Southwestern Law School recently sent five law students and two professors to the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association (NLGLA) Lavender Law Conference in San Francisco. Attorneys, law students, and advocates from around the United States gathered for the 20th anniversary of this annual even which took place Sept. 3-7 at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero. Read the full story

“White, fifty-something year old, male” is usually an accurate description of the head of the Executive branch.  However, this year’s election has introduced us to candidates who fall outside those characteristics.  No matter where people stand on the political spectrum, most agree that this year’s elections are historical- regardless of who ends up winning.  These elections have already set a precedent for years to come.

Age

As a former prisoner of war, cancer survivor, John McCain knows a thing or two about beating the odds.  He was ostracized by his own party and lost the 2000 primaries to a relatively new politician.  Entering this election, he was not seen as a front-runner and had been basically written off as the Republican nominee.  However, he was able to make a comeback, “My friends, you know I’m past the age when I can claim the noun ‘kid,’ no matter what adjective precedes it. But tonight, we sure showed them what a comeback looks like,” said McCain after winning the New Hampshire primaries.  McCain was not just being witty with that remark.

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With the start of the 2008-2009 season a few months away, things seem to be going well for NBA Commissioner David Stern and the NBA itself. The Tim Doheny scandal, in which a referee was involved in fixed gambling, is away from public view, and the Boston Celtics, at least for now, have seemed to level the growing disparity of competition between the Eastern and Western Conferences. However, a potential problem may lie ahead for the NBA. A number of players have signed lucrative contracts with European teams this off-season for far more money than they would get with an NBA team.

Most of the players that have left for Europe are foreigners who began their careers overseas, players such as Nenad Krstic, Juan Carlos Navarro, and Carlos Delfino. While these players have enjoyed moderate success in the NBA, none of them are superstars, leaving no glaring void in the league. Rumors have been circulating recently that Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko is entertaining an offer from a team in Russia, and if he accepts the offer, then he will be the most significant foreign player to leave for an overseas team. Read the full story

The Women

This is most definitely a chick flick for one very good reason: there are NO MEN in the entire film, not even any male extras. It was actually quite creepy, like some weird science-fiction movie where all the men in the world disappeared. While most women could only dream of such a world, after a while it just became weird. I wanted to see a man! They talked about men the entire movie, given that the main storyline was Meg Ryan’s character’s husband cheating on her with Eva Mendes, yet we never saw him. Debra Messing’s character was exactly that - a mess. Jada Pinkett Smith had her moments, but I think they went a little overboard on the lesbian thing. We get it, she likes women. Ryan looked better than she’s looked in years and helped keep the movie going. Overall, I would say it was a decent film. There was some good comedy here and there, but it seemed to lag at times. In a year in which “Sex and the City” came out setting the bar very high, this film just seemed to fall short.

Men, don’t watch this movie. You would think a movie called “The Women” would have a few more attractive women. I’ll agree that Eva Mendes is a stunner, but she’s hardly in the film, and most of the time she looks uncomfortable on screen - probably because the rest of the cast, mostly older women, are giving her the evil eye. The plot of the movie is as forgettable as most of the talent - many of whom haven’t been relevant since the last century: yes, I’m talking to you, Meg Ryan. So guys, I don’t care who asks you - your girlfriend, your fiancé, your wife, your mother, or your Aunt Sue visiting from Nebraska … just say no. If they give you the puppy eyes, just put on some heavily tinted sunglasses and listen to your iPod full blast (preferably not while driving).

Vicky Christina Barcelona

I would rate this movie a date movie. For the women, there is Javier Bardem. Need I say more? Not only is he very appealing to look at, but his accent is to die for. He plays a free spirit who oozes confidence and sexuality, and he plays it well. What woman doesn’t want a sexy foreign man to walk up to her table and ask her to fly away with him for a weekend of lovemaking … check please! While the women fawn over Javier, the men have their share of eye candy as well. Not only does the film star Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz, there is a much-talked-about scene in which the two characters make out. If that is not reason enough for a guy to see this film, then I don’t know what is. As for the storyline, this movie is a typical Woody Allen film. It’s quirky and a little risqué at times, and of course, the ending will leave you thinking “WTF?” But it wouldn’t be an Allen film if it ended any differently. Overall, it is a good film that is a nice change from the same old “boy meets girl, they fall in love, live happily ever after” date movie.

I’m going to go ahead and call this a date movie. Not so much because I like the movie, but because I enjoy saying “Barthelona” with the Castilian accent (warning; saying “Barthelona” is sexy, but can be habit forming. I’m trying to quit, but it’s not easy - there must be a patch or some gum that releases small doses of “Barthelona” to help ease the process. …) Anyway, the movie is about two girls who go to Barcelona and have their lives turned upside-down by the strangely appealing Javier Bardem. (I don’t get what women see in his cavemen-esque looks and unintelligible accent). I think men can relate to this film because it validates our notions that women just don’t know what they want. Oh yeah, Penelope Cruz is in there too somewhere - she’s always kissing, cussing, or shooting a gun. The ending was terrible - but that’s to be expected with Woody Allen.

The Dark Knight

For those of you who have yet to see this film, you’re in luck, because it is going to be in the theaters for quite some time. However ladies, I’m going to vote this one a movie for the dudes. Of course, the movie has some very nice looking men, which we would all enjoy watching, especially Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart, but looks alone are not enough. Given that it is a Batman movie, there is obviously a lot of action and an abundance of special effects. Most action movies that fall into the date movie category have a love story to keep the ladies interested. While on the onset you would think this movie has an enticing love story between Batman and Rachel, you could not be more wrong. The whole movie we are led to believe that Batman secretly loves Rachel, but given the choice to save her life or Harvey Dent, who does he choose? Dent … seriously? Where’s the love Batman? How does the hero let the girl die? He most definitely earned the title “Dark Knight” for that one. Dudes could care less about the mushy love stuff, so this movie is perfect for them.

Now here is a movie for the boys. Batman rocks, and we all know it. True, he isn’t my favorite superhero, being that he has no actual powers - and don’t go saying that makes him even cooler because it doesn’t. We all know that if he could switch with Superman, he would do it in a flash; though he would also probably switch with Flash in a flash … but that’s neither here nor there. Anyway, the movie is full of action and some really great acting, especially by Heath Ledger. I’m still not the biggest fan of Christian Bale as Batman - he always sounds like he needs a glass of water when he’s wearing that suit - but I’ve grown to tolerate him. Anyway the plot is quite good, and I don’t mind the whole Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character dying thing … mostly because I’m sick of producers replacing actors and pretending they are the same person. (Katie Holmes isn’t Maggie Gyllenhaal … no matter how much she wishes otherwise).

Written by Garen Alikisanian, 2L and Caroline Page, 2L

On the night of September 5, 2008 Christopher Nolan screened his debut film Following to a full-house of independent film devotees at LACMA’s Bing Theatre.

A Q&A session hosted by the Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan followed the film.

While Nolan has most recently received notoriety for directing The Dark Knight, in addition to Batman Begins and the psycho-drama Memento, the director broke into the industry thanks to his success with Following at the Slamdance Festival in 1999.

Slamdance, which compliments the other snowy Park City independent film festival Sundance, currently celebrateing its fifteen year anniversary, prides itself as the preeminent festival by filmmaker, for filmmakers.

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Change and Reform: A pair of synonyms frequently used/abused by Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain to define their bids for the American presidency.  Both have vocalized these words to demonstrate their intent to improve, modify, and revolutionize our country’s frail domestic and international state of affairs.  But as Election Day approaches, many Americans are wondering how much real change or reform the country can get from these major party candidates and if embracing a third party might be the real change.

If you have turned on a television or checked your email, it is likely you have noticed that polls are getting narrower, as the Democrat and Republican platforms have become wider.  This, in turn, has led both Obama and McCain to dance toward the middle of their party bases in the hopes of appealing to more voters beyond their initial supporters during the primaries.

McCain, an Arizona senator known for his bipartisanship “maverick” ways, recently pirouetted to the base of his party by choosing conservative Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.  This move appeased the Christian right, a fraction of the party that had been feeling left out by their chosen candidate, but for others, it called into question his identity as a nonconformist.  Some believe McCain was pressured by Republican strategists like Karl Rove to select Palin over his longtime friend and supporter former Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman. Read the full story

The study and the practice of law are inextricably linked in at least one way: they both create considerable amounts of stress and anxiety.  In response, we of the legal profession medicate stress in different ways.  Many students exercise or spend time with friends and family.  Others resort to quick fixes of materialism or seek contentment in an unhealthy meal.  However, the most concerning are those students who escape stress with substance use.  These students are at risk of harming themselves, their families, their ability to practice and their future clients.

Fifty SW students were surveyed to find generally the extent of and attitudes toward substance use at SW.  The survey was conducted among several small groups of students congregating in classrooms, study areas, and around campus.  A total of nine 1Ls, 31 2Ls and 10 3Ls were surveyed.  Between Aug. 18 and Sept. 18, 43 out of 53 Southwestern students surveyed used alcohol, 13 out of 50 used marijuana, and 4 out of 50 used cocaine.  Forty-four out of 50 students used caffeine, and 29 out of 50 smoked cigarettes.  One out of 4 students surveyed has used prescription attention-deficit disorder medication such as Adderall or Ritalin as a study aid without a prescription during law school.  And, more than half of the students, 27 out of 50, believe that the school and the student body are not doing enough to reduce student stress.

Perhaps the legal profession is cursed to have the highest rate of suicide, depression, and substance abuse of all the other professions.  Dentists have it easy - it’s not like there is another dentist working against them at every moment trying to destroy their clients.  Along these lines, UCLA Law Prof. Michael Asinow wrote that 50 to 70 percent of the disciplinary cases brought before the state bar result at least in part from alcohol or drug abuse, and lawyers are twice as likely as the general population to suffer from substance abuse.  The Louisiana State Bar reported that “it is verifiable that suicide among male lawyers is approximately two (2) times more likely than among men in the general population.”  And, according to a 1991 Johns Hopkins University study of depression in 105 professions, lawyers ranked No. 1 in the incidence of depression. Read the full story

On the eve of the seventh anniversary of 9/11, SW hosted a National Lawyers Guild Public Forum on government repression since 9/11.  The Public Forum drew a huge turnout - including concerned citizens, local civil rights attorneys, several members of the National Lawyers Guild, representatives for the Center for Constitutional Right (CCR), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), as well as a local television reporter from KWBU-TV, Channel 34.

Jim Lafferty, executive director of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, introduced the panel of speakers and set the tone for the forum:  “The USA PATRIOT Act, and the rest of the legislation and executive orders post-9/11 were not intended to make Americans safe from terrorism.  They were designed to make those that run this country safe from ‘We the People’ when we want to take to the streets to protest their wars and PATRIOT Act and FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) violations.”

The panel included Stacy Tolchin, an immigrant rights attorney; Ahilan Arulanantham, director of Immigrants Rights and National Security for the ACLU of Southern California; and Vince Warren, executive director of the CCR, which is based in New York.

Tolchin talked about the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles and across the country.  She praised the successful efforts of the attorneys and concerned citizens based here in LA who are able to advocate and secure basic rights for immigrants arrested and threatened with deportation.  She encouraged the LA-based advocates and attorneys to reach out to other communities around the country who have not been as successful.

Arulanantham discussed the work on which he and Tolchin collaborated to support immigrants who have been subjected to ICE raids.  He added that after 9/11, the environment Americans live in has changed with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.  He discussed international issues including the problematic term “refugee” as defined by the United Nations.  The ACLU is also working with the CCR to assist Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Warren praised both Tolchin and Arulanantham for their work to uphold citizens’ rights and to protect immigrants’ rights.  Warren, who represented the Guantanamo detainees in the U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down this June in Boumediene v. Bush, discussed the inadequacy of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals previously conducted in lieu of habeas corpus hearings.

Warren, along with many other advocates of the detainees, successfully presented the detainees’ case before the U.S. Supreme Court.  Guantanamo detainees are entitled to habeas corpus hearings as a result.

Warren said the next phase of representing the detainees in federal court will begin soon.  The biggest challenge the attorneys face is crafting a remedy for the detainees.  Warren’s passion for representing the Guantanamo detainees was evident.  He gave aspiring attorneys advice:  ”Be aggressive, and be a mouthpiece for your clients.”

When asked what percentage of detainees held in Guantanamo Bay were there for a legitimate reason, Warren responded with statistics.  Seton Hall University conducted an extensive study on the detainees and found that 92 percent of the detainees were there without a justifiable reason.  Since the Supreme Court ruling this past year, 246 of the original 775 detainees remain, and most were released without charge.  Of the remaining detainees, many will be cleared for release as well.  Warren said that of those still being held, the U.S. government will most likely put around 60 on trial.

Reflecting on the event, Rebecca Thornton, co-president of the NLG’s Los Angeles Chapter, said, “In this era of constant erosion of civil liberties in the name of security, it was inspiring to hear from lawyers of the National Lawyers Guild, ACLU and CCR who are fighting to restore constitutional rights on behalf of the most vulnerable people.  Without their commitment and passion, our treasured and fundamental principles of free speech, habeas corpus, due process and fair trial, among others, would be in even greater jeopardy.  Many thanks to the Southwestern Law School Chapter of the NLG for hosting this illuminating and insightful event.”

To become a member of the Southwestern Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, email swlaw.nlg@gmail.com.  For more information about the National Lawyers Guild, visit www.nlg.org.

Written by Barbara Rohr, 3L

Southwestern has opened a new Student Resource Center to help Southwestern students enhance their academic performance. The Student Resource Center is a joint effort of the Academic Support Program, the Dean’s Fellow Program and the Writing Center. The grand opening was held on Sept. 8.

“Both events were very well-attended,” said Robert Mena, director of Student Affairs. Mena said that the creation of the center was a collaborative effort between faculty and the offices of the Dean, Diversity Affairs, Academic Support and Student Affairs.

“Upon entering Southwestern, first-year students quickly realize that law school is a completely different animal,” said Mena. “You may have done extremely well in undergrad, but law school challenges you to the greatest degree. In addition, upper division students realize that this challenge continues past your first year. The center was created to help in all of these academic phases of law school.” Read the full story

Exciting things are happening at Southwestern. Yesterday, almost 150 of Southwestern’s recent graduates, students, and faculty came together to help launch a new innovative giving program: the Honors Program Members Challenge. Over wine and hors d’oeuvres, students mingled with recent alumni and networked, while graduates had the opportunity to catch up with their former classmates. There was plenty to talk about. Alumni were energized not just because they were reconnecting with the school and their friends, but also because of the tremendous innovations and changes that have occurred at Southwestern in recent years.

In 2007, the Carnegie Foundation recognized Southwestern’s first-year curricular reforms in a seminal and widely distributed report on legal education. The Carnegie Foundation also selected Southwestern as one of ten schools nationally - the only school in California, other than Stanford - to participate in a groundbreaking follow-up study to its 2007 report. Beginning in January 2009, the Association of American Law Schools’ Journal of Legal Education will be based out of Southwestern. Prior to Southwestern, the Journal had been edited out of Georgetown and before that Vanderbilt. And recently, Southwestern was honored as the first law school in the nation invited to take advantage of the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Fellowships offered by the John Hazard Institute of Hanover.

Alumni were also told how the school is a different place than it was a decade ago. With lower attrition rates (under 5%), substantial grading reforms, and a revised curriculum, the day-to-day life of students at the school has dramatically changed. Gone are the days of the myths and rumors (never true) that Southwestern “dropped” large segments of its entering classes. With a more friendly student-centered approach to law school, as well as the creation of the new Student Resource and Writing Centers, the Office of Diversity Affairs, and the re-energized Office of Student Affairs, many alumni were enthusiastic about Southwestern’s future. Perhaps the announcement that received the most attention, however, was when alumni were told of Dean Garth’s steps to purchase the building across the street, and how he is aggressively moving forward with the building of dorms - something that in three or four years will transform Southwestern’s campus.

Of course, the Honors Challenge is itself one of these initiatives designed to make Southwestern, already a great school, even better. The Honors Challenge is straightforward enough in its goals: it seeks to raise the school’s profile and strengthen the school’s alumni-student network. Current students in the school’s four honors programs - Law Review, Law Journal, Moot Court Honors Program, and Trial Advocacy Honors Program - are competing to obtain the highest percentage of recent alumni who give to the school’s Annual Fund. Every alumnus within the past ten years, who was a member of an honors group, is part of the Honors Challenge. The student group with the highest alumni participation rate will win the challenge and an award. The Honors Challenge will run from September 23 through December 15. The concept is based on similar fundraising challenges being used effectively by law schools across the nation, including Boston University, Georgetown, UCLA, USC, and Yale. Recognizing the importance of reaching out to all students and every alum, next year the school plans to expand this pilot program significantly.

Programs like the Honors Challenge are critically important for the school. Alumni support is the life-blood of any law school, and Southwestern is no exception. The school’s Annual Fund provides the law school with much needed funds to support scholarships, the law library, faculty research, and student groups. Fundraising is essential to compete with our peer law schools. Yet having alumni contribute to the school - even in small amounts - is important for another reason. A high participation rate acts as a signal that alumni are invested in the school’s success: a key consideration for the various accreditation and ranking agencies that view alumni giving rates as a proxy for “customer satisfaction.” Because the message that a high participation rate sends is so important, faculty and staff were asked to give back to the school this summer. Currently, almost 80% of Southwestern’s faculty and 75% of its staff contribute to the school’s Annual Fund.

We ended at 8:30 p.m., after three hours of great conversations and reconnecting with old friends (long after the last hors d’oeuvres were gone!). It was clear alumni left feeling good about having reestablished their commitment to Southwestern, knowing that their alma mater is on the rise.

Written by Austen Parrish, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs