Volume 29, Issue 2 - Santa Clara Law

[this month]
Santa Clara
University
School Responds to
Scheduling and Exam
Concerns Page 2
Shaking the Foundations Law Conference
Page 4-5
A Student’s Experience
Working in Vietnam
Page 7
THE ADVOCATE
Volume 30, Issue 2, November 2007
School of Law Newspaper since 1970
SBA Budget Reduction Felt Far and Wide
By Leland Oshins and
Ben Kuo, Editors
Although student groups are
still reeling from the administration’s recuperation of over $50,000
dollars in surplus funds last summer, the administration surprised
the student groups yet again by
reducing the overall Student Bar
Association (SBA) budget by 36%.
Due to fiscal mismanagement by
the 2005-2006 SBA leadership
resulting in a deficit of $10,600,
the administration over the last
three fiscal years has steadily reduced the SBA budget. However,
whereas the previous reductions
were only a matter of a few thousand dollars to cover the deficit,
the 2007-2008 SBA found itself
presented with a budget that was
$41,000 less than that of the previous year. 70% of the SBA’s budget
is allocated to student groups, this
year leaving $49,000 to cover 40
student groups.
Another change made to the
budget allocation this year is
the addition of a reserve fund of
$20,000 named the Dean’s Discretionary Fund. This new fund is
meant as a source of funding for
students who are not associated
with a particular student group.
Some student leaders have expressed concern that these recent
moves by the administration represent a loss of faith in the trustworthiness of student groups.
Benjamin Ebert, treasurer of
the ACLU of Northern California,
is one of those student leaders.
Nearly $2,000 was removed from
the club’s account during the recuperation, followed by the ACLU’s
yearly budget being reduced by
30%. This leaves the ACLU leadership in the position of planning
cheaper events, with less revenue
to fall back upon if the group goes
over-budget. Additionally, “planning for the year is much more
difficult,” says Mr. Ebert. “No one
is willing to front those costs.”
The administration has responded to these concerns by assuring student groups that the new
budget allocation is not meant to
penalize. Says dean Polden “the
$90,000 figure is much closer to
what the students organizations and
what the SBA have been spending…not decreasing the amount
of funds available because student
organizations have misused them,
as [much as] a matter of bringing
that in line with what they’ve actually been spending.” Dean Polden’s statement however ignores
the $20,000 that has been reserved
for the Dean’s Discretionary Fund,
which is not available to student
groups.
Niamh Doherty, president of
Amnesty International, supports
dean Polden’s decision. Though
$2,100 was taken from her group,
resulting in a zero balance, and her
budget was reduced, Ms. Doherty
says “nothing was put on hold.”
Ms. Doherty further says that none
of her group’s future plans have
been jeopardized. Though Ms. Doherty acknowledges that “Amnesty
International is in a unique situation where its expenses are low
because its main activities are letter
writing and other campaigns that
mainly involve paper and reproduction costs.”
One of the major concerns ex-
See REDUCTION, p. 3
Photo illustration by John Gentile
Setting Cell Phones to
Rastaman Vibrate
By John Gentile,
Staff Writer
When Bob Marley and the
Wailers (Wailers) released their
international debut album “Catch
a Fire” in 1973, the cover was
emblazoned with an image of Bob
Marley defiantly smoking a spliff
(a combination of marijuana and
tobacco), proclaiming his endorsement of the substance. Thirty four
years later, Marley’s estate is arguing that Verizon Wireless is trying to replace the joint with a cell
phone.
On the eve of the thirty-year
anniversary re-release of Marley’s
biggest album “Exodus,” Verizon Wireless reached a deal with
Universal Music Group (UMG)
regarding Marley’s music. UMG,
which has the rights to the majority of Marley’s post 1972 music,
agreed to allow Verizon Wireless
the exclusive right to sell Marley ringtones through its website.
Although the value of the deal was
undisclosed, users downloaded
over 30,000 ringtones during the
first two weeks of release, amounting to roughly $60,000 in sales.
Marley’s estate has since
threatened to sue both UMG and
Verizon because it feels that an
exclusive distribution of Marley’s music via Verizon Wireless
amounts to a celebrity endorsement. Since Marley’s estate owns
the rights to Marley’s image as
well as any endorsement deals
involving his likeness, the estate
argues that it should have been
See CELL PHONES, p. 3
2
School Responds to Concerns
Registration and examination issues answered by administration
By Katelyn Knight,
Managing Editor
The Law Records Office is
particularly busy addressing student concerns around registration
and exam time. Some students hit
the registration time jackpot while
others are inevitably unhappy. In a
twist this semester, a large number
of students thought their registration time was so late that it must be
a mistake, prompting a mass e-mail
from Senior Assistant Dean Susan
Erwin defining the universe of possible registration times.
The process is simple enough.
Registration is scheduled in periods with part-time students and
those close to graduating having
priority. The registration order is
fourth year part-time, third year
part-time, third year full-time,
second year part-time, and secondyear full-time. Within each period,
students are randomly assigned a
registration time. For example,
a second year full-time student
might be able to register as early
as October 24th at 9:30am, as late
as October 25th at 11:30am, or any
time in between.
While student interest can be
difficult to predict, there are some
registration trends. Subjects tested
on the California Bar Exam tend to
develop waiting lists every semester, and some professors’ sections
tend to fill up more quickly (or less
quickly) than others. One of the
first classes to develop a waiting
list this semester was International
Dispute Resolution, while the Tax
classes are still open.
Unfortunately, we do not have
a system where the supply and
variety of classes perfectly match
student demand, which creates a
problem for students with the latest
registration times. Second year
students registering relatively late
in the period have roughly 500
people choosing classes ahead of
them, at which point some of the
most popular classes had already
developed long waiting lists. For
example, there was a 70-person
waitlist for Business Organizations and an 86-person waitlist for
Wills & Trusts as of October 25th.
Unlucky students near the bottom
of the list usually hope for other
students to drop the class they
want, or for the school to expand
the number of students allowed in
a section.
This semester the school responded quickly to student concerns, adding sections of Business
Organizations, Remedies, Community Property, Advanced Legal
Research and Writing, Patent Law
Practice, and Interviewing and
Counseling, in addition to canceling five other courses. The new
sections will effectively clear the
waiting lists for the most popular
courses.
Additionally, the school has recently announced that it will offer
limited support for the use of Apple
MacBooks during fall exams,
addressing another longstanding
student concern. The school has
delayed Macintosh computer use
in final exams because ExamSoft
SofTest is compatible only with
windows software, and Apple’s
“Boot Camp” software (which allows Macintosh computers to run
Microsoft Windows) was still in
its beta testing phase. While many
schools have allowed the use of
beta versions of Boot Camp with
SofTest, SCU was not one of them.
Because Apple released its OS 10.5
“Leopard” upgrade at the end of
October, which included a non-beta
version of Boot Camp software,
the school decided to allow MacBook use for exams.
Students must attend an information session and have their
MacBooks or MacBook Pros certified to use them during exams next
month. The computers must be
running Leopard and a specific version of Windows XP. The school
has also promised to offer full support for MacBooks in the spring.
Correction
“Evidence that the Public Defenders’ office is
poorly funded”
by John Gentile
In “Incoming Students Learn
About SCU Law Through Orientation” in Issue 1, Joseph Flannery
was incorrectly identified as Joseph
LaRemie.
Staff
Editor-in-Chief
Leland Oshins
Managing Editors
Benjamin Kuo
Katelyn Knight
Editor Emeritus
Allonn Levy
Staff Writers
Gemma Daggs
Tara King
John Gentile
Natalie Morsette
Shauvi Rogers
Joe Wright
Karen Wynholds
Treasurer
Hillary Steiner
Copyright 2007.
The Advocate is the student news and
literary publication of Santa Clara
University School of Law, and has a
circulation of 1,000. The Columns,
Opinion, & Humor sections of The
Advocate are articles that reflect the
viewpoint of the authors, and not the
opinion of The Advocate or its editors.
The Advocate is staffed by law students.
Printing is contracted to Profess Printing,
Inc. of San Jose, California.
The Advocate welcomes letters to the
editor from all law students, faculty,
alumni, and administrators. No
anonymous submissions are permitted.
Submissions are published at the sole
discretion of The Advocate. The Advocate
reserves the right to edit submissions
for grammar and clarity, or shorten
submissions to fit allotted space.
If interested in placing an advertisement
with The Advocate please contact the
Editor-in-Chief by phone or e-mail for
advertising rates. The Advocate reserves
the right not to accept an advertisement
for any reason.
Santa Clara University
School of Law
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053-0426
(408) 554-4839
loshins@scu.edu
3
CELL PHONES from p. 1
consulted about the deal and is entitled to a portion of the income.
Both Marley’s estate and UMG
agreed to enter into talks. During
this time, UMG removed 20 of the
34 downloadable ringtones from its
site in order to facilitate continuing talks. Shortly thereafter, Chris
Blackwell, who often acts as a
spokesperson for the Marley estate,
stated that he was “infuriated that
Verizon would go around the estate
and initiate partnership with Universal.” He further added that it
was “disturbing that these companies refuse to give the musicians
the respect they deserve.” Blackwell was the founder of Island
Records and was responsible for
exposing Marley to non-Jamaican
audiences. In 1989, Blackwell sold
Island Records, including all the
rights to Marley’s 7 solo albums
and 2 Wailers albums, to Polygram
Records which were later acquired
by Universal for over $500 million
dollars. Notably, Blackwell has
clashed with other record labels,
including rival Trojon Records
during the 1970s, when Blackwell
was the target of many vocal barbs
fired by Lee “Scratch” Perry, the
producer of many of the Wailer’s
earlier albums. After learning of
Blackwell’s comment, UMG and
Verizon reposted all 20 of the previously removed Marley ringtones.
Both parties expect the negotiations to be lengthy, with possible
future litigation.
Should the ringtone issue be
decided by a judge, many important legal issues will be decided by
his gavel. The issue being, is an
exclusive partnership tantamount
to an endorsement? And if it is,
how many sales need be generated to qualify as an endorsement?
These issues were briefly touched
upon by a series of Doc Martin
magazine advertisements earlier
this year. The ads featured images of deceased musicians such
as The Clash’s Joe Strummer, The
Ramones’ Joey Ramone, The Sex
Pistols’ Sid Vicious, and Nirvana’s
Kurt Cobain. In the ads, the musicians were dressed as angels wearing Doc Martin boots. Just before
the respective estates of the musi-
cians sued, the magazine chose to
withdraw the ads due to negative
public reactions.
The Marley estate is no stranger to lawsuits. Marley and the other
two original Wailers, Peter Tosh
and Bunny Wailer, first considered
initiating legal proceedings in the
early 1970’s. Prior to their international success, The Wailers were a
local Jamaican mainstay, brought
to prominence by Mr. Perry at
Trojan Records. After a series of
disputes between the group and the
producer, the master tapes of the
Wailer’s recordings made their way
into the hands of dozens of unscrupulous distributors, resulting in
hundreds of sub-standard Wailers
recordings entering the market.
Details on how the reels made
their way into the gray market
place are sketchy. Perry has at
times declared that the tapes were
stolen, that he had the Wailer’s
consent, or that Marley himself
took the tapes. It has also been suggested that the tapes, which were
some of the most valuable recordings in the entire music industry,
sold for the rock bottom price of
$400. After the dispute arose, the
Wailers created their own label,
Tuff Gong, which shared Marley’s
nickname. Shortly thereafter, Tuff
Gong went on to international
distribution through Blackwell’s
Island Records. After the Wailer’s
became an international success,
Marley pondered initiating legal
proceedings against Perry for illegal sale of the Wailer’s master
tapes. Perry similarly considered
initiating proceedings against the
Wailer’s and Blackwell for failing
to credit him for several Wailers
songs he allegedly wrote, including
“Kaya,” “Punky Reggae Party,”
and even “I Shot the Sheriff.”
Their mutual hatred has manifested itself in Perry’s song “Judgement inna Babylon,” in which
Perry repeatedly calls Blackwell
“a vampire,” suggesting that the
distributor received proceeds of
his artists without contributing to
the industry himself. In the case at
bar this battle is begun again, with
Blackwell in a curious position
having no legal or economic ties
with Marley after his sale of Island
Records in 1989. With multiple
members of the Marley estate and
various record labels creeping into
the suit, this case is sure become
even more contentious.
The massive worth of the
Marley ringtones and the refusal
of either side to negotiate, makes
future court proceedings very plausible. The issue being does selling
a product exclusively qualify as an
endorsement if only one company
holds the media right? If the court
REDUCTION from p. 1
pressed by some student leaders is
the effect that the budget reduction
will have on new student groups’
ability to expand their numbers,
and encourage further participation. Kathryn McMahon, President
of the Health Care Law Society
(HCLS), which is in its second
year as a student group, voiced
this very concern. In October of
this year Ms. McMahon planned
to attend a health law conference
in Pittsburg. When Ms. McMahon sought school funding via the
Dean’s Discretionary Fund, the
administrative response was to ask
why Ms. McMahon was not using
the club funds from HCLS. Says
McMahon “it’s frustrating when
they [the administration] comes
back with why not use the club
budget, when I would have to use
the entirety of this year’s club budget to cover the conference.”
By reducing the budget for
student groups, some have posited
that the school is really hindering
itself and its programs. This year
Santa Clara law school instituted a
new certificate program for students who demonstrate a commitment to social justice and public
service with an emphasis in health
law. One of the requirements of
the new certificate is to participate in an internship with a public
health focus. These sorts of placements are difficult to obtain, and
are best acquired through networking. HCLS puts on a networking
event each year with this very
purpose in mind. However, due to
the budgetary constraints this year,
Ms. Mcmillion is concerned, “it
definitely will affect our ability to
setup networking events.”
The administration has ex-
answers in the affirmative, then it’s
possible that the ringtone industry
could face a massive restructuring
that affects single label artists such
as The Police, Queen, and thousands of others. Should the label
answer in the negative, then its
very possible that the next time you
get pulled over, you might want
to turn your cell phone off if your
ring tone is “I Shot the Sheriff.”
pressed a desire that student
group’s work together by co-sponsoring events in order to overcome
potential financial burdens. Ms.
Doherty expressed optimism that
even though her funding has been
reduced, this could be what it takes
to compel cooperation among student groups who’ve always liked to
do their own thing. “We are definitely looking into working with
other groups and co-sponsoring
events if possible.”
Nicole Clemens, president of
the Public interest Social Justice
Coalition (PISJC) is not convinced.
Ms. Clemens opined that just
because funds are reduced, does
not mean that the need for those
funds is reduced “We would have
to be fundraising all the time. The
Bannan lounge is not an unlimited resource that would tolerate
fundraising every day of the week,
and the money comes out of law
students’ pockets.”
In addition, the PISJC annually
fundraises for the Thurgood Marshall scholarship. The proceeds go
directly into the scholarship fund
instead of the club’s own account.
Ms. Clemens emphasized that her
club has no intention of canceling the fundraiser, but said that it
would be “threatened if we cannot
get enough financial support.”
For some student leaders, one
of the biggest impacts may not be
financial, but psychological. Mr.
Ebert puts it bluntly, “The administration’s patronizing attitude is
that they know what’s best for the
school and we don’t. Who really
has the best perspective – you
looking down, or us looking up?”
4
Shaking the Foundations Once Again at Stanford
An insiders view on the annual progressive law conference
multiplier for each dollar spent on
Cameron’s journalists and legal
each organization is like a foot that
prisons is very little compared with professionals to tell their stories
puts pressure on the community.
other public projects.
even when no one is listening.
Participants were eventually able
The annual Shaking the FounMs. Gilmore criticized the DeIn the Lawyering Strategies for to identify more than fifty private
dations Law Conference took place partment of Corrections for being
Working With Communities workand public “feet” that affect comonce again at Stanford Law School the largest employer in California.
shop Reverend Daniel Buford,
munities, as varied as the FBI, the
on October 5th and 6th, over the
The Prison Guards’ Union, which
founding organizer of the People’s courts, and debt collectors.
Fall Break for Santa Clara law
represents Dept. of Corrections
Institute for Survival and Beyond,
The use of language was the
students. The conference brought
employees, practices affirmative
exhorted the participants to think
main focus of this workshop.
speakers and students together
action fervently in order to avoid
outside the box. While socializaWhile people who live in underfrom across the Bay Area and
being accused of racism. However, tion causes us to fall into line, “it
served communities may only be
different parts of the country to dis- this does not lessen the fact that
also makes us racist or sexist.”
able to tell you that they wish to
cuss progressive legal issues.
prisons are instruments of punishReverend Buford spoke of the
“hook up the ghettos and the trailer
The two-day conference comment. Says Ms. Gilmore “There
four sides of a box; time, resourctrash across the railroad tracks,”
bined keynote speeches, panels,
were black police officers who enes, organizational structure, and
according to Rev. Buford, commuworkshops, and a networking
forced Apartheid in South Africa,
policy. Says Mr. Buford these are
nity organizers must be able to use
dinner. It was entirely organized
and there were Jews who kept the
the ones that “bureaucrats like to
words like “risk, disadvantaged,
by Stanford law students and
Ghettos in Nazi Germany.”
rely on for resisting change...The
disenfranchised, underprivileged,
received contributions and support
Many panels and workshops
system preserves itself through the and target area.”
from many employers and private
covering a wide variety of topics,
use of time or the lack of resources.
Another panel on Friday afdonors. This fundraising allowed
such as the use of reproductive
Bureaucracy exists not to transform ternoon was entitled Future of the
organizers to charge only $10 for
technologies to police women of
institutions but to preserve them.”
Death Penalty. Larry Marshall,
the entire conference while procolor, racial issues resulting from
Reverend Buford invited
Professor of Law and Associviding for two lunches, one dinHurricane Katrina, queer youth in
attendees to engage in a power
ate Dean for Public Interest and
ner, and snacks to every attendee.
schools, and planning for alternaanalysis by identifying all the
Clinical Education at Stanford Law
Many students from Santa Clara
tive legal careers in public interest, sources of influence in a poor and
School, spoke of the “Thurgood
participated on one or both days of took place over the course of the
underserved community. He called Marshall hypothesis” regarding
the conference.
conference.
it the “Foot Identification” because the death penalty. The hypothesis
Ms. Ruth Gilmore, who deIn the Writing
livered the opening keynote, is
for Justice panel,
a professor at the University of
Steve Bogira, AuSouthern California, Director of
thor of Courtroom
American Studies and Ethnicity,
302, said “the jourand author of Golden Gulag: Pris- nalist’s obligation
ons, Surplus, Crisis and Opposiis to shed light on
tion in Globalizing California. Ms. the human condiGilmore quoted statistics placing
tion.” He related
the United States incarceration rate the story of Tony
as the highest in the world at 737
Cameron who was
per 100,000 people, which is five
convicted of armed
times higher than Great Britain, the robbery. Mr. Camcountry with the next highest rate.
eron tried to tell the
The U.S. rate is also more than six story of his broken
times China’s rate, despite China’s childhood at his
reputation for human-rights violaplea conference but
tions.
the judge would
Ms. Gilmore commented that
not listen to him.
the U.S. political system manufac- “He was troubled,
tures a “common, perpetual enemy mentally ill, and in
who must always be fought but can a previous psych
never be vanquished” that results
test said that a
in the use of prisons as “all-purperson jumping out
pose solutions to common political, of a window was
economic, and social problems.”
a happy person.
Evidence the Public Defenders’ office is not performing
Since prisons are negative infraYet the system did
structures, as opposed to positive
not care about his
sufficient conflict of interest evaluations
infrastructures like highways,
story.” To avoid
dams, and schools, the economic
more cases like Mr.
By Ben Kuo,
Managing Editor
5
states that people would not support the death penalty if they had
an opportunity to learn about it. “I
have met people who have grown
to oppose the death penalty,” he
said, “but not people who have
grown to support it because it is
race neutral, accurate, or fairly
administered.”
Ms. Hodman, the way to overcome
“the circle of prejudice and fear”
is always to focus the attention on
the humanity of the client, and to
never give in to the pressures of
the community or government that
swiftly condemn without regard for
the defendant’s story.
On Friday night, a networking
right to vote was more widespread.
“What if Latinos came up with
their own ballot proposition against
corporate welfare? In Modesto,
California, whites live in modernity while the Latino community
uses septic tanks. That’s what the
lack of political power does.”
David Dill, Professor of Computer Science at
Stanford, focused on transparency in the
voting process,
particularly with
computerized
voting systems.
With the move
toward computerization, Mr.
Dill expressed
that there was
actually less
confidence in the
system. Mr. Dill
notes that even
where the machine provides
a paper trail,
“People tend to
trust machines
and not look at
the printout.”
The resistance to comFrom left to right: Rober Rubin, David Dill, Ron Hayduk, Dorsey Nunn, and Student Organizer Eunice Cho,
puterized voting
of the Preserving Voting Rights for All panel discussion.
tends to be “inExecutive Director of the Cen- dinner took place between attendversely proportional” to the techter for Capital Assistance Scharees and various local organizations, nical knowledge of the protester.
lette Holdman, who has only lost
such as the Public Interest Law
Mr. Dill cautions that in order to
one case in her representation of
Project, Fresh Lifelines for Youth,
combat suspicion of computerdeath-eligible defendants, said that and the Law Foundation of Silicon ized voting, the machinery must
attorneys who can “contextualize
Valley. Many of these organizabe made more transparent or with
the death penalty” can most suctions were looking for students
open-source software so that their
cessfully avoid its imposition on
willing to do public interest work
inner workings may be audited by
their clients.
after graduation, and virtually all
independent entities.
She related a story about how
were willing to accept pro bono
Participants then headed across
an L.A. gang member who had
hours from practicing attorneys
campus to lunch and a closing keykilled six people avoided the death even if their specialties were not
note speech by Professor Patricia
penalty through zealous advocacy. directly related to the nature of the Williams, a professor at Columbia
In representing him, she showed
work.
University School of Law and a
the jury a slide that consisted of his
Another panel, Preserving
regular columnist for the Nation.
family tree in Mississippi, where
Voting Rights for All, took place
Ms. Williams painted an Orwellian
he had grown up. Colored circles
Saturday morning. Robert Rubin,
future where DNA is used for
dotted the slide, which represented Legal Director for the Lawyers
tracking purposes, employment
persons related to the defendant
Committee for Civil Rights in San and where education selection
who had been killed or raped.
Francisco, spoke of the reason why will be ubiquitous. Ms. Williams
While the prosecution would
voting rights are so contentious.
expressed further concern regardlike to focus on the crime and
Mr. Rubin succinctly described the ing the rise of genetic technology
“nothing but individual stories
reason as “It is about power.”
and the class divisions that this
expand into families, communities,
He theorized that current inmay create between those who can
and the nation as a whole.” Says
terests would be threatened if the
afford designer babies and gene
modifications and those who cannot.
Ms. Williams spoke of a case
in Great Britain where the tabloids
sensationally reported the “pain
and grief” of a white couple who
conceived using sperm from a
sperm bank only to discover upon
birth that the child is black. She focused on the language that labeled
the child as a “mistake” and of the
damages that the parents should
be entitled to because they had to
raise a black child. She hoped that
in the brave new world of genetic
engineering, people would not
lose sight of who they are in their
pursuit of “perfection.”
Reactions from Santa Clara law
students were generally positive.
Laura Jacques, 3L, thought that
“there was great range and variety
in the speakers, in terms of level of
expertise, field of interest and type
of work. It showed that you really can make a career of pursuing
specific legal problems in creative
ways.”
Nuritzi Sanchez, a senior
majoring in International Relations and Psychology at Stanford
University, also liked the way the
conference was organized. Specifically citing “The larger seminars
that split into the smaller workshops with different topics.”
There were also suggestions
from attendees for improvement.
“The timing management could
have been much better,” said Ms.
Jacques. “There was no time for
questions from audience participants. I also expected more practitioners attending and more opportunities for networking.”
Ms. Sanchez thought that the
practitioners failed to address the
“pink elephant in the room” of
how much people in public interest
careers earn. “Money is a huge part
of any job, and I think we needed
to get a better idea.” On the issue of whether the conference has
changed her career aspirations, Ms.
Jacques says “I don’t think it affected how I will plan my career.”
6
Service Serves Swift Justice
Inspired by law student and runner, students run half-marathons to raise funds for law center
By Joe Wright,
Staff Writer
Santa Clara Law students, you
have a professional at your disposal. J.T. Service, a 3L at Santa
Clara, ran in the Marathon Olympic Trials on November 3rd in New
York City. After qualifying for
Olympic Trials in Duluth, Minnesota on June 12th, he was invited
to run the 26.22 miles in the Big
Apple for a shot at going to the
Olympics. While he didn’t finish
in the requisite top three to go on,
he completed the race at a personal
best of 2:21:12 – faster than most
can read Marbury v. Madison.
How does this affect you? Well,
he’s back and he’s here to help you
get out of the library and start running – and for a great cause too!
Last year, J.T. started a program called Swift Justice. With
the help of J.T. and his father, Tom
Service, Track Coach at Santa
Clara University, the program
calls for Santa Clara law students,
faculty, and staff to train for local
½ marathons and in the process
raise money for the Katherine and
George Alexander Community
Law Center (KGACLC). Each
runner is expected to find sponsorship through friends and family for
their intended efforts and donate
the received proceeds to KGACLC. This past August, a combined twelve students, faculty and
community members ran for Swift
Justice in the San Jose Rock ‘n’
Roll Half-Marathon and eventually
raised $7,000.
For those not already familiar
with KGACLC, the law center
provides pro bono legal advice
and representation in several areas
including consumer rights, workers’ rights, workers’ compensation,
and immigration rights. KGACLC
provides clinical for Santa Clara
Law students by having them work
under attorney supervision to provide free legal services to whoever
is in need. Students meet with
clients, write memorandums, and
sometimes even appear in court on
both the clients’ and the Center’s
behalf.
In the spring, Swift Justice
will once again be raising money
for KGACLC and getting students
out of the library to do something
positive for themselves and the
community. Swift Justice is an allinclusive program that welcomes
any runner from experienced to beginner. Says J.T. “We have people
walking the whole ½ marathon to
people running really fast.” It is a
fantastic outlet for law students and
a great way to keep your body and
mind healthy, all while simultaneously helping the community.
The event has the added benefit
of being a great resume booster,
especially since its for a great
cause. If persuading an employer
that volunteer marathon runners
will suit their needs is not what
motivates you, then at the very
least, you’ll better yourself and the
community through participating
in Swift Justice. As J.T. puts it,
“a well balanced law student is a
more effective law student.”
For more information, search
for “Swift Justice” under the
KGACLC home page, or see http://
www.scu.edu/law/kgaclc/File/
Swift_Justice_-_Version_3.pdf.
...and Social Justice for All (except PISJC)
Santa Clara School of Law’s latest Social Justice Benefit falls short of expectations
By Leland Oshins,
Editor-in-Chief
For those of us who have been
here awhile, the decadence of past
Social Justice benefits are alive
in our memories. These were
glamorous affairs indeed, notable
for their revelry which was all the
more sweetened by the excessive
generosity that translated into ever
more funds for the Public Interest and Social Justice Coalition
(PISJC). Sadly, this year, those
carefree times were gone. In their
stead, we had a basement in Benson, jeans, and what little merriment there was to be had was soon
checked by an angry shush. The
inevitable conclusion to be drawn
by this dramatic shift is that the
commitment of our school to social
justice is not what it once was.
Though PISJC did everything
in their power to make the best out
of a bad situation, the results spoke
for themselves. Attendance this
year was notably diminished. The
acoustics for the room made any
attempt of listening to the bidding impossible, despite Professor
Peterson’s best efforts. Whereas
before there was a lush dinner and
drink tickets included in the $25
event, this year there were lukewarm appetizers and huge lines for
drinks that were nonalcoholic or
overpriced. In comparison to past
social justice benefits which found
revelers present late into the night,
the California Mission Room
cleared out a mere two hours after
the event began, well short of
already truncated 10 pm scheduled
closing time.
Reasons for why the administration dispensed with the formerly successful formula of “well
lubricated” law students having a
good time and thereby motivating
them to be more generous at the
auction, can only be speculated.
However, the general consensus
for the sudden shift is a cautionary tale that has gained an almost
urban legend status. Depending
on who is telling the story, the tale
goes something like this: following
last year’s Social Justice Benefit,
a young student was found unconscious in the bushes outside
of the Rose Gardens, who may or
may not have had their hand in the
locale of a sensitive area, and who
may or may not have been seen by
parents of undergraduates visiting
for parents’ weekend.
Other anecdotes from years
past indicated that students who
were clearly intoxicated nonetheless made the poor choice of
driving home and were arrested.
The only hard fact that may be
discerned is that the consequences
of the event seemingly reflected
poorly upon our administration.
Of course the school has every
reason to be concerned with not
associating itself with facilitating or encouraging drunkenness.
However, perhaps a better way of
advocating this message would
be to offer panel lectures about
the dangers of excessive drinking
or organizing designated drivers
as opposed to penalizing PISJC.
What is perhaps most irrational of
all is why the school would seek
to punish the many, when making
examples of out the few would
be as effective. Those of us who
remember the benefits of previous
years might have stayed loyal to
the cause. However, future classes
will likely pass on the knowledge
of the dull time they had last year.
Putting the Viet in Vietnam
7
A law student’s adventures from halfway around the globe
By Steve Jacob,
Foreign Correspondent
Coming from the States I’m
used to a certain kind of line:
single file, orderly, and easy to
navigate. Sometimes there’s a
switchback, like at Disneyland,
the airport, or at the coffee shop in
Benson, but I can deal with that,
I understand how it works and I
know that I’ll get my service when
I get to the front. I can predict how
long it will take and I can guess
what’s going to happen between
now and then. Vietnam’s a whole
different kind of line.
Viets have a thing with lines.
I don’t know if it’s because they
don’t understand them or because
they don’t like waiting. Either way
any queue ends up a funnel of flesh
jostling and maneuvering for position. Shoot the gap. Slide into an
opening and ignore the guy behind
you. They drive the same way. I’ve
started rooting for my taxi driver,
cheering when he zooms ahead
and cuts back in the line ahead of a
Mercedes. It’s fun, frustrating, and
fascinating, just like their law.
Vietnam operates on a different
system, part civil part communist,
that lends itself to confusion, contradiction, head-shaking, and a frequent desire to punch something. It
firm in Vietnam. Sure there are bigger ones, and sure there are better
ones, but foreigners run most of
those. It took two seconds for me
to jump on the guy’s offer to introduce me. He did, by email. I sent
my resume, a writing sample, and
the expected bone fides in a hurry,
and then I waited.
I sent out other applications
and sat for interviews with Bay
Area folks, but no one I was
interested in seemed interested
in me, a middle of the pack law
student from Santa Clara University with a resume that didn’t
just scream international law, it
swung a rusted pipe at the base
of the interviewer’s skull.
Come February, I got anxious and acted out of turn, I sent
a follow-up email. A couple
days later in the middle of class
I checked my inbox and found
an offer for the summer, paid,
and paid well enough for me
to come out in the black. After
enough time to weigh the offer
against my other options—taking
summer classes so I could qualify
for a loan to pay rent and buy Ramen, try to get a job at Borders,
or wander the streets of Oakland
with a cup and a frayed Raider’s
jacket—I accepted. Apparently, I
wasn’t the only contestant. They
“In Vietnam the National Assembly passes
law after law, chasing Vietnam’s WTO commitments like Homer Simpson after a doughnut”
took some effort, but I managed to
get through two months without an
assault and battery charge. Good
news for me, because I wasn’t
registered at the consulate and I
wasn’t part of the university summer abroad program. I was on my
own.
Last school year, at the height
of OCI stress, I met a guy who
knew a girl. The girl was a partner
in VILAF-Hong Duc, probably the
biggest and best Viet owned law
had received a parcel of applications and they picked me. They
told me later that my Vietnamese
did it; edged out the competition. I
smiled and nodded. Thank you gift
horse, I’m sure your teeth are fine.
Skip to May.
Finals ended, I packed, said
goodbye, and hopped on a never
ending plane ride for my third
summer in Vietnam. Two flights
and a day later I hobbled up the jetway into Tan Son Nhat airport and
Ho Chi Minh City. Later that week
I started work and felt the culture
shock—which I’ve never had a
problem with in Vietnam—attack
my system.
To paraphrase an old Chinese
saying, what happens in the Forbidden City doesn’t affect what
ever, lie in the translation. Over
and over I would scour the English
version to reconcile some contradiction. After banging my forehead
against the door jam and convincing a colleague that the law was
actually Mao’s secret love child in
hiding, I would check the Vietnam-
Photo Provided by Steve Jacob
happens in the villages. In Vietnam
the National Assembly passes law
after law, chasing Vietnam’s WTO
commitments like Homer Simpson
after a doughnut, oblivious to the
confusion and chaos left behind in
their rush to please the global business community. First the National
Assembly passes a law and then
they wait to see how it works.
After a while they start to fill in
the blanks, issuing a decree or a
decision that offers further guidance or completely rewrites parts
of the law. With luck, that means
someone removed a contradiction
in the law or clarified ambiguous
language or gave instructions to the
front lines. If you’re not lucky, then
you get a document that adds new
contradictions and erects a series of
hoops, the kind that require jumping through, and that, without a
judicial branch to interpret, leaves
lawyers to guess at its meaning. At
least until some unrelated ministry
decides to speak up.
The biggest problems, how-
ese version to see…the opposite
of the English. Brilliant, I would
then mutter to myself and proceed
to tear my hair out over the next
sentence.
After two months, though, I
began to save more brain cells and
lose less hair. I began to understand
how things worked. I read more
law in Vietnamese and ignored the
English translations. I recognized
the ambiguities and knew when
the only recourse for interpretation
was a phone call to the agency in
charge. I learned to ask the right
questions and I learned to think a
little differently. In line at KFC, I
didn’t hesitate to shoot the gap and
step in front of the lady with two
kids who was slow on the queue.
Maybe that makes me a bad person, but I don’t think so. It makes
me different. I’m no longer just a
common law student, I’m a civil
one as well.
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