FALL 2013
CLASS OF THE TITANS This fall two highly influential legal experts and scholars join the School of Law faculty. DOUBLE VICTORY
THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE
A SEASON OF CHANGE
Two School of Law alumnae discuss their respective journeys to the United States District Court.
Pepperdine students provide advocacy services to parents in need with the One Justice Bus Project.
Doua Alattas enrolled in the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution with the goal of becoming a role model for women at home in Saudi Arabia.
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Vol. 32, No. 1
Fall 2013
Pepperdine Law, the magazine of Pepperdine University School of Law, is published by Pepperdine University.
Pepperdine Law STAFF Jannette Jauregui – Editor
Features
Keith Lungwitz – Art Director Vincent Way – Copy Editor
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Ron Hall (’79) – Photographer Gareen Darakjian, Sarah Fisher – Contributing Writers Kimberly Robison (’10) – Web Developer
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12 DOUBLE VICTORY Two School of Law alumnae discuss their respective journeys to the United States District Court.
SCHOOL OF LAW ADMINISTRATION Deanell Reece Tacha – Dean Shelley Ross Saxer – Vice Dean
18 GOING TO SEA
Stephanie Buckley – Associate Vice Chancellor Peter Robinson – Associate Dean, Business and Finance Robert Pushaw – Associate Dean, Research and Faculty Development
Jeffrey R. Baker, director of clinical programs, discusses the importance of practice readiness.
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Herbert E. Cihak – Associate Dean, Library and Information Services
20 A SEASON OF CHANGE Doua Alattas enrolled in the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution with the goal of becoming a role model for women at home in Saudi Arabia.
Selina Farrell (JD ’92) – Assistant Dean, Career Development Al Sturgeon (JD ’11) – Assistant Dean, Student Life and Director of Academic Success Shannon Phillips – Assistant Dean, Admissions, Student Information, and Financial Services
THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
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23 A STEWARD OF SCHOLARS Bob Pushaw reflects on his career in faculty scholarship as he takes on the new role of associate dean for reasearch and faculty development.
Rick Gibson (MBA ’09) – Chief Marketing Officer and Associate Vice President for Public Affairs and Church Relations
24 THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE
Matt Midura (’97, MA ’05) – Associate Vice President for Integrated Marketing and Communications Megan Boyle – Executive Director of Integrated Marketing Communications Brett Sizemore – Creative Director
Pepperdine students provide advocacy services to parents in need with the One Justice Bus Project.
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Ed Wheeler (’97, MA ’99) – Director of Interactive
27 BREAKING BARRIERS
Allen Haren (‘97, MA ‘07) – Director of Digital Media
Zna Portlock Houston has spent much of her legal career fighting for fairness and equality.
Please direct address changes, letters to the editor, comments, and requests to: Pepperdine Law Pepperdine University School of Law 24255 Pacific Coast Highway Malibu, California 90263 p: 310.506.4492
f: 310.506.7440
CLASS OF THE TITANS This fall two highly influential legal experts and scholars join the School of Law faculty.
Jill McWilliams – Production Manager
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e-mail: lawalum@pepperdine.edu
30 THE CULTURE CRUSADER Edward Lee is a leader in the Asian Pacific American community at Pepperdine and beyond.
34 FACULTY ESSAY
SCHOOL OF LAW OFFICES
Ahmed Taha
Admissions 310.506.4631
37 FACULTY ESSAY
Advancement and Alumni Relations 310.506.4492 Career Development 310.506.4634 Global Justice Program 310.506.4734
Robert Anderson
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In Every Issue
Off Campus Education 310.506.4675 Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution 310.506.4655 Geoffrey H. Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law 310.506.4681 Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics 310.506.7635 Clinical Programs 310.506.7449 LS1210047
READ THE MAGAZINE ONLINE AT LAWMAGAZINE.PEPPERDINE.EDU
2 Message from the Dean
4 News Shorts
40 Faculty Activities
47 Class Actions
MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN
A New Era in Legal Education
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uring the entire time that I have been dean of the great law school at Pepperdine University, I have listened to a steady drumbeat of criticism of legal education. As any responsible dean must, I have followed with rapt attention these prognostications of doom for law schools as we know them. My reactions have fluctuated between puzzlement, sympathy, dread, and skepticism. But now, due to the rather advanced stage of my career, the diversity of my experiences in the legal profession, or perhaps simply my senior citizen status, I have emerged into a new state of understanding regarding this national conversation.
bedrock of our system of government and the only hope for a humane future. Historically and into the distant future, it will be the lawyers who serve as the sentinels protecting the essential but oh-so-fragile foundation upon which this nation stands. We have only to look with horror at the places in the world where the rule of law has broken down to answer the question, “Is a good legal education worth it?” A legal education—as with all effective education—transmits information and knowledge, but it also does far, far more than that. It teaches lawyers to problem-solve for people and institutions; it trains lawyers to settle disputes in civilized, nonviolent ways; it models various forms of dispute resolution, some in court and some in the host of ways that lawyers reframe arguments and try to bring parties to settlement; it inculcates a professional ethic that calls lawyers to serve and advocate for those who lack the resources or ability to advocate for themselves; it forms the spokespersons for ordered liberty; and it provides the facilitators for societal adaptation and change. Nothing in all of today’s rhetoric about the value of a legal education has ever been spoken in attempt to suggest that this nation and world will not always need these essential abilities. Yet the cacophony has still obfuscated this central truth. Yes, legal education has some adapting and responding to do, but we must carry on the business of attracting and educating new generations of lawyers who will be the Thomas Jeffersons, Abraham Lincolns, Thurgood Marshalls, and Sandra Day O’Connors for our children’s and grandchildren’s generations. The Pepperdine University School of Law is adapting rapidly to the calls for reform and change in legal education. Our duty as stewards of this great law school is to preserve those strengths upon which the law school was built, while at the same time, to find innovative and creative ways to respond to student needs and the demands of the legal profession for the future. We are deeply engaged in both of these endeavors. This year we have added to the faculty several outstanding new faculty members who add both doctrinal strength and an impressive array of experiential capabilities (meet them on page 9). Our new director of clinical education, Jeff Baker, has a strong background in practice and in clinical education and is already embarked on a rigorous and creative re-invention of the clinical and experiential opportunities for our
At many points in history, educational systems have had to adapt to new demands in the society around them, to changing economies and demographics, and to the pressures of inevitable change in this everchanging world. In my view, the current discussion about legal education is no different. The need for brevity in this letter constrains my ability to outline here the outside influences that drive the discussion about legal education, but suffice it to say that the legal profession itself is undergoing a rapid change: student debt throughout higher education has reached intolerable levels spurred by non-sustainable government loan policies; a serious disconnect has opened between society’s legal needs and the employment expectations of new graduates; anachronistic self-policing mechanisms within education and the legal profession are detracting from their credibility and effectiveness; great divides now exist between academic law and practicing lawyers and judges–the list goes on and on. There remains for me, however, one enduring truth. Civilized society requires–nay, is built upon–well-trained lawyers. The rule of law is the P E P P E R D I N E L AW
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The rule of law is the bedrock of our system of government and the only hope for a humane future. Historically and into the distant future, it will be the lawyers who serve as the sentinels protecting the essential but oh-so-fragile foundation upon which this nation stands.
DEAN DEANELL REECE TACHA Receives 2012 American Inns of Court’s A. Sherman Christensen Award students. The Preceptor Program and a newly formed Pepperdine Law School-related Inn of Court are pairing our students in unprecedented ways with practicing lawyers and judges. A required Professionalism course for first-year students is introducing them to professional expectations and opportunities from the beginning of their law school experience. The activities and services of the career development office are reflecting and responding to the radical changes in the legal employment market. The faculty has made significant curricular changes to build more flexibility into students’ 2L and 3L years, providing opportunities for the increasingly important externships and internships that offer rich professional experiences which prepare new lawyers for a more seamless transition into their professional careers. We also adopted an accelerated option that allows students to complete both a JD and a certificate in dispute resolution in two calendar years. These are but a few examples of the rigorous efforts in which this law school is engaging to respond to the changing demands of society and the attendant calls for reform in legal education. We are hard at work again this year, considering other new ways to serve students and continue the trajectory of excellence that characterizes the Pepperdine University School of Law. While we are responding to the calls for change and the needs of the profession, we have been and must continue to be vigilantly attentive to Pepperdine’s historic strengths. We are deeply committed to remaining student-centered and missiondriven. We place the highest priority on making sure that a Pepperdine legal education is provided against the backdrop of the highest ethical standards, the Christian values of our roots, and the finest ideals of the legal profession. It is for all these reasons that I can say to any who are questioning the value of law school, a Pepperdine legal education is worth it.
The Honorable Deanell Reece Tacha was selected to receive the prestigious 2012 American Inns of Court’s A. Sherman Christensen Award. The award was presented by Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham at the American Inns of Court’s annual Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States on October 20. Given in the name of the founder of the first American Inn of Court, this award is bestowed upon a member of an American Inn of Court who, at the local, state, or national level, has provided distinguished, exceptional, and significant leadership to the American Inns of Court. The recipient exemplifies the qualities of leadership and commitment displayed by Judge A. Sherman Christensen. “Of my many experiences in the academy over several decades, being present to see Dean Deanell Tacha receive the Sherman Christiansen Award at the Supreme Court will remain one of the most indelible,” said Pepperdine’s provost Darryl Tippens, who traveled to Washington, D.C., for the ceremony. “It was a delight to see and feel the profound esteem in which the members of the American Inns of Court hold our dean. Her recognition in the chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court not only brought honor to Dean Tacha, it also brought significant notice and honor to the Pepperdine School of Law and to the whole University.” Tacha has been a member of the American Inns of Court since 1992. She has long been a leading advocate for enhanced ethics, professionalism, and civility in the legal profession, and is very involved in the American Inns of Court both locally and nationally. She was a cofounder of the Judge Hugh Means American Inn of Court in Lawrence, Kansas, and served on the American Inns of Court Foundation Board of Trustees, serving as president from 2004 to 2008. “We are immensely proud of Dean Tacha,” said Richard Cupp, former vice dean of the School of Law. “She is passionate about the rule of law, and she is passionate about good lawyering. The American Inns of Court is an outstanding organization dedicated to fostering excellence in professionalism, and it chose wisely in honoring Dean Tacha with this national award.” The American Inns of Court, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, fosters excellence in professionalism, ethics, civility, and legal skills. Today there are 367 chartered American Inns of Court in 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam. There are more than 29,000 members nationwide encompassing a wide cross-section of the legal community, including federal and state judges, lawyers, law professors, and law students.
In service,
DEANELL TACHA Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law
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NEWS SHORTS Pepperdine School of Law Proudly Welcomed
THE SPRING AND FALL DISTINGUISHED VISITING PROFESSORS The Pepperdine School of Law proudly welcomed five Distinguished Visiting Professors, a Distinguished Visiting Jurist, and a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence. “The Pepperdine Law School is privileged indeed to engage world-class legal academicians as visitors,” said Dean Tacha. “They bring the finest in teaching and research to a faculty that welcomes and inspires this kind of excellence.” DISTINGUISHED VISITING PROFESSORS
JOHN COPELAND NAGLE is the John N. Matthews Chair at the Notre Dame Law School, where he teaches legislation, property, and a variety of environmental law courses. He is the coauthor of three casebooks, and his book Law’s Environment: How the Law Affects the Environment was published by the Yale University Press in 2010. He also writes about the relationship between environmental pollution, cultural pollution, and other kinds of “pollution,” and about how religious teachings influence environmental law. Prior to joining the Notre Dame faculty, Nagle was an associate professor at the Seton Hall University School of Law. He served as a law clerk to Hon. Deanell Reece Tacha of the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, and he was a scientific assistant in the Energy and Environmental Systems Division of Argonne National Laboratory.
AKHIL REED AMAR is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, where he teaches constitutional law at both Yale College and Yale Law School. He received his BA, summa cum laude, in 1980 from Yale College, and his JD in 1984 from Yale Law School, where served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal. After clerking for Judge Stephen Breyer, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Professor Amar joined the Yale faculty in 1985. Professor Amar is the coeditor of a leading constitutional law casebook, Processes of Constitutional Decision Making.He is also the author of several books, including The Constitution and Criminal Procedure: First Principles; The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction; America’s Constitution: A Biography; and most recently, America’s Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By .
JAMES TOMKOVICZ is visiting Pepperdine from the University of Iowa, which he joined in 1982.Tomkovicz was previously an attorney with the Appellate Section of the Lands Division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. He also served as a law clerk to Hon. Edward J. Schwartz, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, and as law clerk to Hon. John M. Ferren, senior judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
SUSAN FRANCK is an associate professor of law at Washington and Lee University School of Law where her teaching and scholarship relates to international economic law and dispute resolution. She has also been visiting associate professor at Vanderbilt University Law School, visiting associate professor at the University of Minnesota, assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a scholar in residence at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Franck is the author of various articles published in the American Journal of International Law, Fordham Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Virginia Journal of International Law, and Harvard International Law Journal.
DISTINGUISHED VISITING JURIST JUSTICE ALLEN LINDEN serves as Distinguished Visiting Jurist at the law school, teaching Advanced Torts Seminar each spring. Previously he served as supernumerary judge of the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada, as judge of the Supreme Court of Ontario, and as a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in Canada. Justice Linden is renowned as a torts scholar both in Canada and the United States.
DONALD HARRIS joined the School of Law for a second semester in Spring 2013, teaching courses on intellectual property and sales. A former associate in the San Francisco office of Cooley Godward, Harris currently serves as an associate law professor at Temple University. He graduated from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles and received his LLM from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
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DISTINGUISHED PRACTITIONER IN RESIDENCE ROGER COSSACK’s career as a prosecutor and defense lawyer spanned 22 years. He currently serves as a legal analyst for ESPN, a role he’s held since 2002, and weighs in on the relationship between sports and the law. The spring Distinguished Practitioner in Residence for five years, Cossack taught Entertainment Law and Media and the Law. His Media and the Law course was recognized by National Jurist magazine in 2011 as a “bucket list” must for law students.
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PEPPERDINE LAW SWEARS IN RECENT GRADUATES to the State and Federal Courts The Pepperdine School of Law welcomed 90 recent graduates and passers of the February 2012 bar exam to the California Bar Admissions Ceremony in the Caruso Auditorium on December 7. Deanell Reece Tacha, Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean of the Pepperdine School of Law, presided over the ceremony. The passage rate for all takers was 55.3 percent, and the passage rate for all first-time takers from California ABA-approved schools was 77 percent. Pepperdine graduates, however, exceeded those numbers, achieving an 86 percent passage rate of first-time takers of the California bar exam, and a 91 percent passage rate for those taking the bar out of state.
More recently, the results of the February 2013 California bar exams showed that Pepperdine achieved high marks, continuing a more than five-year run of strong showings. A ceremony celebrating the seven admitees took place on June 7 at the School of Law. The passage rate for all takers was 52 percent, and the passage rate for all first-time takers from California ABA-approved schools was 60 percent. Pepperdine’s first-time pass rate was 88 percent. “The admission of our students to the bar is a milestone both for our students and for the law school,” said Dean Tacha. “It represents the culmination of significant personal and professional aspirations for the new admitees and for the faculty and staff who have invested
so much of themselves in assuring the success of Pepperdine lawyers.” She continued, “Our aspirations and professional reputations are bound together and mutually sought. At Pepperdine we care deeply about each student and work throughout their law school experience toward the high professional moment of bar admission. We are so proud of the achievements of Pepperdine Law graduates. At this bar admission ceremony, we join with them in celebrating and wishing them the very best as they launch their legal careers. It is an exciting and fulfilling event for everyone.”
PEPPERDINE LAW HOSTS 13th Annual Judicial Clerkship Institute The Pepperdine School of Law hosted the 13th annual Wm. Matthew Byrne, Jr., Judicial Clerkship Institute (Byrne JCI) in March, continuing a tradition as the only law school in the country to sponsor such a conference. The two-day event welcomed 133 clerks and 20 judges, representing federal courts throughout the country. The group gathered at the Malibu campus for the continuing education of career clerks and for sessions directed to those entering clerkships for the first time. There were several plenary sessions in addition to various specialized sessions geared toward career and bankruptcy clerks. “We are so grateful to the JCI faculty,” said Naomi Goodno, director of the Byrne Judicial Clerkship Institute and associate professor of law. “Federal judges from across the country took time out of their schedule to come to
Pepperdine to teach new and career federal law clerks. We appreciate the time spent from all the judges and professors and all who participated.”
federal judiciary since 2001, were sponsored in part by a Pepperdine endowment fund created by Judge Byrne’s former law clerks, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the Federal Judicial Center.
CURRENT STUDENTS ALSO BENEFITED FROM THE EVENT
“The Pepperdine University School of Law is privileged to host some of the most distinguished judges in the nation at its Byrne Judicial Clerkship Institute,” said Dean Tacha. “As we train the law clerks who will take their places as leaders of the future in the legal profession, we partner with the federal judges in strengthening the federal judiciary for years to come. The Federal Judicial Center, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the Pepperdine School of Law are in the forefront of bringing legal education together with leaders in the judiciary for our mutual benefit. We are so grateful to all those judges and law professors who were part of this significant institute.”
“The Byrne JCI gave me insight into how to take the skills that I have learned in law school and use them as a judicial clerk,” then thirdyear student Michael Wood (JD ’13, MDR ’13, MPP ’13) said. “While many law students travel from across the country to come to Byrne JCI, as a Pepperdine law student who will begin a clerkship next fall, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to attend this great program and meet judges and career law clerks from across the county.” Clerks in attendance at the Byrne JCI, which Pepperdine has provided as a service to the 5
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NEWS SHORTS
Straus Institute Hosts a Conversation About
FORGIVENESS, RECONCILIATION, AND HEALING
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epperdine’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution welcomed more than 200 guests to a conversation in March that focused on forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing, with a specific emphasis on the personal experiences of survivors of apartheid in South Africa. The two-day event featured an elite panel of guest speakers, including Father Michael Lapsley, founder of the Institute for Healing of Memories; Ebrahim Rasool, South African ambassador to the United States; John Allen, former press officer for the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and biographer of Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Michael Henry Wilson and Carole Wilson, documentary filmmakers, Reconciliation: Mandela’s Miracle; and Karen Hayes, documentary filmmaker, The Foolishness of God: My Forgiveness Journey with Desmond Tutu. The conversation, Overcoming Apartheid, brought forth firsthand accounts from the guest speakers regarding life in South Africa in what became a segregated existence in a fragmented nation caused by legislation by the National Party beginning in the late 1940s and lasting through the 1970s. “They left us with far more psychological land mines that still go off every day,” Rasool said. “Landmines of race. Landmines of arrogance.” Lapsley, who was exiled from the country in 1976 for his work on behalf of schoolchildren who were being shot, detained, and tortured, lost both of his hands from a letter bomb. “The day I landed in South Africa I stopped being a human and started being a white man,” Lapsley said, noting judgments made based on the color of his skin. “We were all its prisoners.” Hayes was growing up in the United States at the time of apartheid, and recalls seeing terrible images of South Africa and the struggle for freedom. She vowed to advocate against such injustice nonviolently. For her efforts as a filmmaker, Hayes was awarded Pepperdine’s first-ever Filmmaker Illumination Award. “This was really about educating others about apartheid, but also about lessons in forgiveness, in healing wounds, in responsibility and obligation,” said Tom Stipanowich, director of the Straus Institute. “This multifaceted program, more than a year in the making, represents a major leap forward for the Straus Institute and its Conversations Series. The patient and painstaking effort of many people produced a remarkable and moving experience for the many who attended the program. We will not soon forget the personal stories of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, and Father Michael Lapsley, or the documentary efforts of John Allen, Michael and Carole Wilson, and Karen Hayes.” The event also featured a screening of Reconciliation: Mandela’s Miracle, a screening of a conversation between Tutu and Allen, and a forgiveness and healing workshop with Father Lapsley. The Straus Institute will host a second conversation, Women in Hollywood: 100 Years of Negotiating the System, November 15-16, 2013.
Nootbaar Institute’s Annual Conference Focuses on
INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION AND CHILD TRAFFICKING The Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics held its annual conference in February, tackling the topic of Intercountry Adoption: Orphan Rescue or Child Trafficking? More than 130 guests attended the two-day event, which was cosponsored by Pepperdine’s Global Justice Program. The conference featured 57 speakers and a host of topics related to intercountry adoption and child trafficking, including the role of religion in adoption law, citizenship rights, adoption trends, legal issues facing intercountry adoption, and abusive practices related to adoption. Several adoptive parents also spoke at the event, sharing their firsthand experiences. Additionally, six adoptees weighed in the topic, sharing their perspectives of finding permanent homes in the United States. “Many intercountry adoption conferences are either exclusively in favor of adoption or overwhelmingly against it,” said Jay Milbrandt, former director of the Global Justice Program. “It’s rare that both ends of the spectrum come together for dialogue. The goal of the Nootbaar Institute conference was to bring both sides together for a conversation fostering mutual understanding and respect.” The event incorporated the screening of two films, Operation Babylift: The Lost Children of Vietnam, and Somewhere Between. The screenings were followed by a question-and-answer session with the cast and directors of each film. Among those in attendance at the conference was Isaac Obiro, an attorney from Uganda, who has worked on international adoption cases. Jim Gash, a professor of law at the Pepperdine School of Law, worked with Obiro in Uganda, assisting with a variety of cases involving juvenile justice issues and adoption. “The topics of juvenile justice and intercountry adoption both touch on the same themes—finding ways to bring justice and stability to the powerless who lacked access to both justice and stability,” Gash said. “I spent some of my time in Uganda working with families and adoption lawyers, often behind the scenes, in looking for solutions to their individual challenges in the adoption process and for solutions to the systemic challenges presented by intercountry adoption.” P E P P E R D I N E L AW
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Introducing the 2013
STRAUS INSTITUTE SCHOLARS Pepperdine School of Law’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution has a history of drawing students and professionals from throughout the world to study the program’s unique curriculum. In its more than 25 years, and with its nine-year run as the top-ranked institute for dispute resolution according to U.S. News & World Report, Straus has hosted more than a dozen academic scholars associated with both the Fulbright and Edmund S. Muskie graduate fellowship programs, as well as the Rotary International Scholar program.
The Pepperdine Law Review Hosts “THE NEW NORMAL IN COLLEGE SPORTS”
This year, Straus welcomed three additional internationally recognized scholars to the Malibu campus, continuing its legacy as one of the top sought-out dispute resolution programs in the country.
“College athletics is one of the last pure things,” said Roger Cossack, Pepperdine University School of Law Distinguished Visiting Professor and ESPN legal analyst, as he introduced the first of four panels assembled at the School of Law on April 5 for a conference about college sports. “You can root for your team, and root against the other team, but it’s pure joy.” However, Cossack continued, that joy is under threat; college athletic programs need more money to compete at a high level, and every day, he said, it seems that the news headlines are filled with college athletic programs that are mired in controversy in one way or another. The New Normal in College Sports: Realigned and Reckoning took place at the School of Law, Malibu, all day April 5 to address some of these issues, and more. Cohosted by the School of Law and the Pepperdine Law Review, the event featured four panel discussions with leading academics, university administrators, and practitioners in a variety of areas, including: a conversation with institutional leaders of major intercollegiate athletic programs; a consideration of the possibility of an antitrust exemption for the NCAA; the impact of conference realignment, digital media, broadcasting, and commercialization; and other emerging hot topics in college sports. In addition, Jeff Moorad, founder of Moorad Sports Management, provided the keynote address. “The Pepperdine University School of Law has developed a very strong program in sports law and sports mediation and arbitration and our students just won one of the most prestigious competitions in this arena,” notes School of Law dean Deanell Reece Tacha. “This symposium was an opportunity for our students and many area lawyers to be engaged in cutting-edge thinking and legal issues in sports. Lawyers are employed in many aspects of sports at all levels.” Topics discussed by the panels included legal liabilities of injuries sustained by student-athletes; Rod Smith—director of the Center for Sports Law and Policy and Distinguished Professor of Law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law—pointed out concussions, which could have academic consequences, account for 74 percent of injuries sustained by college football stars. They also discussed infamous incidences that have made the news recently, including the Penn State Sandusky child-abuse cover-up scandal and Louisville Cardinals’ basketball star Kevin Ware’s horrifying leg break, which happened during a live, on-air match in March.
LIVIA GIORDANO Rotary International Scholar Livia Giordano (pictured left) got her start in in dispute resolution as an employment attorney and mediator in her native Switzerland. Hosted by the Rotary Club of Malibu, Giordano has remained involved with the organization and has given multiple speeches in front of club members and Pepperdine University administrators. Giordano moved to the United States with every intention of returning to her home in Switzerland. However, she has since set her sights on pursuing a career in mediation in the Los Angeles area after graduation in 2015 and would like to eventually branch out into teaching courses in mediation.
TATSIANA BIALIAYEVA Edmund S. Muskie Scholar After completing her LLM in international and European law in Lithuania, Tatsiana Bialiayeva (center) immediately began working for the Center for Dispute Resolution in her native Belarus, where she served as an assistant director and trainer and conducted trainings for attorneys and judges. Bialiayeva also served as a legal consultant for International Finance Corporation and as a chief legal analyst for UrSpectr, LLC. Upon graduating in 2013, Bialiayeva would like to create a training mediation center in her home country that would serve area attorneys and judges on up-to-date practices. She would also like to open a mediation clinic that would assist and train law students at Belarusian State University.
MARTIN FRERES Fulbright Scholar A native of Cologne, Germany, Martin Freres (right) completed his undergraduate work at Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany, where he received hands-on experience in mediation. With a primary interest in labor relations, Freres consulted with a German nonprofit organization in implementing a works council that involved local unions. He continued to pursue experience in dispute resolution by obtaining an internship with the German Green Party, as well as holding a position as a guest researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods. Freres is also completing courses at the Chicago School for Professional Psychology in Los Angeles. He plans to return to Germany after he graduates in 2014 to work as a consultant for the implementation of alternative dispute resolution systems. 7
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SCHOOL OF LAW PROFESSOR JIM GASH Receives International Lawyer of the Year Award Jim Gash, professor of law at the School of Law, has been honored with the Warren M. Christopher International Lawyer of the Year Award by the International Law Section of the State Bar of California. The award is presented annually to a California lawyer for achievement in international law and will be presented at a reception during the State Bar’s annual meeting in San Jose, California, in October. “I’m just a law professor who became involved in a project that got really big unintentionally,” says Gash. “I’m honored and humbled to be recognized by my peers as doing something valuable. It’s interesting that, if you’re willing to show up and advocate for change and develop relationships necessary to allow people to trust you to implement change, you can have an impact.” The award comes on the heels of Gash’s 11th trip to Uganda, when, in June, he oversaw a pilot program in an adult prison of the legal structure he and his team designed and implemented in early 2012 in the juvenile realm. In a prior trip this year, Gash argued an appeal in an effort to overturn a murder conviction and clear the record of a young man he met three years ago. Gash first traveled to Uganda in January of 2010, when he, along with former Global Justice Program director Jay Milbrandt (MBA ‘07, JD ‘08) and two School of Law alumni, journeyed to prepare juvenile cases ahead of trial. There, at a juvenile remand home, Uganda’s version of a pretrial prison in Masindi, Gash met Henry, one of the juveniles being charged with two crimes, one of which involved the death of another juvenile at the remand home. Henry’s trial attorney represented both him and an adult also accused in the case and failed to present a defense on Henry’s behalf. On appeal—the first ever argued by an American—Gash contended that the attorney’s conflict of interest invalidated the conviction. The judgment is expected to be announced soon. If unfavorable, Gash vows to appeal to the Supreme Court of Uganda. “We take new attorneys each time we go to Uganda and give them an opportunity to get their hands dirty working with Ugandan lawyers and law students and American law students, giving prisoners an opportunity to have their cases heard,” Gash explains. “We hope it might inspire a larger effort to get more groups of attorneys to go to Uganda and multiply the effect of what we’re trying to do.” Warren M. Christopher had a long and distinguished career both as a lawyer and statesman. Among his many accomplishments as the 63rd Secretary of State, Christopher brokered the Bosnian Peace Agreement during President Bill Clinton’s first term in office. For many years, he was a senior partner at the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP in the firm’s Century City office. The award commemorates Christopher’s lifelong commitment to the furtherance of international law and democracy around the world.
NINTH CIRCUIT APPELLATE ADVOCACY CLINIC Wins Inaugural Case On June 6 the Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic at the School of Law won the first-ever case the presented in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The clinic represents individuals in the Ninth Circuit who are identified by the court as needing pro bono counsel. In the case of Ruelas v. U.S. Government, third-year student Annie Lawson and recent alumnus Kevin Dulaney (JD ‘13) argued on behalf of the plaintiff, who had been arguing her case without legal representation for the past nine years. “Our legal training helped us produce a brief that stressed our client’s strongest legal arguments and led to a settlement granting her full relief,” explains Dulaney. “There is never going to be a shortage of unrepresented individuals attempting to vindicate their rights P E P P E R D I N E L AW
in the courts, and I believe that attorneys have a duty to dedicate a portion of their time to assisting them through pro bono work.” Ruelas’ husband was arrested in 1999 on drug trafficking charges and a large amount of property was seized. However, since the property belonged to the plaintiff and was not used to commit the crime, it should have been returned. After Mr. Ruelas’ conviction in 2005, the court ruled that the government was not obligated to return Ruelas’ property since they had turned it over to the Department of Justice. Just one week after Lawson and Dulaney submitted their brief, the defendant agreed to return the seized property. “My guess is that the government wants to continue to maintain flexibility in not returning 8
seized property, but they realized that once Mrs. Ruelas had counsel and saw how good our brief was that they would likely lose this case in a published opinion which would have set precedent for future cases,” says professor Jeremy Rosen, director of the Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic. The Pepperdine Clinical Education Program offers second- and third-year students opportunities to participate in clinical or externship programs for academic credit. Each area of clinical fieldwork also has a classroom component in the form of a workshop, and students can choose from both “in house” clinical programs and externships at various courts, organizations, and agencies.
CLASS OF THE TITANS THIS FALL TWO HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL LEGAL EXPERTS AND SCHOLARS JOIN THE SCHOOL OF LAW FACULTY AFTER SERVING AS D & L STRAUS DISTINGUISHED VISITING PROFESSORS AT PEPPERDINE.
Ahmed Taha
Paul Caron
PAUL CARON, who is widely known as one of the leading entrepreneurial tax scholars in the country, and AHMED TAHA, whose research of consumer and investor protection law has garnered praise in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, will impart their extensive knowledge and diverse background to influence the next generation of lawyers as tenured professors at the School of Law. Learn more about their impressive histories and how they hope to leave their mark on the School of Law.
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PAUL CARON
AHMED TAHA
PAUL CARON IS EXPERIENCING WHAT HE CALLS A “LIFE REBOOT.” Not only has he traveled crosscountry to begin a new phase in his career as a professor at the School of Law, but his highly popular online resource for legal professionals, the TaxProf Blog, is undergoing a simultaneous redesign. “It has continued to change from where we started in 2004,” he says, of the website that for five consecutive years has been named by the American Bar Association as one of the Top 100 law-related blogs (“Blawgs”). “I view that as marking a new chapter in the life of the blog, while rebooting myself professionally and personally with the move from Cincinnati to Malibu.” The former associate dean of faculty and Charles Hartsock Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law will continue his 20-year career as a law professor, passing on his decades-long wisdom on tax law, which he deems to be the most important class that students will take in law school. “It’s the only substantive area that cuts across every other area of law,” he explains. “I tell students that no matter what area of law they end up practicing, there are serious tax considerations in their areas. In order to be competent in those areas, they need to have at least a passing familiarity with tax law.” Throughout the semester, Caron plans to begin every class with a rundown of the news of the day, showing recent developments in the world of tax law that he has posted on the blog. “I want them to see how the lessons actually play out in the real world,” he says. But more important than his students’ professional success is how they are able to succeed as people. “Law has a bad reputation of being this all-consuming profession in which folks can sometimes lose sight of what’s important in pursuit of professional success at all costs,” he laments. “That’s one of the attractions here at Pepperdine: we’re modeling for students how to not only succeed professionally, but also to keep that flame lit so that they are able to manage their personal lives, as well.”
“A LAW DEGREE IS VERY FLEXIBLE. YOU SHOULDN’T GET STUCK IN SOMETHING YOU DON’T ENJOY.” Ahmed Taha explains this simple concept every year to his civil procedure students on the last day of class, hoping to leave them with not only the analytical and critical skills necessary for a career in law, but also those lessons that will carry them through their lives beyond the classroom. Taha knows firsthand the opportunities that exist for law scholars after graduation. After earning both bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, he continued his education at Stanford University, completing both a PhD in economics and JD in 1996. Prior to joining the Wake Forest University School of Law faculty in 2002, Taha was an attorney in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., an associate with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, California, and a corporate finance analyst at McKinsey & Company in New York City. At Wake Forest he became the 2011 recipient of the Joseph Branch Excellence in Teaching Award. Outside the classroom Taha’s research focuses primarily on empirical studies of consumer and investor protection law. At Pepperdine, Taha transitions from a visiting professor to a professor of corporations and civil procedure. Beyond fulfilling his role as an instructor of legal systems, Taha, who is the first Muslim professor at the School of Law, is trying to establish worship opportunities for students of Muslim faith and has been working with the University chaplain’s office to identify those students who would most benefit from such opportunities. He has been organizing a weekly congregational prayer service for students of Muslim faith. On a basic level, Taha touts the ease and convenience of carrying a religious obligation with on-campus prayer services. “The nearest mosque is 45 minutes away,” he explains. “On a broader scale, it is important for your religious identity to have a core group of people that share your same faith tradition with you. I think that’s important for the students to have and something I’m trying to recreate at the School of Law.”
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THE SCHOOL OF LAW WELCOMES NEW FACULTY FROM ENTERTAINMENT LAW TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, contracts to torts, the new faculty at Pepperdine’s School of Law comes from a wide range of academic practices and backgrounds. Meet the new professors and learn more about what they will bring to the classroom.
ANN CHING Legal Research and Writing
DAVID HAN Torts
Ann Ching, who has enjoyed a long and extensive career in the U.S. Army, will be joining the Pepperdine faculty this fall as a professor of legal research and writing and considers teaching another form of service. “Today’s law graduates must be able to adapt to an evolving legal environment,” she says. “I hope that my real-world experience helps me prepare my students to meet this challenge.” A major in the U.S. Army Reserve and an expert in civil liberties in wartime, international war crime tribunals, and domestic and international disaster relief, Ching served in the U.S. Army JAG Corps, where her distinctions include the Bronze Star Medal for combat service in Iraq and the Humanitarian Assistance Medal for Japan earthquake relief. During her army career, she held various positions including associate professor of legal research and writing and editor in chief, Military Law Review (The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School); chief of military justice and special assistant U.S. attorney, West Point; and international law advisor, U.S. Army Pacific.
David Han will bring his broad professional background to the classroom this fall as a professor of torts. Having worked in a wide variety of legal settings, including at a large law firm, a city agency, and within the judicial system, Han encourages law students “to clarify your sense of purpose: who is the person you want to be, what is it that you want to accomplish in this world, and how will that influence what you do with your law degree?” Before joining the Pepperdine faculty in 2013, Han was an acting assistant professor of lawyering at New York University School of Law. He also practiced as a litigation associate with Munger, Tolles & Olson in San Francisco, California. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2005, he clerked for the Honorable Michael Boudin on the First Circuit Court of Appeals and for the Honorable David H. Souter on the Supreme Court of the United States.
VICTORIA SCHWARTZ Entertainment Law, Intellectual Property Survey Victoria Schwartz joins the Pepperdine faculty from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was a Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law. At Pepperdine she will teach entertainment law and an intellectual property survey course. As a result of her practice background, Schwartz brings a very practical approach to the classroom. “An underappreciated part of a lawyer’s role is giving advice to a client before they get into a litigation problem,” she explains. “I view one of the main purposes of an IP survey course as learning how to make smart business decisions in order to better advise future clients.” Prior to joining the University of Chicago, Schwartz practiced as a litigation associate as part of the Business Trial and Litigation Practice of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, focusing on complex and appellate litigation, contract law, entertainment law, and intellectual property. While at O’Melveny, Schwartz also taught at the UCLA Ninth Circuit Appellate Clinic.
AMY LEVIN Legal Research and Writing Amy Levin, who will join the Pepperdine faculty as a professor of legal research and writing and appellate advocacy, is a graduate of the UCLA School of Law, Program in Public Interest Law and Policy, and the Department of Social Welfare, where she was an editor on the UCLA Law Review and earned membership in Order of the Coif. Since 2011 she has been an assistant professor of law at the School of Law and hopes to continue training students to become strong advocates for their clients. “I hope I am able to make a small difference in their legal careers and that they believe they have learned something valuable from my classes,” she reflects. Levin clerked for the Honorable Richard A. Paez of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit during 2002-2003. Before teaching at Pepperdine, Levin was an associate at Arnold & Porter LLP, specializing in civil commercial and trademark litigation.
JEFFREY R. BAKER Lawyering Process Jeffrey Baker, director of clinical education and professor of Lawyering Process, left private practice for clinical teaching in 2006 after six years in a big law firm. As a young lawyer Baker did not have the opportunity to prepare for practice at a clinic and was not aware of their value until after teaching the Family Violence Clinic at Faulkner University Jones School of Law, where he was an associate professor of law and director of clinical programs from 2006 to 2013. There, the experienced litigator, trial lawyer, and teacher discovered a calling for domestic violence practice after meeting his first clients—“the heroic people who would become my collaborators and friends.” At Faulkner, Baker designed and launched the Elder Law Clinic, and supervised the externship program. Baker also received the Montgomery Advertiser’s Martin Luther King Spirit Honors Award and the Justice for Victims Award from the area domestic violence shelter.
RICHARD CHEN Contracts Richard Chen joins the Pepperdine faculty as a visiting assistant professor in the fall. He previously served as a law clerk for two judges, the Honorable Raymond Fisher and the Honorable Paul Watford, both of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Between his two clerkships, Chen practiced for two years at Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles, specializing in civil litigation. “I found myself wanting to return to the uniquely stimulating environment of a law school, where through scholarship and teaching I have the opportunity to explore the issues that matter most to me personally and to engage with them at a broader level than is possible in the world of practice,” he says. Chen received his JD from Harvard Law School, during which he interned at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Prior to law school, he served as an intern in the Cambodia office of International Justice Mission, where he worked with trafficking victims. 11
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DOUBLE VICTORY IN THE LAST YEAR, TWO OF THE MOST PROMISING ALUMNAE OF PEPPERDINE LAW WERE APPOINTED TO THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT BY SOME OF THE NATION’S MOST PROMINENT LEADERS. By Gareen Darakjian On July 9 the United States Senate confirmed Jennifer Dorsey (JD ‘97) to the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada after being nominated by President Barack Obama in September of 2012. A few months prior, in April, Beverly Reid O’Connell (JD ’90) was confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California with a vote of 92–0, driven by a recommendation made by California senator Barbara Boxer. “These appointments mark a new milestone for this law school— our first two alumni to be appointed to these important judicial offices within the same year,” says School of Law dean Deanell Reece Tacha. “We are so proud of their distinguished careers and accomplishments. Both of these judges are models of the highest ideals of this law school and of the legal profession. They will be dedicated public servants and bring continuing credit to the School of Law at Pepperdine.” Here, they share details of their careers, their appointment, and their hopes for the future as leaders of their respective districts. P E P P E R D I N E L AW
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JENNIFER DORSEY A FEW MONTHS AGO DORSEY was arguing civil appeals, class actions, and complex commercial disputes in the Nevada Supreme Court as an attorney on behalf of the firm she had been part of since graduating law school in 1997. Then, President Barack Obama nominated the native Las Vegan to serve as a U.S. district judge in her home state, a role she says every law student envisions filling at some point in his or her legal career. Now Dorsey is at the helm of her district and set to hear all categories of federal cases, ensuring fair and just trials throughout. Q: How does it feel to represent your home state of Nevada in a federal capacity? A: As a native Nevadan, I could not be prouder than to be a member of the federal judiciary in this district. And as a practitioner in this court throughout my legal career, I have seen firsthand how full the dockets are in this jurisdiction; I am eager to roll up the sleeves on my new robe and help out. Q: As a law student, was occupying a seat on the United States District Court something that you envisioned in your future? A: I think it’s nearly impossible to go through law school without at least once envisioning oneself occupying a judicial role. I think that inevitability is enhanced for students who have the opportunity to extern in the court system, as I did. But I found that my professors and extracurricular activities kept me far too busy to be thinking past my next exam, let alone nearly 20 years into the future! Q: What were your first thoughts when you learned President Obama nominated you to serve as a U.S. district judge? A: I felt profoundly honored and humbled that the president of the United States had placed such confidence in my character and legal
ability. And I was hoping that I may finally get to live out a Pepperdine law-nerd dream of mine—sitting on the final-round bench of Pepperdine’s Vincent S. Dalsimer Moot Court Competition. Spoiler alert: I did. Q: What is your greatest fear or the greatest challenge that you foresee in this new role? A: I expect a primary challenge will be striking the balance of working swiftly through a large caseload while devoting to each issue the time necessary to reach properly informed and well-reasoned decisions. Q: You have been at Kemp, Jones & Coulthard LLP since graduating law school. What lessons from your time as an attorney will you carry with you in this new phase of your career? A: A ll of them. My firm gave me the support and space to learn my craft from the finest attorneys and then mentor a new generation of lawyers, while allowing me the opportunity to become a business owner and manager. I also learned how important and daunting the legal process is to the individuals who turn to it for dispute resolution, and I will endeavor to give all parties the respect and attention that their matters deserve. Q: What would you tell a current law student hoping to break into the federal realm? A: E xtern for a federal judge during law school, and then seek a position as a judicial law clerk for the first year or two years after graduation. Those experiences will provide insight into the judicial process and help develop skills and knowledge that will be valuable to future legal employers. Q: Though you are about to embark on a new career path, what do you think your next steps will be beyond this point?
I think it’s nearly impossible to go through law school without at least once envisioning oneself occupying a judicial role. —Jennifer Dorsey
A: A s this is a lifetime appointment, I expect that my next steps will be part of this same journey, not headed toward a new destination. I also intend to remain close to my Pepperdine family, which has been immensely supportive during this nomination and confirmation process just as it was throughout my law school experience. 13
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BEVERLY O’CONNELL O’CONNELL’S LEGAL CAREER, which began in civil litigation in 1990, has been made up of one success story after another. Following a seven-year run as a Superior Court judge for Los Angeles County, she took the federal bench on May 6 and more than 330 cases immediately called for her attention in her new Los Angeles-based chambers. Despite her demanding schedule, O’Connell has remained an active member of the Pepperdine School of Law community, participating in moot court competitions and serving as an adjunct professor, as well as a mentor to students. P E P P E R D I N E L AW
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Q: As a law student, did you ever imagine that your career would lead to a confirmation to the U.S. District Court? A: No, I never imagined I would become a United States District Court judge. I knew, however, that upon graduation, I had acquired the skills necessary to succeed in Los Angeles’ legal community. When Morrison & Foerster hired me as its first Pepperdine graduate, I became exposed to the sophisticated legal disputes such as those typically seen in federal court. That experience continued with my employment at the United States Attorney’s Office. Q: What are your goals as a judge with the U.S. District Court? A: One of my goals as a federal judge is to continue to dispense justice fairly and expeditiously on a daily basis. I want to
fostered by the professors at Pepperdine, helped me to confidently seek justice on a daily basis. Q: Please describe some of your experiences with the California Second District Court of Appeal, a designation you held from 2010 to 2011. A: W hen presiding justice Tricia Bigelow (JD ’86) sought to have me appointed as a Courts of Appeal justice pro tempore, I was especially honored. Justice Bigelow earned the reputation of being a great legal mind, especially in the area of criminal law. More importantly, she too graduated from Pepperdine School of Law. I was given the opportunity to work with a fellow Pepperdine graduate to build consensus. I found great pride in working with other justices to work through legal problems and bring clarity to trial courts regarding complex legal issues. I left the Courts of Appeal with
Q: W hat lessons from your years as a law student have you carried with you throughout your career? A: Throughout my career at Pepperdine, I learned that preparation is the bedrock to a successful legal career. There are no shortcuts in litigation, and hard work pays off. I also learned that one’s reputation is of paramount importance, earned by practicing with integrity and civility. Q: Y ou have kept close ties with Pepperdine, serving as an adjunct professor and regularly participating in events hosted by the School of Law. What has kept you so closely bonded with the University? A: Pepperdine gave me the gift of an education. Pepperdine exhibited its faith in my skills by awarding me a scholarship. This generous
Throughout my career at Pepperdine, I learned that preparation is the bedrock to a successful legal career. There are no shortcuts in litigation, and hard work pays off. —Beverly O’Connell create a courtroom where all litigants are treated with respect and leave feeling that they have received the highest consideration, regardless of whether they win or lose the dispute. Another one of my goals is to proudly represent Pepperdine as its first federal judge. Q: You began your career in civil litigation as an associate at Morrison & Foerster. How did you make the transition from civil litigation to your next stop as the assistant United States attorney in the Central District of California? A: The partners at Morrison & Foerster trained me to methodically and meticulously prepare cases for trial. The firm also emphasized the responsibility to engage in pro bono work, to use my education to help those persons with fewer financial resources who are unfamiliar with the intricacies of the legal system. The education I received from Pepperdine and the training I received at Morrison & Foerster prepared me to learn an entirely new area of law. My moral compass,
a greater appreciation of the requirement to make a complete record, thereby enabling apellate court justices to better understand the trial court proceedings. As a result, I became a better trial judge upon my return. Q: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed you to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2005. What has been the most fulfilling aspect of your role with the Los Angeles Superior Court? A: I have been fulfilled on a daily basis helping litigants solve problems. Everyone deserves a fair trial, and I take great pride in ensuring that everyone who enters my courtroom receives that fairness. It is a pleasure to go to work every day knowing that my obligation is simply to do the right thing. Another one of the most fulfilling aspects of my role with the Superior Court has been my opportunity to help educate new judges. The new judges are the future of the court, and I am constantly amazed at the quality and integrity of my colleagues. I will miss them greatly.
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gift made the decision to enter public service much easier. Unlike many of my colleagues, I did not spend years paying off student loans. I am very grateful for the opportunity Pepperdine gave me, and, as a result, I am loyal to the School of Law and want to participate in its events. I was mentored by many of the fine professors at Pepperdine and seek to give back to Pepperdine by mentoring law students. Q: W hat are your hopes for the future both personally and professionally? A: P rofessionally, I hope to continue to work hard and dispense justice on a daily basis. I would like to increase the breadth of my legal knowledge, trying both civil and criminal cases, among many other federal subject matters. I hope to mentor young lawyers, helping them to understand that their integrity in the practice of law is of the utmost importance. Personally, I hope to be a role model to all Pepperdine law students. L AW. P E P P E R D I N E . E D U
RECENT PEPPERDINE APPELLATE AND TRIAL TEAM VICTORIES
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D E. TYLA National Trial Competition Regional, Tucson, Arizona, February 2013. Finalists—Grant Bryan, Allison Heers, Professor Harry Caldwell, Professor Chris Frost,John Adams
A. Stetson International Environmental Moot Court Competition, North American Regional, Washington, D.C., February 2013. Champions and Second-Place Brief—Austin Ward, Stephanie Althoff, Mark Reinhardt Best Oralist in Final Round—Austin Ward
F. National Moot Court Competition New York City Bar Association Regional, November 2012. Finalists—Rebecca Miller, Megan Springer
I nternational Finals, Gulfport, Florida, March 2013. Champions—Austin Ward, Stephanie Althoff, Mark Reinhardt Best Oralist in Final Round—Austin Ward
G. National Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition University of San Diego, October 2012. Semifinalists—Jacob Franz, Elicia Stoller
B. Chicago Bar Association Nat’l Moot Court Competition, October 2012. Champions—Karissa Hurst, Lilit Vardanian, Amie Vague
H. Chicago Bar Association Moot Court Competition, October 2012. Semifinalists—Ashley Cook, Luke Baty, Morgan Franz
C. The Willem C. Vis Hong Kong International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court Competition, March 2013. Second-Place Advocate—Amy Vague
I. UC Davis Asylum and Refugee Law National Moot Court Competition, Feburary 2013. Finalists, Best Brief—Amanda Springer, Zach Tafoya, Luke Baty
D. ABA Labor and Employment Law Trial Advocacy Regional Comptetition, Los Angeles, November 2012. Champions— Jason Bulbuk, Elliott Dionisio, Mahru Madjidi, Professor Harry Caldwell, Professor Chris Frost, Benjamin Hampton
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J. National Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition University of San Diego, October 2012. Semifinalists, Best Petitioner Brief— Natalie Ferrall, Zach Tafoya
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GOING TO SEA BY JEFFREY R. BAKER, DIRECTOR OF CLINICAL PROGRAMS
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ne morning early in the semester, I met a student in our clinic office at my previous law school. She soon would graduate top in her class. She had won national advocacy competitions. She was a former Division I collegiate athlete, accomplished and brilliant. She was terrified. She told me she had not slept well. She was nervous and kept checking her notes to ensure she was ready, fidgeting like a 1L. She was on her way to her first client interview.
My student had succeeded in every aspect of her legal education, but the prospect of meeting a real person, of undertaking our client’s cause, of receiving her story and evaluating the case, of translating her knowledge into practice intimidated her. She was experiencing a moment I call “The Shift.” Law students spend their lives performing for their own advancement. They are working for a grade, working for class rank, working for a job, working for resume enhancement, working for a professor’s praise and recommendation. They are self-centered, because we make them be self-centered. This is endemic to legal education. In clinics, though, they face something new. They are no longer working for themselves, but they are working for a client who is depending on them. They feel the burden of a client’s life, family, and fortunes, and they grow anxious when they realize the stakes. The Shift is that profound moment when a student feels the weight of professional obligations to a real client, and this moment imparts lessons that students cannot learn vicariously, through experiences we cannot simulate. This is the purpose and great value of clinical education. The legal academy is facing a crisis of scrutiny and skepticism. Students are demanding, rightly, more return on their massive investment in law school. The
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bar is demanding, rightly, graduates who are better equipped to practice law. The market is speaking, and “practice-ready lawyers” are essential. In diverse ways, law schools are reacting, even scrambling, to adjust methods and objectives that have been stable for a century. Across the spectrum of legal education, law schools are figuring out how to train lawyers, not just to teach the law. Experience matters, and we find contemporary law schools returning to old ideas of apprenticeships and learning through practice. Clinics and externships are at the heart of these discussions, because students can only become “practice ready” by practicing. In 1947, ahead of his time, Professor Charles Henderson Miller said, “To study the phenomena of law in society without books is to sail an uncharted sea, while to study the law without clients is not to go to sea at all.” Practice readiness means readiness for clients, courts, law offices, co-counsel, opposing counsel, business, transactions, staff, money, marketing, and scores of banal surprises. It also demands a return to humanity, the ability to translate the language of law into the language of the people we serve. The grand idea of practice readiness rests on three pillars: doctrine, skill, and professionalism. Without all three, our students are not ready to practice with any confidence. These are not zero-sum choices, but these pillars should inform each other from the first day of law school to the last. Lawyers cannot be merely good social theorists with doctrine at their intellectual disposal, or they will be useless to a real client with a problem. Likewise, lawyers cannot merely be technically proficient and charismatic, or they will fail to discern and understand the complexity and depth of the law necessary to advance their clients’ interests. Lawyers must have an expertise in the law and must be technically proficient and skilled to bring that knowledge to bear. That synthesis is the beginning of professionalism, but it is not the end. Good lawyers require wisdom, selfawareness, epistemic humility, creativity, imagination, compassion, and discipline. Great lawyers seek these virtues intentionally and constantly. These qualities are what the market demands and what students need. Clinics create environments and generate experiences that are essential to the formation of effective professionals. Students will have these experiences sooner or later. In the wilds of law practice, they will have these experiences with high stakes, uncertain security and inconstant advice. In clinics,
they can learn and grow with direction, with mentorship and guidance, with real stakes but without the risk of doing great damage, to their clients or to their own careers. Clinics work at the intersection of doctrine, applied with skills in practice to real clients, and students here can experience the role of attorney with the attendant demands of intellectual and emotional life. They feel the pressure, the confrontation, the demands, the gratification, the fear of law practice. They encounter in clinics the real thing, not a discussion or a simulation of it. In externships, students enter the marketplace. While clinics can generate intense experiences with clients and cases, field placements expose students to the bar, to lawyers at work. Students witness how lawyers talk to each other, how lawyers collaborate with support staff, how lawyers grapple with the administration of their business. This is real life in the law, and students are incrementally better prepared to practice at graduation if they have already experienced the culture shock of immigrating from school to work. Their learning curve is steep in the best situations, but it is easier if they can find their way around a law office. In externships, students learn from practice, deepen their expertise, meet lawyers, hone their craft and observe the world as it is. This makes our students all the more valuable to the lawyers who hire them. The School of Law is renewing its commitment to its clinical and externship programs. For years, the Union Rescue Mission has anchored the clinical program with Professor Brittany Stringfellow-Otey’s critical work and teaching on Skid Row, taking students into an extraordinary, demanding context to serve clients in great need. Professor Richard Peterson leads the Special Education Clinic where students learn to advocate for clients against the inertia of institutions while navigating complex regulations and bureaucracies. Judge Bruce Einhorn leads the Asylum Clinic to prepare students to litigate in multicultural and international contexts, before federal courts and agencies. This year, the School of Law is studying new possibilities with a pilot clinic handling appeals for the Ninth Circuit, affording students with rich opportunities to handle rigorous federal appeals. Building on its successful Mediation Clinic, the Straus Institute has initiated an Investor Rights Clinic through which students take up securities actions for aggrieved shareholders, providing students high-level experience with complex financial relationships, rights, and transactions. In 19
addition to all of this work, nearly 90 students complete externships each term in judicial, governmental, entertainment, criminal, and public interest law offices, and faculty guide them through critical reflection to accelerate their learning in the marketplace. In all of these experiences, whether students have particular interest in special education, immigration, securities, or poverty law, or whether they are interested in something markedly different, the clinical faculty is teaching for transfer. The lessons are universal and necessary to the practice of law. Students learn to identify and evaluate cases, to assess strengths and plot strategy, to work with discipline, creativity, and honor. They take up the cause of a real client and advance that client’s interest with rigor and devotion. Students will not be “practice ready” until they can place these virtues and skills in concert with their fresh knowledge and eager hearts. This is the promise of clinics and externships, and we aspire to build on these programs. Soon, the School of Law plans to add a new clinic, and we are embarking on a process to increase capacity for more students in the programs. Rather than being mere electives, the School of Law is working to move clinics, externships, and other experiential initiatives to the center of the curriculum. We want students to not only think like lawyers, but to act like lawyers, to inhabit their roles, the profession, and their identities as advocates and counselors. Best of all, we achieve these educational objectives while doing the work of justice for those who need it most. We manifest the mission of the School by seeking liberty for the oppressed and justice for the vulnerable, by seeking homes for the homeless, by seeking peace. These are not metaphorical ideals but the fruitful reality of our law practice. Students find the power and privilege of the profession instilled with hope, faith, and love. They begin their careers with some of the most important work of their lives. My student did a great job in her client interview. She received her client’s story with compassion. She asked good questions and built a reliable narrative. She evaluated the claim and crafted a strategy. She made decisions and translated her ideas into pleadings. She filed a suit and prosecuted it to a favorable outcome for a client who could not afford her. She went to sea, and she is ready for practice. L AW. P E P P E R D I N E . E D U
A Season of CHANGE
Doua Alattas enrolled in the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution with the goal of becoming a role model for women as a practicing lawyer in her home country of Saudi Arabia. By Jannette Jauregui
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Tucked away in Doua Alattas’ Malibu closet hangs her traditional abaya and scarf –pieces of a life more than 8,000 miles away.
At home in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the duo of garments had much more of a presence. The law required that Alattas be covered in the cloak whenever she was seen in public. In America, where the law requires nothing of her attire, the traditional clothing represents respect for Alattas’ country—and for her family. When the 26-year-old walked on to Pepperdine’s Malibu campus in January, her abaya and scarf were absent from her chosen fashion for the day. “I want to fit into the culture,” she explained. “I want to embrace life in America.” She is methodical in, and acutely conscious of, each decision she makes. Just two years ago Alattas was preparing to marry a man to whom she had been introduced by her family. It was to be an arranged marriage of sorts—an ever-present practice in the Saudi culture. “We just weren’t a good match,” Alattas said. “I could not see myself living my life that way.” With her future in mind, Alattas ended the relationship, challenging cultural expectations. The decision was accompanied by the announcement that she wanted to attend law school in the United States, pursuing a career that, just two years ago, was nearly unattainable for women in Saudi Arabia. “There were no Saudi women practicing law,” Alattas said. “It was not accepted.” Alattas’ parents were not immediately sold
I’ve taken an untraditional path, but I respect my family, religion, and background. on the idea of their eldest daughter moving to the United States. Her father, a native of Al-Hejaz, and her mother, who is originally from the Soviet Union and Egypt, encouraged their young daughter to stay in her home country and become a doctor, a position that was considered more acceptable for women to pursue in the Saudi culture. But Alattas’ interests were in law and in becoming a role model for young Saudi and Middle Eastern girls who might want a similar career.
TAKING A CHANCE Alattas graduated from the University of King Abdulaziz in 2008, four years prior to her decision to move to the United States. She focused her studies on Islamic traditions and laws, knowing all along that she wanted to one day become an advocate for women’s rights. “I chose Islamic studies because I wanted to get the facts about Islamic women’s rights straight from the source,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to speak up and speak out about the women in Saudi Arabia and in the Middle East. To fight for our rights.” That desire stemmed from the reality that a woman in the professional workforce is, in and of itself, a rarity in Saudi Arabia. According to a November 2012 article in the Washington Post, the unemployment rate among women who want to work in the country is 34 percent compared to just seven percent for men. 21
The article reported research that proved that nearly 86 percent of those receiving unemployment benefits in Saudi Arabia are women, and nearly half of those women are college-educated. Alattas, if she ever returned to Saudi Arabia, risked becoming a part of the statistics. It was a chance she was willing to take. But a silver lining seemed to appear in the face of the obstacles of unemployment. Alattas’ decision to pursue a career in law came on the heels of Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s July 2012 decision to approve a proposal to allow women to get a law license after meeting specific requirements set by the Saudi government. “There is progress being made,” Alattas said.
AN UNTRADITIONAL PATH After researching schools throughout the United States, Alattas came across Pepperdine’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. The picturesque views from the Malibu campus and the warm California temperatures became an added bonus. And though it wasn’t required, she delayed enrollment and moved to Irvine, California, to focus on English courses at the University of California, Irvine. She then transferred to the University of California, San Diego, to take a course in the United States’ legal system. L AW. P E P P E R D I N E . E D U
Like Gandhi said, I want to be the change I want to see in the world.
“I wanted the basic skills,” she said. “I wanted to come to Pepperdine prepared.” While studying in San Diego, Alattas met Peter Robinson, who serves as the managing director and associate professor of law for the Straus Institute. Robinson was giving a lecture on the University of San Diego campus. “Professor Robinson inspired me to work hard,” Alattas said. “He provided a lot of support.” Alattas enrolled in classes at the Straus Institute in January, again methodically preparing for a career that will allow her to practice law in both Saudi Arabia and the United States. She is leaving the possibility of earning a JD open. But for now, her focus is on an LLM. P E P P E R D I N E L AW
“Doua is an asset to our law school and LLM program,” said Robinson, who became Alattas’ academic advisor. “She is a serious and disciplined student. She has worked very hard and sacrificed much to study the law in the United States, including leaving her family and participating in intensive English programs for the last six months.” But Robinson is aware of the struggles Alattas will likely face upon completing the program. “Her decision to commit herself to the rigorous study of the law in the U.S. is courageous since the types of jobs she will be eligible for in Saudi Arabia are uncertain,” he said. “Her optimism about the expanding roles for women trained in the law in her 22
country results from a positive attitude and happy disposition. She has made a very positive impression and has represented her family and country well in interactions with the students and faculty.” Today, Alattas is encouraged by what seems to be a season of change in her home country. “In 2011 the king announced that women can participate in the Saudi Consultative Assembly,” she said. “I am looking forward to having a place there. I’ve taken an untraditional path, but I respect my family, religion, and background. Like Gandhi said, I want to be the change I want to see in the world.”
A STEWARD OF SCHOLARS
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ver the course of the past 22 years as a law professor, Robert Pushaw has spent no fewer than one thousand hours per year on scholarly activity. Now, as the new associate dean for research and faculty development at the School of Law, he is set to apply that staggering statistic to enhancing and illuminating the teaching that takes place at Pepperdine.
But Pushaw wasn’t always aware of the impact that the position could have on an institution. At Yale Law School he studied under numerous world-renowned legal scholars and began to engage in serious legal scholarship during his second year, writing a draft of what eventually became his first major article. At the start of his teaching career at the University of Missouri in 1992 he relied on his former law school professors Akhil Amar and George Priest to mentor and guide him through his research endeavors. However, he admits to making some rookie mistakes, which, he explains, could have been avoided if an established faculty research program had been in place. At Pepperdine Pushaw will ensure that the law faculty has the resources to pursue their scholarship—summer grants, student research assistants, library research support, and travel opportunities to professional conferences to present their papers. He will also play an integral role in helping professors develop their ideas through informal discussions, critiquing draft manuscripts, and arranging presentations at Pepperdine. More broadly, he will assist faculty in spreading their ideas to the widest possible audience. “Professors who are passionate about their areas of interest naturally seek to expand their knowledge and engage in scholarly debates in their fields,” he says. “My ultimate goal is to increase both the quantity and quality of faculty scholarship so that Pepperdine’s national academic reputation continues to grow,” Pushaw explains.
BOB PUSHAW REFLECTS ON HIS CAREER IN FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP AS HE TAKES ON THE NEW ROLE OF ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR RESEARCH AND FACULTY DEVELOPMENT. By Gareen Darakjian
But beyond matters of rank and status, he endeavors to meet another, higher objective. “My sense is that law professors tend to be highly secularized—and skeptical that a religious law school can be committed to the production of rigorous scholarship,” he explains. “My goal is to shatter that stereotype.” Although Pushaw insists that the law school will never sacrifice Pepperdine’s religious mission or commitment to students merely for the sake of rankings, “those rankings are important in opening up employment opportunities for our students and in enhancing the value of our JD degree, benefiting both current students and alumni.” Pushaw is also committed to channeling the School of Law’s resources to faculty most actively engaged in scholarship, a duty he feels is of utmost importance as he begins his tenure as associate dean for research and faculty development. “Our greatest challenge is to try to encourage scholarly productivity in light of severe budget pressures,” he says. “We have to be careful stewards of our limited resources.” Among the many reasons why Pushaw believes in the importance of faculty scholarship, he cites specific motivations behind his passionate pursuit. “Scholarship is an integral part of the mission of the University and the School of Law—and is therefore a critical component of our jobs,” he explains. During his time as a law professor, almost every law school has begun establishing programs for research and faculty development to ensure that entry-level faculty develop appropriate scholarly habits and to help more seasoned professors continue to develop professionally. At the School of Law Pushaw has already seen the effects of his mentorship and guidance on Pepperdine’s faculty. “I am most proud of the recent increase in high-quality publications, especially by our junior faculty,” he says. “I succeed only to the extent that the faculty succeeds.” 23
MY ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO INCREASE BOTH THE QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP SO THAT PEPPERDINE’S NATIONAL ACADEMIC REPUTATION CONTINUES TO GROW. —ROBERT PUSHAW
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THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE
PEPPERDINE STUDENTS PROVIDE ADVOCACY SERVICES TO PARENTS IN NEED WITH THE JUSTICE BUS PROJECT. By Sarah Fisher
EVERY YEAR IN ALMOST EVERY SCHOOL ACROSS THE COUNTRY, capable, smart children fall behind their peers. The reasons are varied; unacknowledged learning disabilities, social and/or economic burdens, lack of personal attention. But the outcome is usually the same—children aren’t able to succeed to the best of their ability. Many are held back a year or put in remedial classes, two stigmas that will follow them throughout their entire school career.
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WHY IS IT CALLED THE JUSTICE BUS PROJECT? In order for One Justice to better serve the low-income populations in rural California with their temporary advocacy clinics, they established the Justice Bus Project to literally bus volunteer law students to the locations where they would be assisting pro bono attorneys. Pepperdine’s group did not actually require a rental bus for transport and instead carpooled to Lancaster.
Meanwhile parents feel that they have little say in the school’s decision. Many parents—particularly lower-income parents in areas with limited access to legal services— aren’t even aware that they have legal rights regarding the choices made by their child’s school about said child’s education. “Dealing with a school is so one-sided,” notes Rachael Nelson (JD ’13), a 2013 School of Law graduate. “Most parents are really passionate and want to do the best they can for their kids but they don’t know the law or how to go about it, and they can’t afford attorneys. Schools have attorneys.” Enter a group of nine Pepperdine students, including Nelson, and the advocacy nonprofit One Justice. The California-based organization hosts one-day clinics in underserved neighborhoods, providing temporary access to pro bono attorneys for issues of health, violence, homelessness, hunger, and education. In 2007 the Justice Bus Project was established so that law students could assist the clinic attorneys. The School of Law partnered with the Justice Bus Project for the first time last November, when the first Pepperdine group assisted an attorney from Mental Health Advocacy Services (MHAS) in an education advocacy clinic set up for a day in a community center in the small town of Lancaster, California, about an hour north of Los Angeles. “One of our goals [in partnering with law schools] is to expose law students to the needs in isolated, rural communities, and to let them know there’s a need for services out there,” says Cynthia Luna, an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow for One Justice and
coordinator of the partnership. “It was moving to witness the students’ realizations about how much they could empower parents in one afternoon by providing tools for parents to advocate for their own children.” The group acted as the first point people, gathering information from parents and guardians about their cases and advising the MHAS attorney about the individual situations, while a couple of the students were bilingual and able to serve as translators. In total, they were able to help serve more than 20 clients.
Nelson recalls one older woman, who was the legal guardian to her two grandchildren. She walked into the clinic with nothing but a fierce determination to help her grandchildren succeed in school. She had no paperwork with her, and no knowledge of what rights she had, as legal guardian, to demand that the school provide extra attention for her two disabled charges. “She was raising two children with two different disabilities. She was the nicest woman, but with no education and a minor disability of her own, she had no idea what to do,” remembers Nelson, who has taken the special education law course at the School of Law and volunteered with special needs children in the past. “She would show up and bake cookies at the school to get people to like her and get better programs for her kids, but she didn’t know anything else to do. What she really needed was help getting more programs for her kids who were being overlooked.” The needs of all the parents and guardians that visited the clinic that day varied but, like the grandmother’s difficult situation, what they all had
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in common were children who felt abandoned by a system that is supposed to support their education—not hinder it. “The questions that needed answering were questions that to any parent would seem daunting when they don’t know the laws,” agrees Brian Sanchez (JD ’13), past-president of the sponsoring student group, the Pepperdine Special Education Advocacy Law Society. “A lot of the time what a parent wants is just a simple answer to a question that brings some peace of mind.” In the case of the grandmother, the clinic was able to provide the specific language she would need to talk through her grandchildren’s educational issues with the school, and helped her to fill out forms that would secure thorough and rigorously evaluated Independent Education Plans (IEP) for her children. “She needed to request that the school give more specific evaluations in the IEP than just ‘the child is learning to read,’ or ‘the child is improving,” Nelson says. “She needed to know what books they were reading, and how long they take to read. If that is recorded, then there is specific progress, or lack thereof, that can be charted. The school can say the child is improving for the rest of their school lives, but without hard facts there’s nothing to support it. Once they start getting really specific in the IEP, the grandmother will be able to go back if there’s no improvement, and the school will have to implement new programs.”
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The questions that needed answering were questions that to any parent would seem daunting when they don’t know the laws. A lot of the time what a parent wants is just a simple answer to a question that brings some peace of mind. — Brian Sanchez, past-president, Pepperdine Special Education Advocacy Law Society
The Special Education Advocacy Law Society decided to join forces with the Justice Bus Project after learning through One Justice about the needs in underserved communities that are close to Pepperdine, yet a world apart from Malibu. “These parents need clinics like this advocating for their kids,” says coordinator Carlton Oliver, director of student life and student outreach at the School of Law. He adds that a lot of law students didn’t even know that parents faced such pressure from schools to comply with substandard plans for their child’s education. “The partnership generated a lot of buzz,” confirms Sanchez. “It provides the chance to practice your knowledge of the law but with the immediate sense of knowing that you’re doing something positive. After all, the end goal is to ensure that children are afforded a proper education.”
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There’s a certain kind of symmetry at work, that’s not lost on Oliver and Sanchez, when the School of Law provides access for students to act as educational advocates through opportunities like the One Justice’s Justice Bus Project—thereby advocating for Pepperdine students’ educational growth and enrichment. “It was a great experience for our students,” says Oliver. “They got to help a practicing attorney and learn about the special education laws applicable in California. Listening to parents, they had to ‘issue-spot’ and identify what they needed to present to the attorney— sharpening their understanding of the issues for people in underserved communities where they may end up practicing one day. And it sharpened their understanding of the specific laws that can actually help people.” Nelson confirms that having taken the special education course offered at the School of Law she was familiar with the steps parents need to take to advocate for their children’s education, but this was her first chance to put that knowledge into practice. “I haven’t been
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a part of any clinics offered at Pepperdine before because of my work schedule, so it was incredible to be able to help clients individually this time. This is a great, great program—for the clients and for us as students.” Sanchez, who plans to work in special education practice, sees the partnership with One Justice growing with future Justice Bus Project trips in the pipeline. The opportunity to engage more students with this issue is too great, he says, and employers are not as likely to advocate for their employees’ enrichment with the chance to serve as much as Pepperdine will. “It’s really important to have these opportunities as much as possible in law school—once you start working professionally it’s really hard to get away from the actual work. And I know the students on this trip really appreciated being able to provide help to people who couldn’t usually afford it.”
BREAKING BARRIERS Zna Portlock Houston has spent much of her legal career fighting for fairness and equality. By Jannette Jauregui
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As an undergraduate student at Seaver College, Zna Portlock Houston’s (’84, JD ’87) sights were set on a career as a legal reporter at a big broadcast network. “Law reporting was cutting-edge at the time,” she said. “I had taken a broadcasting class with Bill Robinson who was a talent agent and had experience working in the industry. He served as a mentor for me and talked me in to the idea of applying to law school. My thought was this is a way to bolster my career and strengthen my legal skills.” Houston applied and was accepted into the Pepperdine School of Law in the fall of 1984. She immediately became involved in the Black Law Student Association (BLSA) and the Sports and Entertainment Law Society. She even spearheaded the organization of a conference that featured some of the leading sports and entertainment law experts of the time. All the while, Houston’s heart was still sold on a life in front of the camera.
RULES TO LIVE BY If asked, Houston would say she is the product of her upbringing in Inglewood, California, raised by two parents whose work ethic was something their young daughter came to admire at a young age. “They really led us by example,” Houston said. Her father held a position with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power while her mother served as a teacher and eventually a pastry chef with the area’s community college districts. “They provided my brother, sister, and me with stability,” Houston noted. “They gave us every opportunity to succeed. They taught us to always keep our word. To finish what we start.” P E P P E R D I N E L AW
THAT COMMITMENT TO RESPONSIBILITY LED HOUSTON TO A LIFE-CHANGING DECISION. “When I graduated from law school, there was this immense amount of debt I had to pay off,” she said. “The starting pay in journalism would not pay my debt. I needed something else, but still had a plan to eventually move into broadcast.” In her third year of law school, Houston interviewed with Littler Mendelson, a firm specializing in labor and employment law, and secured a position that would be ready for her when she graduated. She stayed on as an associate attorney for two years before taking a position as counsel for Fox, Inc.–a role she held until 1992. All the while, Houston was authoring a column that ran in the Pasadena Journal and Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. Law Notes with Zna Portlock was published weekly, breaking down basic legal issues for the average citizen. Lawyering, it seemed, came naturally to her.
A LOVE FOR THE LAW After leaving Fox, Inc., Houston competed for a position as director of membership for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, and was chosen from a field of more than 200 candidates. “It seemed like an exciting opportunity— something I was really interested in,” she said. But the young attorney joined the Tournament of Roses at a tumultuous time for the organization. Controversial articles focusing on selected members became almost regular in local publications. “When I came on board, there were no people of color and few women in a management position,” Houston said. “I was the first African American in a management position 28
in the Tournament’s then 102-year history. They lacked diversity and it was a matter of people not embracing the change.” Houston quickly became an advocate for such change, continuously fighting for diversity both where gender and ethnicity were concerned. Then Los Angeles city attorney and fellow Pepperdine alumnus James Hahn (’72, JD ’75) noticed her efforts and asked Houston if she would be interested in joining his team in the City Attorney’s Office in downtown Los Angeles. “He knew me from awards I received from his dad,” Houston said, noting that she was a recipient of the Kenneth Hahn Award for Community Service as a senior in high school. “I always admired his work, his family. But the job was in the Criminal Division—where everyone started at the time—and I didn’t have any interest in that.” Houston did, however, accept the position, and trained for six weeks in the Criminal Division. On her first day as a central trials deputy, Houston stood in “the pit” in front of her then supervisor, Bernie Brown. She was among several other attorneys who were waiting for an assignment. Houston vividly remembers Brown looking directly at her, assigning her to the first case. It was the beginning of a year working on various cases, including within the arraignment court. “I came to love working in the Criminal Division,” Houston said. “After a year, there was an opening in the Labor Division. It was where I wanted to be originally, but now I didn’t want to leave.” But she did end up securing the position in 1994. By 2001, Houston became the managing attorney for the Labor Relations Division.
“FIRST DO RIGHT YOURSELF” Houston remained deputy city attorney
“The museum serves as a vault for the history of African Americans nationally,”
in the Labor Relations Division for nearly
Houston said. “To be a part of a vehicle
15 years before taking on her current role
that enables this kind of preservation of
as senior assistant city attorney for the
history and culture is extraordinary.” It is ironic to Houston that her initial interest in becoming a legal correspondent led her to a love for her work with the City Attorney’s Office. “One thing my grandmother used to always say was ‘first do right yourself,’” Houston noted. “I feel like our work in labor relations is a matter of doing right by the people. I’ve learned that it’s not my job to be political. It’s my job to give advice, even if it’s not popular.”
division–a position she’s held for the last four years. She has remained steadfast in her commitment to fairness and equality— a commitment that led to her to be recognized by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors at the 28th annual Women of the Year luncheon, as well as her 2012 appointment by governor Jerry Brown to the California African American Museum Board.
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I feel like our work in labor relations is a matter of doing right by the people. I’ve learned that it’s not my job to be political. It’s my job to give advice, even if it’s not popular. L AW. P E P P E R D I N E . E D U
THE CULTURE CRUSADER Rec ent a lu m nu s E d wa rd L e e i s a lea d er i n the As i a n Pa c i f i c Am eri c a n c om m uni ty a t Pep p erd i ne a nd b ey ond . By Gareen Darakjian
Just five years ago School of Law alumnus Edward Lee (JD ’13) was a public health graduate student at UCLA, hoping to enter the medical field after watching his mother struggle with an illness in his youth. “I wanted to be a doctor,” says Lee. “That’s what I saw as a means to help people.”
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fter graduating with a master of public health in epidemiology in 2009, Lee sought to harness his analytical knowledge and background in science in a way that would help him seek justice. “I wanted to find a way to represent underprivileged groups, especially ethnic minorities, and give voices to those who might not have many opportunities to express themselves.” Lee applied to law school with plans to shift gears and come to people’s aid in a different way than he had once imagined. At Pepperdine he found that he could do that in two ways: the first, as a student preparing for a career in intellectual property, focusing on drug patent laws and the incentives that are created by policy; the second, as a leader on campus promoting unity within the Asian Pacific American (APA) community. “There were quite a few APA students at Pepperdine, but I didn’t find a cohesive sense of community among them,” he recalls. In his second year at the School of Law, as a member of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) board, Lee worked with thenpresident Marilyn Kim (JD ’13) to create a more unified and larger presence on campus. Becoming more involved with the Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Lee was intent on bringing more awareness to such issues and being an advocate for Pepperdine’s part in the APA community. “I was lucky that she made a big push to reach out to not only the students on campus, but also the Greater Los Angeles community not only for the sake of networking, but also to create a community that wasn’t there.” When it came time to elect the next president, Lee was front and center, eager to continue the legacy in his final year as a student. He and the members of the board got started tackling major topics, such as minority issues and breaking through the glass ceiling—matters of great importance to the APA community. “I found that a lot of APA students experience similar setbacks and, while it’s important to simply have a voice in the student body, it is
imperative to recognize that we have a unique political identity that’s very distinct from what others may be familiar with.” In his undergraduate career at Pomona College, Lee acted as head mentor for the Asian American Mentor Program, an organization aimed at developing Asian American leaders. Becoming more involved with the APA Bar Association as a law student, Lee was intent on bringing added awareness to such issues and being an advocate for Pepperdine’s part in the APA community. “Regardless of people’s political beliefs or what they support, I always advocate diversity of opinions and people. I do believe we can
Regardless of people’s political beliefs or what they support,
diverse,” he enthuses. “It was something I wanted, but never expected. The fact that our active student membership, and the people who are paying dues, is composed not only of people who self-identify with APA only creates a better sense of community.” Lee was recently recognized by the National Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (NAPALSA) and won the Student of the Year Award, an honor that recognizes exceptional student members demonstrating a commitment to the organization’s mission, service to his/her local APALSA organization, and the promotion of Asian Pacific Americans in the legal profession. “I didn’t think that what I was doing should be ‘recognized,’” explains Lee. “It was an odd feeling for me, but at the same time I understood its importance, because we do want to get our name out there, not only locally, but also nationally. It was important not only for APALSA to be recognized, but also Pepperdine.” Perhaps the only downside to Lee’s hard work throughout the past three years is that, as an exclusively student-run organization, APALSA must carry on without him now that he has graduated. “There wasn’t enough time to do everything I wanted to do with APALSA, like create bridges between our and other organizations. It’s one of the saddest things I feel about my time at law school!” Based on his successful history revitalizing the APA community at Pepperdine and making a name for the organization in Southern California, Lee plans to find more ways to stay connected to his roots and his mission to further the APA cause. “I can’t give you reasons why I do them, I just know why they need to be done. If you told me I couldn’t do it, I would still do everything I could to do the things I’ve done with APALSA.”
I always advocate diversity of opinions and people. I do believe we can have civil discourse and engagement with regard to these things and make progress on these serious and important issues of our day. have civil discourse and engagement with regard to these things and make progress on these serious and important issues of our day.” Beyond exclusively serving the APA community, one of Lee’s most ambitious goals as president of the APALSA had been to encourage and nurture the presence and participation of non-APA students in the organization. “If there’s something I’m most proud of as president is that our membership is incredibly 31
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Pepperdine School of Law Hosts
THE
40
th
ANNUAL LAW DINNER
MICHAEL BIDART
THE PEPPERDINE SCHOOL OF LAW HOSTED THE 40TH ANNUAL LAW DINNER ON FEBRUARY 23 AT THE BEVERLY HILTON INTERNATIONAL BALLROOM. The black-tie optional event welcomed more than 700 guests, and featured a fireside chat with a panel of School of Law alumni whose journeys and values epitomize the unique contribution that the school has made to the legal field. The alumni panel included Michael J. Bidart (JD ’74), senior and managing partner, Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP; Stephen M. Shefsky (JD ’82), president and CEO, Cancap Investments, Ltd.; the Honorable Tricia A. Bigelow (JD ’86), presiding justice, California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Eight; Richard Cho (JD ’97), general manager, Charlotte Bobcats; and Brittney M. Lane (JD ’12), judicial clerk to the Honorable Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain. There was a special performance by George D. Rowe (JD ’95), songwriter and recording artist, Front Rowe
RICHARD CHO
Entertainment, as well as additional musical entertainment from the Bernie James Jazz Septet. “On behalf of all legal education, I ask you to be spokespersons for the next generation of lawyers and judges who will lead our children and grandchildren into yet a more civilized society,” said School of Law dean Deanell Reece Tacha. She followed her challenge by recognizing the Pepperdine School of Law faculty, acknowledging their contributions to legal education and their “brilliant” contributions to the Pepperdine community. The alumni panel discussion included an array of topics that ranged from the participants’ experiences both as law students and more recently as professionals. Bidart reflected on his time at the School of Law’s original Santa Ana campus, touching on his upbringing on a dairy farm in Chino, California. “This was an exciting time for a farm kid from Chino,” Bidart said. “I will never forget it.”
BRITTNEY LANE
LANE, WHO CAME TO PEPPERDINE AFTER GRADUATING FROM HARVARD UNIVERSITY WITH A 4.0 GPA, DESCRIBED WHY SHE CHOSE PEPPERDINE. “There were two things that I found missing from my education as an undergraduate at Harvard,” Lane said. “It was a fantastic place, and it’s opened a lot of doors for me. But I found that my faith and a sense of community were not there when I was at Harvard. If I was going to go into law, I wanted my faith to be part of my education. I wanted the community to be part of my education.”
BERNIE JAMES JAZZ SEPTET
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TRICIA BIGELOW
THE HONORABLE TRICIA BIGELOW SPOKE ABOUT HER TIME AS A JUDGE.
PRIOR TO THE DINNER, STUDENTS AND ALUMNI GATHERED ON THE MALIBU CAMPUS FOR THE FINAL ROUND OF THE DALSIMER MOOT COURT COMPETITION.
“I’ve been really blessed to be on the bench for the last 17 years,” she said. “It’s never a dull moment, and it’s really better than L.A. Law or any other soap opera you can imagine. I’ve been there when victims of sexual assault recount their experiences. Families of murder victims experience what it’s like to have lost someone. I had the privilege of being able to shape the law most recently in my experience in the Court of Appeal. It’s a pleasure and a privilege and a job that I only hope that I measure up to.” Dean Tacha reflected on the evening saying, “The School of Law Dinner is a highlight of the academic year for our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends. This year’s dinner was especially meaningful because it featured so many of our alumni and students who are making extraordinary contributions to the law and the legal profession.”
“The final round of the Dalsimer Competition was, for the first time, judged by three Pepperdine Law alumni who hold high judicial office,” said Dean Tacha. “We are so proud of the achievements of our alumni, students, faculty, and staff.”
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FACULTY ESSAY
MUTUAL FUND PERFORMANCE ADVERTISEMENTS:
BY AHMED TAHA, PROFESSOR OF LAW
M
utual funds are a cornerstone of our national savings and retirement systems. There are over 8,000 mutual funds in the United States, holding a total of more than $13 trillion in assets. Mutual fund ownership is widespread, with 44 percent of U.S. households owning mutual funds, because mutual funds are a primary way that Americans save for retirement. Fiftyone percent of individual retirement account (IRA) and defined-contribution retirement plan assets (such as 401(k) plans) are invested in mutual funds. Consistent with the long-term investment horizon of many fund investors, almost half of investors’ mutual fund holdings are in equity funds, i.e, funds that invest in stocks. The portfolios of equity funds are either passively or actively managed. Passively managed funds typically are index funds, managed to track the returns of a specified market index, such as the S&P 500 Index. Most equity funds, however, are actively managed in an attempt to beat the market (or a specified benchmark) by superior stock picking, market timing, or both. Actively managed funds typically engage in more research and trading activities than do index funds, and thus generally have higher costs. With the job of deciding how to allocate money among different mutual funds falling mostly on individual investors, our nation’s financial well-being depends upon investors making wise fund choices. An extensive body of research has examined how investors choose among the vast number of funds P E P P E R D I N E L AW
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available to them. Unfortunately, these studies paint a disturbing portrait of the typical mutual fund investor. In general, the studies have found that most fund investors are uninformed and financially unsophisticated— unaware of the investment objectives, composition, risks, and fees and expenses of their funds. Investors, however, pay great attention to funds’ historical returns. Indeed, studies have found that this might be the most important factor to the typical investor choosing among funds. Unfortunately, studies of actively managed equity funds have also found little evidence that strong past returns predict strong future returns. Chasing performance is a fool’s game. Why do high past returns generally fail to predict high future returns? A primary reason is that luck is a major factor in a fund’s returns. A fund that markedly outperforms its peers during a particular time period generally does so because of luck, not because of its manager’s stock-picking skill. This luck, however, usually does not persist. Nonetheless, mutual fund companies routinely advertise the returns of only their high-performing equity funds. This selective advertising misleads investors by obscuring the role of luck in past returns. A company operating many funds will generally have some funds perform well simply because of luck. However, because investors only see advertising of the returns of the company’s high-performing funds, they are more likely to attribute the high returns to the fund managers’ skill rather than luck and thus mistakenly believe that the returns are likely to continue.
FUNDAMENTALLY MISLEADING?
Fund companies advertise their high-performing funds because these ads exploit and encourage investors’ tendency to chase funds with high past returns. Performance ads attract returns-chasing investors and thus increase the asset-based fund management fees that the fund companies earn. Performance ads, however, do not benefit investors; advertised high-performing funds generally do not continue to outperform other funds. The timing of performance advertisements also harms investors. Fund companies use performance advertisements much more often during stock market upswings than downswings, because they have higher returns to advertise when the stock market has been performing well. This phenomenon is very important. It means that the timing of performance ads encourages investors to make a major investing mistake: poor asset allocation. Performance ads prompt investors to buy equity funds primarily when recent stock returns have been high. This is the opposite of what investors should do. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recognized the troubling tendency of fund investors to chase past returns. SEC rules specify how funds may calculate and present past performance in their ads. The rules also require that performance ads include a warning disclosing: “that past performance does not guarantee future results; that the investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost; and that current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted.” At first glance, one might expect this SEC-mandated warning to temper investors’ focus on past performance. The effectiveness of performance ads in attracting investors’ money, however, suggests otherwise. Other evidence also indicates that the SEC’s warning falls on deaf ears. A recent study that I conducted with two colleagues found that investors who receive the SEC’s warning are as likely to invest in a fund advertising high past returns—and have the same expectations regarding the fund’s future returns—as are investors who receive no warning at all. The SEC-mandated warning likely fails, at least in part, because it is so weak. In our study, we found that 35
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FACULTY ESSAY
The current regulation of mutual fund performance ads is inadequate. Performance ads, as currently regulated, are inherently and materially misleading.
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participants who were less likely to believe that the advertised fund’s past performance was a good predictor of its future performance were also less willing to invest in the advertised fund. The SEC-mandated warning, however, fails to convey that strong past performance is a not a good predictor of strong future performance. Instead, it merely informs investors that past performance does not “guarantee” future results, that returns vary, and that investors in the fund might actually lose money. It is unlikely that many investors do not know that an equity fund’s returns are not guaranteed, can vary over time, and may be negative. The fall in stock prices after the dot-com bubble burst and during the recent financial crisis have made clear to investors that the stock market is volatile and subject to dramatic declines. In fact, the SEC’s warning that past performance does not “guarantee” future results can even be read as implying that high past returns are a good predictor of high future returns, just not a guarantee of them. The current regulation of mutual fund performance ads is inadequate. Performance ads, as currently regulated, are inherently and materially misleading. Past returns in performance ads, although factually accurate, mislead investors because they falsely imply that these high past returns are good predictors of high future returns. In many performance ads, this implication is not subtle. For example, performance ads with headlines touting the advertised fund’s “proven” performance can only be understood as saying that such past performance predicts likely future performance. However, even performance ads that lack such text are misleading. By their very nature, performance ads inherently imply that high returns will likely persist. The only conceivable purpose of performance ads is to convince
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investors that a particular fund that has performed well in the past is likely to continue to do so in the future. Indeed, an ad that touts a fund’s low past returns seems unimaginable. By implying that strong past performance is likely to continue—the clear inference of reasonable investors—mutual fund companies use performance ads to engage in what can be described only as a form of securities deception. What can be done about performance ads? The SEC should at least strengthen its required warning. The current warning does not adequately convey that high past returns poorly predict high future returns. In contrast, our study found evidence that investors might significantly temper their performance expectations if performance ads contained a warning that strong past performance generally results from luck and thus should not be expected to continue in the future. However, given the inherently misleading nature of fund performance ads—and the difficulty of getting investors to actually read a warning in an advertisement—stronger action might be necessary. In particular, the SEC should seriously consider prohibiting equity fund performance advertising altogether. This prohibition would encourage investors to instead focus on more important fund characteristics such as the fund’s costs, the asset classes in which the fund invests, and the extent to which the fund’s investment objective and risk matches the investment objective and risk tolerance of the investor.
This article is adapted from Professor Taha and Professor Alan Palmiter’s article, “Mutual Fund Performance Advertising: Inherently and Materially Misleading,” Georgia Law Review (2012). That article has been selected to be reprinted in the 2013 edition of the Securities Law Review.
FACULTY ESSAY
TOMORROW’S LAWYERING BY ROBERT ANDERSON, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LAW THE PROBLEMS OF TODAY The market for legal services is changing rapidly. The economic upheaval of the last several years has confronted law firms with challenges they have not faced before. Increasingly, business clients resist traditional hourly billing in favor of fixed fees, capped fees, or other alternative fee arrangements. The client pressure to cut costs is challenging law firm economic models, naturally leading to speculation about what the problems of today portend for the lawyers of tomorrow. One issue that has been central in the debate about the future of law firms is the role of technology in transforming legal practice. The push away from hourly rates and toward flat fees intensifies the efficiency imperative because technology is the primary untapped route to cutting costs. Those who write and consult on law firm economics are locked in a debate over whether the current challenges foreshadow irreversible and permanent change or are more of a cyclical downturn before a return to business as usual.
THE LAWYERS OF TOMORROW In reality, however, the economic crisis that began in 2008 did not create but only intensified the debate over whether drastic change is on the horizon for law firms. Richard Susskind, one of the most prominent international figures in the role of technology in legal practice, has written a series of books over the last couple of decades predicting and advocating radical changes in the way legal services are delivered. A flavor of the arguments is suggested by the titles of his books such as, The End of Lawyers, Transforming the Law, and The Future of Law.
In his latest book, Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future, Susskind takes his message directly to lawyers—specifically “young lawyers.” In this book, Susskind expresses frustration at the slowness of law firms to adopt new technologies. He argues that firms are in the grip of “irrational rejectionism” (p. 12), primarily because of “senior lawyers” who resist change. He portrays law firms as being “in denial” about the changes that are underway (p. 79), in part because the “elders” are “cautious, protective, conservative, if not reactionary” (p. 165).
WHY HAS LEGAL TECHNOLOGY FAILED? There is much about Susskind’s vision for the future of law practice that is right. The legal market has tremendous inefficiencies, many of which could be improved by technology. And much of that technology is not merely theoretical; it is available today. Thus, it seems likely that eventually technology is to play a central, even a transformative role in the changes in legal practice, so why not start the transformation today? Where Susskind goes wrong is in diagnosing the reasons for slow adoption of new technologies. The blame for slow adoption of legal technologies does not primarily belong to the lawyers, but to the technologies themselves. The reason that law firms do not chart a course today to a radically different future involving advanced technology is not rooted in conspiracies’ reactionary opposition to new technology. The answer is economics. The reason is that transitioning to new technologies involves considerable “switching costs” as economists call them. To the extent that new technologies must be compatible with existing technology and investments, costs are incurred. In law firms these costs are particularly high because those existing technology and investments are not machines that would be replaced anyway, but human capital and know-how that are very expensive to create and last many decades. As a result 37
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FACULTY ESSAY technology that works together with the existing assets in human capital will tend to have lower switching costs, but technologies require considerable investments in learning new practice methodologies and replacing existing human capital will tend to have high switching costs. The problem is that many of the technology tools that are offered to law firms tend to have exactly this problem—and therefore have high switching costs. They require extensive modification of existing practice and are fundamentally incompatible with existing ways of working. The reason is that these tools are often designed by nonlawyers, too far afield of how lawyers actually work to be useful without entirely retraining an expert workforce—a cost prohibitive proposition for a law firm in a competitive environment.
THE GAP BETWEEN PROMISE AND PRACTICE The clearest example of the gap between promise and practice in legal technology is in a product called “document assembly.” The premise underlying document assembly is that complex contracts could be created efficiently by checking boxes on a computer screen, rather than drafting from a precedent (the way most transactional lawyers draft today). The concept of document assembly is irresistibly appealing to the legal futurist, and indeed is the very first “disruptive legal technology” that Susskind mentions that will “transform the entire legal landscape” (pp. 40-41). The reality, however, is that document assembly has been around for decades, but has enjoyed only limited success in small pockets of highly routinized document creation. Why? Anyone who has attempted to draft a real document from a systematized model (or tried to create such a model) knows how costly it can be to create a document assembly system and how woefully inadequate they are in responding to non-standard situations. The switching cost is simply too high because an enormous front-end investment is required to create a system and retrain lawyers, largely because the system tries to override the lawyer’s expertise with routinization rather than leveraging that expertise. P E P P E R D I N E L AW
THE ELEMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL LEGAL TECHNOLOGY Does this mean that the legal industry is inherently resistant to disruptive technologies that will dramatically increase efficiency? Not at all. But it does mean that the path to a more efficient process for legal practice is through technologies that build on the lawyer’s expertise and practice, not those that attempt to supplant it. I argue that successful technology must have two characteristics. First, the technology must lower switching costs near zero. This is done by meeting the lawyers where they are, how they work, and taking them to where they need to go. Lawyers are not in the business of making massive gambles on one-time, front-end investments in technology. The successful technologies need to be “bridge technologies”—ones that make existing ways of practicing law more efficient in the short run, but transform practices dramatically in the long run. These are technologies that do not fall neatly into Susskind’s categories of “automating” or “innovating,” as they have elements of both. Bridge technologies automate today, but transform work habits in ways that make them truly revolutionary in the longer term. Second, the technology also needs to be capable of client “buy in.” No matter how immediately useful the technology there are always costs in learning new systems and adapting to new, more advanced ways of working. The firm that unilaterally moves to a new technology will incur costs that other firms do not, potentially creating a short-run disadvantage. The solution is client “buy in.” The client must be persuaded that the law firm can do “more for less” as Susskind puts the imperative. Law firms that can differentiate themselves by proving the technology to prospective clients are more likely to deploy that technology effectively. This means that effective technologies cannot be ones deployed invisibly behind the scenes in the back office. Clients need to see and buy into the technology if they are to agree to pass through the costs. 38
THE DISRUPTION IRONY The primary reason that technology has not advanced more rapidly in legal work, therefore, is that technology has failed to connect to law practice. Lawyers are willing to adopt technologies that increase efficiency now, even if those technologies incrementally lead to a very different law practice model in the future. What they are not willing to do is experiment at clients’ expense with unproven futuristic ideas. This means that the truly “disruptive legal technologies” that will change the way future lawyers work, ironically, are likely to be those that preserve continuity with the way current lawyers work. As a result, there will never be a single moment when all will transition to a new technology or face mass extinction. Instead, there will be a gradual evolution that will be guided by the bridge technologies of today. Susskind is right that purely “automating” technologies that speed up current tasks will not change the legal market much, but technologies that automate today and transform incrementally will. As a result, the route toward tomorrow’s lawyers will be charted by the technologies that create value for lawyers and their clients today, and the destination will be shaped by the bridge technologies that link the present to the future.
PEPPERDINE’S ROLE At Pepperdine School of Law, we are not bystanders in shaping tomorrow’s law practice. In addition to training students for law practices of the future, we are shaping what the future law practices will look like. One example is Exemplify, a legal technology venture that began as collaboration with one of my former students, Trent Wenzel (JD ’12, MBA ’12), in my office at the School of Law. We developed technology that dramatically increases the efficiency of document drafting and review in transactional legal practices. This technology is already deployed by some of the largest law firms in America, and is moving lawyers toward the practices of tomorrow by being useful today. The key to the technology’s success is that it is useful to transactional lawyers now, with no switching costs, because we designed
Does this mean that the legal industry is inherently resistant to disruptive technologies that will dramatically increase efficiency? Not at all. But it does mean that the path to a more efficient process for legal practice is through technologies that build on the lawyer’s expertise and practice, not those that attempt to supplant it.
the technology around transactional legal practice, rather than requiring that practice adapt to our technology. The continuity with practice is not the only key to the technology’s success, however. In keeping with the second requirement of client buy-in, we are finding partners in forward-thinking law firms around the country who are using the efficiency gains of new technology to attract clients. The best example here is Baker Donelson, a firm that takes the technology pitch to prospective clients, rather than hiding technology in the back office. Baker Donelson understood earlier than other law firms that clients yearn for law firms that will show how they are more efficient, rather than simply saying it. Thus, technology that proves its usefulness for the way law is practiced today is a differentiator for the firm, producing results for Exemplify and for the law firms deploying it.
CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITY There is little dissent from the proposition that we should be training the lawyers of tomorrow. But the most vocal critics of the lawyers of today are often short on specifics as to how the lawyers of tomorrow will be different. The reason for this is that nobody can accurately predict what law practice or legal technology will look like in two decades. This is why it is folly for law firms to make huge gambles on futuristic technologies that will pay off years down the road, because they are likely to get the details wrong at clients’ expense. The path forward is to create productive technologies that integrate with legal work as it is practiced now. Ironically, these “bridge technologies” that emphasize continuity hold the most promise to truly transform legal practice in the future. It is natural for legal technologists to think about “tomorrow’s lawyers,” but they will not have much impact if they do not address the needs of today’s lawyers. Today’s lawyers don’t have the luxury of thinking about tomorrow— they are just trying to get through the night. So although I agree with Susskind that disruptive technologies will transform the practice of law by the year 2020, those technologies will be built by people who understand law practice and build on that practice. At Pepperdine, we are already shaping tomorrow’s lawyers by understanding the needs of today’s lawyers.
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FACULTY ACTIVITIES
Selected Scholarly Publications and Presentations for 2013
ROBERT ANDERSON
PAUL L. CARON
Article
Articles
T he Merger Agreement Myth: An Empirical Assessment of the Market Value of Legal Terms, 98 Cornell L. Rev. 1143 (2013).
Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration, 40 Pepp. L. Rev. 1143 (2013). Occupy the Tax Code: Using the Estate Tax to Reduce Inequality and Spur Economic Growth (with James R. Repetti), 40 Pepp. L. Rev. 1255 (2013).
BABETTE BOLIEK Articles Antitrust, Regulation, and the New Rules of Sports Telecasts, Hastings L.J. (forthcoming 2013). Agencies in Crisis?: An Examination of State and Federal Agency Emergency Powers, 81 Fordham L. Rev. 6 (2013).
Book
Antitrust, Regulation, and the New Rules of Sports Telecasts, Speaker, Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Palm Beach, Florida (Aug. 2013).
Agencies in Crisis?: An Examination of State and Federal Agency Emergency Powers, Speaker, Michigan State University, Faculty Workshop (Mar. 2013).
T ransnational Law and Practice (with Michael D. Ramsey and Christopher A. Whytock) (Aspen Publishers, forthcoming 2014).
Book Chapter The Concept of Law in Transnational Dispute Resolution, in Legal Positivism in International Legal Theory (Mark E. Herlihy, ed., Cambridge University Press forthcoming 2014).
Articles Rethinking Legal Globalization: The Case of Transnational Personal Jurisdiction, 54 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1489 (2013). Erie's International Effect: A Reply, 108 Nw. L. Rev. Colloquy 1 (2013). Private International Law and Transnational Litigation, 61 Am. J. Comp. L. 461 (2013).
H. MITCHELL CALDWELL Book Criminal Pretrial Advocacy (with Adamson), Vandeplas Publishing (2013).
Does International Investment Law Need Administrative Law? 54 Harv. Int’l L.J. Online 115 (2013) (solicited review essay). Foreword: After Kiobel—International Human Rights Litigation in State Courts and Under State Law (with Michael D. Ramsey & Christopher A. Whytock), 3 UC Irvine L. Rev. 1 (2013).
Article The Prosecutor Prince: Misconduct, Accountability, and a Modest Proposal, 63 Catholic U. L. Rev. 1 (2013).
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The Brave New World of Transnational Litigation, Speaker, University of Richmond School of Law (Feb. 2013).
Keynote Address: Occupy the Tax Code: Using the Estate Tax to Reduce Inequality and Spur Economic Growth, Speaker, University of Southern California Gould School of Law Tax Institute (Jan. 30, 2013).
DONALD EARL CHILDRESS III
Antitrust, Regulation, and the Law of National and Local Sports Broadcasting, Speaker, Pepperdine Law Review Sports Symposium, Malibu, California (Apr. 2013).
Escaping Federal Law, Speaker, Notre Dame Law School (Feb. 2013).
Presentation
Presentations
Public Utility Regulation in Wireless: A Failed Experiment, Speaker, Information Economy Project Conference, From Monopoly to Competition or Competition to Monopoly? U.S. Broadband Markets in 2013, George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, Virginia (Apr. 2013).
Personal Jurisdiction and Choice of Law After Nicastro, Speaker, Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Palm Beach, Florida (July 2013).
Presentations Transnational Litigation and Private International Law, Speaker, Journal of Private International Law Biannual Conference, University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain (Sept. 2013).
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ROBERT F. COCHRAN, JR. Articles Louis D. Brandeis and the Lawyer Advocacy System, 40 Pepp. L. Rev. 351 (2013). Symposium Introduction: The Competing Claims of Law and Religion: Who Should Influence Whom? (with Michael Helfand), 39 Pepp. L. Rev. 1051- 1064 (2013) (served as symposium co-organizer). Which Client-Centered Counselors?: A Reply to Professor Freedman, 40 Hofstra L. Rev. 355-66 (2012) (responding to Monroe Freedman’s critique of my client counseling theory).
Presentations The Bible and the Law, Christian Legal Theory Symposium, Speaker, Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Atlanta, Georgia (Mar. 22, 2013). Louis Brandeis: Law Clerk, Lawyer, Professor, and Supreme Court Justice, Speaker, Byrne Judicial Clerkship Institute, Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu, California (Mar. 15, 2013). Jesus and the Civil Law, Speaker, BYU Law and Religion Colloquium, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (Mar. 14, 2013).
RICHARD L. CUPP, JR. Article Children, Chimps, and Rights Arguments from 'Marginal' Cases, 45 Ariz. St. L.J. 1 (2013).
Presentation Address on the Debate Between Animal Rights and Animal Welfare in the United States, Speaker, Second International Transdiciplinary Congress on Fauna Protection, Goiania, Brazil (Apr. 25, 2013).
CHRISTINE C. GOODMAN Articles When Privacy Is Not an Option: Codifying the Contours of Necessary Third Parties in Emergency Medical Situations, 63 Syracuse L. Rev. 400 (2013). A Teacher Who Looks Like Me, St. John’s J. of Civ. Rts. & Econ. Dev. (Diversity Issue) (forthcoming 2013).
MICHAEL A. HELFAND
DOUGLAS W. KMIEC
Articles
Book
A Liberalism of Sincerity: Religion's Role in the Public Square, 1 J. L. Religion & State 217 (2013). Purpose, Precedent, and Politics: Why Concepcion Covers Less than You Think, 4 YB. Arb. & Mediation 126 (2013). What Is a “Church”?: Implied Consent and the Contraception Mandate, 21 J. Contemp. Legal Issues (forthcoming 2013). Litigating Religion, 92 B.U. L. Rev. 493 (2013) (selected for presentation at the Stanford/Yale/ Harvard Junior Faculty Forum). Religion’s Footnote Four: Church Autonomy as Arbitration, 97 Minn. L. Rev. 1891 (2013).
Kmiec and his daughter Katherine Kmiec Turner (Class of 2007) coauthored the two-volume treatise Zoning and Land-Use Deskbook (West 2013).
Presentations Address on Interfaith Diplomacy and Understanding of Abrahamic Tradition, Speaker, American Jewish University (Feb. 2013). University of Southern California Institute for Advanced Catholics Studies invited Kmiec to participate with the outgoing ambassador of the Holy See to speculate on foreign diplomacy, as well as the election of the new pope, at the California Club in February.
Religious Legal Theory Symposium Introduction (with Robert Cochran), 39 Pepp. L. Rev. 1051 (2013).
NAOMI H. GOODNO Book Chapter The Hague Convention: The Hope of the Future or a Free-Ride for Child Traffickers?, in Intercountry Adoptions (Robert Cochran, Bert Ballard & Naomi Goodno eds., Cambridge Scholarly Publishing, forthcoming 2014).
Article
Article Presentations Peaceful Coexistence? Reconciling NonDiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties, Speaker, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (Mar. 2013). Between Law and Religion: Procedural Challenges to Religious Arbitration Awards, Presenter, Conference on Sharia and Halakhah in America, University of Illinois at Chicago (Apr. 2013).
When the Commerce Clause Goes International: A Proposed Legal Framework for the Foreign Commerce Clause, 66 Fla. L. Rev. 1190 (2013).
KHRISTA JOHNSON Article T he Charitable Deduction Games: Are the Laws in Your Favor?, 5 Colum. J. Tax. Law __ (forthcoming 2013).
DAVID HAN Articles T he Mechanics of First Amendment Audience Analysis, 55 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2014). Autobiographical Lies and the First Amendment’s Protection of Self-Defining Speech, 87 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 70 (2012), reprinted in The First Amendment Law Handbook (Rodney A. Smolla, ed., West 2012-13).
KRISTINE S. KNAPLUND Baby Without a Country: Determining Citizenship for Assisted-Reproduction Children Born Overseas, 91 U. Denv. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2013).
Presentations Who Is My Mother? A Proposal to Amend U.S. Citizenship Rules for Children Born Overseas, Speaker, University of Wisconsin Law School, Sixth Annual Midwest Family Law Consortium Workshop (Apr. 2013). Genetic Material in Your Estate Plan, Speaker, San Francisco Estate Planning Council and Golden Gate Law School Seminar Planning with and for Unusual Assets, San Francisco, California (Nov. 2013).
Presentations
EDWARD J. LARSON
Junior Tax Scholars’ Workshop, Presenter, University of Miami School of Law (May 2013). Business/International Tax Panel, Moderator, Pepperdine Law Review Tax Symposium, Malibu, California (Jan. 18, 2013). Leading Paper for International Tax Research Symposium, Presenter, 66th Congress of the International Fiscal Association, Boston, Massachusetts. Tax Policy Colloquium, Academic Presenter, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, California.
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Books Creationism in the Classroom: Cases, Statutes, and Commentary (West 2013). Property: Cases and Materials (with James Smith et al) (Wolter-Kluwer 3d ed. 2013).
Article Teaching Creation, Evolution, and the New Atheism in 21st-Century America: Window on an Evolving Establishment Clause, 82 Miss. L.J. 997 (2013).
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FACULTY ACTIVITIES Presentation George Washington and the Constitution, Speaker, Mount Vernon Symposium, Reagan Library (Feb. 28, 2013).
Other Activities Larson was selected as the inaugural Fellow for the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, Mount Vernon, Virginia, 2013-2014.
BARRY McDONALD Book The American Constitution: Original Understandings and Judicial Interpretation (West forthcoming 2014).
Article Regulating Student Cyberspeech, 77 Mo. L. Rev. 728 (2013).
Presentations The First Amendment and Student Speech, Speaker, Conference, University of MissouriKansas City School of Law (October 2012). The Landscape of Constitutional Law in Light of the 2012 Elections, Speaker, Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (Aug. 2013). Do Theories of Constitutional Interpretation Matter?, Panel Moderator, Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (Aug. 2013).
GREGORY S. McNEAL Book Chapter New Approaches to Reducing and Mitigating Harm to Civilians, in Counterinsurgency Law 127 (William C. Banks ed., Oxford University Press forthcoming 2013).
Articles Kill Lists and Accountability, 102 Geo. L.J. (forthcoming 2014).
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The Origins of National Security Expertise, 44 Conn. L. Rev 1585-1625 (2012).
Presentations Address on Surveillance by Law Enforcement Drones and Targeted Killings Under International Law, Speaker, Various Locations and Dates (Vanderbilt Law School, University of Colorado, Tulane Law School, Penn State Law, RutgersCamden Law School, Seton Hall Law School, Cardozo Law School, George Mason Law School, Arizona State Law School, University of Oklahoma Law School, Villanova Law School, Temple Law School, University of San Diego Law School, University of Washington Law School, and Seattle University Law School). Presenter, Federalist Society’s Junior Scholars Workshop (June 8, 2013). Presenter, Hamilton Society’s Summer Leadership Conference (June 15, 2013). The Law of Cyberwarfare: Can the Current Legal Regime Hack It?, Panelist, American University (Nov. 8, 2013). International Organizations and the Use of Force, Panelist, American Branch of the International Law Association (Oct. 7, 2013).
DEREK T. MULLER Articles How the Court Fulfilled Its NAMUDNO Promise in Shelby County v. Holder, Election L.J. (forthcoming) (invited submission). Federal Power over Elections After Shelby County v. Holder and Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council, Charleston L. Rev. (forthcoming) (invited submission). Invisible Federalism and the Electoral College, 44 Ariz. St. L.J. 1237 (2012).
GRANT S. NELSON Book Contemporary Property (with D. Whitman, C. Medill, and S. Saxer) (West 4th ed. 2013).
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Articles Strategic Defaulters Versus the Federal Taxpayer: A Brief for the Preemption of State Anti-Deficiency Law for Residential Mortgages (with Gabriel Serbulea), 66 Ark. L. Rev. 65 (2013). Forty-Five Years as a Remedies Teacher: A Retrospective, 57 St. Louis U. L.J. 751 (2013).
Presentation The Problem of Strategic Mortgage Default, Presenter, University of Arkansas School of Law Symposium on the Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis (Nov. 9, 2012).
GREGORY L. OGDEN Book Updates February and August 2013 Updates to California Public Administrative Law (Matthew, Bender & Co. 2013). 1997 revision author; two volumes, Volume 41, Chapters 470 to 472B, and Volume 41A, Chapters 473 to 474C, part of the multiple-volume California Forms of Pleading and Practice Set (July 1997) (2 updates per year).
BRITTANY STRINGFELLOW OTEY Article Millennials, Technology, and Professional Responsibility: Training a New Generation in Technological Professionalism, 37 J. Legal Prof. 199 (2013).
RICHARD M. PETERSON Article Caught in the Cross-Fire—The Psychological and Emotional Impact of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) upon Teachers of Children with Disabilities: A Therapeutic Jurisprudence Analysis, 33 Pace L. Rev. (forthcoming 2013).
ROBERT J. PUSHAW, JR. Articles Fortuity and the Article III “Case”: A Critique of Fletcher’s The Structure of Standing, 64 Ala. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2013). The Paradox of the Obamacare Decision: How Can the Federal Government Have Limited Unlimited Power?, 65 Fla. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2013). The Likely Impact of National Federation on Commerce Clause Jurisprudence, 40 Pepp. L. Rev. 975-1000 (2013) (coauthored with Grant S. Nelson).
Judicial State Action: Shelley v. Kraemer, State Action, and Judicial Takings (Symposium), 21 Widener L.J. 847 (2012).
Presentations Moderator, Public Land Development Corporation and Property Rights in Hawaii, at University of Hawaii Richardson School of Law (Feb. 2013). Moderator, AALS 2013 Joint Program of the Property Section and Natural Resources and Energy Law Section (Jan. 2013).
VICTORIA SCHWARTZ
Obamacare and the Original Meaning of the Commerce Clause: Identifying Historical Limits on Congress’s Powers, 2012 U. Ill. L. Rev. 1703-1754.
Presentations Symposium: The Structure of Standing at 25, Panelist, University of Alabama School of Law (Feb. 22, 2013).
Articles Disclosing Corporate Disclosure Policies, 40 Florida St. U. L. Rev. 487 (2013).
Article An Empirical Study of Settlement Conference Nuts and Bolts: Settlement Judges Facilitating Communication, Compromise, and Fear, 17 Harv. Negot. L. Rev. 97 (2013).
Books Environmental Sustainability: Law and Policy (with Craig “Tony” Arnold, Hari Osofsky & Dan Tarlock) (Aspen forthcoming 2014). Contemporary Property (with C. Medill, G. Nelson & D. Whitman) (4th ed. 2013).
Articles A Prospective Look at Property Rights (with Carol M. Rose), 20 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 721 (2013).
DEANELL REECE TACHA Articles No Law Student Left Behind, 24 Stan. L. & Pol’y Rev. 353 (2013). The Lawyer of the Future, 40 Pepp. L. Rev. 337 (2013).
AHMED TAHA THOMAS J. STIPANOWICH Articles Living with "ADR": Evolving Perceptions and Use of Mediation, Arbitration, and Conflict Management in Fortune 1,000 Corporations (with J. Ryan Lamare), Harv. Negot. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2013). In Quest of the Arbitration Trifecta, or ClosedDoor Litigation?: The Delaware Arbitration Program, 6 Pepp J. Bus. Entrepreneurship & L. 102 (2013) (lead article; published in Symposium on the Delaware Arbitration Program).
Presentations
SHELLEY ROSS SAXER
Symposium: Delaware’s “Closed-Door” Arbitration Program, Moderator, Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship, and the Law, Pepperdine School of Law (Oct. 30, 2012).
Title VII: A Shift from Sex to Relationships, 35 Harvard J.L. & Gender 209 (2012).
Limited Federal Power and the Commerce Clause, Panelist, Cosponsored by the Templeton Foundation and the Federalist Society, Las Vegas, Nevada. (Jan. 25-26, 2013).
PETER ROBINSON
Opportunities for Growth with Business Arbitration, Moderator and Speaker, in Symposium “Business Arbitration: Redefining the Landscape of Efficient Business Practices,” Journal of Business & Technology Law and C-DRUM, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Baltimore, Maryland (Nov. 2, 2012).
Olivia de Havilland v. Warner Bros. Pictures: Changing the Landscape of Hollywood Contracts, Presenter, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University (May 7, 2013). Lincoln’s Lessons for Lawyers, Presenter, Mark and Kathy Travis Dispute Resolution Endowment Inaugural Lecture, University of Tennessee College of Law Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution, Knoxville, Tennessee (Apr. 18, 2013). Gateway Issues in International Arbitration, Conference Cochair and Panel Moderator, 10th Annual Conference of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration/American Society of International Law, Washington, D.C. (Apr. 3, 2013).
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Articles Sending Mixed Messages: Investor Interpretations of Disclosures of Analyst Stock Ownership?, 19 Psychol. Pub. Pol’y & L. (forthcoming 2013) (peer-reviewed). Mutual Fund Performance Advertising: Inherently and Materially Misleading? (with Alan Palmiter), 46 Ga. L. Rev. 289 (2012). Are College Athletes Economically Exploited?, 2 Wake Forest J. L. & Pol’y 69 (2012) (invited symposium article).
MAUREEN A. WESTON Articles The Accidental Preemption Statute: The Federal Arbitration Act and Displacement of Agency Regulation, 6 Penn St. Y.B. On Arb. & Mediation 59 (2013). The Public Costs of Private Judging, (Springer Publications) (Univ. of Nebraska Law-Lincoln, Conference on Justice, Conflict, and Well-Being 2013).
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FACULTY ACTIVITIES OTHER FACULTY ACTIVITIES JEFFREY BAKER Essentialism and the Pedagogy of Professionalism, Workshop on Helping Each Student Internalize the Core Values and Ideals of the Profession, Presenter, Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions, University of St. Thomas School of Law, Minneapolis, Minnesota (July 2013). The Ministry of Litigation: The Virtue and Pedagogy of Dignity, Justice, and Love in Professional Education, Concurrent Session, Convenor and Presenter (with Tim Hall, Yoli Redero, and Al Sturgeon), Christian Scholars Conference, David Lipscomb University (June 2013). Cross-Fertilization Comes in Many Colors: Diverse Clinical Strategies to Address Family Violence, Concurrent Session, AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education, Presenter (with Jill Engle and Mary Lynch), San Juan, Puerto Rico (Apr. 2013).
PAUL L. CARON For the seventh year in a row, Accounting Today named Caron one of the 100 Most Influential People in Tax and Accounting. For the fifth year in a row, the ABA Journal named his TaxProf Blog one of the 100 best law blogs (out of 3,600 law blogs).
CAROL CHASE In June 2013 Chase traveled to Uganda, with professor Jim Gash and Nootbaar Fellow David Nary, on a pilot project to introduce plea bargaining into the Ugandan adult criminal justice system. American lawyers, Pepperdine law students, Ugandan criminal defense attorneys, and Ugandan law students prepared 50 cases on 76 prisoners on remand for plea bargaining. Chase also facilitated pleabargain discussions for several cases, with the expectation that the remaining cases would be plea bargained in coming weeks. She continues to work with members of the Ugandan judiciary and others on the format and rules to implement the plea-bargaining process in Uganda at the national level.
JAMES ALLAN GASH Gash continues to serve as a specialist advisor to the High Court of Uganda and travels there frequently in conjunction with the juvenile justice reform measures he assisted the Ugandan judiciary with implementing during his six months in Uganda in 2012. Gash also became the first American to appear as an advocate before the Ugandan courts when he argued the appeal in March of 2013 on behalf of a juvenile previously convicted of murder.
CHRISTINE C. GOODMAN Learning to Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk: Words and Deeds to Reduce Implicit Bias in your Law Practice, Presenter, MCLE Presentation for Santa Barbara Women Lawyers (Oct. 27, 2012). Speech and Action: Words and Deeds to Reduce Implicit Bias in Law Practice, Copresenter, San Fernando Valley Bar Association’s 16th Annual MCLE Marathon (Jan. 18, 2013). In Your Skin II, Panelist, Convocation Presentation for Seaver College, Malibu, California (Feb. 20, 2013).
MIREILLE O. BUTLER & SELINA FARRELL My Lawyers Can’t Write! How to Set Up or Enhance a Writing Program for Summer and Junior Associates, Speakers, NALP Annual Education Conference, Tampa, Florida (Apr. 24, 2013).
BRUCE J. EINHORN
COLLEEN P. GRAFFY
Book Chapter
Articles
e Are All Children of Babel, W in The Other People (Meg Wilkes Karraker, ed., Palgrave MacMillan 2013).
How to Lose Friends, Citizens, and Influence, Wall Street Journal, July 17, 2013.
Presentations Presentations
H. MITCHELL CALDWELL C aldwell along with his dedicated co-coaches Terry Adamson, Chris Frost, Michael Crowe, and Naomi Goodno, continue to coach Pepperdine’s highly successful interschool trial teams.
Recent lectures at various locations on the impact of trauma and cultural differences to credibility assessment faced by asylum seekers in immigration proceedings in the west. Modern Slavery: The Trafficking of Women and Girls and their Possible Protection under AngloAmerican Asylum Regimes, Presenter, Third Annual International Human Rights Lectures, University of Oxford (2013).
Other Activities Einhorn’s work at the School of Law’s Asylum and Refugee Law Clinic won a major victory at the close of the spring 2013 semester in the case of Martin R., a Honduran national, who sought asylum in the U.S. from religious persecution in his home country.
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Diplomatic Engagement: On the Ground or in Cyberspace?, Speaker, Pacific Council on International Policy, Los Angeles, California (Apr. 19, 2013). International Law Career Panel, Panelist, American Society of International Law (ASIL) – Loyola Law School Chapter, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, California (Mar. 21, 2013). Exit Time in Europe: Will the U.K. Go Its Own Way? and When China Sneezes: What China’s Leadership Transition Portends, Speaker, Presidents’ Day Renaissance Weekend, Santa Monica, California (Feb. 15 and 17, 2013). Soft Power: The Application of a Concept, Presenter, Royal United Services Institute, London, England (Nov. 21, 2012).
BBC Question Time, a Weekly Current Affairs TV Program, Panelist, with the Right Hon. David Miliband MP, former Foreign Secretary, London, England (Nov. 1, 2012). YouGov-Cambridge Forum, Presenter, University of Cambridge, England, with the Right Hon. Hugo Swire MP, Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Sept.13, 2012). The U.S. Presidential Election, Panelist, Harkness Fellows Association and Harvard Club, the Athenaeum Club, London, England (Oct.25, 2012).
Other Activities Graffy appears frequently on the Sunday political talk shows in Britain including BBC’s Andrew Marr Show and SKY TV’s Murnaghan. She is a regular commentator for the news in Britain including BBC Radio 4 Today, BBC Radio Two, BBC Worldservice TV & Radio, SKY TV, ITN, CBS, and CNN. Graffy will serve on the British-American Project Advisory Board and on the Next Generation Leaders Advisory Council of the McCain Institute for International Leadership. She is also one of the members of the bipartisan task force that has written a blueprint for a new national security strategy for the U.S. entitled “Setting Priorities for American Leadership” and launched by Project for a United and Strong America, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with the sole purpose of advancing America’s values and national security.
DOUGLAS W. KMIEC Presentation Luncheon Address in the Litigation Lunch Series, Speaker, Sidley & Austin, Los Angeles (2013).
Other Activities Kmiec continues to write for the Huffington Post and has published numerous columns on subjects ranging from the ambush at Benghazi, Libya to reform of education for the urban poor to prospects for peace in the urban nations. He continues to be a regular commentator for Bloomberg Radio News on Supreme Court issues, most recently commenting on the Court’s review of the doctrine of mootness as it related to an international child custody dispute. Kmiec’s new website, www. commongoodcommonground.com, contains recent commentaries, as well as reviews and materials on his recent books Lift Up Your Hearts and America Undecided, both available on Amazon. com.
KRISTINE S. KNAPLUND The A, B, C’s of Assisted Reproduction: A Review of Legal Issues Involving Assisted Reproduction, Speaker, National Association of Women Judges Annual Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana (Oct. 2013). Assisted Reproduction, Speaker, Washington State Bar Association Real Property, Probate and Trust Midyear Meeting, Pasco, Washington (June 2013). Who’s the Spouse and Who’s the Child: Impact on Estate Planning of New Developments in SameSex Relationships and Reproductive Science, Speaker, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel Annual Meeting, Maui, Hawaii (Mar. 2013). In November 2012, Knaplund was interviewed on The Today Show regarding a lawsuit filed by the University of Texas against Ryan O’Neal to assert ownership of an Andy Warhol painting of Farrah Fawcett.
McNeal has made multiple media appearances including NPR “How a Drone Court Might Work,” NPR “Writing the Rules for Domestic Drone Use,” NPR “Drones Drifting into Markets Outside Warzones,” NPR “Unmanned Vehicles Find New Uses,” Huffington Post Live “Drone Rules and Targeted Killing,” Huffington Post Live “Drone War Secrets Leak,” Huffington Post Live “Obama Would Write the Book on Drones.” He advised the Aerospace States Association and the Washington State Legislature on privacy issues related to domestic use of unmanned systems (drones). McNeal advised Senator Udall’s staff on privacy legislation related to unmanned aerial vehicles. He advised members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee (Senators Collins and Lieberman) on cyber-warfare legislation.
GREGORY L. OGDEN
GREGORY S. McNEAL
Presentation on Demeanor Evidence and Credibility Determinations for ALJs and on the 2012 Model State Administrative Procedure Act, Speaker, Arkansas NAALJ Affiliate and Arkansas DHS Continuing Legal Education Program (Feb. 2013).
Hearing on Drones and the Fourth Amendment, Testifier, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary (May 17, 2013).
Legal and Judicial Ethics for Lawyers and ALJs, Speaker, 2013 National Conference of Regulatory Attorneys Annual Meeting, in San Francisco, California (June, 2013).
Knaplund is now associate editor of the Journal of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.
Presentation, Panelist, Association of Unmanned Vehicles International, Unmanned Systems and Privacy (Aug. 13, 2013).
ROBERT POPOVICH
ICRC International Humanitarian Law Workshop, Presenter and Organizer, Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu, California (Jan. 11, 2013).
Federal Income Tax (Sum+Substance Exam Pro Series, 3d ed. forthcoming 2014).
Participant, New York Times’ Room for Debate, on February 5, 2013, on the topic “A President’s Duty, Not a Judge’s.” McNeal also served as a contributor to Forbes Online, writing a column about law and public policy, and as a guest contributor to the Lawfare blog. He is a member of the executive committee and treasurer/secretary of the International Law and Technology Interest Group, and was selected by ASIL to serve on leadership team as founding member of International Law and Technology Interest Group. He was also appointed as a member of the Technology Working Group.
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THOMAS J. STIPANOWICH Trends in the Corporate Use of ADR (discussing my Fortune 1,000 Survey and analysis), Keynoter and Panelist, Business Law Section, ABA Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California (Aug. 9, 2013). The Dealmaker’s Dozen: Negotiating Tips and Tactics and Tactics Lawyers Can Use Everyday; Lincoln’s Lessons for Lawyers; Rebels on the Lot: Negotiating and Resolving Conflict in the Golden Age of Hollywood, Presenter, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education (Aug. 5-6, 2013).
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FACULTY ACTIVITIES Telebriefing on U.S. Supreme Court Decision in American Express v. Italian Colors Restaurant (with Archis Parasharami of Mayer Brown and Deepak Gupta of Gupta Beck), Moderator, Law Seminars International (July 23, 2013). Negotiation Nuts and Bolts: Key Insights for Lawyer-Negotiators, Trainer, Annual Meeting of Chevron Litigation Counsel, San Ramon, California (July 18, 2013). Managing Business Disputes: The Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Business Disputes, Presenter, Henry Stewart Talks, London (web-based training program) (2013).
The Third Arbitration Trilogy Revisited: Federal and State Cases Following upon Stolt-Nielsen, Rent-A-Center, and Concepcion, Moderator and Speaker, CPR Annual Meeting, Torrey Pines, California (Jan. 2013), and College of Commercial Arbitrators Annual Meeting, New York New York (Oct. 26, 2012). Appointed to the Academic Counsel of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA) (2013). Ranked Martindale-Hubbell’s Highest (AV) Rating (2012, 2013) . Elected to Litigation Counsel of America.
Streamlining the Arbitration Process, Presenter, ABA Dispute Resolution Section Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois (Apr. 5, 2013). Teleseminar: How Business Clients View and Use ADR: Lessons and Cautions from the New Survey of Fortune 1,000 Corporate Counsel, Presenter, Association for Conflict Resolution Fortune 1,000 Corporate Counsel Survey (Mar. 5, 2013). Discourage Litigation: Lincoln’s Lessons for Lawyers, Speaker, Pepperdine School of Law President’s Day Speech (Feb. 18, 2013).
Named among Top-Rated Lawyers in Southern California (2012, 2013). Named among Top Construction Lawyers (2012). Appointed official representative/observer, American Bar Association, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Working Group III on Online Dispute Resolution (2012-2013).
A Conversation About Reconciliation, Forgiveness, and Healing: Lessons from South Africa, Moderator and Facilitator (Mar. 21, 2013).
PETER T. WENDEL Wendel is working with Robert Popovich on a casebook on California Wills, Trusts, and Estates. He is also continuing his work with helping nontraditional law students transition to law school. He has been invited by the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers to talk to students of color attending the four law schools in Minnesota. He has also been invited by the BLSA chapters at Harvard, Notre Dame, DePaul, George Washington, Detroit-Mercy, and the Nontraditional Law Students Association at UNLV to conduct his academic success workshop for their students as well.
MAUREEN A. WESTON Weston continues to serve as director of the Pepperdine School of Law Entertainment, Media, and Sports Dispute Resolution Project. She also serves as chair of the American Bar Association, Law School Division, Arbitration Competition; and Secretary, AALS, Sports Law Section.
This is a partial list. For more faculty writings visit:
lawmagazine.pepperdine.edu/facultywritings
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CLASS ACTIONS
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3
2
4
5
6
1973
1990
1996
RICHARD RABBIN published a book titled Divorce with Sanity.
KIMBERLY CARLTON BONNER was appointed by Florida governor Rick Scott to the bench of the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida on July 11, 2013. She previously served as a county court judge since 2002.
KEVIN BERG was named general counsel and executive vice president, business and legal affairs, at Village Roadshow.
1980 JEFFREY SHIELDS was named partner with Snell & Wilmer’s bankruptcy and reorganization practice group in the firm’s office in Salt Lake City, Utah. Chris’ practice is concentrated in bankruptcy, commercial litigation in bankruptcy-related matters, reorganization, lending, and banking.
1984 TALIS COLBERG (1) was appointed as the honorary consul for the Republic of Latvia in Alaska in March 2013.
1985 CANDACE CARLYON was named president-elect of the American Board of Certification in December 2012. The American Board of Certification is the premier legal specialty certification organization committed to certifying attorneys as specialists in business bankruptcy, consumer bankruptcy, and creditors’ rights law.
1986 DAVID FISHER joined Gray Duffy LLP as a partner in March 2013. The firm specializes in commercial litigation and insurance defense. JUNE MAGILNICK’s daughter, Emily Magilnick, was honored by the St. Baldrick’s Foundation as an ambassador in January. Emily was diagnosed with chondroblastic osteosarcoma, a bone tumor, in 2011. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising money to fund research to find cures for childhood cancers.
WILLIAM E. ADAMS has joined the San Francisco Commercial and Business Litigation Practice of Michelman & Robinson.
MICHELE MALIS (4) was appointed counsel with the national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP. She serves in the firm’s office in Chicago, Illinois, with the Trusts and Estates Practice Group.
1997
1991 JEFFREY BOYD (2) was appointed to the Supreme Court of Texas by governor Rick Perry in December 2012. COLONEL JAMES McGINLEY retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in April during an official ceremony in Washington, D.C. He was called to active duty during Operation Desert Storm before he returned to Pepperdine to complete his legal studies. He has also held a role with Hiepler & Hiepler.
1992 KATHERINE CABANISS was appointed by Texas governor Rick Perry as a judge with the 248th District Court in Harris County, Texas. JEFFREY CARPENTER was elected district attorney for Herkimer County, New York, in November 2012. He previously served as assistant district attorney, a role he held since 2002.
SHERRI MARTINELLI joined Green & Markley, PC in the firm’s office in Portland, Oregon. Her practice focuses on commercial litigation and commercial construction litigation. She is admitted to practice in Oregon and California.
1999 JEFFREY GEIDA was named shareholder of the Los Angeles-based firm Weinstock Manion in February 2013. ANDREW DUNBAR, a partner at Sidley Austin, was recently awarded the Elyse S. Kline Justice Award for Pro Bono Attorney of the Year, in recognition of his victory in a guardianship proceeding, which culminated in a bench trial with multiple witnesses in May. TOMAS KUEHN was promoted to vice president at ValleyCrest Companies LLC.
2000
1993 CHRIS CARLYLE (3) served as lead appellate counsel in the U.S. Supreme Court decision Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management, which resulted in a property-rights victory for his client. The Carlyle Appellate Law Firm has handled the appellate litigation in Florida for more than eight years.
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SIDNEY FOHRMAN (5) was appointed partner in Barnes & Thornburg LLP’s Los Angeles office. Sidney is a member of the firm’s corporate department and the Entertainment and Music Practice Group. DEAN ROCCO, formerly a partner with Jackson Lewis, has joined the Employment and Labor Practice of Wilson Elser. He is based in the firm’s Los Angeles office. L AW. P E P P E R D I N E . E D U
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2005
CAPRI MADDOX was named president of the Los Angeles City Board of Public Works.
AMY COTTON (5), an attorney with Quarles & Brady LLP’s Arizona office, was named to the 2013 Southwest Rising Stars in Health Care.
2002
CHRIS DEROSE has published his latest book, Congressman Lincoln, the first fully realized portrait of Abraham Lincoln’s ambitious and controversial early political career, and his surprising ascendancy that was both historic and far from inevitable.
SEBASTIAN E. LEE recently joined Lewis Brisbois in their downtown Los Angeles office. DAVID SCHAFFER (MBA ’01, JD ’02), a corporate partner with Wiggin & Dana LLP, led the formation of a China practice comprising a team of lawyers representing several of the firm’s practice groups.
2003 JON LAMBIRAS wrote an article titled “How a CFO Landed in Prison,” published in Fraud Magazine. Jon is an attorney with Berger & Montague, PC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He concentrates his practice on representing plaintiffs in securities fraud and consumer protection class actions. AMANDA PADOAN coauthored the book Buried in the Sky with Peter Zuckerman. The story focuses on the Sherpa climbers, the challenges they faced while tackling Mount Everest, and the loss of their fellow climbers after a crisis they faced on the mountain’s infamous K2 strand. Amanda served as a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles and has experience as a mountain climber.
2008 SETH W. EATON joined Winstead PC office in Dallas, Texas, as an associate in the firm’s Real Estate Finance Practice. COURTNEY ECHOLS and AARON ECHOLS (JD ’10, MBA ’10) welcomed their first child, Ripken Chase, in July 2012. The family currently resides in Plano, Texas.
2009
Submissions for Class Actions may be e-mailed to the Pepperdine School of Law Advancement and Alumni Affairs Office at lawalum@pepperdine.edu.
NATHAN OKELBERRY joined Fisher & Phillips as an associate in their Los Angeles office.
IN MEMORIAM GERALD “GERRY” SHELLEY (JD ’74), age 64, passed away of natural causes on Thursday, January 17. A member of the Orange County Bar Association, Gerry left behind his wife, Kim Madison. Gerry was a graduate of Pepperdine University School of Law and was admitted to the California Bar in 1974. He was a State Bar-Certified Appellate Law Specialist.
PROFESSOR OLIN WELBORN JONES, died peacefully with his two daughters at his side on March 15, 2013, at Paradise Valley Hospital in National City, California. Professor Jones was a 1940 graduate of the University of Oklahoma before joining the U.S. Marine Corps in 1941. During his 28-year career, he served as a field artillery battery commander in the Pacific Theatre, as an executive officer on Iwo Jima and in Korea, and as deputy chief of staff of the Marine Amphibious Force in Vietnam. He received his LLB degree from George Washington University School of Law in 1947.
MARK ELLMORE (JD ‘85) passed away at home unexpectedly on September 21, 2012, in Smyrna, Tennessee. He is survived by his best friend and wife of 32 years, Sue Hardaway Ellmore, and their three children, Adam Ellmore, Katie Ellmore Parker, and Diane Ellmore Throgmorton, as well as his father, his mother-in-law, two sisters, three brothers-in-law, two sisters-in-law, six nieces and nephews, many relatives and friends.
After retiring from military service in 1969, Jones practiced law as chief corporate counsel for Lance Alworth, Ltd., and as partner with Klitgaard & Jones in San Diego, California. In 1974 he joined the faculty of the School of Law and taught contracts for 13 years before retiring. He is survived by his wife Katherine (Wheeler) Jones and two daughters, Wynona Nash (Jack) of Eureka, California, and Mardeena Weber of Coronado, California, as well three grandsons.
In 1987 Ellmore opened a solo private practice in Nashville, Tennessee, with an emphasis on real estate and securities transactions, business, and probate law, as well as litigation. He was a member of all Tennessee and Kentucky courts. In addition to his legal career, he was a partner in several successful business pursuits in the Nashville area.
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THE SCHOOL OF LAW CELEBRATES THE CLASS OF 2013
above Gil Purcell (JD '83), renowned California trial attorney, was the recipient of the 2013 Distinguished Alumnus Award. right Grant Bryan ('10, JD '13) was chosen by the Class of 2013 to give the student address.
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