Dear Friends, 

L’Shana Tovah! 

As we experience the Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), I would like to extend my warmest wishes to all of you for a Blessed New Year!  

In this sacred season of rebirth, we are called to express our gratitude for the creation of our common home by repenting for our transgressions, repairing the harm done to others and to our world, remembering with enduring love each precious life lost, renewing our covenant to care deeply for each other, returning to our best selves, respecting the dignity of every human being, and rededicating ourselves to work together for justice, reconciliation, and peace. 

In this same bright-winged spirit of re-creation, our law school community lives out our Jesuit, Catholic mission and the Universal Apostolic Preferences, which call us to walk with the poor, the marginalized, and those whose dignity has been violated in a mission of reconciliation and justice, and to accompany each other in the creation of a hope-filled future. 

For the past three decades, our awe-inspiring Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center has answered that call. Thirty years ago, our La Raza Law students, with the support of our faculty and administrative team, founded the East San Jose Community Law Center in the back of a bakery. Their vision of seeking justice for the most vulnerable in the community lives on and is thriving today at the Center. 

On Saturday evening, September 28, those founders gathered in the Locatelli Center on campus with alumni, faculty, students, staff, university colleagues, benefactors, and community partners to celebrate the Center’s triumphant 30th “diamond” anniversary. As we recognized at the gala, the symbol of a “diamond” is so appropriate to mark this occasion because the Center has displayed many brilliant facets and the “four Cs” of genuine quality: courage, commitment, community, and caritas–the Jesuit, Catholic calling to spread God’s love by cherishing, appreciating, and giving generosity of spirit and loving attention to others in service to the community.  Over that time, more than 2,000 of our students, working under the careful supervision of faculty, staff attorneys, and expert volunteers, have represented nearly 13,000 clients and provided more than $67 million worth of free legal services, helping to meet basic human needs, fight human trafficking, advocate for justice in the immigration system, protect consumers, and uphold workers’ rights.

To honor this special occasion and all that the Center has accomplished, Justice Kelli M. Evans of the California Supreme Court joined the event and shared her reflections about her own life’s journey to the bench. Justice Evans praised the Center’s work in helping to provide greater access to justice for those who would not otherwise have a voice. When asked what brings you hope in these troubled times, Justice Evans looked upon the hundreds of Center supporters assembled, and declared that the Center itself is a great source of hope for us all. 

We are so grateful to Justice Evans for joining us and sharing her powerful and inspiring message. Great thanks also goes to the Alexander family; the Center’s incredible team of Scott Maurer, Lynette Parker, Ruth Silver-Taube, Reuben Castillo, Margarita Sandoval, Angelica Frias, and Dianne Blakely; supportive law school faculty who joined the gala, Lisa Kloppenberg, Evangeline (Vangie) Abriel, Linda Starr, Kathleen (Cookie) Ridolfi, Margalynne Armstrong, and Cynthia Mertens; distinguished jurists Risë Pichon J.D. ‘76, Shelyna Brown J.D. ‘96, and Haywood Gilliam; the Host Committee, Center Board members, students, alumni, volunteers, sponsors, and donors whose active engagement over the years has kept the Center strong. 

The celebration also gave us all an opportunity to express our collective gratitude to Deborah Moss-West J.D. ‘94. Since 2016, Deborah has served as the remarkable Executive Director of the Center, building on its distinctive strengths, reputation for excellence, and visibility, expanding the law school's many pro bono programs, launching the Marshall-Brennan initiative and other pipeline programs, and pioneering an undergraduate law and social justice class.

As a special surprise tribute to Deborah, we had the privilege of presenting her with the University’s Marquette Jones Award. This special award is given in recognition of a faculty or staff member whose creative projects and advocacy in the arts or law works to empower and advance women in those fields. An accomplished faculty member, filmmaker, and lawyer, Marquette Jones was dedicated to advancing and promoting women, especially in the African-American community, of which she was a part. In selecting Deborah to receive this award, the university rightly recognizes her leadership, talent, and hard work which has lifted up so many in our community.

Congrats and great thanks to Deborah and to all of the members of our Santa Clara Law family who have supported the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center over the past thirty years!

And let us also offer our collective congratulations and gratitude to our Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) for beginning this New Year by continuing to achieve justice and reconciliation for its wrongfully incarcerated clients. Most recently, NCIP’s team, with the extraordinary leadership and skill of our Clinical Supervising Attorney Lauren Barbosa Finley, J.D. 20, secured the release from prison of Jose Olivares after having spent 13 years wrongfully incarcerated. 

Jose’s case came to the attention of NCIP through its comprehensive project to identify and remedy wrongful convictions that were the product of unreliable medical evidence surrounding Shaken Baby Syndrome or Abusive Head Trauma. Through its exhaustive research, NCIP has brought to light hundreds of unjust convictions that were based on that unreliable evidence.

In keeping with our Santa Clara Law mission, the NCIP and the Alexander Center have brilliantly created new beginnings and a hope-filled future for Jose and so many like him. 

With warm regards and great gratitude,

Michael J. Kaufman (He/Him/His)
Dean and Professor of Law
Santa Clara University School of Law
mjkaufman@scu.edu