USF Lawyer Fall 2014

FALL • 2014

GREAT CASES Mike Underhill ’82 convinced a judge that oil giant BP was negligent in causing the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, opening the door to $18 billion in fines. Underhill and other great USF lawyers share behind-the-scenes details of how they won their biggest cases.

INSIDE • Civil Rights Roundtable • Faisal Shah ’86 Joins Dean’s Circle • Inaugural Brand Fellow Heads to Thailand

SECTION HEAD

Message from the Dean Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J. University President Dear Friends,

I

t is truly an honor to be dean of the USF School of Law. Every day, the activities of our community in classroom and clinical work, externships, and faculty and student scholarship carry the torch of justice forward that you as our alumni lit when you were here.

It is difficult to capture the breadth and depth of today’s legal education at USF and how our graduates are serving clients, the profession, and our communities. But the articles and stories contained in this edition of USF Lawyer place into focus a few of the great lawyers trained here in Kendrick Hall. Just recently, Mike Underhill ’82 was the co-lead trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in the litigation that found oil giant BP reckless in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Not only is he a leading environmental prosecutor, he has worked closely with Professor Alice Kaswan in our Environmental Law Student and Alumni Society, which exposes our current students to the various aspects of environmental practice and provides them opportunities to seek externships and jobs in that field.

At the USF Downtown Campus at 101 Howard Street, we have inaugurated our LLM in Taxation program. In its first year, the program has attracted more students than expected and forged a vibrant professional partnership with Andersen Tax (formerly WTAS). This program achieves our goals of being relevant to student professional training needs and providing prospective employers skilled students ready to take on meaningful legal work.

We doubled the size of our summer Intensive Advocacy Program, now led by Doris Cheng ’98, and our students developed their litigation skills with lawyers and judges from around the nation. Having seen many of these same students enter USF just 10 months before, it was gratifying to see them learning and succeeding in their first criminal and civil trials.

Also this summer summer, we sent 25 law student externs to top U.S., European, and Chinese law firms across the Atlantic and the Pacific. Our students returned with a new understanding of how U.S. lawyers operate in foreign legal systems, practical training, law firm experience, unique future employment prospects, and new ideas for writing and coursework in their 2L and 3L years.

The new academic year brings a new USF president, Fr. Paul Fitzgerald, who continues the existing strong support of the School of Law from the university. Our first year class is larger than last year’s despite the general downturn in legal education. Our bar passage and employment rates are up. It is a team effort and we are grateful for your support.

As you will be able to read more fully in the magazine, USF is a great law school to attend, to be from, and to invest in succeeding generations of ethical legal professionals.

Jennifer E. Turpin University Provost John Trasviña Dean Joshua Davis Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Michelle Travis Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship Elizabeth Benhardt Assistant Dean for Academic Services Erin E. Dolly Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Angie Davis Senior Director of Communications & Marketing Talya Gould Sanders Assistant Director of Communications & Marketing Design Ann Elliot Artz annelliot@gmail.com USF Lawyer is published by: University of San Francisco School of Law 2130 Fulton Street San Francisco, CA 94117-1080 T 415 422 4409 F 415 422 4397 usflawyer@usfca.edu

Thank you!

John Trasviña Dean

USF Lawyer is printed on paper and at a printing facility certified by BM Trada Certification North America, Inc. to FSC® standards. From forest management to paper production to printing, FSC certification represents the highest social and environmental standards.

Contents FALL • 2014

DEPARTMENTS

14 Great Cases

2 In Brief

Five alumni recount their experiences with noteworthy cases and how their USF School of Law education helped prepare them

• Criminal and Juvenile Justice Law Clinic Student Helps Exonerate Client • Meet the 1Ls • Students Hone Advocacy Skills in Intensive Program

10 Faculty Focus • On the Record with Professor Alice Kaswan • Scholarship and service highlights

24 Giving Back • Inaugural Brand Fellow Heads to Thailand

50

• Honor Roll of Donors

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT AT 22

26 Alumni News • Solomon B. Cera ’81 Wins $163.5 Million Class Action Antitrust Case

24

Civil Rights Roundtable Faisal Shah ’86 Joins Dean’s Circle As the nation marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, leading lawyers and legal scholars consider what’s needed for true equality

Shah is the newest member of this group of alumni and friends committed to furthering the goals of the law school

32

• 318 USF Alumni Honored

by Super Lawyers

Closing Argument Carole Bellis ’96 traces her path from mediation classes to her Silicon Valley work counseling start-up companies

USF LAWYER

[ In Brief ]

USF Launches Program to Assist Unaccompanied Minors

L

he was very impressed by the work the ate last spring, a 17-year-old boy students did, which included discovery from Honduras was forced to leave and drafting the motion.” his family and flee his home after The case was part of the law school’s his life was threatened by violent local Unaccompanied Immigrant Children Asgangs. He made the harrowing journey sistance Project, a new initiative in which north from Central America through law students are providing legal assistance Mexico alone, arriving in June at the U.S. to unaccompanied minors as they navigate border. He was held for weeks in a Texas the U.S. immigration system. The project immigration facility until his sister, who is a component of Hing’s Deportation and lives in the Bay Area, arranged his release into her custody while he awaited a depor- Rebellious Lawyering class. tation hearing.

He is one of nearly 90,000 unaccompanied minors fleeing violence, poverty, “ In this class, I really have the and hunger in Central America who are arriving at U.S. borders this year in what opportunity to put my legal President Barack Obama has declared a education to work.” humanitarian crisis.

Thanks to efforts by USF School of Law students, Professor Bill Hing, and

— Tiffany Crain 4L volunteer Jacqueline Brown Scott ’05, in October the boy from Honduras received This semester, 21 students enrolled the news he had dreamed of—a San in the seminar are working on more than Mateo Superior Court judge granted his sister temporary guardianship, clearing the a dozen cases, many through communitybased organizations including Catholic way for him to apply for special juvenile Charities, Legal Services for Children, immigrant status and remain in the Bay Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, Area, where he now attends high school. and Pangea Legal Services. In addition, “The odds of success in this case were students and faculty from the USF School not great,” Hing said. “But the judge said

of Education and School of Nursing and Health Professions are getting involved, helping the minors engage with schools and community healthcare organizations.

Hing hopes the project will develop into a full-fledged law clinic in the coming year.

“Our students learn about the intricacies of asylum law, the psychological needs of clients, access to the judicial system for non-English speakers, and prepare for the 21st century practice of law all while meeting a critical legal need,” Dean John Trasviña said. “I am pleased that in addition to the impact on our students and the children involved, we are working with and helping the immigration courts, our State Attorney General, the city, the bar, and community groups.”

Students say the work is a highlight of their law school experience. “People like him and the work we did so he could remain in the U.S. is the reason I came to law school—to better advocate for and with the immigrant community in California,” said Tiffany Crain 4L, who worked with Alexandra Sandoval 3L and Alex Leenson 3L on the case of the 17-year-old boy this fall. “In this class, I really have the opportunity to put my legal education to work.” /USF

Inaugural Tax LLM Class Begins

U

SF’s new LLM in Taxation program launched in August with 26 students at USF’s Downtown Campus at 101 Howard Street.

Entering students earned JDs from Georgetown, UC Hastings, USF, and Golden Gate University.

“The quality of our inaugural LLM in Taxation class is amazing,” said E.L. Wiegand Distinguished Professor in Tax Daniel Lathrope, who is the academic 2 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

director of the program. “In addition, we have formed a robust partnership with Anderson Tax that provides instant credibility to the program.”

Nine students in the inaugural class work at Andersen Tax (formerly WTAS), which has partnered with USF to provide the opportunity for its managers and associates to earn a USF LLM by taking courses conveniently located in the firm’s offices in the financial district. All students in

the USF LLM in Taxation program may take select courses at the Andersen offices to develop and hone their skills and maximize career and networking opportunities.

“USF School of Law has one of the top tax programs in the nation, and having our people obtain their LLMs from USF will only further enhance our ability to serve our clients in a best of class manner,” said Frank Cassidy, managing director at Andersen Tax. /USF

SECTION HEAD

Meet the 1Ls

A snapshot of the USF School of Law JD Class of 2017/2018

172 students 45% 55% male

female

28

part-time

144

full-time

81

Undergraduate universities represented

14 48%

Graduate degrees including 3 PhDs and 6 MAs

Ethnic Diversity

18

Students reported mutiple ethnicities

hail from Why did you choose USF School of Law? Andrea Campos, Full-time JD Program Andrea is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a first generation college graduate, raised by Mexican immigrant parents in Southern California. She has a passion for social justice and helping historically underrepresented communities.

After law school, Andrea plans to continue advocating for underserved communities and practice immigration law.

“I chose USF School of Law because “ of its intimate learning environment with amazing and accessible faculty, renowned in their fields and devoted to their students. The diverse and supportive community at USF School of Law is unparalleled, and I am proud to call this place my new home away from home.”

Ryan J. Rademacher, Part-time JD Program With a bachelor’s in chemistry from Western Michigan University, Ryan works full time as a product service and support engineer at Agilent Technologies, and has served in the U.S. Coast Guard. He’s eager to explore intellectual property and patent law.

“I chose the USF School of Law “ because it conveyed a unique sense of community that wasn’t apparent elsewhere. Other universities solicited principally on statistics or standing, but USF complemented its attributes with helpful faculty who were eager to engage with potential students.”

18 5 3

U.S. states Canada Other International

58%

Students receiving merit-based scholarships Top 4 native languages

English Spanish Chinese Arabic

[ in brief ]

Students Hone Trial Advocacy Skills in Intensive Program

Participants in the 2014 Intensive Advocacy Program, with Program Director Doris Cheng ’98 (front, fourth from left).

“ USF law students excel in courses like the IAP, where education meets real world practices.”

—Doris Cheng ’98, IAP Director

4 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

T

he Intensive Advocacy Program (IAP), a two-week course focusing on litigation and trial techniques and strategies, concluded its 22nd year on June 1 with nearly 50 students enrolled and dozens of practitioners serving as faculty, jurors, and judges.

“Imagine waking up after 14 days with two trials under your belt and loads of personalized feedback on depositions, opening statements, direct and cross examination, objections, bringing in evidence, and closing arguments,” said Katie Moran 2L. “That’s exactly what IAP provides, plus each student makes professional connections with the judges and lawyers who serve as faculty during the program. It was an invaluable experience—two extremely intense weeks that tire you out but fly quickly by.”

The students—rising 1Ls, 2Ls, and 3Ls—spent more than 80 hours learning all components of trial advocacy. The stu-

dents’ development of strategies and techniques for jury selection, opening statement, closing argument, as well as direct and cross examination were honed during workshop trainings, demonstrations, and lectures led by elite practitioners.

This was the first year Doris Cheng ’98 directed the program, although she has been involved with the IAP since 1999 and also is a frequent guest lecturer and adjunct professor, training lawyers and judges nationally and internationally.

“USF law students excel in courses like the IAP, where education meets real world practices,” said Cheng, a partner with Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger and president-elect of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association. “By the end of the course, with the help of our all-star faculty, they had two trials under their belts, and they were charismatic, persuasive, and fundamentally sound advocates.” / USF

[ IN BRIEF ]

R

aymond R. Rollan has embraced USF’s practical learning opportunities, participating in judicial externships at the U.S. District Court and California Court of Appeal, taking part in the Intensive Advocacy Program and Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Clinic, and serving as staff editor of the Intellectual Property Law Bulletin. He has had summer positions at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, the Sonoma County Public Defender’s Office, the intellectual property firm Novak Druce Connolly Bove & Quigg, and the Oakland City Attorney’s Office.

He was Student Bar Association vice president (parttime program) and president of the Pilipino American Law Society (PALS), and is active in USF Pride Law.

Raymond R. Rollan Fourth-Year Student / Part-Time Juris Doctor Program

X ONE TO WATCH What most influenced your path to law school?

I decided to go to law school because I believe in the power of representation. As a gay Filipino immigrant (my family and I immigrated from the Philippines in 2002, when I was 14 years old), I want to be a visible figure and serve as a role model for individuals who face the same circumstances and adversities that I faced.

Through my story, I hope to inspire and empower others to pursue their dreams and to give back to their communities.

What is one of your most memorable experiences at USF? When the law school community mobilized to help PALS fundraise for the Typhoon Haiyan relief effort. It was amazing to see the whole campus—administration, faculty, staff, and students— come together to support a common cause. Through collective effort, we were able to raise over $2,000 in one day.

Who are your favorite USF professors?

My favorite USF law professors are Carol Wilson, Richard Sakai, Rhonda Magee, and Tim Iglesias. They truly cared about my growth as a student and were available when I needed advice and guidance.

How do you plan to use your law degree?

My long-term plans include having a career in litigation, pursuing an MBA, and eventually working as in-house counsel. I would also like to continue giving back to underprivileged communities through involvement with local bar associations and as a USF School of Law alumnus.

What is your favorite way to unwind?

As a former professional hip hop dance company member, my favorite way to de-stress is taking hip hop dance classes and performing at dance shows with my friends and former teammates.

What advice would you give new USF law students?

Stay true to yourself. It is important, as a law student, to always remember the reason why you went to law school and to never lose sight of that reason. Understand early on the value of networking and forging relationships with mentors within the legal community. Take advantage of the resources that USF law provides: the outstanding professors, clinics, externships, and student organizations. Most importantly, have fun—this will be your career, so make it as meaningful and joyful as you can. / USF USF LAWYER 5

[ in brieF ]

#USFlaw

Stay connected with USF School of Law on social media. Tag your posts to share your #usflaw law moments!

@tlove_5 / August 2014 Woke up this morning and realized I’ve finally made it to this beautiful city. The journey starts today, accepting the challenge. #usflaw

@usflaw / June 2014 #USFlaw’s international summer externship program is in action in Vietnam!

Externs are engaging with UNDP, Hanoi Law University, Baker & McKenzie, good luck turtles at the Temple of Literature, and much more! #usfca @usflaw / August 2014 USF’s Sports and Entertainment Law Association welcomed Caleb Jay ‘02 for a lunchtime Q&A today. Caleb talked with students about his role as senior director, legal affairs and associate general counsel with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and debunked myths about MLB legal work and shared career insights and advice. #usflaw

@usflaw / September 2014 #usflaw and biz students immersed in bootcamp with our Entrepreneurial Ventures Legal Services Project.

@usflawsba / July 2014 #usflaw represented at #AIDSWalkSF we walk the walk, hills and all! #usflawsba #universityofsanfrancisco #usf #lawschool

Lizette Perez / September 2014 It was great connecting with SF DA George Gascon while kicking off National Latino Heritage Month. #usflaw @larazalaw_usf 6 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

[ in brief ]

”The clinic is the best experience someone can have if they want to pursue a career in criminal trial advocacy. It gives you the chance to take ownership of a case, and have the freedom to explore your theory of the case and work with the client, with the guidance and support of your supervisors who have a wealth of knowledge.“ —Katie Finch ’14

Clinic Director Sharon Meadows, Katie Finch ‘14, and Hamill Fellow Kamran Meyer ’08.

Criminal and Juvenile Justice Law Clinic Student’s Investigation Helps Exonerate Client

K

atie Finch ’14, a participant in this spring’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Law Clinic, recently won a case for her client thanks to her dogged investigation skills. The charges against her client were dismissed moments before the courtroom trial was about to begin, and Finch’s investigation also led to another defendant’s acquittal in a related case.

It was a case of mistaken identity where Finch’s client, Joanna Franco, a community worker, was accused of getting involved in a fight she was actually helping to break up at a memorial service in San Francisco’s Mission District. Finch tracked down eyewitnesses who corroborated Franco’s story and were willing to testify during trial, and prepared motions to exclude from evidence photos the police obtained illegally from Franco’s cell phone. Another man arrested during the incident was also exonerated because Finch’s thorough investigation clarified the roles various people played in the fight.

“The clinic is the best experience someone can have if they want to pursue a career in criminal trial advocacy,” said

Finch, who aspires to become a public defender. “It gives you the chance to take ownership of a case, and have the freedom to explore your theory of the case and work with the client, with the guidance and support of your supervisors who have a wealth of knowledge.”

Finch said the clinic prepared her to investigate the case, interact with clients, and analyze the legal issues. “There is so much going on in a criminal case that it’s overwhelming if you don’t have a foundation to start from, and the clinic provides you with that foundation and more.”

Iff Franco had been convicted, she could have been sentenced to a year in county jail, would likely have lost her job as a community worker, and it could have jepardized her custody battle for her children.

The Criminal and Juvenile Justice Law Clinic began working on the case more than a year ago, and it was a long and group effort, with supervision from Prof.

Sharon Meadows, Hamill Fellow Kamran Meyer ’08, and volunteer Erin O’Donnell.

Finch also attributed the case’s success to

the initial work of Thomas Quigley ’14 and help from her fellow clinic students.

“It was a real pleasure to see Katie grow through the process of this case,” said Meyer. “Dealing with the client, seeing her on what was sometimes a daily basis, preparing her for what a courtroom examination was going to be like—by the end, even though it got dismissed, Joanna was very prepared to go forward and tell her story. All credit goes to Katie who worked tirelessly with her.”

The success of this case and the rich experience Finch had representing her client is not unusual for USF’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Law Clinic, which has won nearly every case in the more than 20 years it has helped clients, said Meadows.

“What distinguishes our clinic experience is that our students have the experience of dealing with an entire case,” explained Meadows. “They aren’t just assigned a motion or interviews or investigations—they are able to see a case from beginning to end.” / USF

USF LAWYER 7

[ in brief ]

syllabus pROfESSOR

Daniel Lathrope, E.L. Wiegand Distinguished Professor in Tax and Academic Director of USF’s new LLM in Taxation program COURSES Foreign Tax I and II

“USF’s new LLM in Taxation program strives to prepare students for the dynamic nature of the global economy and the impact interconnected markets have on the practice of the modern tax lawyer.

To achieve this goal, we developed a two-course curriculum on United States international tax.”

dESCRiptiOn These two courses on foreign tax teach students the intricacies of U.S. international taxation, providing the knowledge and critical thinking essential for a successful career in tax law.

The first course, Foreign Tax I, focuses on U.S. taxation of business and investment activities of nonresident aliens and foreign corporations. Students also receive an introduction to the taxation of “outbound” transactions: the overseas business and investment activities of U.S. citizens and residents, as well as domestic corporations. Here, the main event is the intricacies of the foreign tax credit.

Foreign Tax II expands the student’s understanding of outbound taxation. Students examine the Internal Revenue Code’s maze

of rules designed to prevent improper tax deferral and deal with transfer pricing concerns, and are immersed in the complex structuring of overseas ventures involving sales of goods and exploitation of intangible assets. Headline issues, such as “tax inversions” and “crossborder arbitrage,” are discussed, and proposals to reform U.S. international taxation are also explored.

RElatEd REadingS Supplemental readings include articles and commentaries on international tax policy issues. Students also read reports and tax reform proposals authored by Congressional committees and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

2014

The USF School of Law Class of 2014 graduated on May 17 in front of approximately 1,000 family and friends in St. Ignatius Church. More than 180 students received Juris Doctor degrees, 5 received JD/MBAs, 7 received LLMs in International Transactions and Comparative Law, and 3 received an LLM in Intellectual Property and Technology Law.

8 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

PRESS CLIPPINGS “Some people argue that living in San Francisco is not a right. But neither is illegally evicting those who are living in rent-controlled or subsidized apartments. In an increasingly wealthy city, it’s time to level the playing field for middle and lower income San Franciscans. Preserving the character of San Francisco as an inclusive city is at stake.”

Professor Tim Iglesias and Adrian Tirtanadi ’12, executive director and co-founder of Bayview/Hunters Point Community Legal, in a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed, “City Should Better Fund Eviction Defenses.”

“We should be concerned and a little bit angry, and appropriately rebellious.… Some big cultural shift is going on, and it’s been going for about the last 10 years. It’s this erosion of the boundary between independent editorial content and paid content.”

Professor and Director of the McCarthy Institute for Intellectual Property and Technology Law David Franklyn on NPR’s On the Media about the increasingly blurry lines between advertising and editorial content online, the subject of his current research.

“Part of the problem is there needs to be more invested in ESL programs. It’s not that the ESL programs are ineffective, but there’s not much investment in them right now.”

Professor Bill Ong Hing in a San Francisco Examiner article about a new study highlighting challenges facing California immigrant students.

“You can always go after the poster, but it’s basically impossible to get the intermediary on the hook.”

Professor Susan Freiwald in Mashable about how hard it is for celebrities to have leaked photos taken down from the Internet.

International law requires the U.S. to comply with the treaty and with its interpretation by “reviewing bodies” like the U.N. panel, said Professor Connie de la Vega. If those who have resisted change learned that “this violates our treaty obligations or international law, it might force them to reconsider,” she said.

Professor Connie de la Vega quoted in a San Francisco Chronicle article about a U.N. panel that determined U.S. laws—including “sit-lie” ordinances like San Francisco’s—violate international standards and should be abolished nationwide.

“This is where the interrogation process causes someone to doubt the reliability of their memory. And (they) come to believe, sometimes temporarily and sometimes for longer periods of time, to believe they committed a crime they have no memory of.”

Hamill Family Chair and Professor of Law and Social Psychology Richard Leo, who testified in a retrial of a Tennessee man accused of murdering his neighbor, in The Daily Times.

USF LAWYER 9

[ Faculty Focus ]

X on the record Professor Alice Kaswan Discusses Climate Change and Environmental Justice Professor Alice Kaswan is an expert and frequent presenter across the nation on climate change and environmental justice.

She is chair of the Association of American Law Schools’ Environmental Law Section, an elected member of the American Law Institute, and a member scholar of the Center for Progressive Reform. Read her scholarly work at ssrn.com/author=358100.

X Why do you focus your scholarly work on climate change?

As one of the most profound threats to human health and the environment, climate change is clearly an issue that matters.

And, because our governmental institutions are at the beginning steps in formulating a response to climate change, scholars have a unique opportunity to offer insights and analysis that could help shape emerging policies. And I’m not alone. Though my work focuses on environmental law, addressing the impacts of climate change will require a rethinking of existing institutions in many areas of the law, including not only environmental law, but immigration law, land use law, housing law, water law, agricultural law, and public health.

X Your work has shifted from a focus on

slowing down climate change to adapting our communities to best withstand the inevitable effects of climate change. Why? Although reducing emissions remains a critical objective, climate change impacts are already occurring and will only accelerate.

Severe storms like Hurricane Sandy, droughts like we’re experi10 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

encing in California, changes in habitat, and rising seas are a few of the many impacts scientists have documented. These climate change impacts will present new governance challenges at all levels, including international, national, state, regional, and local institutions. As with climate mitigation policy, scholars have a unique opportunity to help our legal institutions respond to the intense challenges that lie ahead.

SCHOLARSHIP & SERVICE

X

How are you influencing the national dialogue on the equity and justice elements of climate adaptation?

Climate impacts will not fall equally; the poor, the old, the disabled, and other marginalized or highly vulnerable populations will experience greater impacts and have a more difficult time recovering.

I have written and spoken widely on the topic, articulating principles to help decisionmakers develop equitable adaptation policies.

X

What’s at stake with the EPA’s new greenhouse gas proposals?

In the absence of national climate legislation and with little prospect for such legislation in sight, the Environmental Protection Agency is doing what it can under the federal Clean Air Act. In June of this year, EPA proposed regulations that would require states to develop plans to control greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, the largest source of carbon emissions in the country. Controls on power plants are always controversial because of the importance of the energy sector to the economy and consumers, and because many states and industries are deeply invested in the existing system of energy extraction and consumption. EPA’s proposal pushes states to go beyond the usual form of regulatory controls (e.g., controlling emissions from smokestacks). Instead, in addition to source-specific controls, the proposal contemplates shifts in energy production and increased energy efficiency, shifts that would have a more profound impact on the energy system than typical environmental regulations. However, for this flexibility to work—to trigger real change—EPA’s targets have to be stringent enough to move the energy sector beyond business as usual.

X

What impact can California have on the national approach to climate change?

Historically and at present, California has led the nation in innovative environmental regulation. The state has the nation’s most comprehensive climate change program, the Global Warming Solutions Act. Other states are watching the law’s implementation carefully as a potential model for future state action or, potentially, federal legislation. The successes and failures of California’s efforts in climate change, as well as in fracking controls and other areas where the state is taking a leadership role, could be highly influential. / USF

Professor Jeffrey Brand has returned from sabbatical and is a senior international advisor to the Sleuk Rith institute in Phnom Penh, which is a yet-to-open institute dedicated to genocide studies and documentation.

Professor and Associate Dean Joshua Davis presented “Ascertainability and Uninjured Class Members as Growing Threats to Class Certification,” at the Impact Fund’s 12th Annual Class Action Conference in Oakland. He presented his paper “Legal Dualism and Legal Ethics” at the International Legal Ethics Conference in London. He also published “Classwide Recoveries” and “The Puzzle of Class Actions with Uninjured Members” in the George Washington Law Review. He was honored with the Antitrust Writing Award from George Washington University Law School for his article “Defying Conventional Wisdom: The Case for Private Antitrust Enforcement,” which won in the Academic category, Private Enforcement section.

Professor Connie De La Vega submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Hill v. U.S.A. The brief was on behalf of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding the international standards for imposing juvenile life sentences without parole.

She presented “Protecting Women’s Rights: Training in Human Rights Law and Advocacy,” at UC Hastings College of the Law’s United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms in San Francisco. She submitted a report on the United States to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on behalf of Human Rights Advocates, the USF Center for Justice and Global Justice, and the Rocky Mountain Collective on Race, Place, and Law. USF LAWYER 11

[ FACULTY FOCUS ]

Professor Emeritus Jay Folberg led the workshop “Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution for Commercial Disputes,” in Kiev, Ukraine. The workshop was sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the Department of Commerce’s Commercial Law Development Program.

Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Law+Plus Program Rodney Fong presented “Lunch Roundtable on Admissions: Do We Know What Makes a Good Lawyer,” at University of Denver Sturm College of Law’s SALT/Denver Law Pipeline Conference. He was a panelist on “Examining and Commemorating Brown v. Board and the Civil Rights Act” at the American Bar Association’s 2014 Center for Racial and Ethnic Diversity.

Professor, Director of the LLM program in IP and Technology Law, and Director of the McCarthy Institute for IP and Technology Law David Franklyn published “Trademarks as Search-Engine Keywords: Who, What, When?” and “Trademark Surveys: An Undulating Path” in the Texas Law Review.

Associate Professor Deborah M. Hussey Freeland wrote “Recovering the Lost Lawyer” in Professional Lawyer.

12 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

Professor Susan Freiwald moderated a session discussing Christopher Wolf’s paper on conducting use analysis to measure and mitigate privacy harm at Georgetown University Law Center’s Seventh Annual Privacy Law Scholars Conference in Washington D.C. She also was a panelist on “Government, Data Collection, and Surveillance,” at UC Hastings College of the Law’s The Value of Privacy conference in San Francisco; “Electronic Communications Privacy Act Reform,” at Stanford Law School’s Privacy Challenges in the Internet Age; and “Digital Media in the Age of NSA Surveillance,” at the Computer History Museum’s Legal Frontiers in Digital Media: The Seventh Annual Conference on Emerging Legal Issues Surrounding Digital Publishing and Content Distribution in Mountain View. Her article “Light in the Darkness: How the LEATPR Standards Guide Legislators in Regulating Law Enforcement Access to Cell Site Location Record” was published in the Oklahoma Law Review. She authored a blog post, “Riley v. California: A Savvy Supreme Court Recognizes the Cyber-Difference,” for the American Constitution Society.

Professor Tristin Green presented “Discrimination Laundering: The Rise of Organizational Innocence and the Future of Equal Opportunity Law,” at Seattle University School of Law, and “America is From Venus, France is From Mars: A Transnational Perspective on Harassment Law,” at the AALS Workshop on Transnational Perspectives for Equality Law in Washington, D.C.

Professor Bill Ong Hing authored “Re-Examining the Zero-Tolerance Approach to Deporting Aggravated Felons: Restoring Discretionary Waivers and Developing New Tools,” in the Harvard Law & Policy Review, and “The Failure of Prosecutorial Discretion and

the Deportation of Oscar Martinez,” in Scholar: St. Mary’s Law Review on Race and Social Justice.

He was honored with the Dedicated Service Award from Pangea Legal Services, and participated in a press conference with Rep. Nancy Pelosi on the need for immigration reform. He moderated “Undocumented Asians and the Need for Immigration Reform,” for the Asia Society of Northern California, and presented “History of U.S. Imigration Law,” at a National Defense University class in San Francisco. He spoke at several events, including on “Benefits of Pro Bono Work before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals” at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center; “History, Race, and Identity in Law, Media, and Film,” at the Association for Asian American Studies Annual Conference; and “Plenary Panel Presentation on Immigrant Workers and the Enforcement of Employer Sanctions,” at the Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice Conference: Let My People Work.

Professor Peter Jan Honigsberg received two grants recently to support the Witness to Guantanamo project: £300,000 (approximately $500,000) from the Sigrid Rausing Trust in London, and $57,967 from The Anita Roddick Foundation. He also presented about the project at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Assistant Professor of Legal Writing and Director of the Legal Writing Program Grace Hum spoke about “Turning up the Value of Guest Speakers in Skills-Based Upper Division Classes,” at the University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Law’s 14th Annual Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference. She also presented “A Starter Kit for Teaching Transactional Skills,” at Emory Law School’s Educating the Transactional Lawyer of Tomorrow conference in Atlanta, Ga.

[ FACULTY FOCUS ]

Professor Tim Iglesias authored “Defining ‘Family’ for Zoning: Contemporary Policy Challenges, Legal Limits and Options,” in Zoning and Planning Law Report. He filed an amicus brief on behalf of USF’s Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good with the California Supreme Court, in California Building Industry Association v. City of San Jose, addressing the review of challenges to an inclusionary zoning ordinance. He wrote a blog, “Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA: Little Impact on EPA Regulation of Greenhouse Gases,” for the Center for Progressive Reform.

Professor Alice Kaswan presented “Seven Principles for Equitable Climate Adaptation” at the University of Arizona College of Law, the Law & Society Association’s Annual Meeting, and the Association of Law, Property, and Society’s Annual Conference. She spoke about “Climate Adaptation and Land-Use Governance: The Vertical Axis,” at Columbia University’s Columbia Journal of Environmental Law Climate Change Symposium in New York. She presented “The Supreme Court and the Planet,” at the Bar Association of San Francisco. Her article “Climate Change and Environmental Justice: Lessons from the California Lawsuits” was published in The San Diego Journal of Climate Energy and Law. In partnership with the Environmental Law Society and two USF School of Law departments, she hosted the first annual Environmental Law StudentAlumni-Faculty Mixer.

Assistant Professor of Legal Writing and Assistant Director of the Law+Plus Program Eugene Kim presented “Learning

by Flipping: How Flipping Can Help Keep Skills Training from Floppin,” at the University of

Verona 2014 Global Legal Skills Conference, in Verona, Italy (co-presented with Bob Brain, clinical professor of law at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles).

Hamill Family Chair and Professor of Law and Social Psychology Richard Leo was granted a fellowship at Stanford University’s Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He authored four articles recently: “The Sound of Silence: Miranda Waivers, Selective Literalism and Social Context,” in Lawrence Solan, Janet Ainsworth, & Roger Shuy, eds., Speaking of Language and Law; “The Problem of Interrogation-Induced False Confession: Sources of Failure in Prevention and Detection,” in the Handbook of Forensic Sociology and Psychology; “Promoting Accuracy in the Use of Confession Evidence: An Argument for Pre-Trial Reliability Assessments to Prevent Wrongful Convictions,” in Temple Law Review; and “Police Interrogation and Coercion in Domestic American History: Lessons for the War on Terror,” in Torture, Law and War: What Are the Moral and Legal Boundaries on the Use of Coercion in Interrogation? (forthcoming). He also contributed “Honest False Testimony” in the book Wrongful Allegations of Persons Abuse.

Professor Rhonda Magee is a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley School of Law’s Center for the Study of Law and Society. While serving as interim co-director of the USF Center for Teaching Excellence this past year, she researched and developed workshops to support faculty in creating inclusive and identity-safe classrooms.

ally at the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting. She presented “Coding, Mapping, and Mashing Up: Analytical Collaboration in Action,” at Northwestern University School of Law and Institute for Law Teaching’s What the Best Law Teachers Do conference. She presented “Protecting the Rights of Students and Student Organizations in Public Schools,” at the American Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Webinar, and “Race, Class, and the Legal Perpetuation of Subordination: Historical Reflections and Modern Trends,” at the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting.

Professor Maria Ontiveros authored “Migrant Labour in the United States: Working Beneath the Floor for Free Labour?” in Migrants at Work: Immigration and Vulnerability in Labour Law.

Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship Michelle Travis’ article “Disabling the Gender Pay Gap: Lessons from the Social Model of Disability” will be published in the Denver Law Review. She presented “Pregnancy Accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act,” at the Work and Family Researchers Network in New York.

Professor of Philosophy and Law Manuel Vargas authored “Neuroscience and the Exaggerated Death of Responsibility,” in The Philosophers’ Magazine.

Herbst Foundation Professor of Law Julie Nice moderated an author-meets-reader panel on Ruthann Robson’s book Dressing ConstitutionUSF LAWYER 13

00 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

Photo: Frank S. Balthis

Great Cases

The Santa Cruz coastline that Phillip Babich ’09 helped preserve. See page 21 for his story.

As told to Samantha Bronson

E

very day, USF School of Law alumni, whether litigators, corporate counsels, pro bono advocates, or mediators, resolve disputes and broker deals big and small.

Some of these cases stand out—perhaps because of the clients involved, perhaps because of the venue. And sometimes it’s the significance or magnitude of the outcome itself. One alum helped get a woman off death row. Another argued his case before the U.S. Supreme Court and won. Another successfully fought for BP to be punished for its role in the largest oil spill in U.S. history, resulting in up to $18 billion in fines.

Yet another alum is a solo practitioner working with Major League Baseball players, while another preserved nearly 6,000 acres of coastal land. No matter the case, each alum has a story to tell that goes beyond the outcome. Here five alumni recount their experiences with these noteworthy cases and how their USF School of Law education helped prepare them.

USF LAWYER 15

Great Cases

Changing the Oil Business

I

R. Michael Underhill ’82 was appointed by

the U.S. District Court as coordinating counsel for the United States as plaintiff in the BP-Gulf Oil Spill multi-district litigation in New Orleans, and was co-lead trial counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice in the trial of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. He successfully argued that BP Exploration and Production Inc. is liable for gross negligence and willful misconduct in causing the blowout of BP’s Macondo Well, which erupted off the coast of Louisiana in April 2010 and brought about the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the deaths of 11 rig workers. The decision, handed down at the beginning of September, opens the door to civil fines of up to $18 billion for BP. A specialist in maritime environmental law, Underhill is attorney in charge of the U.S. Department of Justice’s West Coast Office of the Torts Branch, Civil Division, and formerly taught as an adjunct professor of maritime law and maritime environmental law at USF.

16 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

pretty much live by my smart phone because there’s so much stuff that comes through on the case. So about 6:45 or 7 in the morning on Sept. 4, I checked my work email and I saw a filing of “Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law” in the case that I had been living and breathing for four years. I thought “Who in the hell is filing findings now?” All the parties involved had filed their proposed findings a year or so ago. And then I realized there’s one person who hasn’t filed yet, and he’s the person who counts! Let’s just say I got very still and told my wife I need to boot up my laptop so I can actually open the judge’s full 153-page opinion. I told her it’s going to be either a really good day—or a really bad day.

Many, many people on our team had been working hard on this case for over four years and when I read Judge Carl J. Barbier’s opinion, it felt like four years of our lives was worth it, that justice had been done.

This was the Phase 1 trial of the case against BP, but it is the cornerstone for the foundation of the rest of the case. It was a liability trial to determine whether the defendants, some or all of them, were either grossly negligent or exercised willful misconduct.

The main cause of action the United States has in this case against BP is under the Clean Water Act, which provides for a civil penalty.

Under that strict liability statute, you take the number of barrels of oil spilled, and if there’s no fault or if you show negligence, the maximum amount that can be recovered is $1,100 per barrel.

However, if the defendant was grossly negligent or exercised willful misconduct, the maximum penalty shoots up from $1,100 per barrel to $4,300 per barrel.

Judge Barbier’s decision affirmed arguments that BP had put profits over safety and profits over the environment, and he determined that BP’s actions constituted gross negligence and willful misconduct. That means the penalty is now a maximum of $4,300 per barrel. The $18 billion figure mentioned in news reports comes about by multiplying the $4,300 per barrel penalty by the 4.2 million barrels the United States contends was discharged (BP contends the amount was less). The court hasn’t ruled yet on the amount discharged, which is what the Phase 2 trial was about.

It’s one thing to try a case, say a personal injury or death case, that might be worth $2 or $5 million. That’s a lot of money, no question. But suddenly when one is trying a case that’s worth literally billions of dollars, there is both excitement and serious undertaking involved.

The case was also tremendously complex litigation if for no other reason than its size and the amount of evidence involved.

Photo: European Pressphoto Agency

We had more than 300 depositions in Phase 1 alone. There were literally hundreds of millions of electronic pages of paper.

Before we went to trial, the parties’ exhibit lists probably had 10,000 to 20,000 exhibits that potentially could have been used. You have to sift through all of those to find out which ones you want to use, which ones you think your opponent is going to want to use, which ones you need to be ready to use to rebut your opponents.

Everything was electronic, including the trial. Everything was loaded onto computers, looked at on overheads. It meant it was difficult to wing things like you could with traditional paper exhibits lined up in rows of binders and banker’s boxes. You had to have thousands of your exhibits with your flyouts already constructed and loaded, you had to really choreograph your examinations with the paralegals and IT team that supported us inside the courtroom and out. That was more work for me because I tend to a more extemporaneous style of cross examination, rather than a script so tightly woven and tied to the electronic exhibits.

The electronics can be your friend, they can also be your enemy, which was a learning experience for all of us. You don’t want to get caught up in the electronics and lose the flow of an examination. The idea isn’t to make it a show that revolves around a lot of graphics and exhibits splattered up on the wall screen and monitors. It’s to have all of those things supplement your examination. The technical part was exciting, but

BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig claimed 11 lives in April 2010 when it exploded and caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

all the while knowing that what’s at stake is up to $18 billion, it tends to get your heartbeat up.

It was through relationships with my law school professors that I realized I wanted to be a litigator. Professor Delos Putz was my civil procedure teacher and he was brilliant. I was challenged to deal with him on par as much as I could as a student.

I was clearly unequal at that point, but I thought, I can hold my ground given the difference in our abilities and my education at this point. I realized, I don’t want to be a contracts attorney, I don’t want to be an inhouse counsel. I want to litigate. I want to be in court, I want to have somebody challenge me to dance on the high wire without the net. If you fall it can be pretty scary, but if you make it to the other side unscathed?

It’s a really good feeling.

One of the benefits of USF School of Law was its size and being able to get to know my professors. I loved the education I got in law school and I loved the fact that it was part of USF and that there was an underlying spiritual value to it. There was

emphasis on trying to do justice, not simply practice law as a profession or a moneymaking business—and that goal instilled in me the motivation to practice environmental law and take on cases like this one.

The most interesting and rewarding aspect of large environmental cases is that we can potentially change behavior, change the way business is done so as to protect the environment, and make sure that the world we hand off to our kids is a little bit better and maybe even a lot better than the one that was handed off to us.

That was my message to others the morning the decision came out. We should feel good about the win professionally, as litigators, but the most rewarding thing that we should take away from cases like this and what should make us proudest is that we may be able to play a part in bringing about long-term changes in safety and the way the offshore oil business is conducted in our own country, and maybe even the world.

Maybe that sounds like a speech, but it’s really one that comes from the heart.

It’s why many of us do what we do.

USF LAWYER 17

GReat Cases Molly Moriarty Lane ’90 and her team

spent more than eight years and 7,500 hours of pro bono legal and personal time to overturn the Texas death sentence of Cathy Henderson, a woman convicted of murder in the death of an infant she was babysitting.

The success also helped advance legal reform through the passage of a Texas law that allows a convicted person to reopen a case if he or she was found guilty based on forensic evidence that has been discredited by subsequent scientific advances. Lane is the managing partner of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius’ San Francisco office.

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Off Death Row

his was a difficult case from the moment we got involved. All of Cathy’s appeals had been exhausted, or almost exhausted, when my firm was approached by Sr. Helen Prejean of Dead Man Walking fame to take on this case. She’s a very tough woman to say no to.

We came in at the argument phase of the appeal in front of W the Fifth Circuit. After that did not go well, we filed a subsequent application for a writ of habeas corpus. Certainly, anywhere in the United States, given the standards on a successor petition, it would have been a difficult road. But, in Texas, it is even more difficult to get traction on such issues. The basis for our petition was that there was new evidence that had not been presented at Cathy’s original trial that warranted at least a new trial.

That new evidence focused mainly on the emerging science of biomechanics. Cathy’s story had always been that she was trying to soothe the baby when he fell out of her arms, hit his head on the floor, and died. The coroner, Dr. Roberto Bayardo, had testified at her trial that the injuries to the child were so severe that it was “impossible” for them to have been accidental and that they could only have been the result of an intentional act. Our research led us to a number of biomechanical and other experts, all of whom signed affidavits stating that, in fact, a short fall such as a fall from a caretaker’s arms could cause the injuries that the child suffered.

Wee took those affidavits to Dr. Bayardo, who signed an af W af-fidavit stating that if he had known about the information in our affidavits at the time he testified at Cathy’s original trial, he would not have been able to testify in the way that he did. Science has developed in such a way in the last 10 to 15 years that we now know

18 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

short falls can cause brain trauma so severe it can kill somebody.

That is new science that was not available at the time Cathy was tried. That new science, in combination with Dr. Bayardo’s recantation, was sufficient new evidence for the court to take another look at the case.

Two days before Cathy’s scheduled execution, the Court of T Criminal Appeals said there was enough evidence to warrant a consideration of the claims raised in her successor writ petition so her execution was stayed. In those days before her scheduled execution, things were very emotional. It is extremely difficult to have someone you have come to know, and who you believe should not have been sentenced to death in the first place, come so close to execution.

After many evidentiary hearings, Judge Jon Wisser, the trial judge that presided over Cathy’s original trial and who was appointed to preside over the evidentiary hearings, recommended that she be granted a new trial. The Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with Judge Wisser’s recommendation and granted a new trial. The DA has said they plan to retry her, but not for capital murder. Cathy is off death row and we are hoping that, at some point, she will get out of jail and be able to get back to her life and her family. It’s an amazing feeling to know that our team played some part in making that happen.

USF has always been focused on training lawyers to have a passion for pursuing justice. The school has a commitment to giving back and making sure that justice is pursued and achieved.

I take that with me every day and this case was an example of seeking justice.

I

A Supreme Opportunity

t’s a terrific experience, arguing in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Part of what makes it terrific is that you’ve got your question and your question is fairly well-defined, so there’s not a lot of mystery about what we’re going to be talking about that day.

To get ready, I read David Frederick’s The Art of Oral Advocacy cover to cover a couple of times. One of the things he talks about is that you can take a lot of solace from remembering that as smart as the justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are—and they are smart—they have six cases that week. I only had one. I only had one that whole year. That puts you in the enviable position of needing to worry about only one other person in the room who might be smarter than you about your case, and that’s your opponent.

My opponent’s a smart guy and a very capable guy, but I can argue against him. I found that when I approached it in that manner, it was a much less daunting and overwhelming task. In that sense, arguing before the Supreme Court was like other appellate arguments. It was certainly a significant case and before a rarified court, but it wasn’t magic. I wasn’t doing something unfamiliar.

But there’s a lot of pageantry that goes on with the court and it takes your breath away. You don’t want to get your breath taken away when you’re trying to concentrate on the task at hand, so I attended the arguments the day before mine. The justices walk out from behind the curtain and then there’s these—for law nerds like

me—very famous superstars right there. It was good to go the day before, so you’re not caught up in that and can sort of squash that down the next day when it’s your turn to argue.

It’s weird how fast your argument goes. It starts, as they all do, when the Chief Justice says the name of the case, then looks you in the eye and says your name. Then you’re off to the races. The justices didn’t ask me any question that we didn’t anticipate during the preparation. We really did understand the weaknesses in our case, the strengths in our case, because every question we got, whether it was a softball or more probing, we anticipated getting.

The most challenging part for me was all the preparation.

From the time I started writing my reply brief until the argument, I didn’t work on anything else. I always have half a dozen cases going at a time. To work on a single case that raises a single focused issue, without interruption for that extraordinary period of time, that was a very different style of practice for me.

In law school, I did moot court which is exactly the way I practice law. I sit down, I write a brief, I get ready for the argument, and then I argue the case. Those same skills are absolutely correct and serve me well in every court that I’ve ever practiced in, up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court.

I can easily draw a line from lessons I learned at USF in terms of how to be a good writer, and a good oral advocate, to the case I argued in the Supreme Court.

Bill Bilderback ’92, supervising deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice, won the U.S. Supreme Court case Cullen v. Pinholster.

The court concluded that, in a habeas proceeding, federal courts are limited to examining the record that was before the state court that adjudicated the claim.

Because of Pinholster, petitioners cannot introduce brand new claims or evidence in federal habeas proceedings.

USF LAWYER 19

GreAt CAses

Yvette Saddik ’03 represented

former Oakland A’s outfielder Yoenis Céspedes (now playing for the Boston Red Sox) with an immigration matter.

Céspedes is a Cuban national and has been through an ordeal on his immigration path, including fleeing his native Cuba and having his family be imprisoned in the Caribbean.

Saddik is an attorney in San Pedro.

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Major League Assistance

onestly, I’m a huge Dodgers fan. I hadn’t been to an A’s game in years, so when I was contacted about assisting Yoenis Céspedes with an immigration matter, I just didn’t realize how big of a player he is. For me, it was, oh, his name is Yoenis Céspedes, he’s from Cuba. It wasn’t until I started Googling him that I started to understand that he’s pretty much a celebrity anywhere in the Bay Area.

I had to remember that this is what I do every day. I help people live that American dream of becoming legalized and knowing they don’t have to ever go back to a bad country, a communist country. So Yoenis, even though he’s this rich superstar, he was no different than other clients. People who need immigration assistance are very vulnerable, even if they have a $10 million-a-year contract.

I first was asked to help when it became clear Yoenis wouldn’t be able to travel to an upcoming game in Toronto because of his green card application. He was here legally on a P-visa and had applied for legal permanent residency, but when you’ve started that application process there’s paperwork that needs to be submitted if you do need to travel outside the country.

I got everything submitted, but I also relied on a very, very important tool I learned in law school—networking. Because of my connections, I was able to quickly give the immigration agency a synopsis of what was happening, sell Yoenis’ story, explain that this was an emergency, and get everything taken care of for traveling to Toronto. No matter who you are or how much money you have, you still have to go through these avenues.

After that, I talked to Yoenis directly and said, ‘Listen, you are

20 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

welcome to go to any other attorney after this. You can do what you want. I did what I was hired to do.’ But he didn’t. He felt comfortable with me and he said that he felt like I communicated everything to him, so I took over as the attorney of record in making sure his green card application was processed correctly. He just received his permanent legal resident status this past spring.

I still have to keep in touch with him. I just got something in the mail from immigration reminding him and myself that immigration always needs to know your address when you’re a green card holder. We have a good relationship and I know that I can email his agent or talk with him directly if I need to.

That was one of the big challenges initially—working with all the people who surround him, building a rapport with him, and having him understand that sometimes I have to hear certain things come out of his mouth. After we finally met in person, I think he did feel more comfortable calling me. I speak Spanish fluently, but other than that we didn’t have a lot in common. But I think where I stand out when it comes to a lot of other immigration lawyers is that I have a conversation with clients, I make them feel comfortable. That’s something I learned at USF, especially in the Criminal Law Clinic actually representing clients. There is really a technique to be able to interview and talk to clients, not just talking with them as a lawyer but talking to them like a human being.

Since Yoenis, I’ve landed another MLB client—Cincinnati Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto from the Dominican Republic. Maybe one day my office will be full of sports memorabilia autographed by clients.

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Coastal Property Preserved

his land is gorgeous property, one of the biggest formerly privately owned sections of coastal property along the West Coast. It includes more than seven miles of coastal resources, including seven beaches, hundreds of acres of agricultural lands, and 700 acres of redwood forest. And it’s preserved now, there will be no development on it.

Getting to that point was not an easy process. Our clients, the conservancy group The Trust for Public Land and Coast Dairies and Land Co., owned the land and wanted to transfer most of the land to the federal government for environmental conservation in perpetuity. A lawsuit came up, however, that eventually led us to a bench trial over whether my clients’ plans to divide the land as part of the transfer was subject to the approval process of California’s Subdivision Map Act. Since it was a bench trial and both sides had stipulated all the evidence, we didn’t use witnesses. It was arguments based on exhibits, documents, and the law—almost a full day of argument and questions from the judge.

The case raised an issue of first impression for a California court. There was no case law on whether a donative transfer of land such as this was subject to the Subdivision Map Act’s approval process. Trying to marshal legal arguments and evidence to support an outcome that isn’t yet decided by California law was a challenge and was also what made this case interesting. There is such little case law on all aspects of the Subdivision Map Act, which actually comes up all the time in development projects.

We won the bench trial, but the petitioners appealed the

decision. My clients were able to go ahead with the transfer, but until the case was fully settled, there was the possibility that the transfer could be in jeopardy.

We actually just settled the case at the end of July. The petitioners dropped their appeal of the trial court judgment and we dropped our appeal for attorneys’ fees. It’s clearly a great result, although we were kind of excited about the appeal on the subdivision issues because it was an issue of first impression. We got the trial court to side with us, and we obviously thought our argument was well-reasoned, and we were interested in seeing what would happen on appeal. But, most importantly, this outcome is what the client wanted and the land is preserved.

My experience in my property law class at USF was instrumental in helping me do well with this case. Professor Tim Iglesias did such a fantastic job of teaching the fundamentals of property law, which helped as I looked at the property interests at issue here and started asking fundamental questions that led me in the right direction of the basis of rights, what rights are being transferred, and for what purpose. That class taught me to ask those sorts of questions and look for answers that would provide strong foundations for my arguments in this case.

My moot court experience also helped. Since this was a bench trial, it was all about making oral arguments and making them in a methodical way. Going through complicated material, trying to synthesize it and make it into sharp, articulate arguments—the experiences I got at USF through the moot court program prepared me for that. / USF

Phillip Babich ’09 helped pre-

serve close to 6,000 acres of coastal property in Santa Cruz County in a victory for Coast Dairies and Land Co. and The Trust for Public Land in Save our Agricultural Land v. The County of Santa Cruz. Babich is an associate in the Energy and Natural Resources group at Reed Smith.

USF LAWYER 21

Civil Rights Roundtable

50

Civil Rights A ACt At

&

60

Brown A At

John trasviña Dean, USF School of Law

As we and others advocate for a better America, the tremendous progress we have made in the last half century is often forgotten while the miles to go to reach our aspirations are the focus. The Civil Rights Act provides great power and authority to those leaders and neighbors in our society who say discrimination is wrong and federal law makes it illegal. Without that vision, it would be possible to respect the law without respecting our fellow men and women, and we would be poorer as a society.

Equally important to Brown and the Civil Rights Act are the panoply of federal laws enacted by President Johnson and Congress from 1963 to 1968. This concerted action made clear in every community here and across the world that there was no room for discrimination in America and that we would, for the first time in our history, be open to newcomers from all nations in an ordered fashion.

Half a century later, we build upon that past and use those laws and decisions to strengthen our commitment to equality in America. The School of Law is proud of the roles of our students, faculty, and graduates in that history and that future.

tamara F. lawson ’95 Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Professor of Law, St. Thomas University School of Law Brown and the Civil Rights Act were essential to gaining access.

As a result of these laws, many people today say that race no longer matters. However, both laws failed to “cure” race relations or achieve “equality for all” because neither law addresses racial stigmatization, which is at the heart of racial bias in America. Racial stigmatization is more than racial slurs or discrimination experienced at school or at work.

It encompasses the deeper and more problematic reality that racially stigmatized individuals are stripped of basic dignity and common humanity. Daily news stories confirm the real, often deadly, consequences that young, unarmed, African American males suffer due to racial stigma. For true equality, future laws must tackle stigmatic harm.

lindbergh Porter ’81 Shareholder, Littler Mendelson P.C. Brown v. Board of Education and the 1964 Civil Rights Act have made a profound difference, to answer the first question. Casting my mind back to August 1964 in Mississippi, my home state, I cannot say what I would ordinarily say in answering the second. What I want to talk about, paraphrasing Freedom Summer leader Dave Dennis’ eulogy of slain civil rights worker James Chaney, “is the living dead among us...those are the people who don’t care,” those who do care but won’t stand up for it, and those people who are busy in Washington and in other places using our rights and our lives to play politics. Our work is unfinished. If we fail to press on and just sit down and take what the reactionary forces are doing to us, “if we take it and don’t do something about it” then God have mercy on our souls.

22 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

How effective have these two milestones been in improving race relations country?

The course of civil rights in the United States changed dramatically with the passage 50 years ago of the Civil Rights Act outlawing racial discrimination in public accommodations and, 60 years ago, the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education that ruled segregated schools were unconstitutional. Yet today, much work remains on the country’s path toward true equality. USF Lawyer surveyed leading lawyers and legal scholars for their views on how effective have these two milestones been in improving race relations in America.

Patricia A. Shiu ’82 Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, U.S. Department of Labor

What do we still need to do to have true equality for all in our country?

The Civil Rights Act laid a foundation for remedying discrimination and gave birth to Executive Order 11246, which we enforce at the U.S. Department of Labor. We know that civil rights without meaningful opportunities to work perpetuate an American second class, and economic equality is about more than just sex and race. A modern civil rights agenda must include safeguards for LGBT Americans, equal pay for equal work, access for people with disabilities, and so much more. Addressing these challenges begins with collecting, reporting, and analyzing accurate data. Good data separate facts from myths and shape good public policy, leading to stronger civil rights enforcement and long-term social progress.

Bill Hing ’74 Professor, USF School of Law With race on the front pages, the opportunity is ripe for President Obama and every 2016 presidential hopeful to declare war on bigotry and hate.

Any talk of improving race relations remains hushed and polite when it occurs at all. We need more than polite talk. We need a sense of outrage and indignation. We need massive mobilization over the issue. We need a declaration of war on the evils of hate and racism, and it must be loud and constant. Let’s put our heads together on this national priority. Be creative and imaginative in approaches. Call for new laws, enforcement of existing regulations, smart coalition-building, civility, respect, and approaches to addressing private attitudes and actions. Make it part of the national psyche, not just part of the national agenda. President Obama, other public figures, and all of us should do more. We need to lead the country on the war path against racism. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get serious about racism as a nation and as individuals.

Julie Nice Professor, USF School of Law Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act conveyed two powerful messages. To the government and the private sector, the simple directive was to end overt discrimination based on race. To racial minorities themselves, these legal landmarks promised full inclusion in American society. Unfortunately, bias is frequently covert, unconscious, and systemic, which our legal system has resisted acknowledging. From our re-entrenchment of segregation in neighborhoods (and thus schools), to our dismantling of the short-lived war on poverty, to our disparate enforcement of the war on drugs and the resulting trend of mass incarceration, the most disadvantaged among us continue to face the greatest hurdles in life. To make real the promise of civil rights—regardless of the type of discrimination—we must commit to eliminating all the pernicious ways that bias affects each child’s life chances. / USF USF LAWYER 23

[ Giving Back ]

Faisal Shah ’86 Joins Dean’s Circle

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“ USF School of Law gave me the tools that helped me define what I ultimately wanted to do in my life.

I realized that practicing law was not the only path I could take. It can be a stepping stone into something else, and that’s how I was able to get the most out of law school.”

he USF School of Law is grateful to welcome Faisal Shah ’86 to the Dean’s Circle, a group of alumni and friends committed to furthering the goals of the law school.

The Dean’s Circle creates a new culture of giving at the law school that can support hopes for what the law school can become.

Members of the circle, who commit $10,000 per year for five years, share a passion for the law school and its efforts to change the world from here. They gather on occasion to share ideas about the law school with the dean and are invited to substantive gatherings to focus on legal reform and policy developments and honor those who are making significant contributions to the pursuit of justice.

Typically unrestricted, members’ gifts provide important flexibility to the administration to make the greatest impact in the school.

Dean Trasviña applauded Shah for being a devoted alum and model for our current students. “Faisal well represents what it means to be a USF lawyer today,” he said. “He combines legal skills with an entrepreneurial bent but always with an eye to improving our communities. I’m proud to welcome him to the Dean’s Circle.”

Shah founded two technology companies, MarkMonitor and FTF Technologies, and successfully sold both of them. His newest venture is an intellectual property-focused company that provides brand protection for major corporations in the mobile app space.

Earlier in this career, he was a partner at Pillsbury Madison & Sutro (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman), before getting the bug to join the burgeoning technology sector in the late 1990s.

“USF School of Law gave me the tools that helped me define what I ultimately wanted to do in my life,” said Shah. “I realized that practicing law was not the only path I could take. It can be a stepping stone into something else, and that’s how I was able to get the most out of law school.”

Shah has been an active alumnus for years, including serving on the Board of Governors and mentoring students. “The key here is that I feel like I’m contributing more than just money to the law school,” he said. “Given my background in business and with a history as a partner at a major firm, I can offer feedback that might be useful to Dean Trasviña as he begins to craft his strategic vision.

He brings a tremendous amount of value to the school and this gift is my way of supporting his efforts. I am confident he will do outstanding things in the coming years.” / USF

—Faisal Shah ’86

For more information about joining the Dean’s Circle, visit www.usfca.For edu/law/deans_circle or contact Director of Development and Alumni Relations Robin Keating at rrkeating@usfca.edu or (415) 422-5457.

24 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

“It was through my Jessup (Moot Court) experience that I became drawn to public international law and more specifically to human rights. Working for Asylum Access Thailand will provide a great background for giving direct legal services in the field of international human rights, which will ultimately assist me in continuing my career in public international law.”

—Caitlin Phair ’14

Inaugural Brand Pursuit of Justice Fellow Heads to Thailand

C

aitlin Phair ’14, the first recipient of the Brand Pursuit of Justice Fellowship, will spend half this year working for Asylum Access in Thailand, providing direct legal services and representation for refugees seeking asylum or other legal status. She will receive extensive training in international refugee law and will represent clients in front of local offices for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Brand Fellowship was created by alumni and friends of former Dean Jeffrey Brand to honor his 14 years of service as dean and, most importantly, to help those to whom his work is dedicated—the law students of the University of San Francisco.

The fellowship provides a law graduate with funding to support at least one year of employment at a local, national, or international organization engaged in legal and/or policy work consistent with the mission of USF School of Law.

Honor Roll of Donors

Phair, who earned an honors certificate in international and comparative law, was an oral advocate for the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition team. During her last year of school, she was a legal policy intern at Asylum Access headquarters, where she focused on making human rights a reality for refugee populations.

“It was through my Jessup experience that I became drawn to public international law and more specifically to human rights,” Phair said. “At the conclusion of my fellowship, I plan to work in the international human rights field. Working for Asylum Access Thailand will provide a great background for giving direct legal services in the field of international human rights, which will ultimately assist me in continuing my career in public international law.” / USF

We are grateful to the many alumni, faculty, staff, and friends who have contributed to the USF School of Law in the past year.

Visit www.usfca.edu/law/donor_honor_roll for a complete list of donors. Thank you all for your generosity!

USF LAWYER 25

[ Alumni News ] alumni spotlight

Solomon B. Cera ’81 “This is a noble profession and it’s a noble law school that I come from. I want to see it succeed.”

Class Action Antitrust Case Wins $163.5 Million for Plaintiffs

T

hanks to the initiative and leadership of Solomon B. (“Sol”) Cera ’81, more than 350 businesses and individuals won $163.5 million in a class action antitrust case alleging a price-fixing conspiracy in a commodity chemical market. The chemical, titanium dioxide, is widely used as a pigment in everything from paint to sunscreen.

The case was based solely on the research and investigation of Cera’s firm, Gold Bennett Cera and Sidener LLP. This is quite unusual since most cases of this kind follow on the heels of a government investigation. Cera worked alongside Charles Andrew Dirksen ’98, a partner at the firm.

For Cera, his career as a plaintiff ’s lawyer has derived from his interest in social justice, and doing the right thing for people who may otherwise be unrepresented or underrepresented— values that he says his USF legal education engrained in him.

During his career, he has helped tens of thousands of clients recover more than $1 billion.

After graduating from USF School of Law, Cera initially worked at a mid-size law firm in Fresno, where in his first year he tried numerous cases, a mix of defense and plaintiff work. But he had his heart set on returning to the Bay Area and joined the Law Offices of David B. Gold, a prominent attorney in the securities litigation field who became one of his mentors. Three decades later, Cera is now the firm’s managing partner.

He said he first cut his teeth as his own boss in a class action securities fraud case in the Northern District of California involv-

26 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

ing oil and gas limited partnerships that was heard by then-Chief Judge Thelton Henderson. “We worked for more than 10 years on this case, with it ultimately settling before trial. I was very proud of the fact that the chief judge praised our firms’ work, and my work, when the case concluded. To get an accolade like that from the chief judge was a really great thrill.”

It was at USF School of Law that Cera honed his interest in complex securities litigation. He was enthralled with thenDean David Ratner’s securities regulation course and Professor J. Thomas McCarthy’s antitrust course. His corporations law course was taught by an adjunct professor who at the time was a partner at a prominent San Francisco corporate litigation firm. “There’s a real benefit to having exposure to someone who’s in the trenches at the same time they’re teaching you what the law is because it brings in the practical element of how things really work,” he said.

But it was his moot court experience that sealed his future as a successful litigator, he said. “From the brief writing and mentoring, to the commentary on the practice arguments, going through the entire competition was tremendously valuable and exciting.”

He won Best Oral Advocate that year.

Cera is a generous donor to the law school, and gives not only financially but also his time. He’s returned to the moot court competition as a judge and worked alongside Professor Robert Talbot in the Investor Justice Clinic.

“This is a noble profession and it’s a noble law school that I come from,” he said. “I want to see it succeed.” / USF

CLASS NOTES

1973

Ksenia Tsenin ’73 was featured in the San Francisco Daily Journal article “Unconditional Inspiration,” for her unique and personable approach to sentencing as a judge.

1974

Peter A. Bagatelos ’74 celebrated 40 years of marriage in July. He has practiced political law for 38 years.

1975

Jeanne Powell ’75 is the author of Carousel, a collection of her essays by Regent Press in 2014. She also is the author of Word Dancing and My Own Silence, two poetry collections published by Taurean Horn Press in 2013 and 2014.

1953 Sanford Diller ’53, founder of Prometheus Real Estate Group, was featured in Bloomberg’s article “Prometheus Billionaire Emerges With San Francisco Rentals.”

1960 Marshall Berol ’60 was interviewed

by The Energy Report in the article “How much must Oil and Gas supply grow to meet demand?” about the direction his investment firm, Bl-SH Financial, is taking to account for the increase in energy demand as the world’s population grows.

Frank Brass ’60 was appointed by California Gov. Jerry Brown to the California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.

1964

Drennan “Tony” Clark ’64 was featured in the Reno Gazette-Journal article “Don’t forget: National Grandparents Day is Sunday,” about the privileges and rewards of being a grandfather to his nine grandchildren. A former solicitor general of Nevada, he was recently

honored by USF with the Professional Achievement Award.

1967

Ming Chin ’67, associate justice of the California Supreme Court, was featured in the San Francisco Daily Journal article “The Final Word: Civil Law Developments.”

1968

Norman Sauer Jr. ’68 was featured on Western Nevada County’s The Union’s editorial staff page for his involvement in the paper.

1972

Thomas J. Brandi ’72 was named to Super Lawyers’ 2014 Top Ten Lawyers for Northern California for the second consecutive year. Brandi has been in the Top 100 every year since the inception of Super Lawyers and this is his third appearance in the Top Ten. Gary Picetti ’72 is featured in the San Francisco Daily Journal article “Hayward to Harvard,” for his unique educational path and use of humor in the courtroom.

1976

Peter J. Logan ’76 is enjoying both solo practice and collaborating with other lawyers and firms. His flexible schedule allows him to play music in a rock band.

L. Patrick Lupo ’76 was appointed as non-executive chairman of the board of Bunge Limited, where he previously served as lead independent director since 2010.

1978

Andrew Kluger ’78, board chairman of The Mexican Museum, was recognized by the Foreign Ministry of Mexico for his diplomatic services as Honorary Consul to the State of Hawaii for the Republic of Mexico. Presented with a certificate recognizing his service by Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs in Mexico City, he later met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and other government leaders, informing them of The Mexican Museum’s new building project in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Garden Arts District.

Robert de Holl ’78 was one of ten Smith Moore Leatherwood attorneys selected as Greenville Business Magazine’s 2014 Legal Elite.

1980

Susan R. Mendelsohn ’80, director of the LLM Mentor Program at the USF School of Law, co-authored the chapter “Foreign Direct Investments in Vietnam: Investment Procedures and the Impact of the U.S.-Vietnam Trade Agreement” in the text book Transnational Joint Ventures.

1981

Brian E. Hill ’81 was featured in the San Francisco Daily Journal article “A Leg Up,” and provides internships for students.

Jayne Kelly Nordstrom ’81 recently won a case at the California Court of Appeal.

Frank Pitre ‘81 and his firm, Cotchett, Pitre, & McCarthy, represented the Surfrider Foundation in a case against billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, who was ordered to reopen the road on his property, allowing public access to Martins Beach near Half Moon Bay.

1982

Patricia A. Shiu ’82 was appointed director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor that monitors and enforces compliance by federal contractors of affirmative action responsibilities.

1983

Alexander “Bud” McMahon ’83 has been promoted to assistant district attorney for Sonoma County.

1984

Anthony M. Keats ’84 co-authored Protecting the Brand: Counterfeiting and Gray Markets,” published by Law Journal Press, which discusses the ways to prevent and identify a counterfeit of a company’s brand.

USF LAWYER 27

[ ALUMNI NEWS ]

Hire USF Law Find Your Best New Employees at USF School of Law Post a job Hire an extern Interview on campus Access student resume book

PERKS • Connect with current students and recent grads • Free on-campus interviewing for government agencies, nonprofits, and private firms under 100 attorneys • Flexible scheduling • Video interviews available

• Free online posting of jobs and internships

Get started at bit.ly/usflaw-ocp WANT TO KNOW MORE? Contact Alexandra Doll, Recruitment Coordinator USF School of Law Office of Career Planning adoll@usfca.edu | (415) 422-2237

28 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

1986

Paul Killion ’86 won the Burton Award for Legal Achievement for his article “Warning: The Internet May Contain Traces of Nuts (Or, When and How to Cite to Internet Sources),” which appeared in the 2013 California Litigation: The Journal of the Litigation Section, State Bar of California. In the article, he discusses how to use Internet sources.

Carol M. Langford ’86 was appointed by the State Bar of California to the Discipline Standards Task Force, established to review the Standards for Attorney Sanctions for Professional Misconduct.

Brian Soublet ’86 was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to be deputy director and chief counsel for the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

1988

Michael Wright ’88 was honored by the California Child Support Directors Association as the 2014 recipient of the William R. Knudson Award.

1989

Jeffrey Evans ’89 was promoted to shareholder at von Briesen & Roper S.C., focusing on preparing insurance coverage opinions, insurance coverage litigation, and general tort litigation in the litigation and risk management practice group.

Anne Marie Schubert ’89 was elected Sacramento County District Attorney.

She joins Edward Berbarian ’75 in Marin and Jill Ravitch ’87 in Sonoma as USF law graduates elected county district attorneys in the Bay Area.

1990

Paul Cohen ’90 was recently appointed to the Commission on Access to Justice by the State Bar of California, working towards improving access to justice for all Californians.

Barbara Moser ’90, who founded the firm Kaye Moser Hierbaum LLP in 1995, currently serves as a pro tem settlement judge for the family law Bench Bar program in the Marin County Superior Court and as a settlement judge in the San Francisco Superior Court. She

has also served on the board of Kids’ Turn, a nonprofit program that helps children with divorced or separated parents. Her firm has also been ranked as one of the Top 100 Women Owned Businesses in the Bay Area by The San Francisco Business Times.

1991

David R. Ongaro ’91 was recognized as a Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers.

1992

Daniel Dean ’92 was appointed by the State Bar of California to the Discipline Standards Task Force, established to review the Standards for Attorney Sanctions for Professional Misconduct.

Ernest Price ’92 has re-joined Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley, P.C. as counsel in their Los Angeles office.

1993

Timothy J. Carlstedt ’93 was promoted to counsel at Hunton & Williams. His practice encompasses a wide range of environmental aspects, including compliance counseling, enforcement defense, litigation, and managing and mitigating liabilities for both private and public entities.

John J. Stander ’93, an attorney practicing common interest community association law at Angius and Terry LLP, recently relocated to their Reno office.

318

318 USF Alumni Named 2014 Super Lawyers On Oct. 9, the USF School of Law celebrated its outstanding alumni who were recognized this year by Super Lawyers for attaining a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.

Associate Dean Josh Davis welcomed and congratulated all the honorees. “Your honor is our honor. We’re so proud to have you among our graduates,” he said.

Joseph A. “Joe” Piasta II ’76, a Super Lawyer since 2006, was grateful for all that USF has done for him and his family, and he said that on behalf of all the alumni, he wanted to thank USF. “We got a fabulous education here.

I think we all know it and are all very proud of the school.

We know the best lawyers come from USF, it’s just who we are.”

Congratulations to these alumni who received special distinctions in Northern California: TOP 10 Thomas Brandi ’72 Frank Pitre ’81 TOP 100 Daniel Baradat ’75 Barbara Moser ’90 Stephen Murphy ’81

TOP 50 WOMEN Doris Cheng ’97 Minette Kwok ’90 Elizabeth Pritzker ’89 Elise Sanguinetti ’97

1994

Kimberly Ann Guilfoyle ’94 recently became a co-host for the Fox News Channel’s “The Five.”

Robert Rosenthal ’94 was selected to be included in The Best Lawyers in America 2015. He practices employment law at Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC.

1995

Jessica Grant ’95 joined Venable LLP as product liability partner in San Francisco. She was a finalist for the Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from the Public Justice Foundation.

Kelly Robbins ’91 with Associate Dean Josh Davis (above).

Joseph A. “Joe” Piasta II ’76 addresses the honorees (top right).

[ alumni news ]

USF Trustees Welcome New Members USF’s Board of Trustees welcomed four new members into its ranks recently, among them two School of Law alumni.

The 41-member board, USF’s primary governing body, sets goals to ensure long-term planning to preserve the university’s mission.

Trustee Serra Falk Goldman ’04 is an attorney at Falk, Cornell and Associates and author of Leaving a Legacy, a book about estate planning. She is also an Advisory Board member for the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good.

Lindbergh Porter ’81, the 2012 Alumnus of the Year at the School of Law, was also elected to the board. Porter is a shareholder at Littler Mendelson P.C. He is the author of numerous articles and a frequent speaker on employment and labor law issues.

Additional trustees joining the board include Evan Kletter BA ’91, CEO of the healthcare company BAART Programs, and Sean O. Carroll, S.J., executive director of the Kino Border Initiative, a nonprofit that advocates for a just and humane immigration solution at the U.S.-Mexico border. / USF

1996

Kent Bradley Rogerson ’96 has joined Hanson Bridgett LLP as counsel, focusing on general business transactions, business acquisitions and sales, and advising clients on operations.

Deborah Rosenthal ’96 was recently elevated to shareholder at Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, where she focuses on asbestos, personal injury, and commercial litigation.

1997

Wade Randlett ’97 has been appointed

by President Barack Obama to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.

1999

Jennifer Fiore ’99 received a Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from the Public Justice Foundation.

2000

Britt Strottman ’00 was listed in the 30 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

San Francisco Daily Journal’s “Top 75 Women Lawyers,” in recognition of her work as lead counsel for the City of San Bruno in hearings related to the 2010 gas pipeline explosion.

2002

Aniela Szymanski ’02 recently became professor of practice and managing attorney of the Veterans Benefits Clinic at the College of William and Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Va. Charles Wilson II ’02 was appointed to serve on the Santa Clara County Superior Court by California Gov. Jerry Brown. Wilson served as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County since 2007.

2003

Yesenia Gallegos ’03 was recently named a co-chair of Fox Rothschild LLP’s Diversity Committee.

Benjamin Goldstein ’03 was recently elevated to shareholder at Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, where he represents clients exposed to toxic substances.

2004

John Hendricks ’04 was selected as one of the 2014 Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association and was named 2014 rising star by Super Lawyers.

Joanna Woolman ’04 co-authored the article “Protecting Native Mothers and Their Children: A Feminist Lawyering Approach,” in the William Mitchell Law Review, discussing the issue of filicide in the United States.

2007

John S. Hong ’07 has been elected regional governor and member of the board of directors of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

2008

Elina Agnoli ’08 opened her own law firm in her hometown of Laytonville in Mendocino County. Her practice encompasses a wide range of civil legal issues including personal injury, family law, estate planning, and real estate.

She also offers mediation services.

Sophia Aslami ’08 received a Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from the Public Justice Foundation.

Caroline Burnett ’08 has joined Nixon Peabody as an associate in the firm’s Labor and Employment group.

Laura Cronin Ford ’08 recently became partner at the family law and estate planning firm Kaye Moser Hierbaum LLP.

2009

Cameron Cloar ’09 was selected as the 2014 recipient of the Nixon Peabody LLP Pro Bono Attorney of the Year.

Brian Gilmore ’09 has recently joined ABD Insurance and Financial Services as its lead benefits counsel.

Marie Ma ’09, corporate counsel and director of global equity administration at Gap, Inc., was recognized at the Barristers Club’s Sixth Annual Diversity reception for her efforts to increase awareness of diversity issues in the Bay Area legal community.

Katy M. Young ’09 was recognized as a rising star by Super Lawyers.

2010

Brian M. Schnarr ’10 received Trial Lawyer of the Year Awards from the Public Justic Foundation and the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association for his victory against major paint companies’ and their lead painting practices.

He was selected as a rising star by Super Lawyers in 2013 and 2014.

2012

Julia Quinn ’12 recently secured a $20,000 settlement against a landlord for gross habitability violations. She handled the case while volunteering for Bayview/Hunters Point Community Legal.

Marie Vincent ’12 was featured in the San Francisco Daily Journal article “The Right to Move,” for co-founding the nonprofit law firm Pangea Legal Services.

2014

Mark Griffin ’14 was mentioned in the Marin Independent Journal’s op-ed piece “Marin Voice: 60th anniversary of the Brown decision,” recognizing his graduation from the USF School of Law. Kendall Kozai ’14 was featured in Rafu Shimpo, a Los Angeles-based Japanese community newspaper, in the article “Success is All in the Family,” describing her academic achievements.

In Memorium Charles Stuhr ’49, February 2014 Lloyd Loy Ching ’53, April 2014 Robert Dryden ’54, October 2014 John Foran ’59, September 2014 Martin J. May ’60, October 2014 Marteen Miller ’61, July 2014 John Trezza ’61, June 2014 N. Michael Rucka ’65, July 2014 William J. Schumacher ’65, November 2013 David Deasy ’68, September 2014 Gregory Preston O’Keeffe ’72, July 2014 Kevin C. McDonough ’81, May 2014

[ alumni news ]

upcoming events Save the date to join us at USF School of Law events. More information available at www.usfca.edu/law/events or by emailing lawevents@usfca.edu.

january 30 2015 Law Review Symposium University of San Francisco

march 12 Dean’s Luncheon Walnut Creek Dean’s Reception Oakland

february 5 Dean’s Reception Sacramento

april 16 Dean’s Reception Washington, D.C.

february 25 Dean’s Luncheon San Jose february 27 USF Center for Law and Ethics Antitrust Symposium, “After Actavis: Litigating Reverse Payment Cases after Actavis v. FTC” University of San Francisco

1964

Share your professional and personal news with your fellow alums! Submit a class note today at lawalumni@usfca.edu or bit.ly/usflaw-classnotes

april 15 Dean’s Reception New York

february 18 Dean’s Luncheon Sonoma County

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what’s new?

1969

april 21 USF Women Lawyers Committee CLE Panel and Reception San Francisco may 20 Alumni Graduates Dinner San Francisco

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Reunion Gala November 15, 2014

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PROGRAM Class Receptions at 6 p.m.

Dinner at 7 p.m.

Hosted bar throughout the evening LOCATION InterContinental SF Hotel 888 Howard Street, San Francisco REGISTER www.usfca.edu/law/reunion or 415.422.5457 MAKE A CLASS GIFT www.usfca.edu/law/reunion/gift or 415.422.5457 ACCOMMODATIONS For hotel information, please visit www.usfca.edu/law/reunion/hotel

This year we are delighted to host the annual Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) silent auction at the Reunion Gala. For more information on PILF, please visit: www.usfca.edu/law/pilf.

[ Closing Argument ]

Mediating for Stronger Start-ups

by CArOLe beLLiS ’96

W

hen I entered law school at USF, I was a recent cancer survivor in search of a way to make a difference. My first thought when the doctor relayed my cancer diagnosis was of all the things I had plans to do in my life that I had not yet done. I was 34 years old and the news started a very loud clock ticking in my head. I set off at a run to accomplish a few more items on my list. Law school was at the top of that list.

As a law student, I hoped to become a mediator of family disputes. I had been involved in a painful interfamily litigation matter and believed there had to be a better way to resolve such disputes. But as graduation neared, it became clear I would need to litigate for years before I could mediate and the ticking clock in my head did not allow for that. The next five years were the most likely period for a relapse to occur. An opportunity to work in corporate law came my way and I took it.

Twenty healthy years later, I am a startup lawyer doing a fair Twenty amount of mediating on behalf of companies that are making a difference in healthcare. I work with entrepreneurs in starting new companies and then serve as the company’s outside general counsel. Many of the companies I form are university spinoffs that move intellectual property created through university research into companies so that money can be raised from investors to finance the regulatory approval process. This is a critical step in moving promising new drugs, therapeutic treatments, and medical devices from the laboratory to patients.

Myy job is to represent the company and not any individual stockholder, officer, or director. I see my role as one of creating an environment in which the goals of the company can be agreed upon and successfully pursued. Just like family members however, partners in a business venture have disagreements. When they part ways, it is important that it not be the death knell of the company.

To guard against this, I urge my clients to put in place what I call “Founders Pre-Nups.” It is also common for early stage CEOs to be replaced by a more experienced CEO as the company grows.

When breakups like these occur, I implore the parties to avoid scorched earth if at all possible.

32 USF SCHOOL OF LAW

Two decades ago, as a USF law student, I could never have imagined I would be using skills I learned in alternative dispute resolution class to guide companies developing products and procedures that might one day save the lives of cancer patients.

When investors come in, it adds a new layer of complication.

New startups often look to family and friends for initial funding.

These early investors usually do not have counsel. While there is a tendency to provide little in the form of protection for these early investors, I urge companies to be generous in this regard. Do you really want your Aunt Sally to lose a big chunk of her retirement savings? The term “angel investor” is a good one for those willing to invest in an early-stage life sciences company. The odds are no better than 50-50 that they will ever get their money back, and if they do, it will not be for years.

When venture capital and private equity firms come in, their counsel will make sure they are well protected, sometimes at the expense of the smaller investors. In negotiating the terms of their investment agreements, I strive for terms that will help maintain a reasonable balance among all stockholders.

Iff all goes well, companies I am working with will soon be delivering new imaging equipment for the early detection of cancer, introducing genome-editing protocols that will allow us to repair cancer-causing defects, and better matching cancer therapeutics to patients. Two decades ago, as a USF law student, I could never have imagined I would be using skills I learned in alternative dispute resolution class to guide companies developing products and procedures that might one day save the lives of cancer patients. I feel like the luckiest survivor of all to be able to work with these wonderful companies. / USF Carole Bellis ’96 is a partner in the Silicon Valley office of Kilpatrick Townsend and the leader of the firm’s emerging company practice gr group.

The Power of Gift P lanning “We hope that our contribution will help USF School of Law maintain its excellence in teaching law to those students fortunate to have the experience.”

Giving Back Through a Gift by Will Mrs. Elizabeth Helfrich ’58 and Dr. Robert Helfrich

E

lizabeth Helfrich ’58 is a pioneer in California law and proud of her many “firsts,” including being the first woman practitioner in Salinas and the first woman president of the Monterey County Bar Association. After serving as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, she was a successful certified specialist in family law and partner at Pioda, Bryan, Ames, Helfrich & Wills until she retired in 1990 after practicing law for 32 years.

She credits USF School of Law for opening doors that advanced her career and instilling in her and her classmates a deep sense of ethics to serve clients in the most beneficial way possible.

We thank Dr. and Mrs. Helfrich for naming We the USF School of Law in their wills!

Experience the power of gift planning • Make a gift today Call 415.422.4163 or email plannedgiving@usfca.edu

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID San Francisco, CA Permit No. 11882

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

GA L L E R Y Beyond the Hilltop The USF School of Law’s campus now stretches from the edge of Golden Gate Park to the financial district, with the successful launch of our LLM in Taxation program based at USF’s Downtown Campus and Andersen Tax’s San Francisco offices. Learn more about the new LLM in Taxation program on page 2.