2021
Off The Beaten Path
2021 | Gonzaga Law Magazine |
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ABOUT THE ARTIST Known for her vibrant and high-energy depictions of wildlife, Montana artist Shelle Lindholm’s work brings with it a sense of adventure, experimentation, and exploration. Lindholm took center stage at the Gonzaga School of Law as the 2020-2021 artist-inresidence and was the source of this year’s theme “Off the Beaten Path.” Her work is featured on the cover and throughout this publication. “Shelle’s art reminds us of the optimism and hope that comes from our natural world,” said Sarah Guzmán, director of Alumni Engagement & Strategic Initiatives, and chair of the Law School Building Committee. “We’ve enjoyed the opportunity to bring her creativity into our space here at the law school.” Readers can view more of Lindholm’s work on the Art Spirit Gallery website at theartspiritgallery.com
ON THE COVER Full Steam Ahead, 2020 Acrylic on panel By Artist Shelle Lindholm When storms arrive on the Plains, herds of North American Bison choose to move toward them rather than run away. By putting their heads down and pushing through, their path through the gale is shorter and therefore less severe.
Big Sky Bison, 2020 Acrylic on panel
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DEAN’S NOTE
REDOUBLING OUR COMMITMENT
14 2021 GRADUATES
22 OFF THE BEATEN PATH
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FACULTY EXCELLENCE
ALUMNI PROFILES
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CLASS ACTION
ON THE BOOKS
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HONOR ROLL
END NOTES
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President Thayne M. McCulloh Dean, School of Law Jacob H. Rooksby Senior Editor Chantell Cosner Faculty Adviser Agnieszka McPeak Senior Writer Anna Creed Contributing Writers Megan Ballard Michele Fukawa (’13) Inga N. Laurent Danny Ledonne (3L) Agnieszka McPeak Valerie Passerini (’08) Danielle Wingfield-Smith Annie Yeend Photography Zack Berlat Graphic Designer Henry Ortega Contributors Kate Vanskike Kim Hai Pearson Kurt Heimbigner Project Manager Dale Goodwin
Gonzaga Law is published annually for alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of Gonzaga University School of Law to stay connected to one another and the mission of Gonzaga University. The opinions expressed do not always represent the view of the administration but are intended to foster open dialogue and lifelong learning in the Jesuit tradition. If you have comments or suggestions, please contact the Office of Alumni Engagement and Strategic Initiatives at lawalumni@gonzaga.edu Visit us online at gonzaga.edu/law
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A Welcome from
Dean Jacob H. Rooksby What a year! Our magazine theme one year ago was Go Forth, the title of the remarkable art installation in our lobby that harkens the Ignatian call for students to Go forth and set the world on fire. This past year, “Just keep going” was our unofficial mantra, as the pandemic upended our daily lives and threatened our health and safety. We were shaken from our usual routines, forced to take paths less familiar and less traveled. And thus, the official theme of this issue – Off the Beaten Path – was born. We opened the fall 2020 semester and completed the academic year with 1L students taking their courses face-to-face, in-person in our classrooms. Typical section sizes of approximately 60 students were cut in half to accommodate social distancing. We offered upper-level courses in either hybrid/online format or face-toface, in-person format, at the election of the professor. And any student in any grade level with a health or safety-related reason for remote learning was accommodated. In a phrase, our approach was Choose your own adventure, and the adventures and lessons learned were many. Our Gonzaga Law School community overcame immense obstacles this past year, adapted to life’s challenges, found innovative solutions, and helped shape a new understanding of life and the legal profession. Through conscientious cost containment, in addition to a substantial increase in the size of our entering class, the law school is on its best financial footing in more than a decade. The positive reputation and brand of our law school span the country, and we were heartened to witness significant growth in applications to our institution from students outside the state. Our newest entering classes also bring much-welcomed student diversity to Gonzaga Law School. Diversity in all forms rightfully continues to be an institutional priority, as further described in this issue. Our emphasis on innovation and integration has not abated, despite the challenges and unusualness of the past year. Our Gonzaga University Wine Institute launched in the fall and welcomed a class of lifelong learners enrolled in the Legal and Business Aspects of Wine certificate program. A generous donation from the Schweitzer family enabled us to create a new chaired professorship – the Catholic Charities Professor of Immigration Law and Policy, held by Professor Megan Ballard – and increase our work in the field of immigration, which the Catholic Church calls the sentinel issue of our times. Our focus on immigration also includes a new Border Justice Initiative, which takes students to the border to learn firsthand about the practice and surrounding policies of immigration law. A new framework for our clinical legal education programs, described later in this issue, positions us well to heighten the academic profile of our experiential learning opportunities. Our beautiful building – which former Dean John Clute proudly opened to the community on April 15, 2000 – turned 21 years old. No doubt, our tight-knit learning community is made even more unforgettable because of our beloved facility, which we renovated in earnest over the past year. In addition to improvements to all
common spaces, every instructional classroom received new carpet, lighting, seating, tables, and updated technology. I thank our alumni and the Gonzaga Law School Foundation for their generous financial contributions that made the renovation projects possible. Our faculty continues to evolve in size and scope. After 10 years at Gonzaga Law School, my predecessor, Jane Korn, retired at the conclusion of the spring 2021 semester. We wish her much happiness in her retirement, and I am thankful to have benefited from her wisdom as a colleague these past three years. The three new faculty colleagues we have hired in the past three years – Luis Inaraja Vera, Agnieszka McPeak, and Drew Simshaw – are already making indelible contributions to the education of our students and in their respective fields of scholarly expertise. And we have more faculty hiring yet to come. In conclusion, the path we have walked this past year has been as challenging as it was unfamiliar. But in true Ignatian tradition, our way of proceeding has been to walk this new path together, embracing unexpected opportunities for growth and change while redoubling our commitment to serving students for the greater glory of God.
Jacob H. Rooksby, J.D., Ph.D. Dean and Professor, School of Law Professor, School of Leadership Studies
Our Gonzaga Law School community overcame immense obstacles this past year, adapted to life’s challenges, found innovative solutions, and helped shape a new understanding of life and the legal profession.
Off the Beaten Path Eager to get outside and looking for something fun (and safe) to do, our faculty and staff literally went off the beaten path! Over the past year they biked, hiked, camped, and explored their way around the Pacific Northwest and across the country.
Dean of the Law School Jacob Rooksby and his family
enjoyed camping in their Airstream trailer and visited Laramie, Wyoming, among many other gorgeous locations.
Assistant Dean of Students Susan Lee
is always at home on the slopes and could be frequently found on Mount Spokane this winter.
Assistant Professor of Law
Drew Simshaw proudly sports his Zags gear while e-biking in Hood River, Oregon.
Assistant Dean Laurie
Powers, Center for Professional Development, (right)
and her family explored Spokane’s favorite, Riverside State Park.
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Program Coordinator Vicky Daniels
hiked and skied all over Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana and is seen here on the slopes in Silver, Montana.
Assistant Professor of Law and Elder Law Clinic supervising attorney Genevieve Mann and her family
started a tradition of “family adventures” around the Spokane area during COVID-19. Later that summer, “My oldest son and I took a road trip and went to five national parks in six days in Colorado and Utah.”
Faculty Program Coordinator Kim Sellars (center) was able to slip away to Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, where “the beaches were bare, the service was excellent, and the weather was divine!”
Abita and Moxie traveled with their humans, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Gonzaga University Wine Institute Jessica Kiser and her partner, to a remote yurt in Idaho for a socially distanced minivacation. They are seen here enjoying an outdoor, wood-fired bathtub on the property. |
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A Note from the Office of Alumni Engagement & Strategic Initiatives Sarah Guzmán, Director (’18 M.A.) While many of us are eager to forget the challenging events of the past year and half, I for one, am not. That is not to say that I wish to relive the heartbreak, uncertainty, and stress that was part of my life and the lives of so many within our community. Nor do I desire to continue experiencing some of our favorite traditions like Red Mass, Linden Cup, or Commencement in a virtual format. Those aspects of the pandemic I am eager to put behind me. But what I hope to never forget is the compassion, dedication, and resiliency displayed by our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and donors over this past year. Your unwavering commitment for supporting the law school and one another during an unbelievable year demonstrates what a profound and meaningful impact this place has on our community. A key part of our efforts this year was to do more work in ensuring that Gonzaga University School of Law is welcoming and accessible to all. We feel called to continue to address issues of inequality and injustice within our educational system, as well as in our communities. This work, deeply bound to our Catholic, Jesuit, humanistic mission, is not easy. It requires self-reflection, deeply listening and making difficult changes. It forces us to think critically about where we have been and where we would like to go. Gratefully, we are not alone in this work. With the help of our donors and supporters, we have raised more than $1.275 million in cash and pledges to lower the financial barriers for diverse students to attend law school. These funds helped us establish the Honorable Franklin D. Burgess Law Scholarship for a student of color with excellent academic credentials. We also launched our Carl Maxey Social Justice Scholarship Program, offering participants full tuition, regardless of financial need, to allow them to pursue careers in social justice and to serve the public good. Additionally, through our Catholic Charities Immigration Clinic, our Lincoln LGBTQ+ Rights Clinic, and our General Public Practice and Indian Law Clinic, we continued to work to meet the legal needs of underserved communities within our region. The stories that follow provide more details about these efforts. I wish to express my gratitude to all our community members as we have worked together to build a vision for the future. I look forward to our upcoming academic year and hope to see you (in person) again soon.
“As a learning community committed to justice, we must seize this historical moment to work together in finding solutions that will foster a more equitable society for all. This obligation includes a commitment to action through which we will work to dismantle structures that perpetuate racism and oppression, inequity and bias, particularly as they relate to law, legal education and the legal profession.”
Redoubling our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion By Chantell Cosner
In a 2015 op-ed, published in the Washington Post, author and legal scholar Deborah L. Rhode elaborated on a troubling fact: The legal profession is the least diverse profession in the country. Rhode, who until her untimely death this past year, was a professor at Stanford Law School and has been featured on Gonzaga Law’s All Rise podcast, cited American Bar Association findings that illustrate this point in greater detail. According to the ABA, women comprise just over a third of the workforce in major law firms. Racially and ethnically diverse attorneys, as well as LGBTQ+ attorneys, are even fewer in number. “The legal profession supplies presidents, governors, lawmakers, judges, prosecutors, general counsels, and heads of corporate, government, nonprofit, and legal organizations,” Rhode said. “Its membership needs to be as inclusive as the populations it serves.” In the six years since Rhode’s statements were published, issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion have taken on deeper resonance considering the nationwide conversation around racial and social justice. In response to the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, Jacob Rooksby, dean of the School of Law, wrote:
In the months that have followed, Gonzaga University has renewed a commitment to the work of increasing accessibility, fostering inclusivity, and addressing the systemic barriers that many students, but particularly students of color, face as they begin their path toward a legal career. The effort is twofold. First, the aim is to create an educational environment reflective of the University’s Catholic, Jesuit, and humanistic mission. The second, to address the very challenge raised by Rhode: the need for the legal profession to reflect the people it is meant to serve.
Recruitment & Retention In fall 2020, the School of Law welcomed 152 members to its class of 2023, making it the school’s largest class since 2011 and the most diverse class in the school’s history, with 27 percent of the class self-identifying as members of historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. At the time of publication, the class of 2024 is projected to have a similar composition, bringing students from around the country to Spokane. Rooksby believes the numbers reflect the institution’s desire to create a learning environment that is “excellent, inclusive, and enriched by diversity.” He notes that the work to support the recruitment and retention of diverse students, faculty, and staff alike continues to be critical. “We see our recruitment efforts as only one piece of a much larger puzzle in our endeavor to ensure student success,” Rooksby said. The opportunities and support students receive once they arrive at Gonzaga are paramount to their ability to have a successful legal career and impact the lives of others with their work. Scholarship Continued on page 10...
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support, inclusive programming, employment experiences, and mentorship programs are all core components to increasing the opportunity for students from all backgrounds to be successful in law school and their chosen careers. In January 2020, the Law School announced two scholarship programs designed to address the financial barriers that are particularly acute for students from historically underrepresented groups. The first among these was the establishment of the Carl Maxey Social Justice Scholarship Program, and the second was the creation of the Honorable Franklin D. Burgess Law Scholarship. Both programs honor the lives and legacies of two African American graduates from Gonzaga Law and offer full tuition to recipients. These programs are in addition to the newly established Dean’s Fund for Diversity, which offers scholarship money to diverse students on top of other institutional aid awards they are already receiving.
Learning Together President Thayne McCulloh, in a letter to Gonzaga’s faculty, staff, and executives on June 19, 2020, outlined five actions he believed were necessary for the university to take in view of the spring’s tragic events. Of these, continued education of campus professionals remained key and President McCulloh committed to leading the Gonzaga community in: “Engaging – as committed administrators, staff, and faculty – in educational activities which bring us face-to-face with the experience of marginalized peoples, and personal and professional development regarding prejudice and discrimination, as well as the importance and value of diversity in our community.” In collaboration with partners across campus, including the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, the School of Law’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee organized a series of workshops for faculty, staff, and students to build competency with respect to intercultural learning. Guided by facilitators, participants explored themes of bias, privilege, and antiracism, applying them to their daily work and lives. These workshops were in addition to participation in the on-demand training, DiversityEdu, a research-based program rolled out across campus. The work of listening and engaging in conversation around issues of diversity and racism extends beyond the confines of DEI training and workshops. Faculty and staff continue to progress on implementing best practices in culturally inclusive
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instruction and, within the School of Law, the Center for Civil & Human Rights (CCHR) and the Center for Law, Ethics & Commerce (CLEC) create programmatic and research opportunities for students to explore these topics within a legal framework. Through programs like CCHR’s Social Justice Lunch lecture series, students, alumni, and community members have learned about transgender athletes and equal protection, hate crimes and hate speech, and the impact of race on mass incarceration.
A Stronger Commitment While the progress made toward social and racial justice appears incremental, it is hard to ignore its fundamental connection to the identity that is Gonzaga University. In 1995, four Black law students received a hate-mail letter containing racist language, and a number of faculty received harassing phone calls. The resulting investigation by the FBI was a turning point for the School of Law. Faced with such a painful event, the law school community rallied, demanding greater attention to the issues of hate, violence, and racism at Gonzaga and within the region. Of the event, former law school Dean John E. Clute said, “Because of these incidents, something was triggered that has taken root, a greater awareness of the surrounding environment that can produce such a person.” These events also led to the establishment of the Gonzaga University Institute for Hate Studies. The institute continues to serve as a national and international hub for academic inquiry, scholarship, and action-service toward understanding what hate is, how it arises and manifests, and how it may be addressed. Actions speak louder than words, and there is still much work to be done. That work needs commitments from all members of our community. “We want to ensure that the Law School lives up to its Catholic, Jesuit, and humanistic mission by supporting all students,” Rooksby said. “This requires constant engagement and creative collaboration with our community, our remarkable alumni, and our strong University leadership.” To that end, Gonzaga Law continues to find opportunities for collaboration at all phases of the ongoing journey from research to programming to service. Together, we see a path to a better future.
HONORABLE FRANKLIN D. BURGESS LAW SCHOLARSHIP
CARL MAXEY SOCIAL JUSTICE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
Gonzaga University School of Law established a full-tuition scholarship this spring in honor of the late Honorable Franklin “Frank” D. Burgess. A distinguished graduate of Gonzaga Law School, he enjoyed a noted career as an attorney and a federal judge in Washington. The merit-based scholarship is awarded to a diverse incoming student who demonstrates academic excellence.
This spring, Gonzaga University School of Law established the Carl Maxey Social Justice Scholarship Program in honor of Gonzaga Law graduate and distinguished attorney Carl Maxey. The program provides a unique opportunity for exceptional students to further their commitment to social justice and to become leaders in the profession.
Born in Eudora, Arkansas, in 1935, Burgess attended Eudora Colored High School before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force. He later went on to attend Gonzaga University and the Gonzaga School of Law. While at Gonzaga, he was a class officer, student body representative, and class president. He was also a basketball All-American, leading the nation in scoring his senior year, an average of 32.4 points per game. Drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the third round of the 1961 draft, Burgess opted instead to play for the American Basketball League’s Hawaii Chiefs before starting law school. After his graduation in 1966, Burgess enjoyed a long and fulfilling legal career. He was appointed United States District Judge for the Western District of Washington by President Bill Clinton in March 1994. Prior to becoming a District Judge, he served as a United States Magistrate for 12 years and as a partner in the law firm of Tanner, McGavick, Burgess, et al. He was also an assistant city attorney for Tacoma and judge pro tem for the Tacoma Municipal Court and the District Court of Pierce County. In 1995, he was honored with the Gonzaga Law School Distinguished Judicial Service Award. Additionally, Burgess is a member of Gonzaga’s Athletic Hall of Fame, and his number 44 Gonzaga basketball jersey was retired in February 2004, the first person at Gonzaga to receive this honor. Burgess continued his legacy of service until his death in 2010 after he lost a battle with cancer. He inspired a generation of young lawyers to pursue their passions and is reported to have continued to play basketball with fellow lawyers at the old Tacoma YWCA long after retirement. “We are delighted to be able to recognize and honor the enduring legacy of our prestigious alumnus, Frank Burgess. He was a trailblazer in every way,” said Dean Jacob Rooksby.
Make a gift in support of students to the Honorable Franklin D. Burgess Law Scholarship, the Carl Maxey Social Justice Scholarship, the Dean’s Diversity Fund, and many other scholarship funds at gonzaga.edu/lawgive
Maxey earned a reputation as an exceptional trial lawyer, a skilled counselor, and a nationally recognized civil rights leader. Orphaned at age 2 and growing up in the predominantly white Spokane community, Maxey’s firsthand experiences of racism and inequality were the seeds that fueled his passion for social justice. He attended Gonzaga Prep and, later, the University of Oregon. Maxey then returned to Gonzaga to study law while participating in the university’s collegiate boxing team. His undefeated performance during the 1950 season would later earn him a place in Gonzaga’s Athletic Hall of Fame. After graduating in 1951, Maxey became the first African American man in Eastern Washington to pass the bar examination and become an attorney. During the Freedom Summer of 1964, Maxey volunteered in Mississippi to help African Americans register to vote, freed Black activists from jail, and marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In addition, he helped members of the NAACP, specifically handling hundreds of pro bono cases. He was appointed by five different U.S. presidents to chair the Washington State Advisory Commission to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He had a singular impact on the advancement of equal rights in Spokane and throughout Washington state. “As the namesake of the program, Carl Maxey reflects a clear tie to Gonzaga Law School and outwardly manifests the institution’s commitment to social justice, including racial justice,” said Dean Jacob Rooksby. “As a predominantly white institution and profession, we are long overdue in breaking down structural barriers to the pursuit of a legal education for students of color. We view this program as a first step, not the last step.” Selected scholars are awarded full tuition, regardless of financial need, to allow them to pursue careers in social justice and to serve the public good. The program is specifically designed to provide financial assistance to students from diverse backgrounds, defined broadly to include race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability status, gender identity and expression, immigration status, honorably discharged veteran or military status and socioeconomic background.
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MOOT COURT 1
RECAP
By Annie Yeend The playing field may have been virtual this year, but the competition proved no less fierce. Our moot court teams attained impressive achievements throughout their journeys at some of the most challenging competitions faced by modern law students. The two Zag teams participating in the International Trademark Association’s annual Saul Lefkowitz National Trademark Moot Court Competition obtained particularly noteworthy successes. “Team Practical” and “Team Punctual” placed first and second at regionals. These stellar results earned both teams a spot at Nationals at the virtual Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. The teams’ accomplishments didn’t stop there. After devoting nearly a full year to intense preparation, Team Practical, consisting of captain Joe Huston and teammates Josiah Alter and Blake DeVerney, was awarded the INTA’s Dolores K. Hanna Award for the Best Brief in the nation on March 13 after competing against more than 70 teams.
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Gonzaga came away with this top prize after arguing against esteemed competitors, including Brooklyn Law School, University of Alabama, and University of Notre Dame. This season marked Gonzaga’s 25th consecutive year in the Saul Lefkowitz National Trademark Moot Court Competition and stands as a testament to its superb legal research and writing program. “I think I speak for everyone on the team when I say that Saul is both the best and the hardest thing that any of us could have done in law school,” Huston said. “It is absolutely a refining fire. But it is a fire that develops a special set of skills – skills unique to becoming a Saul. We write and argue persuasively. We collaborate with and rely on our teammates. We are mentored by one of the best attorneys in the business. It’s been 10 months of challenging work, and what we have become is well worth the sacrifice.”
Flickers, 2018 | Acrylic on panel
I think I speak for everyone on the team when I say that Saul is both the best and the hardest thing that any of us could have done in law school.
CIVIL RIGHTS MOOT COURT • Carly Roberts
• Andy Newman
• Izzy Carranza
• Dalia Pedro Trujillo
• Aaron Winder
• Cassandra Hughes
NATIONAL APPELLATE ADVOCACY COMPETITION SAUL MOOT COURT TEAM PRACTICAL Finished first at Regionals and advanced to Nationals
Both Gonzaga teams advanced to the final rounds at the San Francisco regional competition with with Tallman, Manis, and Maurer finishing as the top competitors. Team1
Team 2
• Captain Joe Huston
• Aziza Foster
• Stacey Tallman
• Josiah Alteri
• Jozee Puglisi
• Katrina Manis
• Blake DeVerney
• Leah Wilborn Neese
• Abigail Maurer
TEAM PUNCTUAL Finished second at Regionals and advanced to Nationals • Captain Emma Young • Brendan Quilici • Yanni Tsangeos • Danny Ledonne
NATIONAL TRIAL TEAM Following last year’s trip to the semifinals, the team competed this year in the Regional Championship, finishing fourth overall.
Stay up to date with our moot court teams! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn
• Chelsea Norman
• Trevor Shearer
• Sam Fenton
• Shannon Lynch
• Jacob Schmidt
• Alicia Wasisco
• Nicholas Cortes
• Sarah Vatne
Graduates By Anna Creed
2021 GRADUATES
Entrepreneur, Marketer, Business Law Enthusiast NATE ELLIOTT
Nate Elliott just wanted to be a dentist, until he saw his brother-in-law drill teeth for three hours in dental school. “I quickly abandoned that dream,” he says. Then he founded a digital marketing agency — a surefire hit. But he realized how difficult it was to run a business while owning the business. Elliott decided he wanted to do something more than just marketing. Working to build up his skillset, he pursed a degree in finance and management at Arizona State University, but his experience with a financial advising internship was like drilling teeth. Then a podcast prompted Elliott to consider law school, and his potential energy turned kinetic. He was on to something! Elliott and his wife were ready for a change of scenery, from Arizona heatwaves back to the trees of the Northwest, as both hailed from Ephrata, Washington. So he applied to Gonzaga Law, where he enrolled in the Executive Two-Year J.D. program and quickly immersed himself. The first semester of anyone’s law school experience is stressful. Elliott agrees, saying, “It was exhausting, but I look back fondly on those many hours I spent in the library, overlooking the river.” He also appreciated the small class size and the chance to work closely with professors early in his studies. Academically, Elliott was quite successful, but something was missing.
Entrepreneurship is about building something new and adding value to the world.
Unlocking Potential The missing piece fell into place when he started gaining clinical experience. “When I began my time in the clinic, I was almost ready to swear off a legal career completely,” he recalls. “That all changed, however, when I started working with real businesses on real problems.” Elliott joined the Business Innovation Clinic under the guidance of Jacob Rooksby, dean of Gonzaga School of Law. “It has been really fun to feel like I’m having a tangible impact on our clients’ businesses,” Elliott says, and adds that “I’ve also had the opportunity to research topics deeply and begin developing a bank of knowledge that will be useful to me for years to come.” Not surprisingly, Elliott kept himself busy outside the classroom. In addition to time with his wife and son, he started Gonzaga Law’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Club, the only such law school student group of its sort in the country. He continued with Vöxtur, a company he founded with a friend and fellow ASU alumnus in fall 2018. Icelandic for growth and development, Vöxtur started as a clothing business, using its podcast, People of Growth, to bring the curious consumer to their site. The podcast featured Elliott in conversation with “extraordinary people,” including entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, professional athletes, and photographers. Elliott’s goal? Help listeners unlock their potential and grow. After graduation, Elliott will continue his work, full time and as a licensed attorney, with Billbox Inc., a venture capital-backed startup in the financial technology sector aimed at solving the medical debt crisis. He is, at heart, an entrepreneur without the pejorative connotation that the current startup culture has added. “Entrepreneurship is about building something new and adding value to the world,” he said. “It’s about pushing yourself to build something that you can call your own and doing it without the stability of an employer.” Elliott has earned some hard-won insight. “Take everyone’s advice with a grain of salt,” he said, adding, “People offer advice from their own background and perspective, and that usually isn’t true or applicable for you and your circumstances.” Nor is there one true path to success, in law or elsewhere, he says. “You just have to figure out what works for you, and don’t worry if what works for you is different than what works for others. You are different than everyone else, and that’s something to be happy about.”
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2021 GRADUATES
Educator, Coach, Advocate for Restorative Justice BAILEY WARRIOR PAHANG
It started long before she decided to go to law school, long before she taught seventh-grade math and coached track in Hawai’i and Spokane. Long before she worked as an undergraduate lab assistant at UW, exploring the social psychology of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM. It even started before she was a Thomas Jefferson High School Mathlete in Auburn, Washington. Bailey Warrior Pahang learned about the power of an advocate’s voice long before these experiences; advocacy is in her blood.
A Passion for Advocacy In 1970, Pahang’s great-grandmother, Ella Aquino, staged a takeover of Fort Lawton in partnership with other Native leaders and the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panthers. Aquino passed a wealth of generational knowledge to her children, worked to keep her family together, even earned her high school diploma when she was in her 70s. From here, Pahang inherited a passion for advocacy, a fierce will to persevere, and pride in her roots. “While teaching and connecting with youth and families was the most incredible experience of my life, and I miss it every day,” Pahang says. “I knew I wanted to dismantle these systems of oppression through public policy and high-impact litigation.” Pahang chose Gonzaga Law for logistical and professional reasons. Her partner was attending medical school in Spokane, so she took a close look at options in the region. She was drawn to Gonzaga Law “because of the emphasis placed on public service and social justice, specifically through the Thomas More Program.” When she interviewed to become a Thomas More Scholar, she “immediately knew that there was a community of compassionate, fierce leaders committed to amplifying the voices of our BIPOC communities, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.”
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“I had absolutely no concept of what it meant to be an attorney,” Pahang says. “I was so worried that it would be a hostile environment like the one I had seen on TV, students tearing out pages in books, hypercompetitive, and never having time for anything other than reading. But since coming to Gonzaga, my skepticism has been challenged, as I have formed connections with peers and faculty mentors that have changed my heart and my idea of what being an attorney can look like. I have witnessed firsthand the power of collaboration in this profession and the importance of attorneys becoming storytellers who affirm clients in their identities and journeys.”
Finding Balance A descendant of the Lummi Nation, the Lhaq’temish people, Pahang is one of few Indigenous students at Gonzaga. She admits that it can be “exhausting to learn about the ways in which the law often functions as an institution that further oppresses communities of color” and understands that for many students, the cases they study are “intangible, unfortunate events.” But for students of color, the use of the law “to deny our existence is very real and deeply personal,” she says. “Racial gaslighting that is masked as intellectual discourse” is also an insidious drain on students of color. But all of this makes her value the journey and motivates her to guard against burnout. Pahang has excelled and throughout her education has consistently been inspired by the diligence of classmates and their commitment to maintaining routines to balance productivity and well-being. In Professor Inga Laurent’s course on Restorative Justice, Pahang found inspiration and empowerment in the ways in which Indigenous restorative justice practices have informed current practices. Her experiences in and out of Gonzaga Law’s classrooms taught her that she is capable of reimagining what it means to be an attorney to serve the greater good.
2021 GRADUATES
I have witnessed firsthand the power of collaboration in this profession and the importance of attorneys becoming storytellers who affirm clients in their identities and journeys.
Pahang now serves as the inaugural Diversity Fellow with Stevens Clay P.S., a Spokane firm specializing in education law, and clerks for Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis of the Washington Supreme Court. She hopes these experiences will lead to a career in educational equity work. She has some advice for anyone contemplating law school: “Never rule yourself out. Never let anyone, including yourself, convince you that you are not worthy of this opportunity. We need your voice, your unique perspective, and your heart in this profession. And as you embark on your journey as a law student and you are overwhelmed with the volume of reading and the pressures of cold calls, stay grounded: Remember why you are in law school and who you are doing it for.”
2021 GRADUATES
Runner, DREAMer, Immigrant Rights Advocate DALIA PEDRO TRUJILLO
Lots of people become lawyers because of a childhood dream. Not so for Dalia Pedro Trujillo, who says she knew that the law had an immense power but couldn’t see a place for herself in it. After she earned her bachelor’s degree, Trujillo took a job in Wyoming. She was an undocumented DACA recipient, a DREAMer, a woman of color, working with rural communities in a conservative area of the country when she saw the law and herself in a new light. “It was then that I realized that lawyers could be advocates for communities in ways that I had never thought of before,” she says.
Mission Driven She applied to Gonzaga Law because of its mission of social justice and its setting in Eastern Washington. She visited campus when she came to Spokane to see her sister, and then was selected to participate in Gonzaga’s Thomas More Scholar Program. That settled it: She was going to be a Zag. While no longer in Casper, she is still active in the nonprofit organization she co-founded there: The Immigration Alliance of Casper, Wyoming, which builds a network of resources for immigrants in the area. “Law school was as hard as I thought it would be; it challenged me academically, as well as time management skills in ways I did not expect,” she says. Along with the usual first-year hurdles, Trujillo’s stresses were compounded by the rescission of the DACA Memorandum in 2017 and our country’s increased schism over immigration. “It’s tough to go to school and be worried about old cases dealing with torts and civil procedure when you’re constantly worried about whether the current administration is going to potentially focus on deporting you,” she recalls. Her first year was a lonely experience in ways that most law students cannot understand.
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Compounding the immigration issues, Trujillo points out that people of color “are not reflected in the materials we cover, at least not in a positive light, and we also are not reflected in our staff and faculty. And after a while, that wears down on you and makes you question whether you should even be there.” Finding a sense of belonging as a Zag and law student was vital to her success as a law student. Gonzaga is legendary for its commitment to community but can do better in addressing the needs of its students from historically underrepresented communities. “It can’t just fall on the students to advocate for themselves, because then our law school experience will always have an added component that other students never have to think about,” she says. Along with the people of Gonzaga, she credits running with helping her stay on an even keel as a law student. Trujillo started trail running when she lived in Wyoming. She did her first race — 18 miles through the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming — and was hooked and recently completed a 50k race in 5 hours and 35 minutes.
A Voice for Inclusion Trujillo, however, knows this call to action will only succeed if students like her keep their voices heard. Along with classes and internships, she was an active member of the national and Law School chapter of the Latina/o Law Student Association, the Student Liaison to the Washington State Minority Justice Commission, and a member of the Council on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. But Trujillo also recognizes her own privilege as a law student, which helps keep her crackling with energy. She credits her undergraduate education at St. Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington, with developing her critical thinking skills and challenging her to learn from a range of perspectives.
2021 GRADUATES
Working with clients puts law school in perspective, and it prepares you for going out into the ‘real world,’ and for that, I am so thankful.
One part of Trujillo’s Gonzaga Law experience that sparked joy was the school’s emphasis on experiential learning and applying the intellectual to the practical. “Working with clients puts law school in perspective, and it prepares you for going out into the ‘real world,’ and for that, I am so thankful,” she says. Trujillo interned with the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Washington and Idaho, in both Boise and Spokane, where she handled the full range of pre-trial motions and sentencing memos as well as represented her clients in court. She works remotely as a Removal Defense Intern with the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Educational and Legal Services (RAICES), a nonprofit based in Texas. What advice does she have for prospective law students, especially for BIPOC students? “This profession needs you, and if this work calls you, then you shouldn’t doubt yourself,” she says. To weather the challenges of law school, she urges prospective students to “come prepared to be challenged but stay true to your values and who you are as a person. Find something that grounds you and use that as your guide as you grow and learn.” Trujillo plans on clerking for Chief Justice Steven González of the Washington Supreme Court after she sits for the bar exam this summer.
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2021 GRADUATES
Father, Mentor, Legal Education Champion HISRAEL CARRANZA
2021 GRADUATES
Hisrael Carranza is not a typical law student. It isn’t that he is a married father of four. It isn’t that he is the son of immigrants and a first-generation law student. It isn’t that he had a criminal record before becoming a law student.
criminal legal system and seeing how immigration laws can rip families apart, I decided that I wanted to be someone people in my community can go to whenever they are dealing with these issues.”
It’s that he is so darn quiet.
Gonzaga Law was a perfect fit. As he entered the lobby for the first time, he saw the big banner that read Center for Civil & Human Rights. “It is ingrained in my mind like a scene from a movie that replays in slow motion,” he said. His family agreed “how cool it would be to be part of a school that was so involved in issues we saw as important.”
Get any group of law students together, and the result is a bustling commotion of noisy debate. But Carranza has a stillness, a calm presence, an angle of repose immune to collapse. This centered nature makes his actions and voice all the more powerful. This strong sense of self was hard-won. Early in life, Carranza saw that the path he was on had few possible outcomes, none of them good. He described himself as lost and hopeless in the face of addiction and winding up in jail more than once. He knew he needed to find another trajectory. He started by finding a job, paying off his fines and other legal and financial obligations, then enrolling part time at Weber State University.
I plan to take all the opportunities that will allow me to be the best advocate for my clients.
New Possibilities His decision to change didn’t bring him instant gratification, praise, or even complete clarity about his future other than the understanding that this new trajectory offered better possibilities. But he kept moving forward. He has undying gratitude to the people who helped him find his new path: his family, mentors, and professors. After earning his bachelor’s degree, Carranza turned his eyes toward law school. He settled on this path as a way to give back to his community. “Through my own lived experiences, I know what the law signifies to many underrepresented communities,” he says. “It is not always experienced or seen in the most positive light. After my own experiences in the
An Experience Beyond Expectation As a first-generation law student, Carranza didn’t know what to expect when he joined the Class of 2021. He knew it would be difficult, and it certainly lived up to its hype. He was surprised by how rewarding it was “to survive some of the law school milestones such as my first round of midterms and finals.” While excelling academically, Carranza developed professional experience with work at the King County Department of Public Defense, Columbia Legal Services, the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and North Idaho, the Moderate Means Program, and Gonzaga Law’s Legal Clinic. He spent spring break 2020 with Gonzaga Law in Action, conducting research on how to combat forced labor in prisons. He works with administrators to ensure the school strives to retain diverse law students once they have joined Zag Nation. To this end, Carranza is active within Gonzaga Law’s Latina/o Law Student Association, and several other committees and groups focused on diversity and inclusion. Carranza will be clerking for Washington Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu in the 2022-2023 term. “My dream is to eventually practice both criminal and immigration law to assist people in the two areas of law that have intersected in my life,” he said. “Until I can reach that, I plan to take all the opportunities that will allow me to be the best advocate for my clients.” With all this professional, academic, and community-based work, burnout is always a possibility. But not right now, not for Carranza. “I am so full of passion right now that ‘burnout’ is not on my radar,” he says.
Celebrate the Class of 2021! Watch the full commencement ceremony at gonzaga.edu/commencement
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Smooth Sailing, 2019 Acrylic on panel
Off The Beaten Path Gonzaga Law SchoolClinical Legal Programs
Forming Lawyers for Immigration Reform
Why Tech Policy Matters
The Right to Education in the Midst of a Pandemic
GONZAGA LAW SCHOOL
Clinical Legal Programs By Jacob H. Rooksby, J.D., Ph.D. Dean, Gonzaga University School of Law
Gonzaga University School of Law was one of the first law schools in the country to focus on clinical legal education. Starting in the early 1970s, “the clinic” offered students the chance to practice law under the tutelage of legendary emeritus and retired professors such as Jeff Hartje, Mark Wilson, Alan McNeil, Larry Weiser, and George Critchlow. Alumni frequently tell us that the best part about their time at Gonzaga Law School was their experience in the clinic. While the clinic’s governing structure has changed during the past year, its original dedication to providing an excellent educational experience for students remains front and center. Its dedication to working directly for social justice also remains at the forefront, as does its identity as a major provider of free legal services in the region for people with low incomes. University Legal Assistance Inc. (ULA) was formed on Aug. 30, 1976, to create some formal distance for those engaged in these activities, which were thought to occasionally hold the risk of placing the law school at odds with the mission of our Catholic, Jesuit institution. The separate legal existence of ULA also permitted ULA to seek funding from sources that otherwise were prohibited at that time from donating to a faith-based institution. Throughout the decades, as additional clinical opportunities were added to the curriculum, ULA functioned mostly in an advisory capacity with a board of directors consisting of all clinic faculty, along with alumni and community supporters, some of whom lived outside Spokane. Whereas students
formerly took a bundle of credits in “the clinic,” working with all faculty members as a unitary law firm, this curricular model changed over the years. The firm effectively created new departments as clinical undertakings were added in fields as disparate as business law, environmental law, tax law, and elder law. The evolution of our clinical programming continues as we match the interests of our students with our obligations to provide them with meaningful, cutting-edge experiential learning opportunities during their time with us. Over the past two years, we have added four clinical opportunities to our curriculum – the Catholic Charities Immigration Law Clinic; the Lincoln LGBTQ+ Rights Clinic; the Civil Rights Advocacy and Amicus Clinic; and the Commercial Law Amicus Clinic – and reformulated another (the Business Law Clinic became the Business Innovation Clinic). Each of these clinics aligns with the educational programming mission of one of our distinct academic centers: the Center for Civil & Human Rights and the Center for Law, Ethics & Commerce. As our faculty worked to embrace a more unified model over the past three years, where “doctrinal” professors are encouraged to engage in experiential teaching, and “experiential” professors are encouraged to engage in doctrinal teaching, we have been able to offer new and exciting learning opportunities for students under the auspices of our clinic.
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Reflecting these changes in our organizational infrastructure became a focus of the past year. With the assistance of alumnus Don Curran, we formally retired ULA at the end of 2020. In its place, we created a new unincorporated operating unit within the corporate structure of Gonzaga University called Gonzaga Law School – Clinical Legal Programs (GLS-CLP). This embodies the notion that our clinical education opportunities should no longer be conceptualized as distinct from the academic mission of the institution. GLS-CLP recognizes that what once was a single-purpose clinic has evolved into an umbrella organization with a variety of clinical engagements operating within it. The new operating structure better reflects where we are today, with three departments offering eight distinct subject area clinics.
The board structure for GLS-CLP provides for five board positions, four of which must be held by full-time faculty at Gonzaga Law School. The board is very active, meeting monthly to discuss matters of governance and policy of interest to all clinics. While much has changed in the past 50 years since our efforts began in clinical legal education, our core values have not changed. We remain committed to providing exciting opportunities for all students to learn and deploy practical skills during their time at Gonzaga Law School. We remain committed to being a resource for free legal services to people in need in Spokane and the surrounding region. And with our new operating structure, we are more committed than ever to positioning experiential learning through our clinical legal programs as a core academic aspect of Gonzaga Law School.
Clinical Legal Programs DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS OF GLS-CLP Dean Jacob H. Rooksby – Chair CENTER FOR CIVIL & HUMAN RIGHTS • Catholic Charities Immigration Law • Civil Rights Advocacy and Amicus Clinic • Lincoln LGBTQ+ Rights Clinic CENTER FOR LAW, ETHICS & COMMERCE • Business Innovation Clinic • Commercial Law Amicus Clinic • Federal Tax Law Clinic COMMUNITY JUSTICE PROJECT • Elder Law Clinic • General Public Practice and Indian Law Clinic
Professor Gail Hammer – Coordinating Lawyer Professor Fr. Bryan Pham, S.J. – Secretary Professor Jessica Kiser – Treasurer Hon. Kathleen O’Connor (ret.) FULL-TIME FACULTY WHO HOLD ACTIVE LICENSES TO PRACTICE LAW IN WASHINGTON STATE: Professor Megan Ballard Professor Jason Gillmer Professor Gail Hammer Professor Jessica Kiser Professor Fr. Bryan Pham, S.J. Professor Genevieve Mann Dean Jacob H. Rooksby Professor Sandra Simpson
Learn more about Gonzaga Law School clinical legal programs at gonzaga.edu/lawclinic
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CARING FOR THE WHOLE PERSON
“Pop-up” Name and Gender Change ID Clinic Helps the LGBTQ+ Community On a sunny day in spring 2021, law student Christine Luckasen (’21) carried two neatly labeled containers into Odyssey Youth Movement in Spokane’s Perry District. The labels, printed on purple paper and decorated with rainbows, were for the School of Law’s pop-up Name and Gender Change ID Clinic. Inside the containers were snacks for attendees, cleaning products to prevent COVID-19 transmission, and numerous government forms to help transgender and nonbinary individuals update their names and gender markers on their identifications. “Every individual I have worked with has been so friendly and grateful,” says Luckasen. “I wish we could host the clinic every single week because it is so fulfilling.” The pop-up clinic began in 2019 through the Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR). Michele Fukawa, CCHR assistant director, and Luckasen, research assistant, coordinate the monthly clinics. The idea of the clinic began when Fukawa attended an Access to Justice Conference presentation by Seattle’s Lavender Rights Project (LRP). Dusty LaMay, LRP’s Equal Justice Works Trans Advocacy in Rural Places fellow, had been holding similar clinics throughout Washington state. “I knew that Spokane needed a clinic like this, so I asked for their help,” Fukawa says. At the first clinic in 2019, LaMay provided guidance to five law student volunteers. The clinic continued monthly in a small classroom on the third floor of the law school. On clinic days, pride flags decorated the law school building and individuals from throughout the Inland Northwest, including Idaho, dropped in with their questions on how to update their identification. Collaboration with LRP continued until March 2020, when the pandemic forced the cancellation of all inperson activities at the law school. When law students returned to campus in fall 2020, Luckasen helped Fukawa transition the clinic to be a safe environment for students and attendees during the pandemic. It reopened in October 2020 at Odyssey Youth Movement, with appointments scheduled to limit the number of people in the space, and with protective measures in place. “Volunteering for the clinic has been one of the biggest highlights of my 1L year,” says June Bordas (Thomas More Social Justice Scholar). “While the general need is simple, every client’s situation is different, and there’s always something new to learn.”
Students assist with a clinic event this spring. From left to right: Christine Luckasen (’21), Bridgette Roll (2L), and Mariah Welch (2L).
To assist more transgender and nonbinary individuals throughout the state, a virtual clinic took place in April, via a five-hour clinic on Zoom to help people from Spokane, Jefferson, King, Snohomish, and Yakima counties. Bridgette Roll (1L), a volunteer at the virtual clinic, says: “It’s been a great opportunity to realize that I’m starting a path in a professional field where there’s space for compassion and for helping people. Also, as a queer person, it’s really lovely to be able to support the community I’m a part of – especially the trans/nonbinary community since they have been trailblazers for queer rights.”
From Odyssey Youth Movement Odyssey has been happy to partner with CCHR as the site host, as it helps to achieve our mission of promoting equity for LGBTQ+ youth. I have heard personal stories from Odyssey youth participants and others that the clinic is doing great work alongside transgender, nonbinary, and genderexpansive members of the community. The feelings of excitement and relief that are shared when that new ID or card arrives can be felt through the computer screen when shared on social media and radiates throughout the community. The success of the program can be seen in the trust it’s given by previous attendees. Odyssey sees more and more members of the community recommending that others attend and seek the affirming support they need. Word of mouth about trusted resources is a crucial way that the LGBTQ+ community looks out for itself, and the program has become a partner in accessing the tools needed for ALL members of our community to be affirmed and recognized for who they know themselves to be. Ian Sullivan, Executive Director Odyssey Youth Movement
lawyers for Immigration reform By Megan Ballard, M.A., J.D., LL.M. Catholic Charities Professor of Immigration Law and Policy Director of the Border Justice Initiative Legal scholars, political leaders, and immigrant rights groups are all devoting increased attention to outdated immigration laws and policies that are ripe for reform. Over the last 10 years, the number of people forced to migrate because of persecution, conflict, or violence has doubled, yet international humanitarian law, largely crafted in response to World War II, is ill-equipped to protect the rights of these migrants as their numbers continue to escalate.1 Unfortunately, domestic law does not fare much better as U.S. provisions outlining narrow protections for refugees are 40 years old and modeled after international law designed for a different era.2 U.S. law governing other areas of immigration are even more outdated, based on a framework Congress adopted in 1952.3 Piecemeal amendments have turned immigration law into an inscrutable “never-never land, where plain words do not always mean what they say,” according to one federal judge.4 In short, increasing numbers of immigrants need legal solutions at a time when our immigration law and policy continue to
erode with age. This environment poses an opportunity for legal education to rethink how it prepares students to engage in innovative policy reform. Through collaboration with donors and nonprofit organizations, Gonzaga University School of Law has committed to expanding the ways we prepare students to engage in immigration law advocacy in service of others. We have developed two programs: The Border Justice Initiative and a new branch of the Catholic Charities Immigration Clinic at Gonzaga Law focused on policy advocacy. These build on our existing foundation of immigration law training established through the client advocacy work of the Immigration Clinic.
THE BORDER JUSTICE INITIATIVE: Meeting People in Need Where They Are The Border Justice Initiative advances justice for immigrants at the nation’s geographic borders, while also pursuing justice for immigrants in the United States at the boundaries of civic inclusion. Launched in January 2021 and housed within the Center for Civil & Human Rights, the initiative integrates advocacy training for law students with help for marginalized immigrants seeking protection near the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as immigrants in our local communities striving for legal rights and civic participation.
U.N. High Comm’r for Refugees, Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2019, at 8 (June 18, 2020), www.unhcr.org/en-us/statistics/unhcrstats/5ee200e37/unhcr-global-trends-2019.html. While data on the numbers of people who migrate for other reasons are difficult to track, global statistics indicate a slight increase over the same period. Int’l Org. for Migration, Migration Data Portal, Themes: Types of Migration, https://migrationdataportal.org/search?text&type=1&theme=1987&tags&category (last visited April 29, 2021). The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that migration stock – “the total number of international migrants present in a given country at a particular point in time” – has increased worldwide from 3.2% of the total population in 2010 to 3.6% in mid-2020, but these numbers estimate all migrants, including those forcibly displaced. Int’l Org. for Migration, Migration Data Portal, Immigration & Emigration: International Migrant Stock, https://migrationdataportal.org/data?i=stock_ perc_&t=2020 (last visited April 29, 2021). Other IOM estimates report on migration by various types. Int’l Org. for Migration, Migration Data Portal, Themes: Types of Migration, https://migrationdataportal. org/search?text&type=1&theme=1987&tags&category (last visited April 29, 2021).
1
Refugee Act of 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-212, 94 Stat. 102 (1980) (implementing U.S. treaty obligations as a signatory to the 1967 Protocol of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees). See United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, July 28, 1951, 189 U.N.T.S. 137, as amended by United Nations Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, Dec. 31, 1967, 606 U.N.T.S. 267.
2
The basis for current immigration law is the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, Pub. L. No. 82-414, 66 Stat. 163 (1952), known as the Immigration and Nationality Act.
3
Yuen Sang Low v. AG of the United States, 479 F.2d 820 (9th Cir. 1973).
4
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In contrast to the client-centered work of the Catholic Charities Immigration Clinic, which typically serves people from our clinic offices, students engaged with the Border Justice Initiative meet with impacted individuals where they are located, including border areas. Additionally, rather than individual client representation to solve discrete immigration law problems, students working with the Border Justice Initiative offer assistance that partner organizations identify as areas of need, ranging from consulting with potential asylumseekers, to providing immigration “know-your-rights” information. As a step toward implementing this mission, the Border Justice Initiative has coordinating a new one-credit course – Gonzaga Law in Action: Immigration Advocacy – which integrates doctrinal instruction and skills training with ongoing reflection and service to people impacted by restrictive immigration policies and practices.5 This course was first offered in August 2021. Six students counseled asylum seekers in Nogales, Sonora, after completing course work on asylum law and policy. Two alumni worked alongside students in Nogales, volunteering time to help migrants and mentor students. Research indicates that this community-engaged method of learning promotes student understanding of social problems and commitment to social change, as well as “enhanced appreciation of cultural diversity . . . particularly among participants who worked with international and immigrant populations.”6 Moreover, law students working alongside community partners and impacted immigrants in border regions witness the harms resulting from the structural injustices embedded in immigration law. Students are confronted with the imperative to challenge the inequalities that created the need for assistance in the first place.7
Gonzaga University’s Center for Community Engagement describes community-engaged learning, or service learning, as “a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.” https://www.gonzaga.edu/student-life/community-engagement-and-service/community-engaged-learning (last visited April 29, 2021). The Law School’s 2020 alternative spring break program in Nogales, Arizona, served as the pilot for this new course.
5
Jerusha Conner & Joseph Erickson, When Does Service-Learning Work? Contact Theory and Service-Learning Courses in Higher Education, 23 Michigan j. Of Community Service Learning 53, 54 (2017).
6
7 Tania D. Mitchell, Traditional vs. Critical Service-Learning: Engaging the Literature to Differentiate Two Models, Michigan J. Of Community Service Learning, Spring 2008, at 50 (determining that the goal of critical service learning is “to deconstruct systems of power so the need for service and the inequalities that create and sustain them are dismantled.”).
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POLICY ADVOCACY: Contributing to Systemic Change Introduced during spring semester 2021, the policy branch of the Catholic Charities Immigration Clinic prepares students to advocate for immigration reform and to partner with reformoriented groups as movement lawyers. Structured around a project learning model, the clinic fosters the multidimensional lawyering skills required to engage in efforts to create systemic change. These skills include, for example, strategic planning, negotiation, collaboration, legislative and policy advocacy, and project management.8 The clinic’s first undertaking involved collaborating with the Kino Border Initiative (KBI), a Jesuit-founded bi-national nongovernmental organization aiding migrants at the Southwest border. Students summarized and presented data to incoming Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, asking for his attention to the ongoing abuses of power, due process violations, and breaches of human rights perpetrated by U.S. immigration officials.
inequality.9 Gonzaga Law’s new programs provide learning experiences that augment doctrinal offerings and client-based Immigration Clinic work to prepare graduates to confront structural inequities in our immigration system by advancing much-needed immigration law and policy reform.
“Service is never ideological, for we do not serve ideas, we serve people.” 10
KBI assists migrants navigating the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) complaint system after experiencing mistreatment from CBP agents or U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. Clinic students summarized the 73 complaints that the KBI collected from individuals and families, beginning in 2017 through February 2021, and submitted through the CBP complaint process – most of which remained unaddressed at the time of our work. Students later shared these summaries with members of Washington state’s congressional delegation, asking for hearings to assess the prevalence of CBP and ICE mistreatment, and to investigate the flawed CBP complaint process.
Megan Ballard explores legal protections for people forcibly displaced from their homes and countries. She has earned two Fulbright grants to pursue field studies related to this research agenda. She recently published “Cultivating Civic Belonging for Resettled Refugees” in the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal.
Jennifer Stuart, now a 3L, commented: “Studying Immigration Law provided me with an understanding of the theoretical framework for our immigration system. I found it easy to review laws and policies to parse out potential flaws; however, reading real stories about the direct adverse impact of those laws and policies was challenging for reasons other than theoretical understanding. I became emotionally exhausted with each story presenting the same pattern of abuse. I think this was a reality I knew to be true when learning about the immigration system, but I had yet to come face-to-face with it.” Both the Border Justice Initiative and the Catholic Charities Immigration Clinic: Policy Advocacy reflect Gonzaga University’s ongoing commitment to fostering social justice and solidarity with the poor and vulnerable. As Pope Francis reminded in his recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, Tutti, solidarity includes combating the structural causes of poverty and
8 Anna E. Carpenter, The Project Model of Clinical Education: Eight Principles to Maximize Student Learning and Social Justice Impact, 20 Clinical L. Rev. 39, 41-42 (2013). 9 Francis, Encyclical Letter “Fratelli Tutti” (On Fraternity and Social Friendship), ¶ 116, October 2020 (quoting Francis, Address of Pope Francis to Participants in the World Meeting of Popular Movements (October 28, 2014)). 10 Id., at ¶ 115, October 2020 (quoting Francis, Homily, Plaza de la Revolución, Havana, Cuba (September 20, 2015)). 11 Gov’t Accountability Office, Immigration: Actions Needed to Strengthen USCIS’s Oversight and Data Quality of Credible and Reasonable Fear Screenings, 1 (Feb. 19, 2020), https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-250.pdf. 12 Migration Policy Institute, Data Hub: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Data Tools, (analyzing U.S. Census Bureau data from the 2014-18, with web site reporting additional methodology), www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/data/Active_DACA_ Recipients%E2%80%93December31%2C2020.pdf (last visited April 29, 2021).
Int’l Org. for Migration, Migration Data Portal, Migrant Flow: Immigration Flows, https:// migrationdataportal.org/?t=2018&i=inflow_total&cm49=840 (last visited April 29, 2021) (estimating the number of international migrants as of mid-year 2020 in the United States to be 50.6 million).
13
Migration Policy Institute, Immigrant Health-Care Workers in the United States (May 14, 2020) (reporting on data from 2018), https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/ immigrant-health-care-workers-united-states-2018. 14
Spokane Public Schools, English Language Development, https://www.spokaneschools. org/Page/1621 (last visited April 28, 2021).
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48.6%
increase in the number of undocumented migrants immigration officials referred for asylum screening between FY 2014 and FY 2018.11
50%
number of the DACA eligible population in Washington state who have received DACA protection as of 2020.12
15.3%
number of international migrants as a percentage of the total U.S. population, as of mid2020. 13
28%
share of physicians and surgeons in the U.S. who were born outside the U.S.14
77
number of languages spoken by English language learners in Spokane Public Schools.15
PRACTICING IMMIGRATION LAW DURING COVID By Danny Ledonne, MFA; (3L) I enrolled in the Immigration Law Clinic as a legal extern during summer 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic was raging, borders were locked down, Gonzaga had moved to remote learning, and I was taking my classes entirely online. How would we serve our clients? What would come of their pending cases? Would there even be a law clinic? With some patience, flexibility, and technical wizardry, my case supervisor and I created secure, remote access to the clinic’s case file database. We used video conferencing for our weekly case rounds, worked with clients via phone, email, and webcam, and still used the U.S. Postal Service for communication (“neither snow nor rain nor heat nor [a global pandemic]”). My supervising attorney said I was the first student to work remotely in the Immigration Law Clinic. Indeed, I was doing so from Colorado while taking law school coursework online. With tireless support from the law clinic’s staff and my supervising attorney, I was able to close out several pending cases, including a certificate of naturalization for a U.S. citizen originally from Mexico and a work authorization for a German national married to an American spouse. Without delving into politics, it is clear to me that our immigration system is profoundly broken. It is incumbent upon us to work within our communities and engage our state and federal representatives to create a more humane, effective, and inclusive immigration policy. This has been a truly surreal time to be in law school. I am profoundly grateful that Gonzaga School of Law has opportunities like the Clinical Legal Programs and that we are able to continue performing the important civic services we provide to clients of limited means. 2021 | Gonzaga Law Magazine |
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Welcoming ZAIDA RIVERA (’05 B.A.) Gonzaga University School of Law is pleased to welcome Zaida Rivera, as a clinical fellow for the Catholic Charities Immigration Clinic. Rivera brings a wealth of experience, including more than eight years of immigration law practice, teaching, and mentoring. She served in the Seattle and New York offices of Kids in Need of Defense, representing unaccompanied minors and training pro bono attorneys to do the same. She was a staff attorney for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle, focusing on DACA representation and coordinating DACA clinics. Recently, Rivera was a practitioner-in-residence for the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Seton Hall Law School in New Jersey, where she directly represented immigrants and supervised clinic students in deportation defense cases.
What brought you to immigration law as your field of expertise? My lived experience as an immigrant has taught me that immigration affects many aspects of someone’s life: from employment and housing, to education, health benefits, and more. The opportunity to serve the community I come from and give our community hope, a voice, knowledge, and empowerment is my passion. Additionally, immigration law intersects with many other areas of law which helps me grow as a practitioner. I would like to give a special thanks to my parents for their unconditional support and to Loren Ettengoff (’80), whose mentorship and support throughout law school and in my legal career has been invaluable.
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What is one key issue we are facing right now in immigration policy? The lack of right to counsel for individuals in removal proceedings, especially detained individuals facing deportation, is a systemic issue. Currently, only immigration detainees in California, Arizona, and Washington who suffer from severe mental disabilities have the right to counsel. Not children, not unaccompanied minors, not legal permanent residents, not anyone else. This is a necessary fundamental legal protection as these vulnerable individuals cannot understand these legal proceedings, let alone defend themselves, in their deportation hearings.
What brings you back to Gonzaga? The opportunity to live out my passion for immigrant justice and student learning brings me back. I feel the same excitement coming back to Gonzaga as I did when I arrived as a undergraduate student 20 years ago. I am thrilled to teach the immigration clinic seminar and be able to work with students on immigration cases. I am passionate about access to justice initiatives, and I hope to assist in continuing to build the immigration clinic – alongside Gonzaga Law staff and faculty – which is a trusted immigration service provider for our community.
WHY TECH POLICY MATTERS
Exploring the connection of ethics and technology with notable experts By Agnieszka McPeak, J.D. Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship Frederick N. & Barbara T. Curley Associate Professor of Commercial Law Director, Center for Law, Ethics & Commerce
Do you ever find yourself endlessly scrolling through Facebook, eyes glued to a seemingly neverending stream of content? Are you somehow drawn in, even though you know you should be doing something more productive with your time?
Events like Why Tech Policy Matters Fellow and privacy law expert, are part of the mission and vision about her theory of intimate for CLEC, which combines the privacy. And in spring 2021, study of business, innovation, the center co-sponsored with and technology with ethical Gonzaga’s environmental studies considerations that further the department a presentation by common good. One of CLEC’s goals environmental lawyer and activist is to grow into a centralized hub Thomas Linzey on the movement for students, community members, for “environmental personhood.” This phenomenon is not an accident: and scholars through educational Technology companies intentionally These virtual events drew hundreds programs. The series also featured design products to get you hooked of students, alumni, community Ashkhen Kazaryan, former director and keep you scrolling. The topic of members, and scholars from of Civil Liberties for TechFreedom habit-forming technology was one around the country and across and now policy manager on the of several addressed in the Why disciplines. As we emerge from a content regulation team with Tech Policy Matters lecture series, year of distancing and isolation, Facebook, who presented on hosted by our Center for Law, CLEC hopes to continue forging proposals to ban the popular social Ethics & Commerce (CLEC) this new paths for collaboration and media app TikTok. CLEC also academic year. education on topics that bring us all hosted a panel discussion about together in the coming year. In his lecture on the regulation financial regulation in the age of of habit-forming technology, social media – particularly with the Kyle Langvardt, University of rise of popular investment apps like Agnieszka McPeak, Nebraska law professor and First Robinhood – with Juan Echeverri J.D. researches Amendment scholar, discussed the of the Securities and Exchange and writes about ways tech companies make design Commission and Hilary Allen, the intersection decisions that tap into the addiction American University law professor of law and mechanisms in our brains. That and fintech expert. technology, infinite scroll on Facebook? It’s akin particularly as it CLEC also embraced an off-theto an old-fashioned slot machine: relates to social media, beaten-path ethos with other You pull down and – jackpot! – more ethics, privacy, and the innovation interdisciplinary and collaborative exciting content appears. Langvardt and sharing economies. Her piece offerings. In October 2020, CLEC also discussed the quickly evolving “Platform Immunity Redefined” was co-sponsored a special lecture by landscape of proposals to recently published in the William & University of Virginia law professor regulate it. Mary Law Review. Danielle Citron, a MacArthur
Watch for more exciting legal events: gonzaga.edu/clec 2021 | Gonzaga Law Magazine |
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Impact of technologies DREW SIMSHAW Professor Drew Simshaw is the inaugural 2021-22 Clute-Holleran Scholar in Corporate Law at Gonzaga. Named in honor of former dean of Gonzaga Law John Clute (’60, ’63 J.D.), who passed away in 2012, and former Gonzaga Regent John Holleran (’76, ’79 J.D.), this rotating research professorship through the Center for Law, Ethics & Commerce (CLEC) supports a junior, pre-tenure faculty member working on business law scholarship of interest to inhouse counsel. “Through this position, and with gratitude to Dean John Clute and John and Deborah Holleran, I’m excited to advance my research on the practical and ethical challenges and opportunities presented by emerging technologies that impact this setting,” Simshaw said. Simshaw joined Gonzaga Law’s faculty in 2019 after fellowships at Georgetown University Law Center and Elon University School of Law. He is a graduate of the University of Washington and received his J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law and his LL.M. in Advocacy from Georgetown. Simshaw’s scholarly work situates at the intersection of emerging technology, legal ethics, and access to justice. “Professor Simshaw’s scholarship falls squarely within the mission and vision of the Center for Law, Ethics & Commerce,” notes Director Agnieszka McPeak. “He is emerging as a true thought leader in artificial intelligence, legal innovation, and the impact of new technology on corporate counsel, in particular. I am excited to see the continued impact his work will make.”
Hear more about Drew Simshaw’s research in Season 2, Episode 4 of the All Rise Podcast. gonzaga.edu/law/podcast
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The Right to Education in the Midst of a Pandemic By Danielle Wingfield-Smith, Ph.D., J.D. Visiting Assistant Professor of Law Originally published in Northwestern University Law Review of Note, October 2020
COVID-19 exposes the necessity of accessible education for all students and begs us to reconsider education as a fundamental right under substantive due process. In light of this current health crisis, now is the time to consider the many inequities in access to education that have existed for centuries. As schools across the nation consider their modality of instruction for the school year, equitable education for students should be a primary concern for government, policymakers, and school systems. This discourse brings attention to important questions:
Who continues to be educated during a pandemic and how?
Who continues to be educated during a pandemic and how? How will we account for the toll of the novel coronavirus on our children’s education? History provides some insight about educational inequity and how we might use this unique occasion to address longstanding fault lines.
When the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1787, the founders did not include a “right to education.” The closest that the federal government came was in passing the Northwest Ordinance that same year, which held that “the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” Thus, because the 10th Amendment reserves to the states all powers that the Constitution does not delegate to the federal government, providing a free public education to students has historically been left to states. In the absence of constitutional guarantee, marginalized groups have led the charge to establish the fundamental importance of access to education. Not having a statutory commitment or guarantee of the right to education is problematic, especially for marginalized groups. During Reconstruction, Black Americans viewed education as a necessity and were instrumental in establishing public education for all Americans. As such, Black Americans’ demands for education contributed to the American notion of a right to education. Throughout the 20th century, many Americans continued to view education as a fundamental right, and while the Supreme Court has never held that education is a right, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Gary B. v. Whitmer recognized that “the Constitution provides a fundamental right to a basic minimum education.” The case currently awaits en banc review by the Sixth Circuit. Nevertheless, states have been required to deliver on perhaps the most important role of a democratic society — providing education to its citizens. But it is time to mandate a federal right to education to force states to provide quality education and to fund schools in all communities.
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Going fully online means that students lose access to dedicated study and safe spaces, hands-on learning, and additional social support that the institution provides. While not formally enshrined in the Constitution, states have assumed the role of guarantor for what many perceive to be a fundamental right, providing the learning experiences that young people need to become engaged, informed participants in our society. And yet, to date, the states are not accounting for the factors that hinder millions of students from achieving this, especially considering the unique factors that impede learning during the current pandemic. Many college students, for example, may lose access to the comprehensive support our universities provide, instead pondering how their families will economically survive this pandemic. K-12 students face similar difficulties without daily access to the essential services their schools provide. How can we expect all children to continue their learning uninterrupted online when some do not have ready access to food or shelter? To understand education during a pandemic, we can partly rely on insight from over a century ago when schools similarly resorted to widespread closures in the wake of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. States’ responses to keeping the public safe during the 1918 pandemic, while also maintaining an educational focus, varied. School responses during the 1918 pandemic ranged from cities choosing to keep schools open while monitoring students’ medical status to closing altogether. Some inner cities closed K-12 schools only after many had died from influenza and pneumonia. Historically, closure or voluntary absenteeism is a typical response. Unfortunately, these measures are reactionary and only occur once a pandemic is already widespread, leaving little time for consideration of students’ educational needs. This is similar to states’ current responses to COVID-19: Some schools
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are reopening with the support of the CDC, but many other schools have chosen virtual learning options without knowing whether they can deliver quality instruction and support to the students who need it most. While a pandemic is no less disruptive now than in 1918, a century of transformative technological advancements has provided our nation’s schools with tools to continue to educate our children. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many students are expected to learn remotely using technology. Herein lies the difference between education during the 1918 pandemic and education during the current pandemic. Although educators can utilize online technological platforms to remodel inperson education, the inequity in education has likely shifted in the wrong direction. This is where we have an opportunity to critically engage our collective notion of the right to an education and propose how we might better bring this ideal to fruition. Going fully online means that students lose access to dedicated study and safe spaces, hands-on learning, and additional social support that the institution provides. Many students do not have access to food outside of their schools, let alone space at home with the tools necessary to adequately learn virtually. Students with special education needs also require support that is difficult to deliver online.
To be clear, now-ubiquitous online platforms like Zoom, Skype, and Google Hangouts, are not panaceas for the problems confronting education at this time. K–12 teachers and university instructors, like myself, have had to adjust from in-person to virtual instruction in what feels like a nanosecond. At the same time, these and other platforms sure to emerge in the coming months and years continue to show us the possibilities of delivering on the “right of education” in a new technological age. This requires continuously dealing with equity issues such as ensuring students of all races, socioeconomic backgrounds, geographic locations, and learning abilities have the requisite educational support from both the federal government and individual states. But who is most adversely impacted by the expectation that anyone can use these online tools to engage in high-quality learning? COVID-19 continues to exacerbate educational inequities and access gaps for students of color and those who are lowincome. On a given day, schools in lower-poverty districts report over half of teachers are able to interact with their students virtually, while just a third of teachers in high-poverty districts are able to engage virtually with their students. Some poorer schools have completely closed without a plan to offer virtual instruction and stopped educating their students altogether due to a lack of resources that render remote education unfeasible. Rural students are also left behind as schools go online this fall, exposing a gap that will now mean the difference between obtaining — and losing access to — an education. Those without the technological means to “plug into” their learning lose access to free, highquality public education that Americans have touted as a right for over a century. This much is clear: While online learning can bridge the gap for some students, others are de facto deprived of the essential right to education. To date, education as a guaranteed right for all children is an illusion; now, we have the opportunity to bring this issue to the forefront of America’s conscience and influence constitutive change.
States must now embrace their role as guarantors of this right, using the tectonic shifts in how our students learn as motivation for desperately needed policy changes in areas like food insecurity, homelessness, special education services, and the digital divide. This may require school systems to not only provide technology to students’ families, but also to offer support for using these devices and platforms, including considering whether all students will have safe, quiet spaces conducive for learning. Further, technology cannot replace hands-on instruction and states should consider ways to financially and administratively support K–12 teachers. Citizens must continue to hold states accountable for providing a basic education to all students — and begin to consider how a federal right to education might help this goal be actualized. In the face of a global pandemic that has heightened disparities in education for our most marginalized students, now more than ever is the time to deem education as a fundamental right. As a result, this would require a response to an outcry for adequate resources and supports for all students. History provides us with a guiding principle for this work, harkening back to Brown v. Board of Education’s seminal 1954 decision to highlight that education should be “a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.” The inequities exposed by the onset of the pandemic have made it clear that this right is only available to some — and indicates how much work we still have left to do to ensure it is realized by all. Danielle Wingfield-Smith, Ph.D., J.D. is a visiting assistant professor with the Center for Civil and Human Rights at Gonzaga University School of Law. Her primary areas of scholarship are legal history (education, civil rights, leadership, social movements), race and the law, constitutional law, education law and policy, and family law. Her work has appeared in the Harvard BlackLetter Law Journal and the Journal of African American History, in addition to the Northwestern University Law Review of Note.
Crises like COVID-19 surface the reality that a virtual education, which may gain increasing traction in the years to come, perpetuates a class of young people who may not attain what should be a fundamental right. Even as French philosopher Jacques Ellul expressed concern over 50 years ago about the negative economic impacts of technological shifts like this one, he also acknowledged that they are inevitable.
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FACULTY EXCELLENCE
Research & Scholarship Brooks Holland, J.D. J. Donald and Va Lena Scarpelli Curran Professor of Legal Ethics and Professionalism CONFRONTING THE BIAS DICHOTOMY IN JURY SELECTION, 81 LA. L. REV. 165 (FALL 2020)
“This article addresses the intersection of anti-bias norms and zealous advocacy in the selection of ‘impartial’ jurors, arguing that this bias dichotomy may be resolved without resorting to zero-sum choices, such as the elimination of peremptory challenges.”
Luis Inaraja Vera, J.D., LL.M. Assistant Professor of Law ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF VOLUNTARY ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS, 2020 UTAH L. REV. 795 (2020)
“In recent years, government agencies increasingly have relied on voluntary programs to achieve a variety of goals, from improving worker safety to creating healthier living conditions in urban areas. One example is cleaning up a contaminated site and building an affordable housing project. To move forward, especially with voluntary environmental programs, two critical items must be addressed: evaluating the performance of voluntary environmental programs and determining the appropriate level of government oversight.”
Agnieszka McPeak, J.D. Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship Frederick N. & Barbara T. Curley Associate Professor of Commercial Law Director, Center for Law, Ethics & Commerce PLATFORM IMMUNITY REDEFINED, 62 WM. & MARY L. REV. 1557 (2021)
“Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act immunizes ‘interactive computer services’ from most claims arising out of third-party content posted on the service. Passed in 1996, section 230 is a vital law for allowing free expression online, but it is ill-suited for addressing some of the harms that arise in the modern platform-based economy.” “This article proposes to redefine section 230 immunity for sharing economy platforms and online marketplaces by tying internet platform immunity to the economic relationship between the platform and the third party.”
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FACULTY EXCELLENCE
Jacob H. Rooksby, J.D., Ph.D. Dean, School of Law Professor of Law & Leadership Studies COVID-19 AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: BUSINESS RESPONSES TO THE PANDEMIC IN THE INLAND NORTHWEST, 82 MONTANA LAW REVIEW 601 (2021).
Published with Kathryn E. Handick (2L) “This article offers a first examination of business reactions to the pandemic in the Inland Northwest, looking specifically at the industries of agriculture, banking, and tourism.”
Stephen L. Sepinuck, J.D., LL.M. Professor of Law PROBLEMS AND MATERIALS ON SECURED TRANSACTIONS (5TH ED. WEST ACADEMIC 2021) (CO-AUTHORED WITH KARA BRUCE)
“Problems and Materials on Secured Transactions teaches students about secured transactions and the law, training students in the use and interpretation of statutes. The book contains 180 carefully sequenced problems for students to solve.”
Sandra Simpson, J.D., M.I.T. Professor of Law ASSESSMENT OF TEACHING AND LEARNING: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDEBOOK FOR LAW SCHOOLS (CAROLINA ACADEMIC PRESS) JANUARY 2021 (CO-AUTHORED WITH EMILY GRANT, KELLY TERRY, AND GERRY HESS).
“This book discusses creating a culture of assessment, institutional assessment processes, student learning at the course and program levels, and teaching effectiveness. Administrators, new professors, and seasoned professors will find guidance and advice on all aspects of assessing teaching and student learning.”
Mary Pat Truethart, J.D., LL.M. Professor of Law MARRIAGE STORY: A TALE OF DIVORCE, LOVE . . . AND THE LAW, 45 J. LEGAL PRO. 65 (2020).
“In the film ‘Marriage Story,’ Baumbach adeptly captures the frustration, anger, vulnerability, uncertainty, and sorrow associated with the demise of the marriage of a couple in their thirties who have an eight-year-old son. It also provides an opportunity to observe some of the procedural aspects of the divorce process itself. This article identifies discrete examples of the presentation of legal and ethical issues in ‘Marriage Story’ and highlights the portrayals of those who are involved with the divorce and custody process, including lawyers, mediators, judges, and social workers.”
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FACULTY EXCELLENCE
Presentations Jessica M. Kiser, J.D. Associate Professor of Law Director of the Gonzaga University Wine Institute “THE REASONABLY PRUDENT CONSUMER OF ALCOHOL”
2021 Works-in-Progress Intellectual Property Colloquium co-hosted by American University Washington College of Law, Texas A&M School of Law, and The University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law
Forthcoming in 2021 Looking ahead at work to be published in 2021 and beyond.
Upendra D. Acharya, LL.B., M.C.L., LL.M., S.J.D. Professor of Law
A Crisis in Crisis: Natural Disaster and Human Rights Violation, __Beijing Normal University Publication, Beijing, China__ (forthcoming 2021)
Lynn M. Daggett, J.D., Ph.D. Drew Simshaw, J.D., LL.M. Clute-Holleran Scholar in Corporate Law Assistant Professor of Law “THE FUTURE HAS ARRIVED: THE IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON LEGAL WRITING AND RESEARCH”
with Dyane O’Leary & Joe Regalia 2021 Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting
Smithmoore P. Myers Professor of Law
Admission of Evidence in Title IX Sexual Misconduct Hearings, __ Seton Hall L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2021) Student privacy in the new Title IX sexual misconduct formal complaint process, __ Journal of Law and Education ___ (forthcoming 2021)
Daniel J. Morrissey, J.D. Professor of Law
Jason Gillmer, J.D., LL.M. John J. Hemmingson Professor of Civil Liberties Director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights “LITIGATING SLAVERY IN THE FAR WEST”
Southeastern Assocation of Law Schools Annual Meeting
Justice Ginsburg and Corporate Law, __ Sec. Reg. L. J. __ (forthcoming 2021)
Kim Hai Pearson, J.D., MSt. Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Program Innovation Professor of Law
Children are Human, __8 Tex. A&M L. Rev.__ (forthcoming 2021)
Find more faculty accomplisments at gonzaga.edu/lawfaculty
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In the News Land of the Shining Mountains, 2019 | Acrylic on panel
“The ‘best interests of the child’ in the United States is very different from the way it is perceived internationally.” Kim Hai Pearson
“We are all as lawyers bound to uphold the Constitution and we have to recognize that words matter, truth matters and we have roles to play in upholding our allegiance to those things.”
“Children’s Rights & Child Welfare”
Jacob H. Rooksby
The Civics Project Podcast by Repair, May 2, 2021
“Inauguration is a Time or Reflection, says a Local Law Professor” KXLY Spokane Coeur d’ Alene, Jan. 20, 2021
“We have used monetary policy very well over the past year, but our ability to make any more changes in that area is hamstrung. The Federal Reserve has more limits now on what it can do – you cannot go below zero on interest rates.” Ann Murphy “145 Million Americans Cannot Afford Another Year Like 2020” WalletHub, March 18, 2021
“It’s absolutely unprecedented, and I don’t think that we have a rule book for this except for the fact that we as a country have made a commitment to the rule of law and to be governed by the rule of law.” Mary Pat Treuthart “Experts on U.S. Capitol riots: We’ve never seen this, either” The Spokesman-Review, Jan. 6, 2021
“Much more needs to be done to implement Justice Ginsburg’s admirable vision of social and economic justice. Yet we were fortunate to have her as a pathfinder there during her marvelous tenure on the High Court.” Daniel J. Morrissey “More Work Needed to Implement Ginsburg’s Vision of Social and Economic Justice”
“Courts are rejecting the internet exceptionalism idea when it comes to a company like Amazon.” Agnieszka McPeak “Amazon, Online Markets Face Reckoning in California Product Case” Bloomberg Law, April 29, 2021
The Hill, Sep. 22, 2020
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Jane Korn
Trailblazing Law Dean, Professor Stepping Away from the Lectern By Anna Creed
As the end of the 2021-21 academic year drew to a close, Jane Korn celebrated retirement after serving as dean of the School of Law from 2011 to 2018, before returning to the life of the professoriate. She was the first woman to lead Gonzaga Law and its first Jewish dean. Before becoming a Zag, Korn earned her bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and her J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law. She clerked for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals before returning to her native stamping ground of New York City, where she practiced law at Davis Polk & Wardwell. In 1986, she joined the faculty of the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers School of Law where she also served as vice dean. “I chaired the search committee that recommended Jane Korn to be the first woman dean of our law school,” shared local attorney and alumnus, Don Curran (’60). “The search committee was of the opinion that Jane combined a fine analytical mind and a good legal imagination with a gracious, professional manner resulting in a unanimous endorsement to the president.” This became even more important as the effects of the 2008 economic crash precipitated a significant drop in law school attendance across the nation after hitting peak enrollment in 2007. Gonzaga Law was not immune from the sweeping trends in enrollment and had to evaluate its future and develop a plan to navigate the challenging environment. When Korn accepted the job, she stepped squarely into the morass and faced it with her characteristic strength and candor. Along with making tough decisions about budgets and maintaining admissions standards, Dean Korn challenged faculty and staff to marshal their creative resources to keep Gonzaga Law a first-class law school. Under her leadership, Gonzaga Law addressed the drop in enrollment in a thoughtful and forthright way; Korn refused to compromise on either Gonzaga’s core values or standards for admission. “We decided to hold our line and keep our credentials and maintain our standards because admitting someone who would not succeed in law school is neither a Jesuit thing to do nor an ethical thing to do,” Korn said in a Gonzaga Bulletin interview. “So we maintained our credentials and our standards, and we are very proud of that.” During the fiscal hard times, Gonzaga Law renewed its commitment to a cornerstone of its Jesuit mission: heeding the call to change the world by developing lawyers with a passion for protecting human and civil rights. Korn understood that the inherent intellectual diversity within the staff, faculty, and
student body meant that this concept was subject to varying interpretations, depending on the person. However, she saw as universal the responsibility to make the world a better place. As Gonzaga’s classes grew smaller, its academic rigor sharpened. The Law School’s summer program in Florence was recast to focus on international human rights. Under Korn, Gonzaga became one of the only law schools to offer an accelerated J.D. program. Projected to have 12 students, the first accelerated class had 24. This program continues today as the Executive Two-Year J.D. program. Korn also looked outward from the doors of the Law School, traveling extensively to meet with alumni, who helped Gonzaga Law meet its $10 million fundraising goal. As a scholar and professor, Korn has written widely on issues in employment discrimination, specifically in the area of disability law. Her articles have addressed mental illness, discrimination against cancer survivors, and discrimination against people who are obese, as well as the fundamental question of what it means to be disabled under the ADA. She had taught both employment law and employment discrimination courses as well as courses in civil procedure and arbitration. “The four years I spent working for Jane as her associate dean of academic affairs was life-changing for me,” said Professor Sandra Simpson. “Jane took an interest in developing me as a professor, person, and administrator. She is the epitome of a strong-minded career woman with a big heart for those she loves.” “Jane has been a trailblazer and role model for so many in her career. She leaves an indelible imprint on the law school and the thousands of students she’s positively impacted over the years,” said Dean Jacob Rooksby. “I personally owe her a debt of gratitude for her advice and support of me these past three years.”
Honor Jane Korn’s retirement with a gift to Gonzaga University School of Law at gonzaga.edu/lawgive
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ALUMNI PROFILE
MELISSA COOMBES ( ’13)
Making the most of life’s extraordinary adventure Stubbornness is a key to Coombes’ success in life. She graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in rocket science. Technically, aerospace engineering. Her curriculum tested both her academic and physical aptitude. So, rocket science with lots of pull-ups. Coombes also managed to shoehorn in playing volleyball for Navy. But after graduation, Coombes decided to go to flight school and served nine years on active duty, flying MH-60S Knighthawk helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. As a flight and academic instructor in the Navy, Coombes managed hundreds of students’ training and professional development. In 2009, Coombes was named the Training Wing Five Instructor Pilot of the Year. She was also awarded multiple Navy commendation and achievement medals, including an Achievement Medal for actions that helped save an aircraft and the Humanitarian Assistance Medal for tsunami relief missions in Sumatra. But she was ready for a new challenge.
Feeling Right at Home
She wasn’t certain how she would take to law school. By her own account, she hadn’t studied “anything other than aircraft manuals” for the nine years prior to Gonzaga Law. Yet Melissa Coombes (’13) found a lot to love her 1L year. But let’s back up nine years, before 1L orientation, before deciding to go to law school, before choosing to attend Gonzaga Law because the backstory is always important. Coombes is stubborn. She admitted so in a profile written about her in 2011 as she competed in the Alpine Expedition Switzerland Adventure Race. The profile notes that “She can run for days — for fun.” Coombes attributed her ability to sleep only a few hours a night, survive on peanut butter sandwiches and cheese crackers, and race for 24 hours for seven days to her stubbornness. “Once I get started, my stubbornness kicks in, and I won’t give up,” she said.
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The answer: law school, and the practice of aviation law. However, research revealed that most firms with aviation practices were in big cities, which was not where she and her family wanted to be. It was important for her and her husband to be in the same place during law school, and Spokane was one of the few suitable places. Thankfully, Gonzaga Law was a great fit. “All of the admissions professionals were amazing in the process; we enjoyed our visit and fell in love with the terrain and opportunity available in Spokane,” recalls Coombes. “GU was an easy choice.” A little worried about how her aerospace engineering background would apply to law school success, Coombes entered Gonzaga Law “with a completely open mind and a lot of humility.” “Much to my surprise,” she says, “the analytical thought process honed through engineering studies” was directly applicable to the law school classroom and legal analysis. Coombes listened to her professors and “lo and behold, listening to what your professors tell you works!” This doesn’t mean that Coombes didn’t face doubts or hurdles.
ALUMNI PROFILES
But she defied intimidation. “This may sound crazy, but I loved my 1L classes, especially first semester,” she says, not something often heard in law school circles. “I started the day with Professor Vickie Williams’ Civ Pro class at 8 a.m., and she ran the class like a drill instructor. No nonsense. Coming out of the military, it made me feel right at home,” she recalls. On her Gonzaga path to a J.D. summa cum laude, Coombes clerked for the chief judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington and interned with the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office. She served as managing editor of the Gonzaga Journal of International Law. All while serving in the Navy Reserves. She helped her fellow law students who had applied for JAG train to meet the physical fitness requirements.
All About Team After graduation, Coombes became a patent attorney with Lee & Hayes, PC, in Spokane, is a member of the Washington Air National Guard and a part-time corporate pilot. Always a fan of cycling, running, kayaking, and climbing, Coombes decided to mix them all together and has been competing in multi-sport adventure racing since 2001. Adventure racing is more than just an athletic workout, however. A team must navigate over an unmarked wilderness course and may have to climb, ski, bike, paddle, raft or run for many hours or days nonstop. Coombes and her team won the 2009 U.S. Adventure Racing National Championship in just 21 hours and 36 minutes, almost two hours ahead of the runners-up. She placed 12th in the 2017 Adventure Racing World Championships. She has competed in South Africa, Switzerland, and eight other countries around the world. All of this accomplished amid deployments, the birth of children, and her law practice. In 2019, she competed in The World’s Toughest Race: EcoChallenge Fiji, where she and her teammates endured in an 11-day adventure race. The competition took place eight months after Coombes delivered her son via C-section. Not surprisingly, her favorite piece of gear during that race was “the magical acid that killed foot fungus,” brought along by a teammate. A rolling stone may gather no moss, but a smart sailor knows how to keep her feet dry. Or something. There is an aphorism in there somewhere.
Be humble. Listen. Really listen. As an advocate, friend, student, partner, or any other role, this is a critical skill that needs to be practiced. There is a common thread that ties Coombes’ experiences together, whether family, school or racing: team. While she has no problem training on her own, adventure racing, as Coombes does it, is a team sport with each person contributing their skills and endurance. As a law student at Gonzaga, Coombes appreciated the time she spent with her professors and her fellow students. It’s often said that people who can’t take advice often insist on giving it. But Coombes belies this bit of conventional wisdom. Her advice for prospective students: “Be humble. Listen. Really listen. As an advocate, friend, student, partner, or any other role, this is a critical skill that needs to be practiced.” This is even more important when circumstances like the COVID pandemic have isolated people, and we feel the overwhelming urge to talk. “It is important to open our minds and hearts to what others are telling us,” Coombes says. “That also takes some humility because it is not always easy to hear.”
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ALUMNI PROFILES
DELIA GARZA (’10)
From firefighter to Travis County’s first female attorney There are a lot of stereotypes about Texans. They only think about football. They ride horses everywhere. Everyone wears a cowboy hat. As children, all Texans aspire to sell propane and propane accessories. All Texans are the same. But Delia Garza (’10) pokes more than a few holes in these cliches and shines a light on the diversity of Texans and the changes occurring in Texas’ government and justice system. Garza is a Texas native whose father retired from the San Antonio Fire Department after 36 years. He was active in his labor union and brought Garza along “to work on political campaigns for candidates who would advocate for better pay and more safety protections for firefighters.” Garza admires her father’s work as a firefighter and union man and knew that she wanted to continue that tradition of service. So she became a firefighter in Austin, Texas, in 2001 after earning her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Texas A&M University. A member of Austin Firefighters Association, Local 975, Garza also worked for her union to advocate for fair wages and safer working conditions for her fellow firefighters. She was the first woman to be appointed to chair the Local’s political action committee. But by 2007, she wanted to expand the reach of her advocacy for working families. She knew “a law degree would make me a better and stronger advocate.”
Embracing the Unknown She had no ties to Washington state. She had never been to the Pacific Northwest. But Gonzaga Law was trying to fulfill its Jesuit vision by increasing the diversity of its student body. Garza received a letter from the Law School asking her to apply. In trying to decide whether to attend Gonzaga or start at a law school in Texas, she followed the advice of one of her mentors: “Go away. You have the rest of your life to live in Texas, go experience living in another part of the country.” The hardest part at Gonzaga Law? It wasn’t that she was a 30-something student. It wasn’t the classes. Nor was it the stress. “Sure, the workload and testing time was stressful, but walking into a burning building was pretty stressful too, so I knew while some law school situations were hard, I could get through them,” Garza says.
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It was winter. “Oh, my goodness, how do people get used to that gray sky for so long?!” she asks. As for the Gonzaga Law student body, Garza found that even though there were few other Latino/a students in her class, she did have shared experiences with her fellow students. She says she “loved going to a law school where many of the students were like me, first-generation law students coming from working families.” It was competitive, but Garza found a talented group of people with similar backgrounds to hers who cared about doing well but understood the importance of balancing a social life, too.
ALUMNI PROFILES
A Servant Leader without Reservation After graduation in 2010, Garza returned to Texas and served as an assistant attorney general in the Child Support Division of the Office of the Attorney General. She was also a member of a grassroots coalition that aimed to reform the way candidates were elected to the Austin City Council to ensure better representation. Because of redistricting and term limits, there was no incumbent in one of Austin’s council districts in 2014. Garza ran and won. She was the first Latina to serve on the City Council. She was re-elected in 2016 with more than 65 percent of the vote. As a council member, Garza held a range of committee assignments that underscore her commitment to community well-being and fair play. She chaired the Council’s Public Utilities and Regional Affordability Committees and sat as vice-chair of the Open Space, Environment & Sustainability
Having represented a lowerincome minority district while on the Austin City Council, I saw daily how racial bias and oppression has affected our communities of color, and we must include a lens of equity in all the work that we do as public servants if we are to fully represent all communities and properly advocate for them.
Committee. Garza led the effort to standardize findings of indigency in Austin’s municipal court, which has resulted in fewer people being incarcerated for not being able to pay fines. She also fought to devote a larger share of Austin’s budget to social services and has led the fight for criminal justice reform. In January 2019, her colleagues selected her as Austin’s mayor pro tem. In November 2020, Garza was elected Travis County attorney, both positions the first for a Latina. She ran on a platform of criminal justice reform, weapon forfeiture in domestic violence cases, and empowerment of county officials to push back against state overreach. “I will decline to prosecute quality of life offenses here,” she said during her campaign. “These lead to over-criminalization of poor and largely Black and Brown communities, and there is no public safety benefit.” She is a servant leader without reservation, and fervently campaigns for equity for all. “She encourages Latinas to reach for the stars. “I have and do sometimes experience impostor syndrome, and I just move past it by reminding myself that I worked hard and have earned my position, that my voice matters, and that women of color should have a seat at every table.” Garza looks forward “to the day that younger Latinas don’t have that impostor syndrome experience, and that can only happen by them seeing people that look like them in positions of power.” As for her plans for Travis County, Garza doesn’t hold back. “Having represented a lower-income minority district while on the Austin City Council, I saw daily how racial bias and oppression has affected our communities of color, and we must include a lens of equity in all the work that we do as public servants if we are to fully represent all communities and properly advocate for them.” Meanwhile, Garza is savoring her life with her family. “As a new mom in my first year on the City Council, I was forced to slow down and concentrate on family, and then I just kept that priority on my family in the following years of public life,” she says. “I always say, public service is like a family business: The only way I can be successful in my advocacy for my community and still be a good mom and wife is by having a great support system”.
ALUMNI PROFILES
REISHA ABOLOFIA ( ’14) In service of justice
When called for jury duty, lots of people moan. Some groan. And some, like alumna Reisha Abolofia (’14), decide to go to law school. After earning her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Washington, Abolofia was interning with The Seattle Times and paying the bills with a job at Trader Joe’s when she was called to serve on a jury. The case involved the rape of a child, and after two weeks of sitting in the jury box, Abolofia and her fellow jurors were summarily dismissed with no explanation. “I (literally) chased the prosecutor down the hall to find out why we were excused after two weeks of trial,” she recalls. “He explained after testifying about her experience, the survivor was too scared to sit for cross-examination, so the prosecutor had to cut a plea deal with the defendant.”
I (literally) chased the prosecutor down the hall to find out why we were excused after two weeks of trial.
In response to this experience, Abolofia decided to volunteer to work with the prosecutor’s office to support survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. Abolofia worked the victim hotline and spent her time answering calls and providing information about case status, victim impact statements, and restitution. She quickly realized that she wanted to do this kind of work, full time, as a career. So law school was the next logical step. Gonzaga Law caught her attention because “its commitment to justice and public interest work felt like it aligned with my purpose in finding selfless, impactful work.” She says she “felt a sense of community both on campus and in Spokane when I visited the school.” This doesn’t mean she knew exactly what kind of law she would practice. She knew she wanted to advocate for others. “Law school was rigid and competitive, and that was what I expected, but I felt a real sense of camaraderie and support within a small group of friends,” she says. She knew a law degree would open the door to new opportunities for her, “but I definitely didn’t know where I would land,” she recalls.
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ALUMNI PROFILES
But it seems her heart was in public service. As a law student, Abolofia interned with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and took an active role with the Gonzaga Public Interest Law Group as its VP and creative director. The tenacity that impelled her to get answers from a prosecutor kept Abolofia on a path of advocating for others. It was Professor Mary Pat Treuthart, though, who helped Abolofia focus her goals. Professor Treuthart’s Mental Disability Law class not only gave Abolofia a solid foundation in the law of disability, it also gave her the opportunity “to learn from a fierce advocate like Mary Pat.” “In the very beginning of my third year of law school, I woke up one morning without the ability to use my fingers and hands,” she says. Ultimately, Abolofia was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis. Her symptoms and diagnosis coincidentally coincided with her class with Professor Treuthart. “I found a friend and an incredible mentor,” she says of Treuthart. “She helped me find a place to use my sense of justice and emerging knowledge of disability law and culture at Disability Rights Washington.” Abolofia took a job as a staff attorney with DRW after graduation and passing the bar in 2015. Her work focused “on the illegal conditions faced by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in treatment facilities and state-run institutions.” Her job also included starting DRW’s Spokane office. Under her leadership, the Spokane office grew from Abolofia herself to a staff of eight employees who serve the region. In 2018, Abolofia became the director of DRW’s Rights Investigation and Accountability Program. “I run a program that protects people in their day-to-day lives from being exploited or mistreated by other people who manage their money or otherwise provide support,” she explains. “I started this statewide investigation unit from scratch in response to a newly passed federal law that calls for greater oversight of people who manage the funds of people who receive Social Security benefits.” Abolofia explains, “I am working on expanding the program to help protect the rights of even more people, like those who have guardians and those who receive other daily supports, so their day-to-day rights and autonomy are protected.” Abolofia is also a member of a national work group that develops strategies to prevent financial exploitation of Social Security beneficiaries. She loves her work. “I work with an incredible, selfless group of people who show up every day totally committed to advocating for change,” she says. “The work is challenging, and there is always more to be done, but I think we do a good job supporting each other.” This fulfillment in her work and the people who share her commitment is an important part of Abolofia’s life. But she still works on finding a balance between her work and her life. When she is not advocating for others, she spends time with her new puppy. As Groucho Marx said, “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”
2021 | Gonzaga Law Magazine |
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A Person for Others Katharine Tylee Herz discusses clemency and blending public interest law and private practice By Valerie Passerini (’08 J.D.) “You don’t change the world with the ideas in your mind, but with the conviction in your heart.” – Bryan Stevenson The most common question law students are asked by nonattorneys is “What kind of law do you want to specialize in?” Many view the choice as either public interest law or private practice, but never both. Katharine Tylee Herz’s (’08) work with the Seattle Clemency Project is proof positive that the answer is much more nuanced. Tylee Herz, partner and employment law attorney in Davis Wright Tremaine’s (DWT) Bellevue, Washington office, sat down to answer our questions about how she seamlessly blends two very different types of law.
How did you become involved in representing your client? I was working on a pro bono criminal case and after that case had finished, a partner in our white-collar crime practice group asked if I wanted to work with him on a clemency case with the Seattle Clemency Project (SCP).
Were your employment law skills also applicable to this kind of work? If so, how? Skills that most attorneys already have are the ability to tell a story and to advocate. Your ability to advocate starts to develop from that first phone call and is strengthened during a process that usually lasts years. It culminates with the very public (TVW broadcast) oral argument in front of the Washington State Clemency and Pardons Board. In law school, you have to seek out opportunities like moot court to hone your oral advocacy skills, and as an associate it can take years before you’re deemed ready to use them again.
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What changes are you seeing in the industry around pro-bono work and diversity, equity, and inclusion? More interviewees are asking about our firm’s commitment to pro bono work and DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) efforts. I am lucky that my firm has a Chief Pro Bono officer with two staff who support her and who dedicate 110 percent of their time to our firm’s pro bono efforts. Associates are encouraged to spend up to 144 billable hours annually on pro bono work. Our firm also has a 5 percent goal for all attorneys to commit to at least 5 percent of their annual hours being pro bono.
Why do you think Washington state has had more clemency applications as of late? Washington is a three-strikes felony state, but about a year and a half ago, second-degree robbery was removed as a threestrikes offense. This was the first time the State Legislature updated the three-strikes-to-life since its passage in 1993. It’s important to point out that clemency is often the only avenue for an early release since Washington abolished parole in 1984. Legislators had tried to make nonviolent robbery (second degree robbery) exempt from the law since 2001 but it took 18 years to finally get the governor’s approval. The other factor is that prosecutors have more discretion now to resentence offenders. Senate Bill 6164 (which passed in April 2020 and was enacted into law that June), allows a prosecutor’s office to petition the court to resentence a person “if the person’s sentence no longer advances the interests of justice.” More recently, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that simple drug possession is no longer a strict liability felony. That law had been on the books since the 1950s and although RCW 69.50.4013 doesn’t apply retroactively, you can see how it might affect the decision-making process of the clemency and pardons board. Additionally, there will likely be an increased need for pro bono attorneys to represent individuals who are identified as candidates for resentencing pursuant to SB 6164 and/or the Blake case.
Tell us about Louie Barrow, your client who was recently released. Mr. Barrow’s clemency hearing took place in December 2018. The board voted in favor of clemency and sent their recommendation on to Gov. Inslee where his case was pending for over two years. There is an attorney in the Governor’s Office who was responsive when I checked in, but it didn’t make it any easier on Louie. I had to be really careful to manage his expectations and be transparent. There’s a lot going on outside your control after the case is presented to the board. Once Gov. Inslee granted him clemency, we were told it would be a year and a half until his release. So it was a surprise, in the best way, that this changed to less than two months under an emergency order due to the increased risks of contracting COVID-19 in a prison setting. At the time of his release, Louie had served more than 23 years of a life sentence. Now Louie is doing amazing! He’s employed and takes a lot of pride in his work. He lives with his sister and spends his weekends getting to know his son (whom he has only known during his incarceration) and being grandpa to his grandson. He lives with the impacts of his actions every day and is making different decisions. He works for the Downtown Seattle Association making sure the parks and streets where he spent way too much time as a teen and young adult are clean, safe, and welcoming for all Seattleites. I am honored to call Louie a friend. His grandson and my kids play together, and I see that continuing into the future. He is someone I know I will have as a friend for my entire life.
Any advice for law students considering this work? When I read through my first clemency case file, I admit I felt out of my element; I almost turned the case down. But I am so glad I do this work. The most impactful part of this work is meeting with the clients whose dayto-day struggles on the inside make them weary, but no less unsure about the kind of life they’re ready to live now and how much they’ve persevered and transformed. My pro bono clients teach me so much about how to appreciate every bit of life. I would encourage law students to not wait until graduation to seek out opportunities. I wanted to go into criminal law after graduating, but ultimately ended up in private practice. I didn’t start doing pro bono criminal cases until I had practiced for six years. It’s more important that you can tell a story and have a conversation with someone than to recite statutes. This kind of work may seem terrifying at first, but when you can begin to imagine how terrifying it is to spend decades incarcerated without any hope to be released, that’s when you shift your thinking to how you can help change the trajectory of someone’s life.
Do you know an alum who has gone Off the Beaten Path? Share their story with us at lawalumni@gonzaga.edu
- Katharine Tylee Herz
CLASS ACTION
2014
2002
Evan Klien became a senior policy analyst at the Washington Health Benefit Exchange.
2013 Kalin G. Bornemann was
promoted to partner at Miller Nash Graham & Dunn LLP in Seattle, Wash. He advises banks, credit unions and other financial institutions throughout the western United States.
Daniel D. Clark was re-elected as Washington State Bar Association treasurer, the first to serve two terms consecutively. Scott Jenkins was selected as tournament chairman of the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Jenkins is a partner with Quarles & Brady and his practice focuses on commercial disputes and complex litigation.
1998
2012 Kaarin Praxel Austin was
honored in South Sound Business’ “40 under 40” list. She works as the director of gift planning for Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash.
2007 Adam Dingeldein was
appointed by the Magistrates Commission for the Fourth Judicial District as the magistrate for Valley County, located in southern Idaho.
2003 Katie Svoboda became Grays
Harbor County’s first female Superior Court judge. Prior to her election, Svoboda served as the county’s first female prosecutor.
David Daggett joined Perkins Coie’s Technology Transactions & Privacy practice as a partner in the Seattle office. Daggett is a veteran technology lawyer who focuses his practice on complex technology and related commercial transactions.
1993 Fred Rivera was appointed to the board of directors of Heritage Bank. Rivera serves as executive vice president and general counsel for the Seattle Mariners. Steven M. Sertich was sworn in as the 75th president of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Sertich has been an active member of the Nevada State Bar for 17 years and practices mostly as a medical legal consultant.
Let us know what you are up to! Email lawalumni@gonzaga.edu.
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1992 William H. Walsh, trial lawyer and co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s aviation industry team, was named a 2020 Washington Super Lawyer.
1987 Theresa Rambosek joined the Seattle office of Stoel Rives LLP as of counsel in the health care practice group. Rambosek is chair of the board of directors for Project Access Northwest, a Seattle-based nonprofit committed to improving access to specialty health care for low-income and uninsured patients.
1985 Susan E. Seabrook is a
partner at Winston & Strawn LLP in Washington, D.C. Seabrook’s clients span a variety of industries including insurance and reinsurance, energy, and IT/government contracting.
1981 Kurt Jackson celebrated retirement as an associate with Hoyt & Blewett PLLC after a successful legal service career in Montana and looks forward to more time with family.
1975 Patricia J. Chvatal received the Lifetime Service Award from the Washington State Bar Association. Chvatal celebrates a long career in the Tri-Cities as a member of the family law legal community and was the first woman to practice law in the area.
CLASS ACTION
GOLD CLUB Gonzaga Law Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Class of 1971
J. Arvid Anderson
Douglas Marsh †
The Hon. Robert Austin †
C. Jerry Merritt, Jr.
Keith Black
James Murray
Gary Burns
George R. Nethercutt, Jr.
James M. Caraher †
Jan G. Otterstrom
Gregory Casey
Leonie Page
Patrick Cerutti
James Remsen
Mr. Seaton M. Daly, Jr.
Philip Rodriguez
Norman Ericson
J. Richard Sharp
Rupert Garrison
Randall L. St. Mary †
George E. Goerig, Jr. †
Michael E. Stevenson
Marianne K. Holifield
Patrick K. Stiley
Loren Howe
Jeffrey Sullivan
Erwin Jones, Jr.
Thomas J. Taylor
Larry E. Krueger
Mr. Paul H. Watt
Brian Leahy
J. Gary Winston †
Kenneth Lee †
Harold Winther †
John Lindsay
† Honors those who have passed away.
FROM THE 1970-1971 LAW SCHOOL CATALOG:
• Regular tuition is $600 per semester for enrollment in 10 or more semester credit hours. • Courses included Admiralty Law Seminar, Business Organizations, Labor Law, Creditor’s Rights, and Equity. • Students could participate in the national professional organization Phi Alpha Delta. • Students were expected to “view the current law with skepticism and to project the future of the law with informed imagination.” Were you a member of the Class of 1971? Share your memories by emailing us at lawalumni@gonzaga.edu.
SOCIAL STUDIES
gonzagalaw April 15, 2021 Today, the law school truly comes of age as we celebrate 21 years in our beautiful building on Gonzaga’s campus. Situated on the banks of the Spokane River, our building has been home to thousands of students over the years. This spring, we have also kicked off a round of well-deserved updates, renewing and refreshing some of our most beloved spaces, such as the Chastek Law Library and the Barbieri Courtroom. We feel so blessed to share this space with generations of #Zaglaw students. Cheers to 21 years and many more to come!
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Congratulations to 1Ls Emily Martin and Anthony Greene for winning the top prize at the 2021 Linden Cup Appellate Advocacy Competition. Martin and Greene faced off against 3Ls Bethany Johnson and Alicia Wasisco in the final round as both teams presented persuasive oral arguments before a mock Supreme Court panel.
Gonzaga Law Adjunct Professor Vanessa Waldref has been recommended by Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to become the next U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. If appointed, Professor Waldref will break the long-standing glass ceiling and become the first woman appointed to this position.
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February 1, 2021
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A hearty congratulations to our 2020 Staff Excellence Award recipient, Waunita Myers. She has worked for Gonzaga for nearly 20 years and is a vital member of our Registrar Office team, helping students with everything from scheduling for classes to handling final exams. 175 likes
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December 1, 2020
ON THE BOOKS
The Properties of Perpetual Light - University Of Guam Press Julian Aguon (’04), an Indigenous human rights lawyer, writer, and founder of Blue Ocean Law, recently published The Properties of Perpetual Light, a collection of ruminations about love, loss, struggle, resilience, and power. Described as part memoir, part manifesto, the book is both a coming-of-age story and a call for justice for everyone, but in particular for Indigenous peoples, Aguon’s own and others. In praise of the work, Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, noted, “A powerful, beautiful book. Its fierce love – of the land, the ocean, the elders and the ancestors – warms the heart and moves the spirit.” Aguon’s practice, Blue Ocean Law, takes a holistic and human rights-based approach to the practice of law and works on issues of pressing concern to Pacific peoples. He also serves on the Global Advisory Council of Progressive International, a global collective that launched in May 2020 with the mission of mobilizing progressive forces around the world behind a shared vision of social justice. His work has been profiled in Teen Vogue, The Guardian and Vox.
The Lifer and the Lawyer - Cascade Books George Critchlow (’77), Gonzaga University School of Law professor emeritus, recently released his book The Lifer and the Lawyer: A Story of Punishment, Penitence, and Privilege, a work of creative nonfiction, written in collaboration with Michael Anderson, a Black man who grew up on Chicago’s South Side and has spent the past 43 years in Washington prisons. Critchlow, who taught and served in multiple leadership roles at Gonzaga Law School for more than 30 years — including twice as interim dean — began his friendship with Anderson in 1979 when the young lawyer was appointed to represent Anderson against 22 violent felony charges for which he received multiple life sentences. Critchlow said he aims to reach readers “interested in the transformative power of faith, redemption, and self-knowledge.” The book, he notes, “sends a message about human perfectibility, the importance of empathy, the essential worth of all people, and a criminal justice system that too often puts poor people and people of color into a box labeled ‘bad’ or ‘unsalvageable.’”
Luvera on Advocacy - Trial Guides, LLC After more than four decades of success serving clients in Washington State, Paul Luvera (’59) and Lita Barnett Luvera (’77) present Luvera on Advocacy, a comprehensive guide offering practical insight and advice for trial lawyers on how to successfully represent injured clients. With 35 chapters divided into seven parts, the nearly 500-page book is a valuable tool for both seasoned and aspiring trial lawyers. The book takes an integrated approach to advocacy, exploring how communication, psychology and relationships can impact a lawyer’s success in addition to research strategies and other practical applications. “This book is about winning cases,” note the authors in the introduction. “Our goal is to teach better ways of successfully representing clients in a plaintiffs’ practice.” The Luveras’ Seattle- based firm has taken on numerous high-profile cases over the years including serving as lead counsel for the State of Washington in its lawsuit against the tobacco industry. In honor of their service to their community and to Gonzaga University, Paul was awarded the Gonzaga Law Medal and Lita has received Gonzaga’s Distinguished Alumni Merit Award. Luvera on Advocacy is a valuable culmination of their expertise, passion and dedication to justice.
You can order these books from Auntie’s Bookstore, Spokane’s independent book retailer at auntiesbooks.com. 2021 | Gonzaga Law Magazine |
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2021 Honor Roll
LIFETIME CONTRIBUTORS With sincere thanks to our donors, the Gonzaga Law School Foundation proudly recognizes those whose support through May 31, 2021, ensures the school’s continued success. $1,000,000 and Above - - - -
Louis † and Kathryn Barbieri † Chester † and Catherine Chastek † Fred † and Barbara Curley † J. Donald ’60 and Va Lena Scarpelli Curran, ’58 - John Hemmingson - Paul ’59 and Lita (Barnett) Luvera, ’77 - Smithmoore Myers † and Sandy SanduloMyers †, ’39
$500,000 - $999,999 - Gonzaga University Law Adjunct Faculty - Norm † and Rita Roberts, ’59 - Katharine Witter Brindley and Ralph Brindley, ’84
$250,000 - $499,999 - - - - - - -
John † and Nancy Clute, ’63 Joseph † and Helen Delay †, ’52 John and Deborah Holleran, ’79 Dean Lewis H. † and Mrs. Jackie Orland † Jim † and Beverly Rogers Edmund and Beatriz Schweitzer Sunbelt Communications Company
$100,000 - $249,999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Matt and Eleanor Andersen, ’76 Holly Louise Caudill †, ’93 Ben B. Cheney Foundation Kevin Curran and Jean-Carlo Rivera, ’88 Harry † and Dorothy Dano †, ’41 William Eddleman †, ’39 Jerry † and Helen Greenan, ’57 Mark and Mary Griffin, ’86 The Honorable and Mrs. Richard P. Guy, ’59 Daniel P. Harbaugh, ’74 Jerome and Vicki Jager, ’57 George † and Shari Kain, ’58 Bob and Ginny Kane, ’77 William V. Kelley † Joseph † and Muriel Murphy † The Honorable and Mrs. Philip M. Raekes, ’59 Renee R. Reuther, ’90 Bill Roach † Patrick and Diane Sullivan, ’59 James and Dee Sweetser, ’84 Sweetser Law Office Washington Trust Bank Carrie Welch Trust Estate
$50,000 - $99,999 - Charles Brink, ’78 - The Brink Foundation - Loren and Janell Burke, ’83
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- John R. Clark †, ’80 and The Honorable Ellen K. Clark, ’82 - Harriet Clarke † - Kelly and Sharon Cline, ’85 - Marvel Collins Estate - Reanette Cook Estate - Michael and Rebecca Costello, ’96 - Vern Davidson † - Delay, Curran, Thompson & Pontarolo, P.S. - James † and Frances Flanagan †, ’40 - Bart and Hilke Gallant - Harold and Mary Anne † Hartinger, ’54 - Stephen † and Martha Haskell, ’57 - Horrigan Foundation, Inc. - Greg and Susan Huckabee, ’76 - Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix, Inc. - Helen John Foundation - Frank and Maureen † Johnson, ’51 - George and Nancy Lobisser, ’78 - Lukins & Annis, P.S. - Timothy J. Lynes, ’84 and Joan C. Morningstar, ’83 - John E. Manders Foundation - Dick Manning and Jen Gouge, ’60 - Richard McWilliams Estate, ’58 - John and Guelda Messina, ’69 - Yale Metzger and Susan Richmond, ’95 - Wes and Mary Lee (Toepel) Nuxoll †, ’54 - Irene Ringwood, ’84 - Elizabeth D. Rudolf - John and Nancy Rudolf - Dick ‘79 and Karen Sayre, ’85 - Chuck † and Rojean Siljeg, ’60 - Philip † and Margretta Stanton, ’56 - Washington Trust Bank Financial Corporation - The Honorable Bob † and Diane Waitt, ’57 - Washington State Bar Association - Jim † and Joyce Workland †, ’64
$25,000 - $49,999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
AccessLex Institute American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers American College of Trial Lawyers Gene † and Carol Annis, ’59 Bank of America Foundation David and Nancy Bayley, ’76 Boise David and Ellen Bolin, Jr., ’85 Janice Brown, ’84 John † and Kaye Condon, ’77 Patrick and Paula Costello Paul and Joan Delay, ’86 Ralph Dixon, ’77 Gary and Claire Dmoch, ’76 Gary J. Dmoch & Associates Philip † and Mary Dolan †
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John and Allison Durkin, ’80 Mr. Phillip E. Egger, ’81 Bill Etter, ’78 Richard C. Eymann, ’76 Chief Justice Mary E. Fairhurst, ’84 Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund Rick Flamm, ’79 and Vesna Somers, ’81 Michael A. Frost, ’73 Joe † and Joan Gagliardi, ’59 Jim † and Margel Gallagher Stevan Hann Jeffrey and Diana Hartnett, ’76 Karen and Michael † Harwood, ’88 Dennis Hottell and Terese Colling, ’76 Innovia Foundation Robert Lawrence Ives and E. Marie Pintler Steven Jager, ’80 Jager Law Office PLLC Richard † and Janet Johnson, ’75 Dan and Margaret † Keefe, ’74 King County Bar Foundation Lee & Hayes PLLC Ellen (Kremer) Lenhart, ’87 Bill and Suzanne Lindberg, ’73 The Honorable John J. Madden, ’68 Helen McDonald † Alejandra Mireles, ’04 Joe Nappi, Jr. and Mary Nappi, ’72 Verne † and Mary Oliver † Patton Boggs Foundation PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Donald † and Christie Querna John R. Quinlan, ’60 Gary and Sharon Randall Diehl † and Anne Rettig, ’69 The Honorable and Mrs. J. Justin Ripley, ’64 Kerm and Fran Rudolf †, ’51 Rudolf Family Foundation James and Marilyn Sachtjen The Honorable and Mrs. † Richard J. Schroeder, ’63 John and Penny Schultz, ’63 Roger † and Angelika Smith, ’58 Skip Smyser, ’77 Jim and Margaret Solan †, ’49 Lee M. Solomon Estate Joseph and Parker Sullivan, ’85 David and Kay Syre, ’72 Paul and Gail Taylor, ’84 Phebe Thompson Robert Thompson, Jr., ’73 David and Angelica Torres, ’86 Union Pacific Foundation United Way of Benton & Franklin Counties United Way of King County The U.S. Charitable Gift Trust J. Prentice Warner Estate
- Clifford and Karen Webster, ’77 - Dennis † and Jackie Wheeler - The Honorable Donna L. (Kamps) Wilson, ’80
$10,000 - $24,999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Keller and Kathy Allen, ’89 American Endowment Foundation Phillip Armstrong, ’78 Association of Corporate Counsel Washington State Chapter Basil Badley and Mary Margaret Haugen, ’60 Jim and Linda Baker, ’79 BarBri Bar Review The Honorable and Mrs. Paul Bastine, ’64 Jim and Lynelle (Wahl) Beaulaurier, ’77 Mark Beggs and Florfina Cacanindin, ’80 Maureen (Greenan) Bergquist James Berlin † The Blackbaud Giving Fund Jefferson W. Boswell, ’09 Allen Brecke, ’77 Roger G. Brown, ’80 The Honorable Franklin D. † and Mrs. Treava Burgess Paul Burglin and Ramona Sanderson-Burglin, ’84 Bruce and Judy (Acher) Butler, ’80 William and Judy Carlin, ’76 Carney Badley Spellman CEMEX Materials LLC Thomas and Joan Chapman, ’66 Paul Clausen Estate, ’40 Mr. Charles A. Cleveland, ’78 and The Honorable Joyce J. McCown, ’80 John and Mary S. Close †, ’38 Thomas and Barbara Cochran, ’75 Francis † and Audrey Conklin Jack and Angela Connelly James † and Marianne Connelly John and Barbara Cooper John and Mary Jo Costello The Honorable Kenneth L. Cowsert, ’73 James and Carolyn Craven, ’75 George and Diane Critchlow, ’77 Michael and Teresa Crofts, ’80 Mike and Alison Delay, ’88 Fred O. Dennis Estate John and Kristine Dippold, ’95 Norb † and Ruby Donahue †, ’41 Kevin and Jackie Driscoll Leo and Mary † Driscoll, ’51 Paul † and Carol Eng, ’87 Robert Evans and Lisa Fitzpatrick, ‘78 James Fausone, ’81 Roger A. Felice, ’73 Joe Fennessy, Jr. †, ’40 FIG.1 Patents PLCC James † and Mikell Fish, ’62 Dan and Karen Flynn, ’83 Professor and Mrs. Michael F. Flynn, ’77 Benjamin and Kelly (Drew) Folger, ’07 Francois and Debra Forgette, ’77 Merrit and Yolanda Foubert †, ’51 Gary Gayton, ’62 Janice (Bennett) Geier, ’89 Jim Giudici, ’79
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Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund Phelps † and Mary Jean Gose, ’62 William and Margaret Grant †, ’54 Paul and Nancy Greeley, ’82 Bill † and Norma Grismer, ’53 Frederick † and Marie Halverson, ’61 Hands Off Cain - European Parliament Frank P. Hayes †, ’43 Mary and Tom Herche Howard and Darlene Herman, ’62 Lloyd and Linda Herman, ’66 Prof. Gerald Hess and Dr. Layne Stromwall Daniel and Jill Hulsizer, ’02 E. J. Hunt, ’80 IBM Corporation Mark Iverson and Michaele Dietzel, ‘88 Thomas and Sandra Jarrard, ‘07 Mary Lou Johnson and Dr. Daniel Schaffer, ’92 Johnson & Johnson Law Firm PLLC Robert Keefe, ’73 Marcus † and Dorothy Kelly, ’57 Daniel L. Keppler, ’92 and Meagan Flynn, ’92 Mike and Terri Killeen, ‘77 James and Mary Anne (Metcalfe) King, ’78 Thomas † ’76 and Cheryl (DeMers) Kingen, ’76 Alan Lamia, ’70 Paul and Kristina Larson, ’75 Alex and Karen Laughlin, ’85 Tom Lewis Tom Lucas, ’76 Earl F. and Laura Martin The Honorable Craig Matheson, ’76 Prof. John Maurice Lenora McBirney † Mr. Leo A. McGavick †, ’29 The Honorable † and Mrs. J. Ben McInturff, ’52 Robert † and Christina McKanna †, ’54 Scott ’90 and Nicole (Annis) McKay, ’92 Ryan and Sarah McNeice, ’05 John Monahan, ’74 Donald † and Mary Moore †, ’53 Daniel and Mary Beth Morrissey Ann Murphy The Honorable and Mrs. James M. Murphy, ’73 Jerry Neal, ’69 Jack Nevin, ’78 Northern Trust Bank Northwest Fund for the Environment Donald and Christine O’Neill, ’78 The Honorable Stephen and Karen Osborne, ’73 Charles and Helen Palmerton †, ’52 PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company Tony and Patty Philippsen, ’73 Harry and Alethea Platis, ’69 Estate of Louis Powell Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, LLP Joseph F. Quill and Dolores M. Quill Trust Tim Quirk and Sally Bulger Quirk, ’73 Les † and Clara Randall † Timothy and Julie Reid, ’83 Prof. Speedy Rice and Judy Clarke John † and Joy Richards, ’87
- Sheila C. Ridgway, ’84 - Ridgway Law Group, P.S. - The Honorable Jack J. and Patricia Ripple †, ’50 - Ronald and JoAnn (Salina) Roberts, ’64 - The Honorable Michael P. Roewe, ’74 - Dr. Jacob H. Rooksby - Sayre & Sayre, P.S. - Nicholas Scarpelli, ’74 - Kenneth A. Scaz, ’98 - Albert † and Betty Schauble †, ’58 - Gerald and Rita Schears - John † and Catherine Schultheis, ’61 - Dennis and Marie Sheehan, ’76 - Stokes Lawrence, P.S. - Irene Strachen Charitable Trust - Stritmatter, Kessler, Whelan, Withey, Coluccio - Robert Sullivan, ’86 - Gaetano and Melissa Testini, ’00 - The Honorable and Mrs. † Joseph A. Thibodeau, ’66 - James and Carmelita † Thomas - Prof. Mary Pat Treuthart and Dan Webster, Jr. - James † and Marian Triesch, ’41 - Patrick and Kristina Trudell, ’80 - Joseph and Janna Uberuaga, ’77 - United Way of Spokane County - The Unova Foundation - Prof. James M. Vache - Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program - Donald Verfurth, ’85 - Verizon Foundation - Shannon M. Votava, ’85 - Marc and Nancy Wallace, ’75 - James and Kathleen Walsh, ’81 - Dr. Thomas Walsh and Bonnie Lupton, ’90 - Washington Judges Foundation - Martin and Jane Weber, ’64 - Stan and Gina Welsh - Western Atlas Foundation - The Honorable † and Mrs. John F. Wilson, ’56 - Mark E. Wilson † - Winston & Cashatt - James and Jackie Wolff, ’74 - Women’s Law Caucus - Michael and Anita Zdancewicz, ’88
Great care was taken to ensure the accuracy of this listing. Should there be any discrepancies, please contact Sarah Guzmán at guzmans@ gonzaga.edu.
2021 | Gonzaga Law Magazine |
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In Memoriam The Gonzaga School of Law extends its deepest condolences to the families and friends of the following alumni.
Edward Anson / 1977
Gene Godderis / 1961
Leon Olney / 1950
Mauro Barreiro / 1986
Hedley W. Greene / 1977
Donald P. Osborne / 1976
Daniel W. Beardsley / 1982
Frederick Halverson / 1961
Jonathan Rascoff / 1979
Joseph Betzendorfer, Jr. / 1958
Terrance R. Harris / 1991
Michael P. Roewe / 1974
Maurice Clark / 1958
Jack J. Hetherington / 1977
John Rose, Jr. / 1977
Clark Colwell / 1973
Janet E. Jenkins / 1982
Dwight Stevens / 1951
Daniel Corkery / 1976
Richard R. Johnson / 1975
John J. Tyner III / 1982
Paul De Silva / 1965
Kristopher A. Kinkade / 1995
J. Gary Winston / 1971
Richard J. Dolack / 1951
Michael McGuigan / 1973
Arnold Young / 1969
The Hon. Robert L. Fraser / 1951
Godwin Chiago Moemenam / 1973
Kathleen M. Fritsch / 1981
James Niblack / 1980
Judge Phillip J. Thompson (’62) 1933-2021 Longtime colleague and friend Judge Phillip J. Thompson passed away in June 2021. Throughout his career, Thompson served as a judge for the Spokane District Court and the Spokane County Superior Court in addition to serving as the presiding chief judge for the Washington State Court of Appeals. He was deeply devoted to public service and to Gonzaga University, where he graduated with a degree in English and later with his J.D. in 1962. Over the years, Thompson taught as an adjunct faculty member at both Spokane Community College and Gonzaga University School of Law. He was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Merit Award in recognition of his service in 1993. After retiring from the bench, Thompson served as corporate counsel for Gonzaga University as well as continued to mentor attorneys. His generosity and devotion to his community embodied the spirit of Jesuit education and the impact his life had on generations of students will be felt for decades to come.
Remembering
Mark Wilson
[1938-2020]
Mark Wilson was born in North Platte, Nebraska, on Aug. 10, 1938. After serving in the Army, he entered law school at the University of Minnesota and, upon graduating in 1966, began his legal career as a legal aid attorney in Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Wilson arrived at Gonzaga in 1974 and taught Clinical Law, Advocacy, and Legal Writing courses until 2005. He also co-founded and served as co-director of the University Legal Assistance Clinic at the Law School from 1975-2003, which continues to serve the legal needs of low-income residents of the region. He also managed countless cases ranging from environmental law to civil rights. When awarded the Gonzaga Law Medal in 2015, Wilson was recognized for his bold vision, his leadership, and his generous commitment to service. “The passage of three decades and the current popularity of clinical education obscures how bold and truly innovative Mark’s vision was,” notes the citation. “It is true to say that without his extraordinary efforts, Gonzaga’s initiative in clinical education would not have endured.”
His former colleagues described Wilson as eccentric, committed, generous, and loving. He was a skilled and compassionate teacher who was dedicated to his students’ growth. “I worked with Mark at the Law Clinic for almost seven years,” shared retired Spokane County Superior Court Justice Hon. Tari S. Eitzen (’83). “There are many inspiring stories I could tell, but this is the one I cherish the most and try to remember: I was frustrated and upset with a colleague. Mark patiently listened to me vent and then said, ‘We don’t ever give up on people.’ He was the kindest, most gentle, and wise man, in addition to being a great intellect.” Deeply thoughtful and expansive in his thinking, conversations with Wilson always led to philosophical insights and new ideas. He exemplified the Jesuit spirit and was a beloved member of the Gonzaga community who will truly be missed.
Share a memory of Mark or make a gift in his honor at gonzaga.edu/markwilson
2021 | Gonzaga Law Magazine |
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END NOTES
SEEING THE WORLD IN ABSOLUTES MAY FEEL GOOD,
but it’s no way for us to live By Inga Laurent, J.D., Associate Professor of Law
I’ve been teaching first-year law students, introducing them to core tenets. The phrase — “it depends” — is perhaps the most paramount tool we possess in our profession. Simple and succinct, the sentence signifies: We would be wise to remember that answers, especially to complex questions, are seldom settled matters. We are expected to research the realm of plausible responses and make reasonable assumptions, which means rarely speaking in absolutes. We have a healthy respect, even a reverence, for the innumerable assembly of variables. This can drive people crazy — the non-answer answers, a perpetual purgatory of the always in-between — but being schooled in such an ethos has been a huge benefit. Awareness that context, a comma, framing or a fact can radically alter an outcome is deeply humbling. Acceptance of this premise has made me a better professional and, arguably, a better person. I’m persuaded (momentarily, anyway) that keeping this orientation will prove fairly aspirational. Weening off the drug of certainty isn’t easy because it’s extraordinarily innate. Author Judith Glaser tells us, “When you argue and win, your brain floods with different hormones: adrenaline and dopamine, which make you feel good, dominant, even invincible.” Yes, flying those massive flags of conviction can feel comforting, I know.
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I also realize that many of my peak cringe-worthy memories center on when I was immutable. As a snotty teenager, sporting high-top Ked sneakers (clearly questionable in retrospect), I was briefly intolerable, dripping with sarcasm and overconfidence. My mother, of whose eyes I was most assuredly the apple, confirmed this recollection. And there are those vivid replays ... scenes etched in too great detail, I assume solely to serve as reminders. Plenty of situations where ambiguity was my undoing still resonate. Times when I let the anxiety of the ambiguous win me over, far too focused on what could be to focus on what actually was. Failing to heed Rilke’s advice to “live the questions,” I clung to meager inferences and made irrational demands for definition. This is akin to asking for a lie, a fallacy of a future that’s fixed instead of indeterminate. But the cringe-worthy can be an exceptional teacher. While certitude can justifiably be an asset, my preference is for its doling in pretty small doses. As I age, taking in the world and its complexities, as truths are revised and rearranged, I’ve come to appreciate people with a posture of openness, those prone to wonder rather than declare. There is just so much that we can never fully comprehend, like exponentials, the Universal scope, God(s), or how people can listen to the same political speech and hear completely different messages. How will I know if your blue is my blue? How will I know if we interpret terms the same way? Does your
Though there’s so much we cannot know, our well-being depends on some approximation. “justice” or “fairness” align in lockstep with mine? How will I know if he really loves me (RIP Queen Whitney)? Though there’s so much we cannot know, our well-being depends on some approximation. My current theory is based on the rationale that the more care we extend, the better our estimate. So to me, the hallmark of people exhibiting really positive relationships is that they never stop learning about each other. The smartest people are simply the most curious, always shoring up their understanding. Those who live closest to their faith constantly test its application, revisiting how the sacred should show up in this moment. And the most loving parents pay the sharpest attention, soaking up the minutiae composing a child. It may sound counterintuitive, but to be grounded is to make peace with the unknown, embodying psychologically healthy characteristics like adaptivity. There are folks who manage to stay loose, elastic, pliable, rejecting the siren calls of self-righteous rigidity. They take in lots of info — different perspectives, disquieting facts, failures, feedback, even fake news — distill the useful, discard the unhelpful, and let the necessary alter. This is the reason that I’m an absolute sucker for those who offer true apologies. Not the gas-lighting platitudes of “I’m sorry if you feel,” “It wasn’t my intention to (completely ignoring the outcome)” or “You misinterpreted,” but the good, old-fashioned kind, replete with real accountability. Swoon. I suppose some could see my appreciation for equivocation and contend I lack conviction. It’s a fair critique, so I’ll allow it, but the jury’s out and thus the verdict, still undecided. In the end, I guess it depends (once again) on your hierarchy of values. And when this life comes to its (hopefully quite natural) conclusion, with me smack dab on the precipice of the ultimate unknown, I’d rather have established a right lengthy record of far less conviction than effort, time spent in rapt and thoughtful consideration, contemplating all I’ve received. ---Inga Laurent is a professor of law at Gonzaga University School of Law where her main area of research focus is analyzing and reimagining our criminal legal system. Laurent is a Fulbright Scholar and spent nine months researching restorative justice in Kingston, Jamaica. She recently appeared on a panel for a U.S. Embassy program in Barbados, “Inspiring Eastern Caribbean Female Writers.” This piece originally appeared in The Inlander, a weekly publication in Spokane.
Summerland, 2020 Acrylic on panel
P.O. Box 3528, Spokane, WA 99220-3528
October 7-10, 2021 Spokane, Washington gonzaga.edu/lawalumniweekend