Thinkers & Doers: October 2016

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Faculty, Staff, & Student Buzz
Congratulations to Professor Reuel Schiller, whose book Forging Rivals: Race, Class, Law, and the Collapse of the Collapse of Postwar Liberalism, received the John Phillip Reid Award from the American Society of Legal History (ASLH). The award is given annually “for the best monograph by a mid-career or senior scholar, published in English in any of the fields defined broadly as Anglo-American legal history.” In addition, the ASLH has appointed him as a co-editor of Studies in Legal History, a book series published by Cambridge University Press. http://bit.ly/2dY79AT

In addition to Professor Schiller, we have another editor in our midst. Professor Scott Dodson (@ProfDodson) who will serve as an assistant editor for the pre-eminent law journal devoted to civil procedure, the International Journal of Procedural Law. He’s the only U.S. scholar on the editorial board. He’s also been in the news:

  • He spoke to the Daily Journal’s weekly appellate podcast about his book, The Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. http://bit.ly/2eibFLF
  • He spoke to Bloomberg Law about whether Samsung faces class action lawsuits over the company’s exploding phones. http://bloom.bg/2eLF1hW

Professors Naomi Roht-Arriaza (@roht_naomi) and Richard Marcus had the chance to witness history in Colombia just prior to and after the country’s vote to reject the government’s peace accord with the FARC. Here’s their story: http://bit.ly/2eQv02t

Professor Robin Feldman (@RobinCFeldman) in the news:

  • “The court said the idea of organizing your office is an abstract idea….You cannot patent an abstract idea,” she said in a Northern California Record story on the 9th district court’s dismissal of a computer troll patent case against Amazon. http://bit.ly/2esAh41
  • She gave an interview to STAT on CRISPR genome-engineering patents. She and Professor Jill Bronfman (@privacytechlaw) were mentioned in a Corporate Counsel story about European company GCs who recently visited UC Law SF. http://bit.ly/2eaxr0g
  • Her recent testimony on the availability of addiction medicine for the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law was excerpted in a couple of articles:
    • Medpage Today. http://bit.ly/2eavVeB
    • Courthouse News Service. http://bit.ly/2eh74Hj

“It would be very appropriate and relevant for the reporters to question Trump on the truth of the allegation under oath, and a court would likely order depositions….There is no Fifth Amendment protection for civil cases,” said Professor John Diamond in a Washington Post article about whether Donald Trump has a libel case against the newspaper. http://bit.ly/2es8Tiq Above the Law picked up his quotes in a story about Trump’s threat to sue the paper. http://bit.ly/2f2vHJ1

“Is there a universe where doctors see the exact same patients that they would have seen anyway, but are just getting paid more? Sure. I think that is a mathematical possibility. It just seems unlikely,” commented Professor Manoj Viswanathan in a politifact.com story about a recent ad against Proposition 56, a California ballot initiative that proposes to increase the tax on tobacco products. http://bit.ly/2eDcABM

Professor Ahmed Ghappour (@ghappour) is one of six experts invited by Stanford University to speak at an event about government hacking. http://stanford.io/2f2KfIM He also recently provided commentary to The Register about the FBI’s request for greater authority to hack into overseas computers. http://bit.ly/2eGdopG

Professor Heather Field’s (@profhmfield) new paper forthcoming in the Virginia Tax Review, “Aggressive Tax Planning and the Ethical Tax Lawyer,” recently made the weekly list of top five tax paper downloads on SSRN. http://bit.ly/2eO2wsb

Professor Hadar Aviram (@aviramh) talked voter rights and voter fraud with KCBS News.

Professor Rory Little (@rorylittle) hit various news outlets this month.

  • “There’s a Fourth Amendment case every three seconds in this country,” he commented in a Wired story about the impact the presidential election will have on the Supreme Court. http://bit.ly/2dYbuE6
  • He talked to the San Francisco Chronicle about the potential impact of Proposition 57 on the length of prison time for thousands of inmates. http://bit.ly/2ewCU1o
  • “It seems wrong for the federal agent to shoot, but the question the court is going to address is: How does the Constitution apply on, outside, or at all on the border?,” he remarked in an El Paso Times article about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear arguments in a case involving the fatal shooting of a Mexican teen by a U.S. border patrol agent. http://bit.ly/2eiaLPF
  • “I think it’s a mistake to presume that a judge will ‘vote’ or act in lockstep with presumptions based solely on their career backgrounds….Former prosecutors are often hardest on the government; former defenders are often tough on defense counsel and defendants,” he commented for a Marin Independent Journal article about the candidates for a Marin County judgeship. http://bayareane.ws/2eRE5XP
  • He contributed a couple of columns to SCOTUSblog.com about:
    • The Fourth Amendment issues in Manuel v. City of Joliet. http://bit.ly/2eEy15X. His column was cited in an American Prospect article about how the Supreme Court might respond to the Black Lives Matter movement in upcoming cases. http://bit.ly/2dY3QFC
    • Complex questions surrounding double jeopardy in Bravo-Fernandez v. United States. http://bit.ly/2f7pooy He also spoke to Bloomberg Law about the case. http://bloom.bg/2fg7grG

“Maybe she sent suggestive texts or emails, but that doesn’t prove she consented to it at the time. A woman may be willing to have sex 23 hours in the day, but if he has sex in that 24th hour when she’s not willing, then that’s rape if he knows she doesn’t want to,” commented Professor Evan Lee for an AP story on the Derrick Rose rape lawsuit. http://apne.ws/2dJuCUF

Distinguished Professor Frank H. Wu (@frankhwu) has recently been quoted in several Chinese-language newspapers for his work promoting U.S.-China relations and the equality of Chinese-Americans, including an article in Wen Wei Po http://bit.ly/2fcZuuD. He’s also continued to talk about these issues and others at events around the country:

  • He appeared at the recent plenary session of the Tax & Estate Planning Forum in San Diego.
  • He appeared as a panelist via Skype at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s recent meeting.
  • He moderated a town hall at San Francisco’s Asia Society about the 2016 election.

On another note, check out his Huffington Post blog about Asian Americans and housing segregation http://huff.to/2eRniUI and this article on chinainsight.info, which profiles Wu and his role as Chair of the Committee of 100, an organization that seeks to promote U.S.-China relations and the participation of Chinese-Americans in American life http://bit.ly/2dYbfJd.

Professor Jill Bronfman (@privacytechlaw) will present her paper “I’m Ready for My Close-Up, Mr. Spielberg: Creating a Working Model for Data Security and Personal Privacy in the Use Case of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in Film and Video Game Production” at Whittier Law School’s November 11 symposium, Emerging Dilemmas in Entertainment Law: Resolving Technology’s New Ethical Concerns. She originally presented her award-winning paper at the Amsterdam Privacy Conference in 2015.

Professor Alice Armitage (@alitage) Director of the Institute for Innovation Law’s Start-Up Legal Garage, recently moderated a panel on licensing regimes and the commercialization of private assets at the ReWIRE conference in San Francisco. http://bit.ly/2eifctx

Professor Morris Ratner (@ratner_morris) was quoted in a legalnewsline.com story about a New York-based litigation funder that recently opened an outpost in London for its judgment enforcement business. He commented on the odds of the U.S. eventually allowing non-lawyer ownership of law firms in the future. http://bit.ly/2dIsDRT

Professor Michael Salerno recently penned a couple of op-eds about California’s Proposition 57:

  • Sacramento Bee. http://bit.ly/2fd17s8
  • Zocalo Public Square. http://bit.ly/2dYi8KF

“When it comes to politics, record labels like to have their artists be Switzerland,” remarked Professor Ben Depoorter (@ben_depoorter) in a San Francisco Chronicle story about a recent brouhaha over state senator candidate Scott Wiener’s campaign music video set to Katy Perry’s “Firework.” http://bit.ly/2evkwYg

Tweet: When it comes to politics, record labels like to have their artists be Switzerland. @uchastingslaw prof @ben_depoorter http://bit.ly/2evkwYg

Professor Karen Musalo, who serves on the Advisory Committee on Family Residential Centers, recently participated in compiling a report for the Department of Homeland Security recommending that the use of family detention centers be discontinued. http://bit.ly/2eRDGWu

  • “I’ve been working on refugee issues for 30 years. I can’t remember a time more dispiriting as now….Having somebody like Guterres as the secretary general just changes the calculus. It puts somebody front and center who deeply cares about this issue,” she commented in a Christian Science Monitor story about the new UN Secretary General’s commitment to refugees. http://bit.ly/2eb68RT

The Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (@cgrshastings) has joined the ACLU in a lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to force the government agency to release documents related to its asylum-seeker detention policy. Stories about the lawsuit appear on law360.com http://bit.ly/2eRChiB and in the San Francisco Chronicle http://bit.ly/2eLTAlx.

Professor Joan Williams (@joancwilliams) was quoted in a couple of articles about implicit bias:

  • “This paper takes a crucial next step in pinpointing the processes through which implicit bias depletes the number of women in STEM fields,” she remarked in an Earth Institute story about a new study finding that recommendation letters may disadvantage young women scientists. http://bit.ly/2eaWqPu
  • “The way law firm compensation systems are set up basically provides a petri dish for implicit bias,” she said in a New York Law Journal story about gender inequities in law firms. http://bit.ly/2fcYXsq
  • The Center for Worklife Law (@WorkLifeLawCtr) has published “Climate Control,” a new report in partnership with the Society for Woman Engineers about gender and racial bias in engineering. The report was the subject of a recent article in the Chicago Tribune. http://trib.in/2eiGYmZ

Professor Veena Dubal was quoted in a couple of articles about a recent NY court decision that awarded unemployment benefits to two Uber Drivers.

  • USA Today: http://usat.ly/2eb1wLw
  • speedlux.com: http://bit.ly/2dILMTK

Professor Zachary Price’s recent SCOTUSblog.com post on Justice Scalia was quoted in an fcw.com story about whether feds should take jail threats seriously in the wake of Donald Trump’s recent remarks about Hillary Clinton. http://bit.ly/2eb7FaQ

Professor John Leshy was quoted in Public News Service article about whether states should gain control of public lands. http://bit.ly/2eRP70b

Professor Ugo Mattei (@UgoMattei) appeared on CNN Español to speak against water privatization in Mexico. “If water is privatized, it enslaves the people.” http://cnn.it/2ep6kPWc

3L Peter Stevens, a proud tenants rights advocate, joins the Tenderloin Community Benefit District’s Board of Directors http://bit.ly/2dlrekd.

Alumni in the News
UC Law SF grads running for local office, a state legislator who wrote “Yiddish for Lawyers,” the attorney representing Wells Fargo shareholders in the wake of the bank’s recent scandal, an IP lawyer who happens to be an accomplished visual artist…here are this month’s alumni in the news:

  • Steve Phillips ’97, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, author of “Brown Is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority” and the founder of Democracy in Color, wrote an op-ed for theNY Times about building a lasting Democratic majority http://nyti.ms/2dT7ZzL. On the occasion of the book’s publication, he was also profiled by the Potrero View http://bit.ly/2eRGjr3.
  • Prominent immigration judge Dana Marks ’77 was extensively quoted in a NY Times article about the methods she and her colleagues use to combat their own biases in the courtroom. http://nyti.ms/2dIx0g6
  • Congratulations to San Mateo Superior Court Judge John Grandsaert ‘74, who will be honored as Veteran of the Year at the inaugural San Mateo County Veteran of the Year Luncheon on November 10. http://bit.ly/2dxVPpK
  • Joe Cotchett ‘64, who represents Wells Fargo shareholders in a major lawsuit against the bank, was cited by a source in a recent politico.com Playbook column as wanting “everything back — clawbacks, bonuses, everything. He wants the [Mr. Stumpf’s] lawnmower.”
  • International cartel buster Elizabeth Tran ’11 (@LTintheTL), a lawyer with Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP, has been selected as Antitrust Enforcement Awards honoree. http://bit.ly/2dW5Ine
  • Best of luck to our alumni in their bids for public office:
    • Catherine Amador ’89, running for Fresno’s State Center Community College District Trustee Area 2 seat. http://bit.ly/2fqlYgA
    • Don Wagner ’87, running for mayor of Irvine, CA. http://bit.ly/2dINg0r
    • Sheila Lichtblau ’93, running to become a Marin Superior Court judge. http://bayareane.ws/2eRE5XP
  • Adam Sand ’01, General Counsel of shopkick, was the subject of a profile in the Daily Journal (paywall).
  • California Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris ’89 hit the airwaves with an animated ad about fighting student debt http://bit.ly/2eSV0hm. And in advance of the election, she was profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle http://bit.ly/2eb0GOQ and in the Mercury News http://bayareane.ws/2eFS4Dp
  • Susan Duncan Lee ‘89 has been elected Chair of the California Law Revision Commission, a state agency that recommends needed legal reforms to the Governor and state legislature. http://bit.ly/2eaUkzi
  • Marc Gottschalk ’91 has joined Duane Morris LLP as a partner in the firm’s San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices. He represents strategic venture investors in the technology, life sciences, financial services and consumer products/lifestyle sectors.
  • California state assemblyman Robert Hertzberg ’79 loves the Yiddish language. A lot. So much so that he’s created the definitive guide to “Yiddish for Legislators.” For a profile on Hertzberg and a handy glossary check out this Jewish Journal article: http://bit.ly/2dKA6uQ
  • Kevin Douglas ‘90, chairman and founder of Douglas Communications, has been named to the Imax Corporation’s Board of Directors. http://prn.to/2f7xltV
  • Weiland Chiang ‘15 was recently sworn in as Tehama County’s Deputy District Attorney. http://bit.ly/2f7y2n1
  • Nina Haller ‘93 has joined leading national lawyer placement agency Mestel & Company as a recruiter. http://bit.ly/2eb0YoY
  • We wish Judge Terrence Boren ‘68 all the best in retirement as he hangs up his robe after serving as a Marin County Superior court judge since 1995. http://bayareane.ws/2ffUBoO
  • Linda Joy Kattwinkel ’91, a lawyer and longtime visual artist, was recently interviewed by The Recorder for her work protecting the IP rights of Sanrio Co., the owner of Hello Kitty. http://bit.ly/2eRMv2x
  • Benjamin Salorio ’02 has recently been appointed the new chief public defender of the Imperial County Public Defender’s Office. http://bit.ly/2fg16YK
  • Veronica McGregor ‘98 has joined Goodwin’s San Francisco office as a partner in the firm’s financial industry and fintech practices. http://bit.ly/2eb9uEF
  • U.S. Congresswoman Jackie Speier ‘76 has been appointed co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues. http://bit.ly/2eRGm5e
  • Insurance coverage attorney Rachel Ehrlich ’96 has joined Judicate West’s roster of neutrals. https://yhoo.it/2fd2x63

The UC Law SF community extends its heartfelt condolences to the families of Jack DeMeo ’58, Peter Lewis ’65 and Frederick Thomson Holmes ‘74.

  • DeMeo died on October 6. He was a prominent Sonoma County litigator who was also known for his commitment to his local community. http://bit.ly/2f7o84K
  • Lewis died on September 29. A former prosecutor, he spent the bulk of his legal career in private practice before retiring in 1990.
  • Holmes died on October 15. A longtime resident of Truckee, CA who retired to Fort Bragg, he spent the majority of his career working both in private practice and as a prosecutor. http://bit.ly/2fa9Uw7

Neighborhood in the News

If you’re a transplanted New Yorker, you might get a chuckle out of the Tenderloin district’s new realtor-created marketing name. Apparently (but not really), UC Law SF is now located in “Union Square West.” http://bit.ly/2dIpYHY