Greetings,

This week we feature alumna Rebeca Pérez-Serrano ('95) who was one of our first LLM students, the continuing tradition of powerful, path-breaking faculty scholarship, and 3L student April Shaw.

Until the Footnotes,

Marc 

As the Assistant General Counsel with CareFusion Corporation (NYSE: CFN), a $4.0 Billion global medical device and technologies corporation, serving the health care industry with products and services that help hospitals measurably improve the safety and quality of care, Rebeca Perez Serano stays busy.  

Rebeca is the lawyer responsible for all legal matters for two divisions within CareFusion, Dispensing Technologies (medication enterprise management business) and Technology Solutions (software, data analytics).  CareFusion employs more than 16,000 people across its global operations.  

Rebeca is also a member of the leadership team for the two divisions she supports providing input to executive management on key issues such as cybersecurity, legal, compliance, regulatory and commercial enterprises. cybersecurity, legal, compliance, regulatory and commercial enterprises.

Rebeca grew up in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.  Her path to law school was not clear. 

"I did not have any close relatives, role models or mentors in the field of law; my father is a retired anesthesiologist and my mother a retired licensed social worker.  However, I knew that in my family, education was extremely important; in fact, getting a graduate degree and post-graduate education was expected."

Rebeca decided to go to law school after working one summer with a CPA.  She discovered that numbers did not seem to be her path.  The next logical choice was law.  Rebeca chose law because she believed that becoming a lawyer would give her the flexibility to follow many different possible job and career options.

Rebeca got her JD at the Universidad de Guadalajara in 1993. Rebeca's connection to Arizona Law started when she applied for the LLM Program Masters in International Trade Law, spearheaded by Professor David Gantz and Professor Boris Kozolychyk, Founder and Director of the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade.  Rebecca was a member of the first LLM class for foreign lawyers admitted to what has become a globally renowned program. 

We are proud of our LLM program and proud to honor Rebeca on Saturday, April 25th at the Law College Association Annual Dinner with the University of Arizona Alumni Association Global Achievement Award.

For 3L student April Shaw, Arizona Law is a family affair. 

April, found her way to Arizona Law

April and Fritz

through the encouragement of her partner, alumnus Stephen Emedi '12. 

"Stephen was always telling me how great the professors were.  What he said was true. I have benefited greatly from the support of several professors in the law school, such as Toni Massaro, Robert Williams, Lesley Obiora, Robert Hershey, Jean Braucher, and others. Each of these professors has helped me to be successful in some way."

Like many of our students, April entered law school having already obtained an advanced degree.  April has a Ph.D in philosophy from the University of Colorado Boulder.  After graduation, she plans to put all of her education to work by practicing in the area of public interest law. 

Last month, April won the national Sarah Weddington Writing Prize for New Student Scholarship in Reproductive Rights.  This is a writing contest open to all law students and 2014 graduates writing on reproductive rights, health, and justice in the U.S. Writers were encouraged to analyze issues using an intersectional lens by considering factors such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and immigration status. First, second, and third place winners were selected by a panel of legal advocates and academic judges.

First place came with a $750 prize and the presumption of publishability.  Her article is entitled "How Race-Selective and Sex-Selective Bans on Abortion Expose the Color-Coded Dimensions of the Right to Abortion and Deficiencies in Constitutional Protections for Women of Color" and was accepted by the N.Y.U. Review of Law and Social Change.

When April is not busy writing, she enjoys taking her dogs Fritz and Castiel for walks around the UofA campus. April is also a huge NBA basketball fan and is excited for the NBA playoffs to start. 

Please join me in congratulating April on her impressive achievement.  Kudos April! I hope your favorite team fares as well as you did.

Fritz and Cass

Arizona Law has a proud tradition of research in law, and broadly across disciplines as part of a great research university.

As Associate Dean for academic affairs Kirsten Engel states,

"Members of the Arizona Law faculty are consistently recognized around the world for their important contributions to the legal debate and the development of thought in their respective areas of law. They are innovators in program development and leaders in research with the capacity to solve real-world problems. And within our own commuity, they are deeply valued as mentors and teachers, accessible to a degree found in few other law schools."

This week, we focus on Regents' Professor Robert Glennon.  Robert, who also holds the Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy, is well known for his leadership in the area of water law.  

Yesterday, Robert was one of several commentators on an Open for Debate series, Can Farms Survive Without Drying Up California? in the New York Times.  His piece, Modernize Irrigation With Incentives, highlighted the critical importance of creating proper financial incentives to dealing with severe draught. 

This is Robert's second New York Times article this year!  In the past twelve months, Robert has also been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Arizona Republic, and the Sacramento Bee. 

Robert has also written two books on the topic of water, Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What to Do About It (2009) and Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping And The Fate Of America's Fresh Waters (2002).  This year he published a widely influential paper with alumnus Peter Culp ('01) and former UofA economist Gary Libecap as part of the Hamilton Project.

 

In the midst of UA baseball season, we bring you this timely recollection from 1980 alumnus Erich Hart:

"I was taking Property Law from Professor Smith as a first year law student in 1977. He (and I) were avid University of Arizona baseball fans. The Wildcats' nemesis, ASU, was in town for a regular season ball game. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and I decided to blow off my Property class. The game was terrific and the crowd was rowdy. I was intensely enjoying the game until the 7th inning when, from the row immediately behind me, someone with a very familiar voice said, "We missed you in class today Mr. Hart." Busted!"

UA pitcher Steve Powers (1977 Desert, UA Yearbook, p.337, Daniel F. Cracchiolo Law Library digital collection)

Do you have photos or memories of law student life? We would love to hear from you. Please contact Emily McGovern, Centennial Coordinator, to share your stories.

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2016 Jessup International Law Moot Court Team

Please join me in congratulating the following students who were selected for the 2016 Jessup International Law Moot Court Team:

Oralists:

Troy Anderson 

Jacqueline Kafka

James Florentine 

David Lundmark

Of-Counsel: Parker Bunch    

Federal Bar Association Indian Law Conference

The University of Arizona College of Law's Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy Program (IPLP) and Native American Law Students Association invite you to:

A Gathering of Alumni & Friends

April 9 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM

Talking Stick Resort Quail Rooms D & E

(9800 E. Indian Bend Rd, Scottsdale, AZ)

Enjoy beer, wine, and refreshments; Converse with alumni and students; Learn about our LLM and SJD Programs.

Be sure to visit the Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy and  Arizona Law's Native American Law Students Association booths in the Exhibit Hall at the Federal Bar Association 40th Indian Law Conference

Tucson Recent Graduate Committee Networking Event

Congratulations Lars Lagerman '78

 Each week we receive several emails and responses to the Wildcat Wednesday Letter of the Law from our alumni and friends.  We always enjoy hearing from you.  This week we would like to share a special note we received from the daughter of two of our alumni.

"Hi!

My father is an alumnus from University of Arizona. He has been announced as the AZ Swedish Consulate again. It is a big achievement, episodically being asked to do it again for the second time. He sends me so many emails each day about UofA Law School. I also am an Arizona Alumni. I graduated in 2013, I went to every UofA Law school homecoming event with my sorority sisters. We had the best time." -- Sarah Sofia Lagerman.  

Sarah, it is my pleasure to recognize your father Lars Lagerman.  Lars, a 1978 graduate of the College, is a friend and long-time supporter of Arizona Law. He happens to be married to super alumna, LCA Board Member, and fellow 1978 classmate, Susan Lagerman. 

We invite you to take step a down Arizona Law history lane and review a Law Record from the Spring of 1986.  You will find Susan's profile and photo on page 14.  I get the chance to see Lars and Susan on a regular basis. She looks the same.

Congratulations Lars on the second appointment to the Swedish Consulate.

Sarah, thank you for writing and allowing us to celebrate both of your parents.

Warmly,

Marc