“Bloom where you are planted”

Dear Friends, 

I often try to express my awe at the vibrancy of our law school community, but I can never fully capture it. So, I thought it might be helpful to describe just one day in the life of Santa Clara Law, a Thursday in September that was both incredible and typical. 

Dawn: Our remarkable external relations and development team, joined by student leaders from the Tax and Estate Planning Society and colleagues from the dean’s office and student services, arrive at the Santa Clara Convention Center to take care of every detail before more than 600 participants in the sold out 20th Annual Jerry A. Kasner Estate Planning Symposium arrive for two days of presentations. The Kasner Symposium lives out the legacy of the late Jerry Allan Kasner, a nationally-recognized estate planning attorney and a beloved professor who taught at Santa Clara Law for 38 years. 

Chuck Packer J.D. ’80, who is one of Jerry’s many adoring mentees and a national leader in estate planning, stands at the helm of the symposium’s planning, alongside our dedicated External Relations Office and Events Manager, Marjorie Short, who has worked tirelessly to ensure the growth, success, and visibility of the symposium. 

We are grateful to Chuck and Marjorie, and to Professor Lisa Kloppenberg and Judge Risë Pichon J.D. ’76, who offered a collaborative and vitally-important ethics presentation; Professor Patricia Cain, who delivered a wonderful keynote talk on tax planning for the future, and Professor Brad Joondeph, who holds the prestigious Jerry A. Kasner Professorship and offered a moving video tribute to Jerry to mark the special anniversary event.    

Early Morning: Back at Charney Hall, the magical Carmo Carreia has arrived before 7:30 AM to prepare the Sidebar Cafe for a busy day, while Sarah Brockmeyer, director of our Center for Global Law & Policy and Professors Tseming Yang and Mike Flynn (associate dean for global engagement), are welcoming lawyers and legal professionals from the International Law Section of the California Lawyers Association for their Annual Meeting and Leadership Conference. 

As hosts to this year’s symposium, titled, “Law in an Era of Global Challenges: Climate Risk and AI Regulation,” Santa Clara Law brought experts to Charney Hall to explore solutions to today’s most pressing global legal challenges at the intersection of climate risk and Artificial Intelligence. Great thanks to Professor Tseming Yang for moderating the symposium and bringing his internationally acclaimed expertise in environmental law and policy to the discussion. 

Morning: Our sensational students gather in Charney Hall for a rigorous day of learning in classes, including torts, professional responsibility, legal research and writing, advocacy, internet law, constitutional law, civil procedure, administrative law, business organizations, evidence, international business transactions, international human rights, intellectual property, wills and trusts, land use, negotiations, immigration law, contracts, alternative dispute resolution, remedies, globalization and the rule of law, and leadership. 

In more than two dozen of these classes throughout the day, our renowned faculty thoughtfully employ a variety of best practices in pedagogy to meet the multiple learning strategies and intelligences in each student’s zone of proximal development, including socratic dialogue, textual exegesis, experiential learning, direct instruction, role playing, group work, shared projects, individual and collaborative reflections, visual displays, practice exercises, and formative and summative assessments.

At the same time, our faculty, supervising attorneys, staff-educators, and students arrive at our clinics to represent clients, who are trying to meet their basic human needs, including freedom from wrongful incarceration, human trafficking, and unjust immigration practices. That morning, Deborah Moss-West, our incredible executive director of the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center, is also meeting with her team to complete plans for the 30th Anniversary celebration, which will take place on Saturday evening September 28 in Locatelli Center. The celebration will feature a special address by and conversation with the Honorable Kelli M. Evans, Justice of the California Supreme Court. 

Mid-day: Student leaders from the Student Bar Association and our many affinity law student organizations conduct a series of important meetings to plan programming throughout the semester, including meetings of the Honors Moot Court Internal Board, the Student Intellectual Property Association, and the SCU Chiefs in Intellectual Property (CHIPS) Board. Meanwhile, vigorous voting takes place on behalf of the many students who, amidst all of their other obligations, stepped forward and asked their classmates for the opportunity to serve them as SBA representatives.

During this same period, our Student Bar Association leaders also devote an enormous amount of effort to planning and executing our spectacular, inaugural law school Olympics. Ten teams of more than 50 students, faculty, and administrators gathered in the spirit of community-building to compete in events such as three-legged races, water balloon contests, scavenger hunts, and cheerleading. Thank you to our sponsor Cooley LLP for providing hydration and tasty treats; thank you to all of our celebrity judges, Dori Pina, senior director for inclusive excellence, Laura Norris, associate dean for academic affairs, Nicole Maxwell, senior assistant dean for law student services, and Rianna Mendoza, assistant director for law student services; thank you to our SBA officers who served as uniformed referees; thank you to Anthony Giammona, who directed all of the events with great aplomb, and especially great thanks to Cari Hall, who brilliantly orchestrated the entire event with a megaphone and a mega heart! 

Afternoon: While students continue to develop life-long habits of mind and heart inside and outside of our classrooms, our student services professionals keep working throughout the day to surround our students with cura personalis; our OABS team, working with our CLS mentors, provides invaluable academic support services, and our Office of Career Management team works with our students and their coaches in myriad ways to help them find rewarding careers. 

Later that afternoon, the administrative team led by Deans Laura Norris, Nicole Maxwell, and Caitlin Jachimowicz, meets to engage in ongoing strategic planning to ensure that our current and future students develop the knowledge, skills, and values that will lead to excellent life-long outcomes, while the external relations and development team, led by Deans Teresa Kopriva and Jolee David, meet with members of our loyal and engaged alumni to advance our shared goal that no student will be denied a Santa Clara Law education because of their financial circumstances. 

That same afternoon, experts from the Center for Conflict Resolution meet with law school representatives to plan a special workshop for students, faculty, and staff designed to develop the skill of managing difficult conversations and respectful discourse across differences. The workshop, which is a part of the Dean’s Democracy Series, will take place in Charney Hall in the early afternoon of October 25. 

Since last fall, the Dean’s Democracy Series has brought to campus a variety of speakers and forums dedicated to instilling in all of us a deep appreciation for democratic values, including the rule of law, an independent judiciary, voting rights, respectful and evidence-based discourse, and the peaceful resolution of disputes. Most recently, Howard Schweber spoke about freedom of expression and academic freedom on campus, Professors Russell, Sloss, and Joondeph marked Constitution Day by offering presentations on the Supreme Court’s evolving case law regarding executive power, and Professor David Ball led a national webinar in a conversation about mass incarceration and criminal justice reform. 

On September 27, Professors Michelle Oberman and David Ball will moderate a discussion after the showing of the film, “Kemba,” that explores the film’s themes of mental health, domestic violence, and social justice. On October 8, the Democracy Series will bring to campus Lisa Kay Solomon, futurist in residence at the Stanford d.school, and Jeffrey Rogers, award winning educator and conversation catalyst, to conduct an interactive, university-wide design thinking workshop to imagine the future of democratic and civic engagement. 

Dusk: As classes, clinical work, and collaborative projects continue to buzz through Charney Hall, no less than 18 judges from the Association of African-American Coalition of Judicial Officers (AAACJO) gather with students in Room 102. The judges traveled here from all over the state to participate in a convening sponsored by our Black Law Student Association (BLSA) and the AAACJO. We are so grateful to these 18 extraordinary public servants, each one of whom took the time out of their busy schedules to address our students, sharing their own personal journeys to the bench and offering words of wisdom. We are also thankful for our student leaders, Elijah Shelton and Jemila Moses who worked with Professor Thiadora (Dori) Pina, senior director of inclusive excellence and BLSA adviser, to arrange the remarkable event. 

In the midst of all of their powerful and inspiring messages, one of the jurists offered to our students the following profound piece of wisdom: “Bloom where you are planted.”  

As the sun set on another amazing, yet ordinary day in the life of our law school, I was overwhelmed with a sense of joy and appreciation for the blessing of having been planted in this community, where we all bloom gloriously together. 

With warm regards and immense gratitude,

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