The Sixth Annual Janeen Kerper Trial Skills Academy welcomes approximately 80 attorneys from Latin American countries February 12 through 16. Sponsored by the Institute for Criminal Defense Advocacy and Proyecto ACCESO, the five-day program is designed to teach Spanish-speaking attorneys litigation skills.

“This is a truly diverse international group, which shows the strength of the adversarial legal system in places where it is relatively new,” says Director of the Institute for Criminal Defense Advocacy Justin Brooks. 

During the Trial Skills Academy, attorneys will become more efficient in trial techniques and strategies through role-playing the defense and prosecution in a simulated case. Instructors are top Spanish-speaking criminal attorneys from all around the U.S. In the past, their instruction has helped train some of the best trial lawyers from Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Dominican Republic.

“We are not only exporting a set of practical skills to legal professionals in other countries, we are spreading the positive aspects of our legal culture,” says Assistant Dean for Mission Development and Director of Proyecto ACCESO Jamie Cooper.

California Western School of Law and the University of California, San Diego will host a Master’s in Health Law information session on the schools’ joint advanced degree program. The session will be held on Thursday, February 11, from 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at California Western School of Law, 350 Cedar Street, in the third-floor Roy Bell Reading Room.

The Master’s Degree in Health Law is an innovative program, combining the areas of law and health in one advanced degree program. The information session will provide prospective students the opportunity to interact with faculty, staff, and students in the program, while educating attendees about how the curriculum addresses current, convergent issues in health and law. Program requirements for working professionals will also be discussed.

If interested in learning more about the Masters in Health Law Program, visit http://www.hlaw.ucsd.edu/. If you are planning to attend the event, please RSVP to Nancy Washington at nwashington@ucsd.edu or (858) 534-9162.

Download the Master’s Degree in Health Law brochure.

California Western School of Law begins accepting applications for the Adrianne Baker Fellowship yesterday. The fellowship is the school’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program for graduates employed by a legal aid, legal services, or other nonprofit advocacy or policy organizations.

The fellowship was named after the late Adrianne Baker, a 1989 graduate of California Western who spent much of her career working for the Legal Aid Society in San Diego. Between 2002 and 2004, Baker served as acting director of Diversity Services and assistant dean of Academic Achievement at California Western. Baker was an supporter of careers in public defense and advocacy. 

Those applying for the fellowship must have graduated from California Western within the past four years, be working full time in a law or law-related position in the aforementioned organizations, and carry a minimum of $50,000 in certified law school debt.
 
Graduates of California Western interested in applying for the fellowship can access application materials from the Loan Assistance Repayment Web site.

California Western accepts applications for the fellowship through February 15.

For more information on the Adrianne Baker Fellowship, contact Director of Financial Aid William Kahler at wtk@cwsl.edu or 619-525-7063.

This month, California Western and UC San Diego announced the creation of a joint committee to explore an affiliation which could lead to a law school at UC San Diego. It’s not a new idea-officials from both schools explored the idea in the early 1980s-but the proposal holds enormous potential for the future of both schools and for the San Diego region.

This episode of Law in 10 features Dean Steven R. Smith in conversation about the ways in which California Western and UC San Diego currently work together and how they might build on that relationship to create a public law school in San Diego.

Listen to this week’s Law in 10 podcast.

Friday, January 29, California Western School of Law welcomes Professor Michael P. Scharf of Case Western Reserve University School of Law for a discussion of his new book, Shaping Foreign Policy in Times of Crisis.

His book, co-authored with Paul R. Williams of American University, examines the role played by U.S. State Department legal advisers in shaping foreign policy since the Carter administration. Through interviews with former legal advisers, Scharf and Williams explore international law as a legitimate form of global governance vs. a set of politics that policymakers may disregard when convenient.

Read more about Michael P. Scharf’s visit to California Western.

RSVP and get details about Scarf’s speaking engagement.

Judge Anthony J. Battaglia, a 1974 graduate of California Western School of Law, was recently appointed magistrate judge observer of the Judicial Conference of the United States by Chief Justice John G. Roberts.

As magistrate judge observer, Battaglia represents all magistrate judges in the United States to the Judicial Conference. His responsibilities will be carried out in a two-year term that will end in October 2012.

Read more about Battaglia and his appointment to the Judicial Conference.

As San Diego is faced with the reality of chronic budget shortfalls and a multi-billion dollar pension defict, one has to wonder – why doesn’t San Diego just declare bankruptcy and fix its financial woes? Professor Scott Ehrlich, co-author of Business Planning, discusses the benefits of declaring bankruptcy and the politics of such a move.

Listen to this week’s Law in 10 podcast.

Third-year California Western law student Parada Kovadi was recently awarded the Janeen Kerper Scholarship from the Lawyers Club of San Diego.

The Janeen Kerper Scholarship was established to provide financial support to a student who supports the mission of the Lawyers Club of San Diego, in addition to ranking in the top 50 percent of his or her law school class.

 The scholarship is named after the late Janeen Kerper, a former professor of law and director of Proyecto ACCESO at California Western. The award-winning legal educator was internationally known, developing courses in trial advocacy and ethics for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, the United States Marine Corps, and the United States Information Service.   

The Lawyers Club of San Diego is a non-profit specialty bar association seeking to advance the status of women in the law, support and improve the administration of justice, and promote equality of the sexes in our society.

On Christmas Eve, as the snow fell outside the Minneapolis hospital room of Josiane “Josi” M. Dixon ’06, her family said goodbye to her the best way they knew how – singing “Silent Night” and some of her favorite childhood Christmas songs.

 The night marked the end to a three-year-long battle Dixon bravely fought against acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Josiane “Josi” M. Dixon ’06 was a student who was always in the life of the school, making a lasting impact on the community. She was a Trial Team member, the president of the Public Interest Law Foundation, a Student Ambassador, a 3L Gift campaign captain, and involved in Moot Court competitions.

Perhaps Josi’s most noteworthy impact on California Western is seen in her pivotal role in establishing the Adrianne Baker Fellowship, California Western’s loan repayment assistance program.

Read more about the life of Josiane M. Dixon  ‘06 and her contributions to California Western.

On December 21, California Western is honored to have Stephen N. Zack present the commencement address at the school’s 98th commencement. The Miami-based attorney is the first Hispanic American president-elect of the American Bar Association. Zack is focused on promoting civics education, the importance of inspiring a new generation of lawyers, and ABA programs that advance access to justice for everyone in the United States.

In addition to the Zack’s historical first, California Western will make history as the first law school in the nation to use graduation gowns made of 100 percent post-consumer product.

Read more about Zack’s historic election to the ABA and California Western’s fall commencement.