The path that leads to the office of the general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers is not one that anyone could plot or plan. That includes Rob Pelinka, the man who sits behind the desk.

“There are 30 GMs in the world in the NBA. So 30 divided by the number of people in the universe, that’s a pretty low number,” the Lakers GM told about 180 law students and practicing attorneys March 30 at the Dale E. Fowler School of Law’s 2018 Entertainment and Sports Law Symposium.

“My commitment was always to the ‘excellence of the now,’” Pelinka said as he described his unconventional path to the front office in a keynote conversation with Fowler School of Law Dean Matt Parlow.

“It wasn’t, ‘I want to be the GM of the Lakers in 20 years, how do I get there?’ That’s a really low probability. But I think excellence in the now is a 100 percent possibility,” Pelinka said.

 A Road From the Final Four to Law School

A former college basketball player who participated in three Final Fours and played with the Fab Five – he was wearing his 1989 Michigan NCAA championship ring as his alma mater readied for the 2018 Final Four – Pelinka went on to graduate cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. He had no plans to become a sports agent and ended up representing Kobe Bryant. He had no plans to become a team executive and ended up as GM of one of sports’ most storied and valuable franchises, an organization Forbes estimated is worth $3 billion.

Pelinka credits his accomplishments to a series of mentors that began with his parents, recalling a time as a boy when his father took him to the welding shop at the high school where he taught and fashioned a small iron basketball hoop for his son.

“I remember him putting on the welding mask, sparks flying, I can still smell the room and remember that moment he brought that thing home, because he had invested so much time in making it,” Pelinka recalled. “He and my mom, they both said if you build your life around academic excellence and strong faith, and basketball and sports, you might see good things start happening.”

Once occupied largely by former players and coaches, the top front-office jobs in sports have become increasingly professionalized as athletes’ salaries and franchise values have soared. Like Pelinka, Golden State Warriors GM Bob Myers is an attorney and former agent. In Major League Baseball, Ivy League graduates moved into front offices as the influence of analytics spread, and in Chicago, both Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein and White Sox GM Rick Hahn have law degrees and Ivy League backgrounds.

Hard Work and the Human Element

In his talk, Pelinka stressed that his job involves much more than putting a team on the floor.

“You think it’s trades and salary cap and signing players,” he said. “When you’re managing a team of 100 people and helping with a brand, there’s hours and hours of meetings every day.”

Joking that the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement “is something ready to put you to sleep like the tax code, it’s 400 or 500 pages,” Pelinka also addressed the importance of crafting contracts and trades that work for both sides, an important aspect in any negotiation or mediation.

“If it’s 99 percent favorable to one team and one percent favorable to the other, it’s not happening. When you get close to 50-50, that’s where most trades happen,” he said.

Fowler Dean Matt Parlow, left, and Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka

Working closely with Lakers great Magic Johnson, the club’s president of basketball operations, Pelinka put together a deal in February that brought the Lakers two-time All-Star Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye and a 2018 first-round draft pick for Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr., and improved the team’s salary-cap flexibility in the process.

Amid the exhilaration of getting the deal done, Pelinka said, came “a deep kick in the gut” at trading away two players he liked.

“There’s a human element,” Pelinka said. “Many of you may think of players like assets. That’s not the case at all. You really get to know these guys.”

As an agent, being able to support a young player in crisis under the burden of financial difficulty and sudden fame was as memorable as jetting to China or Hong Kong with Bryant, Pelinka said.

“Being there in the moment like that… going through a hard time with a player and feeling like a mentor, a brother standing shoulder to shoulder, that’s probably what I remember most in those 20 years,” Pelinka said.

The way he handled himself across the negotiating table from the Lakers and in competition with other agents ultimately allowed Pelinka to make the big leap that the 6-foot-6 guard had never planned.

He was meeting with Jeanie Buss, the controlling owner of the Lakers, as she discussed the search for a general manager, saying she wanted someone with a legal mind, someone who was organized, understood trades and could help Johnson.

“She looked up and said, ‘Someone like you,’” Pelinka said. “It was a thunderbolt moment. That’s what really started the process.”

2018 Entertainment and Sports Law Symposium

Co-sponsored by Chapman Athletics and the Chapman Entertainment and Sports Law Society, the conference was the Fowler School of Law’s fifth Entertainment and Sports Law Symposium. Lauren Fitzpatrick (JD ‘18), Lisa Hurns (JD ‘18) and Hallie Lindsey (JD ’19), worked closely with Parlow, Fowler alumni and others to organize the event.

Ed O’Bannon, the former UCLA star who challenged the NCAA

Other sessions included a panel on the legal rights of student-athletes featuring Ed O’Bannon, the member of the 1995 UCLA national championship basketball team who sued the NCAA on behalf of athletes in 2009 after seeing himself depicted in an EA Sports video game without consent or compensation.

A federal judge ruled in O’Bannon’s favor in the class-action suit O’Bannon v. NCAA in 2014, saying the NCAA had violated antitrust laws in an unreasonable restraint of trade by limiting what college football and men’s basketball players could receive for playing sports. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the decision in 2015, agreeing the NCAA must allow schools to provide the “full cost of attendance,” enhancing food and housing allowances, but reversing a provision for cash compensation of up to $5,000 per year. Both sides appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case. (Electronic Arts, the maker of the video game, reached a settlement with players, making one-time payments that averaged $1,600 to about 25,000 players.)

O’Bannon, who was thanked by several athletes during the symposium, remained afterward to sign copies of his recent book, “Court Justice: The Inside Story of My Battle Against the NCAA.”

A session on Representing the Professional Athlete packed a lecture hall with students possibly interested in becoming sports agents. Commenting candidly on their positive and negative experiences with agents were retired Major League Baseball player Adam Kennedy, retired NBA players Derek Anderson and O’Bannon as well as former Golden State Warrior Festus Ezeli, who is attempting to come back from injuries, and retired NFL players Gregory Camarillo, Geoff Schwartz and Jacques McClendon along with current Indianapolis Colt Jermaine Grace. The panel was moderated by attorney Alicia Jessop (JD ’09), an assistant professor at Pepperdine University and sports journalist.

Panelists joining O’Bannon during the session on legal protections for student-athletes were Ramogi Huma, executive director of the National College Players Association; attorney Melissa Maxman, a partner in the firm Cohen & Gresser; Amy P. Perko, CEO of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics; and Jason Setchen, an attorney who represents high school and college athletes. The morning panel on Virtual Reality in the Sports featured Michael Casale, Ph.D., chief science officer, STRIVR; Kristy Gale, founder and CEO of Hypergolic; Andrew Hale, senior counsel, NextVR; Jonathan Lowe, senior vice president, AEG sports; and Rob Zuer, vice president, Denver Nuggets. It was moderated by Fowler Law professor Kathy Heller.

Featured image at top/Fowler School of Law Dean Matt Parlow, left, with Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka

Photographed on the sidelines with NBA star James Harden, Diana Day (J.D. ’07) occasionally has been confused by gossip-hungry fans for a girlfriend.

That is part of the background of sexist assumptions Day has overcome in a high-trajectory career negotiating contracts for professional athletes: Last year, she became the first woman cited by Forbes as one of the World’s Most Powerful Sports Agents, at No. 30.

The savvy Day leveraged her background as a UCLA athlete – she was a member of three NCAA championship water polo teams – along with key connections she made at Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law to launch a career with sports agencies while still a ‘3L.’ A decade later, Forbes estimated she played a role in landing $22.5 million in 2017 commissions.

Law School Changed Her Plan

Day once expected to go a very different direction.

“I always knew that I had a passion for sports, but I had my sights set on being a sports broadcaster,” she said.

As a student at UCLA, Day interned at Los Angeles television stations KCBS and KCAL.

“I loved it,” she said. But two things bothered her. One was the typical career path: Start as a sportscaster in a smaller media market in the hinterlands, pay your dues as a one-man band — or “one-woman band,” Day said with a laugh – and move up the ladder.

The other issue was more unsettling: There were stories at the time of women sportscasters inappropriately involved with athletes, and not-very-subtle suggestions that the casting couch was alive and well in sports broadcasting.

“I just thought, ‘This isn’t good,’” Day said. “I didn’t like the stigma that was attached to women. So I decided to go to law school to gain credibility as a female in the sports world.”

“When I started working with Diana as a student, I could immediately tell that she was going to be incredibly successful. She’s smart, strategic, dynamic, and hardworking. Diana is a real force in the sports world, and we couldn’t be more proud of her and all that she has accomplished.”

— Fowler School of Law Dean Matt Parlow

At Chapman’s Fowler School of Law, a new avenue emerged. Day did some work for Athletes First, a prominent Orange County sports agency with strong ties to UCLA, and discovered her legal skills and easy affinity with athletes helped her in recruiting clients, among them second-round NFL pick John Beck, a quarterback from Brigham Young.

Her big break came after Fowler Law classmate Kenny Schwarz (J.D.’05) insisted Day needed to meet his new brother-in-law: Turned out, Kenny’s sister Kristin, a pediatrician, had married Rob Pelinka — now general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers but then a player agent whose clients included Kobe Bryant. Before Day finished law school, she was working closely with Pelinka, eventually co-founding Landmark Sports Agency with Pelinka and Brandon Rosenthal.

Diana Day (J.D. ’07) and Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka

“We had a philosophy to really try to find people that were dedicated to excellence and had what I call ‘Swiss Army knife’ skills,” Pelinka said after speaking at Fowler’s 2018 Entertainment and Sports Law Symposium in March. “Diana, I knew, was a person of integrity who was very intelligent and had a legal mind. She had a good grasp of branding and marketing. So she had skills that I knew would be great in the sports industry.”

From Contracts to Branding

When Pelinka left for the Lakers last year, Day and her colleagues became the lead agents for the agency’s clients. But this spring, she also left Landmark, negotiating an exit to focus on her unique vision for players’ brands.

Recognizing and maximizing athletes’ endorsement potential is Day’s specialty, and there’s no better example than her work with the Houston Rockets’ Harden, a frontrunner for the 2017 Most Valuable Player Award who fell one victory shy of reaching the NBA Finals.

The quirky, bearded Harden is the star of ads for companies including Foot Locker, Adidas, State Farm, video-game maker Electronic Arts, and most unexpectedly, a candy, Trolli gummies. His annual marketing income by Forbes’ estimate: $20 million.

One of the home runs was a deal with EA Sports that Day worked on for 18 months.

“They signed him across all sports, in a way that they’ve never done with anyone before,” Day said. “He was on the cover of NBA Live, which is an EA game. He’s also in the FIFA game, and he was the star of the Madden 18 commercial.

“Out of that one deal, James was featured in four national and international commercials in less than a year,” she said.

Connecting Harden with sports fans only made sense, but Day saw beyond that.

“What people didn’t realize about him, because they just saw his beard, is that he’s actually a kid at heart,” Day said. “I wanted the public to see this side of him, so I worked with Foot Locker back in the day to create a funny commercial between James and [NBA player Russell Westbrook], and that commercial was such a success it has helped drive the style of Foot Locker commercials for the last six years or so. Footlocker did a great job showcasing his fun loving, comedic personality.”

The unexpected hit was Ferrara Candy Company, which owns Trolli, maker of flavored gummies.

“James loves those,” Day said. “It took me nine months to convince this candy company that had never really done a celebrity deal that they needed to sign James Harden, of all people, to a long-term partnership. To this day, I think that deal has been the most exciting I’ve done because it took a while to get them to do it but once they did it, they were all in and have been great partners of his. They’re a funky, weird, quirky brand, and so is James. The marriage was perfect.”

Trolli has made candies to resemble Harden’s beard and even his shoes.

“The partnership has been very successful for both parties,” Day said, “especially because it opened an entirely new demographic of sports fans to Trolli.”

A New Vision

Day is in the midst of a pivot, or a timeout to reset her game plan, if you will.

“I don’t think many people have an opportunity – I’m 15 years into a career – to stop and pause and reset and say, ‘What do I want to do for the next phase of my life?’” Day said.

“I see a change in the industry. I feel like the majority of the past 20 years, agents have been mainly focused on the  ‘show me the money’ moment that athletes have with regards to their sport’s contracts, maybe thanks to the movie ‘Jerry Maguire.’”

“Today’s professional athlete is so much more than just an athlete — they’re actually a brand. They’re a company, and they just happen to play a sport very well. And if that brand or that company is massaged and molded and shepherded the right way over the course of a player’s playing career, it’s going to be enough for the rest of their lives. And basketball or football will have just been a period of time in their life, but the rest of their legacy will continue on.”

With rookie pay scales now set in the NBA and NFL, Day anticipates a transition toward athletes wanting agents that are more focused on brand-building than just the traditional player contracts.

“I do see an industry shift, and I’d like to be at the forefront of it.”

The newest students at Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law are the most diverse class in the law school’s history.

They also are among the most highly qualified, with a median LSAT score of 157 and a median undergraduate GPA of 3.42, key measures of student preparedness that are rising at Fowler year after year.

“The Fowler School of Law is experiencing great momentum, and our impressive group of first-year students arrives alongside news of the recent recognition we received from the ABA and PreLaw Magazine,” Dean Matt Parlow said, referring to a seventh-place finish in the inaugural American Bar Association Competitions Championship and a No. 23 national ranking for practical training by PreLaw Magazine.

“Our practice-ready education — and the personalized support we provide — distinguishes us among law schools, and we look forward to helping all of our students pursue their goals, achieve success in the legal profession, and make an impact in their communities,” Parlow said.

The 153 students in the Class of 2021 represent 58 undergraduate institutions and 40 academic majors. They hail from 11 states and five foreign countries, and speak 13 languages: Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, Hebrew, Romanian, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian, Urdu and Vietnamese.

About 48 percent of the students come from traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, and 29 percent were the first generation in their families to graduate from college.

Women make up 58 percent of the class, with 42 percent men. The students are even diverse in age: They range from 21 to 54. (The average age is 25.)

Their resumes include experience as varied as serving as a city council member, a White House intern, a university professor and playing professional soccer.

After three years of study together, they’ll share one of the additional benefits of attending Fowler: a comprehensive bar preparation program, with rigorous review courses, extensive practice tests and detailed instructor feedback.

Display image at top/The Fall 2018 entering class with Dean Matt Parlow and University Trustee Wylie Aitken, a member of the Fowler School of Law Board of Advisors.  

Hon. Timothy Weiner (LL.M. ’10) wants Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law students to keep an open mind and learn as much as possible about the area of law in which they’re interested.

And students would be wise to heed his advice — because after all, it worked for him. Weiner was just appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court by Gov. Jerry Brown earlier this year.

But before his appointment — and before serving 15 years as a deputy attorney general for the California Department of Justice and two-and-a-half years as a Superior Court commissioner — Weiner was an undergraduate at the University of California, Santa Cruz, fully intending on becoming a school psychologist. Although he was accepted to a Ph.D. program in educational psychology, he decided to try his hand in the private sector, where he worked for about five years as the director of operations for a marine electronics company.

So how does one go from school psychology to the marine electronics industry to becoming a Superior Court judge? It may not be as big of a stretch as it first seems. At least, not once you hear Weiner talk about the importance of volunteerism and service to the community.

“After working in the marine electronics industry, I decided that I wanted to do something that would have a positive impact on my community,” Weiner says. “I knew that whatever I did as a lawyer had to incorporate some type of public service. Working as a criminal prosecutor or public defender provides an outstanding opportunity to serve.”

Weiner reflects fondly on his time in the LL.M. program at the Fowler School of Law.

“I owe a lot to Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law and the opportunities it has provided,” says Weiner. “In any competitive market, there’s a tremendous number of talented people applying for limited spots. Getting an LL.M. from Fowler was a very positive accomplishment, and I have to believe that it helped to distinguish me from other qualified applicants.”

Another aspect of the Chapman experience that stood out to Weiner was the small class size.

“Career prosecutors from all over California and the military met in the program,” Weiner says. “Meeting and studying with a small group of experienced prosecutors was really great.”

Weiner continues his goal of service as an adjunct professor at Southwestern Law School and as a captain in the California State Military Reserve’s Legal Support Command. “I teach and talk to students a lot,” he says. “I always tell them to learn about different areas of law, so they can keep their options as open as possible.”

“For instance, I decided that I wanted to be a prosecutor, and just assumed I’d be a deputy district attorney. After learning about the work performed by state prosecutors, I ended up as a deputy attorney general at the California Department of Justice – and loved it!”

With the Fowler School of Law’s practice-ready approach that includes legal clinics, internships, paid positions and numerous externships, students have many opportunities to explore their options the way Weiner did.

“There is nothing more important than externships,” says Weiner. “It’s where you meet people and try out your skills. It’s where you learn from people who are actually doing the work you want to do.”

So what’s next for Weiner? Disneyland?

“A place on the Superior Court bench has been my goal for such a long time that I truly haven’t given any thought to what might be next,” he says. “Right now, I’m just enjoying the opportunity to serve as a Superior Court judge.”

It’s one thing to talk about diversity and inclusion. It’s another to put in the work and show results. So, when the Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law was recently honored with a CLEO EDGE Award for Greater Equality, it was an acknowledgment of how “diversity” is much more than just a buzzword for the school—it’s intricately woven into the school’s fabric.

“Having the support from the top down allows for a true commitment to diversity,” said Associate Director for Admissions and Diversity Allison Takeda Flaig.

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) created the CLEO EDGE Awards to recognize individuals and organizations that have shown a commitment to Education, Diversity, and Greater Equality in the legal profession. They selected 50 recipients for each of those three categories, and Fowler School of Law was one of just 11 schools honored with the Greater Equality award.

“We’re extremely proud of this recognition, which speaks to the hard work our staff and faculty put into diversity and outreach efforts,” Dean Matt Parlow said. “The underlying work supports one of the pillars of Chapman University’s strategic plan—community engagement and increased diversity.”

Takeda Flaig accepted the award on behalf of the school at the CLEO EDGE Awards Gala on Nov. 15 in Washington, D.C., where civil rights trailblazer Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. received the inaugural CLEO EDGE Heritage Award, now named in his honor. Other honorees included educators, social justice activists, and politicians, including—in absentia—former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michele Obama.

“To see multiple law schools, organizations and individuals being recognized was quite amazing,” said Takeda Flaig. “Having a wider range of backgrounds and perspectives in the legal community increases access to justice for an increasingly diverse population. It makes us hopeful for the future of what the legal profession is going to look like.”

Takeda Flaig is also the director of Fowler School of Law’s Pre-Law Undergraduate Scholars (PLUS) Program, which introduces the law school experience to first- and second-year college students from groups traditionally underrepresented in the legal profession. Funded by a grant from the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), the no-cost, five-week summer program establishes a supportive learning community and provides a foundational understanding for students seeking to become a lawyer.

The law school’s diversity efforts have shown results. The newest class of first-year law students at Fowler is the most diverse in its 25-year history, with about 48 percent coming from traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, and first-generation college students making up 29 percent of the class. That class is also among the most highly qualified, with a median undergraduate GPA of 3.42 and median LSAT score of 157.

The CLEO EDGE Award isn’t the first time the Fowler School of Law has received accolades for its diversity initiatives. It’s also a six-time recipient of the DiscoverLaw.Org Diversity Matters Award. But the school isn’t about to rest on its laurels.

“We’ve been working hard adding events every year geared toward diversity,” said Takeda Flaig. “In the larger goal of diversity and inclusiveness, we’re all in this together.”

Display image at top/Associate Director for Admissions and Diversity Allison Takeda Flaig poses with other honorees at the CLEO EDGE Awards Gala. (Photo/Courtesy CLEO, Inc.)

Throughout her decades-spanning career, Jeanie Buss has worn a lot of hats. She has been the owner of a roller hockey team (the Los Angeles Blades), the president of an arena (The Forum), and currently, the chief executive officer of one of the most successful NBA teams of all time, the Los Angeles Lakers. She was named one of the Top 20 Most Influential Women in Sports by Sporting News, “one of the most powerful women in the NBA” by ESPN, and “the most important woman in sports” by Bloomberg.

But before she could take her first job in sports—as manager of the Los Angeles Strings, the professional tennis team purchased by her late father, Dr. Jerry Buss—then-19-year-old Jeanie Buss had to make a promise to finish out the degree she’d started at the University of Southern California.

“That was a very important thing to my father, as it should be,” Buss told a packed room during a special appearance on Feb. 5 at the Dale E. Fowler School of Law as part of the Chapman Dialogue Series and George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics 20th Anniversary Distinguished Speaker Series. “Education was the No. 1 most important thing. I did it and learned a lot of good lessons.”

Buss joined Fowler School of Law Dean Matt Parlow on stage inside Kennedy Hall for an hour-long conversation about sports leadership. Among the many aspects of her varied career discussed was how Buss handled going from managing a single sports team to running a venue like the Forum—which, on any given night, might have been hosting a basketball game, boxing match, or rock concert.

“Before, I was a promoter trying to sell tickets,” Buss said of taking over as general manager and president of the Forum in 1995. “Now I was trying to attract promoters. It gave me a whole different viewpoint and valuable experience. It’s just a different side of the business that people forget about.”

When her father sold the Forum and the Lakers moved to the Staples Center in 1999, Buss was named executive vice president of business operations for the basketball team, which required her to once again flex a different set of skills. “I was overseeing all of the areas on the side that was generating revenue: ticket sales, broadcast, sponsorship,” said Buss.

Buss also had to deal with worried Lakers fans who “felt that we were going to lose our mystique by moving to a new arena” after 32 years at the Forum. However, those fears were allayed when in their first season at the Staples Center, led by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, the Lakers once again won the NBA championship.

“If I was giving any advice to any team moving to a new facility, it’s [to] win a championship that first year,” Buss joked, “because then everything just relaxes.”

Argyros School of Business and Economics Dean Dr. Thomas Turk, L.A. Lakers CEO Jeanie Buss, and Fowler School of Law Dean Matt Parlow.

Since taking control of the Lakers, Buss has dealt with a range of new challenges, including a string of player injuries, the retirement of Bryant, and numerous management changes. But the team, which was so important to her father (“I like to say my dad had six children, but the Lakers were his babies,” said Buss), is getting back on track.

Buss hired former Lakers star Magic Johnson as its president of basketball operations and noted sports agent Rob Pelinka (the keynote speaker at the Fowler School of Law’s 2018 Sports Law Symposium) as general manager. Several significant player signings followed, perhaps none more important or validating than that of superstar LeBron James just before the 2018-2019 season.

“I think we’re headed in a good direction,” Buss said. “We’re not done yet by any means, but we’re gaining momentum, our ratings are back up, and we have the best free agents. You can’t win every year, but you have to be part of the conversation. You have to give young talent the opportunity to be in the playoffs.”

Although running the Lakers might seem like one of the most highly visible, demanding jobs in the sports world, at the end of the day, it’s still just a family-run business to Buss. And it’s one that she feels is the best fit for her, even after all these years.

“My dad wanted us to have all these opportunities and to gravitate toward the things that we liked,” said Buss. “You’re not going to have the passion for something if it’s not something that inspires you every day. He saw that I was willing, and I wanted to commit the time, and he knew I was passionate about it.”

But passion is only part of the picture. Buss credits her success in part to the wide range of experience she’s gained in her various roles, from running minor league sports operations to finding creative ways to fill up the Forum when its resident teams were on the road or in off-season. It’s a lesson in adaptability from which she hopes others can learn.

“It’s a very competitive world out there,” said Buss. “Every skill set you can acquire is going to help you excel in the career that you choose. When you’re young and have the energy, take all the opportunities that you can—even if it’s something you don’t think you want to do, expose yourself to it so you understand how important it is.”

A recent $1 million gift received by the Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law establishes a new endowed professorship that will help expand the institution’s innovative bar exam preparation program.

Professor Mario Mainero, the executive director of bar preparation and academic achievement at the Fowler School of Law, has been named as the inaugural Gray Family Professor of Law.

“Professor Mainero has built one of the best bar preparation programs in the country,” said Fowler School of Law Dean Matthew Parlow.

That program includes two distinct for-credit courses that students take as part of the JD curriculum and an intensive supplemental program after graduation, during which the participants attend classes, receive individualized feedback on practice essays, and take several mock bar exams.

The new endowment, made by a donor who was moved by a family member’s experience with the school’s bar preparation program, not only recognizes Professor Mainero’s success, but also all of those who teach in the program (including Professor Tom Caso and adjunct professors John Bishop and Kent Sommer), as well as the many Fowler School of Law alumni and friends who grade students’ work in the program—which last year included more than 4,000 practice essays.

“This endowment reflects our unparalleled efforts in developing resources to support our students, as well as the dedication and hard work of the entire Fowler School of Law bar prep team,” Mainero said. “The endowment will, over the years, be instrumental in giving students the additional assistance they need in meeting the challenges of the nation’s most difficult bar exam.”

This is the fourth gift of at least $1 million received by the Fowler School of Law in the last several years. These generous contributions have helped fund scholarships, professorships, and various programs, as well as upgrades and renovations to the school’s home, Kennedy Hall.

“Gifts at this level are rare in legal education,” said Parlow, “and our receiving four of them within the past two years is a testament to the belief, support, and confidence that donors have in the important and impactful work that we do with our students.”

It was standing room only inside the Chapman University Fowler School of Law’s appellate courtroom on Monday as two first-year law students delivered and defended their final arguments in the 2019 Rutan & Tucker Golden Gavel Competition.

This public exhibition capped off the annual competition, during which 1L students engage in oral argument based on briefs they write over the course of their spring Legal Research and Writing class.

After several rounds of competition the previous week, four semi-finalists were left standing on the evening of April 12: Alexander Cargill and Caitlin O’Bara for the defendant, and Alexis Jugan and Yara Wahba for the government. Although all the semi-finalists’ arguments were strong, in the end, Cargill and Wahba emerged as the two Golden Gavel winners, each earning a $500 scholarship and the coveted Golden Gavel award.

On Monday afternoon, they faced off in the final exhibition round presided by a panel of guest judges: U.S. District Court Judge Karen Scott, California Court of Appeal Associate Justice Thomas Goethals, and John Hurlbut, partner of the competition’s sponsoring firm, Rutan & Tucker, LLP.

Justice Thomas Goethals, Yara Wahba, Judge Karen Scott, Alexander Cargill, and John Hurlbut.

Following their deliberation, the judges—who pulled no punches during both the defense and prosecution’s arguments and rebuttals—unanimously praised the two finalists on their performance.

“It’s obvious why you’ve made it through rounds and are sitting here today,” said Goethals. “Both of you, in terms of answering questions, are as good or better than most lawyers I saw in court this morning.”

Hurlbut, who has also served as a Golden Gavel judge in previous years, noted that both Cargill and Wahba were exceptionally prepared and did a “very good” job of answering the judges’ inquiries without losing momentum on their argument.

“A lot of lawyers don’t answer the question directly,” Hurlbut said. “There was not a case mentioned you didn’t have an answer to.”

Rutan & Tucker, a prominent Orange County law firm, has a long history of investment in the mission of Chapman University and the Fowler School of Law. Several Fowler alumni are employed by the firm, including partners Jennifer Farrell, Brandon Sylvia, and Kenneth Zielinski.

It’s been 20 years since Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law moved into the building that we now know as Donald P. Kennedy Hall. While that’s an impressive milestone worth celebrating, the law school has never been content to rest upon its laurels, and the same goes for its iconic home in the heart of Orange, California.

As Kennedy Hall crosses the two-decade mark, the Fowler School of Law is finding ways to innovate within the 133,000-square-foot building, to continuously improve the physical experience for students, faculty, and guests.

“We are always looking for ways to keep Kennedy Hall one of the best and most up-to-date law school buildings in the country,” said Fowler School of Law Dean Matt Parlow.

One such upgrade to the building taking place this summer is the construction of a new Student Services Center on the third floor, directly across from the Dean’s Suite. Made possible by Chapman University capital funding and a generous donation by Fowler School of Law Board of Advisors Chairman Park Kennedy, this new one-stop shop will house the law school’s Career Services, Student Affairs, and Academic Achievement offices.

“We hope that by bringing these different areas together we can build on creative synergies that will help us achieve greater levels of personalized student support, engagement, and success,” Parlow said.

In addition to providing new offices, meeting spaces and interview rooms, the Student Services Center will bring a light, modern feel to the third floor of Kennedy Hall, allowing more natural sunlight to flow through that suite—making it open and inviting to students and employers alike.

Another renovation project designed to improve the student experience at the law school is a remodel of the first-floor Bergener Mirejovsky Student Lounge. Already a popular destination for students to recharge and refuel between classes, the remodeled student lounge will feature a more open floor plan, including a more organic connection to the James M. Bergener Game Room, and provide more functional kitchen space—as well as all-new flooring, light fixtures and furniture.

The Fowler School of Law Student Bar Association (SBA) approached school administration about updating the student lounge, and both students and administrators worked together to create a new design that reflected the students’ vision for the space. Law school leadership found the designs for the finished project so compelling that Parlow offered to use fundraised dollars to cover the difference between the SBA’s budget and the entire budget for a whole-scale renovation.

Other recent projects have included a high-tech renovation of the Wylie A. Aitken Trial Courtroom and an updating of the Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library, which started last year with lowered book stacks and new furniture and will continue later this year with fresh carpets for the heavily used space.

“We look forward to having these exciting, new spaces to support our students’ success,” said Parlow.

For many young people, meeting their favorite actor or singer might cause them to swoon. For California State University, Fullerton student Maiyah Lyles, though, her fangirl moment came when meeting a different kind of star: Orange County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Macias.

“She came to campus and told us her story,” Lyles said, “and in my head, I was thinking, ‘This is the person I want to be.’”

Lyles is one of only 20 undergraduate students selected out of 150 applicants to participate in Chapman University Fowler School of Law’s summer Pre-Law Undergraduate Scholars (PLUS) Program, which introduces community college and university students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds to the law school experience.

“This program is an opportunity to expose students to what law school is going to be like and what they’re going to need to be successful in the law school application process,” said Justin Cruz, Assistant Dean of Admission and Diversity Initiatives at the Fowler School of Law. “What it really does is allows us to develop campus leaders who will also become the next generation of law students.”

Thanks to a three-year, $300,000 grant from the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), participation in the program is provided at no cost to students, in addition to their housing and meals. Over five weeks, they take several law classes, which are taught by both Fowler School of Law faculty and guest instructors from local courts and law practices.

“The PLUS students learn about important law topics including immigration law, criminal law, and legal research and writing,” said Fowler School of Law Dean Matt Parlow. “The skills gained in this program help students build confidence and a develop sense of what it takes not only to get into law school, but also to be successful in life.”

For five weeks each summer, PLUS students get a taste of what it’s like to be a law student, both in classrooms and through service projects.

In addition to their work in the classroom, PLUS students also work on service projects with nonprofits and legal clinics in the local community, including Catholic Charities, Community Legal Aid Society of Orange County, Public Law Center, and Veterans Legal Institute.

“I would go to Catholic Charities and everything I learned in class was applied there,” said PLUS student Khalea Edwards, “but it’s heightened, because it’s real life.”

For Lyles, not only has participating in the PLUS program reinforced her interest in a legal career, but by introducing her and her classmates to working attorneys and exposing them to the day-to-day reality of being a lawyer, it has painted a clearer picture of what a legal career might look like.

“The best part has been getting to meet attorneys,” Lyles said, “Just to see them living and breathing. On TV, you just see them arguing in court. It makes the job more realistic for me, knowing what they actually do and what I need to do to become an attorney.”

This year’s PLUS students hail from around the United States—14 come from California community colleges or universities, and six are from out-of-state institutions, including four students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

“One goal of the program is to expose students from outside California to the vibrant community and family found at Chapman,” said Cruz. “Students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities typically do not have as much access to pre-law programs, so to be able to bring them to Chapman from their respective campuses on the East Coast is really exciting.”

Edwards, who will be studying political science at the University of Missouri in the fall, heard about the program through her relationship with the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, which she received from Princeton University in 2017 for her work toward improving race relations at her high school. A St. Louis resident, she was inspired to become an activist by a personal tragedy in her family that happened about the time of the controversial Michael Brown shooting in nearby Ferguson, Missouri.

“I want to be a lawyer not only to create change within my community, but also to create societal change,” Edwards said. “Kids in communities like mine need faces of color in positions to really engage – not just lawyers, but to see people who are in higher positions – it does make a difference. It does matter.”

Although launched in only 2017, Fowler’s PLUS Program has already seen productive results as the graduates of its inaugural session complete their undergraduate studies. First-year participant Cole Clark joined the Kappa Alpha Pi pre-law fraternity at University of California San Diego as director of professional development and was recently admitted to the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. Another 2017 alumna, Jenna Balsiger, is already working in the law profession as a legal assistant as she finishes her last semester at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in December and studies for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT).

“We’re directly impacting the lives of students who don’t have parents or family members who went to law school,” said Cruz. “They go back to their respective schools with this network, this skill set, and a thirst for leadership. We want every student to leave this program feeling like they belong in the legal profession.”

On August 14, the Fowler School of Law at Chapman University welcomed its newest class of first-year law students to the Chapman Family. This incoming class is one of the law school’s most well-qualified, with a median LSAT score of 158 and median GPA of 3.49—indicators of student preparedness that have sharply risen over the last three years, more so than almost any other U.S. News & World Report-ranked law school.

“This is one of the strongest classes in the history of the Fowler School of Law,” said Dean Matt Parlow. “Their impressive credentials speak to the momentum we’re experiencing, and we look forward to providing these students with our trademark individualized support to help them achieve their academic and professional goals.”

The new crop of Fowler Law students is also one of its most diverse, with 42% minority representation and 26% first-generation college students. These 150 students come to Chapman from 54 different undergraduate institutions, spanning 10 U.S. states and four foreign countries—Canada, China, Korea, and Lebanon. Half a dozen languages are spoken by the new 1L class.

The class of 2022 also brings a diversity of academic, professional and personal experience to the Fowler School of Law. The incoming class includes a co-founder of an app development company, a former employee of both SpaceX and NASA, and a one-time member of the primary explosive security team assigned to President Barack Obama’s presidential motorcade. Multiple students were Division 1 athletes, and several served in the military.

These new students will be among the first to enjoy the benefits of recent innovations at Fowler Law, including expanded bar preparation and academic achievement programs, a remodeled student lounge, and the all-new Center for Student Engagement, which is slated to open mid-September.

Three members of the Chapman University Fowler School of Law’s faculty are scheduled to be speakers at the upcoming Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting, which is being held in Washington, D.C. from Jan. 2 – 5, 2020.

Professor Donald Kochan, Parker S. Kennedy Professor in Law, will be participating in two sessions: as a commentator during the “Legislation & Law of the Political Process and Administrative Law Joint Program” on Jan. 3 at 3:30 p.m., and as a speaker during the “Real Estate Transactions and Creditors’ and Debtors’ Rights Joint Program” on Jan. 4 at 10:30 a.m.

Professor Kenneth Stahl, director of the Fowler School of Law’s Environmental Land Use and Real Estate program, will be the moderator of the “Property Law and State & Local Government Law Joint Program” on Jan. 4 at 1:30 p.m.

And Legal Research and Writing Professor Abigail Patthoff will moderate two back-to-back “Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research” panels on Jan. 5 starting at 10:30 a.m.

According to the AALS website, the annual meeting “serves as an opportunity to connect and collaborate with colleagues, discuss critical and emerging legal issues, and attend programs focused on fresh perspectives on law and legal education.” The Fowler School of Law has been a full member of the AALS since 2006.

Top image: Fowler School of Law Professors Donald Kochan, Abigail Patthoff, and Kenneth Stahl.

Based on recently released national law school admissions data, the Fowler School of Law at Chapman University saw the largest gains in incoming class credentials of any U.S. law school from 2016 to 2019, with the median LSAT score increasing three full points, from 155 to 158, and the median undergraduate GPA increasing by a quarter point, from 3.24 to 3.49.

These huge gains in incoming class metrics have accompanied an increase in student body diversity, record employment for graduates, and dramatic growth in applications year over year. In addition, the Fowler School of Law’s success has attracted the support of donors who have given more than $4 million in gifts over the last three years, funding new facilities, scholarships, and programs.

“Our progress is a testament to the strength and diversity of our student body and the great work being done by the faculty and staff here at the law school,” said Fowler School of Law Dean Matthew Parlow. “I’m proud of the many ways our school continues to excel among law schools nationally.”

Chapman University Fowler School of Law alumna Katie Rodin ’01 (JD ‘05) received the “Sports Counsel of the Year” award from the Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel at its 2020 Counsel of the Year Awards. Rodin is vice president and general counsel for the Anaheim Ducks, where she oversees all legal activities not just for that hockey club, but also for the San Diego Gulls, the Honda Center, and The Rinks. She has been with the organization since 2008.

“We couldn’t be prouder of Katie’s achievements and the leadership she provides in her role as general counsel of the Anaheim Ducks,” said Fowler School of Law Dean Matthew Parlow. “Her success is reflective of the strong ties our school has to both the sports industry and the Orange County community.”

Rodin received her bachelor of science from Chapman University’s Argyros School of Business and Economics in 2001 and her JD from the Fowler School of Law in 2005. Prior to joining the Ducks, she practiced at a boutique law firm in Corona Del Mar, California, which served as outside general counsel for hospitals, technology companies and other organizations. Rodin is in good company among several other Chapman alumni who work for the Ducks, including associate counsel Lauren Fitzpatrick (JD ’18).

An active community member in her native Orange County, Rodin serves on the Board of Directors for Taller San Jose Hope Builders and is a founding board member and former chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Sports and Entertainment Network.

According to rankings recently released by the Princeton Review, Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law is among the best in the United States.

The New York-based education company featured Chapman in its 2020 “Best Law Schools,” where the law school not only ranks 82nd overall, but also in the Top 50 for the “Academic Experience” (which measures the quality of a school’s learning environment) and “Professors: Accessibility” categories.

In assembling this year’s “Best Law Schools” list, the Princeton Review surveyed more than 19,000 law school students, in addition to compiling data directly from the schools to complete the list. Surveyed students commented on the Fowler School of Law’s “emphasis on practical classes,” “excellent bar prep program,” and “strong sense of community.”

These rankings come on the heels of a recent study that showed the Fowler School of Law ranks 76th of all U.S. law schools for the academic impact of its faculty’s scholarly output.

“These external recognitions demonstrate that on both a teaching and scholarly level, we are providing a dynamic, high-quality educational environment for our students,” said Matthew Parlow, dean of the Fowler School of Law.

This fall, the Dale E. Fowler School of Law at Chapman University will welcome a new member to its distinguished teaching faculty. James C. Phillips, currently a fellow at Stanford Law School’s Constitutional Law Center, will begin teaching at Chapman at the start of the 2020-2021 academic year.

“What is most appealing about coming to Chapman is that it is a place that cares about helping students succeed,” Professor Phillips said. “Chapman has institutionalized that care through various programs and policies that help students not just in law school, but in passing the bar and finding a job. That’s important to me.”

Professor Phillips is also an associate attorney at Salt Lake City-based Kirton McConkie, where he is a member of the firm’s First Amendment and Religious Organizations practice group. Previously, he clerked for Judge Thomas B. Griffith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Thomas Rex Lee of the Utah Supreme Court. Professor Phillips taught administrative law at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark School of Law, where he conceptualized and supervised the initial development of the Corpus of Founding Era American English. Prior to that, he also taught judicial politics in BYU’s political science department.

A prolific scholar, Professor Phillips has been published in some of the country’s most prestigious law journals, including the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and the Yale Law Journal Forum, among many others. Much of his recent work has been on the subject of corpus linguistics, a relatively new scholarly discipline that seeks to use large databases of naturally occurring language (or corpora) to get better leverage on linguistic questions in the law.

“We’re very pleased to have James joining the faculty here at the law school,” said Fowler School of Law Dean Matt Parlow. “He has become one of the most prominent scholars in the field of corpus linguistics, an exciting, burgeoning area of statutory and constitutional interpretation.”

Professor Phillips received his bachelor of arts in history from Arizona State University, a master of arts in mass communication from Brigham Young University, and both his JD and a Ph.D. in jurisprudence and social policy from the University of California, Berkeley. While at UC Berkeley, he was on the editorial board of the California Law Review and served as editor of the symposium editions of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.

Building on already unprecedented momentum, Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law rose 21 spots in the annual U.S. News & World Report “Best Law Schools” Rankings, to 111—the largest increase of all California law schools this year, and of all U.S. law schools the last two years.

“External recognition like this reinforces the tremendous work being done here by our students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters alike,” said Matthew J. Parlow, dean of the law school. “I’m extremely proud of all that we’ve accomplished together in making the Fowler School of Law a dynamic place that is on the move.”

In addition to the dramatic rise in overall rank for the school, four of the Fowler School of Law’s programs are ranked in the Top 100 of U.S. News & World Report’s Law School Specialty Rankings: Constitutional Law, Dispute Resolution, Tax Law, and Trial Advocacy.

Upward Momentum

The latest rankings come in the wake of sharp gains in incoming class credentials that Fowler Law has seen over the last few years—the largest of any U.S. law school from 2016 to 2019. In that period, the median LSAT score of incoming students increased three full points, from 155 to 158, and the median undergraduate GPA increased by a quarter point, from 3.24 to 3.49.

At the same time, the law school has not only maintained but increased its commitment to providing a personalized legal education. Fowler Law’s student-to-faculty ratio is now 6.5-to-1, one of the lowest in the nation, and its practice-oriented curriculum once again earned accolades from preLaw magazine as one of its Top Schools for Practical Training—as well as being recognized as a Top School for both Alternative Dispute Resolution and Family Law.

This year, the Princeton Review also included Fowler Law in its 2020 “Best Law Schools,” ranking the law school 82nd overall, as well as in the Top 50 for the “Academic Experience” and “Professors: Accessibility” categories. In addition, a recent study found that Fowler Law ranks 76th of all U.S. law schools for the academic impact of its faculty’s scholarship. And the school’s students continue to shine as well: Fowler Law’s competition teams were ranked 5th among U.S. Law Schools in the 2019 ABA Competitions Championship.

A Community Effort

The community has also recognized Fowler Law’s rise and is actively contributing to it. In the last three years, the law school has received four separate $1 million-plus gifts. These donations and other financial support have supported expansions of the school’s academic achievement, bar preparation, and student competition programs; underwritten professorships and scholarships; and funded numerous facilities improvements, including a cutting-edge transformation of the Wylie A. Aitken Trial Courtroom, the development of a brand-new Center for Student Engagement, and a modernization of the Sam & Ash Student Lounge.

“This incredible support has helped us elevate many of our signature programs in support of our students, and we have received national recognition because of these efforts,” Parlow said. “These gifts recognize not just the accomplishments of our law school, but the potential we have to take our work with students to the next level.”

Robbie Munoz (JD ’20) was an amateur boxer training to qualify for the U.S. Olympic boxing team trials in 2008 when he suffered a knee injury. He underwent what should have been a standard procedure to repair it, but the surgeon ended up operating on the wrong knee. The resulting damage meant Munoz’s budding athletic career was over in an instant.

“It rocked my identity,” Munoz said. “There was kind of a crossroads: What am I going to do with my life now?”

Munoz’s resulting medical negligence case was represented—successfully–by attorney Dan Hodes and his team at Hodes Milman, LLP. Inspired by the compassion and support he experienced from his legal team, Munoz realized he wanted to do the same for other people.

“They showed me that you can have a really profound impact on people that are likely facing some of the most difficult times of their lives,” said Munoz.

Split Decision

Munoz was pursuing a political science degree at the time at the University of California, Irvine, with an interest in possibly going into politics—he even interned with then-U.S. Congressman Xavier Becerra. But after his life-changing experience, Munoz turned his focus toward becoming a trial lawyer instead—a career path that he said is comparable to his former athletic pursuits.

“It was very much to me like the idea of being in a boxing ring,” Munoz said. “It’s not always one-on-one, but it’s that idea of ‘I’ve got my team and defense counsel has their team and you’re going head-to-head.’ I think it takes that same competitive instinct and spirit.”

Munoz joined Hodes Milman as a law clerk, and a few years later, was accepted to the Chapman University Fowler School of Law. During his time at the law school, Munoz has been involved in several student organizations, including the Student Bar Association and Hispanic Law Student Association, and competed in a mock trial competition during his second year.

One-Two Punch

In the summer of 2019, two big opportunities came along that would further shape Munoz’s legal career path. First, he was awarded a spot in the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association’s Trial Advocacy Internship Program, which rotates law students through three plaintiff law firms to gain exposure to the work of trial attorneys.

“The Simon Law Group was one of the stops,” Munoz said. “I spent a month shadowing two of their senior trial attorneys in a pretty big case and trial. It was awesome. They’re unbelievable trial attorneys, and they were younger, so we just really connected. It was throughout that experience where I realized this is where I wanted to be.”

The other opportunity Munoz took advantage of that summer was attending the Graduate Program at the Trial Lawyers College, held annually at Thunderhead Ranch outside of Dubois, Wyoming, as a law student intern.

“I was working with people that have already graduated who were honing their skills,” said Munoz, “and that was really interesting because it forced me to elevate. I had no experience in the courtroom, but I was working in groups, so I had to really step up and do my best to fit in.”

Going the Distance

After returning from his Trial Lawyers College internship, Munoz started working as a law clerk at the Simon Law Group. There, Munoz has been able to take everything he has learned—in the classroom, from his mentors, and from his summer internships—and apply them to real cases. Under the supervision of an attorney, he has already tried two cases for the firm’s “Justice Team” as a certified law clerk, both of which won six-figure verdicts for the plaintiffs.

“Some people with special talent should not have to wait years and ‘pay their dues’ to be lead trial counsel,” said Robert Simon, co-founding partner of The Simon Law Group. “People should be given their shot right out of law school, and for some very special ones, while in law school. Robbie Munoz is that special talent whose time is now.”

Given his accomplishments and positive experiences with the firm so far, it’s no surprise that Munoz plans to continue working at the Simon Law Group after graduation. He said we wants to use the lessons he has learned to continue pushing himself to become a better trial attorney and advocate.

“We’re really all connected by our common pain or common struggles,” said Munoz. “In the trials that I’ve worked on, the way that translates is in trying to share with the jury that we have a human being trying to restore their life. You hope the outcome of that trial is going to provide some sense of closure and justice for the family, to the client, for everyone affected. And that it will somehow help them get as close to back-to-normal as possible.”

The Chapman University community suffered a major loss on June 28 when Fowler School of Law Professor Michael Lang passed away due to complications from a recent stroke. A faculty member since 2002, Professor Lang was the founding director of the law school’s Tax LL.M. program and taught such courses as Federal Income Taxation, Ethics in Tax Practice, and Corporate Taxation.

“Mike was the consummate colleague,” said Fowler School of Law Dean Matt Parlow. “Always friendly and engaging, Mike loved to talk to colleagues about the goings-on in their lives, the world, and at Chapman. He will be sorely missed by his colleagues and students, and his passing is a tremendous loss for the Fowler School of Law and the legal academy.”

Prior to joining Chapman, Professor Lang taught at nine different law schools over the course of his career, including 19 years at the University of Maine School of Law, where he also served for a time as associate dean for academic affairs. Before entering the legal academy, Professor Lang practiced law at the global law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. He received his B.A. from Harvard University and his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School,  where he was a member of the Order of the Coif.

A widely published legal scholar and noted authority on tax law, Professor Lang authored or co-authored several books and dozens of law review articles and other publications on various aspects of tax law.  His articles appeared in such journals as the Utah Law Review, Tax Law Review, Virginia Tax Law Review, and Florida Tax Law Review.  Professor Lang was also very involved in the legal profession through the American Bar Association’s Section on Taxation, including chairing its committees on Teaching Taxation, Standards of Tax Practice, and Tax Practice Management.  He was elected as a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and was a former chair of the Association of American Law School’s Section on Post-Graduate Legal Education.  Professor Lang spoke nationally on ethical, disciplinary, malpractice, and other issues affecting tax lawyers and other tax practitioners.

A virtual memorial service for Professor Lang, hosted by the Fowler School of Law, will be held via Zoom on Friday, July 10 at 10:30 a.m. PDT. Those interested in attending can join the event at: https://chapman.zoom.us/j/98833138657

On Monday, July 27, criminal justice scholars from California Western School of Law, the Chapman University Fowler School of Law, California State University – Long Beach, Loyola Law School, University of California – Irvine, University of California – Los Angeles, and the University of San Diego participated in the annual Southern California Criminal Justice Roundtable, where they presented works in progress to their fellow colleagues for comment and discussion.

Hosted by the Fowler School of Law virtually via Zoom, the roundtable saw a diverse group of law professors discussing eight forthcoming papers:

• “The Institutional Hearing Program: A Study of Prison-Based Immigration Courts in the United States” by Ingrid Eagley (UCLA)
• “Carceral Inclusion” by Fanna Gamal (UCLA)
• “What Are Children Due? Juvenile Justice, Due Process, and the Problem of Adversary Power” by Maximo Langer (UCLA)
• “Jails, Sheriffs, and Carceral Policymaking” by Aaron Littman (UCLA)
• “Policing Disability” by Eric Miller (Loyola)
• “Legal Ethics as Roadblock to Police Accountability” by Lawrence Rosenthal (Fowler School of Law)
• “Willful Blindness” by Kenneth W. Simons (UCI)
• “Girls, Assaulted” by India Thusi (California Western)