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The Law'sMetaphysician
opyright,saidJustice StoryoftheSupremeCourtmorethanacenturyago, is"themetaphysicsofthelaw." Ifthat is so, then without any doubt the law's chief metaphysician today is Melville B.Nimmer.
UCLA's Professor Nimmer is best known because of Nimmer on Copyright, his twovolumetreatise whichlawyers everywhere regard as the definitive analysis of American copyright law. Withthe federal Copyright Act of 1976 (the firstgeneral revision of the Act in almost seventy years), Nimmerhasrewrittenthetreatiseinordertointegrate the old and the new law; Matthew Bender will publishhisnew multi-volume treatise this year. Nimmer on Copyright can be found in thelibraries of all law schools, and for that matter in any comprehensive law library.That fact alone doesn't attest tothestatureofProfessorNimmerasthelegalprofession'smost influential authority on copyright. Perhapsthemosttellingevidenceliesintherecord of court decisions.Nimmer on Copyright is cited in morethanhalf, perhaps as many as two-thirds, of all copyrightcasesinthenation'sappellatecourtsandin tleast halfofallcopyrightcasesinthetrialcourts.It an example of how law professors can influence thelaw
Professor Nimmer's own influence has been made all the more intense by the very ambiguity of copyrightlaw.ACourtofAppealsopinionstatedtheproblem in 1963 (which was thesameyear when Nimmer first published his treatise, and the year when he was appointed a Professor of Law at UCLA).
Copyright,saidthecourt,presents"alegalproblem vexinginitsdifficulty,adearthofsquarelyapplicable precedents...and an almost complete absence of guidance from the terms ofthe CopyrightAct."
Melville Nimmer at the time was well aware of those vexing difficulties in copyright law because of his previous practice as an attorney for clients who includedParamount PicturesandtheWritersGuildof America.Itwas partlytheabsenceofguidance froma Copyright Act which Congress hadn't revised since 1909 which prompted him in the writing of Nimmer on Copyright,A Treatise onthe Law ofLiterary,Musical andArtistic Property,andtheProtection ofIdeas. The Copyright Act of 1976goesagood distance in removing the vexing vagueness of the old Act, but it also presents some new problems for attorneys and students in copyright.For example, during the next 75 years the renewal provisions of the old Act still will apply to those works protected by federal copyrightpriortotheJanuary1,1978,effectivedateof the new CopyrightAct.
"A number of areas in the old law will continue to be in effect, and will be repeated in my treatise, but with changes," notes Professor Nimmer. "Almost every part of the treatise is affected. No single page will be the same. In fact, it will be an entirely new book. I couldn't simplywritean additionalvolumeon the new law, because it doesn't stand alone, it relates to the old law in very complicated ways. The problem in rewriting this book has been to integrate the old and the new."
The entire subject of copyright, says Nimmer, is a fascinatingone because it is based on a "sophisticated concept of property in intangibles." In copyright, "the law comes to grips with what William Faulkner has described as the process of 'creating out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before.'"
For the sake of promoting this creative process, authors are given special rights which protect and encourage their work. The Constitution itself au-
thorizes copyright laws in order "to promote the p--i;ress of science and the useful arts."
feature of sweeping significance in the new ,1.JJyright Act of 1976 is the fact that it terminates common-law copyright for the most part. There has been a dual system of common-law (or state-law) copyright and federal copyright in America from the beginning of our national experience, since the first Copyright Act of 1790. As long as a work remained unpublished, explains Nimmer, it was protected by common-law copyright. Once published, a work was protected under the federal copyright law. But since January 1, 1978, the dual system has been abolished. "Under the new law, common-law copyright is ended and everything is statutory copyright, federal copyright. From the moment you put pen to paper or paint to canvas, from the moment you reduce a work to tangible form, it becomes automatically protected by federal copyright," explains Nimmer.
The term for that protection is the life of the author plus 50 years, which is the same term that is recognized in most European countries and many other countries of the world.
"However, the situation is further complicated by the fact that, if a work already was protected by federal statutory copyright before January 1, 1978, then the old term for those works was 28 years from publication with the right to renew the copyright for a second 28 years, or a total of 56 years. As to those works, the new term again becomes 28 years from publication, but with a renewal of an additional 47 years, or a total of 75 years from publication."
If that seems simple enough to understand, then one should also consider the fact that a host of ambiguous issues about who has the rights to copyright renewals-issues which have beset students in this area of the law for decades-still will remain as vexing puzzles for the next three-quarters of a century.
"All of those marvelous, esoteric questions remain questions," says Professor Nimmer, "because the renewal provision of the old Act has been transferred in toto to thenewlaw, but only applicable to those works in federal copyright before January 1, 1978. Say that a work fust obtained statutory copyright on December 30, 1977 Twenty-eight years after that date, the renewal will come about for that work under the old rules, and then for another 47 years questions may arise as to whether it was a valid renewal, or whether the work is in the public domain. For another 75 years, we're going to be wrestling with these renewal provisions, although not as to works first created afteP January 1, 1978."
It could not have been otherwise, since changing the copyright renewal provisions as they pertained to.
works already protected could have abridged existing property rights.
If the concept of property consisting of intangibles appears to enter a rather metaphysical realm of the abstract, then it is possible to appreciate the dilemmas which arise in trying to strike a balance between the rights of authors and the rights of the public. This perplexing issue of balancing conflicting interests runs through Professor Nimmer's treatise and his law review articles.
In the 1963 edition of Nimmer on Copyright, he addressed the question of whether authors and their heirs should enjoy copyright protection in perpetuity.
"If I may own Blackacre in perpetuity, why not also Black Beauty?" The answer to that question lies in
A host of ambiguous issues which have beset students for decades still will remain as vexing puzzles for the next three-quarters of a century.
the first amendment; the balance between copyright interests and free speech interests must shift in favor of the public domain after copyright protection has run a certain limitation of time.
"When I originally wrote my treatise," Professor Nimmer recalls, "my conclusion was that there is no good reason we should not give equal, perpetual protection to Black Beauty. But I have since modified my view, because of the first amendment.
"I think the first amendment (which is something that I also teach) comes into play in copyright in a way it does not in other property areas. There is a first amendment interest in the public having access to materials; after a certain period of time, when the author and his heirs have been sufficiently recompensed, you don't need to encourage that author any longer. At that point, the first amendment interest of free speech and press outbalances any property interest.''
Professor Nimmer's views on how this balance should be defined were stated in a 1970 article, "Does Copyright Abridge the First Amendment Guarantees of Free Speech and Press?" 17 UCLA Law Review 1180. That article now is being cited with regularity by the courts.
A balance between copyright interests and free speech interests, as the law review article analyzed the matter, can be found in the dichotomy between ideas and the expression of ideas. "Copyright does 3
not protect an author's 'ideas' per se," Nimmer noted. "If it did, there would certainly be a serious encroachment upon first amendment values....It is the particular selectionand arrangement of ideas,as well as a given specificity in the form of their expression, which warrants protection under the law of copyright.Here,then,is a definitional balance under which ideas per se fall on the free speech side of the line,while the statement ofan idea in specificform,as well as the selection and arrangement of ideas,fall on the copyright side of the line In some degree it
"Ifoneappliedtheequalprotection clauseofthefourteenthamendment literally,it wouldmean,forexample, thataseven-year-old shouldbe ableto vote."
encroachesuponfreedomofspeechin thatit abridges the right to reproduce the 'expression' of others,but this is justified by the greater public good in the copyright encouragement of creative works.In some degreeitencroachesupontheauthor'srighttocontrol hisworksin that it renders his 'ideas' per se unprotectible,but this is justified by the greater public need for free access to ideas as part of the democratic dialogue."
Deciding how to balance the rights of creative people and therightsofthe publicingeneralbecomes more thorny with each new advance in technology. An acute problem at the present revolves around balancing the interests of people who write and publish books on the one hand, and libraries and their patrons who wish to photocopy portions of these copyrighted materials on the other hand. Professor Nimmer is Vice Chairman of the National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works,appointed by thePresident and charged with finding ways to balance the rights of authors and the rights of users.
He provides guidance also to a host of regional, national, and international organizations in many areas of copyright,the protection of ideas and creative works,and related matters in entertainment law.
When Nimmer on Copyright is published this year in its multi-volume revision, it will include an entirely new section on foreign and international copyright law,drawing from his consultations with colleagues from many nations and focusing especially on how their laws affect American works.
Professor Nimmer occasionally finds time to argue an appellate case.Recently he represented a plaintiff in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,a producer of a television show called "Puff 'n Stuff" who contended that characters from the show had been pirated by McDonald's television commercials. "It was no earthshaking issue,but we won," said Nimmer witha trace of bemusement. "Better to win than to lose.And we also won some nice questions on damages and remedies, including plaintiff's right to defendant's profits."
He wouldrather talkabout hisworkonbehalf ofthe American Civil Liberties Union in free speech cases. Most notable was Cohen v California,which Nimmer argued and won before the U.S. Supreme Court.His client had been penalized for wearing in a public building a jacket emblazoned with the words "Fuck the Draft." Nimmer said that Cohen's freedom of speech was being abridged. "Although the facts in that case may seemsilly," he says in retrospect,"it did raise significant first amendment issues; that opinion can be found in every constitutional law casebook."
Melville Nimmer has been influential also in expanding the protection of creative work under state law, which has importance in California as perhaps nowhere else because of the motion picture industry. The leading casein protecting theworkof the "idea man " and the first case to be recognized by the California Supreme Court was Desny v Wilder. Ironically, Nimmer found himself on both sides of that landmark. Victor Desny contended that his idea for a motionpicture hadbeenappropriatedbyBilly Wilder
"Thetrial courtthrew the caseout asnonsense,saying 'You can't monopolizeShakespeare.'But we woninthe CourtofAppeals."
and Paramount Pictures.Nimmer was helping to defend Paramount, but he had written a law review article on the protection of ideas which the California Supreme Court cited and relied on in reaching its decision.The court decided in favor of Desny "Some years ago,I had a rather interesting case in which I represented Julian Blaustein, a well-known producer. He had an idea for a film,which was that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton should make The Taming of the Shrew. He met with them and told them his idea.He had a few additional thoughts,such as filming the wedding scene which is offstage in the
play in pantomime. He also had in mind the perfect director for this film, Franco Zeffirelli. 'And of course,' Blaustein said, 'I will be the producer.' Taylor and Burton told Blaustein, 'We'll let you know.' Then they went forward on their own. He sued them.
"Obviously, it wasn't copyright infringement; he had no copyright on The Taming of the Shrew. But it was an implied contract case, growing out of the Desny line of idea cases. I represented Blaustein. The trial court threw it out as nonsense, saying 'You can't monopolize Shakespeare.' But we won in the Court of
"Mywife
said, 'You
probably have
somecrazyideaaboutteaching
at UCLA.'Shewas right. I'vebeenhere ever since; UCLA is where Iwant to teach."
Appeals, and Blaustein v Burton has become a rather significant idea case."
Professor Nimmer believes, however, that the "law of ideas" probably "has gone as far as it will, or should." This body of state law having to do with implied contracts and other areas beyond the scope of copyright has been developed to a greater extent in California than in any other state.
While teaching copyright, entertainment law, and contracts during the past year, and rewriting his treatise, Nimmer somehow has found time also to chair the law school's Bakke Committee. On that issue, too, he sees an extremely relevant application to the concept of balancing.
"Clearly, it is an issue of balancing," he says. "One extreme would be to say, as the California Supreme Court indeed did say, that equal protection means no one can be refused admission to professional schools by virtue of race. The other extreme might be that admission should be made according to the statistical proportion of your race in the community, which I believe would be absurd and wrong.
"If one applied the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment literally, it would mean, for example, that a seven-year-old should be able to vote; the fourteenth amendment doesn't say anything about adults. What equal protection mustmeanisthat there may not be arbitrary classifications of how you treat people, not that everyone is to be treated identically regardless of the class he falls under.
"I believe the minority programs that have been adopted by the various schools do involve some bal-
ancing of interests, and I think the balancing is in conformity with what the fourteenth amendment should mean. We will see whether it does mean that, after we've heard from the Supreme Court."
Long after that particular issue is resolved, it seems safe to predict that Melville Nimmer will remain in the thick of whatever future issues may evolve at the Schoolof Law. ''I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I went to law school in the East," he·says, "but when I returned here to practice I bought a house two blocks from UCLA. My wife said, 'You probably have some crazy idea about teaching at UCLA.' She was right. I've been here ever since; UCLA is where I want to teach."
And his students? They're quite aware of his national reputation, which probably explains why there's such a demand to get into Melville Nimmer's courses. "Anytime a teacher is the top of his field," said one third-year student, "you would be a fool not to take his classes." D
faring well.
helegalcommunity has alwaysbeen tight knit.Graduates of the relatively young UCLA Law School seem to have broken in and earned an extraordinary respect.As aresult,even in an increasingly competitive job market, UCLA's law graduates are
"There still is a certain problem of breaking in," saysDianeGough,headoftheUCLALaw Placement Services. "But within thelast two years,the growing national reputation of the law school, an impressive judicial clerkship extern program, and the performance of alumni have brought in firms throughout the country."
Morethan200firms,includingninefromNewYork City, will conduct on-campus interviews this year. That number will be envied by law schools in existencefor generationsbeforethe founding of the law schoolatUCLA.Judgingfromthesuccessesofrecent years, 75 percent of the UCLA graduates will have jobs in the legal community by the time they graduate, and virtually everyone will have a job withinayear ofgraduating."Almostwithoutexception, everybody who graduates from this law school getsa jobwithin thelegal community," saysGough. WhileUCLAlawstudentsshouldbeconfidentthat UCLA graduates get jobs, the process of finding the right job may require considerable stamina. For the averagegraduate,interviews with 20 firmswouldbe typical;itis not unusualfor agraduatetogothrough 50 interviews. As alumnus Allan Cooper '74, who nowinterviewsatUCLAforthefirmofErvin,Cohen& Jessup, explains, "Firms have personalities just as individuals do. It can be a mistake if a firm with a certain personality hires a new attorney with a very differentpersonality.Bytheendofthesummer,someone will be very unhappy, and in the long run the situationmay beunproductive."
Cooper spends little time in interviews talking aboutthelaw as such. "Mostof thetimeI look atthe resume and pick out something of interest that has little if any relationship to the law. I try to get an insightinto what the person is really like in an area where that person is comfortable. I look for people who are dedicated andwhose personality appears to fitin with my perception ofthe firm's personality."
Asthejobmarket hasbecomeincreasinglycompetitive,the processof the job search has become more and more involved. At UCLA, law students can rehearse their interviews on videotape. Resumes are scrutinized and edited to perfection.
Asstudents'concernoverthecompetitiontheyface has intensified, demands on the placement center
staffhave also increased, and the staffitselfhasbeen forced to become more professional and careeroriented.Sixyearsago,whenGoughtookherjobwith the placement center, she had just graduated from UCLA with a bachelor's degree in English. Her job wasessentiallyaclericalone.Goughsoonreturnedto school to work on a master's degree in counseling.
The videotaped interviews have proved a particularly helpful technique. "Law students typically are not well-prepared for an interview," says Gough "Manyhaveneverinterviewedforajobintheirlives. Theyhavealmostno ideahowtogoaboutit.Theyare certainly a very bright group and a very articulate group.buttheyneedtoknowhowtosellthemselves.I take their resume and pretend to be an interviewer. Mainly, I ask questions about themselves. We then play backthetape questionby questionandaskthem whattheythink abouttheir responses.I thencritique theinterview myself."
This process does not seem to have resulted in students who are over-rehearsed, judging from the comments of those who conduct the actual interviews. But the intensified concern of students does seem to come across. Says Woody Godbold '66,who nowinterviewsforGibson,Dunn&Crutcher,"Ithink the students at UCLA are a lot better than we were, person for person. They're better academically qualified, and they seem to work harder." Godbold, who interviews at other top law schools as well, sees the situation as an intensely personal competition. "In termsofpreparation,the UCLA graduateisatexactly the same level as the graduate of Harvard. It comes downtotheindividual,and youlookfor thoseintangibles which have to be there for the making of a good lawyer."
Adds Hal Borthwick '74, who interviews for Hill, Farrer&Burrill,"Grades aren'tcritical.Theyindicate onlyoneofanumberofqualitiesapersoncouldhave. I'm looking for people I'd want around my partnershiptable someday."
As women and minorities have made inroads into law schools, they are faring increasingly well in the legal job market. Inequalities linger. The law school assiduously encourages womenandminoritiestoreport any instance of discrimination and reported cases are investigated. Any firm which shows such prejudices would be barred from interviewing at UCLA.
Usually,theproblemismoreoneofaninterviewer's ownuncertainty,or perhaps clumsiness,with changing attitudes. "Women are not at a disadvantage in getting a job," says Gough, "but interms of attitudes they have a lot to overcome." Women graduates still complain of spending interviews answering ques-
The Job Mart
Low students canrehearse their job interviews on videotape at the UCLA Low Placement Services. Dione Gough, head ofthe placement office.critiques aninterview with thirdyear student Pete Huxster.
lions about their husbands or how many children they plan to have-questions they say would not be asked of male graduates.
_D�rin� the investigations of cases of alleged dis�nmmahon, however, the prejudices shown by an mterviewer are usually found to be those of the intervieweras anindividual and donot reflectthepolicies of the firm. "In some cases, I think the interviewers simply feel uncomfortable interviewing women becausethey are not used to it. I think sometimes when �ey make the offending statements they are just trymg to make conversation," says Gough.
The school has been making increasing efforts to encourage minority students to use the placement office. Such students tend to gravitate toward legal aid offices or government agencies which have definite affirmative action programs. Some may lose options by not going through the campus interviews with law firms. Those who do go through the interview process seem to fare well.
Despitethe achievements of UCLAgraduatesinthe job market, students often need reassurances. Only about a third of the students in a class will be hired directly through the campus interviews. "We have to
LSaroPfrommer,athird-yearstudent,scansonnouncC'ments of on-campus interdc,vs at the placement office.
tempertheexpectationsofthestudents," saysGough. "On-campus interviews are a very prominent thing thatwe do.The students are walking around intheir suits and all the interviewers are here. Everything is hustle andbustle.We havetotellthe students not to rely on this and yet not to go in with a negative attitude. Last year, some people were getting so discouraged after 20 on-campus interviews that they wouldnever comebackto theofficeeventhoughlots of opportunities remained."
Sometimes,"even when the best fi.rms make offers, someonetakes a different route.One such round peg whodidnotseemtofitintoanyofthesquareholesof legal clerkship was Michael Daymude '74. Daymude is oneof those rare graduates who went directlyinto private practice-because he wanted to. Daymude was a top student who had several offers from top firms. Yet something was wrong."After I'd get a job offer I'd go home andthrow up," he says.
Daymude clerked during the summer for the firm hewantedtoworkforandgotthejobofferhewanted. But, he says, "law school changes you. I wasn't the same person once I started to work. I had never considered private practice. That was something people fromSouthwesterndidbecausetheycouldn'tgetjobs anywhere else." An attorney whom Daymude had worked for one summer seemed to recognize the problem. "He told me therewas aspace in his office andsaid, 'Whydon'tyoutryit?' Ithought,well,that's
betterthangoingoutoninterviewsandcominghome and throwing up."
Daymude says he nowmakesmoremoneythanhe wouldhave made with a major law firm and finds a lot more fulfillment. His experience has also beer. broader. That experience has included private litigation,appealsandprivate investigations work. During his first year he took on a three-week Superior Court jury trial.
Tohelpstudentscopewiththemountingpressure; ofthe search,theplacement personnel are startinglt work with first year students to help set realistic expectations. In fact, the quest for a job now begins almost thedaythestudententerslawschool. Summer jobs have become an important vehicle for permanent employment as more and more firms use the summer experience asa trial for thepersonthey ma) want to hire after graduation.As aresult, evenin thE first year, thepressureisontomakegradesandgettht summer job that willlead to a career position.
Grades continue to weigh heavily, especially will the large law firms. Although campus interviewers almost unanimously insist that grades are only a small part of the picture of a candidate they look at. the fact remains that the top students in terms of grades sometimes receive as manyas 10 offers.
The law review,always an impressive accolade,is becoming more accessible, but the competition is fierce. In the past, only a top percentage of the first year class was invited to write on to the law review. Now anyone may write an article for the law review. and if that article is accepted, its author becomes a memberofthelawreviewandacquiresthecherished notation on his resume.
Students' own interests seem to be drifting where the jobs are. According to Bob Rubin '64, who interviews forLoeb & Loeb, "Most peopleareinterestedin litigation, entertainment and real estate," and these seemto remain the big three inthe Southern Californialegal profession.
On a national level, the placement center's most outstanding successes have resulted from judicial clerkships. Here, students must vie against the most highlyqualifiedstudentsfromthebestlawschoolsin the country. Through UCLA's externship program. somestudentswhodon'thavetherecordstheywould normallyneedhave beenabletoearn suchclerkships and, thereby, the recommendations of influential judges impressed by their performances.
Inallareas.itseems,thoughtheracehasheatedup, itisstillwideopen.Says Rubin, "Howa persondoes inlawschoolisonlyoneofthewaysyoucanprojecta person's legal ability. Thekind of people we're looking for can be spotted in various ways." D
Oasis • 1na Lawbook Desert
n asocietyincreasinglycomplexand litigious, law libraries are indispensable wellsof knowledge.
The UCLA LawLibrary finds itself an oasis surrounded by thirsting hordes in a lawbook desert. A state _____..., supported institution besieged by its uw11public,thelibraryisnotwonttoturnawayusers.
"The UCLA LawLibrary is in a unique situation," explains law librarian Fred Smith. "I don't think there'sanyotherstatesupportedlawschoollibraryso situated in an urban area that it gets such heavy demandsplaced on it by the whole community."
Theavalancheoflibraryusersispartlytheresultof shifts in legal demographics. The migration of the legal community from downtown Los Angeles to the Westsidecontinues,with BelAirandPacificPalisades serving as the bedrooms of the legal profession.Along the path between,the UCLALawLibrary servesastheonlystatesupportedlawlibrarysouthof Berkeley. Federalagencies,with teamsoflawyers,are also located nearby.
Even for students, the UCLA Law Library serves more than its own. Early each September, before classeshavebegun at the UCLA LawSchool.the use ofthelawlibraryincreasessharply,usuallytothepoint thatthelibrarystaffhastoputonextrashelvingpersonnel just to handle the upsurge. This is the result of the opening of classes at other law schools. which
A remocteJrng feat has 1mpro1·e<.1 access to reference vo1umes, which now arc sheh·ed openly.
generally operate on a semester system.
Proprietary law schools have mushroomed throughouttheLos Angeles area. Many ofthenewer schools are not accredited,partlydue to their lack of adequate libraries. Students determined to achieve the bar through whatever means they can have flockedtosuchschoolsandtotheUCLALawLibrary forthereferencestheymustreachtohaveanychance ofachieving their goals.
Alsoincreasing the headcount at the lawlibrary is the interest in the law that has spread and bred in otherdisciplines.In addition tothetraditional fields such as political science and economics, where course work often brings undergraduate students to the library with legal problems, a string of hybrid courseshasmultiplied.Thestudyofthelegalaspects of virtually every subject has reached from archeology to home economics. One staff member at the library was recently approached by an Extension studentwhoseinstructorhadsenthertothelawlibrary, assuring her that the staff could direct her in the research of her term paper The course title: Interior Decorating and the Law
As the turnstiles whirledever faster,the countsurpassed 65,000 entrances a month, a rate of use greaterthanthatoftheCollegeLibrarywhichservesa student body 10 times as large. The law library was forced toplace some restrictions on outside use during peak hours. Last year, alumni were included in
such restrictions. This year, however, alumni of all Universityof Californialawschoolsandallmembers of the bar are exempted from such restrictions.Thus the main impact of the restrictions now falls on students fromotherlawschools.Headcountsunderthis revised policy show the population seems to have stabilized below the level that would result in hampered useof thefacilities.
By a fortuitous feat of remodeling, access to reference volumes has been greatly improved. Recent graduatesmayrememberlonglinesatthecirculation desk while library personnel searched the stacks for requestedbooks.WhatusedtobetheCaliforniaRoom has been closed off and converted to a study room. The constant procession up and down the middle aisle from the Main Reading Room to the California Roomwasthushalted.Themorethan 7,000reference volumes,usedthroughoutthestudents'threeyearsof study, are now shelved openly around the new reference room. The room has become a quiet study areawhere few outsiders venture. "I justenjoy walking by there andseeingthem so quiet,knowing they are mainly ourstudents and they aresupposedto be there," saysAnnMitchell:'They don'tknowwhatwe did forthem,but I havethe satisfaction of knowing."
Behind the reference room is the office of B. T. Davis,thereservebookroomsupervisor,whohasbeen with the library for 17 years and has helped some of the UCLA Law School's most famous alumni with their firstefforts atlegalresearch. "I kneweverybody in the law school by first names at that time," says Davis. This included Vincent Bugliosi, Assembly Majority Leader Howard Berman and Assemblyman Ken Maddy, U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman and Judge Everett Ricks. "All were very serious and all workedhard," remembersDavis."I thinkatthattime students worked harder. Now they feel more secure and ready tochallenge."
Davis has scores of cards from alumni who have dropped back by. The situation now is inevitably moreimpersonal."Idon'tknow25peopleinthethird yearclassbynamenow,"saysDavis."Atthattime,the whole legal profession was not as large and broad, and the lawschoolwasnot such a mecca."
Ann Mitchell,headofpublicservices,alsoremembersthelibrarymanyyearsagowhenshefirstcameto workthere."Backthen,thisplaceoperatedlikealittle Mom and Pop dry goods store," she says. Although the librarytoday is a much larger and morecomplex operation,itisalsomoreefficient and therearefewer specialprivileges.Asaresult,thelibrarytodayserves better a much larger number of people. This accomplishmentinfaceofincreasingpressuresismore the result of dedication and skillful maneuvering
than expansion of staff, however.
By next spring, a major innovation may be the introductionofatleastonecomputerizedlegalresearch system. The two major systems available, Lexis and West Law, use a natural language inquiry. The computeruseskey terms to search a certaindata�aseand time segment. The message may come back that 151 documents meet the requirements of the search. The user may then want to narrow the investigation further. The computer banks mainly case law, but it is possible to search for a statute and find cases where the statute was cited.
Such systems are offered to law schools at bargain prices to allow students to become familiar with the
hardware. Consequently, there will be restrictions on use of the system. Lawyers would not have access to the system.
Most of the major law schools in California have already installed such systems. UCLA has not done so as yet largely due to the staff time that would be drained away from more important and more instructional duties. "It looks as though somewhere between one half and a full time employee would be required to properly service such a system," says law librarian Fred Smith. "I'm not sure that will be forthcoming. When we provide reference services to law students, we are instructing them in areas of legal bibliography. If we have to cut back to provide instruction in com-
puterized systems we probably have made a bad choice."
The need for more staff is the major problem facing the library. Staffing problems stem from the predicament of serving an expanding program with a static budget. "I think it's helpful sometimes to take a close look at operations and decide what's important and make sure money is going to the most important things. This would be the case had we been built up to a point where our staff was reasonably adequate for the program," says Smith. "But I think we're a little beyond that sort of programmatic review stage. We haven't been able to grow into the full program at the law school. I think that probably the computerized legal research area is the clearest illustration of our inability to keep up with the law school program."
The UCLA Law School has grown so rapidly over the last decade that it now surpasses Berkeley's Boalt Hall in enrollment. The Berkeley Law Library, situated safely across the bay from San Francisco, does not fall under the high demands from outside users as does UCLA. Yet the Berkeley Law Library has nearly 14 full time professionals and 14 support staff. The UCLA Law Library is run by eight professionals and 10 support staff. The difference is made up in dedication. "Other libraries have larger staffs and less impact," says Mitchell. Smith agrees. "It's just a gut feeling," he says, "but in my estimation, in terms of the services we provide, the UCLA Law Library is right up there with the best in the country."
Seven days a week, the "dawn patrol" arrives at 6 a. m. to go through the library and reshelve everything. At the start of each day, all books are in place. "The staff works very, very hard. It's unusual to fmd people so devoted to performing and maintaining the kind of conditions that are necessary for the students to accomplish their purpose here," says Mitchell.
Mitchell, who came to the Law Library from the University Research Library, notes that law faculty have greater expectations as far as the services and privileges they expect from staff. "When a faculty member comes in, his expectation is that he will get immediate service-and he does. We somehow or other meet his or her expectations, but that does take staff to provide the kind of special service that law faculty are used to. They don't look into how the library functions and our lack of adequate staff, and I don't expect them to make that their concern.
"One of the rewarding things about working here is the appreciation of the law students. We do hear from them. At the reference desk they make it a point to say how helpful the reference librarian has been. This is a special library in every sense of the word." D
The Law School as a Community
by Kenneth L. Karst Professor of Law
This article has been adaptedfrom Professor Karst's remarks tothe Class of 1980 during an orientationfor entering students on Sept. 23, 1977.
oumaythinkthattheideaofcommunityinalawschoolissomethinglike the square root of anegativenumber, something that can be imagined but not actually seen.
I grant you, the obstacles to community in a law school such as UCLA's are formidable. This is a big school, with some 1000 students, 55 faculty members and a staff ofnearly 50. Eachofthefourfirst-yearsectionshas85 to 90 students, andour second- and third-yearclasses can getup toa sizeof 150. You can see why it may be hard for the faculty to know everyone's name, al-
though we do try. (David Starr Jordan, who was the President of Stanford and a zoologist, once said that every time he remembered the name of a student, he forgot the name of a fish.)
The other major obstacle to community is the sense of competition. What we do at the law school is to put a bunch of achievers together for three years, and give them grades for what they do-and we have the raw material for the sort of aggression that would make Konrad Lorenz beam with satisfaction. (Entering students may be glad to know that they will also grade the teachers in this school.) Furthermore, there are some of my colleagues who are excellent teachers, but who treat the classroom hour as a form of combatthe sort of thing that is supposed to let you say, after you have caught your breath, "That certainly was an educational experience." And there are some law students who, even if they don't learn anything else from those classes, will pick up the teacher's combative style.
In the face of these impediments, how do we manage to have a community in the law school? A large part of the answer lies in the fact that our faculty is, in the best sense, a community of scholars. We like each other, even when we disagree. We contribute to each other's thinking, and this colleagueship shows in our teaching and our writing. A few years ago, I had the good luck to spend a sabbatical year in Oxford. I can recall one lovely Spring evening, sitting in a garden, sipping from a glass and watching the sun set. I said, "It has been a wonderful year, but I miss my colleagues." I assure you that there are plenty of major law schools that would not produce a remark like that.
The second source of community here is that the faculty and the staff care about our students-and that goes for those combative teachers, too. I have already said that it isn't easy for all of us to become well acquainted with everyone. But the school is trying to respond to the problem of size. The first-year advisee program is partly designed to make sure that each student has at least one member of the faculty to talk to when questions or problems arise. We are busy, and if we're too busy to shoot the breeze we say so. But students may enjoy finding out what makes us tick when we're not on a classroom stage. I wonder how many students know that the teacher who is taking them into the stratospheric reaches of income tax policy is also a motorcycle freak and marathon runner. Or that their criminal law teacher once published a monograph showing how Stendahl's novel, The Charterhouse of Parma, is a massive cryptogram. Or that the commercial law teacher who is talking to them about the Bankruptcy Act is an avid opera buff.
I mentioned the staff. There is, God help us, an irreducible amount of bureaucracy in running a school this size in a university whose heart beats to the rhythm of a computer But in the law building, the staff are not only talented people but humans, who will listen and try to help. The other day, Marilyn Friedman, who administers our efforts to place students and graduates as clerks to judges, came up to me in the hall, smiling and excited, to tell me that two of our third-year students had just been given some highly prized clerkships. When you attend alumni gatherings, notice how the alumnicome up and throw their arms around the women who run the placement office.
Naturally, the most important source of community in the law school is the student body. A lot has been said about the role of one's fellow students in a legal education. The discussion method of teaching law means that even in the classroom, what the students say is often just as important as what the teacher says.
"Itisaprivilege to heassociatedwith these people. Some ofthemwill he yourbestfriendsfortherest of yourlives."
Law students are not a random cross-section of society, but an elite group, in the best sense of that word. (I didn't say "elitist.") My suggestion to entering students is this: "Talk to your fellow students; find out who they are, where they have been, what they care about. The answers will amaze you; they constantly amaze me. It is a privilege for you to be able to associate with these people for three years. Some of them will be your best friends for the rest of your lives."
Each Spring during the past two years, we have had a huge party in the law building, called the Law Revue. Students, faculty and staff members, along with a few alumni who haven't really wanted to leave, have put on skits, played instruments, done stand-up comedy routines, danced and sung. There is a lot of talent around here that has nothing to do with law. Our belly dancer has just been graduated, but with any luck next Spring our tap-dancing Procedure teacher, who is visiting this fall at Harvard, will be back by popular demand.
People here are responsive. Smile at them in the hall, and they smile back. (When I was in law school, if you smiled at someone in the hall, they'd think you were about ready to have a net thrown over you.)
It is, as I said, a privilege to be among you. D
TheFaculty
Benjamin Aaron has been appointed a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar for 1978-79, and will make a series of visits to campuses across the nation at the request of PBK chapters. Each year, ten to fourteen distinguished scholars are chosen for the program.
Professor Aaron delivered the keynoteaddressataconferenceon theduty of fair representation, sponsored by the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University; he was designated General Reporter on "Arbitration and the Role of Courts" for the Ninth International Congress of the International Society for Labor Law and Social Security in Munich; and was designated the U.S. National Reporter on "The Freedom of the Worker to Organize" at an international symposium on that topic, sponsored by the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public and International Law in Heidelberg.
Richard L. Abel is editor of Law & Society Review, and editor of African Law Studies.
Norman Abrams was Visiting Professor at both the Stanford and UC Berkeley Law Schools for the Fall, 1977.
Alison Anderson notes two items, not necessarily in order of importance: promotion to tenure, and the birth of Charles Thomas Anderson on July 11, 1977.
Michael R. Asimow has initiated a new seminar on tax problems of compensation for personal services, including pension and profit sharing.
Professor Asimow is a member of the State Bar committee considering the proposed new uniform Limited Partnership Act, and a consultant for Tax Analysts & Advocates, a public interest firm working on taxpayer standing to challenge IRS rules favorable to other taxpayers.
Paul Bergman has written recent articles on cross-examination for The UCLA Law Review and on teaching legal subjects in high schools for the
Journal of Social Sciences Review. His book in progress, Trial Advocacy in a Nutshell, will be published by West.
Professor Bergman is corporate attorney for California Conservation Project, a nonprofit environmental group.
David Binder is co-author, with Susan C. Price of the Neuropsychiatric Institute, of Legal Interviewing and Counseling:A Client-Centered Approach, published by West.
Professor Binder instructed an American Association of Law Schools conference on training clinical teachers in October. In May, he made a 25-day hike to an altitude of 18,000 feet in Nepal.
Paul Boland has been serving as Judge Pro Tern of the Los Angeles Superior Court Juvenile Department. He was a panelist for a Continuing Education of the Bar program on "Representing Parties in Juvenile Court Proceedings," and for a Women and
the Law Conference where he spoke 00 rights of parents and children in juvenile courts. He participated in a Law Day program of the Constitutional Rights Foundation, speaking on "The Abused Child."
Jesse Dukeminier has been preparing the second edition of Dukeminier and Johanson, Family Wealth Transactions (Little, Brown).
A long chapter on fiduciary adminis. tration has been added, and the tax material has been revised completely in view of the Tax Reform Act of 1976. Only three chapters of the first edition remain largely intact.
Professor Dukeminier also has written an article on "Legal Aspects of Organ Transplantation" for the Encyclopedia of Bioethics.
Theodore Eisenberg is chairing a Sub-committee on Politics and Taxation as part of the American Bar Association's Tax Section.
His recent articles include "Disproportionate Impact and Illicit Motive: Theories of Constitutional Adjudication" in the April, 1977, issue of the New York University Law Review.
Charles M. Firestone directs the Communications Law Program of the School of Law, and he continues to
veon the board of directors of �e ser t· C t n C.1 ens Commumca 10ns en er i I JZ h l" h Washington, D.C., w ere ear ier e was director oflitigation.
ProfessorFirestone is lead co�nsel for the National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting in the Suprei:n� Court . View of an appellate decis10n which re dd" t· would require widesprea ives itureoflocallyco-owne� n�wspaper� broadcast station combmat10ns.He is involved in other public interest l_i�gation and has aided Los Angeles citizen; groups such as the Committee for Children's Television.
George P.Fletcher was Visiting Professor at the Yale Law School for Fall,1977.
Carole E. Goldberg was Visiting Professorat Harvard Law School for the Fall,1977.
Kenneth W. Graham has published thefirstof a projected five-volume treatiseonFederal Rules of Evidence. Hewas invitedto speak on "Visions of theFuture" as part of the annual UCLAFaculty Lecture Series.
Professor Graham served on the facultyof theNationalCollegeof the StateJudiciary in Reno, and was a cdnsultanton selected procedural issues fortheCalifornia Citizens' Commissionon Tort·Reform.
BernardA.Greenberg is teaching Estateand Gift Taxationand Estate Planning during a year's appointment asadjunct professor.
He is also preparing a seminar in TaxationProblems of the Entertainment Industryto be given this Spring, inwhichhe will explore manyprob lemsthathaveconcernedhim as a tax practitioner inthe entertainment field.
Donald G.Hagmanlastsummer madea lecture tour of Australia and New Zealand at the invitation of several planning and urban development agencies ofthosenations.He was Visiting Professor of Law at Lewis and ClarkCollege, Portland.
Professor Hagman chaired a Conferenceon Financing State and Local Governments in Chicago, he was a panelist at the First West Coast Conference on Constitutional Law in Los Angeles last fall, and serves on the advisorycouncilof the South Coast Air Quality ManagementDistrict.In the past year, he has taught numerous continuing education programs on
tax reform, landuse, planningand development.
He was editor of "The White Curtain: RaciallyDisadvantaging Local Government Boundary Practices," 54 Journal of Urban Law681 (1977). Recent articles include "The Vesting Issue: The Rights of Fetal Development Vis a Vis the Abortions of Public Whimsy" in7 Environmental Law 519 (1977).
Edgar A. Jones, Jr., has lectured extensively on arbitration, labor law, and related areas of evidence and procedure during the pastyear.He has taught these subjects at courses organized by the U.S. Air Force inDallas and Memphis, the School of Law of the Universityof Michigan, and the University of Houston's Institute of Labor andIndustrial Relations.
Professor Jones was principal speaker for theNational Academyof Arbitrators at the SouthwestReg10nal Meeting and also principal speakerfor aFederal Mediation and Conciliation Regional Symposium.
He isfounding editor of The Chromcle, newspaper of theNationalAcademy of Arbitrators.
Robert L. Jordan has sent to the Foundation Press the manuscript of Cases on Commercial and Consumer Transactions, Second Edition, done in collaboration with William E.Hogan of Cornell and WilliamD.Warren of UCLA.
Kenneth Karst has published anarticle intheNovember,1977, Harvard Law Review titled "The Supreme Court,1976 Term-Foreword: Equal Citizenship Under the Fourteenth Amendment.''
FredericL.Kirgisiswritingabookon consultations as a dispute-avoidance mechanism in international law. His casebook, International Organizations in Their Legal Setting, was published by West in1977, and an article on "The Roles ofDue Process and Full Faith and Credit in Choice of Law" appeared in62 Cornell Law Review94 (Nov1976).
Rowan K. Klein is chairperson of the State Bar Commission onCorrections, and his article on the UniformDeterminate Sentencing Act was published by California Attorneys for Criminal Justice inForum.
William A.Klein was invited by the Brookings Institution as a participant in its conference on integration of the corporate and personal income tax last October in Washington, D.C. His article on tax theory and policy, "Timing in Personal Taxation," will appear in the Journal of Legal Studies, and he is writing a bookon business organization and finance, an introduction to law andeconomics in that field.
Lastsummer, Professor Klein managed to finish the Santa Monica Marathon in 3 hours, 52 minutes. He is a member of the Community Council of Pacific Palisades, and maintains that at one time or another he has been able to antagonize just about every other member of the Council.
James E. Krier has written with Ed Ursin, a former UCLA law professor, a book on Pollution and Policy published this year by University of California Press.It is ahistory of how California and the federal government responded to motor vehicle pollution.
Professor Krier in December gave a paper at a workshop on legal theory at Yale Law School.He and JesseDukeminier are at work on a Property book to be published within a few years.
Leon Letwin has published articles on "AdministrativeCensorship of the Independent Student Press-Demise of theDouble Standard?" in28 S.Car. Law Review565 (1977) and "After Goss v Lopez: Student Status as Suspect Classification?" in29 Stanford Law Review627 (1977).
Professor Letwin participatedwith Richard Wasserstrom as pro bona attorneys challenging California'sunlawful sexualintercoursestatute on grounds that itunconstitutionally e� ploys a sex-discriminatory standard, m that it makes sexual intercourse illegal for a male under circumstancesthat would not beillegalfor a female.
Henry W.McGee, Jr., is a member of a seven-person committee for the American Association of Law Schools and American Bar Association developing guidelines and standards for clinical programs.
Lastyear, he was Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Florence Institute of Comparative Law.His recent publications include an article on urbandesegregation, "Illusionand Contradiction in the Quest for aDesegregated Metropolis,"1976 Illinois LawForum948.
Richard Maxwell continues to work on projects begun during a sabb�tical leave in Los Angeles and the Umted Kingdom, among them an article about problems raised when t�e proper�y doctrine of illegal restramts on alienation is utilized as a means of controlling various aspects of commercial land transactions. Also in progress is an essay on the purpose, if any, of the so-called equitable servitude in modern land planning.
Professor Maxwell has been serving on a Committee on Gas Production Opportunities, charged by the De�art ment of Interior to identify potential for increased gas production on the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico.
David Mellinkoff's The Language of the Law (Little, Brown) went into its second paperback printing, and West published his casebook on the legal profession, Lawyers and the System of Justice.
.
. The California Center for Judicial Education and Research invited Professor Mellinkoff to speak on the language of the law at its first institute for appellate judges last year.
MonroePrice was appointed referee in the Los Angeles school desegregation case by Judge Paul Egly.
Professor Price chairs the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference committee on the prisoner transfer treaty between the United States and Mexico, and was appointed to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges.
Recent publications include an article on taxation of Native lands in Alaska.
Joel Rabinovitz is writing a series of articles on integration of individual and corporate income taxes, and in this project is drawing upon material he gathered from European experts during a sabbatical last year.
ProfessorRabinovitz lectured for a Practising Law Institute panel on Operating Losses and Tax Considerations in Insolvency, and has revised his Sum and Substance of Estate and Gift Tax to reflect changes made by the Tax Reform Act of 1976
Gary T. Schwartz was legal consultant to the California Citizens' Commission on Tort Reform for the year 1976-77, and is legal consultant to the Joint Committee on Tort Liability of the California Legislature.
Murray L. Schwartz was Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School for the Fall, 1977. Professor Schwartz spoke on "Professional Responsibility" at a Probate and Trust Conference sponsored by the University of Southern California. . Lewis and Clark College honored him with an LL. D. at its 1977 commencement ceremonies. He edited Law and the American Future (Prentice Hall, 1976) and his article, "Emerging Patterns in American Law," appeared in 8 Pacific Law Journal 523 (1977).
Jonathan Varat delivered a lecture on "Statutory Subject Matter Jurisdiction of the U.S. District Courts" at the Federal Bar Association Conference last summer.
William D. Warren has sent to the Foundation Press the manuscript of Cases on Commercial and Consumer Transactions, Second Edition, done in collaboration with Robert L. Jordan of UCLA and William E. Hogan of Cornell. He is serving as Vice Chairman of the Consumer Advisory Council to the Federal Reserve Board and has attended meetings of the National Bankruptcy Conference. He is serving as chairman of the subcommittee in charge of writing rules of procedure for the Los Angeles County Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Committee.
Richard A. Wasserstrom was Convenor of the World Congress on Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy, held in Australia last August.
Professor Wasserstrom was a Visiting Lecturer at LaTrobe University in Melbourne, and he lectured at the summer institute on Law and Ethics of the Council for Philosophical Studies, and at the National Conference on Teaching Professional Responsibility at the University ot Detroit.
Recent articles include "Racism, Sexism, and Preferential Treatment: An Approach to the Topics" in 24 UCLA Law Review 581 (1977), and "Some Problems With Theories of Punishment" in Cederblom and Blizek, Justice and Punishment (Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger, 1977).
William J. Winslade is co-director of the Program in Medicine, Law and Human Values at the UCLA Center for the Health Sciences, which includes an experimental undergraduate teaching program. He also lectures to medical students, psychiatry residents, and others in the medical school on issues of law and ethics in medical practice. He drafted guidelines for use of the Natural Death Act as a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Committee on Bioethics, and has written articles on "Thoughts on Technology and Death: An Appraisal of the California Natural Death Act" to appear in the DePaul Law Review, and "Confidentiality," forthcoming in the Encyclopedia of Bioethics.
Stephen Yeazell has been writing on group litigation in the 17th Century and intervention in the Los Angeles school desegregation cases; artic�es on that work will appear in law reviews of UCLA and Columbia.
In a joint project of the �tat� bar and the Los Angeles School District, Professor Yeazell has been training teachers to think and teach about the relationship between law and so�iety. He also was appointed to the environmental litigation subcommittee of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference; the subcommittee is charged with investigating the impact on the �udiciary of complex and time-consummg environmental litigation.
Kenneth York is chairman-elect of . the Section on Remedies of the Association of American Law Schools.
SchoolCase Referee IsOne
ofa Kind
There has never been another appointment like that of Professor Monroe Price as referee in the Los Angeles school desegregation case. Masters, appointed in federal courts, draw up the plans to reconcile disputing parties. "I think in this case, Judge Egly was trying to do something halfway between appointing a master and leaving the problem solely between the judge and the board," says theSchool of Law's Price.
Price, an expert in federal Indian law and administrative law, was recommended for the appointment by various parties to the case and was found acceptable, he believes, at least in part because he did not have an enunciated position on desegregation issues. He has maintained an evenhanded management of the situation. "It's like being a referee in a football game, " says Price. "If you do a really good job, your preferences are not clear, and no one says that the victory was your responsibility."
As for the Los Angeles Times report that Price played his role as referee all the way to the point of leaping into a meeting in shorts and striped shirt, blowing a whistle, Price denies such premeditated antics. "It was Sunday morning, and we were having our law school faculty picnic out at my house. I was dressed and ready to go to the picnic wearing my referee's clothes when I went down to the board for the staff meeting," explains Price. "I thought it was amusing. The staff people thought it was more amusing than the Times people reported."
Price says his appointment has afforded a chance to learn a great deal about desegregation and education issues. "You realize the competing pressures on a school system today. Integration becomes just a part of the large� problems of teacher quality, ho�smg patterns, and the vitality of the various regions of the city," says Price. Other members of the UCLA law
community have helped with the case. Alumnus Andre Reiman aided the demographic analyses in attempts to assess the accuracy and resoluteness of the school board's efforts. Professor Donald Hagman made helpful suggestions on the basis of his expertise in land use planning and local taxation. ProfessorStephen Yeazell was consulted concerning constitutional issues involved.
As an outgrowth of his experience, Price has plans for a course in studies in school desegregation. This quarter he is offering a seminar on remedial aspects of school desegregation, in which students will research aspects of implementation of the board's plan. Students lining up to take the course include several former teachers who have known the frustrations desegregation policies can inflict and are now destined to grapple with the legal issues themselves. One has already accepted a job with a Ii.rm that represents the Riverside school district. Letters from students eager to join the seminar express gratitude for the investigation of a field that has previously been ignored.
Since the Los Angeles case is probably the last major desegregation suit of its type in California, Price's appointment may stand as one of a kind. However, there is a growing trend to appoint referees or masters or dispute resolvers to narrow issues before a case comes to court. "The question is whether this is a good thing for complex disputes," says Price.
Ordin,SillasNamed ToTop U.S.Posts
AndreaSheridan Ordin '65 was appointed by President Carter as the UnitedStates Attorney for the central district of California.She is the third woman in the nation's history to be named to this position.
Ordin has distinguished herself as a trial and appellate lawyer and as an administrator of significant accomplishment. On her admission to the bar, she joined the Office of the Attorney General for theState of California, where she was particularly active in the fields of juvenile law and consumer affairs.She handled many appeals to clarify state juvenile law following the U.S.Supreme Court's Gault deci-
sion in 1967.
In the consumer area, Ordin initiated major government actions against home improvement frauds, furniture store chains, minority-oriented frauds and violations by major financial institutions. The most important of her arguments before the California Supreme Court did away with wage attachments in California and opened the way for class action lawsuits.
In 1972, she became legal counsel to the Fair Employment Practices Commission ofSouthern California, and later was Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. In 1974, she was appointed Assistant District Attorney for Los Angeles County.
A native of Los Angeles, Ordin received both bachelor's and law degrees from UCLA.
HermanSillas '59 was appointed by the President as U.S. Attorney for the eastern district of California.
Sillas has served for the past three years as Director of the CaliforniaState Department of Motor Vehicles, and in that office was known for his efforts to humanize the DMV. He authorized the painting of murals in DMV offices, ran employee contests, and worked to involve the department more with the community.
Sillas was the first vice president and founding board member of the Mexican-American Legal Defense & Educational Fund and was chairperson of the state advisory committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
He was appointed to Los Angeles Mayor Thomas Bradley's appointments selection committee and has served Governor Brown in a similar capacity. He served asSecretary for the California Democratic Party from 1970 to 1974, and twice ran for statewide office -forState Controller in 1970 and Secretary ofState in 1974.
As U.S. Attorney for the eastern district,Sillas will be the top federal prosecutor in 34 inland counties from Oregon to the Los Angeles andSan Bernardino county lines.
EntertainmentLaw Symposium Attracts ATurn-awayCrowd
When the Second Annual UCLA Entertainment Symposium met on December 2-3, it was evident that UCLA's School of Law has become a focal point of entertainment law.
More than 500 attorneys and others were on hand for the symposium, and many had to be turned away because of space limitations. The success outstretched even the expectations of those who had planned this program, which was addressed to practical problems of attorneys, agents, accountants, business managers and others. The specific topic was how to maximize net profits from theatrical motion pictures.
Coordinators of the symposium were E. Barry Haldeman '69 of Rosenfeld, Meyer and Susman and Gary 0. Concoff of Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz & Selvin. The School of Law sponsored the symposium with University Extension.
The first symposium in 1976 was initiated by William Hornaday '76, who is now an attorney for Columbia Pictures. The original concept of a program for students only was enlarged by Hornaday after he contacted Haldeman and others, and what evolved was a fullscale symposium for the profession.
"It is now our idea to continue the symposium on an annual basis," says Haldeman, "and the profits from the symposium will go to the law school, including profits from the sale of the syllabus." The syllabus can be purchased throughout the year at the school.
"This symposium is a labor of love, since all members of the advisory committee as well as the speakers donated their time to put this program together," explains Haldeman.
"One reason for the success, of course, was the quality of the speakers. A second reason is that the majority of the nation's entertainment attorneys are in Los Angeles, and most of them are also within a five to ten-mile radius of the UCLA School of Law. This is a natural event to continue annually."
Speakers (whose material is summarized in the syllabus) included Professor Melville B. Nimmer of the
School of Law; Thomas Pollock, Pollock, Rigrod and Bloom; Stanley Newman, Vice President, MCA; Stanford Blum, The Image Factory; Lee Phillips, Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg, Manley & Tunney; Kenneth Kleinberg, Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp; Richard Zimbert, Senior Vice President, Paramount Pictures Corporation; Kenneth Ziffren, Ziffren & Ziffren; Roger Corman, President of New World Pictures,Inc.; Max Youngstein, Max Youngstein Enterprises; Samuel L. Eichenfield, Vice President, Walter E. Heller & Company; and Sidney Finger, Solomon & Finger.
A luncheon speaker who helped to enliven the day was comedienne Joan Rivers.
Berchin Named Clerk ToJusticeMarshall
Sandra Berchin '77 of Beverly Hills has been appointed clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court for 1978-79.
Ms. Berchin ranked first in the law school's Class of '77, and her grade average was the highest any student has attained since the school began its present grading system.
She was the chief articles editor of the UCLA Law Review, and was chosen the 1977 Graduate Woman of the Year by the Association of Faculty Women at UCLA.
Ms. Berchin is serving as law clerk to Judge James L. Oakes of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals during 1977-78.
She will take up her duties with Mr.
Justice Marshall in July, 1978. This is the third consecutive year that a graduate of UCLA's School of Law has been honored by being selected to clerk for a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
This year, Stewart A. Baker '76 is clerking for Mr. Justice Stevens. A year ago, Alex Kozinski '75 clerked with Chief Justice Burger.
Honors Benefactors
Some 200 alumni and guests attended the annual Dean's Dinner and Dance on November 18 at the Beverly Wilshire. It was an occasion for thanking members of the Dean's Advocates and the Dean's Counsel for their support of the law school, and Dean William D. Warren also spoke about the school's national stature and recent activities which have enhanced its reputation within the profession.
He cited the Cartter Report which ranks UCLA one of the ten best law schools in the country, a considerable achievement in view of the youth of the school. In this regard, he spoke of the 25-year reunion of the first law school class and introduced Ben Danning '52, the man responsible for that class's $5000 gift to the school. The Dean talked also about the series of institutes for the practicing bar which would be held at the law school.
"National prominence," Dean Warren said, "was gained by producing able lawyers who practice in all the major legal centers of the country."
LawAlumni RegionalClubsGrow,
OthersArePlanned
Thedevelopment of regional alumni clubs throughout California continued, as 1977 saw multiple meetings inSan Diego,San Francisco,Santa Barbara and theTri-Countyarea,San Bernardino,and Sacramento.
The purposeof these clubs,said Norman Epstein,chairmanof the RegionalClubCommittee,is "to provide afocus of interest in the school and itsactivitiesfor our alumniwho areoutside theLos Angeles metropolitan area."
Thegroups meet periodically with the Deanand other members of the administrationandfaculty. In Decemberoflastyear,Melville Nimmer visitedSan Francisco,JohnBauman talkedto alumniinSanBernardino, and William Warrenand Donald Hagman met with the SantaBarbara group. Earlierinthe year, Dean Warrenand Placement DirectorDianeGough met with alumni inSacramento,and the Dean spoketoalumniin San Diego.
Regionalmeetings provide anopportunityfor theschooland the associationtohear what alumniinvarious partsof the state think and want,and someimportant activities have resultedfrom suggestions received at the meetings. The most notable of these
was the Directory which was voted as a direct resultof opinions expressed by alumni at aluncheon in Santa Barbara in 1977. The Directory will be sent to all alumni early this year.
Regionalclubs alsohelp in the placementof UCLA students andgraduates. Discussionsat various meetings have centered onways to increase UCLA representation in firms outside Los Angeles and to encouragethese firms' participation in the placement process at the law school.
Regional club chairpersons in the various areas are: Ann Parade-San Diego; Florentino Garza-San Bernardino/Riverside; Steven Perren-Santa Barbara/Tri-County area; William Prahl-Sacramento; andKennethDrexler-San Francisco.
Meetings also have taken placein OrangeCounty,New York,Seattle and other locations. Theprogramwill continue toexpandthroughout California and additional clubs are planned.
ALandmarkEvent ForClassof'52
Class of '52
The Class of '52 gathered at a dinner at theBeverly Hills Hotel on June 4. Since it was thefirst class to graduate
from the UCLASchool ofLaw,this 25-year reunionwas indeed a landmark event.
Tocommemoratethe occasion,the class presented to the schoola gift of $5,000. It was noteworthybecausethe giftcamefrom broadparticipation in the class,and not from a select few.
In makingthe presentation toDean Warren,Curtis "Ben" Danningexpressed the hope that thisgift would establish a precedent of giving,and that future 25-year classes would make it a tradition.
Membersofthe faculty who attended the reunionincluded Edgar Jones,FrancesMcQuade,William Warrenand KennethYork. Taking all travelhonorswas alumna Jean Fisler who came from Palatine, Illinois, for the event.
The '52 reunion was organized by Saul Grayson,Ben Danning,Bill Keene and JoeTilem.
Class of '57
TheClass of '57 reuned on June 3 at a dinner-dance at theHotelBelAir. The class wined,dined,danced and reminisced about the "good old days." The datewas also IrvShimer'sbirthday,and the class sang therequisite round of "Happy Birthday."
Organizing this eventwere Class President DanCalabro,plus Dick Agay. David Glickman,Lee Wenzel,Bob White and Wells Wohlwend. Wells, afterconsiderablework on thecommittee,had tobe inSan Francisco,and sent the lovely Joy to represent him.
Membersof thefacultywho joined in the revelrieswereRichard Maxwell, Frances McQuade,James Sumner and William Warren.
Class of '67
The Class of '67 continued a tradition startedin 1965of having the 10-year reunion at the home of an alumnus. This year'sevent was held at the stately digs of Steve and Belle Mason. Theinvitations specified cocktails, dinner and dancing,and indeed the guests had their fillof all three. Dinner was served poolside,and despite the prolonged cocktailhour,nobody fell in. The band played 'til the wee hours (just ask the neighbors),and the more energetic boogied the night away.
Serving on the committee which organized the event were Harland Braun, Jon Gallo,Steve Mason,Steve Perren, Gary Stabile andLarry Tistaert. Representing the law school were John Bauman and Ken Graham.
Ben Donning, who presented a $5000gift to the school on behalfofthe Class of '52, is in turn the recipient ofgrateful appreciation from Dean Warren.
AlumniVisit School ForPracticeSeries
The Alumni Practice Series,through which alumni return to the Law School to talk with students about their particular fields of practice, resumed with the start of the school year.
The opening program on Oct.10 examined the experiences of associates at small,medium, and large law firms. The alumni participants included William Masterson '58, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton; Kenneth Purcell '64,Pace & Purcell; Lawrence Teplin '64,Cox,Castle & Nicholson; and Thomsen Young '74,Fine & Pope.
The series took advantage of the legislative recess in November to present a program on "Politics and the Law." Participating were Howard Berman '65,Assemblyman,43rd District; Fred Chel '55,Assemblyman,58th District; and Ed Edelman '58,L.A.County Supervisor, 3rd District.
Other programs in the series will explore Criminal Law,International Law,Entertainment Law,Public Interest Law and Bankruptcy Law.
The Alumni Practice Series has been organized by Directors Warren Abbott and Lucinda Dennis.
FiveNewDirectors
The UCLA Law Alumni Association has elected five new members of the Board of Directors for three-year terms. They are Charles English '65,Victor Epport '53,Cynthia Lebow '73,Henry Nelson '61,and Ann Parade '71. Continuing members of the board are Charles Althouse '58,Lucinda Pease Dennis '65,Arthur Greenberg'52,David MacKenzie '64,Martin Majestic '67, Prentice O'Leary '68, Richard Schauer '55,and Henry Steinman '61.
Warren Abbott and Geraldine Hemmerling submitted their resignations to the board effective December,1977.At its January meeting,the new board will appoint two alumni to fill their oneyear terms.
The Board of Directors is the governing body of the UCLA Law Alumni Association,and as such is responsible
Classnotes
Howard L. Berman '65,Assembly Majority Leader, received a UCLA Professional Achievement Award at ceremonies at the James E.West Alumni Center on May 21,1977.
A. Barry Cappello '65, formerly Santa Barbara City Attorney,announced the formation of the law firm of Goux, Romasanta & Cappello in Santa Barbara.
Stanley R. Coleite '75 has become associated with the Century City law firm of Greenberg,Bernhard,Weiss & Karma.
Luis C. De Castro '64 has become a member of the Century City law firm of Troy & Malin.
Riane Eisler '65 is the author of Dissolution-A Lawyer Looks at the Future of the American Wife, published by McGraw-Hill Book Co.of New York.
Jay Foonberg '63 spoke at an American Bar Association seminar explaining how to "Build A Law Practice " on June 2nd and 3rd at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.
Hiroshi Fujisaki '62, formerly a Commissioner of the Santa Monica Municipal Court,has been appointed a Judge of the Los Angeles Municipal Court.
Edward P. George, Jr. '59,a partner in the Long Beach law firm of Allen, Wilson,George & Edgmon,is Chairman of the California State Bar Committee on Jury Instructions.He is also a member of the State Bar Disciplinary Board, and a member of the Los Angeles Superior Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions, Criminal (CALJIC).
for defining the goals and developing the activities of the association.The board also acts as liaison in connection with the general Alumni Association of UCLA.
David R. Glickman '57 was named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association. In his 20 years of practice,he has taken more than 200 jury cases to a verdict has lost only three and has successfully defended four first-degree murder cases.
Arnold Gross '73 is serving as Chairman of the Criminal Law Section of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association.
Marilyn SueHeise '76 has become associated with the Los Angeles firm of Keatinge, Bates & Pastor.
Peter Irsfeld '65 is serving a term as President of the Hollywood Bar Association.
Jay W. Jeffcoat '70 has become a part· ner in the El Centro law firm of Byrd, Sturdevant, Nassif & Pinney.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William B. Keene '52 was the recipienl of a Professional Achievement Award presented to him by the UCLA Alumni Association at ceremonies at the James E.West Alumni Center on campus on May 21,1977.
William D. Keller '60,formerly the United States Attorney for the Central District of California,has become a partner in the Beverly Hills law firm of Rosenfeld,Meyer & Susman.
Barry H.Lawrence '66 has become a partner in the Beverly Hills law firm of Mazirow, Schneider & Farer.
Stanley W. Levy '65 has become associated with the Century City law firm of Raskin,Lichtig & Ellis.
Fred L. Leydorf '58 has been elected President of the Los Angeles County Bar Foundation.He is also currently Chairman of the Education Committee of the Conference of Delegates of the
State Bar, and a former member of the B d of Trustees of the Los Angeles oar t' County Bar Associa 10n.
Kenneth L. Maddy '63, Fresno Assemblyman, has annou . nced his candidacy for the Repubhcan nomination for Governor.
G Q Michel '75 has become associary , "-f ated with theSanta Barbara law urm o Griffith & Thornburgh.
Jerold L. Miles '66, a partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Agnew, Miller and Carlson, has been elected President of the UnitedService Organization of Los Angeles
Michael R. Palley '68, formerly Senior Judicial Attorney for the California Court of Appeal has opened offices in Westwood, specializing in civil appellate and law and motion practice.
Judge Richard N. Parslow '63 of the CentralOrange County Municipal Courthas been appointed to serve as a member of the Orange County Law Library Board of Trustees.
StevenZ.Perren '67 has been associated with the Ventura law firm of Ghitterman,Schweitzer & Herreras.Steve is also serving as the Chairman of the Thi-County (Ventura,Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo) chapter of the UCLA Law Alumni Association, and is immediate past President of the Criminal Defense Bar Association of Ventura County.
OwenD.Peterson '69 has been elected Vice President of theSouthwest CriminalCourtsAssociation Bar.
Roger C. Pettitt '54 has been elected Chairman of the California PostSecondary Education Committee, which coordinates all public and private higher education in the state.
Mariana Pfaelzer '57, a partner in the Century City law firm of Wyman, Bautzer, Rothman & Kuchel, has been ele�ted President of the Los Angeles Pohce Commission. She is the first woman to serve in that capacity.
Craig Price '71 has left theSanta Bar bara County Counsel's office to join the Santa Barbara law firm of Griffith & Thornburgh.
Terry L. Rhodes '68 and Bruce Harrington '69 have formed the profes· sional corporation of Rhodes & Harrington in Newport Beach.
Thomas A. Robinson '69, formerly associated with the Los Angeles law firm of Latham & Watkins, has joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas LawSchool.
Harvey Shapiro '76 marked a milestone in the history of the California State Bar, when he became a member on October 4. A quadriplegic, he is the first person totally disabled from the neck down to be admitted to practice. Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird administered the oath.
Dominick Rubalcava '72 has left the UnitedStates Attorney's Office and has entered into a partnership with Richard Henry, also a former Assistant U.S. Attorney. Their offices are in Century City.
Kenneth M. Simon '63 has joined the Los Angeles law firm of Zobrist, Garner & Garrett, where he will continue to practice labor law, representing managerial.
William A. Soroky '73 has been selected to be the Chief Program
Analyst of the Los Angeles County Municipal Courts Planning & Research Unit.
J. Howard Sturman '56 was installed as President-Elect of the Wilshire Bar Association.
Charles S. Vogel '59, President of the Law AlumniAssociation, resigned from the Los AngelesSuperior Court on June 6, 1977, to reenter private practice as a partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Nossaman, Krueger & Marsh.
Harley I. Wagman '74 has become associated with the Beverly Hills law firm of Levinson, Rowen, Miller, Jacobs & Kabrins.
Robert L. Watson '71 has been elected to the Board of Directors of the PennsylvaniaChamber of Commerce. He is Director of Budget and Planning for ARAServices, Inc. in Philadelphia.
Ronald C. Wyse '65 is an Associate Professor at the University of Montana School of Law. He left the Los Angeles law firm of Musick, Peeler & Garrett to return to law teaching.
Lester Ziffren '52 has been inducted into the Board of Governors of Hebrew Union College.
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