In her latest book, Sharing the Pants: Essays on the Work-Life Balance by Men Married to Lawyers, readers get a first-hand perspective of the unique challenges of being the man behind the woman.

 “Work-life balance is not just a woman’s issue,” writes Slotkin. “Men also seek a work-life balance. Significant numbers of Gen-X and Gen-Y male professionals are demanding balance for themselves and their families.”

 Through a collection of first-person essays by the husbands of women lawyers, Slotkin offers readers lessons and suggestions for achieving work-life balance and building lasting relationships.

 Excerpts from the Book

“I don’t want to leave the impression that Rana and I are not serious people or that I wasn’t dead serious about fixing San Diego’s problems, but everyone has to have balance, and the balancing point for us is shared laughter. No matter how hard a thing is to do, if you can keep your sense of humor with you, the heaviness of the endeavor is more manageable, and the shared laughter brings you through the marathon.” - The Honorable Gerald R. Sanders, Mayor of San Diego

“Balance? Depends on what you mean. I prefer to think of myself as a father and husband who works as a lawyer and who happens to enjoy that time. The struggle not to let the “career” define the person who I am can be a challenge. Sometimes I lose that struggle, but the fact that I know I am losing seems to be a victory. Small consolation, but it balances out and it works for now.” – Patrick L. Hosey, President of the San Diego County Bar Association

About the Book

Sharing the Pants: Essays on the Work-Life Balance by Men Married to Lawyers was published in December 2009 by Vanderplas Publishing. It is available for purchase from the publisher’s website.

The book is co-authored by Slotkin’s daughter, Samantha Slotkin Goodman, who also co-authored Slotkin’s book on women in law, It’s Harder in Heels: Essays by Women Lawyers Achieving Work-Life Balance.

The Master’s Degree in Health Law is an innovative program, combining the areas of law and health in one advanced degree program. The information session will provide prospective students the opportunity to interact with faculty, staff, and students in the program, while educating attendees about how the curriculum addresses current, convergent issues in health and law. Program requirements for working professionals will also be discussed.If interested in learning more about the Masters in Health Law Program, visit http://www.hlaw.ucsd.edu/. If you are planning to attend the event, please RSVP to Nancy Washington at nwashington@ucsd.edu or (858) 534-9162.Download the Master’s Degree in Health Law brochure.

The Rule of Law in Latin America

Proyecto ACCESO is an opportunity for California Western faculty, students, and trustees to assist in building the rule of law in the Western Hemisphere. Through partnerships with the local Bench and Bar, and the legal community along the U.S.-Mexico border, Proyecto ACCESO helps Latin American countries transition legal systems from the inquisitorial to the adversarial model.  

“We are moving legal systems from the darkness to the light, changing centuries of corrupt, opaque and inherently unfair criminal and other procedures,” says  Jamie Cooper, director of Proyecto ACCESO and assistant dean for Mission Development. “That can take a long time.  This is the first decade of our work and we have seen successes in Chile and now Mexico and others have begun this arduous process.”  

Celebration Reception and Film Screening

On March 3, Proyecto ACCESO will show clips of its newest film, Intellectual Property Piracy: The Challenges for Latin America, at 5:30 p.m., followed by a reception. The film was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and explores the challenges of enforcing international Intellectual Property law across borders.=

Read more about Proyecto ACCESO and its anniversary celebration.

California Western School of Law receives the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction for 2009, in recognition of service donated by the school’s faculty, staff, and students through academic service learning and volunteerism. The award is one of the federal government’s highest community service honors for institutions of higher education.

“It is a great honor to be recognized by the President for the many ways in which the California Western family contributes to the San Diego community,” says Dean Steven R. Smith.  “We have long viewed the practice of law as a helping, collaborative profession, and this honor affirms the value of our commitment to San Diego. The California Western community celebrates this honor and the faculty, staff, and students who give back every day.”

Only 16 institutions in California were named to the Honor Roll with Distinction. California Western is the only independent law school to receive the honor.

Some past and current recipients of the Honor Roll with Distinction are: Cornell University; Duke University; Georgetown University; New York University; Stanford University; University of California, San Diego; University of Notre Dame; and the University of Texas at Austin.

Read more about California Western’s Honor Roll with Distinction.

Professor Ruben J. Garcia

Tomorrow, Professor Ruben J. Garcia will participate on a panel discussion at Princeton University, entitled “Immigration and the Challenge to Labor Unions.” The discussion is part of Race, Immigration, and the Law of the Workplace: 21^st Century Challenges – A Public Conference, a two-day conference hosted by Princeton University’s Program in Law and Public Affairs and is co-sponsored by the University of California, San Diego’s Center for Comparative Immigration Studies.

 Race, Immigration, and the Law of the Workplace

The conference was designed as a forum for scholars interested in the connections between law, immigration, race, and the workplace to come together and explore where these fields intersect. While there are notable relationships between these fields, rarely do practitioners have the opportunity to directly investigate their overlap in a collaborative setting such as this.

 Professor Ruben J. Garcia

Garcia teaches courses on professional responsibility, employment discrimination, employment law, labor law, and NAFTA and labor at California Western. His research program focuses on labor and employment law and their intersection with race, gender, immigration, and globalization. He is currently writing a book for New York University Press, entitled Marginal Workers: How Legal Fault Lines Divide Workers and Leave Them without Protection.

 He has taught at California Western since 2003 and has held visiting appointments at the University of California, Davis School of Law and UC San Diego. In 2009, Garcia taught justice, a course in constitutional law, and American democracy, in UC San Diego’s Dimensions of Culture Program. He currently serves on the Executive Advisory Board of the UC San Diego Center for Research on Gender in the Professions.

Professors Justin P. Brooks and Jan Stiglitz of the California Innocence Project, housed at California Western School of Law, join the ranks of California’s best attorneys as recipients of California Lawyer Magazine’s 14^th annual Attorney of the Year Award.

Brooks and Stiglitz’s CLAY honor was likely solidified by the California Innocence Project’s exoneration of three wrongfully incarcerated men in 2009.

In July, Reggie Cole’s 1995 shooting death conviction was overturned by a dismissal of charges by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. A month later, the California Innocence project had the murder conviction of William Richards reversed after forensic evidence excluded from his initial trial was presented, supporting his claim of innocence. In September, Rafael Madrigal, Jr.’s attempted first-degree murder conviction was reversed in a case involving a gang shooting. 

“What an honor it is to have Justin Brooks and Jan Stiglitz recognized as California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year,” says Dean Steven R. Smith. “Their work with the California Innocence Project highlights the helping, collaborative nature of law and provides our students with invaluable real-world experience as creative problem solvers. The California Western community joins in celebrating their outstanding achievement.” 

Read more about thier CLAY recognition.

On Saturday, February 20, California Western School of Law Dean Steven R. Smith serves on a panel of distinguished scholars and professionals, entitled “Your Medical Records Online: The Promises and Pitfalls.” The panel will explore the technical, ethical, and societal implications of transitioning to EHR’s within the next four years.

Smith, the panel’s voice on the legal implications of the digital transition, will be joined by Claire Pomeroy, vice chancellor for Human Health Services and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of California, Davis; Paul Tang, an internist and vice president and chief medical information officer at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation; and Nadereh Pourat, director of research planning at the University of California, Los Angeles Center for Health Policy Research.

Smith’s extensive research in medicine and law provide him with the knowledge, skills, and perspective to effectively articulate the ethical and legal concerns of this aggressive call to create an EHR for every American within the next four years.

Science Matters at the California Science Center
“Your Medical Records Online: The Promises and Pitfalls” is part of Science Matters, the California Science Center’s speakers program for science and technology issues that are of interest to the public.

The Science Matters panel discussion will be held from 1:00 to 2:40 p.m. at the California Science Center, 700 State Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90037. It is free and open to the public.

“This is a truly diverse international group, which shows the strength of the adversarial legal system in places where it is relatively new,” says Director of the Institute for Criminal Defense Advocacy Justin Brooks. 

During the Trial Skills Academy, attorneys will become more efficient in trial techniques and strategies through role-playing the defense and prosecution in a simulated case. Instructors are top Spanish-speaking criminal attorneys from all around the U.S. In the past, their instruction has helped train some of the best trial lawyers from Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Dominican Republic.

“We are not only exporting a set of practical skills to legal professionals in other countries, we are spreading the positive aspects of our legal culture,” says Assistant Dean for Mission Development and Director of Proyecto ACCESO Jamie Cooper.

The Master’s Degree in Health Law is an innovative program, combining the areas of law and health in one advanced degree program. The information session will provide prospective students the opportunity to interact with faculty, staff, and students in the program, while educating attendees about how the curriculum addresses current, convergent issues in health and law. Program requirements for working professionals will also be discussed.

If interested in learning more about the Masters in Health Law Program, visit http://www.hlaw.ucsd.edu/. If you are planning to attend the event, please RSVP to Nancy Washington at nwashington@ucsd.edu or (858) 534-9162.

Download the Master’s Degree in Health Law brochure.