USF Lawyer Magazine Fall 2021

U N I V E R S I T Y O F S A N F R A N C I S C O S C H O O L O F L AW • FA L L 2 0 2 1

A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN I’m so grateful to be able to write this message from my office in Kendrick Hall, with a view of St. Ignatius Church from my window and the hum of hard-working law students just outside my door. We have reopened our doors after a long time away, and with true USF community spirit, our returning students are helping guide the new-to-campus 1Ls and 2Ls. Many months of planning preceded the transition back to in-person learning, and we are now doing all we can to be flexible, creative, and resilient in the face of a still-evolving pandemic. Our students continually impressed me these past 18+ months.

Their flexibility and grit were especially evident when the Class of 2020 tackled the first-ever online California Bar Exam, after multiple delays postponed it from July to October. I hope you will enjoy reading about several recent graduates’ personal experiences and triumphs from that time (page 12).

Today, our country continues to contend with entrenched issues such as racial injustice, police brutality, and increased violence against members of the Asian-American Pacific Islander communities.

I am so proud of and grateful for our alumni who are effecting positive change in these areas; Marshal Arnwine Jr. ’18, Hillary Blout ’06, and Dean Ito Taylor ’75 truly make justice their mission (page 22).

Alumna Amy Van Prooyen ’99 also focuses her drive, energy, and talents on the betterment of society. Amy serves as legal counsel and head of communications for Verndari, a biotech firm on the cutting-edge of vaccine development and distribution techniques (page 18). Amy’s impressive career is just one example of the many ways our alumni have drawn upon their JDs to build innovative and fulfilling professional lives.

This year we mark the conclusion of the decades-long tenures of two esteemed colleagues. Professors Jack Garvey and Bob Talbot, both pioneers in their fields, have trained generations of excellent, skilled USF lawyers, and our school has benefited enormously from their myriad contributions (page 8). Notwithstanding their upcoming retirements, Jack and Bob have assured me that they “won’t be strangers” and will join us at future community gatherings.

The efforts, care, and commitment of our alumni, faculty, and staff continue to guide my leadership of the law school. I thank you for your ongoing partnership and support and look forward to seeing you this academic year.

PAUL J. FITZGERALD, S.J. University President CHINYERE OPARAH Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs SUSAN FREIWALD Dean and Professor of Law AMY FLYNN Associate Dean for Academic Affairs STEPHANIE CARLOS Assistant Dean for Student Affairs ALICE KASWAN Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship TINA BURGELMAN Senior Director for Development SHELLI FYFE Editor

Susan Freiwald Dean

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CONTENTS FALL • 2021

DEPARTMENTS

2 IN BRIEF Welcome Tina Burgelman The Next Generation of Legal Tax Professionals Alegna Gómez ’22 Is One to Watch

8 FACULTY FOCUS Decades of Dedication

26 ALUMNI NEWS Class Notes Justice Martin Jenkins ’80 Appointed to California Supreme Court

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USF Lawyers Win Award for Professional Excellence

MEETING THE MOMENT Diary of a Law School Pandemic

32 CLOSING ARGUMENT

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AT THE INTERSECTION

FOR THESE ALUMS, IT’S PERSONAL

Amy Van Prooyen ’99, a pioneer in litigation communication, brings her expertise to the vaccine world.

Reformers Marshal Arnwine Jr. ’18, Hillary Blout ’06, and Dean Ito Taylor ’75 make justice their mission.

A Voice for the Voiceless: Logan Tillema ’15

ON THE COVER: Celebrating the resilience, grit, and determination of the Class of 2020.

Illustration by Tim Durning.

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IN BRIEF Welcome Tina Burgelman, Senior Development Director

“I could very clearly see the social justice mission and how that is intertwined in everything they do.”

For Tina Burgelman, working in development and fundraising is about inspiration.

Burgelman, who started as the new senior development director at the School of Law on March 1, says she enjoys speaking with members of the USF Law community about what inspires them, so she can turn around and have “inspired conversations with donors.”

“It’s just learning about what motivates people and helping connect them to the world they want to create,” Burgelman said. “That, in a nutshell, is my job. And I love that.”

While she may be a fresh face in the Koret Law Center, Burgelman isn’t new to USF. In addition to working toward her MA in organizational development (Class of 2022), Burgelman transferred to the law school position from the university’s Gift Officer team, where she supported the School of Education for two years.

“I’m excited to be a part of the School of Law community, to get to know people whom maybe we haven’t gotten to engage in the past and create close relationships.”

USF Law Dean Susan Freiwald said she has seen in Burgelman “a true gift for finding those stories that can foster connection.”

A focus on mission Burgelman has always had a bend toward mission-driven work. She had various leadership positions with organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, the San Francisco Muscular Dystrophy Association, Habitat

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for Humanity Greater San Francisco, and Human Rights Watch. Joining USF in 2019 was her first step into higher education, and she admits that she was initially nervous about the transition.

“But with the School of Education, I could very clearly see the social justice mission and how that is intertwined in everything they do,” Burgelman said, “and I’ve already had that same experience in the School of Law.” The third-generation Filipino-American credits the roots of her interest in helping others to her grandfather, who came to the U.S. when he was 19. Even when he was a student with very little income and was working multiple jobs, he would send money home to his community in the Philippines to help fund education.

“He never forgot about his community,” she said.

Volunteering through it all It should come as no surprise, then, that volunteering and community engagement is a big part of Burgelman’s identity. In her first year at USF, she served as a co-mentor through the President’s Advisory Committee on the Status of Women, was a mentor with the Muscat Scholars Program, and joined the Ignatian group People for Others.

She is also the 2nd Vice-President of the parent-teacher board for St. Thomas the Apostle School and is a committee member at the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families. n

The Next Generation of Legal Tax Professionals

Mark and Liz Vorsatz, together with Andersen and the Andersen Foundation, have pledged $1 million in support of the USF School of Law graduate tax programs. Mr. Vorsatz is the chairman and CEO of Andersen, and served as the law school’s 2019 E. L. Wiegand Fellow.

“Our synergistic partnership with Andersen continues to grow,” said Susan Freiwald, Dean of the School of Law. “We are honored that Andersen and the Vorsatz family value our partnership and program, and their generous gift helps USF Law maintain the highest level of legal taxation education.”

For close to a decade, many of Andersen’s 6,000 associates worldwide have had the opportunity to enroll in USF Law’s graduate

tax programs through flexible, online classes, and with the firm funding tuition.

“This partnership is a vital component to developing our employees, who get the opportunity to master their understanding of the field under the guidance of esteemed faculty members like Daniel Lathrope and Joshua Rosenberg,” Mr. Vorsatz said. “The USF Law graduate tax degrees provide a key differentiator for our professionals, and we support the law school’s efforts to enhance and expand the program.”

Professors Lathrope and Rosenberg have inspired numerous law students to follow careers in taxation throughout their distinguished careers. Lathrope, the academic director of the graduate tax program, is the E .L. Wiegand Distinguished Professor in Tax. Rosenberg, who has taught at the law school for more than 35 years, also has expertise in alternative dispute resolution and human behavior and psychology.

Both professors have written scholarly articles and treatises on taxation and are the co-author of the nation’s leading casebooks in corporate tax, partnership tax, and the taxation of business enterprises.

Mark and Liz Vorsatz’s ties to USF go beyond the professional.

Their daughter, Tory, is an EdD candidate in the School of Education, and Mark’s father and brothers all graduated from USF. Additionally, Frank Cassidy LLM ’16, partner and managing director of Andersen’s San Francisco office, is a member of USF Law’s Board of Counselors, the group of experienced lawyers and professionals who provide critical advice to the dean on questions of strategy and sources of funding. n

Keeping It Local: Post-Bar Fellowships

Two recent USF Law graduates have won a fellowship that allows them to spend five months working with local public interest organizations.

Jennifer Fair ’21 and Jordan Hameen ’21 were among 27 Bay Area students to receive the 2021 Public Interest Law Post-Graduate Bar Fellowship from the Legal Service Funders Network (LSFN).

Fair will work with the San Francisco organization Jubilee Immigration Advocates,

which provides affordable immigration legal services and handles a range of cases, including humanitarian relief for survivors of abuse and violence. Hameen, meanwhile, will work with Start Small Think Big, an Oakland-based company that provides legal assistance to small businesses with a focus on using entrepreneurship as a path to socioeconomic mobility.

Co-founded in 2014 by USF Law alumna Claire Solot ’92, LSFN works with Bay Area legal service organizations, with a focus on alleviating poverty.

When the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the 2020 California Bar Exam by several months, LSFN created the Post Graduate Legal Fellows Program to help recent graduates by connecting them with local

legal organizations. After a successful first year, LSFN decided to renew the fellowship in 2021.

“I know so many recent graduates who are in the same position as I am, trying to figure out what to do after the bar,” Hameen said. “There are so many ways that this fellowship can help.”

Both graduates said they are grateful to USF Law staff who clued them into the LSFN fellowship—for Fair, career adviser Traci Sharpe, and for Hameen, Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Clinic professor Jessica Fajfar—noting that they hope more USF students apply to the fellowship in the future. n

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ONE TO WATCH: ALEGNA GÓMEZ ’22 As an eighth grader, Alegna Gómez ’22 witnessed her aunt unsuccessfully pursue the adoption of a child. An immigrant from Central America, Gómez’s aunt did not have the financial resources for legal representation, and the lack of Spanish-speaking attorneys to assist in navigating the process made the experience difficult and heartbreaking. This early memory solidified Gómez’s resolve to go to law school and pursue a JD, with the goal of giving back to her community.

An Academic Support Program (ASP) student in her 1L year, Gómez’s involvement in law school activities includes serving as an ASP torts tutor during her second year, as co-president of the Latinx Law Students Association, and this academic year, as editor-in-chief of the USF Law Review (Vol. 56, 2021–present). This past summer, Gómez externed for two federal judges at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Northern District of California and was recognized as a 2021 Intellectual Property Law Institute Scholar by the Hispanic National Bar Association’s Vision in Action Fund.

Who or what most influenced your path to law school?

What is one of your most memorable experiences at USF?

I knew I wanted to become an attorney since I was in middle school. As a first-generation daughter of Central American immigrants, I know first-hand the need for more Spanish-speaking attorneys who provide affordable legal services. My family taught me to always think of ways to give back to my community, and my passion for problem solving and speaking up for others made me think that the legal field was a good fit. I want to equip myself with the legal knowledge to uplift my community and to help my community learn how to navigate the legal system.

One of my most memorable experiences at USF was as a student-clinician in the Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Clinic. The client was a small business called “MIGHTY PETZ,” and I worked with them to obtain a trademark registration by overcoming a Section 2(d) Refusal for Likelihood of Confusion, which allowed the business to benefit from Amazon’s Brand Registry program. Ultimately, the business’ sales increased significantly thanks to the work I undertook, and the client was so thankful for my efforts. It’s incredibly rewarding to have had a direct impact on our client’s business, and to have your work produce real change in someone’s life meant so much to me.

How do you plan to use your law degree?

My goal is to support artists, entrepreneurs, and businesses with their intellectual property matters, to help them protect their legal rights as creators, and to capitalize on their own creativity. As a board member of Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural, a cultural arts community center in Southern California, I recognized the lack of legal resources available for talented local community artists and entrepreneurs.

Which class has challenged you the most?

Professor Garvey’s 1L Contracts course was one of the most challenging classes. Professor Garvey uses the Socratic method as a means of making students more critical of the law. He pushed us to think of ways to apply the rule of law from one case to a different scenario. My experiences in the class encouraged me to think like a lawyer, to respond on the spot, and to develop my critical thinking skills.

What advice would you give new law students?

Never underestimate your own potential, and do not be afraid to take risks. I have been able to grow the most, professionally and personally, when I challenge myself and take an opportunity that may seem scary.

You cannot allow the fear of rejection to prevent you from exploring new opportunities as a law student. n

PRESS CLIPPINGS “How Epic proves monopoly power is a really big issue, not only in this case but in the future resolution of other similar antitrust tech cases.”

Prof. Joshua Davis, in an interview with Bloomberg Law regarding the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit.

“Immigrant detention needs to be abolished, and people in civil proceedings—which is the case for virtually all those in ICE detention—should be allowed to go home and await their day in court.”

Bill Ong Hing, in his Los Angeles Times op-ed “COVID-19 is rampant in ICE detention facilities. Where’s the vaccine?”

“We need a holistic, justice-centered perspective to shape our vision for a green economy and meet the pervasive environmental and socioeconomic challenges and opportunities ahead.”

Prof. Alice Kaswan in an op-ed she co-authored in The Hill titled “From rhetoric to reality: Achieving climate justice.”

“ The legal doctrine that allows people to be prosecuted for murder even if they didn’t kill anyone has fallen out of favor across the globe. In America, it remains common.”

Prof. Lara Bazelon in an article she authored for The Atlantic titled “Aneesa Jordan Took Part In A Robbery.

She Went To Prison For Murder.”

“The strength and importance of this case is that it is systemic. Sometimes you need the law to trigger a closer look at what’s going on and begin conversations about structural solutions.”

Prof. Tristin Green told Mission Local regarding Black San Francisco employees’ suit against the city

“As a very foundational technical matter, the Constitution’s protection of free speech simply does not apply here.”

Prof. Julie Nice, discussing social media companies barring former President Trump from using their platforms, in an interview with Fox KTVU.

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Law Students Help Free Wrongfully Convicted Man Six USF law students and Professor Lara Bazelon won the release of a man convicted of a crime he did not commit.

Yutico Briley served eight years in prison for an armed robbery in New Orleans. He was 19 at the time of the 2012 robbery and was sentenced to 60 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

The March 18, 2021, exoneration was a first for the USF School of Law Racial Justice Clinic. Briley walked out of prison the next day.

A Long Journey For Melody Haddad ’22, the case taught her how difficult it is to get a wrongful conviction overturned.

“It should be as simple as, this man is innocent and therefore he does not belong in prison,” she said. “However, this case has shown me how difficult that is to prove, particularly post-conviction. This case has taught me how important it is to have good advocates in a criminal case at the outset, for our system is too flawed to leave room for error at trial.”

The law students worked on all facets of the case, said Professor Bazelon, Barnett Professor of Trial Advocacy and director of the Racial Justice Clinic. They helped draft the petition for relief, met with Briley over Zoom, and chased down leads.

Briley’s conviction was overturned at a court hearing in New Orleans attended by Bazelon, as well as second-year law students Haddad, Laura Odujinrin, and Angela Crivello. Kendall Baron, Dustin Ercolano, and Sallia Wilkins also worked on the case prior to their May 2021 graduation.

“I am profoundly grateful for the support, dedication, grit, and hard work of the Racial Justice Clinic students who were there for every step of this long journey,” said Bazelon.

A Textbook Example New Orleans Criminal District Court Judge Angel Harris, who granted Briley’s exoneration, called his conviction “a textbook example of the failings of our criminal court system.”

Briley’s conviction hinged on a single “show up” identification—a form of visual identification in which the victim is presented with only one suspect. This technique is considered faulty, especially when the victim is white and the suspect is Black, as in this case.

And although Briley had an ironclad alibi, the jury never heard it because his trial lawyers did not investigate it.

“From the time I started working on this case in August 2020 to the day Yutico walked free, this experience has been a roller coaster of emotions,” said Crivello. “It was incredibly rewarding to be there when Yutico was exonerated. I am so grateful to Professor Bazelon for allowing me to be a part of it.”

Briley said he now has his life back.

“It was something I had dreamed of for so long,” he said. “So, for it to happen was surreal.” n

Exoneree Amanda Knox Delivers Annual Hamill Family Lecture Amanda Knox, a journalist and author who spent four years in an Italian prison for a murder she didn’t commit, delivered USF Law’s annual Hamill Family Lecture on March 23.

Knox discussed the way botched investigations, confirmation bias, and media narratives all played into her 2007 wrongful conviction for the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher.

It wasn’t until 2015 that the Italian Supreme Court exonerated Knox.

But Knox, who today works with organizations like the Innocence Project to free others who have been wrongfully convicted, noted that her case is just one example.

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“If I can build a bridge between them and the people who don’t know or wouldn’t think to care before [about wrongful convictions], that is something I feel is worthwhile,” Knox said. “That is a way I can rebuild my identity on my own terms, not in constant reaction to this crime that I had nothing to do with.”

Knox’s story bears additional similarities to those of other wrongfully convicted individuals: abusive police interrogation methods, lack of legal representation during initial interrogation, and a coerced false confession, which she quickly recanted.

“This is the work that Professor Richard Leo has dedicated himself to—this breaking of a person—because there is no more powerful evidence in a court than a false confession by an innocent person.”

The Hamill Family Lecture is made possible thanks to a generous gift from USF School of Law alumnus Stephen Hamill ’78 and his wife, Janice. n

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MAY 2021

FEBRUARY 2021

Motion granted! Happy the elephant’s habeas corpus case will be heard by the NY Court of Appeals. In March, Justice for Animals Chair Matthew Liebman drafted and coordinated an amici curiae brief signed by 50 law professors urging the court to grant review.

So grateful for our alumni, including the Board of Governors, who provide leadership to sustain an active alumni network and mentor, guide, and champion students.

During last week’s meeting, board members raised a glass in celebration of our recent graduates’ 81% pass rate for first-time takers on the October 2020 California Bar Exam.

FEBRUARY 2021 HEAT Watch is a nationally recognized model for a multi-disciplinary approach to combating human trafficking. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley gave the keynote address on the program and its impact during this year’s #USFLaw Review Symposium. O’Malley is pictured alongside tireless Law Review Symposium Editor Meghan O’Day ’21.

DECEMBER 2020 Thrilled to welcome new Racial Justice Clinic staff attorneys Nicole Fuller ’19 and Charlie Nelson Keever. They will train and mentor #USFLaw students and work on the clinic’s two-fold new partnership with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office to review claims of innocence and excessive sentencing.

JULY 2021 Congratulations #USFLaw alum Judge Charles E. Wilson II JD/MBA ’02! Gov. Gavin Newsom has nominated Judge Wilson to serve as an associate justice of the Sixth District Court of Appeal. Wilson has served as a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge since 2014.

MAY 2021 Another day in court for #USFLaw student-clinician Adrienne Garfias ’22, who successfully argued for a pre-trial diversion on behalf of a Criminal and Juvenile Justice Clinic client. So proud of the work clinic students undertake, including witness interviews, court appearances, motions practice, suppression hearings, and more.

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“Jack Garvey has been a driving force in the internationalization of the law school and in the maintenance of rigorous standards of excellence.”

Decades of Dedication Jack Garvey Retires, Leaves a Legacy of Learning “The greatest satisfaction in my 40-plus years of teaching is having been a member of the USF community,” said School of Law Professor Jack Garvey.

Garvey’s career has been a range of projects, he said. It includes decades of service as arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association; litigation of Garvey vs. State Farm at the California Supreme Court to change the U.S. residential insurance industry; work to integrate refugee relief with the Middle East peace process; and an assignment by the U.S. Department of State to work in Croatia to develop legal frameworks for managing the European refugee crisis.

Garvey also has helped change USF for the better. He created the School of Law’s first externship program in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and then used it as a model for programs in the Czech Republic, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, and India. “If you want to change the world, learn from traveling the world,” he said.

Before he joined USF, Garvey was a U.S. Senate staff speechwriter for Sen. George McGovern, the Democratic Party’s candidate for president. Garvey started his work in international law as assistant to Prof. Abram Chayes of Harvard, John F. Kennedy’s legal adviser to the State Department, with whom he developed the legal materials that became Garvey’s USF course in public international law.

In his time at USF, Garvey has been all over the map, literally. He served as fellow of the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland; Parker Fellow at the University of Sydney, Australia; Fulbright senior specialist at the University of the State of

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Rio de Janeiro and in Croatia; and visiting professor in France, Britain, Brazil, Indonesia, Argentina, Ireland, India, the Philippines, Australia, and China.

Just as Garvey has worked around the world, his work has been published around the world, in journals such as the Yale Law Journal, the Oxford Journal of Conflict and Security Law, and the American Journal of International Law. His book, Nuclear Weapons Counterproliferation: A New Grand Bargain, published by Oxford University Press in 2013, is studied in the field of legal containment of weapons of mass destruction.

“Jack Garvey has elevated our school from the very beginning of his teaching career,” said Dean Susan Freiwald. “He has been a driving force in the internationalization of the law school and in the maintenance of rigorous standards of excellence.”

Garvey said that through it all he has been grateful to USF. “There was no better place to enjoy professional freedom and the opportunity to make an impact. On a personal level, USF was always supportive.

Professionally, the USF administration, my faculty colleagues, and my students consistently engaged me truly in USF’s Jesuit mission of changing the world from here.”

“With his energy, creativity, and

entrepreneurial spirit, Professor Talbot’s

contributions to the law school have been innumerable and lasting.”

Robert Talbot, Law Clinics Pioneer, Retires From USF Law Professor Robert Talbot, a pioneer of nationally renowned law clinics, will retire after more than five decades of teaching.

An instructor at USF since 1966, Talbot was awarded the University’s Sarlo Prize Award for excellence in teaching in 2018, the same year he was named the Philip and Muriel Collins Barnett Professor of Trial Advocacy. Over the years, he founded and directed student law clinics in areas including employment discrimination, intellectual property, start-up ventures, narcotics prosecutions, and divorce, among others.

“Professor Talbot saw early on that students do some of their best learning when they’re working on real cases,” said USF Law Dean Susan Freiwald. “With his energy, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit, Professor Talbot's contributions to the law school have been innumerable and lasting.”

Learning by Doing Talbot got his start at USF just two years after earning his JD from Columbia University. As a law student, he felt that all of his classes were grounded in theory but not in real-world experience.

“I saw that as a big part of what education should be,” Talbot said.

“When I went to law school, there were no clinics. Nobody ever taught us how to draft an affidavit. I realized when I graduated that I really didn’t know anything.”

Soon after he started teaching at USF, Talbot sought ways to immerse his students in the practice of law. When he learned that the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office had just five investigators assigned to handle a backlog of 2,000 cases, he recognized his students as a natural fit. He quickly established an investigations clinic at USF.

Once the students got experience with real casework, he noticed a profound change in them.

“You become a lawyer,” he said of the impact on the students.

“There’s nothing you don’t know about the case. When you’re in a class, you read about the cases; it’s all theoretical. But here, you’re in the nitty gritty, and you’re meeting witnesses and family members.

You’re getting to be a part of somebody’s life.”

When he first launched the investigations clinic, Talbot’s students initially handled misdemeanor cases. However, the felony public defender at the time looked at the students’ work and was impressed, asking for their help on those cases as well.

“We did everything, including the death penalty,” Talbot said. “We were getting some good results. Nobody had ever done this in the law school, so we got quite a bit of publicity.”

Identifying the Gap Over the years, Talbot went on to establish a host of other law clinics.

But while the areas of law were broad-ranging, his starting point was always the same: Find an area of the law that wasn’t being covered by existing legal organizations, like representing the Coast Guard or start-up ventures, and fill the gap.

“The best way to learn something is by doing it, and if you can get real cases in areas that aren’t being covered, that’s ideal.”

In retirement, Talbot says he looks forward to spending more time with his three grandchildren. He noted that he has made himself available to USF Law as a special consultant on an as-needed basis.

“It’s been a big part of my life for so long,” he said. n

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IN BRIEF FOCUS FACULTY

Faculty Making an Impact In addition to their committed teaching, USF School of Law professors pursue an ambitious research and service agenda, taking on some of the world’s most challenging issues. And they are mighty; USF Law ranked in the top 100 in number of new downloads over the past 12 months from a leading research database. Here are some recent highlights.

Professor Lara Bazelon Testified during the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights hearings in June 2021.

Appointed chair of the San Francisco DA's Office's new Innocence Commission and elected to the American Law Institute. Wrote an essay for The Atlantic and published a legal thriller, A Good Mother.

Assistant Professor Luke Boso Published “Anti-LGBT Free Speech and Group Subordination” in the Arizona Law Review, examining the tension between free speech and LGBT-inclusive antidiscrimination laws.

Professor Joshua Davis Co-authored articles on: antitrust and anti-racism (forthcoming in the Antitrust Bulletin); the direct purchaser rule (forthcoming in the Antitrust Law Journal); and AI and antitrust in Competition: The Journal of the Antitrust, UCL and Privacy Section.

Professor Connie de la Vega Successfully petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in a case. Presented on domestic application of international law at the University of Toledo, and at workshops on international human rights clinics.

Professor Jack Garvey Authored “Arbitration in Government” (forthcoming, Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal), which examines policy questions that arise from using arbitration to resolve disputes grounded in public law.

Professor Tristin Green Wrote “I’ll See You at Work: Spatial Features and Discrimination” (forthcoming, UC Davis Law Review). Authored a book chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Feminism and the Law (forthcoming).

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Professor Bill Ong Hing Authored book chapters “In Defense of Chain Migration” and “Empire, Displacement, and the Central American Refugee Crisis” in Christianity and the Law of Migration and co-authored “Curtailing the Deportation of Undocumented Parents in the Best Interest of the Child," published in Georgetown Immigration Law Journal.

Professor Peter Jan Honigsberg Published the paperback edition of his book, A Place Outside the Law: Forgotten Voices from Guantanamo. Donated more than 300 hours of filmed interviews with former Guantanamo detainees to the Duke University Human Rights Archive, who will host an exhibition of the work to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the opening of the prison.

Professor Tim Iglesias Presented at a Zoom conference on the right to housing in Madrid, Spain, and participated on a panel on local opposition to affordable housing at a national summit on affordable housing. Continued to serve on California’s Fair Employment and Housing Council.

Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship and Professor Alice Kaswan Published a book chapter, “Climate Justice and the Social Pillar in California’s Climate Policies,” in The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Justice and Sustainable Development (2021) and wrote “Creating Home: Multilevel Governance Structures for Emerging Climate Migration,” forthcoming in Temple Law Review.

Professor Daniel Lathrope Published Selected Sections: United States International Taxation (2021 ed.) and Selected Federal Taxation Statutes and Regulations (2022 ed.).

Superior Court Judge Joins Adjunct Faculty the Stonewall riots and issues affecting the transgender community.

Professor Richard Leo Recognized as one of the top 100 authors in HeinOnline’s ScholarRank. Co-authored “Theorizing Failed Prosecutions” in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology as well as three forthcoming book chapters.

Assistant Professor Matthew Liebman Presented at the Canadian Animal Law Conference, and was featured on two podcasts discussing cases presenting novel animal law theories. Authored a successful amicus brief signed by 50 law professors on behalf of a mistreated elephant.

Professor Rhonda Magee Authored “On Buddhist Awareness Practices and the Inner Work of Antiracism,” forthcoming in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin.

Served on an ABA subcommittee on Legal Education, focused on strengthening the ABA’s commitment to mandating mental health teaching, learning and resources.

Professor Julie Nice Participated on an AALS panel and at a Law & Society Association Roundtable. Provided radio and TV interviews on conflicts over the 2020 presidential election and post-insurrection impeachment debates.

Professor Joshua Rosenberg Presented on recent tax law developments for the NYU Institute for Tax Practitioners, California Bar Association Section on Taxation, and the SF Tax Bar. Professor Michelle Travis Recognized with numerous awards for her 2020 book, Dads for Daughters, a Finalist for the Best New Non-Fiction Book of 2020 by the American Book Fest Awards. Authored “A Post-Pandemic Antidiscrimination Approach to Workplace Flexibility” in Washington University Journal of Law and Policy.

The U.S. embassy in India invited her to speak with local leaders about LGBTQ+ inclusion. She is a keynote speaker at LGBTQ+ pride events and legal events all over the country.

She also mentors transgender law students. “I’m happy to mentor young people,” she said. “I didn’t have any mentors when I was coming up. The problem with being Alameda County Superior Court Judge Victoria Kolakowski is more than qualified to teach a course on equal rights and religious freedom.

Kolakowski, the first transgender judge in California and a practicing Christian, recently joined the USF Law faculty as an adjunct professor.

“I’m an LGBTQ+ person and a person of faith,” she said. “I bring both of those things to the classroom, in equal measure.”

This past summer, in a class called Equality and Religious Freedom, Kolakowski and her students explored the various ways that religious expression can suppress equality—or enable it. In each discussion, she said, she tried to dispel the notion that “equality rights are good and religion is bad. It doesn’t help to think in this way. It’s too simplistic, and it’s not constructive.”

Kolakowski knows what she is talking about. For years she has studied the nuances of gender equity and the complexities of conflict.

She visited France on behalf of the U.S. State Department to talk about

a trailblazer is you have no one before you.”

Her mission at USF? “I hope to help mediate the culture wars. How can we create a world where we allow everyone to be themselves without harming each other? How do we resolve issues with respect? The politicization of everything makes it hard to have meaningful dialogue about anything, but we need that dialogue.”

Her advice to USF law students?

“Think beyond your own opinions and experiences. Put yourself in the minds of people you don’t agree with.”

She said that not everyone who disagrees with her is a transphobe.

“We live in a world of gray,” Kolakowski added. “If you can maneuver in the gray, and if you can truly see the world through the eyes of other people, you’ll be a better lawyer. You’ll be a better advocate.

You’ll dream up better solutions.

I’m proud to be a part of a law school that seeks solutions.” n

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Meeting Moment t h e

DIARY OF A LAW SCHOOL PANDEMIC BY ANNIE BREEN

SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 USF Law students receive a message from Dean Susan Freiwald that they would be switching to remote learning for their safety due to a burgeoning health crisis.

Soon after, they learn that the entire rest of the semester would be remote due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Graduating students would celebrate their commencement via Zoom.

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2020 Class of 2020 graduates learn that the bar exam will be postponed from July to September 2020.

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2020 Graduates are informed that the exam would be pushed back once more, to October 2020. For the coming months, the California Bar would need to resolve the overwhelming technical difficulties involved in a remote exam.

MID-JANUARY 2021 USF Law receives the news that 2020 graduates had passed the October California bar exam with an 81% pass rate.

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The first entry in the diary was a shock. The second was devastating. The third incredibly nerve-wracking. The fourth? Triumphant. This is the story of how a graduating class and their law school community banded together to succeed during a historic global pandemic.

“Last summer was unprecedented, and the pressure that each one of our students endured and persevered through was awe-inspiring,” said Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Amy Flynn ’04, supervisor of the Academic and Bar Exam Success program (ABES). “For so many law grads, preparing to take the bar is the most stressful period of their lives. For our grads last year, they had that stress, plus the strain of not knowing when the actual test would occur, and the enormous economic hardship caused by the delay in launching their careers because of the extended study period.” She praised ABES faculty for the curriculum and support they provided to students throughout the year and especially during the pandemic, and emphasized that it was the students, ultimately, who had to use the tools they were given to build their success.

Those tools included study materials, tutorials, and practice questions that ABES co-directors painstakingly developed after years of experience grading bar essays, reviewing published exam answers, and learning about the best ways to prepare students for success. Students’ study schedules had to be updated twice, once after each announcement of the bar exam delay, in order to prevent burnout. ABES Co-Director Jonathan Chu said “We offered supplemental grading, advising, and tutoring. After both exam postponements, and during a time of major concern regarding the software being used to administer the exam, our students stayed determined and focused.” Co-director Katie Moran added, “Rather than being thrown by the pandemic curveballs, USF graduates saw those extra 11 weeks as an opportunity. They were optimists in the most trying circumstances. They doubled down on tough subjects; they created attack plans for murky topics; they wrote essays upon essays and asked for more feedback; they practiced multiple choice questions over and over and over again. That additional work that they put in until October paid off in spades.”

According to Dean Susan Freiwald, “The ABES team built on the strong foundation provided by the law school’s dedicated staff, faculty and alumni.

Professors Jonathan Chu, Katie Moran, and Sebastian Lethuele lived and breathed bar exam preparation for the months preceding the October bar, and the intensity of their commitment inspired the students they prepared.”

Here, five of these recent graduates reflect on their journeys as the firsttime takers of a pandemic California bar exam.

ISABEL CALLEJOBRIGHTON ATION G I T FEL I L LO W AN IMA LL

EGAL DEFENSE

DURING THEIR THIRD YEAR AT USF LAW, Isabel Callejo-Brighton and her husband, Zach McCoy were the editor-in-chief of the Law Review and the president of the Student Bar Association (SBA), respectively.

They were “in the know” when it came to happenings at the law school — in constant communication with the administration, they were used to being the ones to disseminate information to their peers.

But on Feb. 28, 2020, that all changed.

“No one knew anything. I clearly remember presenting to faculty on that Friday, and gathering my things afterward because it was spring break. The next time we were allowed back on campus was 10 days later, when we were permitted to collect our belongings,

“ Even though it felt like we were hit with tremendous uncertainty after each postponement, the ABES team recalibrated our program.”

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and it was surreal to see everyone in masks and gloves, not knowing when we’d see each other again,” Callejo-Brighton said. As it turned out, many of them never would.

The ABES bar prep program began in earnest in March, virtually. Callejo-Brighton was determined that no matter the mounting uncertainties surrounding the bar exam, she would do what she had control over — namely, follow Professor Jonathan Chu’s every recommendation. “He and the ABES faculty were so nimble. The bar exam process was complicated by the exam accommodation process, and even though it felt like we were hit with tremendous uncertainty after each postponement, the ABES team recalibrated our program so we

didn’t burn out. After every setback, they were there for us with a new plan.” The plans worked, and last October Callejo-Brighton passed the exam that she’d been prepping for since March 2020.

Now a litigation fellow at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Callejo-Brighton said that her and McCoy’s time at USF created a family that extends beyond their own home.

“We went through a wedding, the deaths of family members, and the pandemic during our three years in law school. Every time the pressures seemed overwhelming, there were the faculty and staff at USF Law, doing everything they could to propel us forward.

We had a law school that was invested in seeing us succeed in life and in law.”

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TATIANA HOWARD WHEN ASKED HOW USF LAW HELPED HER TO PASS THE BAR exam, Tatiana Howard answered, “Seven words — God, family, Jonathan Chu, and Sebastian Letheule.”

Tumultuous only begins to describe Howard’s experience during a mid-pandemic bar prep. Like many other students who didn’t know when they’d be eligible for employment due to COVID-19 hiring freezes, she moved home to save money. She’d worked two jobs to support herself during law school, and with all the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, home was the only option. Studying with family members around proved difficult, and the fact that she couldn’t leave the house to study because of the lockdown added stress, too. But Howard said that more than anything she was grateful to have a support system amidst all the upheaval.

That support system extended to the ABES faculty, she said.

“Professor Chu’s bar prep materials were phenomenal, and Professor Letheule was tremendous. He and I went over multiple choice questions every week, we discussed essays, and he answered any and every question that confused me. He served as a personal therapist and cheerleader, and when the State Bar pushed the exam back for the second time, he created a study schedule that managed my mental exhaustion. On the days of the actual exams, he helped to calm my nerves and prepare for the next day’s test. I value and swear by these two individuals and think they, along with my family, are the reason I passed.”

It isn’t just the support in passing the bar that Howard appreciates.

She notes that Associate Dean Amy Flynn took the time to pull her aside in her first-year criminal law class and helped her pinpoint why she wanted to pursue criminal law. Flynn became her self-appointed mentor and swore her in as an attorney. Howard, now a deputy public defender in Contra Costa County, plans to spend her career as an advocate for her community . . . in whatever form that takes.

“I didn’t actually believe that I would ever attend law school, let alone graduate. I was a first-generation college student, and now I’m a fullfledged attorney. Who knows what blessings the future will hold?”

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CHRISTIAN JAJEH

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“ROLE OF THE WITNESS IN ANCIENT Athenian litigation.” Classics major Christian Jajeh’s thesis so impressed his UC Irvine adviser that she told him she would write a letter of recommendation if he applied to law school. She did, he did, and USF was his top choice, both due to its proximity to his family in San Bruno, California, and because it was Jesuit, like his alma mater Junípero Serra High School. He considers attending USF Law one of the best decisions he’s ever made.

“I loved law school, especially my tax classes. My time with Professor Joshua Rosenberg was a highlight; he was extremely kind and encouraging. I loved the friendly and approachable way he taught — he’d say, ‘Call me, text me, Zoom me.’ I ended up writing my graduate thesis with him.”

Jajeh’s love of the collaborative environment at USF Law extends beyond the tax program.

DETWILER

He counts ABES as the highlight of his three years, and said “Jonathan Chu is a godsend for USF. The program he developed was spot-on what we needed to learn, and two weeks into it I stopped using Barbri because I realized ABES was the only bar prep I would need.

I followed it to a T, was so grateful for the updates that came after both postponements, and I passed because of Jonathan Chu’s, Katie Moran’s, and ABES tutor Meera Balat’s diligence in administering the prep program.”

Jajeh now practices estate planning, which was his goal when he entered USF Law. “I love the transactional aspect of it, and I love my firm.” The work-life balance in estate planning is a highlight, as it gives him time to help his 2L wife study for her law classes and also practice his creative hobby: oil painting, of religious icons specifically.

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“Two weeks into it I stopped using Barbri because I realized ABES was the only bar prep I would need.”

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“What gave me faith that I would pass the bar was the support of the USF Law faculty and staff.”

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AFTER DISCOVERING A PASSION FOR ORAL ADVOCACY thanks to the speech and debate team at Windsor High in Sonoma County, Adrian Valenzuela spent a summer during his time at UC Berkeley clerking for an immigration law firm in Madrid. There, he saw close up how the law helps people, and he decided to go to law school. After attending an open house at USF, he knew it was the place he wanted to earn his JD. “It was the faculty I met during the open house that made it an easy decision. And it turned out to be the right one,” Valenzuela said. He credits his time with professors like Peter Jan Honigsberg and Edith Ho for narrowing his focus on areas that played to his strengths, including legal writing and oral advocacy, and praises faculty members Jonathan Chu of ABES and Heidi Ho and Carol Wilson of the Academic Support Program (ASP) for preparing him to take the bar under unprecedented circumstances.

“ASP is a family,” he said. “Because of that program, I was connected with Judge Charles Wilson, a USF alum and former ASP participant, and I clerked for him during my first law school summer at Santa Clara County Superior Court.” That clerkship cemented Adrian’s decision to practice criminal law, and a USF recruiting event led him to the San Mateo District Attorney’s Office, where he’s worked as a deputy district attorney since February 2021.

“After the upheaval of last year, what gave me faith that I would pass the bar was the support of the USF Law faculty and staff. And I did.” His goal now? To be able to look back on a career and see that more than just bettering his own life, he spent his profession helping others.

DE

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ADRIAN VALENZUELA

TY NDMIASTRI U P SA TEO C

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C GR O S AW

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WHEN CONSIDERING TAYLER WALTERS’ FAMILY history, her career as an attorney would seem almost preordained. “Literally everyone, aside from my brother and one aunt, is a lawyer,” she said. “Growing up, both of my parents had their own firms, and I have lots of memories of attending panels, conferences, and American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) meetings with them in San Diego.” But a young Walters swore she would never be a lawyer, and she devoted her childhood and time in high school to traveling the country as a competitive equestrian. It wasn’t until she spent the summer after her first year at University of Colorado, Boulder, working in her mother’s law firm that the family business finally clicked for her.

“I absolutely loved it. I loved listening to my parents talk about their cases, and I could really see the good they were doing. I saw the relationships they built with their clients; they each would receive hundreds of Christmas cards every year from past clients and even after the cases were over, they always stayed in touch. That’s what really drew me to the law: seeing the difference you could make in people’s lives.”

When asked what drew her to USF, Walters immediately answered, “It was the alumni.” She knew she wanted to clerk at the California Supreme Court, and that the USF Law alumni network was a dynamic one, especially on the court. “Knowing that USF Law placed so many students there over the years was a huge draw.” Walters was externing for the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court by the second semester of her third year.

Of course, that coincided with the onset of the pandemic.

Walters credits Jonathan Chu and Katie Moran with serving as what she called “bar prep therapists,” noting that “I wouldn’t have been able to pass the bar exam without them.” And she credits the moot court program with preparing her to practice law. “It forced us to think about how the arguments make sense in practice, and what kind of impact we actually have on the legal system. It was a great way to ground my overall understanding of the law, and of legal theory.” Where does she want to take that overall understanding? To a partnership, and eventually to her own firm. “I want to make a difference in people’s lives, for the better.” n

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TAYLER WALTERS

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By Arvin Temkar

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Some companies have one team for public relations and another team for legal affairs. Verndari has Amy Van Prooyen ’99.

That’s an oversimplification — but it’s safe to say that Van Prooyen wears multiple hats as head of corporate and legal affairs of the biotech startup. On a typical workday she may spend the morning issuing press releases and handling media interviews, and the afternoon managing corporate legal matters.

She’s uniquely suited to do so. With a master’s degree in communication from the University of Utah and a JD from USF, Van Prooyen has spent her career at the intersection of communications and the law. Her expertise has served her well, from a 13-year stint running her own litigation communication firm to her current role at Verndari.

Verndari, a California-based startup, has developed an intradermal patch that can administer a single-dose vaccine through tiny, painless microneedles. The technology could revolutionize vaccination efforts, making it possible for people to self-administer a vaccine at home simply by applying the patch. The fact that the process is painless could also entice people who refuse vaccines because of fear of needles.

Van Prooyen joined the company full-time in 2020 shortly after the start of the pandemic.

“When the pandemic hit, many asked questions about our lives and about what path forward they wanted. I reflected on how I could make an impact on the world,” says Van Prooyen, who had been consulting and taking a break from the demands of full-time corporate life.

Though Van Prooyen was beginning a new life at a new company, one element of Verndari’s work was familiar: crisis.

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Van Prooyen has been dealing with crises her entire career — though a different sort than a pandemic. She’s a pioneer in a field known as litigation communication, a niche area of law that deals with public relations involving legal matters such as lawsuits or bankruptcies. It often takes the form of crisis management, helping clients minimize damage to their public reputations.

“We often worked very closely with the client’s litigation team — creating and executing communications strategies, thereby defending against civil and criminal cases and congressional, regulatory, state attorney general, law enforcement, and media investigations,” Van Prooyen explains. “The litigation team might ask questions about the timing of a filing, or ask how to explain their legal position to the public, or whether the legal benefit of an action outweighed the reputational risk.”

Her firm, Van Prooyen Greenfield (VPG), was one of the only law firms in the nation that focused primarily on litigation communications and strategic communications counsel. It eventually grew to four offices: New York, Hawaii, San Francisco, and Salt Lake City.

Van Prooyen became interested in the law while taking a graduate-level media law class at the University of Utah, where she also earned her undergraduate degree. That led her to pursuing a law degree at USF, not too far away from her extended family in Napa.

She was drawn to the school not only for its location, she says, but for its focus on justice.

“I learned how to turn purpose and passion into action, to make a real difference in the world,” she says.

After graduating she went to work in New York at Edelman, a public relations agency, where she became vice president in its crisis and reputation risk practice. She used this experience as a steppingstone to start her own firm. She formed VPG as a law firm because there was more client privilege afforded to law firms than communications agencies, and because the firm would partner with the litigation team in corporate cases.

Her clients ranged from leading law firms to Fortune 500 companies to professional athletes. One major case, for example, involved several MLB players who were targeted in a Congressional investigation over doping. VPG helped the athletes and their attorneys navigate both the legal process and the public relations process.

In another case, one of the largest bankruptcies in US history, VPG worked to protect shareholders after an accounting scandal

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rocked a company. The firm campaigned to oust the current board of directors and reduce excessive compensation packages for executives.

“This was a time when legal investigations and lawsuits were becoming higher profile. It was no longer acceptable for companies to respond, ‘No comment.’” Van Prooyen said. “It was gratifying to be involved on the frontlines in this groundbreaking era for law. We were changing the way legal cases were being communicated about.”

RETURNING TO USF

VPG didn’t just manage corporate crises, though. It also provided communications consulting services for law firms and law schools.

In 2008, Van Prooyen counseled USF’s School of Law in bolstering its brand. She did it with the assistance of another USF alumna: Lori Teranishi MBA ’02.

Van Prooyen and Teranishi have been friends since meeting as undergraduates at the University of Utah. They both went on to graduate school at USF, and after founding her business, Van Prooyen asked Teranishi to become the chief operating officer of VPG. Working with USF, VPG spent months interviewing students, faculty, and employers, searching for the core elements that made the law school stand out.

“We found that USF was known for graduating lawyers who have a lot of practical knowledge, along with their legal education,” says Teranishi. “We believe this particular attribute enables the school to better position itself against competitors.”

Van Prooyen and Teranishi didn’t just learn about USF’s values from talking to people about them — they lived them, as former students. Teranishi says she can see those values at work in her business relationship with Van Prooyen.

Teranishi was initially apprehensive about becoming business partners with a longtime friend. But the relationship worked out, even strengthening their friendship. A USF education emphasizes “what you should be as a person,” says Teranishi. “Treat others with respect, and know that relationships are the most important things in life — not just making money.”

Van Prooyen has also maintained her relationship with USF by previously serving on the Board of Counselors. She is also a member of the Dean’s Circle.

“I turn to Amy when I need the best advice because she pairs her tremendous experience and savvy with a deep love and appreciation for the law school and what we are trying to achieve here,” says Dean Susan Freiwald. “She always wants to help in any way she can.”

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In 2011, Van Prooyen made the difficult decision to close VPG. She returned West to be closer to her family and to have more work-life balance.

For several years she was a consultant and later had a stint teaching a senior seminar on law and communications at the University of Utah. She also became an early investor in Verndari, which was co-founded by her father.

Then, in 2020, the pandemic hit. Verndari was suddenly in hyperdrive and began developing its own proprietary COVID-19 vaccine. It needed help communicating its mission and managing its legal matters. It was the perfect time for Van Prooyen to return to a demanding, corporate role.

“At Verndari, my work again intersects with law and communications,” says Van Prooyen.

This time, Van Prooyen is at the forefront of a different kind of crisis. But communication is still key: telling the story of how vaccines and vaccine technology can save lives.

“There’s so much misinformation out there about vaccines, and at the same time, there are also disparities in health care,”

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says Van Prooyen. “It’s important to communicate about vaccine safety and technologies that can make a difference, while appealing to people’s concerns. There have been inequities in health for far too long. There is a social responsibility and opportunity around COVID-19 to correct access to health care.”

Speaking of communications, Van Prooyen has brought in a team to assist her with public relations: IQ360, the communications agency run by her old friend Lori Teranishi. Some of Van Prooyen’s former employees at VPG are also part of IQ360.

“It’s been gratifying to come full circle in my career and become a next-generation client of the predecessor firm that I founded,” says Van Prooyen.

With the success of other COVID-19 vaccinations, Verndari has pivoted back to developing a vaccine for influenza — another virus with the potential to wreak global havoc, as with the Spanish flu of 1918.

“I told students that meaningful work can come from combining your passion with a purpose,” Van Prooyen says. “There’s nothing more gratifying than being able to combine something you really care about with the goal of making an impact on the world.” n

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FOR THESE ALUMS, IT’S PERSONAL

BY SAMANTHA BRONSON 22

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It’s tragic but it’s true. When COVID-19 swept the country in March 2020, it started a conversation. When George Floyd was murdered two months later, the conversation grew louder. For the first time in decades, inequality, injustice, and racism took a prime position in the mind of the American public, and reformers working on these issues were increasingly seen and heard. USF Law alumni are among these reformers. Meet three of them.

MARSHAL ARNWINE JR. ’18 When California in 2020 enacted a law that changed when law enforcement can use deadly force, it didn’t guarantee that police departments would update their policies accordingly, despite their obligation to do so. This is a problem because it means police remain untrained in newer methods that may prevent tragic police killings.

Marshal Arnwine, a criminal justice advocate for the Northern California affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, works to ensure that California law enforcement departments follow state laws.

“The goal is to save lives,” Arnwine said. “We don’t ever want officers to use deadly force, but in those circumstances when they do, we want it to be absolutely necessary and a last resort. The hope with this new law is that with every incoming recruitment class of officers, they’re going to be trained under a new standard that encourages the use of nonlethal force, while also retraining veteran officers under the new standard.”

When Arnwine finds policies he believes are out of compliance, he alerts the jurisdiction. That may mean sharing his analysis with the local police chief, the city manager, or the city council. It also means informing the local community of his findings.

During a Zoom presentation last year with the Sacramento Police Review Commission, Arnwine highlighted parts of the department’s use of force policy that were out of compliance with state law. Shortly afterward, the department changed its policy.

Arnwine is also working with the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors to create a civilian board that oversees the sheriff’s department. Thanks to a new state law, county boards of supervisors may create such oversight boards, which have subpoena power. “I was a liaison between the community and the board of supervisors on what the community wants to see in the creation of the oversight board because it’s never been done before in Sacramento,” he said.

For Arnwine, the fight for change is personal. At age 16, when he was driving

home from a basketball game at his high school, he was pulled over just as he had turned onto his street in Inglewood, California. He did what his father had taught him to do: Slowly roll down his window, keep his hands visible on the steering wheel, and make no sudden movements.

Two officers approached Arnwine’s car with their hands on their guns.

They told him he’d been pulled over because his headlights were off — Arnwine had forgotten to turn them on.

From there, Arnwine was taken out of his car, handcuffed after being told it was for the officers’ safety, and put in the back of the police car. He then watched the officers search his entire car. After more than an hour, he was told he could go.

“Not only can I speak to the theoretical perspectives of the law, but I have the lived experience of being unjustly treated by the law as well,” Arnwine said.

“I’ve experienced police harassment.

I remember what it’s like to be unjustly handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car. These changes I’m working on are small gains in a larger pursuit of justice, but they are not in vain.”

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HILLARY BLOUT ’06 You might think of prosecutors as the last people to oppose incarceration, but Hillary Blout says they are vital.

A former prosecutor herself, Blout says that part of the prosecutor’s job is to make sure that people don’t languish in prison when they shouldn’t be there.

Her nonprofit organization, For The People, trains district attorneys’ offices across California on the ProsecutorInitiated Resentencing process, which gives prosecutors the legal means to seek resentencing for people whose sentences are no longer in the interest of justice.

“Essentially, they can go to court to say, ‘We believe this person no longer needs to be incarcerated,’ and they can facilitate that person’s release,” Blout said.

Blout helped to write the law that allows such resentencing by prosecutors.

The first of its kind in the nation, the law went into effect in 2019. But many prosecutors don’t know how to execute it. Blout’s organization, based in Oakland, teaches them.

Her team works with DA offices, policymakers, community-based organizations, and public defenders to reduce excessive sentences. The cases vary, but DA offices typically

“My goal is that I’m ultimately out of business because this has simply become part of what it means to be a prosecutor.

This should just be part and parcel of what prosecutors are doing. This is justice.”

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look at the sentences people are serving, the crime committed, and each person’s behavior since being incarcerated.

They also try to understand drivers that led the person to commit the crime and what the future holds for them, Blout said.

“We’re very much in the weeds with our partner DA offices,” she said. “We haven’t come across anybody who says this is a terrible idea. How can you?

How could you say, ‘We want people to be in prison even if they’re changed and not harmful to our community’?”

Thanks to the efforts of For The People and the law that it helped pass, more than 100 years behind bars have been eliminated and more than 75 people have been released from prison.

One of the reasons Blout’s message is well received by prosecutors is that Blout spent six years as an assistant district attorney in San Francisco. Yet she never planned to work as a prosecutor. Blout grew up in Pittsburg, California, at the height of the crack epidemic. She saw friends sent away to prison or murdered.

She wanted to be a public defender and came to USF with that in mind.

But an internship with the San Francisco District Attorney Office helped her see another option. “I saw how much power prosecutors have and saw that the power can be wielded in both a just and an unjust way,” she said. “My experience at USF really opened my eyes to becoming a prosecutor. With Prosecutor-Initiated Resentencing, I’m using that experience to seek justice in another way.”

For The People has worked with nearly 10 other states so far to support resentencing initiatives and legislation, with new bills recently passed into law in Oregon and Illinois. “My goal is that I’m ultimately out of business because this has simply become part of what it means to be a prosecutor,” Blout said. “This should just be part and parcel of what prosecutors are doing. This is justice.”

“The danger is that if we don’t speak up for each other, the number of people being targeted is going to expand.”

DEAN ITO TAYLOR ’75 Each day, Dean Ito Taylor hears the fear in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

“Whenever I’m out in the community, I talk with someone — it could be a bank teller, a waiter in a restaurant, or someone working in a grocery store — and they’re afraid,” Ito Taylor said. “They’re afraid they’ll be a victim of violence because of their background.

They’re afraid to work, they’re afraid to travel, they’re afraid that whatever business they’re employed at is going to fail because their customers are afraid to come in. We as a community are facing not only the violence, but the fear of violence.”

That’s why Ito Taylor’s nonprofit, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, has added to its list of services a response to hate violence directed toward the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

The San Francisco–based organization provides direct legal representation — for free or reduced cost — to the most marginalized members of the AAPI community, including women, seniors, recent immigrants, and youth. More than 90 percent of clients are low-income or extremely low-income; services include legal assistance with issues surrounding immigration, domestic violence, landlord/tenant concerns, and elder abuse.

Anti-AAPI hate is not new, Ito Taylor said, but it has long been passed over.

The pandemic has spotlighted how

prevalent such hate incidents have become and how the community can no longer sit by. “The danger is that if we don’t speak up for each other, the number of people being targeted is going to expand,” he said.

API Legal Outreach helps survivors of hate violence navigate the criminal justice system. Many in the AAPI community have little trust in public agencies, so they are reluctant to report crimes, Ito Taylor said.

API Legal Outreach helps them talk with law enforcement, district attorneys, and victim services agencies so they can get the assistance they need.

API Legal Outreach has also launched the Anti-AAPI Hate Violence Clinic with the California Asian Pacific Islander Bar Association to provide free assistance on available legal protections and remedies.

Ito Taylor wants everyone in the AAPI community to understand their rights.

What rises to the level of a hate crime?

Which resources are available to victims of hate incidents? How can a person respond?

He provides community-based workshops and discussions on these topics, and he encourages the community to stand up and speak out. “Silence doesn’t work,” he said.

Also key, Ito Taylor said, is working with other communities of color toward civil rights.

That has been a core value of API Legal Outreach since its founding in 1975 by a group of Bay Area law students, including Ito Taylor. He and other Asian-American students from several Bay Area law schools felt that one of their responsibilities as future lawyers was to give back to their communities. Known then as Nihonmachi Legal Outreach, the group had no licensed attorneys and, despite being limited in what it could do, it attempted to bridge the gap between the legal profession and the needs of AAPI communities.

Ito Taylor continued as a volunteer with the group after law school while he worked as an attorney at San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation. In 1988, he joined Nihonmachi full-time, by then known as API Legal Outreach, as its executive director. While the organization has added different focus areas over the years, its overarching mission has remained the same.

“Throughout the history of the organization, our driving motivation has been the fact that we did not see equal access to justice, equal access to the rights and protections that we learned about in law school,” Ito Taylor said.

“We do everything we can to narrow that gap.

And today that includes responding to antiAsian hate violence.” n

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ALUMNI NEWS CLASS NOTES ’76

William Monning, the California senator representing the 17th Senate District, will retire from office at the end of the year.

’80

Rebecca Eisen has been appointed to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

’83

Caryl Hart was announced as the interim general manager of the Sonoma County Agriculture + Open Space District. Hart is the former director of Sonoma County Regional Parks.

’84

Aileeen Casanave, VP, Head of Legal with SingleStore, was elected President of the California Association of Black Lawyers for 2021-2022.

’85

Doug Mark was named a 2020 top music lawyer by Billboard. He is a partner with Mark Music & Media Law, P.C.

’86

Kevin Dunleavy has been appointed to serve as a judge on the San Mateo County Superior Court.

Law Alumnus Shapes Future Study with Generous Trust Gift When Martin Karlinsky’76 reflects on his time at USF School of Law, he recalls the brilliant professors and their commitment to learning.

This influence laid the groundwork for his 45-year distinguished career as a trial lawyer and litigator. Grateful for the impact on his life, Karlinsky, together with his wife, Christine Ruppert, have designated a generous future gift to the USF School of Law in their trust.

“I hope that our legacy gift will perpetuate the experience that I had at USF and further students’ interest in the study of constitutional law and trial advocacy,” shares Karlinsky.

Karlinsky has practiced law, including business, commercial, and civil litigation, particularly in the federal courts, while serving as a partner at some of New York’s top law firms. During his career, he wrote briefs for the Supreme Court of the United States and taught trial advocacy to law students and his peers.

“I graduated from USF’s School of Law and was able to make my way across the country and eventually land a job at a big firm.

Graduates of USF have succeeded brilliantly in their careers and have done so much public service. These endeavors align with the University’s mission to change the world,” says Karlinsky. n

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’89

’93

’90

Craig Tanner has joined Rimon PC as a partner in the firm’s Employment Law, Employee Benefits, and Executive Compensation Practice in their Austin, TX office. Tanner was previously a partner with Reed, Smith.

Jeff Berk joined the Santa Rosa City Attorney’s Office as chief assistant city attorney.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge John Monterosso was elected as the Court’s presiding judge and began serving his two year term in January 2021. Monterosso previously served as the Court’s assistant presiding judge and has been on the bench since 2007.

Barbara Moser has been included on the top 100 Northern California and Top 50 Women Super Lawyers’ lists.

Loretta A. Quick has been promoted to assistant executive director of the Sixth District Appellate Program in San Jose, California.

Sharon Woo was named chief deputy district attorney of Los Angeles.

’92

Harvey Anderson, HP’s general counsel, has been named chief legal officer and corporate secretary. Anderson will join the company’s executive leadership team. Anderson joined HP in 2017 as deputy general counsel for the company’s personal systems and 3D printing business units.

Ann W. Nelson was named CEO of Girl Scouts of the Sierra Nevada.

Michael Reedy was included on The Best Lawyers in America® 2021 list. Reedy was recognized in the Appellate Practice category.

Craig Simmons joined Jupiter, the climate risk analytics firm, as the company’s head of people.

Doug Sherry joined Arden Trust Company, a trustee services firm, as President.

’94

Matt Murphy has been named general counsel of Nautilus Biotechnology Inc.

’96

The Hon. Wendy L. Avila was appointed to the Kern County Superior Court by Gov. Gavin Newsom, filling the vacancy created

by Judge Steven M. Katz’s retirement.

She has served as senior assistant inspector general at the Office of the Inspector General since 2017.

Martin Schwarz has been named Orange County’s public defender.

Schwarz has served as interim public defender since July 2020.

Simon Zinger has been named general counsel of Entain, a European sports betting and gambling company. He previously served as general counsel of Londonbased Dentsu Aegis Network.

’97

Andrew Collier was recognized as a 2020 Top Lawyer by Sacramento Magazine in business litigation and commercial law.

Mandana Massoumi, a labor and employment litigator, joined Seyfarth Shaw LLP in the firm’s Los Angeles office as a partner.

’99

Shannon Sweeney a shareholder with Sullivan Hill Rez & Engel, has been selected by her peers for inclusion in the 27th Edition of Best Lawyers in America in the field of Commercial Litigation.

Sweeney practices in the Commercial and Business Litigation, Real Estate, Construction, and Employment Law practice groups.

’00

Sabrina Farrell, assistant Alameda County district attorney and executive director of the Alameda County Family Justice Center, appeared on an episode of “Justice for All” to discuss domestic violence.

Liz Fouts was promoted to vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary of Standard Insurance Company. Fouts joined the company in 2008 and has held several legal positions.

David D. Little a principal with Hartog, Baer & Hand, was elected as a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC).

’01

Joshua Binder was named a 2020 top music lawyer by Billboard.

Binder is a partner with Rothenberg Mohr & Binder, LLP in Beverly Hills.

Kirsten Daru, General Counsel of Tile, Inc., was recognized as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers by the National Diversity Council.

Robyn Santucci was named chair of the board of directors of OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center.

Santucci was a founding member of the associate board in 2008 and has served in various capacities with the organization, most recently as vice chair.

Justice Martin J. Jenkins ’80 Appointed to California Supreme Court This past January, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed The Hon. Martin J. Jenkins ’80 to the California Supreme Court.

Jenkins is the first openly gay justice and the third Black man to serve on the state’s highest court. He fills the vacancy created by fellow USF School of Law alumnus Ming W. Chin ’64 ,JD ’67, the state’s first Chinese-American justice, who retired in August 2020.

“I am truly humbled and honored to be asked by the governor to continue serving the people of California on the Supreme Court,” said Jenkins.

Jenkins was inspired to become a lawyer when a USF School of Law graduate took on Jenkins’ mother’s personal injury case pro bono, winning damages that enabled her to pay her medical bills, said USF President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J. “His whole career has modeled that generosity of spirit and that balance of justice and mercy,” Fr. Fitzgerald said.

Jenkins came to USF School of Law in 1977 after one season playing cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks. He said he realized his true calling was law, and he graduated with honors.

Upon graduation, he became a prosecutor at the Alameda County district attorney’s office and later worked at the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department, where he handled racial violence and police misconduct cases. Jenkins was later appointed to the Oakland Municipal Court, then elevated to the Alameda County Superior Court, eventually becoming the presiding judge of the juvenile division.

In 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed Jenkins to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Starting in 2008, Jenkins served as an associate justice on the California Court of Appeal for the First District in San Francisco.

Jenkins’ Jesuit education at Santa Clara University and USF Law prepared him with the intellectual skills and strength of character to live a life of service and leadership, Fr. Fitzgerald said.

“Justice Marty Jenkins is a man of faith, of integrity, of humility, and of kindness,” he said. n

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Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of USF’s LLM Program 1997 marked the first year USF awarded LLM degrees. The inaugural class came from countries near and far— including Canada, Ireland, Cambodia, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Taiwan, and the Czech Republic — to earn degrees in both IP and Technology Law as well as International Transactions and Comparative Law. Thanks in large part to the dedication of Associate Director Julianne Cartwright Traylor, the program is thriving, and many alumni have remained engaged with the USF community.

We celebrate the members of the inaugural LLM class: Thomas Braun Matej Cepl Kalia Klein Neam Koy Marek Kreisl

Deirdre Dempsey Leclercq

Abdullah Odan

Jean-Baptiste Leclercq

Sok-Ry Sum

Mary O’Connor

Wen-Yue Shen Shih-Kai Wang Renata Zbrankova

After ‘Wicked Year,’ Recent Grads and Alums Come Together to Celebrate The USF Law community capped off a year unlike any other by gathering virtually for the annual Alumni Graduates Reception.

“You have been through a wicked year, and you survived,” said USF Law Board of Governors President Sal Torres ’88. “You did it.”

The May 19 event celebrated the efforts and achievements of the entire Class of 2021 while highlighting outstanding achievements of several faculty, alumni, and students.

Dean Freiwald presented Torres with the Donald L. Carano ’59 Alumni of the Year Award. Accepting the award, Torres said he hadn’t always envisioned pursuing a career in law. Soon after graduating from UCLA, he was considering a PhD in clinical psychology.

But USF Law’s admissions director at the time persuaded Torres that he was capable of succeeding as an attorney.

“That’s what propels me and drives me and motivates me every day — believing in someone else,” Torres said. “When you meet someone, have compassion, have kindness, have the desire to serve …

You never know whose life you’re going to change.”

Other award-winners include Heidi Ho ’97, an assistant professor and the co-director of USF’s Academic Support Program, who won the John Meehan Alumni Fellow Award, which is presented to an alum who contributes to the growth and development of future lawyers.

The graduating class selected Prof. Luke Boso as the John Adler Distinguished Professor of the Year. Prof. Karren Shorofsky, who teaches classes including art law and copyright law, received the Hon. Ira A. Brown Adjunct Faculty of the Year. Prof. Jerry Coleman was recognized with the Innovation in Teaching Award. n 28

USF SCHOOL OF LAW

’03

Ely Juarez, senior counsel with Spotify, was named to MCCA’s Top 20 of 2020 Rising Stars list.

Mitch Lowe was appointed to the Ruby Tuesday board of managers.

Lowe is the former president of Sizzling Platter.

’04

Jaemin Chang joined Legalist, the San Francisco-based litigation finance firm, as assistant general counsel. Chang previously worked as a partner with Fox Rothschild LLP.

’05

Joshua de Larios-Heiman, privacy director and senior counsel with Data Law, was elected to the Board of Representatives for the California Lawyers Association (CLA) by the Privacy Law Section.

Marjorie Garcia was named a top 2020 music lawyer by Billboard. She is an associate in the entertainment transactions department with King, Holmes, Paterno, & Soriano LLP. Adam Hofmann, a partner with Hansen Bridgett LLP, was named co-chair of the firm’s appellate practice.

’06

Capt. Stephen Adler took over command of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752). Adler is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and previously served as the staff judge advocate to the pacific area commander in the Coast Guard Pacific Area.

Hung Chang joined WorldCoin as associate general counsel.

Emily Compagno was named co-host of Fox News Channel’s Outnumbered. She joined Fox News Media in December 2018 as a contributor.

Jim Heffner, commercial litigation partner with Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP, has been named one of San Diego’s Best Attorneys for 2021.

Jason Horst was nominated to serve a second term on the International Cannabis Bar Association’s Board of Directors.

Paula Kutansky-Brown was featured on Law.com for her commitment to advancing the empowerment of women in law.

’07

Ifeoma Ajunwa has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar for the 2021–2022 year to research law and technology issues in Lagos, Nigeria.

Kiran Belur, senior director and head of Trademarks and Copyrights at Salesforce, has been named to the WTR 300: The World’s Leading Corporate Trademark Professionals.

The Hon. Erin E. Guy Castillo was appointed by Governor Newsom to serve as a judge in the San Joaquin County Superior Court. Guy Castillo has served as a commissioner in the San Joaquin County Superior Court since 2018.

Ryan Hamill was named co-head of CAA Baseball. He joined CAA Sports in 2007 and played catcher and first base for UNLV and UCLA, and for the St. Louis Cardinals organization before attending USF Law. The Hon. Andrew Kwee became presiding administrative law judge for the State of California, Office of Tax Appeals, as of Jan. 1, 2021.

He started with the Office of Tax Appeals in 2017 and has been serving as acting presiding administrative law judge since June 1, 2020.

Thomas Marrs was recognized as 2020 Top Lawyer by Sacramento Magazine in family law.

’08

Abigail Rivamonte Mesa was recognized with the Best Under 40 Award by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (“NAPABA”) for excellence in the legal profession.

Bambo Obaro Commercial Litigation Partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 lawyers in California by the Daily Journal.

’09

Amanda Wilhelm was named director for administration and special projects at United Way of Brevard, based in Rockledge, Florida. Prior to this new position, Wilhelm led the local 2020 Census efforts for Brevard County, and was a supervising attorney at Legal Aid Service of Broward County.

Jenica Maldonado joined Renne Public Law Group as Of Counsel after serving 6 years as San Francisco Deputy City Attorney.

Nick Miller was named Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia.

USF Lawyers Win Award for Professional Excellence The Filipino Bar Association of Northern California (FBANC), an organization presently led

by USF Law graduates, has won two national awards for justice and equity.

Jennifer Sta.Ana ’15, FBANC president and member of the USF Law Board of Governors, said that the association won the Affiliate of the Year Award, in large part“for pioneering a

virtual unemployment benefits legal clinic.” She said that Abigail Rivamonte Mesa ’08 received the Best Under 40 Award “for excellence in the profession and commitment to service.”

Both awards came from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Affiliate of the Year When COVID-19 struck in early 2020, FBANC took its free legal

’10

Michael J. Hui, a shareholder in the San Francisco office of Littler, has received the Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 Award from the National LGBT Bar Association.

Nicholas Larson was elevated to shareholder and managing partner of Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney with the firm’s Seattle office. Larson has been recognized as a Top Rated Business & Corporate Attorney

by SuperLawyers for three consecutive years.

clinic online, knowing that many were facing job insecurity due to the pandemic, Sta.Ana said.

The online clinic helped more than 500 Filipinx people with culturally and linguistically competent unemployment assistance.

“We were among the first organizations in California to take a legal clinic online, and we then helped other organizations do the same,” Sta.Ana said.

Raymond Rollan ’14, FBANC president-elect, added that FBANC’s inaugural Komunidad— a first-of-its-kind professional development conference held in February that gathered 50 Filipinx law students and 50 lawyers for a day of networking and talks from heavy hitters, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta — also helped FBANC win the Affiliate of the Year Award.

Best Under 40 Abigail Rivamonte Mesa, a former FBANC president, said she received the Best Under 40 Award because she recently made the switch from a public defender, where she tried more than 50 jury trials fighting for one client at a time, to a city

’11

Carl N. Hammarskjold has been elevated to Partner with Berman Tabacco.

’12

Patrick M. Etchebehere JD ‘12 LLM ‘15 has joined Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as of counsel in the firm’s corporate and business department, in the Santa Barbara office.

’13

Katherine Jeffrey, an attorney with Spaulding McCullough & Tansil LLP, is a North Bay 2020 Forty Under 40 winner.

legislator who fights for entire sectors of the community.

“As chief of staff [for supervisor Matt Haney in San Francisco District 6], I can work to change a system that has failed an underserved population — immigrants, people of color, the indigent,” Rivamonte Mesa said.

FBANC was formed in 1980 to serve the Filipinx community and to help Filipino American lawyers and law students. Through the work of its members, all of them volunteers, FBANC offers free legal clinics, professional development programs for attorneys, mentorship for law students and attorneys, and scholarships for law students.

This is the first time in the 32year history of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association that a Filipino organization has won the Affiliate of the Year Award.

“They totally deserve it, “said Nicolette Rae Bencito ‘22, a student at USF Law. “As a first-generation law student, I was nervous about networking and starting my law career. If it weren’t for FBANC’s guidance and mentorship, I wouldn’t have landed my first law clerk position at Dolan Law Firm.” n

USFCA.EDU/LAW 29

Cassandra Jenecke was unanimously appointed by the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors to serve as the county district attorney.

Yaniv Newman has been named a shareholder with Sullivan Hill Rez & Engel. He was selected by his peers for inclusion in the inaugural edition of Ones to Watch,

by Best Lawyers in America® in the field of construction law. Newman practices in the Construction Law and Insurance Coverage practice groups.

’14

Lydia Hsu, a partner with Foster Hsu, was named to the Northern California SuperLawyers’ list for 2021.

Shauna Madison joined Medina Orthwein LLP, a civil rights law firm, as a managing partner.

Ethan Niedermeyer joined Swanson Law Group in the firm’s Walnut Creek, California, office as a plaintiff’s trial attorney representing personal injury clients.

Lorena Nunez, an associate with Ogletree Deakins, has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America’s inaugural Ones to Watch list for Labor and Employment Law Management.

’15

Elisha J. Yang was promoted to senior counsel with Hanson Bridgett LLP, in the firm’s real estate and environment practice group.

’16

Brandon Banks joined Heit Law Group PC as a senior partner and trial Attorney.

Shounak Dharap, an associate attorney with the Arns Law Firm, was selected for inclusion in the Top 40 Under 40 by the National Trial Lawyers.

’17

Ryan Herrera was recognized as a Northern California rising star 2021 by Super Lawyers.

’18

Lisa Pinelli was selected to the 2021 Northern California Rising Stars list from Super Lawyers. Pinelli is an associate attorney at Lvovich & Szucsko PC in family law.

’20

McKenzie Thomsen joined In-House Privacy Inc. William Robinson, III has been promoted to an in-house counsel position at Fremantle Media.

In Memoriam Judge Peter Smith ‘51, July 2020 Eugene John McDonald ‘57, August 2020 John J. Hulten Jr. ‘64, December 2020 David Zimmar ’72, April 2021 Paulino Duran ‘75, February 2021 Mary Ann Mason ‘76, July 2020 Lynda Vurek-Martyn ‘76, October 2020 Judge Peggy Hora ’78, October 2020 John Ignatius Alioto ‘81, June 2021 Donna Marie Daly Nisson ‘82, August 2020 Daniel Pascual Iannitelli ’99, March 2021 Trevor Ross ’13, March 2021

Remembering John “Jack” Meehan ’59 John “Jack” Joseph Meehan, B.S. ‘54, J.D. ’59, a beloved mentor to a host of young lawyers and who served for more than a decade as the Alameda County district attorney, died Oct. 6, 2020. He was 88.

Meehan was recognized as USF Law’s Alumnus of the Year in 1994 and is the namesake of the law school’s John J. Meehan Alumni Fellow Award, given annually to an alumnus who has shown commitment to mentorship. The Hon. Jeffrey Brand, a former dean of USF Law, described Meehan as a “leader everywhere he worked.”

“Jack was smart, sensible, humble, ethical, good humored and dedicated to his family, friends, and the law school,” Brand said. “No one worked harder than Jack for the common good. He was one of a kind.”

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A San Francisco native, Meehan received his undergraduate degree from USF in 1954. During that time he met his wife, Janet, with whom he sang in the High Chorus. After serving as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, he returned to USF as part of the law school’s celebrated “Class of 1959,” known for its later philanthropy to the school.

Even when Meehan was a student, fellow student Stuart Brafman said he was the kind of person to take others under his wing.

“He just had this very warm, generous nature,” Brafman said. “He genuinely had interest in you, which came out in any conversation with Jack... that we’re the only two people on the planet. He had that way about him.”

Brafman noted that Meehan always thought USF “gave him something beyond an education.”

“There was a spiritual element, and he valued that,” Brafman said.

Jack’s son, James Meehan, graduated from USF Law in 1986 and worked alongside his father for seven years. “My father’s goal was to instill in each attorney he hired the confidence to succeed and the means to hit the fast pitching. That’s mentorship.” n

THE GIFT OF

OPPORTUNITY

“

My wife, Anne, and I were supporting ourselves while I attended USF Law. I was fortunate and thankful to receive a scholarship, which allowed me to complete my degree. Graduating from USF Law opened many doors for me careerwise, and so to my mind, it’s a simple algorithm: Giving back to USF Law provides the same opportunity to others.”

Robert S. Arns ’75 Founding Partner, The Arns Law Firm Supporting the School of Law Scholarship Fund is one way you can help students achieve their academic and career goals.

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

A Voice for the Voiceless AN ENDANGERED SPECIES CAN’T FILE A COMPLAINT, BUT THIS USF LAW GRADUATE CAN

By Logan Tillema ’15 If a plant dies on a hillside and there’s no lawyer there to hear it, does it make a sound?

Last year, when the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) started a project to replace aging wooden power poles with more fire-resilient poles in the Santa Monica Mountains, they bulldozed more than nine acres of a state park and destroyed more than 150 Braunton’s milkvetch plants — southern California native plants that are protected under the Endangered Species Act. While performing their work, a local hiker with an interest in rare plants informed LADWP that the specific plant being bulldozed was an endangered species, but LADWP’s work continued. Had LADWP conducted the required critical biological site survey, not only would they have known that the plants they were bulldozing were endangered, but also that they were operating in Environmentally Sensitive Habitat, which is given the highest protection under the California Coastal Commission laws.

This is where I come in. I am one of a small group of prosecutors at the California Coastal Commission who enforce the Coastal Act, the law that protects California’s coastal resources. In this case, both the area in which LADWP was operating and the endangered plant it was destroying fell within the Coastal Commission’s jurisdiction. I couldn’t save the plants and the habitat that had been bulldozed, but I could and did take the case before the California Coastal Commission, which levied an order against the LADWP to restore the area.

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the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, will use a portion of these funds to purchase undisturbed habitats that it will protect in perpetuity, and another portion of the funds will go to California State Parks to remove invasive species in the surrounding area.

In addition to the penalties and mitigation fees, the LADWP must also restore the damaged site to its original condition, which includes replanting, restorative grading, and monitoring the area for five years to ensure the restoration is successful.

To prevent further habitat damage, the LADWP is required to have an on-site biologist and complete surveys to check the safety of projects before they continue their project.

A Job That Never Ends

Restorative Justice

This case is only one example of the many coastal resources that the California Coastal Commission protects. We are perhaps better known for protecting public access to the coast.

In 2014, California lawmakers granted the Commission the ability to levy fines for violating the public access provisions of the Coastal Act. My unit has been very successful at resolving public access issues, including blocked access to the beach, by bringing administrative penalty actions before the Commission.

And, more importantly, those actions have been successful at deterring entities from blocking public access—an issue that we deal with too frequently. Our work to protect the coastal zone and all of its resources will never end. If we do not continue to watch over the land and its habitats and species, we will lose them and our ability enjoy them. After all, every law is only as strong as its enforcement. n

After lengthy negotiations and consultations with ecological experts from various agencies involved, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the city of Los Angeles agreed to pay $1.9 million in penalties and mitigation fees. A local agency,

Logan Tillema ’15 works in the statewide enforcement department of the California Coastal Commission.

USF SCHOOL OF LAW

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

Hillary Blout ’06 founded For The People. The organization partners with lawmakers and prosecutors to remedy unjust sentences.