Dean's Welcome Message UC Law SF Magazine Fall 2019
UC Law SF Magazine Fall 2019
Volume 12, Number 2
Dear UC Law SF Community,
The theme of this year’s edition of UC Law SF magazine is UC Law SF’ impacts on the world stage. On that stage, of course, UC Law SF is a relatively small player. But we have always punched above our weight, both locally and internationally. In fact, it might be our principal defining characteristic.
As the first law department of the University of California, we joined what has become one of the largest, and possibly most prestigious, university systems in the world. Yet, as a stand alone law school, we benefit from our association with UC, but retain the nimbleness to form partnerships with schools and departments well beyond the UC family. Our network of influence begins in San Francisco but extends to virtually every corner of the globe. Our students, alumni, and faculty learn from, teach, and help shape the law and policy of multiple countries, from England to China. UC Law SF partners with and hosts students and scholars from major foreign universities in cities as diverse as Regensburg, Germany, and Shenzhen, China. And our alumni work throughout the world, bringing the excellent training they received at UC Law SF to the challenges of a complex and interdependent world.
There are few areas of law that do not have transnational, or international, relevance. Even in that most domestic of areas, the criminal law, the lessons learned from foreign jurisdictions are invaluable—not because the United States should blindly follow the practices of other countries, but because their experience gives us insights as to best practices in our own. The experience of other jurisdictions provides insights as to what might work best with, and be most consistent with, our values and principles. Ultimately, the benefits that flow from an international presence at UC Law SF run in both directions; we are, in that sense, both an importer and exporter of ideas and intellectual content.
As the pages ahead illustrate, UC Law SF is very much a player on the world stage, and our students, faculty, and alumni are having mighty impacts everywhere.
Best regards,
David Faigman
Chancellor & Dean
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UC Law SF Magazine in .pdf format.