Deans Notes—February 2005: “Lots of Exciting Things Going On at SCU Law School”

There are many exciting things going on at SCU Law School and I am writing to share those with you.  I hope you find this information useful and interesting.

On February 11, 2005, the Santa Clara Computer & High Tech Law Journal and the High Tech Law Institute are presenting a "Symposium on Regulating Digital Environments."  The Symposium was held in the Grand Auditorum at the Sun Microsystems campus in Santa Clara. Professors Tyler Ochoa, Dorothy Glancy, Brad Joondeph and June Carbone will speak at the symposium.  Interim Assistant Dean Jessica Kahn assisted our law journal members in putting this important program on.

Professor Kerry MacIntosh’s most recent book, Human Cloning and Legal Rights , will be published by Cambridge University Press later this year. 

LARAW Professor John Schunk published an article titled "Reviewing Student Papers: Should the ‘Broken Windows’ Theory Apply?" in 13 Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing , pg. 1-4 (Fall 2004).

Professor Bob Peterson delivered a paper on "The Bard and the Bench" to the Shakespeare Oxford Society in Atlanta, Georgia

Professor Steve Diamond has returned to Santa Clara after a year as a visiting professor at Cornell Law School.  His article "The PetroChina Syndrome: Regulating Capital Markets in the Anti-Globalization Era" recently appeared in the Journal of Corporation Law and his article "’The Race to the Bottom’" Returns: China’s Challenge to the International Labor Movement" was published recently in the U.C. Davis Journal of International Law and Policy .

In September 2004, Professor Ridolfi brought the play, Barred from Life, to the University of San Francisco’s Presentation Theater.  Barred from Life is a moving account of several stories of actual innocence told through music and dance.  Ridolfi co-created the show with David Popalisky, Director of Santa Clara University’s Dance Program.  The show has also been performed at Santa Clara University, and in San Diego.  Barred from Life will be performed in Milwaukee and Chicago in March and in April the show will be performed in Santa Cruz.  Last month, Professors Ridolfi and Popalisky received the CLEA Creativity Award for this work.

In September, Professor Ridolfi was elected the first chair of the Board of the National Innocence Network.

In December, Professor Ridolfi was appointed to serve on the newly created California Senate Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice.  The Commission is charged with examining the administration of criminal justice in California, exploring the causes of wrongful convictions in this state and drafting proposals for needed reforms. 

In January, Professor Ridolfi addressed the Santa Clara County Bench/Bar/Media/Police Committee on the work of the Northern California Innocence Project and received recognition from the Santa Clara County Court for the accomplishments of the project.   

LARAW Professor Karen Markus recently completed a chapter on legal issues for a master’s level nursing textbook, Current Issues in Nursing , 7th ed.

Visiting Professor Marina Hsieh was re-elected to a fourth term on the ten-person Executive Committee of the national American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She has served on that committee and the governing Board since 1997.

Professor Brad Joondeph has had the following articles published recently: "’Generally Applicable Laws" and Congress’s Power to Regulate State Taxation", 35 State Tax Notes 155 (2005); "Rethinking the Role of the Dormant Commerce Clause in State Tax Jurisdiction", 24 Virginia Tax Review 109 (2004); "State and Local Tax at the Supreme Court: A Case of Constitutional Neglect?", 33 State Tax Notes 869 (2004); "Rethinking Commerce Clause Nexus", 31 State Tax Notes 1001 (2004).

Professor Ed Steinman reports the following presentations and service to public information sources: 

• Spoke on "The Effect of Policy Changes on Low-Income Californians," at a conference sponsored by California Food Policy Advocates, in San Francisco, on August 4, 2004. Spoke on "Balancing Civil Liberties and Homeland Security," at a symposium sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Santa Clara County, at West Valley College, in Saratoga, on September 9, 2004. Gave the keynote address on "Connecting Language Diversity with Academic Learning," at the Lau v. Nichols 30th Anniversary Symposium sponsored by the Leslie University School of Education and Office of Urban Initiatives, in Cambridge, Mass., on October 29, 2004. Spoke on "Affirmative Action and Equal Educational Opportunity," at a symposium on Current Civil Rights Issues sponsored by the Harvard University School of Education, in Cambridge, Mass., on October 30, 2004. Gave the keynote address on "The Legal Basis of Equity Through Access for English Learners," at the 6th Annual Accountability Institute for English Learners and Immigrant Students, sponsored by the California Department of Education Language Policy and Leadership Office, in Sacramento, on November 14, 2004. Spoke on "More Effectively Using Sociological Research in Civil Rights Cases," at a conference sponsored by the University of California, San Diego, School of Education, in San Diego, on January 26, 2005. Professor Steinman also received the Special Achievement Award from Lesley University for "three decades of contribution to bettering the education and lives of millions of non-English-speaking and limited-English-speaking children."
• Professor Steinman was quoted in six articles in Bay Area newspapers and member of the panel discussion on "With All Deliberate Speed" which was the cover story of the Los Angeles Daily Journal on May 17, 2004.He also was interviewed five times on Bay Area television programs and eight times on Bay Area radio stations.

Professor Beth Van Schaack completed a law review article  titled "With All Deliberate Speed: Civil Human Rights Litigation As A Tool For Social Change" which will be published in Vanderbilt Law Review Spring 2005. She also is editing a book on Accountability for the Khmer Rouge , to be published with the Mellen Press 2005.

Professor Van Schaack was a speaker and organizer of International Law Weekend-West at Whittier Law School, Feb. 2005.  "Sudan and the Rhetoric of Genocide." She served as Moderator Roundtable Discussion: SC Law Review Symposium on International Law in the United States Legal System, Jan. 2005, and as a Speaker, American Red Cross Panel on Humanitarian Law and the Treatment of Detainees post-9/11, Nov. 2004.  She also was a speaker, Colloquium on International Law, Whittier Law School, "Human Rights Litigation after Alvarez v. Sosa: Business as Usual," Jan. 2005.

Professor Jerry Uelmen  was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and spoke at their annual convention about the decisions in the most recent term of the U.S. Supreme Court.  He presented a paper on "Catholic Jurors and the Death Penalty" at Fordham Law School in October.  The paper will be published in The Catholic Lawyer this Spring. His short piece on Mooting Appeals will appear in California Lawyer Magazine in March of this year, and his annual review of the work of the California Supreme Court will appear in June.  Finally, Professor Uelmen, a regular columnist on recent developments in criminal practice for both the California Criminal Defense Reporter and Champion , the magazine of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Professor Dorothy Glancy gave a talk at the June 2004 AALS midyear meeting on Privacy Law in the 21st Century on "Human Ownership."    In July 2004, she moderated a discussion of the California State Judicial Council’s Court Technology Advisory Committee’s discussion with the technical partners who are setting up the advanced case management and e-filing systems for the California Courts.  In fall 2004, she served as  the organizer and moderator of the IP week program on the EU Personal Data Protection Directive and Privacy.  This past fall Chief Justice George reappointed Professor Glancy to the Court Technology Advisory Committee for the California Courts. Her article, "Privacy on the Open Road" was published in 30 Ohio Northern University Law Review 295 (2004).    In January 2005, she moderated a session for the Administrative Office of the California Courts’ program on Court Technology for California Judges and court administrators.  She made a presentation on "Digital Licensing: Digital Commons, Open Source and Viral Licensing" for the Santa Clara Law School Computer and High Technology Law Journal Symposium :  Rules and Border in February of 2005.

Professor Margaret Russell gave several speeches and presentations during her sabbatical year, including

• NASA in  Mountain View, CA, in February 2005 on the subject of: "The 40th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
• She also served on a panel in August of 2004 on Feminism and Activism for the  Friedman First Amendment Project;
• and on a panel discussing Same Sex Marriage Litigation for the Equal Justice Society in September of 2004; and  she gave a speech on  "Women’s Rights and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964." to the American Association of University Women, in October of 2004.
• In January of 2005 she served on a panel discussing "Progressivism and Legal Scholarship."  At the Society of American Law Teachers / Equal Justice Society.
• She also served on a panel at Fordham Law School, Stein Center for Law & Ethics, on November 2004 on:  "The Reopening of the Emmett Till Case."
• In February 2004, she spoke at Southwestern Law School, on the subject of "Civil Rights, Sexual Orientation, and the First Amendment." In March of 2005, she will deliver the keynote address at the Asian-American Bar Association of the Bay Area, Annual Banquet.
• In April 2005, she will speak about "Diversity and Sexual Orientation" at the  University of Nebraska (Lincoln), as a part of the 8th Circuit ABA Diversity Day.

Professor Russell also published or placed the following pieces of scholarship:

• "The Reopening of the Emmett Till Case," Fordham Law Review (forthcoming April 2005).
• "Civil Rights, Sexual Orientation, and the First Amendment," Southwestern Law Review (forthcoming April 2005).  

Professor Stephanie Wildman placed an articles titled, "PRIVILEGE, GENDER, AND THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT: RECLAIMING EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAWS", 13 Temple Pol. & Civ. Rts. L. Rev. 709 (2004), and she spoke at the Fall SALT Teaching Conference Class in the Classroom on a panel entitled "What is Class?"

Cynthia Mertens on behalf of the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center has received a continuation award from the County of Santa Clara that provides $48,737 to support "Unmet Legal Services."  This is the fourth year the Center has received funding for this project.  Funding received to date from the County for this project totals $292,086.

Assistant Dean John Baldwin  was named Chair-elect of the  AALS Section on Alumni and Development’s Executive Committee and program chair for next year’s meeting in New Orleans.   This responsibility reflects Dean Baldwin’s leadership and service to the Section for several years. 

Professor Don Chisum  served as a panelist discussing  "Federal Circuit Decision Making; Predictable or Unpredictable?" Annual Meeting, American Intellectual Property Law Association, Washington, D.C., October 14, 2004.  Professor Chisum also spoke on the following:

• "Patents System Review," Board of Directors Meeting, Interamerican Association of Industrial Property, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, November 15, 2004."Transnational Impact of United States Patent Law," Berlin Chapter, German Association for the Protection of Industrial Property and Copyright Law, Berlin, Germany, June 28, 2004.

Professor David Friedman gave a presentation on private vs. public enforcement of law at a Santa Clara University forum sponsored by the Civil Society Institute in January 2005. 

Clearly, this is a talented and engaged faculty and staff and I believe that there are many other important and meaningful activities sponsored and led by our faculty and staff. 

Donald J. Polden, Dean