Letter of the Law: Hear from 2L Joe Tusha

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University of Arizona
James E. Rogers College of Law

March 24, 2021

UPCOMING EVENTS

MAR

Neumann Lecture w/ Karen Korematsu

APR

SAVE THE DATE: LawCats Live w/ Michele Coleman Mayes & Bob Mundheim

APR

Pitt Speaker Series w/ Janet Napolitano

Greetings,

In today's edition of Letter of the Law, you'll hear from 2L extraordinaire Joe Tusha, who, like all of our students, has shown great resilience and optimism during the past year of the pandemic.

I also encourage you to read last week's Statement from the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (APALSA) on Targeted Violence Against the Asian American Pacific Islander Community. The College of Law joins APALSA and the UA Office of the Provost in condemning the violence that took place in Atlanta last week. You can find more information, get support, or report harassment or discrimination through the links in the statements.

This evening, Dr. Karen Korematsu, daughter of late civil rights icon Fred T. Korematsu, will deliver the Peter Chase Neumann Lecture on Civil Justice. She will discuss her father's message and what it would be now, with rising discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. (AZ/Tucson) and you can still register here.

Until the footnotes,

Marc

Hear from 2L Joe Tusha

Second-year JD student Joe Tusha grew up near Plato, Minnesota, and traveled north to the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, to earn his undergraduate degree in political science and sociology.

As an undergrad, he spent a significant amount of time volunteering with LGBTQ+ populations, reproductive healthcare providers, and migrant farmworkers. Joe decided at the start of his fourth year that law school would be a natural next step to continue that kind of advocacy in a more substantive way.

Of making the decision to head south to Tucson, Joe says,

"I chose Arizona Law because I wanted to attend someplace where students of all backgrounds were able to access legal education, and UA was one of the only schools I toured where that felt like a priority."

As a law student, Joe's main emphases are labor and employment law, discrimination law, and LGBTQ+ impact work. After law school, he would ideally like to work in labor policy or workers' rights organizing. Some of his most valuable JD class experiences so far have been in 1L legal writing with Professors Diana Simon and Sylvia Lett and the Workers' Rights Clinic with Professor Shefali Milczarek-Desai ('01).

Joe explains that the pandemic has definitely altered his study habits and professional development. School-wise, he says he's had to become a lot more self-disciplined.

"I'm taking my courses this semester asynchronously, so I've got to get my readings done solely to know the material, not because I'm worried about getting cold-called on it."

It's also led Joe to change his approach professionally.

"My externships during summer, fall, and now spring semester have all been remote, but I'm still expected to grow professionally and gain new skills from them. For me, that means working harder to connect with my team and my supervisors despite our virtual settings and seeking out feedback on my work products."

This semester, Joe has been remotely externing for ACLU-WA in Seattle. It's been great experience:

"I've been able to work on cases involving workplace discrimination, disability access to public facilities, LGBTQ+ healthcare inequities, and the criminalization of poverty, among many others! While the variety of the ACLU's cases was something that initially intimidated me, it's been what I've ended up liking most about working there."

We applaud Joe and all our current students for finding significant opportunities for growth through their remote learning and externships over the past year.

Around the College

TradeLab Continues to Promote Experiential Learning in International Law

We are excited about the continued partnership between the International Trade & Business Law (ITBL) program and TradeLab.

The brainchild of Arizona Law Professor Sergio Puig and Professor Joost Pauwlyn of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, TradeLab promotes clinical work in international economic law in schools all around the world.

Professor Puig explains that there are still limited opportunities to get practical experience in this field of law outside of individual internships. Since the inaugural partnership last spring, eight University of Arizona students have participated in projects aiming to reduce unnecessary barriers to trade. To date, students have partnered with teams from Georgetown University, the Graduate Institute in Geneva, and the Kozolchyk National Law Center.

During the 2020-21 school year, six talented University of Arizona law students have participated in this unique learning experience. During the Fall 2020 semester, Derek Brewer ('22) and Brien Brockbank ('22) worked on a project involving non-tariff barriers for agricultural produce with a student team from the Graduate Institute, and Alexander Bledsoe ('22) and Yun (Zoe) Wang ('22) worked on a confidential project for the National Law Center.

This spring, Samara Diab ('22) and Steven Shedd ('22) have teamed up with students from Georgetown University to make policy recommendations that will reduce barriers to trade. Samara and Steven have already impressed the TradeLab clients with their insightful questions, and they are well on their way to adding to the excellent body of work built by our ITBL students.

Learn more about TradeLab.

Library Blog Continues to Celebrate Women in Law

The Daniel F. Cracchiolo Law Library invites you to follow their blog and celebrate Women's History Month. The latest post by is by Law Library Fellow Jennifer Rochelle. It begins:

Before Gideon there was Clara

"Did you know that a woman lawyer came up with the idea for Public Defenders offices? I, for one, did not. As a former public defender, I was pretty floored. Her name was Clara Shortridge Foltz. About 70 years before Gideon v. Wainwright, Foltz was an early advocate for a system in which every defendant had the right to an attorney. That trailblazing note aside, she was also the first woman admitted to the California Bar, the first woman admitted to law school in California (after she sued), the first woman Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney AND the creator of the state's prisoner parole system."

>> Read the full blog post here.