. And foot. And leg. And arm. And hand.” (Here, Strong was partially quoting Collins himself, who, according to friends, used to say he was “forged” in Gary, Indiana and “fabricated” in Rochester, Minnesota, because those are the places where his prostheses were made.)

Collins worked for a San Jose law firm for a year before returning to Santa Clara to serve as placement director, helping SCU students gain valuable work experience through internships. In 1976, he was appointed deputy legislative secretary to California Governor Jerry Brown, where he served for three years. Brown was a Democrat, while Collins was a “brash and outspoken Republican who never seemed to take his new job, his boss, or himself very seriously,” said Sacramento TV news anchor Stan Atkinson in a 1987 documentary. Gov. Brown later appointed Collins to serve as director of the California Conservation Corps (CCC), which at the time was on the verge of folding. During his term as director, Collins injected his signature energy, enthusiasm, and zest into the organization. He also coined the cheeky CCC motto that is still in use today—

After a terrible grenade accident in Vietnam in 1967, Collins learned to walk with a prosthetic leg, replaced his right hand with a hook (and started calling himself “Captain Hook”), learned to write with his left hand, and overcame many other obstacles to earn his bachelor’s degree in history from Santa Clara University in 1970.

“hard work, low pay, miserable conditions”—and he was beloved as a hero by thousands of corps members.

In 1981, Gov. Brown appointed Collins as his executive secretary and chief of staff, where he served for the next two years. Nora Romero, who served as Collins’ longtime assistant, said that Collins often reminded Brown: “It’s all about relationships, Governor. Relationships.” Collins then returned to the private sector, serving as vice president of the public finance department of Kidder, Peabody & Co.

HONORING VETERANS

In the mid-1980s, Gov. Deukmejian appointed Collins to serve on the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission, a group dedicated to raising funds for a memorial on the grounds of the California state capitol in honor of California residents who served and died in the Vietnam War. Collins spearheaded a massive fundraising effort, helping to raise more than $2 million in donations from hundreds of individuals as well as major corporations. In 1987, during that fundraising effort, Collins and Sacramento KCRA TV news anchor Stan Atkinson marked

the 20th anniversary of Collins’ injury in Vietnam by traveling there and driving from Hanoi to the Delta—the very spot where Collins lost his limbs. KCRA released a documentary of the trip, “Return to Vietnam” (available on YouTube), which included interviews with other Vietnam veterans and an appeal for the memorial. “[Collins] could make a grown man cry,” said Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd in 2008 when he spoke at the 20th anniversary of the memorial, which Floyd set in motion by authoring Assembly Bill 650 in 1984. “When he pointed his hook into an audience and shared his and thousands of other Vietnam veterans’ stories, no one could say no.” The California Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on December 10, 1989, with the names and ages of 5,832 soldiers engraved on its walls.

From 1989-91, Collins served as chief deputy to California State Treasurer Tom Hayes, followed by a short stint as the director of the California Youth Authority, appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson. Collins won a special election in 1991 to the California State Assembly, fifth district, where he served until his sudden death by heart attack in 1993.

REMEMBERING B.T.

“The day he died, I had told him to stay home because he wasn’t feeling well,” said Romero. “But Colin Powell was giving a talk at the Red Lyon Inn in Sacramento, and B.T. told me that he had to go because Colin wanted B.T.’s autograph,” she remembers with a laugh. Collins also told Romero he wanted to take Powell to see the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

In his March 25, 1993, Los Angeles Times story on Collins’ memorial, George Skelton called the event: “a daylong commemoration of Collins’ life that set a new standard for memorial services in Sacramento and brought the capital to a virtual standstill.”

“B.T. Collins would have loved it, especially the break in heavy rain that allowed more than 1,000 mourners to stand dry at the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial and listen to him being eulogized by friends and governors,” Skelton wrote.

“And, of course, an hours-long Irish wake was held at the hotel where Collins suffered the heart attack that killed him last Friday at age 52,” Skelton added. “He had left money for the party. And his corpse was there for it.” (Collins’ friends confirmed that they did indeed bring his coffin to the wake.)

“B.T. had a spirit bigger than life itself,” said then-SCU President Paul Locatelli, S.J. (1938-2010), who gave the eulogy at Collins’ Sacramento memorial. Locatelli shared how Collins had learned to write with his left hand, skied on one leg, and parachuted from an airplane on his 50th birthday. He also talked about Collins’ two legendary Rolodexes (an old school, paper-based contact management system), which he relied on to keep in frequent contact with his enormous network of thousands of people–family, friends, business associates, and many others. “He never missed an opportunity to support, to say thank you, to help out,” said Fr. Locatelli.

One SCU professor called Collins a “giant breath of fresh air in a bullshit world.” In the 1970s, when Santa Clara Law told Collins they wanted to honor him by naming an office, Collins instead requested “the B.T. Collins Memorial

Latrine”—a plaque above a urinal in the men’s bathroom inscribed with the words: “If it’s not in Gilbert’s, it’s not in common law. B.T. Collins, 1973” (Gilbert’s is a set of law summaries that law students know well). When Santa Clara Law moved into Charney Hall in 2018, this plaque was moved to a wall outside the first-floor bathroom so everyone could appreciate it.

Collins was the subject of four national documentaries, was described in six books (including Outrageous Hero: The B.T. Collins Story (2008), written by his sister Maureen Collins Baker), and featured in hundreds of articles in newspapers and magazines around the world. He was a passionate supporter of Women Escaping a Violent Environment (WEAVE) in Sacramento and served on its board of directors and its advisory board. He also received numerous awards, including two from Santa Clara Law: the 1973 Outstanding Graduate Award and the 1987 Edwin J. Owens Lawyer of the Year. In 2016, Collins’ own name was added to the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial that he had worked tirelessly to create.

A MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP IS BORN

“There is no greater love that I have than for Santa Clara University,” Collins once said. And he showed that love during the course of his life in numerous ways, including service on the SCU Board of Regents as well as with many generous donations to SCU. “By any measure, he was generous with his money, and more importantly, he was generous with time, advice, and inspiration,” said Fr. Locatelli in his 1993 eulogy.

Collins’ close friends—including Romero and Santa Clara Law classmate and fellow Sacramento resident Richard “Dick” Cunha B.S.C. ’68, J.D. ’73—picked up that torch and carry it to this day, keeping Collins’ legacy of boldness, service, integrity, grit, and humor alive, and inspiring a new generation of public servants. With seed money that included the funds left in Collins’ reelection campaign when he died as well as executor fees Cunha had received from Collins’ estate and chose to redirect, the friends created a memorial scholarship at Santa

Left: Collins stands next to the “the B.T. Collins Memorial Latrine.” Right: Shown here smiling while skydiving, Collins had an irrepressible zest for life.

Clara Law in 1994. Emery, who was associate dean of Santa Clara Law at the time, worked with Romero and Cunha to establish the scholarship, and they also held a scholarship fundraiser in Sacramento with Gov. Pete Wilson as the guest.

Since then, each year on Veteran’s Day, the scholarship committee gathers in Sacramento to interview the final-round candidates for the scholarship. And while the day is surely a nervous one for the finalists, the committee welcomes these Santa Clara Law students with donuts, laughter, warmth, and lots of inspiring stories about Collins. In each interview, the finalists answer questions, talk about what they have learned from Collins’ legacy, and share their aspirations and plans for the future. “Feeling moved is an understatement,” says Ash Farrington, director of development at Santa Clara Law, who attended the 2023 finalist interviews. “B.T., this larger-thanlife human, is a tapestry woven from the threads of his actions, beliefs, and the love he shared. To B.T., no one was a stranger for long and friends became family. The impact he made is deeply felt in the hearts of the committee members who continue to uphold and honor his memory year after year. B.T.’s legacy lives on as a guiding light for generations to come and serves as a testament to the indelible mark one life can leave on the fabric of a circle of friends, the city of Sacramento, the Santa Clara University community, generations of attorneys, and the wider world.”

Since its founding 30 years ago, this scholarship has inspired and supported nearly 100 recipients and public servants, including the Hon. Ben Galloway J.D. ’01, a judge of the Superior Court of Sacramento County and the son of Russell Galloway, longtime Santa Clara Law professor. A recipient of the B.T. Collins Scholarship in 2000, Ben Galloway now serves as a member of the scholarship committee. “B.T. worked across party lines, and that is so important, especially today,” he says, adding that he looks for scholarship applicants “with a dedicated commitment to public service and community service.”

“I felt very inspired by B.T. Collins’ commitment to public service throughout his career,” said Alisha Hacker J.D. ’24, one of four recipients of the 2023-24 B.T. Collins scholarship. “I truly respected all the work that he did both for his district and for the whole state of California,” says Hacker, who spent her 1L and 2L summers working for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office as an honors clerk. “He dedicated his time to helping young people and leading programs that are still helping people today. His larger-than-life personality left a lasting legacy on the University that is still felt today.” While at Santa Clara Law, Hacker was both a competitor and a coach in the Galloway Moot Court and the National Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competitions, and she worked as a teaching assistant for a 1L Criminal Law class. She also served as a board member for the Criminal Law Society and was the Symposium Editor for the Santa Clara Law Review.

“B.T. Collins’ fearless approach to life, willingness to collaborate across political lines, and dedication to public service are aspects of his legacy that deeply inspire me,” said Jason Yasin Cowan J.D. ’24, another 2023-24 recipient of the Collins’ scholarship and a policy research fellow at the Panetta Institute for Public Policy. “His work under Governor Jerry

Brown, despite their differing political affiliations, and his leadership in the California Conservation Corps highlight his belief in inclusivity and unity. These principles are especially poignant in today’s polarized world, serving as a beacon of hope for overcoming divides,” says Cowan. “Collins’ example has reinforced my commitment to embracing diversity in thought and action, aiming to bridge the ideological gaps hindering societal progress. His life is a powerful reminder that authentic leadership involves reaching beyond one’s comfort zone to achieve common goals for the betterment of all,” added Cowan, who also serves as president of the International Law Student Association, an associate with the Journal of International Law, and vice president of the Social Justice Coalition.

“I am deeply moved by the love and generosity of these friends and colleagues of B.T. Collins,” says Santa Clara Law Dean Micahel J. Kaufman. “For 30 years, they have kept B.T.’s memory and legacy alive in their hearts while also collaborating to create and nurture a scholarship that has inspired generations of Santa Clara Law students to follow in B.T.’s footsteps of service to others. The B.T. Collins Scholarship is one of the oldest and largest named scholarships at Santa Clara Law, and this scholarship committee is truly a shining example of the enduring dedication, support, and love that makes our Santa Clara Law community so special,” added Kaufman.

“B.T. was a role model because of the way he lived his life,” says Romero, a founding member of the B.T. Collins Scholarship committee. “B.T. was committed to public service and giving back. He served his country, state, and community,” she says. “For me, this scholarship is like sending a bunch of “mini-B.T.s” out into the community. They carry forward that light.”

Cunha believes Collins would be glad to know the scholarship is helping to keep his legacy alive—”If we could hear him now, I imagine him saying: ‘See? They are still talking about me,’” Cunha says with a smile.

Elizabeth Kelley Gillogly B.A. ’93 is editor of Discern and a former editor of Santa Clara Law magazine and Santa Clara Magazine. She has been a writer and editor for various SCU publications since 1993.

The scholarship committee members are a tight-knit group of B.T.’s close friends as well as past scholarship recipients. A few of the members are (from left): Hon. Ben Galloway J.D. ’01, Richard “Dick” Cunha B.S. ’68, J.D. ’73, Norah Romero, and Hon. Allen Sumner J.D. ’76.

GOING GLOBAL FOR 50 YEARS

Santa Clara Law’s Study

Abroad Program Celebrates Five Decades of Changing Lives

BY LARRY SOKOLOFF J.D. ’92

“Great experiences, exquisite food, and prime opportunities.” “Amazing networking opportunities.” “Guaranteed to enrich your legal education.” “Truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

These are a few examples of the rave reviews students give for a Santa Clara program that is not actually in Santa Clara–it’s the Center for Global Law and Policy’s Law Study Abroad Program, which is celebrating 50 years of broadening law students’ horizons and changing their lives.

A national leader, Santa Clara Law’s program is one of the oldest and the largest programs of its kind among American Bar Association-accredited law schools, and it’s a program that law students and alumni universally praise for its power to broaden their world view, teach them new legal skills, dive into foreign cultures, and make new lifelong connections.

“Our exceptional summer abroad programs are among our greatest distinctive strengths,” said Santa Clara Law Dean Michael J. Kaufman. “They advance our Jesuit mission of borderless accompaniment, encounters, and collaboration in the care for our common home, our University’s strategic objective of extending our global reach, and our enduring commitment to provide a transformative learning experience for our students that will prepare them for careers of worldwide impact and service.”

LEARNING AND EXTERNING

“We live in a globalized world,” said Santa Clara Law Professor David Sloss, who has been active in leading and directing Santa Clara Law’s global programs since 2008. “It’s really important for students to gain exposure to foreign legal systems and international law.”

The premise behind the Summer Abroad program is a simple one. Students study with foreign professors over twoto four-week summer sessions. A Santa Clara Law professor accompanies each group of law students, but usually doesn’t

Santa Clara Law “dominates the externship study-abroad landscape.” —National Jurist, 2018

Summers with programs (with virtual programs in 2020 and 2021).

teach in the classroom. Many students stay on to do externships (an internship for academic credit), where they make valuable connections with future employers and references. Wherever they go, students say they have life-changing experiences.

Students attend summer classes in vibrant global destinations such as Tokyo, Japan, to study business, and at The Hague in the Netherlands to study international criminal law. In 2024, Santa Clara Law offered six different courses with opportunities to learn in Tokyo; The Hague; Singapore; Vienna, Austria; Geneva, Switzerland; and Sydney, Australia. In summer 2025, a seventh program will be available in San José, Costa Rica.

“Santa Clara Law’s summer study abroad program is valuable to any student who is interested in a career in international law or simply wants to improve [their] understanding of how the law is organized and enforced in the international context,” said Maxwell Nelson J.D. ’21, who studied in Europe in 2019.

Through its Center for Global Law and Policy, Santa Clara Law offers extensive opportunities for students to engage with international law—including a certificate program, Semester Abroad opportunities, international Moot Court competitions, conference participation, guest speakers, the Journal of International Law, and a brand new series of spring break immersions that will launch in 2025—but the Summer Abroad program is where it all started.

At the turn of the 21st century, Santa Clara Law had a record 14 overseas summer school programs, more than any other U.S. law school. About 200 students attended, with many coming from other American law schools.

In 2024, there were 86 participants in the Santa Clara Law Summer Abroad program, with about half the enrollment coming from students at other law schools. Prior to the pandemic, which moved the program online from 2020 through 2022, about 150 students were participating each summer, and the program is still in a rebuilding period, said Sarah Brockmeyer ’07, M.A. ’24, the program’s senior program manager at the Center for Global Law and Policy.

Law Summer Abroad programs locations offered in 2025.

SERVING LAW STUDENTS SINCE 1974

The first Law Summer Abroad program was a seven-week offering in Europe in 1974 led by Gerald Solk, who was a visiting professor at Santa Clara Law then. There were a half dozen students, who studied Western European Commercial Law in Amsterdam. “It was a fabulous learning experience for all of us,” Solk said.

In Fall 1974, Santa Clara Law professors Dinah Shelton and Philip Jimenez began talking about a bigger program with Dean George Alexander. Shelton and Jimenez had been classmates at UC Berkeley’s School of Law, and Shelton had studied and made contacts in international law, a subject she taught at Santa Clara Law for many years. The first students went overseas in 1975 to Strausborg, France, home of the European Institute of Human Rights.

A poster for the 1977 Summer Abroad program at the University of Strausborg promises international faculty and a choice of two courses and various seminars. Underneath a picture of Justitia, the Roman Goddess of Justice, is fine print showing the total cost of $516 for the nearly four-week program, including room and board, tuition, and materials. Today, the programs range in cost from $2,500 to $10,000.

And while the program’s size and locations have changed over the years (including a reduction during the SARS epidemic and the Covid pandemic as well as ongoing restrictions by the State Department on travels to China), Santa Clara Law’s program has consistently been the largest law study abroad program among all U.S. law schools, Sloss said.

Participants in 2024 Summer Abroad program 20+

Number of Law Summer Abroad locations offered over the past 50 years.

COST-EFFICIENT LEARNING

“Affordability is really important to us, and we’re really proud of how affordable our programs are compared to other schools,” Brockmeyer said. Each Summer Abroad program unit costs about $900 less than a regular unit, which helps to offset the costs of travel and living abroad. Additionally, a new program, Abroad Ambassadors, provides free airfare to Santa Clara Law students who agree to promote the program when they return. “Generally, these students provide photos or videos, interviews, and they help us promote Study Abroad during events on campus,” said Brockmeyer.

Tuition for the program can also be paid from a student’s existing scholarship or financial aid package, making the program even more accessible to students, according to Michael Flynn, associate dean for global engagement and clinical professor of law.

The Summer Abroad program offers students many advantages, including the opportunity to earn six to eight units over the summer, enabling students to free up time during their second and third years of law school to reduce the stress of the heavy law school workload, get a part-time legal job, or participate in other activities, Sloss said.

LOCAL PROFESSORS ENHANCE THE PROGRAM

As Brockmeyer explained, one distinguishing feature of the Santa Clara Law program is its longstanding policy to hire foreign faculty or practicing attorneys in the host countries to teach its classes. “This is a place where Santa Clara really stands out,” she said. This is in contrast to many other law schools’ summer abroad programs, where U.S. professors teach courses on U.S. law in a foreign setting. Engaging with global faculty and practitioners can lead to greater understanding of a nation or a culture. “We really want them to get that embedded cultural context,” she added.

SANTA CLARA LAW IN ASIA

Santa Clara Law was one of the first law schools to lead the way to Asia, opening its first Tokyo program in 1977 under the leadership of Dean George Alexander. With Santa Clara Law’s

Number of Faculty Program Directors for the Law Summer Abroad program over the past 50 years.

Study abroad “is really a life-changing experience. There’s a real need for people to understand other cultures and how people think.”

—PHILIP JIMENEZ

position on the Pacific Rim, Santa Clara Law became a leader in Asia-based programs. Later, programs expanded to Singapore and Seoul.

Jimenez directed the Tokyo program for many years, and he says he watched as students grew and changed as they experienced a different society. Study abroad “is really a life-changing experience,” he explained. “There’s a real need for people to understand other cultures and how people think.”

ELECTIVES AND EXTERNSHIPS BROADEN HORIZONS

The Summer Abroad program offers many law students their first opportunity to take elective-type courses after the first year. They can choose courses such as business or immigration law that may be the reason they applied to law school in the first place. “This is really a first chance to dig in and re-energize,” Flynn said.

In addition to understanding other cultures, students in the Summer Abroad program also make valuable contacts and get experience working in law firms during their externships. “We serve as a placement intermediary. We go to our longstanding partners in these externship placement locations to find really good fits,” said Flynn, who became head of the program in 2023.

Sloss said students are saved from a lengthy job search by securing placements through the externship program. “We tell students this is the easiest job search you’ll ever do,” he added.

Most externships in Asia are in private law firms, Sloss explained, while those in Europe are primarily in international organizations, such as non-profits or agencies like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

All externs are required to check in regularly with a Santa Clara Law faculty advisor as part of the program. Flynn said that may involve brainstorming solutions to any problems they may encounter in their externships.

Jimenez recalls how Tokyo students were often invited to a Fourth of July party sponsored by the large law firm Morrison & Foerster, which gave them an opportunity to meet partners at that firm and build their network. It’s an opportunity that might not be as easy to find in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Externships provide law firm experience to students in a wide range of countries, including Greece, Malta, Thailand, Croatia, Morocco, and Korea. There are also externships in locations where Summer Abroad previously sponsored summer law courses, such as Vietnam and Budapest, Hungary. A longtime summer program in Oxford, England, is currently being reviewed and may resume in 2026. But students who want to gain experience in England can still do externships in London.

STUDY LAW AND SEE THE WORLD

Satisfying a desire to travel is the reason many students cite for signing up for Summer Abroad. That’s true for JD/MBA student Mark Manolo J.D. ’24 who decided to study and work in Singapore and Seoul in 2022. “The opportunity of satisfying my wanderlust while gaining resume-worthy experiences for upcoming on-campus interviews during my second year proved too enticing to resist,” he said. The program he chose took place on the campus of Singapore Management University and intertwined business and intellectual property law concepts, along with environmental law.

Sabreen Noel Ben Salem J.D. ’24 said she liked the broad range of topics and visits to places such as a famous arbitration center in Singapore when she went on Summer Abroad. “Visiting legal institutions changes the theoretical nature of one’s classroom experience to a practical one,” she said. She also worked in a business law firm while on the program, where she helped draft a board resolution for a shareholder agreement to issue more shares.

Having fun and exploring some of the world’s great cities is another key part of the Summer Abroad program for many participants. “Some of my favorite memories from the trip were spent exploring the city with my friends in the program,” Ben Salem said.

Manolo did an externship in Korea after the Singapore classes ended. He had time to explore when he wasn’t working, attending such events as the Boryeong Mud Festival, which he said, “added a layer of enjoyment and cultural understanding to my global legal education.”

Professor and Dean Emeritus Don Polden ran the Vienna program for several years, where the program featured lectures by eminent scholars and lunchtimes often involved presentations by members of Austria’s Supreme Court. Polden said he loved seeing how students enjoyed the travel and cultural opportunities, including long weekends in Croatia or Paris. One group even rented bikes and cycled through Austria, he said. Others visited Vienna’s opera, toured its museums, and enjoyed its famed beer halls.

Sloss recalled groups of Vienna students searching for midweek bargain airfares—“generally anywhere they could get cheap flights at the last minute.”

SEEING THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY

While the Santa Clara Law Summer Abroad program expands students’ exposure to international law, Brockmeyer said it also helps students who want to practice law in the United States.

“This is the transformative nature of study abroad,” she said. “It helps them connect with intercultural differences, and it helps them grow their capacity to think critically about the U.S. legal system and the way we develop policies and laws in the U.S.”

Sherri Crawford-Wells J.D. ’92 said her study in Oxford provided invaluable experience for her future career. “It prepared me to work on international transactions and with subsidiary companies in Europe when I was an in-house counsel for a company in Silicon Valley,” she said.

“As Santa Clara Law’s Global Summer Abroad program launches into its next decade, it will continue to stand out as a trusted, long established, and premier opportunity for law students to gain international experience and legal insight,” said Flynn.

With programs around the world, students benefit from immersive courses taught by local experts and valuable externships that enhance their global legal perspectives and professional networks. The program remains a cornerstone of Santa Clara Law’s commitment to international law, providing students with not only academic enrichment but also personal growth through cultural exploration. As the program evolves and expands, it remains a vital platform for future legal professionals to gain a nuanced understanding of international law and practice.

2,300+: Number of students who have participated in Law Study Abroad programs since 2006.*

*This is the earliest year for which the program has detailed attendance records.

Larry Sokoloff J.D. ’92 is a freelance writer and a professor emeritus at San Jose State University, where he taught media law.

CLASS ACTION

SANTA CLARA LAW ALUMNI UPDATES

ALUMNI

1989

Lisa Bodensteiner was announced as Synaptics’ new senior vice president, chief legal officer, and secretary.

Steven Meyer has joined Tucker Ellis LLP as a partner.

1991

Douglas Moylan, Guam’s first elected attorney general, has been sworn in for a second term as Attorney General of Guam.

1992

Fariba Soroosh is the division director of operations at Superior Court of Santa Clara.

1994

Stephen Sutro was named cochair of Duane Morris’ trial practice group.

2002

Nicole Norris, associate general counsel for Vendavo, is now also of counsel for Wittliff Cutter PLLC.

2003

Daniel Weinberg is now of counsel for Hopkins & Carley’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice.

The Honorable Melissa O’Connell was appointed judge in Contra Costa County Superior Court.

2005

2006

Liam O’Connor was promoted to the position of shareholder at Hopkins & Carley.

2007

Suzanne Farley has joined Hopkins & Carley’s Family Wealth & Tax Planning practice.

Rebecca Stuart has joined Sidley Austin LLP as a partner.

2008

Jared Schuettenhelm was promoted to partner at Bracewell LLP in their intellectual property litigation practice.

2011

Jessica Jackson traveled to the World Economic Forum on behalf of the Forum of Young Global Leaders.

2012

Nicole Bartz Metral joined DraftKings Inc. as Corporate Counsel.

2013

The Honorable Hiram Fletcher B.A. ’01 was appointed judge in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

The Honorable Jaya Badiga was appointed judge by Governor Gavin Newsom in the Sacramento County Superior Court.

2009

Erika J. Gasaway was promoted to the position of shareholder at Hopkins & Carley.

Joanne Lue has joined Hopkins & Carley’s Family Wealth & Tax Planning practice.

2018

Monica DeLazzari B.A. ’15 is now IP litigation counsel at Apple. She won numerous honors in our High Tech Law and Moot Court programs.

2019

Linnea Vail has been promoted to senior commercial associate at Inventus Law.

2022

Athena Noell Niayesh is now an associate attorney at Laughlin, Falbo, Levy & Moresi, LLP.

Erik Perez is now a law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

2023

Alessandro Piras is now a law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Dean Emeritus Donald J. Polden

Donald J. Polden, a respected scholar, professor of law and dean emeritus at Santa Clara University School of Law, died October 14, 2024 at the age of 76. He is survived by his wife Susie and their children, Andy, Laura M.A. ’13, and Emma M.A. ’17, daughter-inlaw, Georgia Kral, and many loved ones.

(1948-2024)

Don joined Santa Clara University School of Law in 2003 as dean and professor. During his tenure as dean from 2003-13, Don oversaw the centennial celebration, expanded experiential learning by doubling externship placements, and helped to launch the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, the International Human Rights Clinic, and the Entrepreneurs’ Law Clinic. Twenty years ago, under Don’s leadership, the Law School established the annual Jerry A. Kasner Estate Planning Symposium, and the annual Diversity and Inclusion Celebration, an event at which select students receive the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Scholarship. In 2004, the Law School was admitted to the prestigious Order of the Coif. Don also launched a comprehensive effort that resulted in the construction of Howard S. and Alida S. Charney Hall of Law.

During his more than 30 years in legal education, Don’s teaching spanned many areas from corporate law to sports law, antitrust and trade regulations law and policy, employment and labor law, and leadership skills and development for lawyers, all areas for which he has garnered recognition as a nationally known expert.

Ella Wesly is an attorney with Gordon-Creed Kelley Holl & Sugerman LLP. Starting in Sept. 2023, she spent a year as the General Counsel Fellow at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as part of Santa Clara Law’s new fellowship program.

To see the latest alumni news, visit law.scu.edu/news-type/ alumni-news. Email your news to lawmedia@scu.edu or send to: Law Alumni Relations, Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053

“He was a deeply respected leader—humble, nurturing, selfless, optimistic, humorous, and highly intelligent. His charismatic personality, sharp wit, and ability to truly listen drew people to him. Don challenged me to be my best, and for that I will always be thankful.”

—CYNTHIA

MERTENS, Professor Emerita at Santa Clara Law

More than 20 years ago, Don launched one of the first leadership development and training programs at American law schools, and he was the co-author (with Barry Posner of The Leadership Challenge) of two books: Leading in Law: Leadership Development for Law Students and Lawyers and Leaders: Why It Matters and What It Takes. He also created Santa Clara Law’s Institute for Lawyer Leadership Education.

In 2021, Don served as the inaugural chair of the Section on Leadership of the American Association of Law Schools. In addition to other awards and accolades, Don received the Owens Lawyer of the Year Award from Santa Clara Law in 2017.

“Don has left a lasting mark on literally thousands of students throughout his career, as well as on numerous faculty and staff,” said Cynthia Mertens, professor emerita at Santa Clara Law. “He was a deeply respected leader—humble, nurturing, selfless, optimistic, humorous, and highly intelligent. His charismatic personality, sharp wit, and ability to truly listen drew people to him. Don challenged me to be my best, and for that I will always be thankful.”

“Having Don Polden as a leader and friend for more than 20 years has been a great blessing for the Santa Clara Law community, my family, and me,” said Kenneth Manaster, professor emeritus at Santa Clara Law.

SANTA CLARA

Alan Scheflin (1942-2023)

Alan Scheflin M.A. ’87, a revered colleague at the School of Law, passed away August 27, 2023, which was his 81st birthday, following a courageous battle with illness. His influence on the institution was profound, especially during the transformative 1970s, where he played a pivotal role in shaping faculty and the direction of legal scholarship.

From 1973 to his retirement in 2014, Scheflin dedicated himself to educating and inspiring generations of law students. His courses—Legal Profession, Torts, Law and Psychiatry, as well as specialized seminars—were renowned for their rigor and depth. Alan was known not only as a demanding educator but also as a

“Alan leaves a legacy of scholarly excellence and compassionate mentorship, and he will be remembered for his sharp intellect and warm humor, traits that endeared him to all.”

—ASH FARRINGTON, Director of Development

mentor who challenged students to refine their analytical skills and excel in legal writing.

Scheflin was a leading authority at the intersection of law and psychiatry. In the course of his distinguished career, he received numerous professional awards from diverse psychiatric and law

organizations, authored or co-authored seven books, 50+ articles, 10+ book chapters, and provided expert witness testimony in more than 40 judicial cases involving legal ethics, legal malpractice, the insanity defense, the science of hypnosis, brainwashing, and mind control, repressed memory, false memory, dissociative disorders, satanic and cult activities, and government mind and behavior control programs. His works, such as The Mind Manipulators and Memory, Trauma Treatment and the Law, remain seminal in their fields.

“Alan’s impact on Santa Clara Law and the legal community is profound and enduring,” said Ash Farrington, director of development. “He leaves a legacy of scholarly excellence and compassionate mentorship, and he will be remembered for his sharp intellect and warm humor, traits that endeared him to all.”

He is survived by his wife, Jamie Caploe J.D. ’85, and their daughter, Hallie Caploe Scheflin.

Michael “Mike” Alan Isaacs (1942-2023)

The School of Law mourns Michael “Mike” Alan Isaacs J.D. ’81, who passed away peacefully at home on December 13, 2023, at age 81 after a year-long battle with cancer.

“Mike was a wise, kind, and wonderful man who always maintained a deep commitment to the law and his family,” remembered Dean Emerita Lisa Kloppenberg.

A distinguished commercial bankruptcy attorney with more than 40 years of experience, he was honored by Best Lawyers in America from 1995 to 2023. He was known for his humble demeanor and passion for his work, and he earned admiration from clients and peers alike.

“He felt a strong loyalty to Santa Clara Law,” shared his wife, Dawn

Lebherz Isaacs. “When Mike applied to law schools, family responsibilities in San Francisco led him to choose schools within commuting distance.” He treasured the opportunities he had at Santa Clara and he remained devoted to its community.

From early roles like a gas station attendant to his tenure as a juvenile probation officer, Mike’s dedication was unwavering. His achievements included admission to peer recommended journals and the naming of a classroom/study room in his honor at Santa Clara Law.

“Mike leaves a legacy as a dedicated alumnus and a loving family man,” said Ash Farrington, director of development at Santa Clara Law. “His impact through law and his kindness to others will be remembered fondly by all who knew him.”

Michael "Mike" Alan Issacs J.D. ’81 was a devoted member of the alumni community.

Alan Scheflin M.A. ’87 served Santa Clara Law for more than 40 years.

IN MEMORIAM

Hon. Edward A. Panelli (1931-2024)

Edward A. Panelli ’53, J.D. ’55, Hon. ’86, a longtime member and chair of the Santa Clara University Board of Trustees and member of the Board of Fellows, first-generation Italian American, and retired associate justice of the California Supreme Court, died July 20, 2024 at the age of 92. Widowed by his beloved wife of 63 years, Lorna Panelli, in April 2019, Ed is survived by his three sons Tom, Jeff, and Michael and his four grandchildren Joey, Elisa, Clara, and Makiko.

A lifetime resident of Santa Clara County, Justice Panelli was born in a house that is now part of the Multicultural Center on campus, and raised in Santa Clara, California. He attended nearby Santa Clara University, earning his B.S cum laude in 1953 and his J.D. cum laude two years later in 1955.

After earning his law degree in 1955, Panelli co-founded Pasquinelli & Panelli, where he practiced for 17 years, specializing in probate, personal injury, domestic relations, and general business practice. In 1972 Gov. Ronald Reagan appointed him to the Santa Clara County Superior Court, where he served for 11 years before being named Associate Justice for the First District Court of Appeal. He was later promoted to Presiding Justice, Sixth District Court of Appeal from 1984-1985. Then in 1985 he was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California by Gov. George Deukmejian.

Justice Panelli served on the bench for the California Supreme Court from Dec. 24, 1985 to May 3, 1994 during which time he handled hundreds of settlement conferences and mediations involving all areas of the law and wrote important decisions pertaining to insurance coverage and strict liability. In 1994, Justice Panelli retired from the bench and went on to become a well-respected arbitrator and mediator.

Throughout his life, Panelli maintained a deep appreciation for his alma mater, Santa Clara University, which was instrumental in shaping his life and career. He served on the University’s Board of Trustees for 59 years and was its chair for 19 years. He and his wife were among the co-founders of the Bronco Bench Foundation, which has raised millions to support student athletes at SCU.

Justice Panelli was also an ardent advocate of the Santa Clara University School of Law, giving generously for decades, including endowing a scholarship and supporting the Panelli Courtroom in Charney Hall. Starting in 2019, he served as Jurist-inResidence, a program Santa Clara Law launched to connect students with legal experts who share their mastery of a multitude of subjects from mediation to patents.

“Justice Panelli has devoted his entire professional career to public service,” said Santa Clara Law Dean Michael J. Kaufman. “We are all so grateful to him for his devotion to our law students and our entire Law School community. He mentored, counseled, supported, cheered up and lifted up countless law students virtually every day in Charney Hall through his sage advice, caring presence, loving kindness, inspiring stories, remarkable life’s journey, and his example of what it truly means to live out our Jesuit mission of service for and with others.”

Rick E. Allen J.D. ’63

Frederic C. Begun J.D. ’88

Myrna R. Britton M.A. ’75, J.D. ’83

Susan "Sue" Burriss J.D. ’78

Jon J. Campisi B.S. ’63, J.D. ’69

Thomas “Tom” A. Castelazo B.A. ’62, J.D. ’64

William B. Clayton, Jr. ’71, J.D. ’74

James “Jim” H. Clevenger J.D. ’51

Roger “Joe” Allen Wilcox Cloud J.D. ’83

Jeffrey “Jeff” Cost B.A. ’67, J.D. ’70

The Honorable James Patrick Cramer B.S. ’83, J.D. ’87

Richard Djokic J.D. ’81

Joseph Robert Gallucci B.S. ’59, J.D. ’62

Paul T. Hammerness J.D. ’79

Jean O. Harris J.D. ’84

The Honorable Carl W. Holm J.D. ’72

Deborah L. Holmes J.D. ’76

Michael “Mike” A. Isaacs J.D. ’81

D. Braddock “Brad” Jones J.D. ’84

Elizabeth A. Lawler J.D. ’82

Thomas “Tom” D. Lawless B.S. ’77, J.D. ’82

Diana G. Lim J.D. ’85

Russell S. Lipetzky J.D. ’86

The Honorable Patricia M. Mahan J.D. ’80

Daniel “Dan” C. Martin J.D. ’73

Richard “Rich” A. McCarthy J.D. ’98, MBA ’99

Maureen Ann Murphy J.D. ’90

Robert W. Noonan J.D. ’70

Robert “Bob” L. Pasquinelli B.A. ’66, J.D. ’69

G. Michael Priest J.D. ’66

Kathy L. Priest J.D. ’98

Jacqueline Ramirez J.D. ’11

Ann E. Stuart (Bailey) J.D. ’79

John E. Virga J.D. ’64

Maretta Denise Ward J.D. ’94

The Honorable Hugh A. Walker B.S. ’69, J.D. ’72

Please visit law.scu.edu/obituaries for more details.

Immigrant Civil Rights and the Continuing Struggle for Inclusion

BY ALLISON BROWNELL TIRRES, 2023-24 VISITING PROFESSOR AT SANTA CLARA LAW AND PROFESSOR AT DEPAUL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW

In 1971, a young Chinese-American attorney named Anthony Ching achieved a remarkable victory: he persuaded the Supreme Court, on behalf of his Mexican immigrant client Carmen Richardson, that it was unconstitutional for states to discriminate against noncitizens in the distribution of public welfare. Richardson was a legal permanent resident who had resided in Arizona for 13 years, which was two years shy of the 15-year requirement for noncitizens to qualify for state aid for the elderly and disabled. Arizona was one of a handful of states that either barred noncitizens from public benefits completely, regardless of legal status, or required a lengthy period of residency to qualify. Richardson sought assistance from the Legal Aid Office of the Pima County Bar Association, where she met Ching, a recent law graduate who took the case all the way to the nation’s highest court. In his opinion for a unanimous court in Graham v. Richardson, Justice Harry Blackmun wrote that noncitizens like Richardson were a “discrete and insular minority” and that state laws discriminating against them based on their lack of citizenship would be assessed under the most exacting judicial scrutiny. Blackmun concluded that Arizona’s law that discriminated in providing these benefits was unconstitutional since the state did not have a compelling reason to prevent these residents, who themselves contributed to the tax base, from benefiting from the resources of the state in which they resided.

With the Graham decision, the Supreme Court brought noncitizens into the fold of modern Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection doctrine. It had appeared to do so long before, in the 1886 decision of Yick Wo v. Hopkins. There, the Court invalidated a San Francisco ordinance that blatantly discriminated against Chinese laundry owners, noting pointedly that the Equal Protection Clause, by its very terms, extends to “persons,” not just citizens. But in the decades after Yick Wo, states found ways to sidestep this protection, arguing that they had a right under either their state police powers or under the so-called “special public interest doctrine” to bar noncitizens from a wide range of professions, occupations, and other economic activities, in addition to ownership of real property. By the 1960s, there were thousands of such laws on the books, across all states, that discriminated on this basis.

It was not until Graham that the Court began to take such challenges seriously, as based on nothing more than animus towards and stereotypes about foreigners and therefore violating equal protection. The decision catalyzed a larger legal movement. A disparate group of litigants, attorneys, and advocacy organizations achieved success in the courts, transforming a doctrine that had been fairly settled for decades. Victories at the district court level, in addition to more wins at the Supreme Court, overturned hundreds of discriminatory laws across the country and left thousands more essentially unenforceable. These cases brought attention to the significant contributions of noncitizens in the economy and society. As Justice Lewis Powell noted in his 1973 decision overturning Connecticut’s law limiting the legal profession to citizens only, immigrants “pay taxes, support the economy, serve in the Armed Forces, and contributed in myriad other ways to our society. It is appropriate that a State bear a heavy burden when it deprives them of employment opportunities.”

Like other important civil rights— including voting rights and reproductive care—an immigrant's right to work, own property, and participate in the economic life of the community appears to be increasingly defined by state law, rather than federal constitutional law.

But this civil rights movement has never fully achieved its goals of inclusion. In the latter half of the 1970s, the Supreme Court backed away from strict scrutiny for alienage classifications, adopting a lesser standard of review—rational basis only— for state laws that discriminated against noncitizens in positions or offices that were related to a “government function” or per-

tained to “the heart of representative government.” This category of restrictions that were subject only to rational basis review was interpreted remarkably broadly; for example, the Court included public school teachers and deputy probation officers as positions that states could limit to citizens only, despite the tenuous connection between these positions and representative democracy.

Some commentators attributed this shift in equal protection doctrine to the Court’s changing makeup, as more conservative justices replaced more liberal ones. But the nation had also entered a new era of hostility towards immigrants. By the late 1970s, lawmakers were fixated on undocumented immigrants in particular, but this had ripple effects for all those of foreign birth. Efforts to invalidate state laws that discriminated based on citizenship, and thereby ensure protection for noncitizen civil rights, dropped off, as lawyers and immigrant advocates focused on protecting against mass deportation and other abuses in the immigration law system. This shift partly explains why we still have many laws on the books that discriminate based on citizenship, even though such laws are more than likely unconstitutional under the Graham decision and its progeny. In West Virginia, for example, one must be a citizen to work as an auctioneer; in South Carolina, citizenship is required to obtain a commercial fishing license; in Alabama, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, one must be a citizen in order to be a funeral home director; in Indiana, one has to be a citizen in order to be a licensed practical nurse.

In recent years, however, we have seen a notable renewal of efforts to eliminate citizenship discrimination, owing in large part to advocacy by and on behalf of the “DREAMers,” undocumented youth who were brought to this country as children and have no current path to citizenship. These immigrants are the intended beneficiaries of the bipartisan Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which has been repeatedly introduced in Congress but not yet adopted. Congress’ failure to pass the DREAM Act led the Obama administration to adopt the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which has given some basic territorial and economic security to some 800,000 young people.

DACA’s immediate benefits for its recipients are welldocumented, but less well known is the extent to which this movement on behalf of undocumented youth has catalyzed a broader reconsideration of state laws that discriminate based on citizenship (and not just on legal status). In recent years, thanks in large part to this advocacy on behalf of DACA recipients, we have seen the decades-old promises of Graham become more of a reality. In California and Illinois, among other states, recent legislation has opened up many areas of employment that were previously limited to citizens only, including policing and the legal profession. In 2014, California removed citizenship and legal status requirements for the legal profession and other licensed occupations in the state. In 2015, Illinois reformed its laws to make it possible for DACA recipients to become licensed attorneys; just a few years later, the legislature amended the laws to eliminate citizenship discrimination entirely from occupational licensing in the state. Last year, Illinois made it

possible for noncitizens to serve as police officers, and other states are poised to follow suit.

At the same time, animus against noncitizens dominates policy efforts in other states. Florida’s recent passage of Senate Bill 264 is just one example. This law would, among other things, bar most Chinese immigrants without permanent resident status from purchasing real property in the state. It is currently enjoined pending hearing before the Eleventh Circuit. Florida is among a handful of states that also still actively bars those without legal status from any form of professional or occupational licensure in the state.

Like other important civil rights—including voting rights and reproductive care—an immigrant’s right to work, own property, and participate in the economic life of the community appears to be increasingly defined by state law, rather than federal constitutional law. This is taking the movement in new directions, as lawyers and advocates consider ways to foster further inclusion not just through constitutional challenges but also through state lawmaking.

Allison Brownell Tirres is a historian and legal scholar who researches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, immigration law, and civil rights. This editorial draws on several recent articles, including “The Unfinished Revolution for Immigrant Civil Rights” (University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law) and “Political Representation and Economic Rights in the Shadows of Citizenship” (75 UC Law Journal 1693, 2024). She is writing a book on the history of the civil rights of immigrants.

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