Speakersand Presenters

Sanchez v. Sessions

Harry wrote a Ninth Circuit opinion finding an egregious violation of the Fourth Amendment rights of Luis Sanchez, a small boat owner detained solely on account of his Latino appearance by the US Coast Guard during a call for help.

Darby Dickerson President, Dean, and Professor of Law

Darby Dickerson is the President and Dean, and a Professor of Law, at Southwestern Law School She formerly served as Dean and Professor of Law at University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, The John Marshall Law School, Texas Tech University School of Law, and Stetson University College of Law.

A nationally known leader in legal education, Dickerson was the 2020 President of the Association of American Law Schools and now represents that organization in the ABA's House of Delegates. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a Past President and current Board Member of Scribes The American Society of Legal Writers, a member of the Los Angeles Red Cross Regional Board, and a former Director of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD).

Dickerson received her BA and MA from The College of William & Mary and her JD from Vanderbilt Law School. She clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and then practiced commercial litigation in Dallas with the firm now known as Locke Lorde. In 2018, she received the AALS Section of Legal Writing, Research, and Reasoning’s lifetime achievement award She has also received a variety of awards for her professional, charitable, and community service.

Since joining the academy in 1995, Dean Dickerson has taught legal writing, pretrial practice, and election law and has directed legal writing, externship, journal, and advocacy programs. She writes in the areas of legal writing, citation, and editing; legal education; and law and higher education.

Julie Waterstone Vice Dean and Clinical Professor of Law

Julie Waterstone’s passion for representing children began as a law student when she was working with children in the delinquency system through the Children and Family Justice Center of Northwestern's Bluhm Legal Clinic. Through her clinical experience, she represented youth in delinquency proceedings, participated in community outreach efforts and also served as a student instructor in the Street Law program

After graduation, Dean Waterstone returned to her native Southern California and spent the next three years working as a civil litigator at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in Los Angeles to hone her litigation skills. But it was her pro bono work during that time that brought her the most satisfaction. With a desire to pursue public interest law full time, she accepted a position with the Civil Legal Clinic at the University of Mississippi School of Law There, as a clinical professor, she created and developed the Child Advocacy Clinic, supervised students and taught the accompanying clinic seminar Three years later, she once again returned to Los Angeles where she joined Public Counsel as a staff attorney, litigating special education cases and training lawyers and law students as pro bono special education advocates.

In Fall 2007, Dean Waterstone was appointed to the Southwestern faculty to establish and direct the law school's then-new Children's Rights Clinic, and she was named Associate Dean for Experiential Learning in 2014 She works closely with students to hone their lawyering skills in the context of live-client representation as they represent youth in special education and school discipline cases. Through their representation, the law students gain experience in interviewing, counseling, negotiating, researching, writing, oral advocacy and trial practice. In addition to the practical experience, she wants the program to ignite in students the same fire for public interest law and pro bono work that prompted her to get into the field.