Santa Clara University

Law Briefs

2005 Distinguished Speakers

During the Spring 2005 semester, the School of Law hosted a number of distinguished speakers. “I don’t know of another law school in the country that hosts as broad an array of speakers as Santa Clara,” said Julia Yaffee, senior assistant dean for student services.

David Cruz, a law professor at the University of Southern California, spoke on marriage rights on Feb. 22. He co-authored an amicus brief for the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in Goodbridge v. Department of Health, a case that allows same-sex couples to marry. He is the chair of the sexual orientation and gender identity issues section of the Association of American Law Schools.

James Brosnahan, a trial attorney with Morrison and Foerster, spoke on jury selection on March 11. He drew on his expertise in both civil and criminal trial work. His recent cases have included representing Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh and defending the city of Oakland and other defendants in a case brought by the Oakland Raiders. He was also an associate member of the Office of Independent Counsel for the Iran- Contra scandal.

Julie Su visited the Center for Social Justice as Practitioner-in-Residence on March 21 and 22. Her main presentation was entitled “Social Justice Lawyering: Becoming the Lawyer You Want to Be.” Su is an attorney with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, and gained national attention for her work with formerly enslaved Thai garment workers in Southern California and Latina garment workers in Los Angeles.

F. Scott Kieff, a professor at Washington University School of Law and fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, spoke on April 1 on “Comparative Institutional Analysis of Intellectual Property.” His professional background includes work as a trial lawyer specializing in intellectual property. He is a visiting professor at SCU for the fall.

Dr. Rona M. Fields, a psychologist, spoke on April 7. She is the author of Martyrdom: The Psychology, Theology and Politics of Self Sacrifice, published by Greenwood/Praeger. Most recently she has worked to develop high tech programs to predict, analyze, and prevent terror actions. Fields has also served on the Amnesty International Medical Commission in the Campaign to Abolish Torture and developed the protocol for the psychological examination of torture victims while a Fellow at the Peace Research Institute of Oslo in Norway.

Jose R. Padilla, executive director of California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. (CRLA), spoke at an event sponsored by the La Raza Law Student Association on April 12. Padilla discussed his work with CRLA, which provides more than 20,000 poor rural Californians with free legal services, as well as a variety of community education and outreach programs. Padilla co-drafted the state’s migrant education law.

Thomas Girardi, a partner with the Los Angeles law firm of Girardi & Keese, and an associate professor at Loyola University Law School, was this year’s Distinguished Advocate. During his visit on April 20, he spoke at a faculty forum, attended a reception for students and faculty, and gave a formal lecture on persuasion. A renowned plaintiff ’s attorney, Girardi practices in the areas of professional liability, toxic torts, and business and entertainment law litigation. His noteworthy results include $1.7 billion against El Paso Natural Gas, $330 million against PG&E in the “Erin Brockovich” case, a $750 million jury verdict against Lockheed and a $45 million jury verdict in Karlsson v. Ford. He was the 1999 national president of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Students Compete in International Moot Court

Law students took part in four international law competitions during the spring semester. The preparation was coordinated in an international law practicum class taught by Professor Beth Van Schaack. Other faculty members assisted as moot court judges and advisers.

In the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition, students Alana Fremgen, Robert Stamps, and John Van Geffen received the award for best brief and third place overall. Santa Clara students also participated for the first time in the Niagara International Moot Court Competition, which examines issues involving relations between the United States and Canada. The school’s team consisted of Samantha Cho, Niti Gupta, Kavya Mohankumar, Naresh Rajan and Akshay Verma. Kavya Mohankumar received the award for third best oralist.

The Jessup Moot Court competition team placed tenth at the Northwest regional competition at Seattle University School of Law. Team members included Anthony Basile, Cyndi Claxton, Thomas Howe, Allison Surowitz and Timothy Wagstaffe.

At the Pictet International Humanitarian Law Competition, the Santa Clara team competed completely in French, the only U.S. team to do so. Team members were Mia Anne Giacomazzi, Eric Ortner, and Alexander Weddle.

Entering Law Class of 2008

Santa Clara University School of Law welcomed its first-year law students, the graduating class of 2008, on August 10. “This year SCU School of Law saw an extremely competitive applicant pool,” said Jeanette Leach, assistant dean, admissions and diversity services. The 315 students were selected from a pool of 4487 applicants. Nearly 46 percent of the new students are women, and 40 percent represent minority ethnic groups.

The students come from 29 states and 6 foreign countries and represent 108 undergraduate institutions. The students range in age from 20 to 59. Of these students, 26 hold advanced degrees, including 3 Ph.Ds, and an M.D. The top feeder schools are University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Davis, University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, San Diego, and Santa Clara University. The law school also enrolled seven graduate students in LL.M programs in international law, intellectual property, and technology law.

“We are proud of the growing reputation of our faculty and academic programs, and the students who enrolled at the law school,” said Donald Polden, dean of the law school. According to an annual survey by US News & World Report magazine, SCU School of Law is in the top 5 most racially and ethnically diverse law schools in the country. The magazine’s “diversity index” is based on the total proportion of minority students, not including international students, and the mix of racial and ethnic groups on campus. The index is calculated using demographic data reflecting each law school’s student body during the 2004-05 academic year.

Student Group Honored for Outreach

The law school’s Bisexual Gay Lesbian Advocates (BGLAd) received the 2005 Student Organization Award and $500 at the annual award dinner of the Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF) in March. BGLAd received the honor for bringing greater awareness and acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students. More than 500 people attended the event, including lawyers, judges, and elected officials such as U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco.

A highlight of the group’s work last year was a talk at the law school by former Santa Clara law professor and legal analyst Jim Hammer. The group’s other activities included a finals study session, fundraising for the Silicon Valley Walk for AIDS, and hosting a dinner with LGBT law faculty members. The group hopes to use the money it received from BALIF to bring another nationally known speaker to the law school in the next year.