Santa Clara Law is proud to introduce new members of our faculty and new appointments to our instructional staff!
Anna Benvenue joins Santa Clara Law as the Director of the Flex J.D. program. She comes to Santa Clara Law with a wealth of knowledge and experience in Civil Procedure and Constitutional Issues in Immigration Law. At Golden Gate University Law, she co-founded the Immigration Law Clinic, which worked to provide part-time students opportunities to learn law whilst representing clients seeking humanitarian relief and asylum. She was the Director of Immigration Legal Services at an East Bay non-profit organization, focusing on providing legal services at no cost to immigrants across California. Professor Benvenue also worked in San Francisco for a leading deportation defense firm, where she represented clients in administrative appeals, deportation hearings, and petitions for review in federal court litigation.
Professor Benvenue commented on her appointment: “I am so excited to join the faculty at Santa Clara Law and to welcome the inaugural class of the Flex JD Program students. It has been my great pleasure to teach and work closely with law students over the last several years. I am thrilled to bring my experience to SCU Law and am dedicated to training the next generation of SCU lawyers.”
Dean Michael Kaufman of Santa Clara Law praised Professor Benevenue, expressing an eagerness for her upcoming work with Santa Clara Law: “Quite frankly, there is no one more qualified by virtue of her talent, character, expertise, and proven teaching and student-service experience with Flex JD programs to lead our innovative new program.”
Nicholas Emanuel ‘05 will be joining Santa Clara Law as Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Externship Program.
Prior to joining Santa Clara Law, he served as a judicial attorney for the California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District after ten years in private practice. Professor Emanuel represented clients in trial and appellate courts throughout California, taking a particular interest in class action and civil rights litigation. Professor Emanuel has also been a lecturer at Santa Clara Law since 2014. His recent scholarship includes the publication of his book “Remedies: Basic Principles, Authorities, and Problems” in 2022.
Professor Emanuel commented, “The Santa Clara Law faculty is dedicated to developing lawyers who are not only skilled advocates but also thriving, ethical, and valued members of the community. I’m honored to be part of that mission.”
Caitlin Jachimowicz ‘10 will be leading the first class of Public Interest J.D. (PIJD) students this fall as the inaugural Director of the PIJD program.
Caitlin brings a wealth of personal experience in public interest and social justice through her work as the Director of the Center for Social Justice at Santa Clara Law. She also has extensive expertise in public policy. Alongside 13 years as a practicing attorney, Caitlin is the elected Treasurer for the city of Morgan Hill and a former City Council member. She was a Commissioner for the Parks and Recreation Commission for Santa Clara County and served as a Congressional Aide for Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. In 2020, Caitlin was named one of the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s “Top 40 Under 40” and received the recognition of Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce’s Woman of the Year. She looks forward to creating an avenue to foster lawyers to lead in public service who can face the challenges of today. Caitlin credits Professor David Sloss’ visionary leadership in adapting the framework of our successful Tech Edge J.D. to the broad realm of public interest law.
Caitlin reflected on her role saying, “More than ever before, students are reporting that they are coming to law school because they want to make the world a better place. But the truth is, public interest law can be a difficult field to enter after graduation. The greatest impact I can make on our profession, and for the legacy of the institution I love, is to help tailor the law school experience for these exceptional students so they can follow their passions.”
Linsey Krolik is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Entrepreneurs’ Law Clinic where she helps oversee law students as they advise entrepreneurs. She is also Law Faculty Director of the interdisciplinary Bronco Entrepreneurs Advisory Clinic Hours (BEACH), where she trains volunteer attorneys and students to counsel clients seeking legal advice for startups and Assistant Director in the Tech Edge JD program, an experiential certificate program for law students interested in working in technology law.
Professor Krolik was appointed in November 2022 to the Consulting Group on the Establishment of a Legal Specialization in Privacy Law (“Privacy Law Group”). The group will provide recommendations to the California Board of Legal Specialization about whether to add privacy law as an area where lawyers can publicly identify themselves as specialists.
Kelly J. Rodriguez is now the Assistant Director for the Office of Academic and Bar Success and a Lecturer in Law.
Professor Rodriguez will teach Legal Analysis and Advanced Legal Writing: The Bar Exam. As the new assistant director, she also assists with OABS programming. Additionally, Professor Rodriguez develops and oversees the curriculum of the 1L Critical Lawyering Skills course. Alongside her other roles, as part of the Academic & Bar Success faculty, she provides academic support and assists with Bar preparation programming. Professor Rodriguez is known to be available to counsel all students and is able to discuss a wide range of issues, from transitioning to law school to finding effective learning strategies to exam-writing and Bar Exam preparation.
Professor Rodriguez commented that she is “thrilled” to be joining the OABS office. “I’ve been an adjunct for the last three years and it has been a joy to work with the vibrant and diverse SCU Law community. I look forward to continuing to work with students and to build connections with faculty.”
Allison Tirres will be joining Santa Clara Law as a Visiting Professor of Law for the 2023-2024 school year! Currently serving as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Strategic Initiatives at DePaul University College of Law, Professor Tirres is among the world’s leading scholars and educators in immigration law, citizenship, and civil rights. She is slated to share her expertise on and teach courses in, property law, immigration, and constitutional law for the upcoming academic year.
Tirres is an Associate Professor at DePaul University College of Law, where she also served for six years as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Strategic Initiatives. In that role, she was instrumental in establishing new programs and shepherding curricular reform efforts in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has been engaged in interdisciplinary work as the co-founder of the DePaul Migration Collaborative and as an inaugural participant in the Vincentian Pedagogy Project. In 2020, Professor Tirres received DePaul University’s Excellence in Teaching award. She has also received College of Law awards for Faculty Scholarship, Faculty Service, and Faculty Achievement.
She received her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Princeton University, her JD from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor and treasurer of the Harvard Law Review, and her Ph.D. in American History from Harvard University.