California Western School of Law’s Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition team brought home top honors from the Pacific Super Regional Competition. The team’s championship finish from a field of 24 law schools secured a spot in the White & Case International Rounds hosted in Washington, D.C., later this month.

California Western’s Jessup Moot Court Competition Team

Members of this year’s Jessup Moot Competition Team include:  Jill Allen (3L), Kate Clark (3L), Josh Salinas (2L), Natalie Watson (3L), and Lara Prodanovich (2L). 

In addition to winning the Pacific Super Regional’s top honor, the team won fifth place for its briefs, called “memorials” in an international competition. Oralist Josh Salinas was named the top oralist in the final championship round and placed sixth for the overall competition. Jill Allen and Natalie Watson, placed 17^th and 19^th as oralists, respectively.

California Western will compete in the White & Case International Rounds March 21-27, 2010 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C.

Read more about California Western’s Super Regional win.

When California Western Professor Jacquelyn H. Slotkin wrote her first book on women in the legal profession, she discovered something unexpected. Men married to lawyers have just as hard of a time balancing work and life as the women they love.

 In her latest book, Sharing the Pants: Essays on the Work-Life Balance by Men Married to Lawyers, readers get a first-hand perspective of the unique challenges of being the man behind the woman.

 “Work-life balance is not just a woman’s issue,” writes Slotkin. “Men also seek a work-life balance. Significant numbers of Gen-X and Gen-Y male professionals are demanding balance for themselves and their families.”

 Through a collection of first-person essays by the husbands of women lawyers, Slotkin offers readers lessons and suggestions for achieving work-life balance and building lasting relationships.

 Excerpts from the Book

“I don’t want to leave the impression that Rana and I are not serious people or that I wasn’t dead serious about fixing San Diego’s problems, but everyone has to have balance, and the balancing point for us is shared laughter. No matter how hard a thing is to do, if you can keep your sense of humor with you, the heaviness of the endeavor is more manageable, and the shared laughter brings you through the marathon.” - The Honorable Gerald R. Sanders, Mayor of San Diego

“Balance? Depends on what you mean. I prefer to think of myself as a father and husband who works as a lawyer and who happens to enjoy that time. The struggle not to let the “career” define the person who I am can be a challenge. Sometimes I lose that struggle, but the fact that I know I am losing seems to be a victory. Small consolation, but it balances out and it works for now.” – Patrick L. Hosey, President of the San Diego County Bar Association

About the Book

Sharing the Pants: Essays on the Work-Life Balance by Men Married to Lawyers was published in December 2009 by Vanderplas Publishing. It is available for purchase from the publisher’s website.

The book is co-authored by Slotkin’s daughter, Samantha Slotkin Goodman, who also co-authored Slotkin’s book on women in law, It’s Harder in Heels: Essays by Women Lawyers Achieving Work-Life Balance.

This is a year of many milestones for California Western School of Law including the 10th anniversary of Proyecto ACCESO, a rule of law training program which works with lawyers, judges, and government officials in Latin America. The project is fueled by the work of California Western professors, students, and members of the local bench and bar under the leadership of James Cooper, Assistant Dean for Mission Development and Director of Proyecto ACCESO.

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 Tuesday, March 2, from 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at La Jolla Village Professional Center, 8950 Villa La Jolla Drive, Suite A-124, La Jolla, CA 92037.

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.

Wednesday, Proyecto ACCESO will officially celebrate its tenth anniversary with a reception and film screening at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. This milestone for the judicial innovation program based at California Western is indicative of the need to promote the rule of law in Latin America and educate the public on legal rights.

The Rule of Law in Latin America

Proyecto ACCESO is an opportunity for California Western faculty, students, and trustees to assist in building the rule of law in the Western Hemisphere. Through partnerships with the local Bench and Bar, and the legal community along the U.S.-Mexico border, Proyecto ACCESO helps Latin American countries transition legal systems from the inquisitorial to the adversarial model.  

“We are moving legal systems from the darkness to the light, changing centuries of corrupt, opaque and inherently unfair criminal and other procedures,” says  Jamie Cooper, director of Proyecto ACCESO and assistant dean for Mission Development. “That can take a long time.  This is the first decade of our work and we have seen successes in Chile and now Mexico and others have begun this arduous process.”  

Celebration Reception and Film Screening

On March 3, Proyecto ACCESO will show clips of its newest film, Intellectual Property Piracy: The Challenges for Latin America, at 5:30 p.m., followed by a reception. The film was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and explores the challenges of enforcing international Intellectual Property law across borders.=

Read more about Proyecto ACCESO and its anniversary celebration.

California Western School of Law receives the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction for 2009, in recognition of service donated by the school’s faculty, staff, and students through academic service learning and volunteerism. The award is one of the federal government’s highest community service honors for institutions of higher education.

“It is a great honor to be recognized by the President for the many ways in which the California Western family contributes to the San Diego community,” says Dean Steven R. Smith.  “We have long viewed the practice of law as a helping, collaborative profession, and this honor affirms the value of our commitment to San Diego. The California Western community celebrates this honor and the faculty, staff, and students who give back every day.”

Only 16 institutions in California were named to the Honor Roll with Distinction. California Western is the only independent law school to receive the honor.

Some past and current recipients of the Honor Roll with Distinction are: Cornell University; Duke University; Georgetown University; New York University; Stanford University; University of California, San Diego; University of Notre Dame; and the University of Texas at Austin.

Read more about California Western’s Honor Roll with Distinction.

Professors Justin P. Brooks and Jan Stiglitz of the California Innocence Project, housed at California Western School of Law, join the ranks of California’s best attorneys as recipients of California Lawyer Magazine’s 14^th annual Attorney of the Year Award.

Brooks and Stiglitz’s CLAY honor was likely solidified by the California Innocence Project’s exoneration of three wrongfully incarcerated men in 2009.

In July, Reggie Cole’s 1995 shooting death conviction was overturned by a dismissal of charges by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. A month later, the California Innocence project had the murder conviction of William Richards reversed after forensic evidence excluded from his initial trial was presented, supporting his claim of innocence. In September, Rafael Madrigal, Jr.’s attempted first-degree murder conviction was reversed in a case involving a gang shooting. 

“What an honor it is to have Justin Brooks and Jan Stiglitz recognized as California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year,” says Dean Steven R. Smith. “Their work with the California Innocence Project highlights the helping, collaborative nature of law and provides our students with invaluable real-world experience as creative problem solvers. The California Western community joins in celebrating their outstanding achievement.” 

Read more about thier CLAY recognition.

Last January, then-President-elect Obama set a goal for every American to have an electronic health record by 2014.

On Saturday, February 20, California Western School of Law Dean Steven R. Smith serves on a panel of distinguished scholars and professionals, entitled “Your Medical Records Online: The Promises and Pitfalls.” The panel will explore the technical, ethical, and societal implications of transitioning to EHR’s within the next four years.

Smith, the panel’s voice on the legal implications of the digital transition, will be joined by Claire Pomeroy, vice chancellor for Human Health Services and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of California, Davis; Paul Tang, an internist and vice president and chief medical information officer at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation; and Nadereh Pourat, director of research planning at the University of California, Los Angeles Center for Health Policy Research.

Smith’s extensive research in medicine and law provide him with the knowledge, skills, and perspective to effectively articulate the ethical and legal concerns of this aggressive call to create an EHR for every American within the next four years.

Science Matters at the California Science Center
“Your Medical Records Online: The Promises and Pitfalls” is part of Science Matters, the California Science Center’s speakers program for science and technology issues that are of interest to the public.

The Science Matters panel discussion will be held from 1:00 to 2:40 p.m. at the California Science Center, 700 State Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90037. It is free and open to the public.

 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.