CLC Founding Director
Professor Scott Dodson
MESSAGE FROM THE FACULTY DIRECTOR
Scott Dodson
The Center for Litigation and Courts has had quite a year.
Most prominently, CLC took on pro bono representation of Stuart Harrow, a longtime federal employee, in an employment case before the U S Supreme Court CLC was counsel of record, wrote the successful cert petition and merits briefs, argued the case, and prevailed in a 9-0 unanimous opinion issued in May. The case is Harrow v. Department of Defense
Meanwhile, CLC has continued to produce original research, publishing important scholarship in California Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Emory Law Journal, and others. It produced its first white paper, a Report on Class-Action Settlement Distributions in the Northern District of California, which generated substantial media attention CLC sponsored and hosted the Ninth Annual Civil Procedure Workshop, the premier academic conference for American proceduralists. Its California Appellate Advocacy Project organized more than 25 moots for appellate advocates around the country. CLC, in partnership with Huntington National Bank, will organize and host the third annual Complex Litigation Ethics Conference this fall And the UC Law SF Trial Team advanced to the national tournament for the second year in a row.
CLC is playing its part to expand and disseminate knowledge of civil litigation and courts. Please join me in supporting that effort.
HARROW v. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
When longtime federal employee Stuart Harrow’s employment dispute before the Federal Circuit was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds because his petition for review was filed late, he looked for someone with the experience and capacity to help him.
He found CLC Director Scott Dodson, the worldwide leading expert on what makes a federal statutory deadline jurisdictional “CLC doesn’t usually provide direct representation,” Dodson said, “but Mr. Harrow’s case was so compelling, and the issue was so squarely within CLC’s mission and expertise, that we just had to.”
Dodson and CLC Research Professor Josh Davis, who is also a shareholder at Berger Montague, represented Harrow pro bono in an appeal to the Supreme Court.
They filed the cert petition in July 2023. The government, represented now by the Solicitor General, opposed the petition, but the Court granted cert in December.
Merits briefs were filed in early 2024, and the Court heard oral argument on March 25. Davis argued the case. Early in the argument, Justice Gorsuch asked why the government was resisting the case so strongly “That’s when I thought we had pretty good chance,” Dodson said with a smile.
The Court issued a unanimous decision in Harrow’s favor in May “We’re both honored and delighted to have obtained this result for Mr. Harrow,” Dodson said, “but it’s also a win for justice and fairness everywhere.”
California Appellate Advocacy Project
CAAP offers oral-argument prep to appellate practitioners appearing before the California Supreme Court and other appellate courts across the nation. CAAP will hold its 40th moot this year
OTHER UPDATES
The Judges’ Book
This annual compilation of UC Law faculty scholarship of particular interest to judges is published and mailed, free of charge, to all federal judges nationwide and all California state judges The eighth edition will be published in 2024.
Impact Research
CLC’s 2023 white paper on class-settlement distributions was the topic of a conference held at Berkeley Law and has sparked conversations with judges from the Northern District of California
CLC STAFF & AFFILIATES
Scott Dodson
Founding Director and Distinguished Professor of Law
Leah Spero Director, California
Appellate Advocacy Project
Joshua P Davis Research Professor
The Hon Vaughn Walker (ret.)
Visiting Scholar
ADVISORY BOARD
S Flier ADR Services, Inc
Richard
Kelly Matayoshi Farella Braun + Martell LLP
Dena Sharp Girard Sharp LLP
Claude Stern Formerly of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP
The Hon. Edward J. Davila U.S. District Judge
Elise Traynum ACLU of Northern California
Special Thanks To:
Chancellor and Dean David Faigman
Provost and Academic Dean Morris Ratner
CLC Staff and Affiliates
CLC Advisory Board
Huntington National Bank
Website: sites.uclawsf.edu/clc
Email: clc@uclawsf.edu
Twitter: @LitCenter