St. Thomas
Lawyer
FALL 2016
UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS SCHOOL OF LAW
JUSTICE AND MERCY Mark Osler’s Fight for Clemency Reform
SNAPSHOTS Who better to spend trivia night with than former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson? Alumni, from left, Ralph Schulte ’15, Bryan Wachter ’15, Adam Miller ’15 and Matt Mons ’08 tested their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution with Anderson at an ACLU event.
St. Thomas Law classes unite to celebrate the 2016 graduation of Kory Hubers and John Pavelko at Else Warehouse in May. Pictured are, front, from the left: Alex Hanson, Pavelko, Hubers, Saarah Berenjian ’16, Molly Sigler ’17 and Wally Hwang ’18; back: Connor Doyle ’18, Kenny Knapp ’16, Carrie Thysse ’17, Luke Kane ’17, Rich Bennett ’17 and Pat O’Neil ’17.
Professor Mark Osler, right, was the keynote speaker at a Drinking Liberally event in April, joined by St. Thomas Law students Brett Copeland ’17, Matt Blubaugh ’16, Patrick O’Neill ’17, Brooke Borkenhagen ’16 and Anne Rondini ’16, clinical attorney Eric Hylok ’15 and professor Hank Shea.
Posing for a photo after commencement are 2016 grads, from left: Rachel Davis, Rose Dubbs, Courtney Wieden, Rachel Arneson, Lexi Bulau and Laura Herll.
Page 2 St. Thomas Lawyer
A group of St. Thomas Law alumnae came together to give back for a Habitat for Humanity Women’s Build in March. Participants included Annie Santos ’08, Rhonda Skoby ’06, Juliana Cadavid Vaughn ’11, Katie Rheault ’12, Katie Mollen ’13, Sarah Orange ’14 and Natalia Keene ’05.
Last day of classes EVER! Celebrating their accomplishment are, from the left, the Class of 2016’s Connor Cremens, Meghan Marty, Wes Harvey and Travis Kowitz.
Facebook @ustlawmn Celebrating the Class of 2011 five-year reunion are, from left, Lisa Wolff Terwey, Adam Terwey ’11 and Jon Scheib ’11.
Twitter @ustlawmn Instagram @ustlawmn
Celebrating the publication of his new addition to the classic West Academic hornbook series, titled “Litigation With the Federal Government,” professor Gregory Sisk, middle, is joined by his research assistants, from the left, Erin Larsgaard ’17, Frank Langan ’17, Caitlin Drogemuller ’16 and Chloe O’Neill ’17.
Pictured at the Class of 2006 ten-year reunion are, from left, Claire Feldhaus, Professor Elizabeth Schiltz, Bryan Feldhaus ’06 and Mike Warren ’06.
Mentor Elizabeth Odette ’04 and mentee Santiago Granados Balsells ’16 LL.M. celebrate the end of the school year at the Mentor Appreciation Reception in April.
Alumni, from left, Peter Postma ’14, Ifeoma Ikeme ’12, Colleen Ritchie ’14, Kate Mertz ’13, Justin Seitz ’13 and Amanda Lorentz ’10 gather for the business, corporate and compliance alumni practice group happy hour on April 21.
Fall 2016 Page 3
St. Thomas
Lawyer FALL 2016 – VOLUME 9, ISSUE 2 UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS SCHOOL OF LAW
Published by the University of St. Thomas School of Law 1000 La Salle Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55403 (651) 962-4892 lawschool@stthomas.edu www.stthomas.edu/law Publisher Helen Clarke Ebert Editor Patricia Petersen Art Director and Designer Peter Borden Photographers Mark Brown Mike Ekern Contributors Jeanne Bishop Lisa Montpetit Brabbit Molly Butler ’18 J.D. Helen Clarke Ebert Bill Ferenc Beth Forsythe ’06 J.D. Nicole Fredricks Jackson Kate Norlander ’07 M.B.C. Martha Price ’15 J.D. Robert Vischer Dongfu Zhou Front cover Professor Mark Osler is deeply concerned about the harsh sentences handed down for drug crimes. He has received hundreds of letters from felons who are looking for someone to help them make a case for a reduced sentence. Illustration by Bill Ferenc. Back cover Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Natalie Hudson speaks during the St. Thomas Law commencement. Photo by Mike Ekern ’02
Page 4 St. Thomas Lawyer
12 Dean’s Message
5
News 6 Justice and Mercy
12
Witness Stand
18
Summer School
20
The Lone Voice
24
Life Lessons
26
Class Notes
28
18
Opinion 39
22 The University of St. Thomas is an equal opportunity educator and employer. St. Thomas does not unlawfully discriminate, in any of its programs or activities, on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, family status, disability, age, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, membership or activity in a local commission, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. stthomas.edu/eostatement
LEARNING BY DOING change the national debate on clemency reform, and our students have worked alongside him at every step. For those interested in criminal justice careers, Professor Osler prepares them to do more than function effectively in the system as it exists; he helps them envision the system as it could be and work toward its realization. At St. Thomas Law, our work to advance the common good starts the moment new students are accepted into our law community. Admitted applicants often ask me questions about the courses we offer in a particular area of law. I always expand the conversation to help them understand the importance not just of knowing the names of the courses they can take, but appreciating the type of work they can do as students at St. Thomas. Approaching a St. Thomas legal education as a passive experience – judged primarily by the instruction you receive in a classroom – misses the core of who we are as a law school community. Our faculty includes some of the most gifted classroom teachers in legal education, but that’s not what makes us distinctive. We are a law school built for impact, which means that our students learn by doing. This issue of St. Thomas Lawyer features examples of how our students do just that. Professor Mark Osler’s research and advocacy have helped
Professor Teresa Collett’s course on international human rights utilizes the Catholic Church’s social teaching to provide students with an important normative perspective on current doctrine. Human rights theory matters on the frontlines of diplomacy and global politics, so theory must be experienced in action to be understood fully. As such, Professor Collett takes the students to New York where they work for one week on behalf of the Holy See’s Mission to the United Nations. Students praise the experience as an unforgettable example of how ideas matter in the world. For the fourth year in a row, St. Thomas Law students argued before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals under the supervision of Professor Greg Sisk. This spring, the Class of 2016’s Caitlin Drogemuller and Catherine Underwood argued and won a prisoner’s rights case before a demanding three-judge panel in San Francisco. As Caitlin and Catherine move from the St. Thomas appellate clinic to the litigation team at Dorsey & Whitney, this issue provides a window into their St. Thomas experiences.
Every summer, the law school’s donors help fund public interest fellowships that give our students hands-on experience working to provide access to justice. In this issue, you can read profiles of the 2016 St. Thomas public interest fellows. As advancing the common good does not begin with graduation, it certainly does not end there, either. You can read about the work of our alumni, including Bryan Huffman’s contributions to the St. Paul Public Schools and Beth Forsythe’s reflection on the challenges and opportunities faced by women in the profession. I believe that our commitment to “learning by doing” cannot only inspire a passion for service and instill a deeper understanding of how the law works, it also can, put simply, help our students get jobs. It should not be a surprise that we have the best placement rate of any Minnesota law school and are among the top performers in the region when it comes to employment. Getting our students out of the classroom and into the world enhances their career prospects and strengthens our law school’s contributions to the common good. At St. Thomas, our students are not just why we do what we do; they’re how we do what we do.
Robert K. Vischer Dean and Mengler Chair in Law University of St. Thomas School of Law Fall 2016 Page 5
SCHOOL OF LAW NEWS Dean Tapped for National Leaders Council The nonprofit organization that funds legal aid programs nationwide is calling on high-profile and influential leaders from various American industries to raise public awareness of the current crisis in legal aid, and University of St. Thomas School of Law Dean Robert Vischer has been asked to be a part of the effort. The newly formed Leaders Council, established by the nonprofit Legal Services Corporation, is made up of more than 40 notable individuals, including public figures such as former Major League Baseball player Hank Aaron, author John Grisham, University of Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Viacom Vice Chair Shari Redstone and Microsoft Corporation president and CEO Brad Smith. Vischer joins deans from the law schools at Fordham, Duke, Stanford, Yale and Georgetown universities, University of Chicago and University of Wisconsin on the council. Legal aid groups currently are forced to turn away at least 50 percent of people seeking help, leaving millions of Americans unable to obtain legal assistance when it comes to critical civil matters, from evictions to child-custody cases.
NAACP “Game Changer” Mark Haase ’06 recently received the St. Paul NAACP’s Game Changer Award for his work advocating for voting rights restoration for Minnesotans convicted of a felony and released from incarceration. He is coordinator for the state’s Restore the Vote Coalition and has a family law practice in the Twin Cities.
Page 6 St. Thomas Lawyer
Legal aid groups currently are forced to turn away at least 50 percent of people seeking help.
A Big Win Law students working in the University of St. Thomas Bankruptcy Litigation Clinic helped a client avoid financial turmoil this year when a court decision was awarded in the client’s favor. The client faced $60,000 in claims following her brother’s declaration of bankruptcy after agreeing to set up a bank account in her own name for her brother to use exclusively. A bankruptcy trustee attempted to collect from the client and her brother the value of the funds that had moved through that account over several months. As a result of the students’ extensive research and exceptional advocacy before and during trial, the court ruled in favor of the client and dismissed all claims against her. Gabriel Horstman ’14, Collin Liston ’14 and Carl Numrich ’15 represented the client early in the case while they were still in school, conducting and defending depositions, and briefing dispositive motions. With the start of the next school year, Michael Sly ’15, Caitlin Drogemuller ’16 and Ryan Gott ’15 took over and represented the client at trial. Supervising the students was Adjunct Professor Nadia Hasan of Cozen O’Conner.
First Amendment Rights Case Students and faculty working in the Religious Liberty Appellate Clinic filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on its current First Amendment case Trinity Lutheran Church v. Pauley. The case involves exclusion of a church from a Missouri state program that provides funds to non-profit institutions to
Trinity Lutheran Church qualifies for a grant, but the state is excluding it solely because it is a church.
help them resurface their playgrounds. Trinity Lutheran Church qualifies for a grant, but the state is excluding it solely because it is a church. Trinity argues that this discrimination against religion violates the First Amendment’s protection for the free exercise of religion. The brief, drafted by Luke Kane ’18 and Professor Thomas Berg, was filed on behalf of several denominations and other religious organizations. Oral arguments in the case will be held in October, and the Supreme Court likely will decide the case in late 2016 or early 2017.
Clyborne is First Female Brigadier General Gen. Johanna Clyborne ’05 became the first woman to serve as brigadier general in the Minnesota Army National Guard when she was promoted to that role in April. She has served 25 years with the military, including as brigade commander of the 347th Regional Support Group and as a resident Army War College Military Fellow in the International Securities Studies Program. She also is a founding partner of Brekke, Clyborne & Ribich LLC in Shakopee, Minnesota, with fellow 2005 alumnae Barbara Brekke and Rebecca Ribich. (Minnesota National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Ashlee J.L. Sherrill.)
Accolades for Boulette Michael Boulette ’10 was named Outstanding New Lawyer of the Year by the Minnesota State Bar Association for 2016. He is an associate at Lindquist & Vennum LLP, litigating high-stakes divorce and child custody cases. Boulette also has been named a Minnesota Super Lawyer since 2012 and a North Star Lawyer since 2013.
Fall 2016 Page 7
Prolife Center Brief When the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, a case challenging the constitutionality of a Texas law regulating abortion, some of the questions posed by the justices could have been the result of scholarship and advocacy by a University of St. Thomas School of Law professor and four students.
Teresa Collett
Professor Teresa Collett, director of the Prolife Center at St. Thomas, worked with four law students to author a brief for the case on the unique nature of abortion. Students Bridget Duffus ’17, Tim Garvey ’17, Marcy Kreimier ’17 and Michelle Rioux ’17 helped represent 22 physicians, who, based on their experience in rural and emergency health care, supported the Texas law requiring abortion providers to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers.
The brief argued that abortion is unique among medical procedures because: doctors performing abortions often do not reside or maintain practices in the communities where the abortions are performed; as many as two-thirds of women do not schedule or attend follow-up visits following their abortions; and many women do not reveal their abortions when providing their medical histories to doctors and other health care providers.
Jensen Climbs to New Heights Gina Jensen ’05 is climbing to new heights this year both literally (she hiked to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in June) and figuratively, as the new president of the St. Thomas Law Alumni Board. She recently joined UnitedHealthcare as an associate general counsel and previously served as legal counsel for Prime Therapeutics LLC, and as an assistant attorney general for the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. Jensen served as a director on the original St. Thomas Law Alumni Board, on her 5- and 10-year reunion committees and on the Annual Giving Committee. Page 8 St. Thomas Lawyer
Bush Fellowship Carmeann Foster ’12 received a 2016 Bush Fellowship to investigate the most promising, culturally specific interventions for youth, complete her Ph.D. and expand her leadership network. She recently launched Rebound, a nonprofit to create and provide innovative, community-centered rehabilitative solutions. She also joined St. Thomas Law as a faculty research fellow and will work with law and social work students on her study in conjunction with the Community Justice Project.
Keeping Family Together Clinical students from the Immigration Appellate Clinic secured a sweeping victory for their detained immigrant client, preserving the unity of his family. Law students Bianca Del Vescio ‘17, Alexandria Hare ‘17, Jeffrey Maleska ’17 and Chelsea Barr ’17 went to work in August 2015 on a case before the Board of Immigration Appeals. In late 2015, they learned the appeal had been granted. The case involved a form of immigration relief called “Cancellation of Removal” for people who have lived in the United States in undocumented legal status for many years but are facing deportation. If they are able to prove their presence in the U.S. for over 10 years and that close family members would face a high level of hardship in their absence, a judge can grant them a green card based on a balancing of equities. The case drew review by a three-judge panel, a rare occurrence at the Board of Immigration Appeals. Further, rather than remanding the case for a decision on the merits based on the board’s advice, the review panel granted relief unequivocally.
The case drew review by a three-judge panel, a rare occurrence at the Board of Immigration Appeals.
LAW #1 PRIVATE SCHOOL IN MINNESOTA
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. FOR #35 IN CLINICAL TRAINING
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. FOR #2 IN PRACTICAL TRAINING The National Jurist
“Reputations build gradually, and while older law schools may have enjoyed a head start, we are closing the gap very quickly. Our ranking is beginning to catch up with reality. We continue to be the top-ranked private law school in Minnesota, and we’re on our way to becoming the top-ranked private law school in the region.” – Dean Robert Vischer
St. Thomas College of Law, 1923
THROWBACK PHOTO
After offering a prelaw program since 1914, the College of St. Thomas opened a law school, classified a “day school” by the Minnesota Supreme Court, in 1923. That court’s former chief justice, Thomas D. O’Brien, was the law school’s first dean. The school was located in the Classroom Building, pictured here, on the St. Paul campus. The first class of law students – nine in all – graduated in 1926.
Fall 2016 Page 9
Four Faculty Invested Robert Delahunty is the Laurence and Jean LeJeune Distinguished Chair. His scholarship is at the intersection of international law, the Constitution and executive power. Before coming to the School of Law, he served as deputy general counsel for the White House Office of Homeland Security and with the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel. At the School of Law, he has been selected by the graduating class as Professor of the Year twice.
Neil Hamilton holds the Holloran Endowed Professorship. A founding member of the St. Thomas Law faculty, he is a leading scholar helping legal educators understand how the formation of professional identity occurs and why it matters. His awardwinning Roadmap book, integrates longstanding professional ideals and a deep service ethic with practical knowledge about essential employment skills.
Robert Delahunty, center, celebrated his induction with, from the left, Rob Vischer, dean; Julie Sullivan, university president; Jean LeJeune and Larry LeJeune.
Neil Hamilton, center, celebrated his induction with, from the left, Tom and Patty Holloran, Uve Hamilton and Rob Vischer, dean.
Mark Osler is the Robert and Marion Short Distinguished Chair in Law. A former federal prose cutor, he is a leader in bringing attention to the broken federal clemency system, helping chart a new course through his scholarship and advocacy via relationships at the highest levels of government. He won the Spears v. United States case before the U.S. Supreme Court, helping reduce the sentencing disparity between possession of crack and powder cocaine.
Virgil Wiebe is the Robins Kaplan Director of Clinical Legal Education. Before coming to St. Thomas Law, he represented hundreds of immigrants before the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and in immigration court in New York City, and led efforts to create community-based immigration clinics. He also has worked to curb the use of landmines and cluster bombs, addressing diplomats on humanitarian law, and advising non-profit organizations on establishing immigration programs.
Mark Osler, left, celebrated his induction with, from the left, Marion Short and Rob Vischer, dean.
Virgil Wiebe, third from right, celebrated his induction with, from the left, Rob Vischer, dean; and Ron Schutz, Emily Niles ’14, A. Elizabeth Burnett ’10 and Steve Schumeister from Robins Kaplan.
Page 10 St. Thomas Lawyer
“
I hope that you will use your incredible ktalents to help the many people around our state who cannot afford a lawyer. Justice and the access to justice is the right of every citizen. Indeed, the judicial system itself belongs to the people of Minnesota. And thus, justice is not simply for those of us who have access to it by virtue of our wealth or position. It is our obligation as lawyers to ensure that the less fortunate in our community have that access as well.
”
ADMISSIBLE HEARSAY Overheard in and around the University of St. Thomas School of Law
—The Hon. Natalie E. Hudson, associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, in her 2016 School of Law commencement address
don’t “ Iknow honestly if I am mentoring him or he is mentoring me.
”
—Christopher McCullough, former vice president and general counsel of Honeywell International, on his experience with mentee Juan José Tanhuz Pizarro ’16 LL.M. in the School of Law Mentor Externship Program
I came into law school with the purpose to serve. I don’t know what that purpose will look like once I leave here, but I now realize that my purpose here was to serve in the moments. Thank you to my professors and classmates for giving me the opportunity to do just that.
”
“
1st experience of ‘how small the #legal community is’ — approached by an attorney who remembered arguing against me in a county 25 miles away.
—Saarah Berenjian ’16 J.D., in her 2016 School of Law commencement address
weaknesses, “ Know becauseyour everyone else does. ”
”
—Scott Swanson, academic achievement director, adjunct professor, and organizational ethics and compliance student, speaking to a class of students
—Kathryn Kelly ’17 J.D., via Twitter @Katie_Kelly_
“
Attending the School of Law is the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. I have the absolute best professors who are respected and versed in their fields; I’ve met the smartest and most kind friends I could ever want, and #ustlawmn has opened so many doors for me. … Thank you #ustlawmn for being there for me through everything and teaching me how to include God on the journey to the career I’ve always dreamed of.
”
“
—Samantha Miller ’18 J.D., via Instagram @samfmiller
“
Justice Scalia was the most principled person I ever met. His views were not popular among most members of the media, the legal academy and the legal profession. He was subject to constant criticism, some of which was vicious and unfair. But Justice Scalia always did what he thought was right. I never saw a trace of concern about being popular.
”
—The Hon. Patrick J. Schiltz, U.S. District Judge for the District of Minnesota, in an essay for St. Thomas Newsroom on the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom Schiltz once clerked
Fall 2016 Page 11
JUSTICE AND MERCY Mark Osler’s Fight for Clemency Reform By Jeanne Bishop
The scene: a briefing room at the White House. Date: March 31, 2016. The audience: a diverse group of administration officials, attorneys, human rights activists and former prisoners who had received presidential grants of clemency. The day before, President Barack Obama had announced another 61 such grants, bringing the total of prisoners whose sentences he had commuted during his presidency to 248. That same day, however, The Washington Post had run an article critical of the administration for not doing enough to act on the thousands of petitions for clemency from federal prisoners serving lengthy sentences. The article prominently quoted a law professor – an expert on clemency – calling the grants nothing to celebrate when more than 9,000 petitions from eligible prisoners remained pending. The source quoted: Professor Mark Osler of the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Page 12 St. Thomas Lawyer
So when White House counsel Neil Eggleston stepped to the podium in the briefing room to chastise “naysayer[s]” and “law professors … who were critics yesterday,” it was pretty clear whom he meant. Eggleston said people ought to take cases themselves, get their students to work on commutations and “get a petition in.” What Eggleston didn’t realize is that Osler did, and does, take cases himself: He personally has written three petitions and supervised the work on 10 others. Only a year after joining St. Thomas in 2010, Osler founded the nation’s first federal commutations clinic at the law school, in which students under Osler’s direction prepare and file clemency petitions to the president. He trained hundreds of lawyers nationwide to handle clemency petitions in a pro bono effort called Clemency Project 2014. And Osler co-founded, with New York University School of
Law professor Rachel Barkow, the privately funded Clemency Resource Center (CRC) at NYU to deploy full-time attorneys to prepare clemency petitions. (The next day, another member of the White House counsel staff said Osler hadn’t been the intended target of Eggleston’s remark.) Rethinking Long Sentences for Low-Level Offenders It’s understandable that Osler’s achievements might have been overlooked; he is unfailingly modest about them. A visitor to his fourth-floor office at the School of Law will find prestigious-looking plaques recognizing his distinguished service as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) stuffed in a drawer. Instead, Osler’s office is adorned with sports gear, a SpongeBob SquarePants doll and photos of his sons. His Yale Law School degree hangs askew on the wall in a plain wood dollar-store frame.
It’s also understandable that his comments would catch the attention of the White House. Osler has become one of the nation’s most prominent voices on clemency, with opinion pieces in media outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, and articles in academic journals at schools including the University of Chicago and Stanford University. Senior U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett, with whom Osler has co-authored several pieces, said Osler’s “DNA and fingerprints are all over” the current push for presidential sentence commutations. “Mark has done more to urge a national movement for clemency and push the [Obama] administration than anybody I’m aware of in the United States,” Bennett said. Osler looks every bit like the prosecutor he once was: squarejawed and broad-shouldered (though topped off with what he calls “crazy professor hair”).
Fall 2016 Page 13
After graduating from Yale, he joined the DOJ, often prosecuting low-level drug offenders whose long sentences troubled him. Some defendants are still in prison “because I put them there,” Osler said. Around the time he left the DOJ to take his first academic position at Baylor Law School, the issue of clemency caught Osler’s attention. The president under whom Osler had worked, Bill Clinton, issued a pardon on his last day in office to fugitive financier Marc Rich. Rich’s wife had been a large donor to Democratic campaigns and the Clinton Library. Osler was incensed. The New York Times called it “a shocking abuse of presidential power.” “It was granting privilege to the privileged, and so much of what we had been doing was
Page 14 St. Thomas Lawyer
impoverishing the impoverished,” Osler remembered. He began advocating for prisoners, particularly those serving harsh sentences for drug crimes. He won the landmark Spears v. United States decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, giving judges discretion to reject the onerous 100-to-1 sentencing ratio for crack versus powder cocaine. Before leaving Baylor, Osler took on the unjust prosecution in Texas of people accused of drug crimes, a story depicted in the film “American Violet.” St. Thomas and the First Commutations Clinic Osler came to St. Thomas, in part, to be able to establish his first-in-the-nation commutations clinic.
On the first day, meeting the students who had successfully sought one of the coveted spots at his clinic, Osler recalled, “There was a sense of history, that we were pushing a boulder that was not moving.” One of his former students, Sara Sommervold, is now the intake attorney at Northwestern University School of Law’s Center on Wrongful Convictions, where she uses what she calls the most important skill she learned in the clinic: narrative. Sommervold called Osler “a brilliant narrator. He’s incredibly gifted at taking the facts of the case and finding the thread that is effective in persuading the decision-maker that this person deserves mercy.”
David Best, another of Osler’s former clinic students and now executive director at Twin Cities Christian Legal Aid, said Osler let his students sort through requests from prisoners and choose which to represent, giving students a glimpse into the difficult decisions many legal aid attorneys have to make. Best knew he wanted to work with Osler from the first day of Criminal Law when Osler showed the class 10 works of art related to various criminal charges, then discussed each. “I appreciated his decision to start a conversation through art. It was a nontraditional and very creative way to get people to think,” Best said. In the clinic, Osler said he and his students regularly gather around a table talking about current clemency news and historically significant events, including history they’ve made. “Because they are part of moving that boulder, they see the ability to change things,” he said. This summer, Osler and five former clinical students – alumni Marc Spooner ’12, Ashley Bennett ’13, Derek Hansen ’13, Eric Hylok ’15 and Jamie Waldon ’15 – received word that President Obama granted clemency to three inmates whose cases they had worked on while in law school. Waldon helped free three additional men through the work he’s doing as a full-time lawyer with
the CRC alongside Hylok and four other fellows. A More Robust Use of the Clemency Power Osler’s clemency work includes his colleagues at St. Thomas as well. Professor Hank Shea, senior distinguished fellow, accompanied Osler to his most recent meeting on clemency at the White House. Shea called Osler “a wonderful combination of faith, compassion, fairness and integrity. I could tell from his first year at St. Thomas that he was going to do important things for Minnesota and the nation.” The regard is mutual. “I don’t think any of this would have happened without Hank Shea,” Osler said. Because of Shea’s judgment and experience as a high-level federal prosecutor, Osler said, “When I get stuck on something, he’s the one I talk to. He’s the perfect person to have in the office next to you.”
“Mark has done more to urge a national movement for clemency and push the [Obama] administration than anybody I’m aware of in the United States.” – Senior U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett
“There’s no one whose judgment on clemency reform I trust more than his.” – New York University School of Law professor Rachel Barkow
Osler has sought collaborators outside the school – from fellow academics to federal judges – to join him in urging a more robust use of the clemency power. “Honestly, we started talking about [the CRC concept] in the hotel gym,” said Barkow, the NYU law professor who met Osler at a conference on drug sentencing at Valparaiso University School of Law, where they were both speaking. Praising
Fall 2016 Page 15
Osler trained hundreds of lawyers nationwide to handle clemency petitions in a pro bono effort called Clemency Project 2014. And he co-founded, with New York University School of Law professor Rachel Barkow, the privately funded Clemency Resource Center at NYU to deploy fulltime attorneys to prepare clemency petitions.
Osler’s steady persistence and ability to put ideas into practice in the real world, Barkow said, “There’s no one whose judgment on clemency reform I trust more than his.” Nkechi Taifa, advocacy director for criminal justice at the Open Society Foundations, helped set up and took part in Osler’s series of meetings at the White House. Taifa cited his credibility as a former prosecutor as one of Osler’s strength. “It was great to be able to team up with someone with opposite credentials from me,” she said. Those prosecutorial credentials help give Osler a “unique perspective on clemency, because he’s not living in a swamp of theory,”
Page 16 St. Thomas Lawyer
observed Jesse Wegman, a member of The New York Times editorial board who talks to Osler regularly about clemency issues. “In addition to being a deep thinker, he’s actually had to ask for particular sentences in front of a judge.” Osler has helped plant clemency efforts in other law schools, most recently at Harvard, which brought him in to help train 26 law students and nine supervising attorneys. “Mark was both hugely influential in our thinking and an indispensable resource,” said Larry Schwartztol, executive director of the Criminal Justice Policy Program under which
the clemency project operates. Describing a three-hour training in which Osler taught the nuts and bolts of federal sentencing and lectured on the ancient roots of clemency, Schwartztol said Osler was “so fluent at all of those levels.” Schwartztol said students benefit from doing the clemency work in a number of ways, from learning how to immerse themselves in their clients’ stories to crafting an effective argument. And, he added, “These petitions written by our students may be reviewed by the president of the United States.” A Rousing Speech at the White House In that White House briefing room back in March, it was Osler’s turn to speak. He started quietly but determinedly, building into an eloquent but passionate “rant,” as he called it. Holding up a 1,700-year-old Roman coin bearing the image of the goddess of mercy, Clementia, Osler said, “What this means is that, millennia ago, clemency – mercy – wasn’t just a personal value we were supposed to show to each other. It was supposed to be part of the state, part of the government, part of justice, part of what identified the entire society. Hundreds of thousands of Roman citizens walked around
with Clementia in their pockets. How did we lose the goddess?” Spontaneous clapping erupted. Osler leaned forward intently. “And now, I guess, I can’t stop my rant here. I heard the White House counsel talk about the naysaying law professors.” The audience fell silent, waiting to hear what he would say. “I guess that’s me,” Osler went on. “Because it was me in the Post today saying that this wasn’t enough yet. It’s not time to brag yet. And it’s going to be me in The New York Times tomorrow saying the same thing: that we’re not done yet.” Hoots and hollers erupted from the audience. “Yesterday, when those grants were made, my phone rang. And some of you out there know what this is like,” Osler said, his voice trembling with emotion, his eyes searching out his former students. “Eric Hylok, Jamie, you know. I don’t want to answer the phone. Because I’m going to pick up the phone and there’s going to be a man I know, whose story I’ve told, and I’m going to have to tell him, ‘You’re not on the list.’ And then there’s going to be a silence, and he’s going to tell me that his mother is dying, that his kids are growing up. And all I can say is,
Osler won the landmark Spears v. United States decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, giving judges discretion to reject the onerous 100-to-1 sentencing ratio for crack versus powder cocaine.
‘I’m so sorry.’ And then I hang up, and then the phone rings again.” Comparing returned citizens who had received clemency to puzzle pieces that had been put back where they belong, Osler said that clemency is more than filling in those blank spaces in society. “We’re putting that piece of the soul back in the Constitution of the United States. I don’t think that makes me a naysayer. What I’m saying, and what so many of the people in this room are saying is, ‘Let’s do this!’” With that, jaw set, eyes ablaze, Osler leaned back as applause filled the room. ■ Jeanne Bishop is a public defender for Cook County, Illinois, and author of the book, Change of Heart: Justice, Mercy, and Making Peace with My Sister’s Killer.
Fall 2016 Page 17
SUMMER SCHOOL Donor-funded Fellowships Help Students Learn Through Service By Kate Norlander ’07 M.B.C.
Nearly 2,900 veterans receive legal assistance each year through the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV), and just two attorneys handle the majority of incoming cases. This summer, Peter Dotson helped lighten their caseload. Dotson is one of four St. Thomas Law students who benefited this year from the school’s Public Interest Law Fellowships, which are offered in partnership with the Minnesota Justice Foundation.
Top: For his Public Interest Law Fellowship, Peter Dotson worked with the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans. Page 18 St. Thomas Lawyer
“Because of the volume of veterans seeking our help,” Dotson said, “I was trusted to handle much of the required research and writing on my own, with my supervising attorneys providing only occasional guidance and advice.”
summer work is just one step in the direction they will head after graduation.
The other fellowship recipients include Patricia Alonso Galera, who clerked for an Israeli Supreme Court justice; Christina Espey-Sundt, who interned with the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Benjamin Hargrove, who worked with the International Justice Mission in Thailand.
“I wanted to get my brain in legal mode and help people,” he said, “so I jumped at the opportunity. I spent three days in northern Minnesota providing services through StandDown clinics.” A StandDown is a large event that enables veterans to obtain services they need, such as health screenings, job counseling and legal assistance, and gives them access to food and clothing. During his three days with MACV last year, Dotson, a 2L, provided intake assistance at StandDown legal aid clinics.
The fellowships allow students to spend the summer serving in a way that would not otherwise be possible without taking on additional debt. Instead of pursuing paid work over the summer, these students have chosen to bring what they are learning in the classroom to practice in areas where the payment they receive is, at most, a stipend and more often simply the knowledge that they are advancing the common good. The fellowships often draw students who are preparing to use their education for a lifetime of service; for them, their
This wasn’t Dotson’s first time working with MACV. In 2015 he undertook a pre-orientation service project with the organization.
His fellowship this summer allowed him to do more in-depth, hands-on work with vets in need of legal service, from filing and research to writing briefs and memos. “MACV provides a panoply of services. Some vets are homeless, while many others are middle class. They need help navigating systems that are new to them across a spectrum of types of law,” Dotson said.
“Some vets are homeless, while many others are middle class. They need help navigating systems that are new to them across a spectrum of types of law.” – Peter Dotson Intern Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans
Motivated by a lifelong concern for justice, Dotson’s passion is public policy. “I’d rather help craft than argue law,” he explained. “My dream job would be to work as a lobbyist advocating for important issues, such as those related to vets.” Learning International Law in Israel As a relatively new country, Israel often looks at legal precedents in other countries, so the Israeli Supreme Court regularly recruits foreign clerks. Patricia Alonso Galera spent the summer clerking for one of the court’s justices. When she applied for the Fall 2016 Page 19
“I’m proud to represent St. Thomas alongside clerks from schools like Yale.” – Patricia Alonso Galera Summer Clerk Israeli Supreme Court
Patricia Alonso Galera spent the summer clerking for an Israeli Supreme Court justice.
opportunity, she didn’t believe she had much of a chance. “I was applying for more realistic jobs for the summer, but I really wanted that position,” she said. Galera speculated that she was offered a foreign clerkship because of her background: She already has a Spanish law degree and is now in her final year of pursuing her J.D. at St. Thomas. She is fluent in French, Spanish, Catalan and English, and she has some knowledge of Italian and Hebrew. “I’m proud to represent St. Thomas alongside clerks from schools like Yale,” she said. Before applying for the clerkship, Galera was interested in legal aspects of international
Page 20 St. Thomas Lawyer
transactions. In light of her summer work, her horizons have broadened. “I feel like I may be able to do more in international law,” she said. “I hope to have a better understanding of comparative law as a result of my work and that I will have made useful connections.” Part of Galera’s good fortune is that she was assigned to the only judge on the court who comes from private practice. Her summer work in Israel took her into a variety of areas, including public international law, criminal law, corporate law and torts.
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This internship is another step along a path to which she feels called: working with refugees.
Advocating for Immigrant Rights
Now a 3L, she first volunteered in this area while she was an undergraduate student. She served as an office assistant at the Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers in Oslo and later volunteered to work with and for refugees through Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and The Advocates for Human Rights. Over time, she learned what attorneys can do for immigrants and decided to pursue a J.D.
Christina Espey-Sundt traveled to Washington, D.C., this summer to work with the U.N.
“I have two possible paths after graduation, and I hope to gain some clarity as I am exposed to
“My tasks are quite varied, and the entire office will soon be gearing up for World Refugee Day. I’m so grateful to be able to participate in this work!” – Christina Espey-Sundt Intern U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
Christina Espey-Sundt, second from right, worked with other interns for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Washington, D.C.
the policy dimension of refugee law,” she said. “I may decide to pursue a career in international law, working with an organization like the United Nations, or I may stay in Minnesota and work for a nonprofit, providing direct representation for clients. Whatever I do, I know it will be in the area of immigration.” Soon after her internship began, Espey-Sundt shared her delight in the opportunity to work for UNHCR. “It is an inspiring place to be and I have already learned so much about UNHCR’s unique role in the immigration field,” she said in June. “My supervisors and peers are incredible, and I am thankful for the chance to learn from them. My tasks are quite varied, and the entire office will soon be gearing up for World
Refugee Day. I’m so grateful to be able to participate in this work!” Interning with the International Justice Mission in Thailand Benjamin Hargrove’s work brought him to Chiang Mai, Thailand, to work with International Justice Mission (IJM), a Christian human rights organization. Hargrove’s decision to attend law school was spurred, in part, through the work of IJM. “Gary Haugen, founder and CEO of IJM, spoke at my church while I was in college,” Hargrove said. “He talked about his experience working for the U.N. as an investigator in Rwanda. I read his book and started thinking about law school, but I had just finished a finance major, so I
pursued a microfinance internship to see what I could do there. I decided finance was too far removed from the justice issues that interested me, so I chose to go to law school.” For Hargrove, a 2L, the fellowship was the next step along his road to doing legal work in developing countries. “I want to develop professional competency,” he said. “I want to see how I can use what I’m learning in the real world.” As a legal intern with IJM, he worked as part of the organization’s Thai team’s child sexual assault unit, supporting Thai lawyers as they investigated and prosecuted sex crimes against children.
Fall 2016 Page 21
“For me, this fellowship is the icing on the cake. Alumni who contribute to Public Interest Law Fellowships are supporting a cool thing.” – Benjamin Hargrove Intern International Justice Mission Chiang Mai, Thailand
Benjamin Hargrove, center, stands with police officers in Thailand. The International Justice Mission, with which Hargrove interned, was hosting a training session in partnership with police to help community leaders identify and report child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Alumni Help Fund Fellowships The public interest fellowships are funded in part through donations from St. Thomas alumni. The fellowships make a real difference in whether or not students are able to pursue these summer service jobs. “I said ‘yes’ to my summer internship without knowing how I would be able to do it,” Espey-Sundt said. “I would have had to take out loans.” “My fellowship helped me realize this opportunity,” Hargrove said. “I could have taken on debt, but law school already costs a lot. IJM doesn’t pay its interns; in fact, we have to cover our own airfare, hotels, visas and other expenses.” Through the
Page 22 St. Thomas Lawyer
fellowship, Hargrove, like his fellow students, avoided further debt while exploring one way he can serve the common good after graduation. “I’m enormously grateful for my education,” he said. “For me, this fellowship is the icing on the cake. Alumni who contribute to Public Interest Law Fellowships are supporting a cool thing.”
“I said ‘yes’ to my summer internship without knowing how I would be able to do it. I would have had to take out loans.” – Christina Espey-Sundt
Dotson also expressed gratitude for the opportunity. In early June, he reflected on his experiences to date, saying, “I am glad I chose to spend my summer doing legal aid. I’ve been able to work quite closely with our clients and have been exposed to numerous areas of the law I had not previously encountered. I feel fortunate that I have been assigned important tasks that are integral to the cases we are handling, as opposed to busywork like filing or data entry. Because of this, I am able to work in an environment that closely resembles actual legal practice. I do not imagine I would have had such an opportunity at a private firm.”
■
Witness Stand By Helen Clarke Ebert
A Q&A with the Class of 2016’s Catherine Underwood and Caitlin Drogemuller, who were chosen for this piece following their win in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on a prisoner’s rights case — the third such win for the St. Thomas Law Appellate Litigation Clinic in as many years. They begin their professional legal careers together this fall as associates with Dorsey & Whitney.
What drives you to become a lawyer? How does your answer differ now from when you came to St. Thomas Law in the summer of 2013? CU: I’d always thought about becoming a lawyer, and when I entered law school it was because I liked the way it would fit with my undergraduate philosophy major and because I was attracted to a career where I would be always learning new things. Now having graduated, I still love those things. In addition, however, there’s a sense that I have been privileged with this specialized understanding of the law that enables me to do something for clients that they can’t do as well for themselves. People sometimes like to make fun of lawyers, but this specialized Fall 2016 Page 23
understanding and skill set that they possess, if used in the service of others, can make them powerful forces for good in our communities. CD: I grew up wanting to be a lawyer, most likely because when I was young somebody in my family joked that with all of my talking, I was bound to become one. When I was old enough to actually understand what lawyers do, this goal was confirmed: I wanted an education that I could use to make a real impact in this world. Unlike so many of my wonderful friends at St. Thomas Law, however, I never wanted a career in the public sector. I wanted to be a business lawyer, working with businesses to reach their goals and solve complex problems. When I entered law school, that is what drove me, and to an extent, it still drives me now. However, my education at St. Thomas Law has also really given me a deep appreciation for the need to give back to the community through pro bono work, and has caused me to recognize that working at a large firm or in a business setting does not mean that I cannot do good for society as well. What do you see as the defining moment—or turning point—in your law school career? CD: I think the turning point in my law school career actually happened pretty early, in the second semester of 1L year, when all 1Ls were asked to research Page 24 St. Thomas Lawyer
and write a summary judgment brief in Lawyering Skills II. The turning point was when I argued my summary judgment motion in front of Professor Carpenter. Prior to that point, I had been undecided as to whether I wanted to be a litigator or transactional attorney, but after standing up in the moot courtroom and making my argument, I was hooked – I wanted to be a litigator. What is the one textbook case you will never forget? CU: Buck v. Bell. It’s one of the first cases that St. Thomas had us read, and it came up during orientation week in Foundations of Justice. It’s a tragic case where the U.S. Supreme Court held in the 1920s that the forced sterilization of patients at certain state-run psychiatric facilities did not violate the constitutional rights of those patients. It was a startling wake-up call to us about the importance of what we were setting out to do as law students: the law matters, it affects real people, and we have a chance to give them a voice. Tell us about your most memorable professor moment. CD: It would have to be with Professor (Hank) Shea, when I was in his Investigations class. He structures the class in a great, hands-on way where students are able to learn from and interact with leading professionals in the investigations field. One week, we practiced interviewing these
professionals as though they were witnesses or suspects in a case, and I was paired with Professor Shea (because there were not quite enough visiting professionals to go around). This was one of the first times that I really interacted with him, but he gave me such thoughtful, direct, relevant feedback on how our exercise went that I could truly say I was a better interviewer by the end of that very class period. CU: During on-campus interviews at the beginning of 2L year, Professor (Elizabeth) Schiltz, who had taught me in Contracts the year before, saw me in the hall and asked how the interview process was going. At the time I was really frustrated, and when I told her that, she immediately offered to do a mock interview with me over her lunch hour the following day. Her feedback was so helpful in getting me to a point where I felt like I owned the interview and was able to effectively communicate all the things I wanted to. So in the end she taught me more than just Contracts—she gave me an invaluable skill that I’ll have for my entire professional life. Tell us about the most rewarding experience you had with your mentor through St. Thomas’s Mentor Externship Program. CU: This year I watched my mentor appear pro bono on behalf of clients who were being evicted from their home. When she won her motion, it was so rewarding
to know that these deserving people would not be on the streets, but it also was a rewarding experience because I was able to see how a few hours of donated attorney time can make a world of difference for people who cannot represent themselves as effectively. My mentor was a transactional, in-house attorney who didn’t do housing law on a daily basis, but her generosity with her time and her willingness to use her legal training for others gave these people a voice and ultimately a home. Tell us about your experience in the Appellate Litigation Clinic. CU: My experience in clinic was the single best way that St. Thomas could have prepared me for practicing law. In the Appellate Litigation Clinic, we were given a real case and the entire lower-court record, and we had to come up with compelling arguments for our client on appeal. We knew that something real was at stake, which made this different from the exercises we had done in brief-writing before. So in that way it was very much like legal practice. But clinic also provided a benefit that practice normally doesn’t: every step of the way, we were able to sit down with Professor (Gregory) Sisk and get feedback and advice from him. He showed us how to turn our writing into something that would be persuasive to 9th Circuit judges and spent countless hours practicing with us to get us ready for oral
arguments. His mentorship was an invaluable benefit. CD: I believe that clinical education is really essential to a good legal education. Clinical education teaches students the actual nuts and bolts of legal practice; it teaches how to be a lawyer and deal with clients, rather than just the fundamentals of a certain area of law. I was involved in clinics both my 2L and 3L year (Bankruptcy Litigation Clinic and Appellate Clinic), and would not trade that experience for the world. These experiences allowed me to get up before judges in both trial and appellate courts, which will make me so much more comfortable doing so as a practicing attorney. Walk us through what you felt as you argued your first case in court. CD: At first, I was incredibly nervous – my introduction was fairly long, considering that my part of the argument only lasted six minutes, and I wanted to get through it before I was interrupted with questions. However, once I started talking, most of the nerves melted away. I did not get all the way through my introduction, but I actually welcomed the first question I received. All of the judges seemed engaged in my argument, so it genuinely felt as though we were just having a conversation. We had prepped incredibly well, so I felt confident responding to all of the questions asked of me, and before I knew
it, my time was up. I remember the excitement really hitting me just as I sat down, and whispered to Catherine and Professor Sisk, “That was fun!” What have you learned about yourself over the past three years? CU: I’ve learned to be patient with myself and to persevere. I’ve learned to appreciate differences in people and to refine my own personal commitments and beliefs. I’ve also been reminded of the importance of family, friends and community, and what a blessing it is to find a place where you feel like you belong. How do you plan to serve the common good in your legal career? CD: In addition to generally serving the common good by providing the best legal representation possible to all of my clients, I want to have a very active pro bono practice. Last summer, I worked on a number of pro bono projects, but I really felt connected with the Tubman Project, which finds legal representation for women in order for protection cases. It was very rewarding to see women in domestic violence situations walk a little taller because they knew that they had a lawyer on their side, and humbling to be that lawyer. I hope to continue to work for that cause and find other ways to give back to my community as I begin my career. ■ Fall 2016 Page 25
THE LONE VOICE Professor Teresa Stanton Collett remembers reading Roe v. Wade in her Constitutional Law class at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. As a first-year student with a 9-monthold baby, the case impacted her on a deep level. It motivated her to become one of the lone voices in her class articulating a pro-life position. She has been speaking out ever since. Collett did not enter law school with ambition to become one of the country’s leading pro-life and family advocates; she left a successful career as the owner of small bridal salons to pursue a profession she felt would keep her intellectually stimulated long term. She has not been disappointed. Although her religious beliefs help inform and sustain her advocacy for human life and preservation of the family, Collett was pro-life before she was Catholic. Raised as a Methodist, she converted to Catholicism after marrying her husband, Bob. Catholicism resonated with her personal convictions, and she soon became a leader in her church community. Page 26 St. Thomas Lawyer
By Molly Butler ’18 J.D. In Collett’s office at St. Thomas Law, filled with legal treatises, texts and articles, stands her treasured photo of her and her husband greeting Pope Francis. She makes a conscious effort to integrate her faith into her teaching largely by modeling a personal commitment to family life. This includes hosting dinners for students in her home, introducing them to her husband, and sharing pictures of her children and grandchildren. “She treats her students as family,” 3L Tim Garvey said. “She mentors us on the choices we will make as professionals, and how those choices will influence our future family lives. She shows us that you can be a lawyer and still have a fulfilling family life.”
She makes a point to get to know her students personally. When traveling with students from her International Law and Catholic Social Thought courses to the United Nations in New York City, she hosts social hours after each day’s work is done. The gatherings end promptly at 10 p.m. though, to accommodate nightly calls from her husband. The Colletts have been happily married for almost 38 years, epitomizing the devotion she hopes to model to her students. Her personal commitment to family is deeply woven into her work as a life advocate. The “life issue,” she explained, “is inextricably entwined with commitment between a man and a woman. Family can’t just be a network of affection. It is a commitment that takes work. One of the greatest threats to society is the decline of marriage.” She is particularly concerned with the increase of divorce in older couples. Linking the increase of divorce to a surge in suicides among elderly men, she urged that the pro-life issue is not just about the unborn. Advocacy for life occurs on a continuum; it includes promoting the human dignity of people with disabilities and the elderly as well as advocating on behalf of the unborn. She also is concerned about society’s emphasis on economics at the expense of the family. She fears that childbearing and nurturing are seen as distractions as opposed to a worthwhile goal for many young Americans. “This is ridiculous. It’s just wrong that our society trivializes the family,” she said. “Having a career and starting
a family don’t have to be mutually exclusive.” She said this is particularly hard for women. “We refuse to admit that childbearing is easier in our 20s. The idea that you should postpone is problematic. Our culture needs to reform the notion that children should be put off. In the early years of learning a craft, it makes sense that we should also invest ourselves in creating a family. It only becomes more difficult over time.” She argued that current culture condones intolerance and unintentional selfishness. Citing parenting styles that require “time for myself,” she worries about the misconception that children are a burden. She urges young people to recognize that life requires balance, and believes that in hindsight, parents will never regret a commitment to their children and family. Collett is known for many accomplishments, including appointment by Pope Benedict XVI to a five-year term as consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family (an appointment Pope Francis extended in 2014), representing U.S. Rep. Ron Paul and various medical groups in the defense of the federal ban of partial-birth abortion, and authoring the 9th Circuit brief, Isaacson v. Horne, that opened the door for increased regulation to protect the unborn. Collett, however, cited her three children as her greatest accomplishment. She hopes that she will be remembered as a person who cared deeply, that she was fair and that she was faithful. She humbly confided, though, that half the
time her stomach is in knots that she isn’t living up to all she could be. Yet, many of her students view her as a type of legend. “Before stepping into her classroom, every single student knows that they need to be razor sharp and extremely prepared,” said Bridget Duffus, a 3L. “She truly loves and believes in the work she does. Whether it is advocating in the form of an amicus curiae brief, arguing for policy change or teaching the Rule Against Perpetuities to a room of first-year law students, she gives 110 percent of herself.” In some ways, Collett remains the lone voice she started out as in the Constitutional Law course. She recently was singled out by the NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota Foundation. Describing a personal verbal attack with potential to wound even the heartiest of warriors, Collett simply smiled and said she must be doing something right to garner such attention from those with opposing views. Collett continues her advocacy through the University of St. Thomas Prolife Center, which relies on the generosity of those who support its mission. The center is always in need of volunteers, particularly those who are able to draft amicus briefs and help shape legislation and testimony to advance the protection of human life. Learn more about Collett’s work with the Prolife Center at stthomas.edu/ prolifecenter. ■
Fall 2016 Page 27
Bryan Huffman had plenty of successes to report to his classmates at the St. Thomas Law Class of 2011 five-year reunion in May. Working as assistant general counsel for St. Paul Public Schools since January 2015, he keeps himself busy advising district administration on a wide array of issues, including intellectual property law, lease agreements, data requests, and labor and employment matters. The variety of work has given him a new appreciation for the research skills he obtained as a law student, as he is never sure what type of issue he will face at work on any given day. He is one of just three attorneys who represent a system that oversees nearly 6,000 employees and over 39,000 students.
LIFE LESSONS By Martha Price ’15 J.D. Photo by Mike Ekern ’02
With each new experience at work, Huffman credits his St. Thomas Law education for training him to confront problems with a “holistic approach,” helping him reach positive long-term outcomes. Working in a school district that seeks to distribute opportunity and resources equitably among students from a variety of neighborhoods and socio-economic backgrounds, Huffman frequently asks himself, “How do we give everyone equal opportunity to solid educational opportunities without penalizing students from higher income areas or short-changing students from lower-income neighborhoods?” Before joining the district, he spent three years working in the
Page 28 St. Thomas Lawyer
Health Licensing Division of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. There he represented the boards that set licensing standards for the health and medical fields, by participating in consumer protection litigation and advising them when civil violations of licensing standards occurred. From Down South to Up North Huffman’s journey to St. Thomas Law began in the South. After graduating from high school in McKenzie, Tennessee, a town of about 5,000 people, he headed to Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, to earn a bachelor’s degree in corporate communications with minors in leadership and business. To further his career goals, he chose St. Thomas Law in search of “a change and a new culture,” he said. He was drawn to St. Thomas Law because of its unique mission. During his time at St. Thomas, Huffman participated in the Community Justice Project and worked for the Minneapolis City Attorney, where he spent time in the office’s civil and criminal divisions. He wrote for and edited the Journal of Law and Public Policy and earned his master’s in public policy before his legal education was complete. His courses, such as Advanced Legal Research and Trial Advocacy, helped him “hit the ground running” in his legal career, he said. Legal analysis was a “180-degree change” from the way he was trained to think as a
corporate communications major. At St. Thomas, he acquired the “lawyer way to think” about issues he would encounter at work and in the world around him. A Supportive Law Community Being from a different part of the country, he appreciates that the St. Thomas Law alumni network provides a sense of community for him when so many of his immediate family members live far away. Huffman said he found the St. Thomas Law community to be really unique, noting that the cohesiveness is something many law schools claim to value, but “St. Thomas strives to really live it.” Huffman enjoyed the faculty and staff’s willingness to work with him and guide him as he discerned his career path. In addition to serving on the St. Thomas Law Alumni Advisory Board and working as a career strategist for the school’s J.D. Compass Program, Huffman is a member of the board of directors for Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, and he has taught at Mitchell Hamline College of Law. He so deeply enjoyed his teaching experience that he will be an instructor in the St. Thomas Mentor Externship Program this academic year. Among many insights he hopes to bring to students in his class, he will discuss the importance of networking and reaching out to other members of the
legal community. He plans to be “transparent and honest,” he said, as he gives his students a comprehensive picture of the legal landscape post-graduation. Drawing on his own experiences reaching out as a young professional, Huffman appreciates that it can be daunting to email a stranger or reach out to an unknown alumnus. But his own path has taught him that building that network and reaching out to others are keys to success in the Twin Cities legal community. Looking forward, Huffman hopes to serve his community through an elected or appointed position in a public office. He said he admires that public officials have the ability to positively impact the community around them, and he desires to be an advocate, influencing the laws as they are changed to benefit more individuals. A six-year resident of St. Paul, Huffman has great affection for his adopted hometown and looks forward to assisting in the development of the city to effectively and efficiently serve its citizens, improving quality of life for his neighbors who also call St. Paul home. Martha Price ’15 practices family law, criminal defense and general practice through Martha Price Law in the Cannon Falls, Minnesota, area. ■
Fall 2016 Page 29
PUBLISHED OPINION Gender Bias Persists By Beth Forsythe ’06 J.D.
Women have reached the highest levels of the legal profession, and there are many reasons for optimism about our prospects; however, there are also signs that barriers to true gender equality in the law remain stubbornly in place: • Gender bias affects job application processes (e.g., Patricia and Patrick have identical resumes; Patrick is the favored candidate). In fact, a 2014 study published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that female and male managers are twice as likely to hire a man as a woman. • Gender bias persists in performance evaluations. Effective self-evaluations tout individual achievements, but most women naturally think and speak in “we” rather than “I.” Research, including a 2014 report for Fortune by linguist Kieran Snyder, shows that even if convinced to self-promote, women must be careful about delivery or risk being labeled “abrasive,” a criticism common for high-achieving women, from which all but the most abrasive men are immune. • Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant’s New York Times article, “Madam C.E.O., Get Me a Coffee,” summarizes research showing that women (not men) are expected to do time-intensive “office housework,” including committee service, mentoring and note-taking at meetings, without receiving any benefit.
• Research by Dr. Arin Reeves suggests that persistently high female partner attrition from professional services firms is less about work-life balance and personal lifestyle choices than it is about the disconnect between firms’ reward structures and women’s greatest strengths. Women generally are superior at nurturing relationships, developing teams and delivering excellent client service (i.e., keeping clients), but inferior at asking people to hire them (i.e., getting clients). Firms, however, typically reward the person who brings in the client, but give little or no business development or billing credit to those who provide the excellent service that keeps clients coming back. Firm leaders admitted to Reeves that business development has the greatest impact on women’s progression toward parity in firms. Yet firms continue to lose talent by failing to scrutinize the one-size-fits-all business development reward structure that frustrates and exhausts many women until they quit. • In addition to research, media coverage of female politicians such as Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina illustrates that women still must thread the “respectable woman” needle of looking professional without looking stiff (or loose), using a strong voice without “yelling” and being heard over constant interruptions. It is tempting to overthink every word spoken, body position assumed and camisole purchased. Careful, though: People trust the
authentic and energetic, not the cold and calculating. So, I try to absorb relevant research, hope it seeps into my subconscious and then just live my life. Most of this research is descriptive of problems but not prescriptive of solutions. My hypothesis is that solutions will emerge from (nonabrasive) communication about examples and the effects of implicit gender bias. I talk with male and female colleagues about what our firm actually values, and strategize about how to succeed within the current structure, while identifying what should change, why and how. I trade articles, air grievances, celebrate successes and test ideas with similarly situated friends outside my organization. Among the most fulfilling, empowering networks I communicate with is St. Thomas Law alumni. Our recent 10-year class reunion was a warm reminder of the goodwill and great memories we share and continue to build. Networks like this are the comfortable, inspiring settings in which we can reveal our dreams, identify what’s in the way of realizing them, float solutions and remain optimistic about our collective prospects. Beth Forsythe ’06 is a partner at Dorsey and Whitney LLP where she represents firms and individuals in criminal and civil matters, from FCPA investigations to complex commercial disputes.
Fall 2016 Page 39
NONPROFIT ORG. U.S.POSTAGE
PAID School of Law 1000 LaSalle Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55403-2015
UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS