Student News

Our Students: Future Lawyers Who Lead

Santa Clara Law students lead in many areas both inside and outside of the academic world. Our diverse student body hails from various countries, states and backgrounds and garnered achievements beyond the classroom. Each personal endeavor contributes to their path of becoming lawyers who lead.

The Student Spotlight features the individual pursuits our students engage in. Discover the lesser-known side of law students. If you’d like to share some good student news, please let us know.

• Tech Edge JD candidate Rachael Geiger receives $10,000 scholarship from ChIPs for her commitment to advancing women in intellectual property

• AIPLA Giles S. Rich Moot Court Competition Winners at National Rounds

• Congratulations to HMCE Competitors in the AIPLA Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition

• Santa Clara Law team wins the Silicon Valley Regional Final of the USPTO patent application drafting competition

• Event Wrap-up: 2022 Benefit for Justice Celebration and Auction

• LLM student Jens Wienstruck places well in Seattle Half Marathon

• Santa Clara Law’s Trial Team wins first place in the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association competition

• Santa Clara Law Team Wins Inaugural Villanova eSports Negotiation Competition

• Santa Clara Law team advances to quarterfinals of Burton D. Wechsler First Amendment Moot Court Competition

• High Tech Law Institute Publishes Diversity In Innovation Best Practices Guide to Help Increase Inventorship by Women and Minorities

• 2L Hayden Craig – student summer work experience profile

• Santa Clara Law Welcomes an Impressive & Diverse Incoming Class

• 2L Kim-Yen Descamp’s student summer work experience profile

• 2L Payam Ahmadi – student summer work experience profile

• Ashley Gjovik JD ’22 quoted in the The New York Times responding to Apple’s plans for employees to return to the office this fall

• Lilas Abuelhawa selected for the American Bar Association’s Business Law Diversity Clerkship Program

• The Advocate wins 2021 ABA Law School Newspaper National Award of Excellence

• Santa Clara Law Honors 2021 Outstanding Students

• Q&A with Alexandra “Alex” Sepolen JD ‘21

• Q&A with Jessica “Jess” Miers JD ‘21

Carlos Barba, current student at Santa Clara University School of Law, has been named as one of the 2014 Diversity Scholars by the California Bar Foundation. This announcement comes shortly after Santa Clara Law was listed by the Princeton Review as one of the top 10 “Best Environment for Minority Students“.  As the California Bar Foundation awards page reads, Carlos “advocated for agricultural and migrant communities through a range of activities, from translating informational materials to interviewing clients at legal clinics to advocating for the DREAM Act. He hopes to help shape policy solutions for low-income families and solve complex problems faced by underrepresented communities.”

The full list of 2014 Diversity Scholars may be found at the California Bar Association website.

On October 6, three students and Professor Evangeline Abriel presented oral argument before the Ninth Circuit. Tess Mullin ’15 and Anita Koumriqian ’15 argued Zhao v. Holder, and Karla de la Torre ’14 and Professor Abriel argued Osnaya-Alvarez v. Holder.

Left to right: Tess Mullin ’15, Anita Koumriqian ’15, and Karla de la Torre ‘14 with Professor Abriel
in front of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Congratulations to the new editorial board for the Santa Clara Journal of International Law:

Editor in Chief: Lara Bahr

Managing Editor: Ralitza Dineva

Business Editor: Jodi Benassi

Sr. Articles Editor: Matthew Warren

Articles Editor: Shannon Kuo

Sr. Comments Editor: Keren Schlank

Comments Editor: Xhavin Sinha

Comments Editor: Abdu Abdullah

Sr. Tech Editor: Anita Chin

Managing Tech Editor: Kambrie Keith

Tech Editor: Nikola Zecevic

Tech Editor: Rob Keitamo

Tech Editor: Min Koh

Sr. Symposium Editor: Jessica Mawrence

Symposium / Events Editor: Carlin Lozinsky

Symposium / Events Editor: Elizabeth Uruskyj

Two Santa Clara Law students are featured in the April ABA Journal cover story, “These 16 women are squarely in the picture where law and technology combine”

Third year student, Nicole Shanahan, is founder of ClearAccessIP, an integrated marketplace that connects patent managers and portfolios, helps patent holders manage and monetize their assets, and aids attorneys in building clients’ portfolios and managing licensing deals.

Christie Dudley is cited as one of “10 women to watch in law tech” for her work analyzing and improving computer abuse law.

Read more…

Congratulations to the new Editorial Board for Santa Clara Law Review Volume 55:

Editor-in-Chief: Rebecca Horton

Senior Managing Editor: Nellie Amjadi

Managing Editor: Christina Raquel

Senior Articles Editor: John Stegman

Articles Editors: Curtis Wheaton, Elizabeth Moul

Senior Research Editor: Bill Falor

Research Editor: Nicole Bayley

Senior Technical Editor: Phoebe Hung

Technical Editors: Nick Porrazzo, Zain Hussain

Senior Comments Editor: Jennifer Velarde

Comments Editors: Xhavin Sinha, Michael Weiler

Symposium Editors: Stephanie Nguyen, Kristen Orlando

Communications and Business Editor: Michelle Raaka

Congratulations to the new editorial board for Volume 31 of the Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal Volume 13:

Editor-in-Chief: Erica-Riel Carden

Managing Editor: Doug Kaminski

Senior Production Editors: Albert Rugo / Lauren Krickl

Senior Comments Editor: Xhavin Sinha

Senior Business Editor: Yiming Zhang

Lead Articles Editor: Kim Cameron

Articles Editors: Kristen Psaty / Jeremy Guenette

Technical Editors: Candice Hsu / Robert Klein / Anjuli Christ / Jessica Benzler

Online Editor: Joshua Broschat

Lead Research Editor: Kendall Macrostie

Research Editors: Phoebe Hung / Jonathan Lurie / Joshua Kast

Comments Editors: Steve Oh / Kimia Sagarchi / Chris Romero

Communications Editor: Alex Shei

Business Editors: Ruby Bielik / Matt Haas

Finance Editor: Brittney Rezaei

Lead Symposium :Maru Rabinovitch

Symposium Editors: Diana Douglas / Chris Ostman

The Law Student division (14th Circuit) of the American Bar Association had their Spring meeting at Santa Clara Law. Honorable Shelyna V. Brown ’96 delivered the opening remarks for the conference. At the end of the conference Santa Clara Law was awarded a Certificate of Excellence for all of the work we did for the Law Student division this year and as a thank-you for hosting this years conference. Rebecca Slutzky ’14 was awarded the Silver Key Award for her contributions and hard work.

Madhavi Chopra-Bhutani, LL.M. ’13 participated in a national-level scholarship competition – “EB-5 Visa Awareness Scholarship Program” – organized by Eb5investors.com. Ms. Chopra-Bhutani got the opportunity to participate on the basis of her membership in the Immigration Club of Santa Clara Law Students (ICSC). For qualifying into the final round, Ms. Chopra-Bhutani researched and wrote an essay – www.eb5investors.com/scholarships/eb5-scholarship-2013-choprabhutani – which outlines the process, promises and pitfalls of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. Ms. Chopra-Bhutani has qualified for the final round, along with four other contestants from J. Reuban Clark Law School, Cornell University Law School, George Mason University School of Law, and Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law.

HMCE NYC Bar National Moot Court Teams Excel in San Francisco!

Congratulations to Santa Clara Law’s two NYC teams, Sara Rose, Clay LaPoint, and Curtis Wheaton, coached by Prof. Yvonne Ekern of LARAW, and Joe Tursi, Melissa Wheeler, and Anne Boyer, coached by Santa Clara Law Alum Eric Hutchins, Esq. in house at Oracle.  Jason Parkin and Janie Yoo are a shadow team for 2014-2015.

Our teams were 2 of the 24 competing teams from the region in the 64th Annual National Moot Court Competition sponsored by the Association of the Bar for the City of New York, held in San Francisco, CA at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on November 15-16, 2013.

Team Ekern took 2nd Place and will advance to the national final rounds to be held in New York City on February 10-13, 2014.

The case involved the constitutionality of a statute requiring certain labeling on beverage containers; teams argued issues of First Amendment Free Speech and the Dormant Commerce Clause, representing either the municipality or the beverage industry group.

Thank you to all who mooted the teams and helped cheer them on; they couldn’t have done it without you!

Please congratulate our Santa Clara Law teams on their outstanding job competing and having represented Santa Clara Law so well.  The teams were managed by HMCE competition manager Natalie Kirkish.

Left to right: Curtis Wheaton, Yvonne Ekern, Sara Rose, Clay LaPoint.

Melissa Hoff and Joe Tursi.

On Friday November 1, twelve teams of law students with their coaches from ten different law schools across the country competed at Santa Clara in Western Region IP LawMeets, a unique skills competition which focuses on IP deals. The teams were judged by Silicon Valley IP law attorneys, some in-house, and some from firms, many of whom are also Santa Clara Law alums. The day was capped off with a reception & mixer sponsored by the High Tech Law Institute and Wilson Sonsini.

This is a contract drafting and negotiation competition, or, a moot court competition for transactional skills. Dean Lisa Kloppenberg personally congratulated our teams on Friday for their well-deserved wins!

The following Santa Clara Law teams were winners:

Nellie Amjadi 2L and Steve Chao 2L, who were awarded honors as the best EMI team, and who will advance along with the best Stratutus team to the National final rounds which will be held on November 8 by means of teleconference with the winning Eastern Region teams.

Erika Ilanan 2L and Christopher Placencia 3L, who received the best drafting award out of all EMI teams.

Tom Jevens, in-house counsel at Google, was the Santa Clara teams’ coach. Michelle Ton, Honors Moot Court Board Member was competition manager. Both worked tirelessly with the teams throughout the two months’ of preparation.

Thanks again to all, and congrats to our teams! Best of luck to our teams for the final virtual rounds on November 8!

Read a press release about the 3rd Annual Intellectual Property LawMeet Competition.

Left to right: Steve Chao, Nellie Amjadi, Tom Jevens

Christopher Placencia and Erika Ilanan

Read about Santa Clara Law’s third annual Pro Bono Week, including Community Service Day where students volunteered at the Santa Clara County Animal Shelter, participated in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer fundraising walk, helped with trail development at Three Creeks Trail with Save Our Trails, volunteered at the Forge Garden on campus, and took part in Women & Law’s Bink-a-Thon.

Lizbeth Mateo 1L,  an undocumented immigrant, is featured in an article on Jesuits.org

Santa Clara Law students competed in two competitions on October 19th and 20th, 2013 – and in each achieved impressive success.

Santa Clara sent four students to San Diego to compete in the San Diego Defense Lawyers Mock Trial Competition: Amanda Alcantara (3L), Steven Li (2L), Kevin Song (3L) and Chris Glass (3L). Out of the 20 schools from across the nation that competed, Santa Clara Law reached the finals and placed Second!

After two preliminary rounds, Santa Clara was one of four teams that advanced through to the semifinals.  This means that Santa Clara Law beat out Stanford, UC Hastings, Pepperdine, Georgetown, etc.

Ultimately Santa Clara had four rounds total and three of them were against the number 1, 2, and 3 seeds after the preliminary rounds. It was a challenging final round and Santa Clara fell just short and placed second.  All of the judges were very complementary and the organizer of the competition strenuously expressed his belief that we had actually won.

Additionally, Moksha Chattopadhya (3L), Greer Stone (2L),  Jennifer Scharre (2L),  and Jim Wethe (2L) competed in the CACJ Mock Trial Competition, in San Francisco. Twenty-two teams from all over the nation also participated in this competition. There was a preliminary round of competition Thursday night and Friday night.  The Santa Clara team performed superbly and won both rounds and were one of the five undefeated teams who moved on to the quarter-finals.  Ultimately the Santa Clara team placed 6th out of the twenty two teams.

Congratulations to all participants, and to the team coaches, Aminder Singh and Ben Chiang who worked with the students to prepare them for this event.

Santa Clara University School of Law has recognized three students as the class of 2013 outstanding graduates. The Inez Mabie Award for the top graduate went to Taylor Victoria Young. She was recognized for her outstanding academic record and her contributions to the law school community. After taking the bar exam, Taylor will become an associate at Cooley LLP in Palo Alto in their Emerging Companies practice group, a part of their Business department.

The ALI-CLE Scholarship and Leadership Award winner was Sepideh Mousakhani. This award is presented to a student who exemplifies exceptional character, leadership, and professionalism. After taking the bar exam, Sepideh will join the Business department at Cooley LLP.

The Dean’s Outstanding Leadership award was presented to Benjamin Broadmeadow. Benjamin received the Dean’s Outstanding Leadership Award for his many contributions to the law school and the greater community. After taking the bar exam he will return to the Marine Corps as a Judge Advocate.

Left to right: Sepideh Mousakhani, Benjamin Broadmeadow, Taylor Victoria Young.

IMMIGRATION APPELLATE CLINIC PREVAILS AT THE NINTH CIRCUIT

April 10, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a precedent decision in the case of Blandino-Medina v. Holder, granting Mr. Blandino-Medina’s petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision in his case. Counsel for Mr. Blandino-Medina are Madeleine Feldon, who graduated in 2012, and Amy Nguyen, a current 3L. Mady and Amy wrote the brief and presented oral argument under the supervision of Clinical Professor of Law Evangeline Abriel.

“The Court’s decision established important new rules of law on two significant points,” said Professor Abriel. First, the decision established that physical removal from the United States does not render a petitioner’s case moot, as the petitioner continued to have a personal stake in the outcome of the litigation. Second, the Court ruled that the Immigration Judge and Board of Immigration Appeals cannot determine that an offense is particularly serious, so as to bar the relief of withholding of removal, based solely on the elements of the offense, but must instead make an inpidualized assessment of the specific case.

“The dedication and countless hours of hard work Mady and Amy brought to this case are inspirational,” said Professor Abriel. “This is just one example of the many ways our students and graduates are making a difference in the law and in the lives of their clients.”

From left to right: Madeline Feldon, Evangeline Abriel, Amy Nguyen

On April 2, 2013, three Santa Clara Law students were honored with awards at the annual Pro Bono Recognition Luncheon 2013.

The recipient of the Exceptional Commitment to Pro Bono Award is Gregory Parks. This award is given to a student who has achieved Pro Bono recognition for 4 years or more, and this is the first year this award has been given out. Gregory volunteered with Asian Law Alliance for 4 years, his entire legal education at Santa Clara Law, completing 77 hours during 1L, 165 hours during 2L, 150 hours during 3L, 141 hours during 4L.

The second special award is the Pro Bono Graduating Student of the Year. This award is given to a graduating student who has the most Pro Bono work hours as a Gold Prize recipient, which means he/she has previously received both Bronze Prize and Silver Prize. This year, this special award goes to a graduating 3L, Amy Nguyen. Amy has completed 542 hours of pro bono work during this school year, working with Asian Law Alliance and Asian Law Caucus.

The third special award is the Pro Bono Student of the Year. This award is given to a student who has contributed the most hours to Pro Bono work. This year, the recipient of this award is Marc Wiesner. As a silver award recipient, Marc completed 1224.6 hours of pro bono work. He worked with Hillel of Silicon Valley, US Attorney’s office at the Southern District of California and the Northern District of California, and Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.

2013 Pro-bono award winners, from left to right: Gregory Parks, Marc Wiesner, and Amy Nguyen, with Dean Donald Polden.

The SBA Community Service Committee, chaired by Becca Slutzky ’14 hosted the Law School’s first ever Service Day. Roughly 65 students, alumni, faculty, staff, and newly admitted students gathered on March 23rd in Bannan Lounge. Dean Polden spoke on the importance of service within the legal community and thanked everyone for their participation. The group then split into three separate site locations. One group lead by Jacqueline Prisbylla ’14 headed to downtown San Jose to paint over graffiti for the next several hours. Another group lead by Amanda Geary ’15 was dispatched to a local park where they cleaned up the grounds. The third group, lead by Katrina Rodriguez-Hansen ’14 remained on campus to make blankets for Project Linus. Women & Law has been a longtime supporter of this service project and the blankets made are given to children in need throughout our local community. Lara Bahr ’15 served as Service Day chair and many members of the community service committee were vital to the success of this event. Other notable participants included outgoing SBA president Grant Atkinson ’13, SBA president elect Lila Milford ’14, Advocate editor Ben Broadmeadow ’13, and Admissions counselor LaToya Powell.

Congratulations to Sean Fitzgerald ’12, Amanda Sparks ’12, Benjamin Wachtel ’12 and Michelle Weiss ’13, for helping 2 clients of Santa Clara Law’s Low-Income Tax Clinic set aside claims by the IRS in the amount of $28,000. Read more…

Congratulations to the new editorial board for Volume 30 of the Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal. Read more…

Congratulations to Zeb Zankel ’14, whose paper, Dissonance in the California Wholesale Electricity Market, has been selected by the judging panel of the the Institute for Energy Law as the winner of their student paper competition.

Congratulations to Hazella Bowmani ’14 and Joseph Tursi ’14, who are both recipients of Hackworth Grants for Research in Applied Ethics from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Each student will receive $2,500 to support projects related to their course-related trip this spring to Cuba with faculty members Cynthia Mertens and Anna Han. Ms. Bowmani will be writing a paper on ethical changes brought about by the increasing privatization of the Cuban economy; Mr. Tursi will be writing on ethical guidelines informing Cuban lawyers. Hackworth grants are awarded twice annually, in December and in June.

Congratulations to Karla De La Torre ’14, who received a 2012 Public Interest Scholarship from the California Bar Foundation! From the Cal Bar Foundation website: “Before the D.R.E.A.M. Act was conceptualized, Karla was empowering undocumented youth, like herself, to become full participants in society. As an undergraduate, she organized workshops for high school students to explain how to overcome financial and social barriers specific to undocumented youth. She then went on to teach for two years and still volunteers there today. Her personal experience allows her to empathize with her clients, which makes her a better advocate. She spent her summer interning at Bay Area Legal Aid, and would like to work in immigration, juvenile justice, or with domestic abuse survivors.” For more information on Cal Bar Foundation’s Public Interest Scholarship program, go to calbarfoundation.org/public-interest-scholarship.html

Read about Santa Clara Law’s Fall 2012 IP Fellows, Bethel Otuteye and Matthew Walker.

On July 23, 2012, Zac Dillon ’13 and Nik Warrior ’13 won the Gray’s Inn Moot in London, England, marking back-to-back victories for SCU in this competition. Zac and Nik won the 2012 Honors Moot Court Internal Competition in April, and were selected to compete against English barristers. Congratulations!

A special thanks to Professors Anna Han and Bob Peterson for their support.

Congrats to Cassandra Francois ’13, a student at the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center, for winning her first contested motion. After being evacuated three times from the courtroom due to the annual fire drill, Cassandra finally came before the judge to oppose the Defendant’s motion to dismiss. The judge’s mood was up in the air after having to delay his motion calendar three times. Further, her opposing counsel had arrived in an adversarial disposition.

Cassandra succinctly highlighted our main arguments. Ultimately, the judge agreed with Cassandra and instructed her—as the prevailing party—to prepare the order denying Defendant’s motion  to dismiss. James Loo—an Alexander Community Law Center alumnus—was present and complimented Cassandra on her superb preparation, which was greatly aided by her co-counsel  Aman Muhar ’14.

Vaishali Bhatnagar ’12 finished her semester at the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center with a bang, when opposing counsel dismissed its case on the morning trial was to begin. Vaishali had set the case up for certain victory.

Vaishali’s client had been sued on an auto deficiency case. Vaishali’s two motions in limine had crippled the plaintiff’s chance of winning the case, and her trial brief had made it clear that her client had complete defenses to the claims. The plaintiff had sued for over $8,000.

1L Karla De La Torre was awarded a persity Scholarship by Farella Braun + Martel LLP. persity Scholarship recipients are selected based on academic accomplishments, commitment to serving the community and financial need. Ms. De La Torre serves as the incoming secretary for La Raza and is the past publicity chair of the Public Interest and Social Justice Coalition. She also attended Santa Clara University for her undergraduate studies, earning a B.S. in political science with a pre-law emphasis. She served as an immersion coordinator, leading students to East Los Angeles to expose gang and social justice issues, and organized an AB 540 student conference to support high school students through the college application process. While pursuing her college degree, De La Torre interned with the Law Offices of Raul Ray, providing translation services for Spanish-speaking clients. She also taught seventh-grade students at Sacred Heart Nativity Schools in San Jose for two years before enrolling in law school. She will clerk with Bay Area Legal Aid this summer.

2/14/12: Santa Clara Law has been well-represented by the early spring Honors Moot Court External (HMCE) teams, including an exciting first place win!!

A. Trademark:

First, one of our two Lefkowitz Trademark teams won at the regionals this past weekend to advance to national rounds! Congratulations to the both HMCE Trademark teams who competed in the Western Regional Rounds of the 21st Annual Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition on Saturday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. This competition is sponsored by the INTA (International Trademark Association). Santa Clara Law fielded two teams, one consisting of competitors Sebnem Kimyacioglu and Martin Kopp, and the second team comprising competitors Jacob Vigil and Christopher Creech.

Both teams were extremely impressive during their oral rounds. Jacob Vigil and Christopher Creech took First Place and will be representing Santa Clara Law and the Western Region at the Finals in Washington D.C. at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 17. This is the first time Santa Clara Law has won Regionals and will be attending the Lefkowitz Finals! The HMCE competition manager was Shyla Jones. Both teams were coached by Santa Clara alum Jeremiah Armstrong from McDermott, Will & Emery in Menlo Park.

Among those mooting these teams were Tyler Ochoa and Adriana Duffy from the Santa Clara faculty, and alums Sriranga Veeraraghavan, Elizabeth Brannen, Erica Tierney and Eric Hutchins. In addition, Judge Leslie C. Nichols mooted the teams.

B. Pace International:

HMCE Congratulations also go to our Pace International Criminal Court (ICC) Team, comprised of Cooper Green, Sam Forbes-Roberts, Eric Ruehe, and Bernadette Valdellon. The Pace ICC team made it to the semi-finals in the 5th Annual ICC Moot Court Competition, Regional Round for the Americas and Caribbean, held at Pace Law School in White Plains, New York this past weekend, and missed winning by only one point.

Each team submits three briefs for this competition, one for each party in the case.Our team came away with two second place awards out of 15 teams!  A special congratulations goes to Sam Forbes-Roberts on his Second Place brief for the Government, and to Eric Ruehe for his Second Place brief for the Defense, and Second Place Oralist overall. The coach of this team is Beth Van Schaack and the HMCE competition manager is Megan O’Brien.

Those who mooted this team included Santa Clara faculty members Kyle Graham, Art Gemmell, and David Sloss.

C. Asylum & Refugee Law:

Additionally, Santa Clara Law had two teams who competed the weekend before in the 5th Annual UC Davis Asylum and Refugee Competition held in Sacramento, CA. The first team included competitors Scott Idiart, Liya Arushanyan, and Jennifer Bregante and the second team included competitors Sita Kuteria, Alyssa Dang, and Amy Quan. The HMCE competition manager was Nedda Alaee.

Both teams were coached by Professor Evangeline Abriel. Among the 21 teams who competed, our teams represented Santa Clara Law extremely well and the team of Scott, Liya and Jennifer finished as quarter finalists! Moreover, Scott, Liya and Jennifer were awarded Second Best Brief overall out of 21 briefs. Both teams were very impressive during their oral rounds. Out of all the oralists competing, our students truly excelled, and Liya was awarded Best Oral Advocate! Congratulations again to both Santa Clara Law teams for all their hard work and great showing at the competition!!

Those mooting these teams included Santa Clara faculty members Angelo Ancheta and Ray Bernstein.

D. Juvenile Law:

Finally, HMCE gives its congratulations to Keith Bayley and Patrick Hensleigh, who competed two weekends ago in the 17th Annual National Juvenile Law Moot Court Competition at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, CA. Keith and Patrick were coached by Missy Dague O’Connell, Staff Attorney with the Northern California Innocence Project and lecturer at Santa Clara Law. The HMCE competition manager was Amy Kennedy. This was Santa Clara Law’s first team entry in this competition. Congratulations to Keith and Patrick for their efforts and trailblazing for Santa Clara Law at this competition!!

Those who mooted this team were Patrick Graber ’05 and Terri McLaughlin, both Deputy District Attorneys in Santa Clara County. Holly Dixon ’10 is a paralegal with the DNA Unit at NCIP. Kelley Fleming, a staff attorney with the DNA unit of CDP also mooted the team, along with Julie Saffren, a family law practitioner who also teaches at Santa Clara Law.

The winners of the 20th Annual Russell W. Galloway Criminal Law Moot Court Competition and winners of the Uelmen Prizes are Sara Rose and Clay Lapoint. The runners-up were Chris Mosier and Sergio Gonzalez. Mr. Lapoint also won the Kimura Award for Best Oral Advocate.

3L Christina Fialho’s non-profit Detention Dialogues was featured on Univision on February 9, 2012. The clip is in Spanish. Click here to watch it.

3L Juliana Williamson wrote an article on domestic violence in same-sex relationships that is being cited by experts and prosecutors. Juliana was quoted in a San Jose Mercury News article on January 14, 2012. Read more…

Lizbeth Najera Munoz ’13 was awarded the Daniel Hernandez Scholarship from the La Raza Lawyers of Santa Clara County at their scholarship dinner. This scholarship is awarded to a Bay Area law student who has demonstrated a commitment to community service. Lizbeth is originally from Mexico, and is the first person in her family to go to college. Two other Santa Clara students were awarded stipends: Karla De La Torre ’14 and Barbara Wolfe ’12. Congratulations to all three students!

Christina Fialho ’12 received an honorable mention in PSLawNet’s Pro Bono Publico Award competition. Christina also founded Detention Dialogues, a volunteer-run program that connects community volunteers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees to provide a wide array of services. She is in the process of taking Detention Dialogues global. Read more about Detention Dialogues…

Student Spotlight – Juliana Williamson ’12, advocate for social change
Student Spotlight – Christina Fialho ’12, co-founder of non-profit Detention Dialogues
Student Spotlight – Matthew Izzi ’13, photographer for social change
Student Spotlight – Mathew Tseng ’12, international dancer and choreographer
Student Spotlight – Nike Women’s Marathon runners 2011
Student Spotlight – Santa Clara Law students design social network for Net App legal employees

Student Spotlight Archives (2009-2011)