USF Lawyer Fall 2019

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A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN Last year, I wrote this note as the new interim dean. Today, I have the honor and privilege of dropping the “interim” and presenting this wonderful publication to you as the 19th dean of the University of San Francisco School of Law. I am enthused by your optimism about the law school’s direction and am buoyed by the tremendous work of my distinguished colleagues, our engaged alumni, and our dedicated students. The pages of this magazine showcase several of them — and we could have showcased many more — because our community is thriving and contributing in so many ways.

Our alumni continue to impress me with their commitment to USF Law and their achievements in a variety of fields. In this issue of our magazine, we highlight alumnus Josh Binder ‘01, who has redefined the way attorneys manage and promote music industry clients and has achieved huge success in the process. Josh was a creative and driven law student of mine, and we are thrilled to share his story.

Our law school continues to make strides in areas of focus, including enrollment, academic rigor, and faculty achievement. This fall, we welcomed a diverse new class of students with stronger performance indicators, and I look forward to watching them study under the revised curriculum. These students will receive multiple points of feedback throughout the semester and take advantage of a newly revamped set of skills training exercises designed to supplement their classroom learning. Throughout their years of study, our students have many resources available to help them prepare for the bar and life as a lawyer.

to meet with many of you this academic year.

This summer, Associate Dean Tristin Green stepped into her new role after almost 20 years as an outstanding professor and a star scholar of employment discrimination law. As you’ll read in this issue of USF Lawyer, Associate Dean Green is charged with maintaining the quality of our academic programs, further refining our curriculum and policies, and leading the development of exciting new programming. Her commitment to excellence and fairness inspire those who work with her.

I hope you enjoy reading about your school, your peers, and your potential mentees. As always, I welcome your comments, questions, and concerns and hope

Thank you,

PAUL J. FITZGERALD, S.J. University President DONALD E. HELLER Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs SUSAN FREIWALD Dean TRISTIN GREEN Associate Dean for Academic Affairs STEPHANIE CARLOS Assistant Dean for Student Affairs MICHELLE SKLAR Assistant Dean for Development and Alumni Relations ALICE KASWAN Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship SHELLI FYFE Marketing Partner

Susan Freiwald Dean

DESIGNED BY USF Office of Marketing Communications

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CONTENTS FALL • 2019

DEPARTMENTS

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IN BRIEF Tristin Green Becomes Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Clinic Students Help Client Right a Wrongful Arrest Students Master Litigation Skills Linda Szabados ’20 Is One to Watch

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FACULTY FOCUS Six Faculty Pen New Books

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Professor Alice Kaswan Appointed Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship

MASTERFUL MINDS Before they came to law school, they excelled at most anything they pursued. Now, they are the USF Law Provost Scholars.

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A NEW ERA

BEYOND THE MUSIC

Susan Freiwald is the 19th dean of the School of Law — and its first female dean

Josh Binder '01 walks the leading edge of entertainment law

ON THE COVER: U SF School of Law’s Dean Susan Freiwald Illustration by: Tim Durning and Kris Miller

Dean Strang of “Making a Murderer” Teaching at USF School of Law

28 ALUMNI GRADUATE RECEPTION Saveri Family and Hon. Robert Foiles ’84 Honored at Alumni Graduates Reception

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ALUMNI NEWS Classnotes Justice Rules: Hon. Christopher Honigsberg ’05

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CLOSING ARGUMENT Denai Neilander ‘15 redefines what it means to be an attorney in a newly legal (or illegal) space

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IN BRIEF TRISTIN GREEN NAMED ASSOCIATE DEAN OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS After serving as associate dean for faculty scholarship for the past three years, Professor Tristin Green has assumed the role of associate dean of academic affairs. “Tristin is a respected teacher and a prolific scholar who has been a leading voice in the field of employment discrimination law,” said Dean Susan Freiwald. “Besides administrative acumen and a talent for building consensus, Tristin brings almost 20 years of experience in law teaching and an interest in educational innovation to the

position. I look forward to working closely with Tristin to modernize our law school while remaining true to our mission and values.” Green has taught at USF School of Law since 2009, when she was a visiting professor. She joined USF as a tenured professor the following year. As associate dean for faculty scholarship, a position now held by Professor Alice Kaswan (see page 12), Green brought more attention to the law faculty’s scholarship and mentored her peers. In recognition of her own productivity, Green has been a Dean’s Circle Scholar since 2012. Green’s teaching and scholarship are influenced by her background in journalism and sociology, and she is a leader of the movement to provide solutions to workplace harassment and discrimination. Her book, Discrimination Laundering: The Rise of Organizational Innocence and the Crisis of Equal Opportunity Law, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2017. She is also coauthor with Herma Hill Kay of a casebook, Sex-Based Discrimination: Text, Cases, and Materials, Seventh Edition (2011). Many journals have published Green’s articles, including the California Law Review, Yale Law Journal Forum, Harvard Civil RightsCivil Liberties Law Review, Boston University Law Review, and Southern California Law Review. “USF Law is such a special place — with truly talented, diverse, and dedicated students and faculty. I cannot imagine a better community to work with and for,” said Green. “I care deeply about teaching and also about scholarship. The two for me are intimately intertwined into my daily efforts to reach and teach our students and to change the world for the better.” n

Elizabeth Benhardt Retires Two years after Elizabeth Benhardt joined USF in 1977, she crossed Fulton Street and spent the next 40 years dedicated to the law school — and connected to more law students, faculty, staff, and alumni than anyone can count. Benhardt retired this summer after 18 years in her role as assistant dean of academic services as well as 20 years leading the law registrar team immediately prior. “Dean Benhardt’s contributions to the law

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school would fill one of the many binders of records that she stores in her office,” said Dean Susan Freiwald. “Her magic lies in being able to innovate while respecting past practices and regulations. She can counsel individual students compassionately while also being consistent. She matches an uncanny eye for detail with a great sense of humor and a delight in teasing. We will miss her so much.” n


“I’m Still in Shock” Professor Bill Ong Hing wants the U.S. Department of Justice to close a center where children are left to care for themselves. Professor Hing, who directs two immigration-focused law clinics at USF, visited a border patrol processing center in Clint, Texas, in June. Working as part of a legal team permitted to inspect the facility, he interviewed children being held there. Tell us about the children you talked with. I spoke with several teen mothers, plus eight boys and girls ranging from ages 5 to 15.

Can you describe how they’re doing? The children were unbathed and dirty. Their clothes reeked; their hair was unwashed. Many of the children in the facility had the flu. Two infants were so sick — vomiting, fever, diarrhea — that they were rushed to the hospital for emergency care. Everyone received the same meals day after day that contained no vegetables or fruits. The meals were no different for nursing mothers. Some children reported that they were allowed to go outside and play daily for about 30 minutes. Others said they were allowed to go outside only every two or three days.

These children are there without parents or guardians? Yes. Children as young as 3 and 4 had been separated from a parent, aunt, or uncle at the border. One 6-year-old girl, who was alone without any siblings, began crying in the middle of the interview. She had been separated from an aunt at the border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials days earlier. As she cried, the attorney working with her took her by the hand and walked her over to a teen detainee who was holding a 2-year-old. It turned out that the teen girl — who was not a mother — had been comforting the toddler and the 6-year-old for days out of a sense of kindness. The children cried. I teared up. I saw another 2-year-old left to take care of herself. I’m still in shock.

Clinic Students Help Client Right a Wrongful Arrest The Criminal and Juvenile Justice Law Clinic won a major victory this spring when San Francisco Superior Court Judge Diane Northway found their client factually innocent of the crimes for which he had been arrested.

What is the U.S.’s obligation to these children? Because these children are minors, they are not supposed to be held by border patrol officials for more than 72 hours. However, the team met many children who had been detained for two to three weeks. More than 350 children were held at the Clint facility while I was there.

You recently created a new USF law clinic, the Immigration Policy Clinic. How does it help people? The Immigration Policy Clinic analyzes changes to immigration policy and prepares resources for those affected. Law students focus primarily on policy advocacy, research, and writing, and they work with clients suffering post traumatic stress. Students also conduct Know Your Rights presentations throughout the Bay Area. They’ve also developed immigration conversation strategies for children in families with deportable members, engaged in legislative advocacy on behalf of the DREAM Act, and assisted in research on class action lawsuits filed by Centro Legal De La Raza, ACLU, and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

So what’s next for the children in that facility in Texas? The interviews that I collected are now being used in negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice to close down the facility. n

“ Each student had a part to play, and each part was key to our success in winning the case.” — Prof. Lara Bazelon After clinic students Eileen Ortega ’19, Sarah Vreeland '20, and Cinder Cancilla '20 presented evidence at the day-long trial, Judge Northway ruled that no reasonable person knowing all of the facts and circumstances would have arrested the clinic’s client. The burden shifted to the district attorney's office to prove otherwise, which it could not. As a result, Judge Northway signed the order declaring this client factually innocent. The client’s arrest records will be destroyed, and there will be no official record of his involvement in the case. “The charges, before they were dismissed, were serious: burglary, grand theft, and receiving stolen property,” said Prof. Lara Bazelon, director of the clinic and an expert in wrongful convictions. “After our client’s wrongful arrest, he spent six days in jail.” “This case is a great example of teamwork in action,” said Bazelon. “Each student had a part to play, and each part was key to our success in winning the case.” n Learn more about USF’s six law clinics at usfca.edu/law/clinics

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IN BRIEF

Civil Rights Leader Clarence Jones Addresses Class of 2019 On May 17, Dr. Clarence B. Jones, civil rights leader and legal adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., received an honorary degree and gave the commencement address to the Class of 2019 as its members celebrated graduation in St. Ignatius Church surrounded by hundreds of family and friends. 119 students received JD degrees, alongside 22 master of legal studies in taxation, seven LLM in intellectual property and technology law, three LLM in taxation, and two LLM in international transactions and comparative law degree recipients. Dr. Jones’s rise in the civil rights movement began when he joined Dr. King’s legal defense team, and he became part of Dr. King’s inner circle, serving as his lawyer and helping draft his speeches, including his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington. In 1967, Dr. Jones joined the investment banking and brokerage firm Carter, Berlind & Weill, and became the first African American allied member of the New York Stock Exchange. Since then, he has had a rich and varied career in law, finance, journalism, entertainment, sports, and public service. “I have faith that you can change our country and our world,” Dr. Jones told the graduates. “I believe that you can redeem the soul of America. Indeed, I believe that you can be the leaders of a fourth American revolution for social justice and freedom in our country — a revolution to redeem the soul of America, to achieve the beloved community that Dr. King envisioned.” n

“I believe that you can be the leaders of a fourth American revolution for social justice and freedom in our country.” — Dr. Clarence B. Jones

Students Master Litigation Skills in the Intensive Advocacy Program On June 1, 21 students looked back over the previous two weeks. They had spent more than 80 hours in lectures, demonstrations, and practice workshops with experienced practitioners from across the country. The immediate result of their time in USF’s Intensive Advocacy Program: honed litigation and trial techniques and

Co-director Elinor Leary (right) and former criminal court judge Patricia Anne Williams (left) provided hours of personalized feedback and mentorship to students.

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strategies. The long-term results: the confidence to use those skills during law school and in their careers. “This program taught me that great people do things before they’re ready. They do things before they know they can do it,” said Danielle Potestio '20, who earned the program’s first place for Excellence in Advocacy Award this year. “The most valuable aspect of IAP is the growth of confidence and personal strength this program instills in every law student over the course of two weeks. IAP challenges law students to step out of their comfort zone and to ‘learn by doing’ when preparing for trial.” Part of what propelled her to jump in before she felt ready was the support of the program faculty, led by co-directors Doris Cheng ’98, shareholder at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger and president of the Bar Association of San Francisco (see page 27), and Elinor Leary ’03, trial team leader at The Veen Firm. “I was surprised by the amount of invaluable feedback and one-toone mentorship that I and every student received from the IAP faculty,” Potestio said. “The faculty consists of trial lawyers and judges from all over the nation, and the professional connections that I made when working so closely with them are extremely beneficial.” n


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JUNE 2019 Congratulations to Bianca Aguayo ’18, who was recently sworn in as a deputy district attorney in Fresno, California! She’s pictured here with Richard Burchett Jr. ’13, a member of USF’s Public Interest Law Foundation board and fellow member of the Fresno County district attorney’s team.

AUGUST 2019 MAY 2019 #USFLaw alum Frank Pitre ‘80 is representing families and victims of the California Camp Fire after a state agency concluded the cause was electrical transmission lines belonging to PG&E. “Now the day of reckoning has come,” he told The New York Times. Read more: https://nyti.ms/2HRt7Bp

Orientation is under way! Our 1Ls have had a busy couple of days meeting our #USFLaw faculty and administrators. They’ve also had a great time getting to know each other and exploring the campus. The packed agenda continues all week!

SEPTEMBER 2019 This Monday, we were thrilled to co-host the San Francisco district attorney candidates as they shared their perspectives on critical reforms to our criminal justice system before an audience of 400+ members of the community. Big thank you to moderator @mlagos of @KQED. #USFLaw. See full coverage from @SFGovTV: bit.ly/2kvBHhU

AUGUST 2019 JUNE 2019 Congratulations to #USFLaw’s Sarah Omer ‘21, one of only four winners of the Ms. JD Summer 2019 Public Interest Scholarship Competition! bit.ly/2FzkjQz @msjdorg @ssaifo_

We loved welcoming NY Yankees Assistant GM Jean Afterman ’91 back to #USFLaw last week. One of only three women to ever hold the position in MLB, Afterman shared sage advice with our students. Read more: usfca.edu/news/batter-up

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IN BRIEF

ONE TO WATCH: LINDA SZABADOS ‘20 Linda Szabados ’20 is a first-generation college graduate who came to USF School of Law to pursue her passion for consumer protection, privacy law, and antitrust, which she wrote about for years as the U.S. head of legal content for PaRR Global in Washington, D.C. She is a research assistant to Prof. Joshua Davis, editor-in-chief of the Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, involved in the Women’s Law Association, and a policy monitor and newsletter contributor to the ABA Section of Antitrust Law’s Legislation Committee. She has interned with the Federal Trade Commission and the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, and most recently spent her summer at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy. Who or what most influenced your path to law school? My parents — who are Hungarian immigrants — influenced my path with their work ethic, grit, and service to others. I’ve been interested in the law since college, but my professional career truly inspired me to go to law school. After I was involved in an accident, going through the litigation process as a plaintiff made me realize that I wanted to advocate for others who were not in a position to advocate for themselves. I have also really benefited from the support of my fiancé, family, and amazing mentors along the way.

Did you dream of being a lawyer as a kid? Not at all. I loved art and wanted to work in fashion design. I ultimately followed my other interests — history, literature, and politics — which led me down the path to law school.

Which law school class has challenged you the most? Prof. Peter Jan Honigsberg’s Administrative Law class stands out amongst many. Prof. Honigsberg’s use of the Socratic method in a small seminar class not only kept me on my toes, but also ultimately built up my confidence in analyzing the law. The caliber of doctrinal rigor in his class trained me to truly “think like a lawyer.”

What is your role on Prof. Joshua Davis' research team that revealed that billions of dollars are lost to criminal antitrust conspirators? Why is it important work? As a research assistant on his team, I extract data from federal court cases that have ended and document the outcomes of those cases. These outcomes will ultimately provide attorneys — particularly plaintiffs’ firms — with important metrics for evaluating potential cases. This research is not only fascinating, but also pretty groundbreaking. There is simply not much research that currently tracks the outcomes of private antitrust enforcement.

What were the best parts of your summer working in the antitrust practice group at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy? Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy is involved in many of the notable antitrust cases I used to follow in my role with PaRR, so it was a tremendous learning opportunity to now get to see the inner workings of some of those cases. The attorneys gave me interesting assignments and offered me professional development opportunities, such as attending court hearings, the deposition of a former C-suite executive at a major airline, and even a meeting with a Fortune 500 company about potential claims in a cartel case.

What advice would you give new law students? Take advantage of every resource USF has to offer, including all the networking opportunities. There is no GPA requirement for networking, so regardless of whether you have the grades you want, make sure to put yourself out there, repeatedly. n


PRESS CLIPPINGS “ I prioritize my work because I’m ambitious and because I believe it’s important. If I didn’t write and teach and litigate, a part of me would feel empty.” Prof. Lara Bazelon in her The New York Times op-ed “I’ve Picked My Job Over My Kids,” which sparked debate when it challenged the notion of whether worklife balance is achievable for working mothers

“ They actually don’t have the infrastructure to be calling the aunt or the uncle, or even the parent who is in the United States, and actually check out whether it’s a safe place to place the child.”

Prof. Bill Ong Hing to the Washington Post after visiting the Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, and bringing disturbing detention conditions to light

“ App developers are too scared to sue Apple because Apple can just cut them off. So consumers are the only ones who can sue. The bottom line is … someone gets to find out: Did Apple violate the antitrust laws?” Prof. Joshua Davis in a video interview with the Associated Press after a divided Supreme Court ruled that consumers can pursue an antitrust lawsuit that claims Apple has unfairly monopolized the market for the sale of iPhone apps

“ This is a situation where a very wealthy, sophisticated homeowner has basically thumbed her nose at the city consistently.” Prof. Tim Iglesias to the Associated Press about a battle between government rules and property rights, after a Hillsborough resident installed an elaborate homage to “The Flintstones” family

“ Communication is so essential… An important way that I bring mindfulness into a concrete experience for my law students and other folks in law is to create spaces to explore what mindful communication looks like.” Prof. Rhonda Magee in the segment entitled “Mindfulness Is Everywhere. Is It Working For Everyone?” on NPR’s WBUR station

“Carbon pricing is essential for addressing the climate crisis, but alone, it is ‘insufficient.’” Forbes.com on a recent report by Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship and Prof. Alice Kaswan that argues for embedding market-based policies within larger strategies for achieving a green transition

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FACULTY FOCUS SIX FACULTY PEN NEW BOOKS Prof. Rhonda Magee The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness TarcherPerigee, September 2019 For victims of injustice, embodied mindfulness calms their fears and helps them to exercise self-compassion. In The Inner Work of Racial Justice, Magee shows readers how to slow down and reflect on microaggressions — to hold them with some objectivity and distance — rather than bury unpleasant experiences so they have a cumulative effect over time. Magee helps readers develop the capacity to address the fears and anxieties that would otherwise lead them to re-create patterns of separation and division.

“I hope the book inspires everyone to develop deeper capacities for the ongoing work of social justice.” — Rhonda Magee

Prof. Connie de la Vega A Practical Guide to Using International Human Rights and Criminal Law Procedures Elgar Practical Guides, July 2019 The maze of rules and institutions can be difficult to navigate for advocates seeking remedies for human rights violations through international criminal and human rights mechanisms. De la Vega co-authored this practical, experience-based guide with her former student Alen Mirza ‘13, providing advocates with step-bystep approaches for maximizing the institutions’ intended effect — promotion of human rights at all levels.

Prof. Peter Jan Honigsberg A Place Outside the Law: Forgotten Voices from Guantánamo Beacon Press, forthcoming in November 2019 A Place Outside the Law is the result of Honigsberg’s work as founder and director of Witness to Guantánamo. From 2008 to 2018, he and his team interviewed 158 people across 20 countries. Fifty-two were former detainees, others were prison guards, interrogators, interpreters, habeas and JAG lawyers, prosecutors, medical personnel, chaplains, journalists, high-ranking military and government officials, and family members of the detainees. The book tells the compelling and heartbreaking stories of many of the people they interviewed.

“Everyone who lived or worked in the prison was powerfully affected by their experience. The book speaks to the humanity in all of us.” — Peter Jan Honigsberg Prof. Michelle Travis Dads for Daughters: How Fathers Can Support Girls and Women for a Successful Feminist Future Mango Publishing, forthcoming in January 2020 Dads for Daughters is a call to action for men to actively support girls and women in their families, workplaces, and communities. It shares information and resources for men to get involved in gender equality efforts in a wide range of arenas — from mentoring women to equalizing pay, from sports fields to science labs, from boardrooms to ballot boxes. It also offers women a practical guide for recruiting dedicated men into action, highlighting successful strategies, and providing suggestions for engaging men in gender equality initiatives.

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Prof. Bill Ong Hing American Presidents, Deportations, and Human Rights Violations: From Carter to Trump Cambridge University Press, November 2018 Documenting the harsh treatment of immigrants over the past 20 years, Hing shows how mass detention and deportation of immigrants have escalated even higher. This book asks what price the United States is willing to pay for such harsh immigration policies in terms of our national values, and the impact on the lives of the millions of immigrants who deserve the full protection of universal human rights obligations.

Prof. Lara Bazelon Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction Beacon Press, October 2018 In Rectify, Bazelon puts a face to the growing number of men and women exonerated from crimes that kept them behind bars for years — sometimes decades — and that crime devastates not only the exonerees but also their families, the crime victims who mistakenly identified them as perpetrators, the jurors who convicted them, and the prosecutors who realized too late that they helped convict an innocent person. Bazelon demonstrates how the transformative experience of connecting isolated individuals around mutual trauma and a shared purpose of repairing harm unites unlikely allies and heals. n

Alice Kaswan Appointed Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship Prof. Alice Kaswan, champion of environmental justice, is now also the School of Law’s official champion of faculty scholars. The new associate dean for faculty scholarship, Kaswan succeeds Prof. Tristin Green, who served in that role for three years and was recently appointed associate dean for academic affairs. In her new position, Kaswan works with faculty to maximize their visibility in the academy and help relay their insights to relevant professional and policy circles. She also supports the law school’s scholarly community by running a speaking series featuring USF faculty and guest speakers, and by organizing faculty writing retreats. Acting as a liaison with the university’s scholar center, she helps build interdisciplinary connections within the larger USF community. “Alice brings to this role her commitment to scholarship that makes a difference, and a desire to bring more attention to the tremendous achievements of our faculty as scholars as well as teachers,” said Dean Susan Freiwald.

“One of our goals is to enhance the connections between our scholarly work and the broader USF community: our students and alumni.” — Associate Dean Alice Kaswan Kaswan is an expert on climate change policy, environmental justice, and environmental federalism. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a past chair of the Association of American Law Schools’ Environmental Law Section. As a member scholar and member of the board of directors of the Center for Progressive Reform, an organization of environmental law professors committed to effectuating policy reform, she leads CPR scholars’ climate and energy work and seeks to translate their academic research into real-world change. A Dean’s Circle Scholar, Kaswan is recognized for her commitment to academic research. She has authored numerous scholarly articles over the past 20 years, most recently in the University of Miami Law Review, San Diego Journal of Climate and Energy Law, and Columbia Journal of Environmental Law. She also writes policy papers and regularly blogs for the Center for Progressive Reform. “I am thrilled with the chance to work with USF’s faculty,” said Kaswan. “To a person, my colleagues are intent upon fulfilling USF’s mission — changing the world from here — and I am eager to do what I can to help them have the impact their ideas deserve.” Kaswan said that one of her goals is to “enhance the connections between our scholarly work and the broader USF community: our students and alumni. We are planning to launch new centers that highlight our strengths, and that feature our faculty’s scholarly work, speakers and other law school events, students’ classes and externships, and select alumni.” n

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FACULTY FOCUS

USF Law Scholars Make an Impact USF School of Law professors pursue an ambitious agenda of research, teaching, and service. As scholars, they take on some of the world’s most challenging issues and problems. Here are some recent highlights. On Business Law and Justice

On Employment and Labor Law

Professor Joshua Davis Published “Artificial Wisdom? A Potential Limit on AI in Law (and Elsewhere)” in the Oklahoma Law Review, and “Law Without Mind: AI, Ethics, and Jurisprudence” in the California Western Law Review. He also co-authored an empirical piece on private antitrust enforcement, “2018 Antitrust Annual Report: Class Action Filings in Federal Court,” which was distributed by the American Antitrust Institute.

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor Tristin Green Co-organized the second annual Equity Law Scholars’ Forum, which provides junior scholars with commentary and critique by their more senior colleagues in the legal academy. The forum also fosters understanding of new scholarly developments in equality law.

Professor Reza Dibadj Published “Disclosure as Delaware’s New Frontier” in the Hastings Law Review and is working on new scholarship in securities regulation that challenges conventional interpretations of a section of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.

On Pressing Issues in California and our Nation Professor Tim Iglesias Travels the state as a member of the California Fair Employment and Housing Council, overseeing California’s employment and housing antidiscrimination laws. He published scholarly articles and book reviews in the Southwestern Law Review and Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law. Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship and Professor Alice Kaswan Led the political organizing around the Center for Progressive Reform’s climate and energy work, including meeting with the congressional chair and the chief of staff of the Select Committee on Climate Change in Washington, D.C. She published a journal article and book chapter on climate justice programs in California, a state that leads the nation on climate policies.

Professor Maria Ontiveros Authored “‘Liquidated Damages’ in Guest Worker Contracts: Involuntary Servitude, Debt Peonage, or Valid Contract Clause?” in the Nevada Law Review and “Immigrant Workers and Workplace Discrimination: Overturning the Missed Opportunity of Title VII Under Espinoza v. Farah” in the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law. She is a member of the Thirteenth Amendment Project, in which academics and practitioners develop scholarship and litigation to improve the lives of workers and people of color. Professor Michelle Travis Presented in the media and around the Bay Area about her children’s book, My Mom Has Two Jobs, which won a 2019 Independent Publisher Book Award bronze medal for best children’s picture book. Together, Green, Ontiveros, and Travis organized the 15th Annual Jack Pemberton Lecture on Workplace Justice with keynote speaker Professor Rachel Arnow-Richman. n


Dean Strang of “Making a Murderer” Teaching at USF School of Law Dean Strang, is a criminal defense attorney who rose to national prominence after the case of his client Steven Avery was made into the docu-series “Making a Murderer.” He joined the USF School of Law faculty as a visiting criminal law professor for the 2019–2020 school year. Strang is teaching 1Ls and upper level students Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and a seminar in law, social sciences, and the humanities. Strang’s 30-plus years of experience in the courtroom honed his ideas about how justice should be administered.

Why did you choose USF School of Law? Well, San Francisco’s attractions are obvious. Plus, both Richard Leo and Lara Bazelon are on the USF Law faculty. I admire both of them and have for years. For even longer, too, I have admired the Jesuit commitment to education.

Can you discuss the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences, the nonprofit you cofounded with Keith Findley and Jerry Buting? CIFS was University of Wisconsin Law School Prof. Keith Findley’s idea originally. The center is the first nonprofit in the United States devoted exclusively to education and structural changes that will improve the objectivity and reliability of forensic analysis, and we intend to strengthen the objective scientific ethos of forensic analysis in the criminal justice system.

What areas of the criminal justice system do you think are most in need of reform? Do you have specific ideas about what those changes would be? In my view, we need to bring police interview processes into the 21st century, or at least into the second half of the 20th century. Confrontational interview methods plainly present unacceptable and unnecessary risks

of producing false or unreliable confessions. These undermine public confidence both in the honesty and fairness of the police, and in the reliability of the criminal justice system itself. There are many other areas of necessary reform, of course: reclaiming the goal of saving kids, rather than abandoning them, in our juvenile justice system; lowering the finality barrier to new evidence and testing that reveal unsound convictions; and more.

You have said that humility is lacking in criminal justice, and that ego can compromise the system. That’s a very Jesuit viewpoint, the idea of limiting the ego for the greater good of the whole. How do you incorporate this philosophy into your teaching? Radically, in a sense: I believe that teaching is impossible; only learning is possible, and that is infinitely possible. The job of the “teacher,” then, is to learn something well, embrace what is essential and exciting about what he or she has learned, and then do everything possible to share that enthusiasm and passion with students as together both teacher and student continue to learn and question. The

humility is in the shared venture, the work of discovery together.

How does your 30+ years of courtroom experience inform your teaching? Do you often find yourself using specific examples from cases you’ve defended to humanize criminal law concepts? Law is human stuff, in application at very least. Indeed, I go further: as vitally important as the social sciences are in offering interdisciplinary insight into the study of law, I believe that law in the end belongs to the humanities. One cannot understand the actual effects of law on human beings — what law gets right and what it gets terribly wrong, what it should attempt and what it should not attempt, what justice and injustice might really mean and how people experience injustice — without being a student of human beings and of humanity itself. As I wrote at the very end of my new book, the rule of law is essential, yes; but law without justice is only rule, and oppression waits there also. I believe that. And I believe that justice is and must be the pursuit of the humane. n

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By Samantha Bronson


After nearly a year of leading USF School of Law as interim dean, Susan Freiwald has been named the school’s 19th dean — and its first female dean — since its founding in 1912. Freiwald brings to the post a wealth of experience as an educator and legal scholar and a knack for forward thinking: she was writing about the law pertaining to electronic communications well before Google and Facebook were founded. She’s now a nationally recognized expert on electronic privacy, having recently published in the Harvard Law Review. Here Freiwald chats with USF Lawyer magazine about her background and what’s in store for the law school. You became an educator after clerking for a judge on the Second Circuit and then practicing securities law with a Wall Street law firm. What led you to academia? I wanted to spend more time studying the relationship between law and technology, a topic that had fascinated me since I was young. Also, I was able to teach two classes while in law school: a first-year legal writing class that I taught as a third year, and an undergrad sociology class for which I led a section as a teaching assistant. I was eager to get back to teaching, which I really loved. Finally, I enjoyed being on the law review, which had me immersed in legal scholarship.

You’ve established yourself as an expert in privacy law. How did you discover that passion? I learned how to program computers during college and ended up as a software developer at Oracle for a year between college and law school. I was always interested in bridging the gap between technologists and the rest of society, and, to me, law strongly impacts how society operates. I couldn’t find any technology law courses to take at law school; my copyright law course didn't even cover the copyrightability of computer code. So I decided to follow my interests on my own and, for my third-year paper, I compared the legal treatment of computer crime, email privacy, and electronic monitoring in the workplace. Several law school professors I approached declined to oversee my paper, however, because they told me they lacked the expertise. Finally, a visiting professor, who didn’t have any expertise either but took pity on me, agreed to do it. Given the difficulty in finding a professor to oversee the paper, did you ever consider a different topic? It never occurred to me to switch my topic because I couldn’t imagine writing about something that didn’t compel me. When my students ask me what they should write their research papers on, I always tell them to find something that sparks their interest. Otherwise they are not going to be able to live and breathe it, which is necessary to do a good job. Why have you continued to study this intersection of technology and the law? The changes that new technology requires of society, and therefore of the law, happen much more quickly than in the traditional sphere. So when you study the impact of something like the internet on the law, it allows you to assess how the different parts of our legal system respond to problems, and provides insight into what our society values, into strengths and weaknesses of these parts of our legal system, and into areas needing reform.

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Speaking of privacy law, what was your role in the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA)? I was the academic liaison for CalECPA, which raised the standard for California entities’ access to electronic communications information to require a warrant, and incorporated significantly more judicial oversight of government surveillance practices. As a member of a small coalition of advisers to the legislative sponsors, I conducted background research, helped draft the statutory language, testified in the state legislature, and wrote and obtained support for a law professors’ letter in favor of the legislation.

Tell us about your work advocating for Fourth Amendment protection of cell site location data? Since 2008, I have been writing about the need for courts to recognize a Fourth Amendment interest in the location data providers collect from our cell phones. I continued to argue for it as an amicus in two federal appellate cases, in 2010 and 2012, but was not successful. Finally, the Supreme Court found a Fourth Amendment privacy right in location

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information in 2018 in Carpenter v. United States. It was rewarding to see the Supreme Court validate my argument, and other scholars have cited my four-part test as a critical component of the Court's new approach. What’s your sense of the focus of legal education today? I think the California bar exam currently drives too much legal education because it requires memorizing an unnecessarily large amount of minutiae. The California bar is significantly harder to pass than other state bars, with a cutoff score for passing of 144 that is well above the state average of 135 and the 133 required to pass in New York and Illinois. The mix of doctrinal learning, problem solving, and other skills that a law school teaches should be based on what best prepares graduates for success broadly, not just on one standardized test. I hope that the results of current studies help improve and modernize the California bar and that its scoring comes into line with other states. How do you balance that as a law school? Of course we do our best to prepare our graduates to pass the bar on their first try. At the same time, we train our students to be excellent and ethical lawyers who serve their clients well, whether those clients are individuals, companies, public entities, or the public itself. And, in accordance with our mission, we strive to instill in our graduates a concern about the well-being of others and about


"Susan understands both the need for rigor and academic excellence and the vast economic challenges facing law schools and, most critically, USF’s valued students.” Hon. Jeffrey Brand, Judge, Superior Court of Alameda County, and Former Dean of USF School of Law 1999–2013 the pursuit of justice. We try to pass on to our students our love of the law and our appreciation of its depth so that we may help them find fulfillment as legal professionals. What’s your vision for the law school? How are you going to lead us there? I want to restore the law school’s luster and return us, in a modern incarnation, to a place where we are proud of our bar pass rate and all the exciting work being done by our graduates and here at the law school itself. We’ve already taken several steps. We’ve instituted changes to the curriculum, the most significant of which was increasing the units of courses devoted to bar subjects. At the same time, our faculty have been providing more individualized feedback and attention to our students to help them with their writing and other skills. We have improved our employment advising, with more individualized counseling and greater use of alumni hiring and mentoring. We are promoting our strengths more, including our groundbreaking clinics, our outstanding faculty, and our diverse, supportive, and accessible community. What else would you like people to know about where the law school is headed? We have come through a period of transition in the last year. Now it's time to give the myriad changes we have made some time to work, to promote what we already do well, and to refine from there. We are a team of people who are deeply committed to our tradition of improving society by graduating ethical and excellent lawyers. With the strong support of the university, the partnership and engagement of our alumni and donors, and our bright and amazing students, we are headed in a positive direction. n

"Dean Freiwald is probably the best teacher I had at USF. I enjoyed how engaged she was on cyber law topics, and she sparked an interest in me in research and investigation. She’s got an incredible intellect, strong strategic objectives, and a game plan." Matthew Chivvis ˇ07, Partner, Morrison and Foerster

"Susan has been a pioneer in privacy law, and one of the first scholars to warn about the intrusiveness of telephone metadata, such as cell site location information. I have seen firsthand the respect and deference paid to her by colleagues and peers.” Stephen Smith, Director of Fourth Amendment and Open Courts, Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society; former U.S. Magistrate Judge

"Not only is Susan a preeminent expert on electronic communications law, but she is extremely thoughtful and committed to making the law really work for people. Susan was indispensable to the crafting and passage of the landmark CalECPA, and a core member of the drafting team with the ACLU." Nicole Ozer, Technology and Civil Liberties Director, ACLU of California

“Ever since I met Susan at my first academic conference, her encouragement and advice have stayed with me. Our friendship and her mentorship have made all the difference to me. Susan lifts you up and pushes you to do your best." Danielle Keats Citron, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law


MASTERFUL MINDS BY MONICA VILLAVICENCIO

Before they came to USF School of Law, they were entrepreneurs, scientists, and accountants. They trained horses professionally, worked at Fortune 500 companies, and navigated naval ships. They excelled at most anything they pursued. To their budding legal careers, they’ve brought the same commitment to excellence. They are the School of Law’s Provost Scholars. Scholarships are a key component of the law school’s mission to produce a diverse community of lawyers who think critically and do good in the world. First offered in fall 2016, the Provost Scholarship is one of several merit-based scholarships available to incoming

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students. Provost Scholars receive a full-tuition award, renewable for their second and third years of law school. Since the program’s inception, there have been 28 scholars. The scholarship has repeatedly provided a critical opportunity to incoming students. “To be honest, I’ve kind of always suffered from imposter syndrome, not sure if I belong, if I’m supposed to be here,” says scholar

John Maclan ’20. “The Provost Scholarship means that USF believes in me. That means a lot to me. It inspires confidence in me.” USF’s Provost Scholars are leaders inside and outside the classroom, and though they are just starting their legal careers, they are already sharpening their skills as advocates and making an impact in their communities. Meet five.


THE SCIENTIST

Her mother studied marine biology. Her father studied chemistry. Alexis Ramsey ’21 herself majored in biochemistry and molecular biology and worked in a fungal mutation lab. She planned to pursue a career as a cancer researcher. It was her twin sister, Jessica '21, who first floated the idea of careers in patent law for both of them. Ramsey consulted an adviser, who was getting a patent in cancer research, and she was intrigued. Both sisters applied to law schools, and when Ramsey was awarded the Provost Scholarship, and Jessica also received a significant scholarship to USF, their minds were made up. That’s how she and Jessica ended up on a crosscountry road trip from Maryland to California bound for law school. They arrived just days before orientation. “You know that scene in the Wizard of Oz when the house flies out during the tornado? That was me,” Ramsey says. It was a whirlwind transition to what would be a transformative year. “Everyone talks about how hard the first year is, and it is, but it was one of the best years of my life,” she says. “The scholarship has been one of the better things in my life because it brought us to this community.” Ramsey's found a close-knit community of professors, classmates, and mentors, including one who suggested she apply to the Intensive Advocacy Program (IAP), a two-week course on litigation and trial techniques run by Doris Cheng ’98 and Elinor Leary ’03 (see page 4). Students learn about and practice taking depositions, cross-examining witnesses, and making opening and closing statements. At the end of the course, each student conducts a mock jury trial. Ramsey participated in IAP at the end of her first year, just before her summer externship at the California Supreme Court. “I didn’t know anything about trials. I don’t watch trial shows,” she says with a laugh. “So this program takes you, regardless of your background, and puts you through the wringer. It was fabulous.” Thanks in part to her IAP experience, Ramsey is imagining a new future for herself — as a patent litigator — one that braids her science background with her newfound passion.

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THE CONNECTOR

When it came to choosing a law school, Kyle Moreno ’20 had been advised: location, location, location. For Moreno, who was looking to combine his economics background with a career in law, San Francisco made sense. “A lot of the firms in the Bay Area work with young startups, which is really interesting to me,” he says. But in the end, it was USF’s personal touch that tipped the scales. Moreno had been offered the Provost Scholarship but hadn’t made his decision when the dean called him. “I was able to ask questions and talk through my decision. It made a huge difference,” says Moreno. “I felt really blessed.” It’s turned out that that level of personal attention has been a hallmark of his time at USF.

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“I’ve been blown away by how great the professors are, how accessible they are. They’re super eager to talk and help you,” he says. Moreno has been determined to make the most of his time at USF. To that end, he’s participated in moot court and Law Review and, as a student in the top 10 percent of his class, he’s a member of the McAuliffe Honor Society. He’s also spent summers at the Superior Court of California, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, and, most recently, the Silicon Valley office of the international law firm Jones Day. Moreno has also made it a goal to work with as many professors as he could. One professor at the top of his list, Professor Lara Bazelon, directs the School of Law’s Racial Justice and Criminal and

Juvenile Justice Law Clinics. Moreno spent a semester in the Racial Justice Clinic representing a Humboldt State University student facing disciplinary proceedings. Another highlight has been his ongoing work as a research assistant to Professor Joshua Davis. Davis, who has published widely on antitrust issues, is conducting research on antitrust class action lawsuits. As part of the research, Moreno is collecting and analyzing data on completed antitrust class action suits to determine the factors that lead to success or failure. “It’s been a huge privilege,” Moreno says. “Professor Davis is so knowledgeable and excellent at explaining. It’s been an incredible learning experience.”


THE EVICTION CHALLENGER

Bay Area native John Maclan ’20 grew up watching the place he calls home transform before his eyes. He’s had a front row seat to the rise of tech giants like Google and Facebook, the gentrification of neighborhoods like the Mission, and skyrocketing housing costs. “The Bay Area has an incredible problem with housing,” Maclan says. “I’ve worked with many people who commute to the city from as far away as Sacramento or deep in the East Bay. It’s ridiculous.” Maclan wanted to give back to the community in which he was born and raised. He found his opportunity with San Francisco’s Eviction Defense Collaborative, an organization that provides emergency legal assistance

to low-income tenants facing eviction. The summer after his first year at USF, Maclan served as a law clerk at the collaborative, helping tenants file legal papers and educating them on their rights. “I worked with people from so many different walks of life. People in their most stressful moments. Often it was either this or the streets,” he says. Maclan found his work at the Eviction Defense Collaborative demanding but also one of the most rewarding experiences he’s ever had — one that deeply affected him. Last summer, Maclan interned on the alternative investment funds team at Andersen, a financial advisory and consulting firm. At Andersen, Maclan, who was an accountant

at Oracle before law school, was able to combine his business and legal backgrounds. He’s also been able to connect with the robust community of fellow USF Law alumni working at Andersen. As Maclan contemplates how he’ll shape his legal career going forward, he hopes he can find ways to weave together his experience in the private sector with his nonprofit work. “No matter what, I want there to be some pro bono aspect to my work,” he says. “There are so many people who need legal help but can’t get it. If I can do my part in alleviating that, I want to.”

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THE ENTREPRENEUR

For Sigourney Jellins ’20, the path to law school has been unusual, to say the least. Jellins has been training horses professionally since college. Just after graduation, she spent several years at a nonprofit providing equine therapy to children with autism. Jellins now runs her own horse training business, a venture that’s not only successful but also a great foundation for a career in law, she says. “I have a unique set of problem-solving skills. When you have your own business, you have to deal with everything yourself, including managing clients,” explains Jellins. “I’ve also worked with so many different people. A love of horses brings together people of all ages and backgrounds, and I think that’s important for a lawyer because your clients also come from all different backgrounds.” But being an entrepreneur and a law student has also proven to be a true juggling act, requiring razorsharp focus and time management skills, and, Jellins adds with a laugh, not a whole lot of sleep. Jellins initially enrolled in the part-time program so she could continue running her business. She found, though, that she loved law school so much that she switched to being a full-time student after her first year. “The Provost Scholarship has allowed me to do that,” Jellins reflects. “It’s allowed me to take advantage of my law school experience to the fullest.” Jellins still runs her business, but she dove headfirst into law school, excelling in and outside the classroom. She’s a Law Review staffer and has competed in moot court. Jellins also served as Women’s Law Association secretary and is a member of the McAuliffe Honor Society. Her participation in the Intensive Advocacy Program, USF’s two-week trial techniques bootcamp, solidified her interest in litigation. To that end, Jellins spent last summer as an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a premier law firm specializing in business, securities, and intellectual property law. Jellins worked in securities and commercial litigation, a path she plans to pursue after graduation. Still, she says, she won’t abandon her first love. “Life may change as I graduate, but riding is something I will always do.”

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THE TRUSTED ADVISER

Before he started law school, John Wiese ’19 had some concerns about how he would fit in with his classmates, many of whom were half his age. Wiese arrived at USF with not one, but two careers under his belt. His first was in the Navy, as a frigate navigator. Wiese then got an MBA and worked in finance. He also married and became a father of two. His concerns, however, vanished once he set foot on campus. “Everyone was extraordinarily welcoming,” Wiese says. “If you come to USF, regardless of age, race, culture, or sexual orientation, you’re accepted.” In fact, Wiese found that his life experience enabled him to contribute to his new community in a unique way. “As an older student, it was really rewarding to say ‘I’ve made all of the mistakes so you don’t have to,’” says Wiese, who was a teaching assistant for Judge Lynn Duryee ’79 in her Civil Procedure class, an experience he calls one of his most rewarding at USF. “I was able to engage with a lot of students on a personal level, not only on how to do civil procedure but also things to consider when they think about their careers.” In Judge Duryee, Wiese found a mentor. So, too, was Wiese inspired by Professor Daniel Lathrope, whose class on federal income tax ignited in Wiese a desire to guard clients' assets. Wiese served as president of the Estate Planning and Tax Society, through which he made many connections to USF's alumni network. “I think one thing that really sets USF apart is that as a student, if you call up an alumnus, you can bet the graduate on the other end of the phone is going to help you or put you in touch with someone who can,” says Wiese. “My first connection to Deloitte was an alum who talked about being a tax lawyer. That really inspired me and confirmed what I was thinking in terms of career.” Wiese went on to intern at Deloitte, and after he finishes his LLM in Taxation, he will start full time in the company’s private wealth and tax controversy group. 

EVERY GIFT COUNTS

Support Scholarships at USF School of Law

Provost Scholarships — and all USF Law scholarships — encourage bright, accomplished students to choose USF Law over the many other law schools that have admitted them. When you invest in a USF Law student, you are investing in the future of the law. And you are making it possible for USF to enroll the strongest applicants.

MAKE A GIFT TODAY TO SUPPORT ALL OF USF LAW’S SCHOLARSHIPS: usfca.edu/makeagift/law USFCA.EDU/LAW

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BEYOND THE MUSIC THIS USF LAWYER WALKS THE LEADING EDGE OF ENTERTAINMENT LAW BY SAMANTHA BRONSON

Who knew that an electronic music producer and DJ named

OBSESSED WITH MUSIC

Marshmello could stream a live concert, during an online video

“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved music,” Binder said. “I wanted

game called Fortnite, and draw more than 10 million people?

to work in the music business. I didn't want to be an agent or a

And who knew that Marshmello would become a Fortnite

manager, and I knew I wasn't talented enough to be an artist. My

game character?

dad is a lawyer, and I had always seen myself practicing law. By

Josh Binder ’01 knew.

combining law and music, I was able to follow my passion and

Such a boundary-blurring event was only the latest for Binder,

utilize my talents.”

the music attorney whose clients cross the lines between music and social media. Marshmello, for his part, is not only a top 10 artist on Spotify but also has a top Instagram account and top

and trademark. After his 2L year, Binder interned in the legal

YouTube channels.

department at Sony Music and hoped to land there after grad-

“My job in this constantly evolving industry is to find solutions

uation. The problem? It was 2001. Napster was disrupting the

and new ways of doing things for my clients,” Binder said. “So I

music industry, and the industry was contracting rapidly. No one

always look at situations from every vantage point.”

was hiring music attorneys.

Binder’s client roster also includes Kendrick Lamar, the Pulitzer

22

Binder’s vision was always clear, but his path wasn’t. In law school, he took classes on intellectual property law, copyright,

Undeterred, Binder opened his own firm out of his West

Prize–winning rapper; the singer SZA; Latin chart topper Daddy

Hollywood apartment. Binder describes those early years as

Yankee; country artist Cam; and the production company Kids

lean, with no superstar clients, just those who one day could be.

at Play. Binder, who’s been named one of the music industry’s

“If I had a $5,000 legal fee, I was thrilled,” he said. He found his

top lawyers by Billboard Magazine, last year launched his own

clients any way he could, relying on his ear to go after artists he

firm, Rothenberg, Mohr & Binder LLP, with offices in Beverly

believed would be successful. Binder learned as he practiced,

Hills, New York, and Miami.

always aiming to build value for his clients in some way.

USF SCHOOL OF LAW


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LOYAL TO CLIENTS

Binder said. “I look at the business from

That dedication earned him clients, including

a different perspective and am not bound

Lamar, who remains loyal to this day. Binder

by the ways things have always been done.

managed Lamar’s first record deal, his first

Just because something is the 'usual' way of

publishing deal, and continues to handle all

doing things doesn't make it the only way to

of his transactions. Binder even accompanied

do it. If a client wants to approach something

Lamar when he visited the White House on

differently and try something new, I can help

the Fourth of July in 2016.

them realize their vision because I come from

“I have loyal clients who have been with

an independent mindset.”

me for more than a decade. Those clients are the reason I’m here,” Binder said.

OPEN TO THE FUTURE

“We’ve built loyalty, a relationship, and

Binder credits his time at USF School of Law

that experience of running and building a

with instilling an expectation of quality in all

I LEARNED ABOUT DEDICATION TO DOING THINGS RIGHT AND THE NEED TO PUT IN THE KIND OF EFFORT THAT SEPARATES ME FROM THE REST OF THE GROUP business together. I’ve watched as they have

that students did. That emphasis, he said, has

become moguls and unparalleled leaders in

translated to working hard in everything he

the business.”

does. “I look back at USF and think I learned

When Binder’s business took off and the actual running of the firm took too much

need to put in the kind of effort that separates

time, he joined a boutique music firm as

me from the rest of the group,” he said.

partner. He stayed there for about six years

At 44, Binder already knows the type of

before betting on himself again, this time

impact he hopes to have during his career.

with two other music attorneys as partners.

“You want to impact culture,” he said. “You

The new firm, which is 90 percent music

want to be a part of culture-changing artists.

and 100 percent transactional, just hired its

The job of an artist is to make people feel,

eighth attorney.

to make people think, and to make people

This time around, clients seek out Binder.

expand the way they see the world. My job

Yet his approach remains the same — add

is successful if I’m part of teams of artists

value and build his clients’ businesses in

that help make that happen.”

innovative ways. “I wasn’t raised in the music business, so I don’t approach things in the same light”

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about dedication to doing things right and the

USF SCHOOL OF LAW

And for Binder’s clients, that may be through video games, on social media, or on other yet-to-be-discovered avenues. 


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ALUMNI NEWS CLASS NOTES ’67

Hon. LeRoy A. Simmons has joined JAMS, the largest private provider of alternative dispute resolution services worldwide, as a panel member.

’68

Michael Cooper was included

in the 2019 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Cooper is a partner at Oakland-based law firm Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean LLP.

’71

Robert J. Spjut wrote

Transaction Risk: A Legal Guide to Contractual Management Strategies, published by the American Bar Association.

’76

Patricia Gillette has been appointed to the YWCA national board.

Hon. Martin Jenkins was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to be the judicial appointments secretary for California.

’77

Dale Nelson joined Donaldson and Callif LLP as a partner.

Dale Brodsky has been

reappointed to the California Fair Employment and Housing Council, on which she has served since 2013.

’79

Hon. Gary Nadler was named the Best Judge in Sonoma County in

USF School of Law is proud to welcome five new members to the Board of Governors, a group of committed alumni who provide leadership to sustain an active alumni community. The Board of Governors participates in key law school functions, campaigns and special endeavors, and offers advice and counsel to the law school administration. Matthew A. Chivvis ’07

Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP, San Francisco Kevin Jackson ’14

Associate attorney, Aaron, Riechert, Carpol & Riffle, APC, Redwood City Ely Juarez ’03

Legal, Spotify, San Francisco Bambo Obaro ’09

Associate, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, Redwood Shores Jennifer Sta.Ana ’15

Trial attorney, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor, San Francisco

USF SCHOOL OF LAW

’80

Michael Mehr received the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s 2019 Sam Williamson Mentor Award in acknowledgment of his role mentoring immigration attorneys.

Five Alumni Join Board of Governors

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the Best of the North Bay 2018 poll by the North Bay Bohemian.

’84 ’85

’87

David Tate has been appointed chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco Business Law Section.

’89

Elona Baum, a managing director of DEFTA Partners, joined the board of directors of BioEclipse Therapeutics, a private clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.

’90

been elected board chair of The Presidio Trust.

Alicia Fowler has been appointed chief counsel of the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

’86

’92

William Ellison Grayson has

Dominica C. Anderson has been appointed to the Duane Morris LLP executive committee. Peter S. Doody, of Higgs Fletcher &

Mack LLP in San Diego, was honored as San Diego Defense Lawyer of the Year by San Diego Defense Lawyers. He is the outgoing president of the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel. Kevin Holl, a partner at Gordon-Creed,

Kelley, Holl & Sugerman, has been appointed to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. Carol Langford commented on the

ethics of conflicts of interest in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article “Atlanta task force member quits over potential conflicts of interest.” Renée Welze Livingston, the founding member of Livingston Law Firm in Walnut Creek, was approved for fellowship in the International Society of Barristers. She will become president of the Association of Defense Counsel of Northern California and Nevada in December 2020.

Lori Brown has been promoted to executive vice president, chief legal officer, and general counsel of Employers, which provides workers’ compensation insurance and services to small businesses.

Craig Simmons joined Oh My Green, a tech-based, conciergestyle provider of healthy food and wellness services for corporations, as chief of human evolution.

’93

Amer Moorhead joined Tradeshift as senior vice president, chief legal officer, and general counsel. Chinh H. Pham, chair of Greenberg Traurig’s emerging technology group, and co-chair of the firm’s intellectual property group in Boston, was recognized as a 2019 Technology Law Trailblazer by The National Law Journal.

’94

Wendi Okun is now of counsel for the law firm Ragen Swan Continued on page 28


Balancing the Scales As president of the Bar Association of San Francisco, Doris Cheng ’98 is focused on bringing more women into trial law Doris Cheng ’98 has an ambitious goal as the newly elected president of the Bar Association of San Francisco: Increase the number of women trial attorneys. “Over the years, I’ve been involved with a lot of programs and organizations and I’m often asked, ‘Where are the other women trial lawyers?’” said Cheng, a shareholder at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger. “After having been asked that same question so many times, it seems obvious that our profession needs to grow them.” Cheng plans to do exactly that through her Women In Trial Initiative. Following a learning-by-doing model, the initiative will host two-day trial skills training courses aimed primarily at women and minority attorneys. Taught by judges and experienced trial lawyers, the courses will offer lectures on topics such as opening statements, closing arguments, and direct and cross examination, and attendees will have workshops where they’ll receive instant feedback on their performances. Attorneys who take the course will be asked to take on one pro bono case within the year. The idea, said Cheng, is to have those attorneys put their trial skills to use right away. Ranked one of the top 50 women lawyers in Northern California by Super Lawyers, Cheng has won multimillion dollar settlements and verdicts on behalf of disabled plaintiffs, including a $13.5 million settlement for a man who suffered severe brain damage due to carbon monoxide poisoning. She also has trained trial lawyers and judges in Mexico, Kosovo, Macedonia, and beyond, and codirects USF School of Law’s Intensive Advocacy Program. “My desire to balance the inequality and disparity between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ stems from my Jesuit education at USF,” Cheng said.

Doris Cheng ’98 mentoring students in USF’s Intensive Advocacy Program, which she codirects

“It is a value that is culturally ingrained at USF. The faculty and leadership at the law school constantly promote the goal of using our law degrees to improve our society so that the law adequately serves the very people subject to it. The practice of law requires a fundamental love for people and a desire to serve justice.” Her focus on diversifying the profession taps into her own experiences as a female attorney. While she’s always felt supported by her firm, she knows the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated realm — for a while, she was the firm’s only female attorney and for 12 years was the only female partner. Over the years, she’s dealt with plenty of issues with disrespectful men, from the male opposing counsel who refused to address her by name to the male opposing counsel who reached across the table to grab her handwritten notes during a deposition.

“My desire to balance the inequality and disparity between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ stems from my Jesuit education at USF.” — Doris Cheng ’98 “The need for diverse legal representation is ever more important in a climate where diversity, race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation are at the heart of controversy,” Cheng said. “We need greater diversity in the courtroom where women and people of color will not be held back, and we need partners and peers to promote their presence in that arena.” 

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ALUMNI NEWS

Saveri Family and Hon. Robert Foiles ’84 Honored at Alumni Graduates Reception

PLLC, after working as an in-house counsel for public technology companies, most recently with Microsoft. Jennifer Shaw was featured in the

Sacramento Business Journal as one of the “Women Who Mean Business” honorees.

’95

Jessica Grant obtained a defense verdict on behalf of her client in a $25 million California jury trial that was featured in the Law.com article “Daily Dicta: What Happened When Juror No. 10 Went Rogue.” Tamara Lawson has been appointed dean of St. Thomas University School of Law, where she has served as a professor and associate dean of academic affairs, and was previously acting dean.

From left: Lisa Saveri ’83, Guido Saveri ’50, Richard Saveri ’94, and Dean Susan Freiwald USF School of Law welcomed the Class of 2019 into the ranks of alumni at the Alumni Graduates Reception on May 15 at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco. The event celebrated not only the recent graduates, but also outstanding alumni and faculty, including Guido Saveri ’50, Lisa Saveri ’83, Richard Saveri ’94, and Hon. Robert Foiles ’84. For the first time, the Donald L. Carano ’59 Alumnus of the Year Award was shared by three alumni: Guido Saveri ’50 and two of his children, Lisa Saveri ’83 and Richard Saveri ’94, all of Saveri & Saveri, the antitrust law firm in San Francisco. “Saveri & Saveri specializes in complex, multidistrict, and class action litigation, and Guido Saveri is one of the most respected and recognized antitrust lawyers in the country,” said Dean Susan Freiwald. “Guido has participated in more than 100 antitrust actions. He has testified before the federal judiciary committee on antitrust issues and is a frequent and highly sought-after lecturer on antitrust, corporate, and complex litigation issues.” Michelle Sklar, assistant dean of development and external relations, added, “In addition to their impressive professional accomplishments, the Saveris have given hundreds and hundreds of hours of service to the USF School of Law, have hosted students at antitrust events, and have hired at least 100 USF Law graduates.” Several other awards were presented during the evening, including the Professor John Adler

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USF SCHOOL OF LAW

Distinguished Professor Award to Prof. Julie Nice for the fifth time. Adjunct Prof. Sasha Cummings was honored with the Hon. Ira A. Brown Jr. Distinguished Adjunct Professor Award, and Alexander Johnson ’19 and Sara Igdari LLM ’19 received the Andersen Tax Award. Foiles ’84 received the John J. Meehan ’59 Alumni Fellow Award for Mentorship, given to an alumnus who has shown a special commitment to mentoring future USF lawyers. Hon. Foiles worked in the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office for more than a dozen years before Gov. Pete Wilson appointed him to the San Mateo County Superior Court. Over the past 22 years, Foiles has presided over 100 civil and criminal trials and was repeatedly elected presiding judge by his colleagues. “Judge Foiles has done so much to give back to our law community,” said Dean Freiwald. “He has been a champion of the Alumni Mentor Program and gone above and beyond with his mentees, including facilitating introductions to his colleagues on the bench and generating judicial internships for USF Law students.” The USF School of Law acknowledges event sponsors Hanson Bridgett LLP, the Brandi Law Firm, and the Arns Law Firm, who support the law school and its students in many ways. 

William Rowell joined Wendel, Rosen,

Black & Dean LLP as a partner in its litigation practice group.

’96

Betsy Lawrence received the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s 2019 Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award for excellence in advancing the practice of immigration law. Lawrence is counsel for the Immigration and Citizenship Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. Suzanne Passalacqua joined Carrick Capital Partners as senior vice president of the operations execution group.

’97

Hon. Joseph J. Burghardt was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. He was previously a deputy public defender at the Los Angeles County public defender’s office. Keith R. Gillette joined Bullivant Houser Bailey PC’s casualty law practice group as a partner in its San Francisco office.


Stefan Lawrence joined the legal

Michael Shuster has joined

department of First Republic Bank in San Francisco to lead its deposits and bank operations section.

Goodwin’s life sciences team as a partner in San Francisco.

Cooley in its compensation and benefits practice.

Lisa Barnett Sween has been named office managing principal in the San Francisco office of Jackson Lewis P.C.

Kamili Moreland is the first African

Hon. Kandis A. Westmore was

American woman to be appointed general counsel and corporate secretary of AAA Northern California, Nevada, and Utah.

featured in the Mercury News article “Government can’t force people to unlock phones using facial recognition, fingerprints: federal judge.”

Blake Martell is now a partner at

’98

John Langan was named Lake Shaina Colover was

appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the Orange County Superior Court. Colover was most recently of counsel at the Law Offices of Ronald B. Schwartz, APC. Audie de Castro was elected president of the San Diego Consular Corps. Anna Dubrovsky was nominated for

Trial Lawyer of the Year by the San Francisco Trial Lawyer Association.

County Superior Court commissioner. Todd Toral was featured in the ABA Journal discussing the USS Cole bombing trial.

’99

Jennifer Duffy, partner and certified family law specialist with Fell, Marking, Abkin, Montgomery, Granet & Raney, LLP, was named Continued on page 30

Justice Rules Alumnus brings humility and humanity to the Sonoma County Superior Court Each time the Hon. Christopher Honigsberg ’05 enters the courtroom, he sees his role as twofold: 1) Handle the cases before him; 2) Ensure that the public knows he’s not a bully. “As a judge, it is really important to me to be patient and respectful of everyone, especially the litigants and members of the public,” Honigsberg said. “I think people who are not used to court are often intimidated in court or have a preconceived notion of how a judge acts based on TV or movies. I want to make sure everyone leaves feeling heard and respected. It is important that the public have trust in the judiciary, and each judge plays a role in ensuring the public trust.” Appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the Sonoma County Superior Court in 2018 at age 38, Honigsberg was one of the youngest judges appointed in recent memory. He is currently assigned to a felony trial department and also sits as one of three judges on the appellate division of the Superior Court. “Judge Honigsberg has been an excellent addition to the Sonoma County bench,” said Presiding Judge Gary Nadler ‘79. “He is well prepared, thoughtful, and well received by counsel on both sides of the table.” Before his appointment, Honigsberg was a Sonoma County deputy district attorney, handling several high-profile cases. He began his career in 2006 as a prosecutor in Tulare County. Honigsberg’s interest in criminal law extends back to his time as a law student when he co-founded the Criminal Law Society as a 2L. He also was involved in student government during his third year and participated in various advocacy competitions as a member of the trial competition team. In classes and in activities, Honigsberg said there was a common goal that ran through USF: Use the law for good and in a just manner. “USF focused a lot on using the power of the law for social good and to benefit society, and that extends to all areas of the law,” Honigsberg said. “Improving criminal justice, for example, does not mean exclusively being a defense attorney or an attorney for the ACLU. Prosecutors wield a lot of power, and using that power in a just and

thoughtful manner is very important. USF helps to instill that thoughtful nature in every student.” As an alumnus, Honigsberg mentors a 1L through the Alumni Mentor Program, occasionally sits as a judge for moot court, and serves on a panel of judges who speak with 1L students about preparing for court. Such involvement is his way of giving back to the school that he credits with providing a strong foundation for his success through the combination of its social justice emphasis and its focus on hands-on training.

“It is important that the public have trust in the judiciary, and each individual judge plays a role in ensuring the public trust.” — Hon. Christopher Honigsberg ’05 “USF teaches the practical aspects of being a lawyer, not just the theoretical,” he said. “USF taught me the nuts and bolts of being a good trial lawyer, which helped me advance within different offices, try complex and difficult cases, get good results, and be fortunate enough to be appointed to the bench.” 

USFCA.EDU/LAW 29


ALUMNI NEWS the Dream Foundation’s Volunteer of the Year for 2018 for her work with the organization’s Flower Empower program.

Mary Piasta is the first woman

Guillermo Escobedo, principal at Jackson Lewis P.C., has been named office litigation manager in San Diego. He was recently appointed vice president of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association.

’00

Liz Fouts was promoted to assistant vice president and associate counsel for legal and compliance at Standard Insurance Company, where she will continue to oversee the legal transactions team, as well as legal operations.

’01

Kirsten Daru was named a 2018 National Women in Law honoree by Corporate Counsel. Linda Kim was named inaugural

executive director of corporate social responsibility at One Legal, pioneering the legal tech firm’s national philanthropic endeavors. Todd Pickles joined Greenberg

Traurig’s Sacramento office. Amanda Riddle has received the San Mateo County Bar Association’s Elinor Falvey Award for her service to female lawyers and the San Mateo legal community.

’02

Heidi Mayon joined Goodwin Proctor LLP as a partner in the firm’s Silicon Valley office, practicing corporate and securities law.

Martha McQuarrie became the family

law facilitator of Del Norte County.

’03

Yesenia Gallegos joined McDermott Will & Emery as partner in its employment practice group in Los Angeles. She had previously been a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP.

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USF SCHOOL OF LAW

partner in Sonoma’s oldest law practice, Haeuser, Valluzzo & Piasta LLP.

’08

’12

Christina Gagnier has been elected to the Chino Valley School Board.

Corey Cabral was elevated to senior counsel at Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP.

’04

Madeleine Gully was selected as

Phong-Chau Nguyen was recognized

Jeanna Steele is now general counsel of Sunrun, a residential solar electricity company.

one of The Recorder’s 2018 Women Leaders in Tech Law in the Next Generation Leaders category.

by Benchmark Litigation on its 40 and Under Hot List. Nguyen is a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein.

’05

Pavel Krepkiy LLM was nominated

Leuwam Tesfai has been appointed technical advisor II at the California Public Utilities Commission, where she previously served as interim chief of staff to Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma.

Joshua de Larios-Heiman

was chair of the California Lawyers Association Business Law Section’s Internet and Privacy Committee for the 2018–2019 term. Jan Kotous LLM became a partner in

the Prague office of Deloitte Legal. Holly Schaitberger is president of the Queen’s Bench Bar Association.

’06

David J. Benoun was appointed city manager by the Newark City Council, after serving as the city attorney for the past six years.

Kate Chatfield wrote an article for

the Los Angeles Times on wrongful convictions with Prof. Lara Bazelon. She was also mentioned in Jamal Trulove’s Huffington Post essay, “I Was Framed by the Police and Sentenced to 50 Years to Life. Here’s How I Got Free” for her role in his release and settlement. Kelly Fair is now director of

legal, USA, for Canopy Growth Corporation. She was previously a partner at Dentons in San Francisco. Karlene Navarro was appointed

director of the Sonoma County Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

’07

David Xue joined the intellectual property group at Rimon PC’s Silicon Valley office.

for Trial Lawyer of the Year by the San Francisco Trial Lawyer Association. Hannah Seigel Proff opened Proff

Law, LLC, in Denver, focusing on juvenile advocacy and criminal defense.

’09

Cameron Cloar-Zavaleta

joined Alaska Airlines as director and senior attorney, litigation. Previously, he was director and senior attorney at American Airlines in Fort Worth, Texas. Aldo Ibarra was elevated to partner at Nixon Peabody LLP in San Francisco. Lauren Lichtblau became a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Katy Young was featured in the

Silicon Valley Business Journal discussing the legalization of marijuana and was recognized by Benchmark Litigation on its 40 and Under Hot List. Young is a partner at Ad Astra Law Group.

’10

Christopher de la Vega

joined Buynak, Fauver, Archbald & Spray in Santa Barbara, where he concentrates on civil and public litigation.

’11

Devin Kinyon has been named director of the Office of Academic and Bar Success at the Santa Clara University School of Law.

’13

Lindsay Freeman authored “Law in Conflict: The Technological Transformation of War and Its Consequences for the International Criminal Court” in the New York University Journal of International Law and Politics. Tomasene Knight is now an associate attorney at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. Yaniv Newman was appointed chair of the construction law section for the San Diego County Bar Association. Newman is an associate at Sullivan Hill.

’14

Mark Griffin joined Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP as a staff attorney in its San Francisco office.

Lydia Hsu cofounded Foster Hsu, LLP, a family law practice in San Jose.

’15

WookSun “Phil” Hong received an award for outstanding services for a barrister from the Alameda County Bar Association. Hong became a new member of its Lawyer Referral Service governing committee. Diane Klein LLM wrote “United States

v. Davis and Prof. Cain’s Rewritten Opinion: An Intersectional Argument for Capping Section 1041” in the Pittsburgh Tax Review.


’16

Brandon Kahoush joined

Fisher Phillips as an associate in San Francisco. He was previously at Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck LLP.

In Memoriam John Fitzsimmons ’57, May 2019 Michael Farrah BS ’61, JD ’64,

December 2018

’17

Deborah P. Ibonwa is now an associate attorney at Petruccelli, Martin & Haddow in Portland, Maine.

Briana Jones won the national Young

Tax Professional of the Year 2018 Competition hosted by EY. Carole Okolowicz received the Marin Trial Lawyers Association’s 2019 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award for her first trial.

’18

Michael V. McQuiller published an article in the DePaul Journal for Social Justice on gun control reform.

Upcoming Events Save the dates to join us at USF School of Law events. Get more information at usfca.edu/law/events or by emailing lawevents@usfca.edu

Barry Langberg ’64, October 2018

Hamill Lecture — State Killing: An Inevitable, Inescapable Consequence OCTOBER 30

Dennis Joseph Healy Jr. ’68, March 2019

San Francisco

Stephen Schrey ’74, September 2018

Alumni Holiday Mixer DECEMBER 3

Stephen J. Staples ’76, August 2019

San Francisco

Marian McClendon ’79, November 2018

STAY CONNECTED We would love to know where your degree has taken you, and share with you the latest news and alumni activities at USF. usfca.edu/law/alumni/classnotes

Law Review Symposium — Access to Justice in the Contemporary Workplace* JANUARY 31 San Francisco

16th Annual Jack Pemberton Lecture on Workplace Justice* MARCH 12 San Francisco * MCLE available

Alumni Holiday Mixer December 3 • 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. The City Club of San Francisco RSVP today at rsvp.usfca.edu/law-holiday

USFCA.EDU/LAW 31


CLOSING ARGUMENT The New Job Description for In-House Attorneys Redefining What It Means to Be an Attorney in a Newly Legal (or Illegal) Space By Denai Neilander ’15 From an early age, I’ve been interested in how society regulates “vices.” My father, a former gaming regulator in Nevada, instilled in me a desire to understand the confines of the law as applied to morality. I began my journey into cannabis law while finishing law school, when my now-husband co-founded a cannabis mobile app startup. Think Groupon meets Weedmaps. As I helped him navigate the formation of such a company, I was shocked to find that many mainstream legal and financial services were unavailable to assist with foundational issues for a technology company operating in the cannabis space.

Leaping into the unknown Fast-forward a few years and his company had gone out of business due to an inability to be listed on any app store, and I was at a firm that refused to take on cannabis clients. I started interviewing at PAX Labs and found the idea of working at a technology company in the cannabis space to be wildly exciting. The people seemed passionate about the product, and I was excited to be a part of something more cutting-edge. I decided to leave the safety of my firm job and venture into the cannabis device world. Little did I know what I was getting into. In my first week at the company, the CEO left. Then cannabis was legalized for adult use in California. Over the last two years, PAX has gone from operating in a handful of states and 30 employees, to 33 states and more than 250 employees. Working at PAX has afforded me the opportunity to learn about complex issues in the consumer electronics, hardware, software, and mobile application space, layered with the challenges and uncertainty of cannabis.

32

to health and safety concerns. As the industry changes and evolves, we continue to refine our policies to ensure we’re ahead of the curve.

Building a framework to scale Since I joined PAX, we’ve grown exponentially, and many traditional legal processes have been difficult to scale. Learning new technology and embracing new systems has been make-or-break; in my experience, the quicker an attorney can be established as open to learning new technology to interface with the business, the more likely the business will approach them proactively and view the attorney as a true partner and teammate. One of the most challenging issues has been contract review and generation. We’ve tested numerous “new” legal tools to combat these historic start-up issues. Contract overflow law firms and subscription models have proven very useful in understanding the volume of contract work. Flat-fee models for monthly legal services have also allowed us to minimize in-house attorney time monitoring external counsel fees.

Working at PAX has afforded me the opportunity to learn about complex issues ... layered with the challenges and uncertainty of cannabis.

Defining standards in a standardless space

When taking risks yields huge rewards

Tasked with understanding PAX’s entry into new markets within the U.S., I was quickly confronted with a glaring dearth of standards and rules. As a non-nicotine vaporizer company, there were, and remain, very few directly applicable rules for our company. Where to begin? In order to gain a foundational understanding of all applicable rules, my team and I reviewed every state cannabis program in the U.S. We took the most rigorous state-level rules in the industry and built internal standards that mirrored them, to ensure compliance across various states. Further, we looked to other industries such as alcohol and tobacco to create policies that are proactive in nature to deal with common cross-industry issues, ranging from advertising

I find myself continuing to encounter new challenges daily that require creative and nontraditional legal solutions. But I also have so much pride in my ability to make an impact and help shape this emerging industry. Yes, I’ve taken huge risks to practice in a space that has yet to be legalized on the federal level. But more importantly, I’ve experienced the most profound reward, as I’ve continued to grow professionally and as a person, working with like-minded individuals to establish cannabis as a force for good. n

USF SCHOOL OF LAW

Denai Neilander ’15 is managing regulatory and compliance counsel at PAX Labs.


TURN GENEROSITY INTO OPPORTUNITY “ I love what I do, and I am grateful to the faculty and classmates who helped me along this path. I see my role on the Board of Governors and my annual gift to the Law Assembly Fund as a tangible way I can give back to my law school and help the next generation of USF Law graduates succeed.” Simron Gill ’12 Counsel, Intellectual Property | Content Legal, Netflix

GIVING TO THE LAW ASSEMBLY MEANS YOU DIRECTLY AFFECT: • Scholarship support • USF Law’s public interest summer program

• Clinics enhancement and operations • The new Academic and Bar Exam Success (ABES) program

Last year, more than 600 donors contributed an average of $615 to the Law Assembly. Donations over the past five years total close to $2 million.

EVERY GIFT COUNTS. MAKE YOURS TODAY. usfca.edu/law/giving


The Koret Law Center 2130 Fulton Street San Francisco, CA 94117-1080

C H A N G E S E R V I C E R EQ U E S T E D

THEN AND NOW The class of 1969 returned to Kendrick Hall this summer to celebrate its 50th reunion. Alumni and their guests gathered in the rotunda, sharing remembrances from law school and catching up on each other’s professional and personal lives.


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