Dear Friends,
It’s hard to believe that Spring is right around the corner! It feels like yesterday we were returning to campus after the holiday break and now our campus is starting to fill up with fresh blooms, the sun is staying out later, and days are getting warmer. Already this year has been filled with exciting student events, thought-provoking symposiums, and well-deserved celebrations.
Kickstarting the month of February, the High Tech Law Institute (HTLI) hosted its 21st Annual Works In Progress for Intellectual Property Scholars Colloquium (WIPIP 2024), featuring nearly 90 presentations and over 110 attendees from four continents. This year, we retained an outside vendor to run “Game of Drones.” Working together on a team, players navigated drones through a series of obstacles to achieve the fastest times. In addition to the festivities, IP law professors Zahr Said and Ed Lee were welcomed as our newest, incoming Santa Clara Law professors! Said and Lee will be joining the law faculty and the WIPIP community in the Fall, so be sure to give them a warm Bronco welcome!
In February, our outstanding 1Ls submitted briefs to participate in the Galloway Moot Court Competition. After tremendous arguments by all, the teams of Ashley Harding & Jia Lou and James Long & Kim Ngo reached the semi-finals, and the teams of Clay Walters & Tristen Warmington and William Vogel & Samuel Pumarejo reached the finals. When the final round concluded, William Vogel & Samuel Pumarejo emerged as the winners. Nicole Winship and Madison Hill received the award for best brief and Tristen Warmington for best oral advocate. Congratulations to every student who participated. Not only did they display tremendous legal skill, but they also demonstrated great strength of character in supporting and cheering for each other.
Last week the Santa Clara Law Review, Center for Social Justice and Public Service (CSJ), and the Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) co-hosted the Santa Clara Law Racial Justice Symposium. In a packed Panelli Courtroom, attendees were able to hear from experts, researchers, litigators, and judges who covered topics including the importance of historical narratives that have fueled racial disparities, biases, and discriminatory language in our communities, the impact of implicit biases in our criminal legal system, and the reach of remedies to confront racism in the spirit of the California Racial Justice Act. A big thank you to everyone who made this event possible and to the panelists for sharing their expertise with the Santa Clara Law community.
The month of March already has so much in store. Starting right now in the Locatelli Center on the main SCU campus! The 25th Annual High Tech Career Fair, co-hosted by Santa Clara Law’s Office of Career Management (OCM) and the High Tech Law Institute is in full swing with booths representing some of the leading tech firms and companies in Silicon Valley. This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to meet with employers specializing in the high-tech industry and tap into our incredible Bronco network.
I am so excited to share that this coming Monday, March 11, the new Dean’s Democracy Series continues at the path-breaking Panetta Institute in Monterey. Founded by the Honorable Leon E. Panetta (BA ‘60, J.D. ‘63) and Silvia Panetta, the Panetta Institute is a nonpartisan center for the study of public policy that attracts thoughtful people to lives of public service, helping them expand their knowledge of the democratic process and develop their skills as future leaders.
In the spirit of the Panetta Institute, the Dean’s Democracy series is dedicated to bringing us all together to explore and uphold our core democratic values, including freedom from tyranny, equal justice under the rule of law, judicial independence, voting rights, educational opportunity, reflective discourse, evidence-based inquiry, and respect for a diversity of viewpoints and life experiences. The next installment of the Dean’s Democracy Series will be on March 19 which will be in Charney Hall and feature Edward B. Foley, Director of Election Law at Ohio State & Charles W. Ebersold, and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law.
The KGACLC will be hosting its annual Katharine and George Alexander Law Prize on March 20, which honors top legal advocates who have used their careers to help alleviate injustice and inequity. This year Santa Clara Law alumnus Keith Wattley J.D. ’99, the founder and executive director of UnCommon Law, will be awarded the Alexander Prize recognizing his advocacy for the rights of people in prison and on parole for more than 20 years. Keith Wattley exemplifies the compassionate and optimistic spirit that comes with viewing each person as a gift from God and we hope you can all join us for this celebration.
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center, please join us on April 2 for a Zoom speaker series featuring former KGACLC clinical students and now practicing immigration attorneys, in a conversation about the status of unaccompanied minors in the U.S., including migration history and trends, the journey here, what happens upon arrival, legal immigration remedies and protocols, and a call to action for all of us.
On March 22, we invite you to join us for the 2024 Benefit for Justice hosted by the Center for Social Justice and Public Service. This eventful evening will also include a silent auction all proceeds of which will go towards supporting summer stipends for students working in social justice or public interest.
As we move forward into this new Spring season, I hope we can all take a moment together to reflect on everything we have accomplished so far this year and all of the exciting opportunities that await us. This year is only getting started!
With warm regards and tremendous gratitude,
