Nine California Western alumni recently joined the United States Supreme Court Bar in Washington, D.C.

As part of the trip sponsored by the law school, these alumni, along with Dean Steven R. Smith, met with U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts (pictured here with the group).

Each year California hosts a group of alumni selected to join this prestigious bar association.  Admitted to the high court bar this year were Spiro Ferris ’80, Martin “Pete” Grover ’84, Kevin M. Blake ’85, John M. Rielley ’88, Michael A. Desaulniers ’91, Keith D. Kaufman ’03, Edward Hughes ’05, Tara D. Newberry ’06, and Matthew B. Murphy ’07.

On the day of their swearing-in, the group witnessed oral arguments in the case of Christopher v. GlaxoSmithKline, which considers the question of whether or not pharmaceutical sales representatives are considered salesmen under the Fair Labor Standards Act and therefore are exempt from the pharmaceutical companies’ obligation to pay them overtime.

To gain admission to the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, candidates must have practiced for three years in the highest court of a state, territory, district, or commonwealth. The high court admits new members as its first order of business at the beginning of each term.

California Western alumni gathered at three regional events in April, sharing fond memories of their days on campus and visiting with faculty and law school staff. California Western travels around the nation each year to meet with alumni, share fellowship, and hear their thoughts on legal education and the law.

Alumni Host Classmates and Friends at CWSL Gatherings

On April 16, alumnus Duane W. Layton ’82 hosted approximately 40 alumni and friends at the law office of Mayer Brown, where he serves as Partner and head of the firm’s Government and Global Trade group in Washington, Europe, Asia and South America. 

Dean Steven R. Smith, Professor Susan A Channick, and members of the Development and Alumni Relations Office  shared some recent news from the law school and highlighted ways alumni can remain connected to the law school through alumni events, recruitment and mentoring opportunities, and by helping promote the law school in their legal communities.

Randall Jones `81 and Bill Coulthard ’90 of Kemp Jones & Coulthard hosted Dean Steven R. Smith, Development and Alumni Relations Director Lori Boyle, and nearly 40 alumni at a reception in Las Vegas on April 18. Both receptions allowed alumni to wish a fond farewell to Dean Smith as he prepares to step down as dean later this year.

Class of ’71 Gathers at Historic Home

On April 29, friends from the class of 1971, along with Associate Director for Major Gifts and Donor Relations Zachary Smith, met at the home of Clyde S. Munsell, formerly the Palm Desert retreat of the late Frank Sinatra.

Alumni Ted Bromfield, Mary B. Greenwood, William M. Tilden and his wife Peggy Sue Tilden, Charles E. Rumbaugh, and James W. Talley shared many laughs as they recalled their law school days, under the leadership of Dean Castetter.

The Development and Alumni Relations Office welcomes graduates of all class years to Alumni Weekend 2012, September 21-23. For more information, visit our website.

California Western hosted diversity professionals from ABA-approved law schools around the nation last week at the Sixth Annual Meeting of Law School Diversity Professionals. 

Director of Diversity Services Marion Cloete organized the event, which discussed the challenges and opportunities law schools face as they seek to promote diversity within their schools and throughout the legal profession. Close to 90 diversity professionals attended the meeting held at California Western. 

“Our ultimate goal is to develop best practices for law school diversity professionals and other professional colleagues to advance matriculation, mentoring, retention, and support of minority and diversity students, and graduates of U.S. law schools,” said Cloete.

In this video taken at the event, you will hear the inspiring stories of PowerMentor Founder Kevin LaChapelle, and California Western graduate Agustín Peña ’12. The 2010 murder of his 14-year-old brother, Javier Quiroz, fueled Peña’s passion for the law and desire to work with troubled youth in City Heights. During his presentation, Peña talks about his path to law school, the tragic death of his younger brother, and the importance of diversity in legal education.

California Western believes a diversified student body enriches the academic and interpersonal experiences of law school. To learn more about our commitment to diversity, visit our website.

KPBS-FM Health Reporter Kenny Goldberg interviews Constitutional Law Professor Glenn C. Smith

The U.S. Supreme Court held the first of three days of hearings today on the constitutionality of the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Supreme Court’s ruling on the issue could have profound effects on patients, health care providers, and the powers of Congress in the future.

Throughout the week, we’ll update you on the various media interviews featuring California Western faculty.

Constitutional Law Professor Glenn C. Smith started the discussion off last week with a Daily Journal op-ed previewing the “legal battle royal” taking place in the Supreme Court.
A mock Supreme Court hearing conducted by students in Smith’s Current Issues in Constitutional Law seminar was the subject of a radio feature by KPBS-FM Health Reporter Kenny Goldberg.
Smith spoke with 10 News in a story highlighting the issues the justices will wrestle with.
Smith joined KUSI’s “Good Morning San Diego”  on Monday to discuss the Supreme Court’s unprecedented three-day review of the issue.
In a CBS 8 story, Professor Susan A. Channick said the Supreme Court has never considered a concept quite like the controversial individual insurance mandate.
Smith talked to KPBS-FM’s “Midday Edition” and to KPBS-TV’s “Evening Edition” about the mock Supreme Court hearing conducted by his students, and the arguments the Court will consider before issuing its ruling.
Smith recaps Monday’s Supreme Court hearing focused on the 1867 Anti-Injunction Act in U-T San Diego.
In a U-T San Diego article, Smith says questions about the constitutionality of the minimum insurance coverage mandate are at the heart of the controversy surrounding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Smith appears on KUSI-TV to recap the first day of Supreme Court hearings, and previews what will be discussed in day two. (video not available online)
Smith talks to U-T San Diego about the main issues discussed in the third day of Supreme Court hearings on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Channick appears on KUSI-TV to talk about issues discussed in the Supreme Court hearings, and to explain the “severability” issue. (video not available online)
In a U-T San Diego op-ed, Smith calls for the U.S. Supreme Court justices to use judicial restraint when considering the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Check back throughout the week as we add additional links as our faculty members share their expertise.

Law High student mentor Katina Evans discusses the challenges she faces along her path to law school.

More than 30 students from nearby King Chavez High School visited California Western today to learn about the law school experience, the importance of higher education, and to hear about some of the challenges our own students faced on their path to law school.

The Law High program brings students from local schools, many of whom are members of minority or immigrant families, to the CWSL campus for a day to work with mentors, tour the campus, and enjoy lunch.

“By the end of the day the students are more knowledgeable about the law, the legal profession and law school. Law High supports California Western’s mission to train lawyers representative of our diverse society,” said Director of Diversity Services Marion Cloete.  “The program engages students from communities underrepresented in the legal profession, empowering them to see themselves as lawyers and sharing needed information about access to legal education.”

After lunch, students broke into small group discussion groups led by California Western student mentors. In the smaller groups, the teens were asked to discuss simple legal issues like: “Eric sells marijuana out of his home, but uses the earnings to support his family. Is that against the law?”

The goal of the exercise is to encourage the teens to think critically, and generate questions they might not have considered before.

 ”When I was their age I didn’t ask the right questions because I didn’t know what to ask. So, I want to encourage them to start asking those questions today,” said Law High student mentor Katina Evans.

The California Western student mentors play a pivotal role in the program. The mentors, who overcame personal challenges on their road to law school, serve as role models for the teens by sharing their stories and encouraging them to work hard to accomplish their goals.

“As long as you believe in yourself, and put effort into everything they do in life, you can accomplish anything you want,” said Law High student mentor Irving Pedroza.

National Jurist magazine recently named California Western School of Law the 20^th best law school in the nation for bar exam performance in relation to LSAT scores.  Click here to read more about the statistical analysis.

The story highlights California Western’s work with students to prepare for bar exam success in all three years of law school. The first year curriculum highlights topics tested by the California Bar exam. Second year students take sample tests, and in the third year, students take a course focused on strengthening the skills tested by the three-day exam.

This intensive preparation pays off, as California Western graduates surpassed the statewide average for ABA-approved schools for seven of the last California Bar exams, and posted the highest pass rates in San Diego for the past four years.

Considering the importance of passing the Bar Exam on the first try, California Western encourages prospective students to review recent pass rates of the law schools they are considering.

While passing the Bar Exam on the first try is a notable achievement and worthy goal, California Western provides a strong foundation for success on the exam and throughout the practice of law. The unique blend of legal scholarship and real world experience that we provide our students gives them both Big Picture perspective and textbook knowledge; preparing them, not simply for the Bar Exam but for careers as members of the Bar.

Local Law Schools Play Key Role in Legal Community

In an earlier National Jurist story, California Western ranked third in a listing of U.S. law schools educating partners in the region’s largest firms. The rankings, based on research by Loyola Law School, Los Angeles tax law professor Ted Seto, are based on a review of the educational credentials of partners at the nation’s largest 100 firms, who graduated in the past 25 years. The magazine listed the top 10 schools for 10 large cities, including San Diego.

Two of the top three law schools in San Diego were local schools, highlighting the important role local and regional law schools play in supporting the legal community.

This week, California Western alumna Lilia S. Velasquez ’81, aka “La Flama de la Justicia,” spoke to a packed room of students, faculty, and staff about her work as an immigration attorney and human rights activist for more than 30 years. As the law school’s Spring Diversity Speaker, Velasquez shared advice with aspiring immigration attorneys and discussed the challenges to resolving the illegal immigration debate in the United States.

Recounting her years as a California Western student in the late 1970s, Velasquez remembers often being the only Hispanic in her class, and said the law school only had four Hispanic students in those days.

After looking around the room filled with students of varying ethnic backgrounds, she said “it’s powerful to see how much things have changed.”

As an experienced local immigration attorney, Velasquez helps people achieve their dreams of becoming United States citizens. In addition to having a burning passion to help people, Velasquez said one of the secrets to her success is having a network of colleagues and friend who help her out.

“You do not want to become an island,” Velasquez said.

Velasquez discussed the challenges associated with being an immigration attorney and human rights activist, but said the sometimes-difficult work is worth it.

“The gratitude you get from a client when they get their green card or a work permit is unparalleled,” Velasquez said.

While she has witnessed many societal changes during her career, Velasquez is disturbed by the amount of anger directed at illegal immigrants currently living in the United States. She says the comments to her weekly Insights on Immigration  panel discussion in U-T San Diego are often vicious and sometimes racist.

Velasquez is frustrated by the lack of progress that’s been made on immigration reform under President Barack Obama. “For how long can we have 11 million people living in the shadows? And, is that good for the United States?” 

She is also concerned with how people’s attitudes might change if the situation continues to go unaddressed. Velasquez says people are frustrated by the federal governments lack of response to the issue, and believes the lack of action is helping to fuel anti-immigrant sentiments.

“So, I need to be vigilant. I predict that my work will get harder in the future, but guess what…I’m not going anywhere,” Velasquez said.

Reaching global agreement on a plan to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is one of the most challenging issues facing the international legal community today. Each country is different and has its own goals and political agendas. A plan to reduce GHG emissions in France might not work for China, and vice versa. So, how can the international community come up with a workable plan before it’s too late?

David Hunter, director of the Program on International and Comparative Environmental Law at American University Washington College of Law, spoke to a group of California Western students and faculty about the progress that’s been made over the last 20 years to reach an international agreement to reduce GHG emissions. While the conversation is ongoing, it appears that a one-size-fits-all approach might not work.

Adopted in 1997 at an international convention in Kyoto, Japan, the Kyoto Protocol set binding targets for 37 of the world’s industrialized nations and the European community to reduce GHG emissions. The protocol has been signed and ratified by 191 states. Hunter says the Kyoto Protocol was a “top-down scientific approach,” where each country committed to reduce their GHG emissions with the goal of limiting global temperature rise to two degrees Celsius in the future.

Early on in the discussions, the United States helped lead the international effort to enact the Kyoto plan, but over time, domestic politics changed. Under President George W. Bush’s administration, the United States chose not to adopt the plan.

“We thought Kyoto would be enough to move things along in the U.S., but we were wrong,” said Hunter. “Hardly ever does international law shift domestic law in the United States, it’s quite the opposite.”

Another complicating factor is the growth of China and India’s economies over the past two decades, and the corresponding growth in their carbon footprint. During the mid-90s, China and India rejected the targets set for more developed countries like the United Kingdom. Now, China is the world’s largest annual emitter of greenhouse gas emissions and India ranks close behind. According to Hunter, the cooperation of those two countries is essential to the global plan to reduce emissions.

“We now need to figure out climate change at the same time as we are figuring out a new world order,” said Hunter.

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009, a new model began to emerge. Instead of asking each country to agree to a binding agreement to reduce GHG emissions, each country would state what was feasible for them. This approach allowed the developing countries, who may have higher priorities than reducing GHG emissions, to begin making positive changes without having to agree to a binding commitment.

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2011 in Durban, South Africa, an agreement was reached to adopt a universal legal agreement on climate change as soon as possible, and no later than 2015.

In the meantime, Hunter believes the international community will move forward with the comparative approach discussed at the Copenhagen Summit and negotiate a more binding global agreement in the future to meet the goal of limiting global temperature increase to two degrees Celsius. However, it remains unclear whether the United States can agree on a domestic policy to reduce GHG emissions.

The conversation about climate change continues on April 2, when Arizona State Law Professor Daniel Bodansky discusses “The Future of the UN Climate Change Regime: The Road from Durban” at UC San Diego.

Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP recently granted its 2012 Native American Law Educational Internship to California Western 3L and Native American Law Students Association President Jaclyn Simi.

Simi will work on legal issues facing the Native American community. She will assist with specific Indian law-related matters and conduct legal research on various pro bono matters affecting Indian country, while gaining experience working in a law firm. Procopio worked with the California Western Clinical Internship program to ensure that the 13-week program meets the law school’s rigorous requirements for clinical placements.

Simi is a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and has a strong interest in employment law and its application to Native American Tribes. She received the Distinguished Advocate award for her National Moot Court Negotiation Team, and has previously held clerk positions dealing with labor law, litigation, and trade secrets. Additionally, she is a member of the Employment and Labor Law Society and the Women’s Law Caucus.

The Clinical Internship Program is an essential component of the curriculum at California Western School of Law. The program gives third year students the opportunity to earn academic credit for legal work in private law offices, courts, corporations, or government agencies. In these settings, students participate in legal work and acquire useful insights and experiences toward building their careers. The program builds and promotes the confidence, problem solving skills, and professionalism that lead to success as first year attorneys.

For additional information regarding Procopio’s Native American Internship Program, please contact Native American Law Practice Group Chair Ted Griswold at ted.griswold@procopio.com.

Until the mid-1990s, the U.S. spearheaded most efforts to manage the world’s climate problems; it was the source of most new ideas and most of the practical work that led to global institutions. Since the mid-1990s that role has passed to the European Union, and over the last few years the U.S. has been seen as less than credible in the rest of the world. Why has so little progress been made on the climate issue and what does this mean for the U.S.?

UC San Diego Professor David G. Victor will lead a lecture titled “Is America Relevant? The Global Effort to Manage Climate Change” this Thursday, January 26 in UC San Diego’s Social Sciences Building, room 107. Victor is director of the Laboratory on International Law and Regulation at UC San Diego’s School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. He is an expert in topics related to international environmental regulation, energy markets, and international law. His books include Global Warming Gridlock and Natural Gas and Geopolitics.

The lecture is part of the UC San Diego – California Western School of Law 2011-2012 Joint Speaker Series From Climate Change to Global Sustainability: The Great Transition. The series brings together experts from climate science, law, economics, and politics to assess the current impasse and chart the path to a sustainable future.

For questions about the series or to RSVP for this lecture, please contact Jackie Tam at 858-822-5297 or iicas-events@ucsd.edu.