Pepperdine Caruso Law Clinical Program Update

Jeff Baker (Pepperdine; Google Scholar), Annual Updates: Pepperdine Caruso Law's Program of Clinical Education: 

Through 2024, our clinical program continues to thrive and grow as we advance our vital missions of excellent legal education, deep professional formation, and effective access to justice. The legal clinics at the heart of our enterprise aim to prepare law students to become lawyers who bring light and dignity to the world. In a moment of political polarization, global crises, and national upheaval, we commit to the development of smart, ready, ethical lawyers with hearts and minds for justice and to the promotion of just laws and legal systems.

At the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, our communities and neighbors have suffered extraordinary losses from natural disasters. We are rising to meet those needs. Our standing clinics have been flexible and creative to teach students with major disruptions and to continue excellent services to our clients. Our Disaster Relief Clinic and Pro Bono programs have activated immediate programs for community education, lawyer training, and limited-scope clinics in neighborhoods wounded in the fires. Already we have served hundreds of clients and trained hundreds more lawyers. We are taking steps now to expand and deepen this work for Los Angeles for the duration of recovery and rebuilding.

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The Best Law Schools For Practical Training

The Best Law Schools For Practical Training, preLaw (Spring 2025):

Preparing students for practice is the signature goal of many law schools. We spotlight 64 schools that excel when it comes to providing hands-on, practical experience through clinics, externships and other offerings. ...

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As Los Angeles Deals With Wildfires, Law Schools Offer Support

ABA Journal, As Los Angeles Deals With Wildfires, Law Schools Offer Support:

As the wildfires around Los Angeles cause significant chaos for residents, Southern California law schools are mobilizing—with students and faculty offering assistance to those who’ve lost their homes. ...

Area law school clinics, including those at the Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law, Loyola Marymount University’s Loyola Law School and the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, are jumping in.

At Pepperdine Caruso, in Malibu, California, volunteers served 23 people and families at two clinics, says Jeff Baker, the law school’s associate dean. The campus has significant experience with wildfires, including in December 2024, when students sheltered in place for the Franklin fire. That blaze grew to more than 2,800 acres, and about 20,000 people were given evacuation orders, the Associated Press reported. ...

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Notre Dame Dean Marcus Cole Speaks At Pepperdine Today On Faith And Martin Luther King, Jr.

How Pepperdine University Is Helping Fight The L.A. Fires

Christianity Today, How Pepperdine University Is Helping Fight the LA Fires:

Even as wildfires burn neighborhoods nearby, destroying the homes of some faculty and students, Pepperdine University is starting its spring semester by helping local firefighters in Los Angeles.

With firefighters in the area facing water shortages, the Christian university in Malibu has provided essential help by giving them access to the university’s two water reservoirs, which hold the school’s recycled and treated water. Helicopters suck up the water and can transfer it to firefighters on the ground or make water drops over the fires.

California governor Gavin Newsom shared a video of an LA County Fire Department helicopter pulling water from one of Pepperdine’s lakes, saying, “Multiple water refills in just a matter of minutes.”

First responders are rapidly responding to the #KennethFire — transporting water from Pepperdine University's Recycled Water Irrigation Reservoir via helicopter to firefighters on the ground in Calabasas.

Multiple water refills in just a matter of minutes. pic.twitter.com/9LqPXSXbVZ

— Governor Newsom (@CAgovernor) January 10, 2025

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Some Los Angeles Law Schools Begin Spring Semester Remotely Due To Fires

The Recorder, Some Los Angeles Law Schools Begin Spring Semester Remotely:

Some Los Angeles law schools are starting their first week of the spring semester remotely as nearby wildfires continue to burn.

University of California, Los Angeles, located just outside the southeastern perimeter of the Palisades fire in Westwood, announced Saturday that all undergraduate and graduate classes would be held remotely through Friday. ...

Pepperdine University, located on the west side of the Palisades fire’s edge in Malibu, also announced Friday that the university would move classes online through Sunday. 

“We are mindful and deeply impacted by the devastation wreaked by the recent fires in the Los Angeles area as we prepare to support our community in the days ahead,” Jim Gash, the school's president and CEO, said in a message to the university community. “We have prayed, and continue to pray, for God’s protection and provision for the University community and communities throughout Los Angeles County.”

Caruso School of Law dean Paul Caron confirmed the Pepperdine campus had not been affected by the fire.

Inside Higher Ed, Some L.A. Colleges to Reopen This Week, Others Stay Closed Amid Wildfires:

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Please Join Us: Pepperdine Caruso Law AALS Reception TODAY (6:00-8:00 PM)

Pepperdine Caruso Law School invites law professors and deans to a reception
hosted by Dean Paul Caron at the 2025 AALS Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Friday, Jan. 10, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Feinstein's Theater/Kanpai Lounge (Lobby Level) | Hotel Nikko
Please join us for wine & beer and hors d'oeuvres

Please Join Us: Pepperdine Caruso Law AALS Reception (Friday, Jan. 10)

Pepperdine Caruso Law School invites law professors and deans to a reception
hosted by Dean Paul Caron at the 2025 AALS Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Friday, Jan. 10, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Feinstein's Theater/Kanpai Lounge (Lobby Level) | Hotel Nikko
Please join us for wine & beer and hors d'oeuvres

Jewish Students And Faculty At Christian Universities And Law Schools

Jewish Journal Op-Ed:  Where Faith Meets Understanding, by Jim Gash (President & CEO, Pepperdine University):

Jewish students are feeling unwelcome and unsafe—for good reason—on many American college campuses. This is a great tragedy. It is a tragedy for the students, who should, without question or reservation, be able to expect their campuses to be places where they can study and live without threat of physical harm or intimidation. It is nothing short of a tragedy that the administrators at many universities betrayed their own values and alienated some of their best and brightest students from their communities. It is an even greater tragedy for American society, as we see antisemitism growing to an unimaginable level in this modern age.

Pepperdine is different. We are a place where antisemitism is given no quarter. We are a place that is honored by the presence of our Jewish students and faculty—where every year, we have a Sukkah constructed on campus so our observant students can have a place to eat and fellowship on Sukkot; where a Menorah is lit to celebrate the holiday of Hanukkah; and where Jewish students gather together over lunch to discuss the weekly Torah portion. We are a place where the Judeo-Christian values that form the bedrock of our free society are celebrated rather than denigrated. And we are a place of education, not a place of propaganda.

All universities educate from one perspective or another, whether they are honest about it or not. At Pepperdine, we are honest and unashamed of the fact that we are a Christian university—that is, we approach the work of education from a Christian perspective. We believe, as the Proverbs teach, that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” And it is actually because of our Christian perspective that we so greatly value the presence of our Jewish students on campus.

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Pepperdine, Fire, And God

Update:  More On Pepperdine, Fire, And God

I am grateful for the many folks who reached out to me last week upon hearing the news of the Franklin Fire that tore through Malibu and threatened the Pepperdine University campus.  I did not have time to respond individually to everyone, so I thought I would share here what my wife Courtney and I experienced.

We returned to our on-campus home late Monday night after attending a university Christmas party. We were awakened at 1:00 a.m. by a neighbor knocking on our door to alert us that a fire was approaching campus (we had lost power and cell service so we did not receive the warning alert from the university or government officials). We packed a few things and left campus and drove to a hotel in Ventura. Courtney took this photo as we left our home:

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Pepperdine Academic Freedom Colloquium: Faith And The Academy

Academic Freedom at Faith-Based Institutions of Higher Education:
A Colloquium on Faith and the Academy
March 6-8, 2025
Malibu, California
Registration

In March of next year, Pepperdine will welcome representatives from faith-based institutions to join in an intimate 2.5-day colloquy on academic freedom. Apart from the plenary events, participants will be organized in seminar-sized groups of 12-18 led by trained facilitators.

Each of the two main colloquium days will be structured around contentious contemporary issues that challenge faith-based educational institutions’ identities and priorities. First, participants will attend a conversation between two educational leaders who share different perspectives on a contentious topic. Second, participants will have a chance to discuss that conversation in their small groups. Third, participants will role-play a scenario that is connected to that contentious topic. And fourth, participants will reflect on the role-playing experience.

The agenda for the colloquy includes:

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Pepperdine Caruso Law Religious Liberty Clinic Wins Important Free Exercise Case

Pepperdine Surf Report, Pepperdine Caruso Law Religious Liberty Clinic Achieves Victory in Mendham Methodist Church v. Morris County:

Hugh and Hazel Darling Foundation Religious Liberty Clinic achieved a significant legal victory, securing a preliminary injunction in federal court to protect its clients, Mendham Methodist Church and Zion Lutheran Church Long Valley. The case challenges a policy that barred churches from participating in a government-run historic preservation grant program, a policy the court ruled violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

The United States District Court of New Jersey struck down a Morris County policy that allowed theaters, Masonic lodges, and restaurants to receive historic preservation funding while excluding religious institutions. The court ruled that the exclusion constitutes unconstitutional discrimination against religious organizations. [Mendham Methodist Church v. Morris County, No. 23-cv-2347 (D.N.J. Nov. 28, 2024)]

“This is a historic win for religious organizations in New Jersey and across the country,” said professor Eric Rassbach, faculty director of the clinic. “It was always wrong to disqualify religious organizations from receiving historic preservation funds solely because they were religious. The district court rightly explained that the Constitution forecloses this religious discrimination.”

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Unity Before And After November 5th

I sent the following email to our students last week:

Our Pepperdine Caruso Law community will join others across our nation in casting votes for leaders of our federal, state, and local governments this Tuesday, November 5, 2024. In this 60th presidential election in our nation’s history, we will once again exercise the power of self-government and embody the virtues of liberty, equality, and the rule of law upon which our constitutional republic stands.

As we cast our votes and await the collective will of our fellow citizens, our law school community will remain rooted in faith, hope, and love.

My wife Courtney and I invite you to come and share a meal together and hear a message of unity at the Dean’s Bible Study this Wednesday, November 6, at our on-campus home. All are welcome, regardless of your faith tradition (if any).

* 6:00 pm Dinner
* 7:00 pm Message (Bound Together in Christ: Embracing Unity in a Divided World) ...

Thank you for your commitment to one another and for being part of this very special community.

Larissa Phillips (The Free Press), Whatever Happens, Love Thy Neighbor:

I’m a Democrat living in a red, rural county. Trump supporters have mowed my lawn, walked my dog, and eroded my prejudices with their humanity.

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Pepperdine Caruso Law School Awards Honorary Degree To 98-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor David Wiener

Pepperdine’s Caruso School of Law Presents Holocaust Survivor David Wiener with Honorary Law Degree:

On Tuesday, October 22, 2024, Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law awarded 98-year-old Holocaust survivor David Wiener an honorary juris doctor degree during a ceremony at the Brock House on the Malibu campus. The event not only recognized Wiener’s remarkable life and resilience but also celebrated his lifelong dedication to Holocaust education.

Though he survived the horrors of Auschwitz and several labor camps during World War II, as recounted in his memoir Nothing to Lose But My Life, Wiener’s parents and all but one of his siblings were killed by the Nazis. Wiener immigrated to the United States in 1946, where he built a thriving upholstery business. Alongside his wife, also a Holocaust survivor, he contributed to various charitable organizations, including the Boys and Girls Club of Fontana, the US Holocaust Museum, and Hatzalah Israel. Wiener’s life of philanthropy and dedication to justice reflects the core values of Pepperdine, and the ceremony underscored the enduring importance of Holocaust remembrance. ...

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5-Year Anniversary Of $50 Million Pepperdine Caruso Law Naming Gift

5 years ago today, Pepperdine Law received a transformative $50 million gift from Rick (JD ‘83) and Tina Caruso through the Caruso Family Foundation and proudly announced the renaming of our law school. We committed to enroll highly credentialed mission-driven students who otherwise would not be able to afford a life-changing Pepperdine legal education and launch them into rewarding legal careers. We also pledged to hire more faculty and provide greater support for their important work.

With each passing year, we grow more grateful for the generosity of Rick and Tina as we see the incredible impact of their gift on our community and our world.

We could not be more excited about the enormous progress Pepperdine University Rick J. Caruso School of Law has made over the past five years. And we are just getting started!

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Pepperdine Caruso Law Bibles At The Supreme Court

Last week, I had the honor of participating in one of my favorite events of the year:  moving the admission of Pepperdine Caruso Law alums into the U.S. Supreme Court Bar:

• Bret Anderson (JD '05; Partner, Ferguson, Case, Orr, Patterson)
• James Bristol (JD '87; Partner, Holland & Knight)
• Alex Caruso (JD '17; Counsel, Cox Castle)
• Chris DeLorenz (JD '20; Law Clerk, U.S. District Court (S.D. FL))
• Rebecca Ferrari (JD '20; Associate, Cooley)
• Jordan Fish (JD '17; Partner, Up Development)
• Brian Iverson (JD '08; Partner, Bass, Berry & Sims)
• Mae Jacobe (JD '18; Associate, Vanderford & Ruiz)
• Amy Sue Leavens (JD '97; President, Concierge Client Services)
• Anna Goodman Lucardi (JD '19; Associate, Paul Weiss)
• Charlie Walker (JD '15; General Counsel, Graham Healthcare Capital)

After the swearing-in ceremony, we watched the oral argument in Bufkin v. McDonough, No. 23-713. The issue in the case is whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims must ensure that the benefit-of-the-doubt rule in 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b) was properly applied during the claims process in order to satisfy 38 U.S.C. § 7261(b)(1), which directs the court to “take due account” of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ application of that rule. For coverage of the oral argument, see Law360, Justices Torn On Interpretation Of Veterans Benefits Law.

We added a new tradition this year by giving each of our alums Pepperdine Caruso Law-branded Bibles to mark the special occasion:

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Malice Toward None; Charity For All: Lincoln’s Vision Of Reconciliation For All Americans

Thomas J. Stipanowich (Pepperdine; Google Scholar), Malice Toward None; Charity for All: Lincoln’s Vision of Reconciliation for All Americans, ABA Dispute Resolution Magazine (Sept. 2024):

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

The closing words of Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address are among the most remarkable ever spoken by any leader—let alone a war leader looking ahead after four years of civil conflict that tore a nation apart, divided families, and inflicted untold bloodshed and suffering. Though the war still raged, Lincoln’s towering rhetoric framed an appeal to Americans North and South to look forward to a time when hatred and bloodletting gave way to healing and mutual understanding. It was an extraordinarily hopeful vision, especially given the centuries-old common heritage at the heart of the conflict: Black slavery. Thanks largely to Lincoln’s leadership, millions of enslaved Black Americans were now free, or hopeful of freedom from enslavement. Lincoln’s vision of reconciliation included them all.

The task Lincoln faced during his presidency may be viewed as a kind of vast, complex “negotiation” involving interactions with a wide array of stakeholders with disparate interests and aims. In this mega-negotiation, Lincoln brought to bear a variety of tools and sources of power and leverage, of which military power was but one. Over time, the aim of preserving the Union evolved into creating a more perfect Union by means of what might be called “Lincoln’s Triad”: restoring the integrity of the Union, Emancipation of Black slaves, and, finally, mutual reconciliation on a national scale. Along the way, a major “new” group of stakeholders, Black Americans, would be invited to the table from which they had so long been barred.

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October 7, 2023 And 2024

Last year, I wrote:

I am the dean of a law school with four Jewish full-time faculty and perhaps the largest cohort of Jewish students among Los Angeles area law schools. One of those professors was in Israel for the High Holidays with his family on October 7 and taught his 1L contracts class remotely from Israel on October 9 in between visits to bomb shelters. On October 11, I attended a moving and overflowing community gathering hosted by our Jewish Law Students' Association and Associate Dean for Student Life and Spiritual Development. On October 18, for the first time in our six years hosting the weekly dinner and Bible study, my wife Courtney and I spoke to the gathered students, staff, and faculty. On October 23, another of our Jewish professors will open our monthly faculty meeting in prayer.

Now, two weeks after October 7, I feel compelled to share my thoughts, not in my capacity as dean, but as a human being and a Christian horrified by the savagery unleashed by Hamas on that day. My three dear friends on Pepperdine Caruso Law's senior leadership team also welcomed the opportunity to share their personal views as well.

Yesterday, October 7, 2024, my Courtney and I hopped on a bus in the law school parking lot with a group of students and faculty to visit the Nova Exhibition, which powerfully shows what happened at the Nova Music Festival in Israel on October 7, 2023:

At our law school dinner two weeks ago, Michael Avi Helfand, our Brenden Mann Foundation Chair in Law and Religion, shared what it has been like for Jewish students and professors at our Christian law school over the past year:

The Great Unfinished Pepperdine Caruso Law Symphony

I had the honor of speaking at our annual Pepperdine Caruso Law School Dinner last Saturday night at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles:

I previously blogged about the daily challenge I face Deaning While Stuttering. I am deeply grateful that my university and law school community continue to embrace me and overlook my shortcomings.

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Welcome, Pepperdine Caruso Law School Class Of 2027

Welcome to the members of the Pepperdine Caruso Law School Class of 2027 who begin their legal education today in a week-long introduction to law school and professional formation, as well as the over 400 students pursuing joint, LL.M., and masters degrees and certificates, including our LL.M. and certificate programs in Entertainment, Media, and Sports and our online masters in Legal Studies and Dispute Resolution and our online LL.M. in Dispute Resolution.

This is my eighth year as Dean, and I am thrilled that you have decided to join our very special law school community. You will learn and study on our spectacularly beautiful campus in Malibu with easy access to Los Angeles, one of the world's most vibrant cities for young professionals. Beginning today you will experience the faculty and staff's faith-fueled commitment to you and to your success that manifests itself in various ways, large and small, in daily life at Pepperdine Caruso Law. My fervent wish is that you will love your time here as I have since joining the faculty in 2013, and that you will leave here with a deep sense of your professional and personal calling in law and in life.

Pepperdine Caruso Law Welcomes the Class of 2027

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Law Schools Are Expanding Mental Health And Wellness Support

It’s OK To Not Be OK: Law Schools Are Expanding Mental Health and Wellness Support, preLaw, Winter 2024, at 16:

Law school can be emotionally taxing and take a serious toll on one’s mental health. Students who are prepared for the added stress can perform better in school and in turn be better positioned to embark on a legal career.

Luckily, law schools are now doing more to help students manage the stress of legal education.

David Jaffe, associate dean for student affairs at American University’s Washington College of Law, is one of the authors of a report titled “It Is Okay to Not Be Okay: The 2021 Survey of Law Student Well-Being.” Overall, he said, today’s students are arriving at law school with much more self-awareness than earlier generations. Although some stigma remains about reaching out when in need of assistance, students are seeing their classmates be more open about seeking help, and they are replicating this positive behavior, Jaffe said.

A recent study by The NALP Foundation for Law Career Research and Education found that while a majority of 2019 law school graduates are doing well on the employment front, 39% of all grads and 44% of females said the pandemic is continuing to have a negative effect on their mental health and well-being. In 2018, the percentage of law graduates citing such issues was 31%. ... 

Several other schools such as New England Law | Boston and Pepperdine Caruso School of Law have implemented programs and activities to improve student well-being.

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Top Law Schools For Alternative Dispute Resolution

Top Law Schools For Alternative Dispute Resolution, preLaw, Spring 2024, at 37:

Law students who specialize in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) focus on litigation and conflict resolution skills. ADR acts as an alternative to going to trial when problems arise between businesses and their customers, suppliers, partners or employees. Just as trial skills are important, so is a strong background in mediation, arbitration and negotiation. ...

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Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic Provides Legal Services At Juneteenth Event On Skid Row

Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic Provides Legal Services at Los Angeles Mission Juneteenth Event:

Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic law clerks, Sara Nemiro, Andra Danila, Evan Botos, and Ross Patterson, provided pop-up legal services at the Los Angeles Mission's "Juneteenth Boogie" on June 18. The event also included free haircuts, housing services, job training opportunities, and clothing giveaways to the residents of skid row.

The Pepperdine Caruso Law clerks have spent the summer working at the Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic's Union Rescue Mission, assisting residents with expungements, family law, credit, and other legal matters.

Branding Experts Rank The Top 100 College And University Mottos

Tagline Guru, U.S. College & University Motto Survey:

More than 400 nominated U.S. college and university mottos from a universe of around 1,500 were sent to approximately 250 advertising, marketing, and branding professionals on both the client and agency side. ...

Respondents were asked to rank their top 10 mottos based on the following branding criteria:

• Attributes: Does the motto embody a school’s character, style, or personality?
• Message:  Does it tell a story in a compelling and memorable way?
• Differentiation: Is it original in its attitude, point of view, or creative expression?
• Ambassadorship:  Does it inspire you to want to go there, learn more, or donate more? ...

Top 100 U.S. College & University Mottos . . .

1. Think one person can change the world? So do we.
Oberlin College • Oberlin, OH • 1833 • Private

The top-ranked motto was created in the 1980s by either Al Moran, the then VP for Communications at Oberlin; or Anne Paine, who was publications director at the time. It also might have been a group effort that included Moran, Paine, and others. The motto was dropped in 2006 and replaced with We are Oberlin: Fearless. Negative student and alumni reaction to the new motto finally compelled the university, through the efforts of Ben Jones, VP for Communications, to bring back “Think one person...” in 2013. Enjoying widespread acceptance, the motto is regarded as timeless because it serves as an empowering call to action and recognizes the individual as a self-determining force in society. By the way, the official motto of Oberlin is Learning and labor, which harkens back to the school’s founding in 1833. Prior to the 1980s, the school’s motto was the lackluster phrase A place to thrive.

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I’m A Jewish Alumna Of Christian Colleges —Where I Found A Safe Home

New York Post Op-Ed:  I’m a Jewish Alumna of Christian Colleges —Where I Found a Safe Home, by Sara Garfinkle (B.A. 2020, Hillsdale; M.P.P. 2022, Pepperdine):

“But you’re Jewish!”

Other than “Why?” this is the most common reaction when I share that I attended a Christian college.

Actually, I attended two.

Recent events on college campuses have invited me to reflect on my own college experience — and what it could have been had I attended another school. ...

Hillsdale and Pepperdine regularly invited Jewish guest speakers, for whom students filled lecture halls and commencement spaces to the brim. ...

Jewish students are not safe on many college campuses.

At my Christian colleges, I not only survived, I thrived. ...

To sit with friends, to learn, to eat, to pray in many languages, to eat some more — what a perfect thing to do with the freedom that Hillsdale so ardently defends.

In many American universities, students abuse that freedom. ...

I came home to Southern California for graduate school at Pepperdine University, another Christian college.

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Happy Memorial Day From Pepperdine

Tom Knudsen (General Counsel, Pepperdine), A Special Memorial Day Message:

While there are competing claims as to the origins of Memorial Day, Congress has declared its birthplace as Waterloo, New York. There, on May 5, 1866, a year after its conclusion, a small ceremony was held to honor local residents who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed, flags were flown at half-staff, and flowers were draped on the graves of those who had fallen. Two years later, in 1868, John A. Logan, a former major general of the Union Army, declared that May 30 — a date supposedly chosen because "the choicest flowers of springtime" would be in bloom throughout the nation — would be a day to decorate "the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country.” In so doing, he stated, “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance.... Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”

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Pepperdine Caruso Law Celebrates The Class Of 2024

Commissioning Service:

Baccalaureate Service:

Commencement:

On Friday, May 17, the Pepperdine Caruso Law Class of 2024 gathered at Alumni Park to celebrate their commencement with their families, friends, and classmates. It was a joyous occasion for the 400 graduates who earned their Juris Doctor, Master of Laws, Master of Dispute Resolution, and Master of Legal Studies degrees. 

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Law School Dean Developments

Law.com, 'Dean Developments': Several Deans Move Long Distance:

There may be a calm before the storm with only three dean changes within the past month, but June and July are prime time for dean moves.

The University of Buffalo School of Law has named a permanent dean [S. Todd Brown], as its former dean [Aviva Abramovsky] heads to Idaho. Meanwhile, an Albany Law School professor [Alicia Ouellette] is moving to the West Coast to take on a new role as dean.

Plus, the New York University School of Law has launched a new lab focusing on environmental justice, and Paul Caron celebrates 20 years of publishing the TaxProf Blog. ...

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Deanna Newton Joins Pepperdine Tax Faculty

Deanna Newton, Caruso Family Faculty Fellow at Pepperdine Caruso Law School, will join the Pepperdine Caruso Law tenure-track faculty in August.

Deanna received her B.A. in political science from Loyola Marymount University in 2013; J.D. from Pepperdine Caruso Law School in 2017; and LL.M. in taxation from  Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 2018. She returned to Los Angeles and worked in KPMG's International Tax Group, where she advised multinational enterprises on tax planning matters, first as an Associate and then as a Senior Associate, from 2018-2022. Deanna taught Federal Income Tax as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine Caruso Law in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022.

In Fall 2022, Deanna was named the inaugural Caruso Family Faculty Fellow. The fellowship program is designed to help attorneys successfully transition from practice to tenure-track faculty positions.

Deanna taught Federal Income Tax in the 2022-2023 academic year and Federal Income Tax and Tax Policy in the 2023-2024 academic year. In 2023, she received the Waves of Excellence Teaching Award, the Waves of Excellence Service Award, and the Faculty Award at the Belonging Awards. Deanna primary research interests are international tax and tax policy. She has written two tax articles that have been accepted for publication in leading law reviews:

• Closing the Opportunity Gap, 102 N.C. L. Rev. ___ (2024) (presented at Boston College, Florida State, Pepperdine, Toronto,  and UC-San Francisco law schools)
• Inclusive Prosperity, 12 Tex. A&M L. Rev. ___ (2025) (presented at San Diego Law School)

Pepperdine Caruso Law 3L Commissioning Service

We hosted our 13th annual 3L Commissioning Service at Pepperdine Caruso Law last week. Like many of the best things at our school, it is the brainchild of a student. In 2012, 2L Raija Churchill proposed that the last Wednesday night Dean's Bible study of the year model the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) as a send-off for our graduating 3Ls.

I was honored to give a gift to our 3Ls to encourage them to live the lives that God has called them to after they graduate: a paperweight to keep on their desks to remind them (on the top) of their time at Pepperdine Caruso Law and (on the bottom) a single word — the most powerful word that Jesus talked about and modeled for us — forgiveness. I shared several of the forgiveness stories I have chronicled on this blog, including this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.

The highlight of the evening was when our faculty and staff spoke words of life over each of the graduating 3Ls (kudos to Tyler Clark (JD '12) for beginning this wonderful tradition):

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20-Year Anniversary Of TaxProf Blog

Today (April 15, of course) marks the 20-year anniversary of TaxProf Blog (and the 29-year anniversary of the TaxProf Email Discussion Group). In 2004, I was in my fourteenth year on the University of Cincinnati College of Law faculty. I would be taking my son (age 13) to a ranch in Northern California (JH Ranch) that summer, and would return with my daughter (age 11) in summer 2005. 

It has been a wonderful ride, professionally, personally, and spiritually, these past twenty years. I have written over 52,000 posts (my first post is here), and TaxProf Blog has received over 200,000,000 page views.  The blog played a role in my selection as dean in 2017 —indeed, I may be the only dean in America with a contract provision encouraging me to continue to blog! I could not have done so without the wonderful work of my assistants the past seven years, especially the spectacular Kellie Kamimoto since June 2021.

I'm not sure how much longer I will keep TaxProf Blog going, but I am grateful for the many people who come for the tax, legal education, and faith content. (If you would like to receive a daily email with links to that day's tax or legal education posts, or a weekly email with links to Sunday's faith posts, please email me.) 

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Pepperdine Caruso Law Celebrates Founding Dean Ron Phillips

On April 6, Pepperdine University paid tribute to one of the most significant figures in its history—Ronald F. Phillips, founding dean and dean emeritus of the Caruso School of Law. Alumni, faculty, staff, and friends shared their stories of the profound impact Dean Phillips has made on their lives. Thanks to the generosity of the Pepperdine community, the University far exceeded our fundraising goal to endow the Ronald F. Phillips Chair at the law school. In fact, we have raised $5.7 million, a demonstration of just how incredibly grateful our University family is for Dean Phillips’ transformative years of service and leadership.

And one stunning announcement led to another: If our Caruso Law community can raise an additional $1 million, Pepperdine will match those gifts with a $3.5 million contribution and establish a second endowed chair in honor of Dean Phillips’ beloved wife Jamie. Caruso Law will be able to attract not one but two of the world’s finest legal scholars to shape our students for purpose-driven lives of outstanding servant leadership and help lift our school’s standards of academic excellence to even greater heights.

As we get closer to meeting this goal and accelerating Caruso Law’s trajectory toward becoming the world’s premier Christian law school, we humbly ask you to help us build on this unprecedented momentum by making a gift to the law school today and ensuring that Dean Phillips and Jamie’s legacies endure forever. You can make your gift online at this link.

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Justice Alito Delivers Keynote Address At Dinner Celebrating Launch Of Ken Starr Institute For Faith, Law, And Public Service At Pepperdine Caruso Law

Washington Examiner, Samuel Alito Says US Legacy Is ‘Mutual Respect’ Between Religions During Speech at Ken Starr Institute Dinner:

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito believes the everlasting legacy of the United States is the “mutual respect” of diverse religious viewpoints, according to his keynote speech for the launch of Pepperdine University’s Ken Starr Institute for Faith, Law, and Public Service last week.

Alito’s speech was in reflection on the late Ken Starr, solicitor general for former president George W. Bush who also served as independent counsel from 1994 to 1998 in the investigation that led to former President Bill Clinton‘s impeachment. Starr was a dean at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law in Malibu, California, from 2004 to 2010, and the college announced its novel institute that bears his name at a private-ticketed event at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, on March 4.

Standing before a crowd of more than 250 attendees at the dinner event, Alito said he often considers what historians will think of the United States “hundreds and hundreds of years from now.”

“I hope that one thing they will say if they are asked ‘how did the United States contribute to the development of civilization’ is this: The United States of America taught the world that it is possible for a religiously diverse population to live together amicably, harmoniously, and productively with mutual respect,” said Alito, an appointee of Bush.

Pepperdine Caruso Law School Dean Paul Caron gives remarks about the Ken Starr Institute at a dinner event Monday at the Congressional Club in Bethesda, Maryland. ...

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What Best Prepares You For The Practice Of Law?

What Best Prepares You for the Practice of Law?, Nat'l Jurist, Winter 2024, at 19:

In recent years, law schools have ramped up their efforts to help students build their professional identities, spurred by an American Bar Association requirement to do so. ...

Lavinia Osilesi, who started at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law in California in 2016, said her first-year curriculum included a course on professional identity formation, which addressed topics such as academic success, ethics, character building and professional development.

She also participated in the school’s Preceptor Program, where she was paired with a practicing alum in her area of interest.

“The most impactful part of the program was the mentorship I received from my preceptor,” Osilesi said. “She helped me navigate foundational 1L courses, prepare study plans for exams, expand my network, learn about different practice areas and develop a deeper understanding of the opportunities I could pursue as an attorney.”

Osilesi said her professional formation training helped her learn a great deal about herself.

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The Best Law Schools For Practical Training

The Best Law Schools For Practical Training, preLaw (Spring 2024):

These 59 law schools are the best schools for practical training — helping to mold law students into courtroom-ready professionals through various hands-on externship and clinic experiences. ... 

Law schools have faced criticism for failing to turn out attorneys ready for practice. That has prompted a shift toward more comprehensive practical training programs. 

In the past few years, schools have added more offerings, and every year preLaw highlights the schools that do practical training best. ... 

Methodology
We graded schools on a number of data points, focusing on key practical training offerings such as clinics, externships, simulation courses, pro bono hours and moot trial participation.

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Third Annual Nootbaar Fellows Workshop And Conference: Charting The Future Of Church And State

Pepperdine Caruso Law School's Nootbaar Institute For Law, Religion, and Ethics held a series of wonderful events this week:

Wednesday: Religious Liberty Salon: Celebrating the Hugh and Hazel Darling Foundation Religious Liberty Clinic

• Noel Francisco (Jones Day, Washington, D.C.; 47th Solicitor General of the United States 
• Eric Rassbach (Vice President & Senior Counsel, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty)
• Megan Lacy Owen (Jones Day, Washington, D.C.)

Thursday:  Third Annual Nootbaar Fellows Workshop

• Chagai Schlesinger (Hebrew University), Two Concepts of Judicial Deference to Religious Claims 
• Nomi Stolzenberg (USC: Google Scholar), Usings and Removings (or Is Religion the New Race or Is Race the New Religion)?
• Mark Storslee (Emory; Google Scholar), History and the School Prayer Cases
• Laura Portuondo (Houston), Gendered Liberty 
• James Nelson (Houston), Disestablishing Work

Thursday: Open Conversation With Solicitor Generals of the United States Under Presidents Obama and Trump:

• Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. (Munger, Tolles & Olson, Washington, D.C.); 46th Solicitor General of the United States 
• Noel Francisco (Jones Day, Washington, D.C.; 47th Solicitor General of the United States 
• Victoria Schwartz (Pepperdine; Google Scholar) (moderator) 

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Uganda: A Trip Nothing Short Of Life-Changing For Law Students And Lawyers

Pepperdine Beacon, Uganda: A Trip Nothing Short of Life-Changing:

“I came away from that moment, saying if that’s all I ever got to do with my law degree, it was one hundred percent worth it.” ...

Sherri Sturgeon, professor of law at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution and associate director for Student and Professional Engagement, had the fortunate opportunity to travel to Uganda last spring to plea bargain alongside U.S. attorneys and law students. ...

Aware of Pepperdine’s Uganda programs, Sturgeon applied for and worked toward a Master’s in Dispute Resolution at the Caruso School of Law. She planned for a trip to Uganda during her 2L year in 2020, only to have it canceled due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Fortunately, an opportunity arose in the spring of 2023 after she had graduated, making her a U.S. attorney on the trip rather than a U.S. law student.

Spending ten days in Uganda, Sturgeon and fellow students and attorneys went straight to work on plea bargaining cases. After studying the defendant’s files, Sturgeon and her team would meet with the defendants, preparing for their appearance before the judge. Discussing with both the prosecutors and the defendants, Sturgeon would negotiate the most optimal sentence for her client.

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Higher Education Must Reclaim Its Higher Purpose: Value And Virtue

Newsweek Op-Ed:  To Revitalize Higher Ed, Colleges Should Care About Character, by Jim Gash (President, Pepperdine University):

Higher education must realize and reclaim its foundational higher purpose, which is to develop and equip people of value and virtue who in turn infuse value and virtue in their communities, countries, and the rest of the world.

To accomplish this, colleges must form academic communities that appreciate viewpoint diversity, safeguard academic freedom, and stimulate intellectual curiosity. ...

Colleges must take an active role in nurturing students' understanding of and appreciation for foundational American values, including freedom of religion, freedom of speech and assembly, and a free press. Students should grow in their understanding of these fundamental rights, the stories of the (admittedly flawed) heroes who secured and defended those rights, and their responsibility to preserve these freedoms for future generations. If taught to and embraced by students in college, these values will be embedded in our communities and strengthen the democratic process for generations to come. As the late educational reformer John Dewey once said, "Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife."

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Pepperdine Hosts Junior Tax Scholars Writing Retreat

Pepperdine Caruso Law was delighted to host a group of junior tax professors last week for a winter writing retreat:  Luis Calderon-Gomez (Cardozo), Conor Clarke (Washington University), Maynard Goldburn (Indiana-Kelley Business School), Nyamagaga Gondwe (Wisconsin), Luke Maher (Seattle), Jeesoo Nam (USC), Deanna Newton (Pepperdine), and Alex Zhang (Emory). The only bummer: I was at the AALS Annual Meeting all week and didn't have the opportunity to spend any time with these wonderful young tax scholars. Hopefully next year!

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Please Join Us: Pepperdine Caruso Law AALS Reception TODAY (6:00-8:00 PM)

Pepperdine Caruso Law School invites law professors and deans to a reception
hosted by Dean Paul Caron at the 2024 AALS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Friday, Jan. 5, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Tulip Room (2nd Floor Mezzanine) | Marriott Marquis (Headquarter Hotel)
Please join us for local California wine & beer and hors d'oeuvres

Today's AALS Tax Highlights

Section on Taxation, Taxation and Democracy 
10-11:40 AM Independence Salon A, Level M4, Marriott Marquis 

Taxation plays a fundamental role in democratic societies. This panel will focus on the relationship between tax policy and democratic principles. It will explore the various roles that tax policy plays in shaping our democracy and consider innovative approaches to advancing tax policy that enhances democratic values.

• Steven A. Dean (Boston University) 
• Francine J. Lipman (UNLV) 
• Orly Mazur (SMU) (moderator) 
• Clinton G. Wallace (South Carolina) 

Section on European Law, Co-Sponsored by Comparative Law and Taxation, EU Fiscal Federalism and the U.S. Perspective
1-2:40 PM Mount Vernon Square, Level M3, Marriott Marquis 

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California Law Students Provide Pro Bono Help To Struggling Maui Residents After Wildfires

Fox News, California Law Students Provide Pro Bono Help to Struggling Maui Residents After Wildfires:

A group of law students at Pepperdine University's Caruso School of Law are helping with the legal side of recovery after the devastating wildfires in Maui in August.

The students are volunteering through the Pepperdine Caruso Law Pro Bono Program, which is part of the school's Clinical Education Program.

"Under the leadership of Professors Jeff Baker and Peter Fendel, about 20 Pepperdine Law students volunteered their time and legal skills to assist Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (NHLC) in providing assistance to citizens of Maui who lost their homes and/or businesses in the wildfires," Caruso School of Law student Matteson Landau told Fox News Digital. ...

Pepperdine's students were particularly inspired to assist those in Hawaii in part due to the school's recent history. "The Pepperdine community knows firsthand the tragic effects of wildfires, as our own campus and city was affected by the Malibu Woolsey Fire in 2018," said Landau. Pepperdine University is located in Malibu. 

After that fire, Baker "was inspired to develop a legal aid program for disaster relief, and students at that time learned how to file FEMA applications and draft appeal letters," Landau said. ...

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Please Join Us: Pepperdine Caruso Law AALS Reception (Friday, Jan. 5)

Pepperdine Caruso Law School invites law professors and deans to a reception
hosted by Dean Paul Caron at the 2024 AALS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Friday, Jan. 5, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Tulip Room (2nd Floor Mezzanine) | Marriott Marquis (Headquarters Hotel)
Please join us for local California wine & beer and hors d'oeuvres

Universities Must Preserve American Values: Freedom, Faith And Self-Governance — Leavened With Humility

The Messenger Op-Ed: Universities Must Preserve American Values, by Jim Gash (President, Pepperdine University):

It seems every week produces another story of intolerance, hate, or worse on college and university campuses across the nation. As society rightfully expresses concern about students engaged in such behavior, it is past time for higher education administrators to take on their responsibility to cultivate academic communities that embody America’s founding virtues.

The Founders’ idea was truly revolutionary: citizens from all walks of life, religions, and political persuasions mutually submitting themselves not to the authority of a king or queen, but to the rule of law. The strength of this idea is rooted in a people who so valued the rule of law that they would even die to protect the freedoms established in the Constitution.

Our Founders believed that freedom, faith and self-governance — leavened with humility — are interwoven and indispensable foundational values upon which a pluralistic and enduring society can flourish. More than any institutions, perhaps other than the family and houses of worship, our schools are responsible for cultivating the character and resilience required of a productive citizenry capable of reaffirming the American experiment.

At Pepperdine University, which I lead, character formation is at the heart of our mission. It is why we are passionate about what our students learn. But we are even more focused on who they are becoming. James Phinney Munroe, an MIT scholar who was successful in business, leadership and education, perhaps said it best: “The question to be asked at the end of an educational step is not, ‘What has the student learned?’ but, ‘What has the student become?'” ...

Our Founders also knew the value of faith. They had experienced the threats to a free expression of it, and they knew it was a value not only to be held individually, but to be defended collectively. Religious liberty goes hand-in-hand with freedom of thought, speech and viewpoint diversity.

Universities must help students to understand that their value isn’t derived from temporal sources. Dignity and worth are inherent and God-given (the Founders would say “endowed by their Creator”). “Likes” on social media are fleeting and fickle. ...

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Pepperdine Caruso Law At The Supreme Court

I had the honor yesterday morning of moving the admission of eleven Pepperdine Caruso Law alumni and friends into the U.S. Supreme Court Bar:

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Newton Presents Closing the Opportunity Gap Today At Pepperdine

Deanna Newton (Pepperdine) presents Closing the Opportunity Gap at Pepperdine today as part of its Faculty Workshop Series hosted by Jacob Charles: 

Opportunity Zones are low-income areas or economically distressed communities in the United States. The Opportunity Zone program encourages investment in low-income areas or economically distressed communities by offering investors tax benefits. Scholars have found little evidence that Opportunity Zones positively impact zone residents’ lives, concluding that Opportunity Zone legislation mostly benefits wealthy investors and should be reformed to benefit community members better. Investors are currently not required to finance projects geared toward the needs of local communities; they are instead funding developments they would have already invested in, whether located in an Opportunity Zone or not. This Article argues that current reform efforts and related scholarship do not give adequate weight to active and direct participation by community members and investors as it relates to economic development tax incentives. It argues for a comprehensive framework that focuses on active, direct, and transformative participation by community members and investors.

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Ed Larson, Tom Stipanowich, And Ahmed Taha Win Pepperdine University Faculty Awards

Congratulations to my friends and colleagues Ed Larson, Hugh & Hazel Darling Chair in Law and University Professor, Tom Stipanowich, William H. Webster Chair in Dispute Resolution and Professor of Law, and Ahmed Taha, Professor of Law, on receiving Pepperdine University Faculty Awards. 

Ed Larson won the Stephen D. Davis Award for Scholarly Achievement: 

This award will honor the contributions of Pepperdine faculty members who are strengthening our scholarly contributions, and elevating our research reputation. Examples of such accomplishment include research publications of high impact, scholarly books, major musical and artistic products/exhibitions, mentoring of Pepperdine students resulting in scholarly accomplishment, receiving national or international award or recognition for work directly related to their scholarship, and leadership in securing major research grants from external agencies.

Ed Larson
Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in History and numerous other awards for writing and teaching, Larson is the author or co-author of fourteen books and over one hundred published articles. His 2015 book, The Return of George Washington: Uniting the States, 1783-1789, was a New York Times Bestseller and resulted in Larson being invited to deliver the 2016 Supreme Court Historical Society lecture in Washington, give the annual Gaines Lecture at Mount Vernon, and serve as a featured presenter for the Library of Congress's Madison Council event. His other books, which have been translated into over twenty languages, include An Empire of Ice: Scott Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science; A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign; and the Pulitzer Prize winning Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion. Larson's articles have appeared in such varied publications as Nature, Atlantic Monthly, Science, Scientific American, Time, Wall Street Journal, American History, The Guardian, and dozens of law reviews. His latest book, American Inheritance, was published by W.W. Norton in 2023.

Tom Stipanowich and Ahmed Taha won the Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence: 

The Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence recognizes outstanding teachers who embody Pepperdine University's commitment to excellence. The award honors teachers who inspire, stimulate, challenge, and motivate their students; teachers who develop in students the ability to think critically and creatively about the world; teachers who instill in their students a lifelong love of learning.

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Alarie Presents The Impact Of AI On Legal Education And Law Practice At Pepperdine

Benjamin Alarie (Toronto; Google Scholar) presents The Legal Singularity: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Law Radically Better (with Abdi Aidid (Toronto)) at Pepperdine today as part of its Dean's Speaker Series: 

Law today is incomplete, inaccessible, unclear, underdeveloped, and often perplexing to those whom it affects. In The Legal Singularity, Abdi Aidid and Benjamin Alarie argue that the proliferation of artificial intelligence–enabled technology — and specifically the advent of legal prediction — is on the verge of radically reconfiguring the law, our institutions, and our society for the better.

Revealing the ways in which our legal institutions underperform and are expensive to administer, the book highlights the negative social consequences associated with our legal status quo. Given the infirmities of the current state of the law and our legal institutions, the silver lining is that there is ample room for improvement. With concerted action, technology can help us to ameliorate the problems of the law and improve our legal institutions. Inspired in part by the concept of the "technological singularity," The Legal Singularity presents a future state in which technology facilitates the functional "completeness" of law, where the law is at once extraordinarily more complex in its specification than it is today, and yet operationally, the law is vastly more knowable, fairer, and clearer for its subjects. Aidid and Alarie describe the changes that will culminate in the legal singularity and explore the implications for the law and its institutions.

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Personal Statements On Hamas And Israel

April 15, 2024 will mark the 20-year anniversary of TaxProf Blog. In my over 50,000 posts during that time, I have tried to dispassionately share interesting and important news and information on tax and legal education (and, recently on Sundays, faith) from a variety of perspectives (with an occasional post about my family and my law schools). I have continued in that vein with my recent posts (here and here) on whether university presidents and law school deans should issue official statements on events like those on October 7.  

I am the dean of a law school with four Jewish full-time faculty and perhaps the largest cohort of Jewish students among Los Angeles area law schools. One of those professors was in Israel for the High Holidays with his family on October 7 and taught his 1L contracts class remotely from Israel on October 9 in between visits to bomb shelters. On October 11, I attended a moving and overflowing community gathering hosted by our Jewish Law Students' Association and Associate Dean for Student Life and Spiritual Development. On October 18, for the first time in our six years hosting the weekly dinner and Bible study, my wife Courtney and I spoke to the gathered students, staff, and faculty. On October 23, another of our Jewish professors will open our monthly faculty meeting in prayer.

Now, two weeks after October 7, I feel compelled to share my thoughts, not in my capacity as  dean, but as a human being and a Christian horrified by the savagery unleashed by Hamas on that day. My three dear friends on Pepperdine Caruso Law's senior leadership team also welcomed the opportunity to share their personal views as well.

Personal Statement of Paul Caron, Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law:

The torture and killing of over 1,400 Israeli men, women, children, babies, and elderly (including over 30 Americans) by Hamas is genocidally evil.

I welcome the effort by Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University, to enlist presidents and chancellors of all U.S. and global colleges and universities to stand with Israel against the terrorism of Hamas. Signatories include Presidents of Baylor University, University of Notre Dame, and  the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities:

We Stand Together with Israel Against Hamas
We are horrified and sickened by the brutality and inhumanity of Hamas. Murdering innocent civilians including babies and children, raping women, and taking the elderly as hostages are not the actions of political disagreement but the actions of hate and terrorism. The basis of all universities is a pursuit of truth, and it is times like these that require moral clarity. Like the fight against ISIS, the fight against Hamas is a fight against evil. We, the presidents and chancellors of universities and colleges across the United States of America and the world, stand with Israel, with the Palestinians who suffer under Hamas’s cruel rule in Gaza, and with all people of moral conscience.

I am looking forward to hearing President Berman speak at Pepperdine University on October 26 as part of the President's Speaker Series. Rev. Johnnie Moore will moderate the discussion between President Berman and President Gash. As President of the Congress of Christian Leaders, Rev. Moore testified before the EU Parliament on October 11 and urged the EU to stand with Israel against Hamas terrorism.

Richard Haas (President Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations) has a detailed analysis of the path forward for America in a Saturday Essay in the Wall Street Journal, The Goal for U.S. Diplomacy With Israel: First Calm, Then Peace: With Dangers Rising Across the Middle East, America Needs a Two-Phase Effort to Stabilize the Conflict in Gaza and Resolve Core Israeli-Palestinian Issues. I am looking forward to hearing Mr. Haas speak at Pepperdine University on November 7 as part of the President's Speaker Series. 

Here is what I said at our October 18 Bible study:

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3rd Annual Pepperdine Caruso Law Tennis Tournament

We held our third annual Pepperdine Caruso Law doubles tennis tournament for faculty, staff, and students yesterday on a beautiful  Malibu afternoon. Twelve teams participated, and I am pleased to report that my partner 3L Cassandra McKenzie and I won the A flight. Teams were chosen in a random draw by tournament director (and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs) Jason Jarvis. In an odd coincidence, Cassandra played on the St. Louis University women's tennis team and earned First Team Atlantic 10 All-Conference honors. In another odd coincidence, last year's winning team of Dzina Milovanovic, Recruitment and Admissions Manager at our Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution (and former member of the Pepperdine University women's tennis team) and Danny DeWalt, University Vice President and Chief of Staff, were both out of the country (as were Cameron McCollum, Assistant Dean of our Global Justice Institute, and Sukhsimranjit Singh, Danny Weinstein Managing Director of the Straus Institute)).