the ALEXANDER years
B.T. COLLINS “CAPTAIN HOOK”
Brien (“B.T.”) Collins B.A. ’70, J.D. ’73, who lost a leg and arm as a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam, left a long legacy at the Law School. One is the B.T. Collins Memorial Urinal in the Heafey Library with its inscription: “If it ain’t in Gilbert’s, it ain’t the law.” Collins served as director of the California Conservation Corps and chief of staff for then-Governor Jerry Brown. He also served as deputy finance director, director of the California Youth Authority, and as an elected member of the California State Assembly. He regarded public service as a privilege, and frequently urged others to give back. Collins died suddenly in 1993 at the age of 52. In 1994, the B.T. Collins “Captain Hook” Scholarship for Public Interest was established at Santa Clara Law. It is awarded to the student who best answers the question, “Why would B.T. Collins want me to have this scholarship?”
FIRST PERSON Learning a Passion for Law As someone who took the LSAT in Saigon and arrived in Santa Clara directly from serving with the Special Forces in Vietnam, I found the law school community to be welcoming, embracing, and challenging. Exceptional mentors and professors like George Alexander, George Strong, Paul Goda, Jerry Kasner, and Marc Poche spent hours of their personal time encouraging and infusing me with their passion for the law. And new friends from law review, state moot court competition, and our own ad hoc study group added a depth and richness to the learning experience. In those moments when I was struggling, I always knew I could have a drink with my friend B.T. Collins and come away laughing, with all the world problems in perspective. One event stands out—a combined Stanford/ Santa Clara Public Defender Clinic. Jointly taught by the well-known Stanford Professor Anthony Amsterdam and the head of the Santa Clara Public Defender Office, Rose Bird,
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it was offered to a limited number of students each of “her” who competed for the few positions. Classes students. I honor were taught in the evenings in Stanford, where her and all those Tony and Rose led us through lectures, roleother wonderful playing, practice sessions, and then videotaping people who have with daunting critique sessions. The real work, contributed to the however, was in the Public Defender Clinic, richness of the where each of us did each part of the attorney’s Santa Clara Law responsibilities, always under the watchful experience over eye of Rose or one of her subordinates. The the years. interviewing, plea negotiation, and in-court work was superb; quite valuable in later years for me when I In those moments when I was struggling, I entered other courtrooms. always knew I could have a drink with my Rose Bird, who later became friend B.T. Collins and come away laughing, the first woman chief justice with all the world problems in perspective. of the California Supreme Court, became a friend and mentor. She was quick to hold our new baby —John Cruden ’74, President, daughter (born at the Stanford Medical Center) Environmental Law Institute, former Deputy and became a friend of our entire class. At our Assistant Attorney General, Environment and graduation, where Chief Justice Earl Warren was Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department our speaker, she attended and congratulated of Justice