summer 2004 lawyer

THE LAWYER SUMMER 2004 – 1

Summer 2004

Cover Story – The circle broken, restored

Inside – From All Four Corners


Summer 2004

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Feature Story5 The Circle Broken, Restored

Features15 Alumni Profiles /From All Four Corners

25 Student Profiles

28 Commencement-Class of 2004

30 Reunion

Departments3 Message from the Dean

12 Class Action

14 Development & Alumni Relations

32 Law Briefs

37 Those Who Will Be Missed

38 Faculty and Staff Notes

39 Career Services

Back Cover Calendar of Events

SUMMER 2004

DeanGeorge Critchlow

EditorKarin J. Olsen

Assistant Dean Development& Alumni Relations

Graphics EditorGerald Almanza

Director, Graphic Arts

Copy EditorSusan Bowen

ContributorsPeter Tormey

Associate Director of Public RelationsJohn Power

PhotographersKarin OlsenDean Davis

Cover Photo: Smithmoore Myers

Cover Story

Alumni Profiles

Commencement


THE DEAN’S MESSAGE

Message from the Deans

Dean Dan Morrissey

Dan Morrissey stepped down as Dean of the LawSchool as of July 1, 2004 in order to pursueother teaching and administrative career opportunities. He will be on sabbatical leave during

the 2004/05 school year. The University appointed ProfessorGeorge Critchlow to the position of Interim dean while theUniversity conducts a national search for a permanent Dean.That search process is expected to take approximately oneyear.

As many of you may know, I have stepped down thissummer to be freer to pursue some other administrative

opportunities in highereducation. My threeyears as Dean at GonzagaLaw School have been agreat experience. Al-though the time has beena relatively short period inthe 90 year history of ourschool, we have accom-plished quite a bit.

During the last threeyears we have hired tennew faculty, all withdistinguished academiccredentials. Our last barpass rate has improved

substantially over the previous one, so that for the lastranking in for the February exam, we were second in thestate.

And the future looks good for on-going success. Ourapplications have jumped over 50% in the last three years.Correspondingly the academic quality of our enteringstudents measured by indices like grade point averages andLSAT scores has continued on an upward trend.

In addition, the Law School’s financial health is in goodshape. Our budgets are balanced and we’ve reached afinancial agreement with the university that will allow us tostabilize our enrollment. We should therefore be able tomaintain our momentum to bring in classes with strongscholastic achievements.

I am also particularly proud of a new burst of scholarlyoutput on the part of our faculty. In the very competitiveworld of legal education, it is extremely important that a lawschool’s faculty continue to distinguish itself by publication

or other high level academic work. Such activity will bringgreater recognition for Gonzaga on the national scene thatwill redound to the benefit of our students and alumni.

In that regard my own tenure at Gonzaga provided somepersonal inspiration. This spring I published a lengthy studyon the history and philosophy of Jesuit law schools inAmerica. It is entitled Bringing the Messiah through Law:Legal Education at the Jesuit Schools and can be found involume 48 of the St. Louis University Law Journal. Idedicated the article to two of the real giants of Gonzaga,Bernard Coughlin, S.J. and Frank Costello, S.J., respectivelyformer president and vice-president of our university.

It has also been my pleasure to work in the magnificentnew law building put up by my predecessor John Clute andfunded by generous contributions from so many of ouralumni. I’d also like to thank our current president FatherRobert Spitzer and our Academic Vice-President StephenFreedman for their wonderful friendship and encouragement,both for our law school and for me personally.

I’d like to acknowledge the wonderful support that JohnHolleran and our entire Board of Advisors has given me.And of course, my deepest thanks to our great faculty fortheir dedicated service to our students. I’d like to single outProfessors Amy Kelley, Helen Donigan, and Gerry Hess whohave worked closely with me these past three years asassociate deans and vice-dean.

Gonzaga is also fortunate to have a fine staff. My veryspecial thanks and acknowledgement to two very talentedwomen, Susan Harmon and Georgia Dunham who serve asAssistant to the Dean and Budget Officer for our LawSchool. I know that they will give my successor, InterimDean George Critchlow, all the help he needs for a success-ful administration.

Next year I’ll be on leave from Gonzaga teaching overat Seattle University Law School. I’m not exactly surewhere the future will lead me, but I’m honored to be joiningthe ranks of Gonzaga’s former deans, fine professors likeJohn Clute and Jim Vache, and two senior colleagues, SmittyMyers and Lew Orland whose reputations for legal profes-sionalism epitomize the enduring greatness of our school.


This is my inaugural message in the Lawyer asInterim Dean. First, I want to extend my thanks toDan Morrissey for his faithful service as Dean ofthe Law School during the last three years. I am

also grateful for the generous support he has given me in oureffort to achieve a seamless changing of the guard. I am privileged and honored to be temporarily at thehelm of an institution that has shaped my professional life andgiven me a rewarding career combining teaching and publicservice lawyering. I have now been a clinical and classroomprofessor at the school for twenty-four years. My fatherattended Gonzaga Law School following World War II. Igraduated from the Law School in 1977. I have enormous

pride in the school’s history, itsmission, its graduates, and itscontributions to the bar, bench,and to the public interest incommunities throughout theNorthwest and beyond. My sense of the LawSchool’s identity and future isthis: The Law School should bethe premier northwest lawschool for producing competentand skilled practitioners with aconscience and a commitmentto public service. This identity

should be reinforced by drawing upon our strong reputation inthe area, our support among lawyers, judges, and publicservants in the region, our extensive alumni, our committedfaculty, staff, and students, and our Jesuit heritage. I believe itis realistic for the Law School to be the school of choice forquality students who care about the ethical and social respon-sibilities of our profession and who wish to attend a privatelaw school in the Northwest. The virtue of this vision is that it is consistent with theLaw School’s history and mission, and does not require aradical realignment of values and priorities. It allows for acontinued and balanced emphasis on good teaching, goodscholarship, skills development, and public service. It does notrequire that we be in slavish lockstep with other law schoolswhose resources, missions, histories, and geographic charac-teristics are very different. It does require us to keep ourpriorities in order so that we can fulfill our responsibilities toour students, the profession, and the public.

One of these priorities is to ensure that we are attractingand retaining quality students who will be successful in schooland practice, and who will fully embrace the responsibilities

THE DEAN’S MESSAGE

George Critchlow

their professional calling mandates. We must never overlook ordismiss the practical aspects of this process including prepara-tion for the bar exam. Students should understand the impor-tance of preparing for the bar. They should have the benefit ofour strong institutional support to help them step seamlesslyinto the profession.

Another practical priority is raising the necessary financialsupport. The simple fact is that private law schools requiresignificantly more financial resources than can be generated bytuition revenues alone. Just as the new Law School buildinghas provided the physical foundation for our future, so too willthe current endowment campaign provide the financial founda-tion for our future. Raising more money requires close coordi-nation with the university development offices, a solid andlong-range plan, and effective utilization of the Dean, lawfaculty, staff, and alumni. The benefit of raising more money inthe long term is that it will enable the law school to reduce itsdependence on tuition revenues and more readily accomplishimportant goals that are budget sensitive. These include meritand diversity scholarships, research assistance and scholarshipincentives; curriculum enrichment (e.g. intellectual property,health care law, international law); expanded clinical offerings;loan payment assistance for graduates willing to pursue lessremunerative public interest work; endowed chairs; libraryneeds; and student programs such as moot court and LawReview. My view is that the school’s reputation will be securethrough our success at being true to our mission and becomingthe best law school we can be consistent with that mission. Ifour students pass the bar, if they leave the school with theability to competently pursue their professional goals, if theyare practiced and comfortable in their efforts to grapplehonestly with moral and ethical challenges, if they care abouttheir clients and communities, then we will be proud of them,and they will speak well of us. I will be a caretaker dean when caretaking is called for. Iwill be more proactive when I believe my vision, personality,experience, and skills can contribute to improving the LawSchool. My overarching goal is for students, alumni, friendsand the local and state bar to be confident and positive aboutthe Law School and its future. I look forward to interacting with alumni and others whocare about the Law School. If you have ideas, concerns orobservations you think I should hear, please contact me.


FEATURE STORY

Not so long ago, Native American tribes fromthroughout the region met regularly alongthe north bank of the Spokane River wherethe Gonzaga University School of Law nowsits. Little wonder then that the Law Schoolsite and a spot near the Spokane Falls a milewest along the serpentine river remain places

of great cultural and historical significance for the Native peoples.Gonzaga itself was conceived with the intention of educatingIndian children.

In fact, Gonzaga played a central role in what was designatedas a National Indian Congress, held in Spokane in July of 1926. Asnoted by the late Father Wilfred P. Schoenberg, S.J., renownedhistorian of Pacific Northwest Catholic life, in his book “GonzagaUniversity: Seventy-five Years 1887-1962,” the “movement forthis great congress had its beginnings at Gonzaga.” The congresswas spawned from a football game between Gonzaga and theHaskell Indian Institute in Kansas that had been scheduled for Oct.31, 1925.

Upon hearing from Northwest Tribal leaders that there wouldlikely be up to 3,000 Indians attending the game, then SpokaneMayor Charles Fleming dispatched a committee of Indians to

Washington, D.C. to confer with the Indian Department. Accordingto Fr. Schoenberg, President Calvin Coolidge and Indian Commis-sioner Charles Burke offered their full support for the upcomingcongress to coincide with the football game. The football gamewas attended by some 13,000 people and won by the Indians (10-9in the last moment of play). A large parade followed, one of themost colorful in Spokane history, in which Fr. Cataldo, nearly 90,and bedecked in a greatcoat, occupied a seat of honor on a floatalongside Indians dressed in full regalia, many of whom he hadknown since coming to Spokane 60 years before. A solemn highMass was celebrated the following day. The National IndianCongress in Spokane the following July was also a big success.

So, it was appropriate and just when representatives of nineregional tribes from the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho andMontana attended a ceremony April 2 in the Barbieri Courtroom atthe Law School to mark the unveiling of bronze casts of their tribalseals. The seals will hang in perpetuity in the Courtroom – payingtribute to the historic importance of the tribes and, perhaps moreimportantly, formally recognizing their identity as sovereignnations with their own justice systems and laws.

Early Jesuit pioneer Father Peter DeSmet explored theSpokane region and lived and worked with the Indians, followed

restored Thecircle broken,

Law School Installs Area Tribal Sealsin Barbieri Courtroom

— By Peter Tormey


by Gonzaga’s founder Father Joseph Cataldo whoestablished Gonzaga in 1887. While Gonzaga wasconceived as a school for the Native people, itnever lived up to that promise and became aschool for whites, as Edward J. Crosby (a1922 GU alumnus) noted in an October 1919story he wrote for the Gonzaga MonthlyMagazine (which is no longer published andresides in the University’s archives.) “But theIndian school was never built. The dream of theIndian missionaries was never realized – for the firsttime their plans were doomed to failure,” Crosby wrote. “TheIndian school, so fondly fostered in the minds of the Jesuits,quickly dropped out of existence, and was forgotten; and in itsstead was reared a college for the white boys, sons of the settlers; athree-story brick building, 50 x100 feet in extent, hailed through-out the Northwest as the finest institution of its kind.”

As noted by Fr. Schoenberg, Gonzaga’s policy toward serving

Native Americans had changed between the time of Fr. Cataldo’sfirst noble and altruistic concept and the opening of the institutionin 1887.

Writing about Gonzaga’s opening, Fr. Schoenberg shares atelling story of the reality of the institutional attitude toward Indianstudents at Gonzaga’s beginning:

“A few days after the beginning of the school year FatherJoset appeared with two Indian boys. He informed Father Presidentthat he wanted to register them as resident students of the newcollege. The answer he received indicates that the policy of the

new college had been greatly altered since it was firstconceived. ‘No’, Father Rebmann said, ‘we do not

receive Indian students. The school is exclusivelyfor American boys.’ ‘Well, you call those

Americans,’ Joset snorted. ‘What about theseIndian boys? Surely, they are Americans, they

were born in the country and have a prior rightbefore anyone else.’ Father Rebmann, as you

would suspect, had his way and Joset was forced toplace his Indian boys in one of the mission schools.”

While Gonzaga went on to admit a smallnumber of Indian students in its formative years and more

later, it clearly had strayed from Fr. Cataldo’s conception of theschool due to a convergence of many factors.

“While it’s true that Father Cataldo’s original idea in 1882was for Gonzaga to be an Indian training school, by 1887 he hadclearly abandoned it, for the reasons Father Schoenberg describes,”said David Kingma archivist for the Oregon Province of the

Society of Jesus. “Father Cataldo’s choices after 1893, when hewas no longer Superior of the Rocky Mountain Mission, indicatethat he was first and foremost an Indian missionary at heart. But hewas also a realist, and no victim of circumstances concerning thedirection that Gonzaga took.”

Nevertheless, the circle, a powerful symbol in AmericanIndian spirituality, had been broken between Gonzaga and theNative community – a fact recognized by Father William Watson,S.J., in his invocation at the unveiling ceremony in the BarbieriCourtroom.

Indian Law Conference 1926


Fr. Watson read a poem, “The Circle of Powers Broken andRestored,” a Native American story told to Father Pat Twohy, S.J.by Johnny Arlee. The poem (reprinted below) speaks of how thefeeling of sacredness present in all things was broken with theadvent of the non-Indians and how there now exists a new feelingof power and self-direction among Native peoples, along with ayearning for a restoration of the circle. The poem is in the book“Finding a Way Home” compiled by Fr. Twohy (1983, St.Michael’s Mission, Inchelium, Wash.)

Several of the representatives of the tribes on hand for theunveiling thanked Fr. Watson for the invocation and spoke ofhopes that Gonzaga would continue to work with them in support-ing the education – undergraduate and legal – of more Nativestudents. The nine tribes whose seals are now represented at theLaw School are the Spokane Tribe; the Coeur d’Alene Tribe; theKalispel Tribe; the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho; the ConfederatedTribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation; the Nez Perce Tribe; theConfederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reserva-tion (Montana); the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reserva-tion; and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reserva-tion (Oregon).

Jamie Hamel, vice chair of the Confederated Salish& Kootenai TribalCouncil, said her peoplewere honored andhumbled by the recogni-tion. “We thank Gonzagafor recognizing andhonoring our nation’ssovereign status,” Hamelsaid. “Sovereignty is theheart and soul of allIndian nations. We lookforward to a continuedrelationship with youruniversity.” Hamel said

her tribal seal marks the end of traditional Indian society and thebeginning of modern American society, which has resulted inunyielding encroachment on the lands of her people.

Antone Minthorn, chairman of theBoard of Trustees of the Confeder-ated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian

Reservation in northeast Oregon, whose fatherearned a degree in civil engineering from GUin 1953, noted the irony of his efforts toaddress some of the negative impacts to treatyrights pertaining to water and fish thatstemmed from two dams that his father workedto build.

Minthorn also spoke of his people’s hopes for

the future in spite of apast filled with oppres-sion.“I believe that the Treatyof 1855, when we signedthat treaty we signedaway our sovereigntyand were dominated bythe federal government,”he said. “Today we aremoving away from thattoward self-determina-tion, self-reliance andsovereignty. We arerebuilding our nation andI think that the flag issignificant of that.”

Margo Hill, a member of and attorneyfor the Spokane Tribe ofIndians, graduated fromthe GU Law School in1998 becoming the firstmember of her tribe tograduate from lawschool. Hill called thepresence of the tribalseals in the BarbieriCourtroom a futurepower source for herpeople.

“It is so appropri-ate that the Law Schooland the Barbieri family

really present these seals and acknowledge the local tribalgovernments,” Hill said. “Long ago, all of our tribes used to gathertogether here along the banks of the Spokane River. It’s a littlecluttered up now, but it’s still a real source of power for all ourpeople. And it’s a place where we can all still come together andremember what our ancestors did and remember what they foughtfor and what they believed in.”

The presence of the tribal seals is nothing short offormally “acknowledging the tribes and the local

tribal governments and the place of our peopleand our culture within the establishment,” she

said. “Part of acknowledging the tribes is youare really respecting and acknowledging ourways of life as he mentioned in the poem andrecognizing our source of power, and that isso important to us. I was also a law studenthere at Gonzaga and am now home working

for our people. It’s so powerful for me to beable to come back to my school and see the seals

and see the Law School really respecting our ways

Jamie Hamel

Antone Minthorn

Margo Hill


of life and our choices.”However, much work still needs to be done to restore the

circle, Hill said.“The circle has been broken even to this day,” she said. “I

think there is a lot of work that needs to be done to restore theNative people but part of that is education and our own self-direction of our own people, and it is restoring the trust. I think thisgoes toward that and respecting the sovereign status of each tribein honoring tribal governments.”

Davis Washines, who introduced himself by his

Native name Yallowash,represented the Execu-tive Board of the TribalCouncil of the Confeder-ated Tribes & Bands ofthe Yakama IndianReservation.

“The buildingmakes the person,”Washines said, quotingthe late Americanarchitect Frank LloydWright. “As we enterthis impressive

room and as our children will sit in these chairs thatwe sit in today, and as they look maybe they willglance up at these shields that represent thosepeople who took care of this land for thousandsof years and that will be maybe be aninspiration to all children who come to thisschool of learning.”

Washines said his people also are gratefulto Gonzaga for the education of several of histribe’s members.

“Now we carry the message back to ourpeople that we have a place here,” Washines said. “Aplace has been made to recognize what we call an independentand free nation.”

Former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall usedthe term “dependent nation” in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1932),Washines said.

“We are beginning to think that maybe we are not adependent nation but that we are a free, independentnation,” he said. “As we begin to develop oureconomies, these are the messages that hopefullyour young people will carry forward.”

Ernie Stensgar, longtime chairman of theCoeur d’Alene Tribal Council, said the factthat his tribal seal will be displayed in theBarbieri Courtroom with the other regionaltribal seals was much appreciated by his people.

“This recognition that we’re receiving fromGonzaga is very, very important to all of us andvery important to all of us across the nation,”

Stensgar said, adding the importance of the law in today’s worldcannot be overstated. “Everywhere we turn our lands are beingcoveted and our waters being coveted.”

Education, he said, remains a top priority for his tribe andothers.

“I am so very proud of the young men and women who havegone on to higher education here at Gonzaga and other places ofhigher learning throughout the country,” he said. “We look forwardto many men and women coming out and serving their country.”

Anthony Johnson, chairman of the Nez Perce TribeExecutive Committee, thanked Gonzaga for “the leadership youdisplayed recognizing the sovereign status of the Indian people.”Johnson said his predecessors provided many good laws, including“never be the first to break a bargain, and never take anythingwithout giving just compensation.” At one time, those simple lawswere adequate and easily understood. However, increasingly morecomplex laws passed down through the history of Western culturehave been a source of great suffering for the Indian people.

“And through that suffering we have come to a point whereour sovereignty has always been under attack by the mainstreamsociety,” Johnson said. “Today we sit here with you celebrating ashift. In time, those people who come here to learn the practice oflaw will know there is an Indian law out there and they will learnIndian law side by side and understand that there is another level ofsovereignty in America and that we give Gonzaga today greatcredit for leading the way in establishing this philosophy and

displaying the sovereign status of the Indian nations of theNorthwest for all to see. I want to thank you personally

on behalf of the Nez Perce Tribe.”Phillip Haugen, Kalispel Tribal member and

executive director of the Kalispel Tribal GamingBoard, also expressed his profound thanks for therecognition on behalf of the Kalispel people andspoke optimistically about the future.

“We are honored to have our seal up here and,like the speakers before me expressed, it’s just

wonderful to be a part of this great educationalinstitution,” Haugen said. “I hope that we all continue

and that our young ones grow up and get a great educationand move forward into the next century and beyond.”

Also representing their tribes at the unveiling ceremony wereGary Aitken, chairman of the Kootenai Tribal Council, and JosephPakootas, chairman of the Colville Tribal Business Council. Onhand to welcome the tribal representatives and participate in theceremony was Donald K. Barbieri, whose family name graces the

Barbieri Courtroom.“I remain hopeful that this new century will

bring a new era of cooperation and mutual benefitfor tribes and the governments with which they

interact, whether state, federal or local. And I seethis law school playing a key role,” saidBarbieri. “We need to see more tribal members

attending this law school, going on to becomelawyers and judges practicing in all of the courts of

this state.”

Davis Washines


The plan to formally honor the regional tribes by placingtheir seals on display in the Barbieri Courtroom wasinitiated by Gonzaga University Law Professor Mark

Wilson, who came up with the idea, and Juliana Repp, a memberof the Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho, a 1991 GU honors graduate and1995 GU Law School alumna.

“I told Mark that he and I were the rainmakers behind thisevent,” said Repp. “Of course, we could not have done this withoutthe support of (outgoing) Dean Dan Morrissey and former Dean

John Clute, BonnieWhite at the LawSchool, and, of course,the tribes.” Repp helpedcontact the area tribalcouncils to requestpermission to displaytheir tribal seals in theBarbieri Courtroom.Repp emphasized thatthere may be more thanthe nine tribes honoredin the Courtroom, but thenine tribal sealsrepresent most of thetribes whose membersGonzaga initiallyintended to educate. Repp has workedfor Columbia Legal

Services in Spokane since 1999, primarily representing lowincome persons in the area of family law, public benefits andindividual rights, in tribal, state and federal courts. “There is a lotof reward in representing people who otherwise would not have

access to justice,” Repp said.Repp is serving her third term on the Kalispel Tribal Gaming

Board. She has also served as vice president of the Northwest IndianBar Association since 2001, and currently serves as trustee for theIndian Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association. BothRepp, who has worked for and with most of the tribes in the region,and Wilson said they believed the unveiling ceremony was historicnot merely in terms of Gonzaga’s relationship with the Nativepeoples but also because it marked probably the first time in decadesthat the regional tribal representatives had gathered together.

‘Incredible Moment’

Repp said it was rewarding to work on this project and seethe standing ovation in the Barbieri Courtroom when thetribes’ seals were unveiled – particularly in light of the fact

that all the tribes contacted sent representatives to the ceremony.“That was really significant,” Repp said. “It was an incrediblemoment to see everyone in the Courtroom stand up and applaudwhen the tribal seals were unveiled.”

Repp has co-chaired several Indian law conferences that havebeen held at the Law School in the past few years. The unveilingceremony itself was followed by a daylong conference on AmericanIndian Law, jointly sponsored by the GU Law School and theUniversity of Washington Law School. The conference, an annualoffering of the schools, focused on regional Indian law issues, andfeatured co-chair Robert T. Anderson, a member of the Bois ForteBand of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and a nationally respectedattorney and recognized advocate for Native people and their rights.Anderson currently serves as assistant law professor at the UW LawSchool and directs its Native American Law Center. The conferenceswere approved for continuing legal education (CLE) credit.

TheRainmakers

Juliana Repp

– By Peter Tormey


The Future:Gonzaga and Native People

Repp and Wilson both said they would like to see Gonzagaoffer more undergraduate and law scholarships for NativeAmericans, and find other ways to collaborate and

strengthen these important relationships.Repp said one way to do that will be to have tribal courts hold

appellate hearings in the Barbieri Courtroom. Already, theConfederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation have expressedinterest in doing so.

“I also hope that Gonzaga University would considerappointing an Indian Advisory Board to help guide recruitment ofNative students and work on policy and development of Indian lawprograms,” Repp said. “It would be nice to have some of theNative American nations from this region, for whom Gonzaga wascontemplated, have some input into the development of policiesand curriculum at the University and the Law School.”

In addition, Repp and Wilson see a need for the Law Schoolto expand its Indian law studies so that all GU law students have a

The sustaining force of a band, a People.

These powers were all under the Creator,

“The one up above.”

They came to individuals

When they were placed out alone as children

To see if they would be given a gift:

A helper, a song with power.

These things were experienced and respected.

The people knew how to live.

And work with these powers.

The Circle BrokenWhen the non-Indians came

This whole world was interrupted.

There was great darkness and emptiness.

The white man could not see

Or appreciate the Indian world.

He did not usually respect it.

He had his own view of the earth,

His own powers and sources of power.

He had his own way of doing things.

The Blackrobes thought the Indians

familiarity with Indian law. Repp is working to include Indian lawas an “absolutely necessary” component of the state bar examina-tion because of the far-flung legal implications of the existence of29 federally recognized tribes in the State of Washington and thefrequent intersection of tribal law and Indian law with state andfederal law.

Wilson, who has worked tirelessly in support of area tribes,believes it would be helpful to create a legal library resource andlegal repository of Indian law at Gonzaga for members of theregional tribes. Also, he added, there is great need at the LawSchool for a faculty member whose sole focus is Indian law inorder to expand the curriculum to benefit Indian legal education.

“The whole Indian legal system is different and we have a lotto learn from them,” Wilson said. “Both the Anglo-American legalsystem and the Native American legal systems can learn from andinform each other.”

In the meantime, acting Gonzaga Law School Dean GeorgeCritchlow said, the Law School is interested in strengtheningGonzaga’s historic relationship with the Native people byconsidering these possibilities and others.

A Native American story told to Father PatTwohy, S.J. by Johnny Arlee. This poem isin the book “Finding a Way Home” com-

piled by Fr. Twohy (1983, St. Michael’s Mission,Inchelium, Wash.)

The First CircleIn the days of the original Indians

There was a strong sense of the mysterious,

The Sacred, present in all things,

The earth, the sky, the sun and moon.

The trees, rocks, the streams and wind,

The clouds and lightning,

In these a man or woman could encounter

The Holy, something with Power.

Powers given for helping, leading, healing,

Could be seen as a whole circle of powers

In which all people could share,

Be part of, if it came to them.

It took many gifts of power

To many individuals to make up

The Circle of Powers that was

The Circle of Powers Broken And Restored


Were a People of great dignity,

Sincerity, and goodness.

Blackrobes were not considered to be outsiders.

Yet they were not Indian.

They hoped to be friends

Who could in some way help the People

To survive.

The Blackrobes, the Chiefs, and the Elders

Had a strong respect for one another.

Prophets from among the tribes

Had foretold the Blackrobes’ coming.

But the pride of the men was broken.

Their hearts were sad, confused.

They felt their powers for leading,

For healing and holding their people together,

To be wounded and waning.

The Blackrobes also had powers;

They taught a new spiritual Way.

The grandparents agreed with this Way;

It seemed much like their own.

The Blackrobes and Sisters would

Run schools for the children

To teach them the new powers

That could come from knowing

Letters, numbers, books.

All this helped a People move

Into a new age. The Chiefs, the men and women

Prayer Leaders, the Catechists,

The Church Builders and Doormen,

All worked together with the priests.

But the old Circle of Powers was broken.

It was not so shared anymore.

It appeared that priests and Sisters

Had a greater part of the circle

Of spiritual powers for leading and helping.

The People felt more receiving than giving,

Being told rather than listened to.

All this was happening in a world

Where Indian Ways came more and more to be

Criticised, condemned, ignored.

And the Circle has remained broken

Even to this day.

The Sense of the SacredThere have been many men and women saints,

Many hold Prayer Leaders

And good, selfless Chiefs.

But the feeling grew strong

That holiness was more in the priests,

Brothers and Sisters,

Than in the whole People together.

The sense of the Sacred

Grew more confined to those things

Within a Church or in things carried:

A rosary, a medal, a picture.

The sense of the Holy

Being in all things was lost.

The Circle Restored

Today there is a new feeling of strength

And self-direction among the People.

It would be good if the Circle of Powers

Were made whole again.

It would be good to see again

Men and women, Elders, priests, deacons and Sisters

All equal in sharing in the circle of gifts

For helping the People.

This Would Be a Circle and a People

This would be a Circle of men and women

Who feel they are sons and daughters of their Creator,

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

Full of reverence for the Holy

Present in all Creation.

This would be a People full of trust

In each other and in their Maker,

Together facing and choosing a path

From the past into the future and the totally unknown.


CLASS ACTION

’54 Robert E. Anderson, William J. Grant, Robert J.McKanna, and John L. O’Connor all class of ’54 were presentedwith their fifty year awards at the Spokane County BarAssociation’s Annual Professionalism dinner in March.

’76 Mary EllenGaffney-Brown ’89 andPeter Lineberger ’76 havejoined together in the firm,Lineberger and Gaffney-Brown, in Spokane.Lineberger, concentrates hispractice in the field ofmatrimonial and family law.Lineberger was nominatedthe 1999 SCBA VolunteerLawyers Program “Attorneyof the Year,” and was Chairof the WSBA Family LawSection for 2002-2003.Gaffney-Brown’s area ofconcentration is commercial

litigation, including business reorganizations, workouts andcomplex bankruptcy practice. Currently, she is the president of theCreditor Debtor Section of the WSBA and President-elect of theBankruptcy Bar Association of Eastern Washington. She wasawarded the Spokane County Bar Assn. Bankruptcy Attorney of theYear, 1999.

’77 Clifford Webster was recently featured in the May issueof Washington Law & Politics, in an article that identifies him asone of a handful of “lobbyists to call to get things done” in theWashington state capital. The article presents a glimpse of fivelobbyists “whose high levels of integrity, know-how and peopleskills have garnered them respect and influence on both sides ofthe aisle.” Cliff heads the firm of Carney Badley Spellman, agovernment affairs practice group in Olympia.

’80 Nancy Isserlis waspresented with the Smithmoore P.Myers Professionalism Award by theSpokane County Bar Association inMarch. Nancy recently took a newposition as partner with the firm ofWinston Cashett in Spokane. Herpractice will focus on bankruptcy.

Washington State Gov. Gary Lockehas appointed Port Townsend lawyer

Craddock Verser ’80 to the Jefferson County Superior Court.Verser, who served as a public defender in both Stevens andJefferson counties before going into private practice, will succeedJudge Thomas Majhan, who died last month. Verser will have tostand for election this fall.

’81 Valerie McNevin recentlywent to the World Bank to work in theareas of cyber-security and criticalinfrastructure for the financial sector.The thrust of her work is to assistemerging economies in designinglegal frameworks for financialsystems that are built on open-networkarchitecture. She recently co-authoreda book published by the World Bankentitled “Electronic Safety and

Soundness: Securing Fiannce in a New Age.” The Bank justhosted an international conference in Singapore on May 17 & 18focused on the same subject and attracting representatives ofcentral banks, financial regulators, private companies, andacademic institutions from over 17 countries.

Robert J. McKanna

Peter Lineberger ’76

Nancy Isserlis ’80

Valerie McNevin ’81

William J. Grant


CLASS ACTION

’84 John Powers, formermayor of Spokane, was recentlyselected as president and CEO of theEconomic Development Council ofSeattle and King County. Powersbrings to his new position a belief inthe importance of collaboration, aswell as an understanding of regionalissues gleaned from his role on theCompetitiveness Council. He waschosen after a nationwide search and

arrives at a time when major corporate players in this area see aneed for a dramatic new initiative for job creation and leadership tobring about a resurgence in the local economy.

’93 Victoria Rusnak Pearson’93 has opened her law practice inSeattle, Wash. specializing inCorporate, Real Estate & Environ-mental law. She is a member of theWashington State Bar Association, theCalifornia State Bar, and the Districtof Columbia Bar, as well as the KingCounty Bar Association. In 1995 shereceived her LL.M in EnvironmentalLaw from George WashingtonUniversity School of Law in Washing-ton, D.C.

’94 Lawrence Merrifield hasrecently been appointed Director ofLitigation Communications atPoorman-Douglas Corporation, adivision of EPIQ Systems. Mostrecently he was a case manager in theBankruptcy Department where heacted in the capacity of a claims and

noticing agent for large and complex Chapter 11 bankruptciesacross the United States. He continues to run and coach, winning asilver medal at the 2003 USATF National Masters ChampionshipsM35-39 5000m. He recently coached a local Portland runner to aspot in the 2004 US Women’s Olympic Marathon trials in St.Louis.

’95 Mariah Eastman, of Three Forks and Bozeman, Mont.has agreed to serve as Gallatin County’s chief public defender, ajob she has been doing on an interim basis. Her focus will remainfixed on the unexpected increase in caseloads the public defendersoffice has experienced. Since the office became functional on Oct.1, attorneys have tackled nearly 600 cases.

’97 Jay Rodne, Snoqualmieattorney and Marine reservist whoserved in Kuwait and Iraq, isWashington State’s newest RepublicanHouse member for the 5th District.Rodne is a Snoqualmie City Councilmember and has a private lawpractice. He and his wife Heidi havetwo children. Rodne is a major in theU.S. Marine Corps Reserve andsecond in command of a 1,200

member reserve battalion. He and the unit were activated inFebruary 2003, and went to Kuwait and Iraq in support ofOperation Iraqi Freedom. He returned in June and was deactivatedin August. Rodne will stand for election this fall.

Juliana (Kendall) Burnett ’97 is a criminal prosecutor with KingCounty in Seattle. Rob Burnett ’96 is a general business and taxassociate with the Bellevue firm of Peterson, Russell and Kelly.They have one son (21months) and are expecting their secondchild in July.

’03 Ronnie Rae was sworn in as a member of the FederalBar on May 17, 2004. He is also a member of the Washington StateBar and serves in sole practice in Spokane, specializing in criminaldefense and personal injury.

After passing the Illinois bar exam, Laura DiNardo was recentlyhired at Stellato & Schwartz in Chicago, Ill., a medium size firm of35 attorneys. She works with their litigation section doingmainly insurance defense. The firm’s main clients are USAA,AAA, and First Nonprofit.

John Powers ’84

Victoria RusnakPearson ’93

Lawrence Merrifield ’94

Jay Rodne ’97


Haskell contributes entire fee toGonzaga Center for Law and Justice

Section 6.1 of the Washington Rules of ProfessionalConduct states that “every lawyer has the professionalresponsibility to assist in the provision of legal services tothose unable to pay.” It is to the profession’s credit that

most lawyers take this obligation quite seriously and, as theGonzaga Law Clinic isdiscovering, some arefulfilling this responsi-bility in substantial butvery diverse ways.

One recent examplewas a case of neglect andabuse brought bySpokane attorney,Stephen Haskell ’77, inpartnership with theGonzaga Law Clinicagainst a homehealthcare providerwhose actions resulted ininjury to and, ultimately,the death of one of theprovider’s elderlypatients. Haskell workedwith Gonzaga Clinicfaculty member AlMcNeill and students Alice Dupler and Emma Paulsen. Together,they secured a favorable mediated settlement which compensatedthe plaintiff’s family and effectively ended a dangerous pattern ofserious neglect in the facility.

In partnering with the clinic, Haskell had the benefit of highlymotivated law students who did much of theresearch. In return, the students had theadvantage of Haskell’s experience andexpertise, and the client had quality representa-tion that resulted in a favorable settlement.

Haskell’s contribution did not stop there.The case in question involved a split feearrangement with the clinic. When the verdictwas rendered, Stephen Haskell made agenerous contribution of his entire fee. It was a$50,000 donation with $30,000 designated tothe Clinic Endowment, a fund designed toprovide long-term funding for the clinic, and$20,000 to be used for priority needs in theclinic’s current operations.

Haskell saw this as a great opportunity to make a multi-facetedcontribution by doing legal work within his particular area ofspecialization. “It is important for every lawyer to engage in probono work and this is one way to do it and hopefully encourageothers to do something for the good of the client and the good of the

DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI RELATIONSlaw school as well” said Haskell.

The vast majority of clinic cases do not generate fees. Theyare a straight dedication of pro bono work. Occasionally, there aresome fee generating cases that fall within the clinic guidelines thatconsider the economic status of the client, the client’s inability tosecure adequate representation, the equities involved, and thepublic interest to be served. Another factor is whether there is alegal basis to require the adverse party to pay plaintiff’s costs and

fees. The case StephenHaskell and the clinictook on met all theestablished criteria. Frequently, cases ofthis type are of suchcomplexity and durationthat they are not easilytaken by practicinglawyers on a pro bonobasis. However, bypartnering with theclinic, attorneys canleverage their effortsthrough the work ofclinic students andfaculty. It also providesmentoring for clinicstudents in specializedareas they might nototherwise be exposed to.Partnering arrangements

can also create some significant new opportunities for pro bonoservice in areas that better match the individual attorney’s specificexpertise.

In addition to Stephen Haskell’s generosity, the law clinicand its students have been the beneficiaries of another substantial

contribution – the time and talent of some highlyskilled and experienced attorneys. It all started withJim Connelly ’53, a retired partner at the WinstonCashatt law firm and a past U.S. Attorney for theEastern District of Washington. Over the years,Connelly made a significant commitment of time tothe clinic on a volunteer basis. Since his retirement,this commitment has increased. This year, he wasjoined by recently retired Spokane Superior CourtJudge Richard Schroeder ’63; Owen Clarke, theformer head of the Attorney General’s ConsumerProtection Division for Eastern Washington andprominent appellate attorney, and Debra Stephens’93. While each one brings a unique blend of

experience, expertise and perspective, all are united in a commoncommitment to provide exceptional mentoring to our students anda high level of representation to those most in need. Each hasmanaged to meet their professional responsibility to provideaccess to justice in a most significant way.

Al McNeil, Steve Haskell, George Critchlow, Alice Duper and Emma Paulsen.


ALUMNI PROFILES

Smithmoore P. MYERS ’39Spokane, Washington

In every school or university you will find a fewexceptional individuals who have made a truly definingcontribution to the life and character of their institution.At Gonzaga Law School, Smitty Myers is one of those

individuals.Born in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1914, Smitty Myers came to

Spokane at the age of three with his mother, his six-year-oldbrother Robert, and his nine-year-old sister Nellie. If young Smittyand his siblings had one great advantage in life it was their motherJulia, a single mother and a woman of tremendous strength andspirit who was devoted to her children and their welfare. Althoughhis parents had divorced when Smitty was quite young, his motherwent out of her way to ensure that their father remained a regularpart of the children’s lives.

During his first five years in Spokane, Smitty attended fivedifferent grade schools. As one might expect, he excelled academi-cally except for one anomalous “F” he received as a first grader in,of all subjects, public speaking. Smitty’s mother and teacherconferred and concluded the grade was due to the young boy’sshyness and not his lack of ability. Given Smitty’s subsequentprowess in debate, legal argumentation, and public speaking, itwould seem their assessment of the situation was accurate.

Within a year of arriving in Spokane, Smitty’s mother foundemployment in the women’s shoe department of the Crescent, a jobshe would have for the next two decades. Although it was ademanding six-day-a-week job, Julia Myers made sure she washome every noon to fix the children’s lunch. There was never anyquestion of the priority her children held in her life.

In 1922, the family moved to a house in Peaceful Valley. The$15 a month rental provided them with a small home that had onecold water faucet, and toilet facilities located on the screen porch at the rearof the house. As Smitty recalls, they felt very comfortable in their PeacefulValley residence. They would have been content to stay had not tragedystruck in 1924, when Smitty’s older brother, Robert, died of rheumatic fever.Grieving her loss, Julia Myers could not endure the bittersweet memories sothe family moved to an apartment at Fourth and Lincoln on Spokane’s lowerSouth Hill.

Now attending the Hawthorne School, Smitty was told one daythat there would be a debate with a neighboring school and that hehad been selected to participate. Although he wasn’t quite sure whatit was all about, he prepared and did well. His one enduring memory ofthe occasion was that he liked it. On that day, a seed was planted.

At Lewis and Clarke High School Smitty was a member of the two-person freshman teamwhich vanquished the upper classes in the school’s intramural debate competition. His forensicskills were so good that he made the school’s varsity debate team as a freshman. Myers also

From AllFour Corners


ALUMNI PROFILES

�

Smithmoore P. Myers ’39Spokane, Washington

excelled academically. He finished his final year at Lewis andClarke as Senior Class Vice-President, with the second highestacademic average in his class.

There was never any doubt that Smitty Myers was headed tocollege and that that college would be Gonzaga. Just as he had inhigh school, Smitty became active in debate and student govern-ment. He enjoyed the academic challenge and the quality ofinstruction he received from teachers such as Fr. Leo Robinson andfrom Fr. Albert Lemieux who was his debate coach.

To help finance his education, Myers took on the 1:00 a.m. to7a.m. shift at Sacred Heart Hospital where he worked the switch-board and ran the admitting office. It was 42 hours, seven days aweek, but during the occasional quiet times, Smitty found time tostudy.

At Gonzaga, Myers was an outstanding member of a verysuccessful varsity debate team. On one occasion Gonzaga’sforensic juggernaut went up against a team from the University ofIdaho that included a young man named Lewis Orland who wouldlater become very well known to both Myers and generations ofGonzaga students. (See news clip from 1935 in Law Briefs page32.)

didn’t have a driver’s license. In fact, he did not even know how todrive. But Smitty was a quick study and the boss was a trustingsoul. He gave Smitty his personal automobile to practice with andwhen late afternoon rolled around, he put Smitty in the driver’sseat of a truck with instructions to deliver kegs to a drinkingestablishment in one of Spokane’s more questionable areas. Smittysuccessfully negotiated the roads and the alleys and began rollingthe kegs off the truck. After observing the relatively slight deliveryman wrestling with the heavy kegs, the tavern owner asked Smittyif he intended to make a career out of beer deliveries. Smitty toldhim he was a law student just doing work for the summer. Thetavern owner suggested Smitty would be better served by stickingto law. For Smitty, it was advice well received and gratefullyfollowed.

In law school as in his undergraduate years, Smitty had thefull confidence and respect of his peers. He was a three time classpresident, and as senior he was elected President of the Student BarAssociation.

By his final year of law school, Smitty’s academic skill andsolid personal reputation attracted the attention of Superior CourtJudge Richard Webster, who offered Smitty a highly covetedposition as his clerk. In that capacity, Myers briefed cases for thejudge. He also conducted interviews with and prepared assessmentreports on young people slated to appear on the court’s weeklyjuvenile docket. It was an excellent job that payed $150 a month,which was considerably more than most young lawyers inSpokane were making at that time. Because he needed transporta-tion to conduct these interviews, Smitty put down $250 to buy a1932 Ford Model C. Thanks to prior experience, he was now fullylicensed and sufficiently skilled to make use of his new purchase.

In April of 1939, Smitty’s mother collapsed at her work fromcomplications brought on by pneumonia. Her health was poor andhe and his sister Nellie agreed she would not return to work.

Smitty received his degree summa cum laude that spring buthe put off taking the bar exam due to his mother’s poor health. Hecontinued working at the court and studying for the bar in theevening. In 1940 he finally took the bar and, as he found out sometwenty years later, received the highest grade in the state. Thatsame year, he was asked to return to the Law School as aninstructor of real property. From the moment he began, SmittyMyers loved teaching and knew he wanted it to be a part of hisprofessional life.

In 1942, with World War II looming, Myers received a callfrom Creighton Flynn, a law school classmate from Tacoma. Flynntold him about a new naval officer program designed to trainadministrative officers who could free trained pilots for flight duty.Smitty liked the idea and convinced another classmate, NormJohnson, to apply. Both were accepted and received their orders forthe Quonset Pointe Naval Station in Rhode Island. After the twomonth training, the officer in charge asked Smitty to stay on as hisChief Administrative Assistant. Smitty accepted and remained anadditional year at Quonset Pointe performing administrative dutiesand teaching naval law.

The following summer, Myers applied for and was accepted

During his undergraduate career, Smitty Myers served aspresident of his sophomore and junior classes, and as a senior hewas elected Gonzaga Student Body President. He completed hisstudies with the top academic rank in his class, graduating summacum laude in 1936.

By the time he began his senior year, Smitty fully understoodthat his talents and interests were a perfect match for a career inlaw. But law school would have delayed his ability to contributeeconomically to the family. On a Sunday walk with his mother hecarefully broached the idea of going to law school. Although anadditional income would have helped, Julia Myers didn’t hesitate amoment in her response. “If that is what you want to do,” she said,“then that is what we will do.”

Any doubts Smitty may have had about his presumptivevocation, were dispelled early in his law school experience. Hissubjects interested him and his teachers won his admiration. Hesaw some very different but effective approaches in the classroom.There was the very scholarly and patient Dean James EmmetRoyce; the feisty and demanding Mike Kerley; and the highlyprofessional Frank Weaver, who would go on to serve on the StateSupreme Court.

Finances were always an issue for students during these timesand Smitty tried his best to make ends meet. One summer, whileworking in a local brewery warehouse, the boss asked Smitty tomake a beer delivery for him. The only problem was that Smitty


ALUMNI PROFILESto train as a non-pilot navigator. During his navigator training inNew York City, he received a call from his law school friend, JackClose, who asked Smitty if he wanted to join him in the VR2program, at the Alameda Naval Air Station in California. For thenext two years, Myers was part of an “on call” flight crew that took“flying boats” all over the Pacific. His assignments sent him toSydney and Auckland as well as Guadalcanal and the other battle-torn islands. As soon as enemy air defenses were suppressed, thesquadron’s “flying boats” came in with much needed supplies.

In November of 1945, Smitty Myers was honorably dis-charged from the Navy with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.On the recommendation of a Deputy State Attorney General whomhe had met in the service, Smitty applied and was accepted for aposition with the Washington State Attorney General’s office. Forthe next two years, he did trial and appellate work for the officeincluding a number of appeals before the Washington StateSupreme Court.

In 1947, he joinedGonzaga graduates TomKelley and Art O’Sullivanas part of a general practicelaw firm in Seattle. Overthe next eight years hedeveloped an excellentpractice which included agood amount of appellatework as well as a thrivingspecialty in the area ofmotor freight transportationlaw. In time, he became thechief lawyer for more thantwenty local area freightcarriers. It was a practiceand a life he could haveeasily maintained had henot agreed in 1955 to go tolunch with Father James Linden, Gonzaga’s Law School Regent.

Since he came to Gonzaga in the 1930s, Father Linden hadpassionately pursued the goal of improving the Law School andbringing it to full stature. In 1952 he helped Gonzaga become thefirst night school ever accredited by the American Bar Association.He was now intent on building a stronger full-time administrativestaff and faculty. He wanted to take the Law School to the nextlevel and he saw in Smitty Myers a person who could help him getthere. Over lunch, the highly persuasive Fr. Linden asked SmittyMyers to become the new Law School dean.

It was not an easy decision for Smitty. After the meeting, hewalked the Seattle waterfront for nearly five hours as he consid-ered his options. In the end, his affection for the school and hislove of teaching won out and he agreed to return to his alma materas Dean.

Over the next decade, Gonzaga continued to mature andimprove as a law school under the able direction of Dean Myers.The full-time faculty was increased, admission standards were

improved, legal writing courses were made part of the curriculumand ABA standards limiting outside work for students wereenforced. During that period the quality of graduates was excellent.They performed consistently well on the bar with average passrates of 85% or better.

It was during this initial term as Dean, that Smitty Myers metthe person who would change his life for the better – for ever. Itwas 1957 when he went down to the U.S. Courthouse to meet withthe U.S. District Court Judge. As Smitty tells it, he “approachedthe counter when this vision of loveliness approached and said‘May I help you?’” It was Sandy Sandulo. At that point Smittyadmits that his voiced cracked like a 14 year old’s. As Smittydescribes it “This is the most beautiful woman I have ever met andI’ve killed myself in the first 15 seconds.” While Smitty’sdescription of the young lady was accurate, his assessment of thesituation could not have been more in error. This first halting

encounter with SandySandulo would mark thebeginning of the mostimportant and definingrelationship of his life.Unfortunately, it would betwo years before Smittycould pursue the relation-ship in earnest. The day hemet Sandy, he wasappointed special masterfor a long complex waterrights case. Due to Sandy’swork, there was at least theappearance of a conflict ofinterest in Smitty datingsomeone who worked withone of the ligitation teams. In 1965 Smitty wasappointed U.S. Attorney

for the Eastern District of Washington by President LyndonJohnson. For Smitty it was as close to an ideal job as you couldget. He successfully tried a variety of cases on both the criminaland civil side. Smitty Myers would have been content to stay onindefinitely, but the change of political power in Washington endedhis tenure in 1969.

That same year, Smitty Myers returned to private practice inSpokane with Eldon Reiley, Gene Annis and Paul Bastine. In 1971the firm merged with a tax group that included Scott Lukins andGary Randall. The new firm was named Lukins Myers and Annis.

Although the law firm was growing and prospering, SmittyMyers, could not ignore his increasing desire to return to theclassroom. He compromised by teaching an equity class from 1971to 1973 while maintaining his practice, but this only whetted hisappetite. In 1973 he returned to full time teaching, taking on classsections in torts and products liability.

The school he returned to was far different from the one hehad left less than a decade earlier. Gonzaga now had a day school

Sandy and Smitty Myers


ALUMNI PROFILESand a large student body drawn from all over the country. Thefaculty members were no longer predominantly Gonzaga graduatesand the old Webster School had been significantly expanded andremodeled. It was an exciting time with a bright and highlyengaged student body, but it was also apparent to him that therewere strains associated with this rapid transformation.

Matters came to a head when the Law School’s application tobecome a member of the American Association of Law Schoolswas met with a critical review by the Association’s membershipcommittee. As a result the Law School voluntarily withdrew itsapplication.

At the same time, the students were taking a more activiststance regarding facilities and resources. It was in the midst of thisturmoil that the new University President, Fr. Bernard Coughlin,approached Smitty Myers about assuming the deanship. Myers hadno illusions about the problems he faced. But in the final analysishis loyalty to the school and sense of service overcame anyreservations based on personal interest. After insisting on a vote ofconfidence from the faculty and student body, Myers accepted.

As one who had the confidence of all, Dean Myers movedquickly to restore trust among the parties and to address the criticalissue of tuition revenues. He took the concerns of faculty, students,and accreditation agencies to Fr. Coughlin and found a receptivehearing and a sincere resolve to rectify the Law School’s problems.He opened lines of communications with the students and, as far aspracticable, implemented their recommendations. He negotiated ahighly favorable revenue-sharing agreement with the Universityand secured expanded building space for the faculty and adminis-tration. He also successfully addressed pressing concerns regardingadmissions standards and faculty turnover. In the final analysis, hemanaged to restore a high level of trust among all interested partiesand to put the Law School back on solid footing. He was soeffective that by the fall of 1977, the Law School was approved forfull membership in the American Association of Law Schools. Inrecommending acceptance, the Association’s membershipcommittee expressed amazement at how far the school had come insuch a short time.

In 1978, Smitty Myers had done what he set out to do. Heresigned as Dean and returned to full time teaching. He would havebeen content to teach until his retirement, but another specialopportunity arose when the Federal Judicial District of EasternWashington received approval for a full time U.S. MagistrateJudge. Finally, the man with the quintessential judicial tempera-ment could have his own court. The offer was made and SmittyMyers accepted.

The U.S. Magistrate Judge’s position was for an eight-yearterm. On the criminal side, Magistrate Judges handled only initialappearances. On the civil side, Magistrate Judges could try anycase but only with the consent of both parties. In the sixth year ofMyers’ term, the Ninth Circuit conducted a study to determinewhat percentage of trial lawyers in each district would be willingto bring civil matters before their local magistrate. The results werea remarkable endorsement of Magistrate Judge Myers. In theEastern Washington District, 95% of trial lawyers said they would

bring their civil cases before the local magistrate judge withoutreservation. This was by far the highest positive response in theentire circuit. The next highest district recorded only a 65%positive result.

Smitty thoroughly enjoyed his tenure as U.S. MagistrateJudge. He had a full and varied civil caseload. Indeed, given thespeedy trial requirements of criminal cases, he wound up withmore civil trials than the U.S. District Court judges. When his termended in 1987, Myers returned to his first love – the classroom. Forthe next eight years a very youthful and vigorous Smitty Myerstaught Federal Jurisdiction to a new generation of Gonzaga lawstudents. When he retired in 1995 at the age of 81, Myers hadcompleted a teaching career at Gonzaga that spanned more than 55years.

As Smitty moved through his career, he maintained that mostimportant relationship with Sandy Sandulo. They had a long butnecessary engagement period because Smitty was the onlysurviving child and the main support for his infirm mother, whohad lived with him for many years. Neither Sandy nor Smittywanted to disrupt Julia’s life and they felt their marriage would dojust that. Smitty had an undying love for and gratitude to thisstrong woman who had done so much for him. Sandy, who sharedin that love and affection for Julia, supported his decision.Smitty’s mother died in 1982 at the age of 96. A few months later,Sandy and Smitty’s 24 year engagement ended when they weremarried by Fr. Frank Costello S. J. in the Gonzaga Chapel.

As anyone who knows them will tell you, you cannot reallyunderstand Smitty without reference to Sandy and vice versa. Theyare the true light of each other’s lives - the perfect compliment. Buttheir love is not the exclusive kind. With her outgoing personality,her intelligence, wit, warmth and verve, Sandy insures that you cannever be just their acquaintance. It only takes about sixty seconds,a few engaging words and a warm hug from Sandy to initiate youinto their large and diverse extended family. They are a generouscouple who take time to visit the infirm, to encourage those goingthrough difficult times, and to celebrate birthdays and specialoccasions in other people’s lives.

At one of several parties held in honor of Smitty’s ninetiethbirthday, a diverse group of hundreds of friends gathered tocelebrate with the Myers. Whether measured in terms of age,ethnicity or occupational status, it was as diverse a group as couldbe imagined. The thing they had in common was their greataffection for Smitty and Sandy Myers. That was the only realreason they needed that evening to interact and enjoy the companyof otherwise total strangers.

By any measure, Smitty Myers has enjoyed a career that is asremarkable for its breadth as for its longevity, and he has receivedhis share of accolades. His alma mater has honored him with theGonzaga Law Medal and the Distinguished Alumni Merit Award.Last year, it conferred upon him the title of Dean Emeritus. TheWashington State Bar has recognized him with their Award ofHonor and Merit as well as the Professionalism Award. Not onlydid the Spokane County Bar make Smitty Myers the first recipientof their professionalism award, but they named it in his honor.


ALUMNI PROFILESSmitty Myers is not one given to self promotion. It is simply

not in his nature. He has never sought recognition or even greataccomplishments. He has simply and generously put his consider-able abilities at the service of others for all the right reasons. Hehas not only been a wonderful lawyer, teacher, judge and dean, buthe has been an exemplar of what a lawyer should be. He has wonour great respect and our deep affection. By virtue of his example,he has made his professional colleagues proud to be attorneys andthe graduates of his alma mater proud to be Gonzaga lawyers.

Molly McQueen ’94Portland, Oregon

It has only been ten years since her graduation from GonzagaLaw School, but in that decade, Molly McQueen has built aremarkable career in the technically sophisticated areas ofsecurities, finance, and international law. A strong work

ethic, an openness to change, and the courage to “go where theaction is” are some of the qualities that have enabled McQueen tothrive in these complex and highly competitive areas, whileholding down key legal positions with several of the country’smost prominent financial services companies.

Although her father worked for the Washington StateDepartment of Insurance, Molly McQueen never gave a secondthought to a career in financial services or law during her forma-tive years. The fourth of five children, she grew up in a Seattle

the French campus of the Free University of Brussels, in BrusselsBelgium; as well as one semester studying American ForeignPolicy at the American University in Washington, D.C.

After graduation McQueen returned to Seattle and, like somany graduates, began working in a field totally unrelated to herundergraduate major. Her first position involved conducting fieldresearch for a media marketing and consulting firm. This wasfollowed by work with an executive search firm serving Seattle’sburgeoning high tech and bio-medical companies. As the monthswore on, she felt a restlessness and a growing sense that she wasn’ton the right path.

Her instincts told her that graduate education would providethe best opportunity to increase her career options. So she beganconsidering programs in communications, business, and law. Shewas still undecided when she sat for the January 1991 LSAT exam.She had no particular expectations since her one undergraduate lawcourse had failed to kindle any enthusiasm in her. But much to hersurprise, she enjoyed the test with its strong emphasis on logic.Seven months later she was part of the entering class at GonzagaLaw School.

From the very beginning, Molly McQueen knew she hadmade the right decision. The restlessness was gone and she foundherself totally engaged in her subjects. She had heard law schoolwas highly competitive but her experience at Gonzaga was of ahighly supportive community with accessible faculty and encour-aging friends. “I felt that the only one I was competing against wasmyself.”

McQueen had a special regard for professors such as GerryHess, Speedy Rice and Bill Clarke. She marveled at ProfessorHess’s ability to engage and motivate his students. “He made civilprocedure not only understandable but enjoyable” she noted. Sheadmired Speedy Rice for his strong and consistent commitment toprinciple, and Bill Clarke for his deep knowledge of the law andhis highly professional demeanor.

Outside of class, McQueen worked for the local firm ofConnolly & Connolly. Here she gained both practical experienceand the good example of a young lawyer named Lisa Bradley whois now the Gonzaga Law School Dean of Students. In Bradley,McQueen saw a very good and dedicated lawyer who consistentlymanaged to combine great professionalism with a remarkable levelof grace, humor, and personal warmth. “For me” said McQueen,“Lisa Bradley was one of the few true role models I had. If anyoneever said that I reminded them of Lisa Bradley, I would take it as agreat compliment.”

After receiving her J.D. magna cum laude in 1994, McQueenturned to another Jesuit institution, Georgetown, to pursue hermaster’s in the University’s highly regarded LL.M program inInternational & Comparative Law. This move was consistent withher long-standing attraction to international studies and it broughther back to Washington, D.C., the city she had enjoyed so much asa college junior. Although it would not be immediately evident, herknowledge of international law was to prove highly relevant to herfuture professional endeavors.

Her first position after finishing her LL.M with distinction

�

Molly McQueen ’94Portland, Oregon

neighborhood just north of the University of Washington campus.After her freshman year at Seattle’s Garfield High School, herfamily moved to Olympia when her father was appointed DeputyInsurance Commissioner.

As she looked toward her future, Molly McQueen decided tostudy in the only area that held a real fascination for her –international relations. She selected Scripps, an all women college

that is part of the Claremontconsortium of schools inSouthern California, on the basisof its strong program in interna-tional relations. In addition tosolid academics, Scripps alsooffered Molly the opportunity tospend her junior year of study offcampus. For her, that wouldinclude one semester studyingwhat was then referred to as theEuropean Community at theInstitute of European Studies on

Molly McQueen ’94


was with the legal department of CNA, a leading global insur-ance organization based in Chicago. This was to be the first ofmany “trial-by-fire” experiences in her career. She had nevertaken insurance law and yet she found herself with a desk full offiles, unfamiliar subject matter, a host of clients awaitingdefinitive legal answers, and very little supervisory assistance.Faced with the situation, McQueen began what would become afamiliar drill. She picked up the first file, read it, researched it,applied her best judgment, gave her advice, and moved on to thenext file. And it worked. Over the next several years she wouldget very comfortable with this approach and very skilled at it.

At CNA McQueen provided legal counsel for all phases ofthe corporation’s specialty: reinsurance and professional liabilityinsurance operations. Even though she was not expecting it, herwork also took her into international legal matters since mostreinsurance involves off-shore operations.

In 1997, Molly McQueen was offered a new opportunitywith real general counsel responsibilities when CNA acquiredHedge Financial Products. The new division was pioneeringsome highly innovative products designed to spread insurancerisk, not by transferring it to industry reinsurers, but bysecuritizing it and bringing it to the capital markets, and theyneeded their own dedicated attorney to assist them.

The new position brought Molly to New York and the centerof the financial universe. She loved the energy, the pace and thepeople she worked with. She was in a demanding and competi-tive environment dealing with highly sophisticated and rapidlyevolving legal areas. But, she was more than up to the challengeof learning and succeeding through the “trial by fire” approachesthat had served her so well.

At CNA Hedge Financial Products, McQueen advisedclients on a full range of legal issues arising from the division’ssecuritization operations and other insurance hedging transac-tions. She structured and negotiated one of the industry’s firstcatastrophe bond transactions. She also served as a member ofthe working group for the National Association of InsuranceCommissioners where she was a principal author of modellegislation designed to bring off-shore, multi-transaction stand-alone insurance entities (known as protected cell companies)back into the United States and under a competitive domesticregulatory environment.

After two years in this position, McQueen accepted an offerfrom Marsh & McLennan, a highly regarded internationalprofessional and financial services firm, to serve as ChiefCounsel for their investment banking and capital marketsbusiness unit. This unit specialized in alternative risk transfer,risk securitization, structured derivatives and collateralized credittransactions. They were also involved in mergers and acquisi-tions, advising primarily to client insurance companies. MollyMcQueen’s background in international law was once again ofsignificant value since her client base included operations inLondon and Bermuda.

By the end of 2000, Marsh & McLennan had initiated a newconcept in risk management services offering one-stop shopping

to their Fortune 500 clients. This new Enterprise Risk Divisionanalyzed, advised and serviced the entire range of a client’soperational, financial, and investment risks. They took oneverything from the placement of standard commercial linesinsurance policies, to the management of maturing pension fundobligations and foreign currency exposures. It was a high leveloperation for their very best customers, and they chose MollyMcQueen to head up the division’s legal department.

This was a great opportunity for McQueen; it incorporatedeverything she had learned up to that point. Her legal work coveredissues in financial risk management, alternative risk transfer,capital markets and investment banking practices. Legal mattersalso arose in connection with the division’s substantial foreignoperations in jurisdictions such as Canada, the Netherlands,Portugal, Spain and Hong Kong. During this period McQueen alsoserved the broader financial community as a member of the BondMarket Association’s Risk-Linked Securities Committee and as2002 Chair of the Best Practices and Standardization Subcommit-tee.

For Molly McQueen the situation could not have beenbetter—with the exception of one very important matter. She hadspent the greater part of her last decade far from her parents, hersiblings and their families. As much as she loved New York andher years with CNA and Marsh & McLennan, she knew the timewas right to think about coming back to the Pacific Northwest.

Given her highly specialized practice, she understood it wouldnot be easy to find a good career match close to home. As it turnedout she not only needed patience and flexibility but a good deal ofsalesmanship as well. She had an interview with a high-endinternational investment advisory firm in Portland, Oregon. At firstthey thought they were just looking for a compliance officer with alaw degree, as all non-compliance related legal work was beingoutsourced to law firms in Portland, Los Angeles and Chicago.When she interviewed she told them that what they really neededwas a General Counsel. She backed up this assertion with a highlyconvincing cost/benefit analysis. In the end, Molly McQueen soldthe position first and then she sold herself.

Today, Molly McQueen is Vice-President and GeneralCounsel of Compass Advisors LLC. Compass Advisors offersmanagement and consulting services to investment corporations,fund managers, trustees, pension and retirement funds, founda-tions, non profits, and qualifying individuals. In her role, McQueenmanages the legal affairs of the investment advisory firm and itsglobal affiliates, including their hedge and private equity fundoperations and their directed brokerage unit. She deals with all theregulatory and transactional aspects of the company’s businessesconducted through their offices in the United States and Switzer-land.

Molly McQueen is enjoying her new work and her new life inPortland. The scope, sophistication and international aspects of herjob continue to challenge and engage her. Although she missesNew York she still has relationships with many old friends andcolleagues from the city’s financial and investment community.Instead of a city apartment, she has a new house on a hill overlook-

ALUMNI PROFILES


ing Portland’s downtown area. She loves the area’s active lifestylewhich for her includes frequent jogs along the city’s Esplanade.Most of all, Molly McQueen enjoys the time and opportunity shenow has to take the short trip to Washington State to be with herfamily.

By any measure, Molly McQueen’s first decade of profes-sional life has been remarkably accomplished. When she looksback at the past ten years, she does so with a real sense of gratitudefor the opportunities she has had. She genuinely appreciates theunique roles which Scripps, Gonzaga, and Georgetown played inpreparing her, and she is quick to mention her “good fortune” athaving so many things in her life that “just seemed to work outwell.” She is less inclined to talk about her own role in creatingthose good outcomes. She doesn’t dwell on her strong work ethic,the courage she demonstrated in taking on new challenges, and herextraordinary ability to master complex areas of business and law“on the fly.” If the past is truly prologue, there is every reason toexpect that these same personal qualities and abilities will continueto bring Molly McQueen “good fortune” for many decades tocome.

Bridget (McInerney) Harris ’79and L. Randolph (Randy)Harris ’78Washington, D.C.

On the third floor of the Law School building, next to acase filled with trophies, citations, and other awards, isa plaque listing 21 Gonzaga Law graduates who haveheld clerkship positions with the United States Tax

Court. The recognition of these clerks is truly appropriate becausethey are among the very few selected from a national pool ofhighly qualified applicants in a highly competitive process. To bea clerk for this court is a great honor and a privilege. The first twonames listed on this plaque are those of Randolph and BridgetHarris. They are not only the first Gonzaga graduates to hold thesepositions; they are also the first husband and wife ever to clerkwith the court.

One was from the east coast and the other from the west, andneither had any thought of a career in tax until they encounteredGary Randall, Gonzaga’s legendary tax master, who had theuncanny ability of introducing unsuspecting law students to thewonders of Title 26 of the United States Code.

Randy Harris was the first to arrive at Gonzaga. He came in1975 after traveling the country and working to save money for hisgraduate education. The idea of law school had begun to grow onhim when he was pursuing his degree in political science atMansfield State College. With two parents who were teachers,Randy certainly valued education but he had had no significantcontact with lawyers. As far as the profession was concerned, he

held no preconceived ideasabout what he would be doingafter he earned his lawdegree.

Bridget McInerney was anative of Oakland, California.During her high school years,she traveled and volunteeredin Central and South America.These were very positiveexperiences that nurtured herambition to enter the field ofinternational relations. Inpursuit of this goal, sheattended GeorgetownUniversity where she earned

her degree from the School of Foreign Service. After graduation,she decided to attend law school. Although her father was a lawyer,Bridget had no intention of practicing law. She simply felt that alaw degree would be the perfect educational compliment foranyone entering her intended field of diplomacy and internationalrelations.

Bridget arrived on campus in 1976 and endured the mildtransitional shock one might expect for someone who had livedmost of their life in major cities. She liked Spokane and enjoyedthe camaraderie of the Law School students. The more personalatmosphere she encountered was certainly a marked change fromthe environment of a large university like Georgetown.

Although she had experience in many areas, Bridget discov-ered she was lacking one skill that seemed to be a staple activity ofher peers – she couldn’t play pool. One afternoon she set out withher roommate, Julie Twyford, to rectify this deficiency at the BullDog Tavern. Unaware of traditional player protocol, Bridget laidfive quarters on the table to ensure she got enough consecutivegames to really learn something. Fortunately for her, the nextplayer up was Randy Harris who did not object in the least to herguileless attempt to monopolize the table. By the end of the fifthgame, their friendship had begun.

�Bridget & Randy Harris ’78Washington, D.C.

Bridget Harris ’79

ALUMNI PROFILES

At this point, Randy was in his second year. In addition to hislaw classes he was also working as a Rule 9 intern with the locallaw firm of Fish, Schultz and Tombari. It was a terrific learningexperience for Randy who remembers the trio of Jim Fish, StanSchultz and Bill Tombari as great legal mentors. During his timewith the firm, Randy received wide-ranging exposure to thepractice of law, handling matters as diverse as incorporations, realestate transactions and DUI defense work.

It was also in this second year that Randy first encountered


Gary Randall. He saw in Professor Randall an extraordinaryteacher and communicator who had a unique ability to enthuse theclass. Randy not only enjoyed going to class but he developed areal affinity for statutory analysis and the order he found in thecode. Once tax caught his attention he took every course he could.He also began thinking about Gary Randall’s recommendation thathe take his tax education to the next level by pursuing an LL.M.

Good fortune came Randy’s way late in that second yearwhen an acquaintance suggested he meet a friend who was intown. The friend was Judge Randolph Caldwell of the U.S. TaxCourt who was in Spokane hearing cases. Over dinner with thejudge, Randy learned more about the Tax Court. His interest grew.Later he spoke with Gary Randall who encouraged him to apply.Randy knew he would have to work following graduation, so heapplied and was accepted for the term beginning in September of1979. Once the clerkship was offered he decided on theGeorgetown tax program for his LL.M.

While Randy was thinking about Washington, Bridget washaving her own particular tax epiphany. She claims that math is nother strong suit, so she was genuinely surprised with her owninterest and growing competency in tax. Tax soon became herfavorite class and Gary Randall her favorite teacher. She said that

he never forgot the name ofany student and he alwaysmanaged to keep the classinteresting and enjoyable.“Gary Randall.” she says,“made me want to succeedeven if he deliberatelyreferred to me as Ginger.”

When she wasn’t going toclass or interning at the lawfirm of Lukin & Annis inSpokane, Bridget wasstudying. That commitmentto her studies intensified inher third year when shedecided to obtain her LL.Min tax.

After her graduation in May of 1979, Bridget returned toCalifornia to study for the bar. Randy, who had already taken andpassed the Washington Bar, decided he also wanted to be licensedin California. Two weeks before the bar, Randy showed up inOakland, and, using Bridget’s notes, he began a crash course onCalifornia law. He took the exam and headed off to Washington,D.C. When the bar results were published in the paper, the name ofRandolf Harris was missing from the list of those who had passed.Bridget gave the bad news to Randy, but he wasn’t fazed in theleast. “An error of omission,” he asserted. Bridget was amazed athis confidence if not his grasp of reality. However, she checkedwith the bar and discovered that it was, in fact, an inadvertentomission. Randy Harris had passed the California Bar.

During the first months of Randy’s clerkship, Bridget workedin Oakland. In May of that year, Randy and Bridget were married.

The following month, Bridget began her classes at Georgetownand part-time work for a D.C. law firm. In September there wasan unexpected opening for a clerkship on the Tax Court. Bridgetapplied and was accepted. Now both husband and wife weretotally immersed in tax, spending their days at the U.S. Tax Courtand their evenings across the street taking graduate tax courses atGeorgetown. Weekends were most always spent with a goodfriend from law school, Michael Boland ’78, and his wife,Debbie.

For Bridget and Randy, their clerkships with the Court weretruly once-in-a-lifetime experiences of inestimable value. Theirjudges proved to be exceptional mentors who not only gave themgood counsel but also great responsibility in researching andinitial drafting of opinions. To assist them in their research, theCourt made every imaginable resource available to them. Thevariety of cases gave them a broad exposure to the tax law andthis established a remarkable foundation for their legal careers.

By the fall of 1981, the Harrises had completed theirclerkships with the Court and their LL.M. studies. They returnedto Oakland, California to begin their practices. However, it wouldbe nearly 15 years before they would work together again asprofessionals.

Randy went to work for a seven-lawyer firm specializing inconstruction litigation. While he did some litigation, Randy’smain role was as the firm’s tax and business law specialist.Within four years he became a partner in the firm.

Bridget hired on with Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May, a 60-plus member firm in Oakland. She started in the firm’s businessdepartment where she handled a wide range of business mattersincluding real estate transactions, corporate and partnership work,and estate planning. During her tenure with the firm, Bridget hadthe couple’s first two children.

In 1985, she moved to the Oakland office of Thelen, Marin,Johnson and Bridges, a San Francisco law firm of severalhundred attorneys. At Thelen, Bridget focused almost exclusivelyon tax and estate planning matters and also managed to have herthird and fourth children. She and Randy actively shared in childcare during these years. Since tax practice is largely transactionalin nature, Bridget believes that it has been easier for them toaccommodate the demands of home and family life. She says theplanning and scheduling aspects of tax markedly reduce thecrises which are so frequently a part of law practice.

In 1992, two years after her youngest child was born,Bridget joined Randy at his firm. In 1995, the two ventured outon their own, forming Harris and Harris, a practice dedicated tobusiness transactions and estate planning. Today they have athriving firm of five attorneys and two paralegals, located indowntown Oakland. Bridget’s practice focuses on estateplanning, trusts, partnerships, LLCs and general business, whileRandy is involved with business transactions, especially thepurchase, sale and mergers of large companies.

In its eight years, the firm’s practice has grown in bothvolume and sophistication. Bridget and Randy relish thechallenge this change has created. Even with their emphasis on

Randy Harris ’78

ALUMNI PROFILES


�

Alex Vilarello ’82Miami, Florida

specialties, they enjoy remarkable variety in their work. They servemany overseas clients, especially Pacific Rim businesses, as well asa wide range of professional and commercial clients. Their client listincludes, among others, people in the music industry, wineries, hotelchains, restaurants, import-export firms and sports franchise owners.

Today, more than ever, Bridget and Randy value the broadeducational and work experiences they enjoyed in their earlier years.It gave them a breadth of perspective that has served them and theirclients well. They are specialists but with strong generalist founda-tions. This helps them spot a wide range of critical issues and tounderstand important interrelationships among the various elementsof complex transactions. No matter how narrow and technical anissue might be, they are able to put it in the context of the biggerpicture. Throughout the years Bridget and Randy have stayed intouch with Gary Randall, always mindful that “Gary’s enthusiasmwas the catalyst that ignited our interest in tax law.”

Balance between career and family has not been easy, butRandy and Bridget Harris appear to have kept their priorities inorder. Today they have their ideal law practice located a mere sevenminutes from their home. While their oldest son Cornelius and theirdaughter Elizabeth are off at college, fifteen-year-old Liam andeleven-year-old Dermot remain at home. Over the years, Randy andBridget have abided by a long standing practice—they never talkabout law or careers at home. When they are at home, there aresimply too many other important things to do.

Since Randy and Bridget clerked at the U.S. Tax Court, therehave been 19 other Gonzaga Law graduates who have followed intheir footsteps. In a very real way, each of the 19 owes a debt: firstand foremost to Gary Randall but also to Bridget and Randy Harris.By their efforts, Bridget and Randy set the tone and established areputation for integrity, competence, and hard work that continues tothis day. It is a reputation that reflects most favorably on their almamater and on those Gonzaga graduates who have also aspired tothose very special clerkships with the United States Tax Court.

Alejandro (Alex) Vilarello ’82Miami, Florida

When he looks back on his early childhood, AlejandroVilarello cannot help but appreciate how far he andhis family have come to find their places in theiradopted country. A native of Havana, Cuba, Vilarello

was three years old when his father was killed during the ill-fatedBay of Pigs invasion in 1961. His family had assumed that the anti-Castro forces, backed by the United States, would persevere so theyremained in Havana awaiting their liberation. But it was tragedy notliberation that came. They were forced to leave Cuba during the briefwindow of time when regular flights continued to operate betweenHavana and the U.S. mainland. Vilarello’s mother, who did notspeak English, his older brother, aunt, uncle, and his grandmothers,arrived in Miami sustained by the hope of starting a new life.

Within a few years, Vilarello’s mother remarried and movedthe family to Michigan. He attended first and second grades inDetroit public schools. Thereafter, his family returned to theMiami area. They preferred the warmer weather and familiarenvirons of South Florida.

Vilarello continued his education in Florida. While attendingCoral Gables High School, he began to think seriously about acareer in law. He had an older step-brother who was an attorney,and one of his most inspiring teachers was also studying to be a

lawyer. He was furtherinfluenced by the culturalmind-set of many Cubanfamilies who valuededucation as an asset thatcould not be taken away -even by the government.

With law school in mind,Vilarello chose to major inAmerican Studies at theUniversity of SouthFlorida. The program,which focused on U.S.history and Englishliterature, placed greatemphasis on reading andwriting – two skills whichare essential for success in

law school.The summer after his graduation from college, Vilarello

explored all the regions of his adopted homeland. In travelingaround the country he decided that he wanted to move out West.This desire, coupled with a firm intent to practice law, explainswhy he wound up on the Gonzaga campus in late August of 1979.

Spokane proved to be somewhat of a revelation to this youngCuban-American. Not only was the weather different, so were thepeople and the pace of life. He noticed that in Spokane, a carstuck in traffic would often get help from passing motorists; inMiami the same situation would often cause honking horns andshouted expletives.

Although he knew no one when he arrived, Vilarello quicklymade friends. Steve Lingenbrink, a future classmate whooccupied the apartment above him, made him feel welcome.Before long he had met classmates Steve Sheehy, Dave Draper,Steve Thorsrud, Mark Mostul, and Steve Lamberson, whobecame part of a core group that shared study, social, andrecreation time over the next three years.

Vilarello distinctly recalls his first year law studies atGonzaga. He fondly remembers Vern Davidson’s contracts as his

Alex Vilarello ’82

ALUMNI PROFILES


most memorable and entertaining class. He noted that Vern lovedVilarello’s lyrical name and enjoyed letting the properlyaccented words “Alejandro Vilarello” roll off his tongue.Vilarello was frequently called on in class, especially whenProfessor Davidson forgot the seating chart. An unintendedbyproduct of this was Vilarello’s proficiency in contract law. Heknew that in a pinch he would be called on, so he made sure hewas always prepared.

In his third year, Vilarello joined the Clinic where heworked with Mark Wilson, George Critchlow, Larry Weiser, andBonnie White. The clinic was one of his most valued experi-ences in law school. He developed practical skills which gavehim a feel for the practice of law.

In spite of a busy schedule, Vilarello managed to find timefor relaxation. A member of a high school championship soccerteam in Florida, he enjoyed participating in the area’s soccerleagues. In the winter, he went to area ski slopes with his friends.

His law school experience, which began with such greattrepidation for Vilarello, ended with a wonderful sense ofenjoyment and satisfaction. “It was a great and very meaningfulthree years,” said Vilarello, “I wouldn’t hesitate for a second if Ihad the chance to make the same decision over again.”

Although he loved the Pacific Northwest, Vilarello foundthe call to family and home too strong to resist. After hisgraduation in May of 1982, he returned to Miami where heprepared for the Florida bar and began his job search. Bothendeavors proved successful.

He interviewed with two potential employers, the MiamiCity Attorney’s Office and Miami Legal Services. The formerhad no openings at the time but Legal Services offered him aposition. A year later the Miami City Attorney’s office called himwhen a position became available. Vilarello accepted and begana seven-year tenure with the office.

He began by doing routine transactional work on citycontracts. Being anxious to go to court, he pressed his superiorsfor a more active role in litigation. His request was granted. Hewas assigned to the litigation department where he dealt withpolice torts and civil rights matters, as well as premises and autoliability. In time, his skill and work ethic were recognized and hewas appointed Chief Assistant City Attorney in charge oflitigation.

Vilarello continued to look for every opportunity to learn,and to expand the scope of his responsibilities. An opportunitycame his way in 1990 when he was selected as City Attorney forHialeah, the state’s fifth largest city. In Hialeah he inherited asmall legal department that contracted much of the city’s legalwork out to private firms. Over the next eight years, he built thedepartment into a well functioning unit of eight lawyers and anequal number of support staff who handled all of the city’s legalwork. In addition to directing the city’s legal office, Vilarellowas also given responsibility for Hialeah’s Risk ManagementOperations.

In 1998, Vilarello was given the chance to return to the Cityof Miami law department, as City Attorney. Because Miami was

a city in the throws of deep financial and political crisis, manyclose friends, who had his best interests at heart, advised him notto take the position. Political scandals and financial irregularitieswere rampant. The state had stepped in and created an oversightboard to manage the city’s finances. The City Attorney’s officereflected the turmoil engulfing the city. Vilarello was facing achallenge of immense proportions. Politics were tainting thelegal advice given to elected officials and city administrators.There was a breakdown in communications and a complete lackof trust between offices. Vilarello did not underestimate thechallenge, but he had confidence in his plan of action and abelief that he had the leadership skills needed to turn thingsaround.

Vilarello laid down strict rules that prohibited his lawyersfrom engaging in any political activity connected to elected cityofficials or any issues that could impact the city. He alsorequired the Department to speak with one voice – and thatvoice was to be his. No longer would city officials get inconsis-tent legal advice shaped by political considerations. Vilarelloalso instituted administrative reforms that increased efficiency.

It took nearly three years, but Vilarello righted the ship bycleaning up the office, restoring trust relationships, and creatingchanges that enabled the department to operate like a well-runlaw firm, not a ponderous and politically-motivated bureaucracy.A good measure of his success is the fact that he was unani-mously reappointed as City Attorney after each of the last twomayoral elections.

Having met the most pressing challenges, Vilarello trulybegan to enjoy his work. For him, this has been a dream job. Helikes working for what is essentially a $500 million dollarenterprise with a substantial and diverse legal pratice thatincludes significant labor and tort issues as well as financial andproperty management concerns. Every day, he expects five tofifteen different legal issues to come across his desk. His officeis a fast-paced work environment with 30 lawyers coming in todiscuss a wide range of legal matters.

It has been an exciting and interesting several years forVilarello, but change is now on his horizon. Throughout hisprofessional career Vilarello has always been energized by newchallenges. He simply is not content administering the “statusquo.” This summer he will take on a new role when he joinsAkerman Senterfitt, a 400 member law firm, as a shareholder. AtAkerman Senterfitt, he will be specializing in two areas wherehe has significant experience – real estate, and land useplanning. It will be a new challenge, but one that will allowVilarello more time to spend with wife Beth and sons – Michael21, Jordan 18, and Brandon 8.

Alex Vilarello will leave government with a well-deservedsense of accomplishment for all he has done for the City ofMiami and its citizens. He has earned his reputation as a goodlawyer, an excellent administrator and an honest public servant.He has every reason to reflect proudly on how far he has come.

ALUMNI PROFILES


Higer recipient of Dean’sAcademic Achievement Award

David Higer ’04 was the recipient of the Dean’s AcademicAchievement Award for the Class of 2004 at this year’scommencement ceremony. David has been married to

Cheryl, the reigning Mrs. Idaho, since 1993 and they have twochildren, Christina and Isabel, ages 5 and 3. After receiving his

undergraduate degree inCivil Engineering from theUniversity of Washington,and prior to attending lawschool, David served as anofficer in the United StatesAir Force. He also worked incorporate management forfive years before enteringGonzaga University Schoolof Law. During law school,David has been an AcademicResource Program Tutor,Constitutional Law Tutor, aResearch Assistant, andsummer counsel for Boise

Cascade Corporation. He was also a member of the National MootCourt Team for two years and a member of the Gonzaga LawReview. Academically, David has received the Lawless Scholarship,been on the Dean’s List every semester, received the CALI Excel-lence for the Future Award 17 times for achieving the highest classgrade, and has been published in Tax Notes Today. After graduation,David will be clerking for the Honorable Thomas G. Nelson, SeniorCircuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Across Borders hosts second annual symposium

The Gonzaga Law School’s Across Borders InternationalLaw Journal hosted its second annual symposium in thespring of 2004. Symposium Editor, Meghan McEvilly

reported that the event was hugely successful and took a lot of work.They are particularly proud of the event because Across Borders isthe only student group that organizes a symposium.

Gonzaga University law student Marc Johnstoncaptures national writing honor

Marc Johnston, a second-year Gonzaga University Schoolof Law student, has captured first place in the AmericanBar Association’s writing competition in the Tort Trial

and Insurance Practice Section.The Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (known as

“TIPS”) is the ABA’s main substantive law section for most civiltrial attorneys. Its focus is on bringing together plaintiffs attorneys,defense attorneys and insurance and corporate counsel for theexchange of information and ideas about that area of practice.Johnston’s award-winning article/paper addressed the U.S. Supreme

Court’s new ruling in State Farm v. Campbell and in particular howthe ruling would affect plaintiffs lawyers when attempting to upholdlarge punitive damage awards. His paper also included a section thatwas designated as strategy for plaintiffs lawyers who attempt touphold large punitive damage awards both in trial and on appeal.The paper was titled, “The Supreme Court’s New Take on PunitiveDamages in State Farm v. Campbell: Criticism and Strategies forPlaintiffs Lawyers Navigating the New Rules.”

The paper was unanimously chosen by the selection committee,which also commented that this year’s submissions were the bestthey had ever received.

As the winner, Johnston received a $1,500 cash prize and freeround-trip airfare and weekend hotel accommodations to attend theSection’s spring leadership meeting at the Marriott Resort and Spa inNapa, Calif. Johnston’s essay also will be considered for publicationin the national Tort Trial and Insurance Law Journal.

Gonzaga University law student Wehmeyerelected to ABA leadership post

Patricia Wehmeyer, a first-year student at Gonzaga UniversitySchool of Law, has been elected to the American BarAssociation Law Student Division Board of Governors.

Wehmeyer represents law schools in the division’s 12th Circuit,which includes all ABA-approved law schools in Alaska, Idaho,Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Wehmeyer was a Peace Corps Volunteer and legislative aide forthe Washington State Legislature before she started law school. Shecurrently serves on the Gonzaga Student Bar Association Board of

Directors and hopeseventually to be aWashington statelegislator.

The Law StudentDivision is the secondlargest division in theABA with more than50,000 members fromABA-approved lawschools across thecountry. Each year,student bar associationpresidents and ABAcampus representativesin each of the division’s15 regional circuits electa circuit governor, whoserves as that region’srepresentative to the LawStudent Division’s Board

of Governors. The circuit governor and other student leaders workwith ABA leadership on loan repayment, bar admission require-ments, legal education reform and other issues of importance to thenation’s law students and lawyers.

David Higer

Patricia Wehmeyer

STUDENT PROFILES


STUDENT PROFILESFor more information about the Law Student Division,

including leadership opportunities for students, seewww.abanet.org/lsd.

The American Bar Association is the largest voluntaryprofessional association in the world. With more than 400,000members, the ABA provides law school accreditation, continuinglegal education, information about the law, programs to assistlawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve thelegal system for the public.

Mission Accomplished: 15 Gonzaga lawstudents spend spring break in ruralDominican Republic—by Jaime Hawk

Due to the generosity of dozens of donors and the supportof the faculty, 15 Gonzaga law students traveled to CruzVerde, Dominican Republic, for a spring break service

trip.Inspiration for organizing the trip originated from the

Gonzaga undergraduate Mission:Possible program run through theCenter for Community Action and Service Learning (CCASL) atGonzaga. For the past five years, over one hundred undergraduatestudents have completed service projects in low-income communi-ties throughout the U.S.

The time had come to begin a similar program for the LawSchool. The program, also called Mission: Possible, continues thecommitment to social justice and service, but on an international

level. The goal of theprogram is to promoteinternationalvolunteerism andcultural exchange, toprovide law studentswith the opportunityto learn about andexperience a differentculture, and to gainperspective andunderstanding aboutthe struggles andchallenges facingpeople throughout theworld.

Additionally, alegal component wasincorporated into the

trip. By meeting with law students in Santo Domingo, we hoped tolearn about the practice of law in a civil law country and aboutsome of the unmet legal needs in the Dominican Republic.

Sister Island Project (SIP), a non-profit organization based inWashington, was a perfect match for our group. SIP organized ourtrip, through the day-to-day leadership of Roberto, the local liaisonfor SIP in Cruz Verde. SIP has been organizing similar trips forgroups of volunteers for the past three years. The learning center

we helped build while in Cruz Verde is currently being funded anddirected by SIP. To learn more about SIP and how you can help,please visit: www.sisterislandproject.org.

While in Cruz Verde, our group spent the morning hoursbreaking up caliche and laying it down as the foundation for thefloors in the learning center. Some group members dug a hole inthe community to provide a place for families to deposit andrecycle, as opposed to burning, their plastics.

In the afternoon, we organized art activities with groups ofchildren, taught English lessons, and played baseball games. Morethan fifty children aged 5-16 would arrive at Roberto’s house tomeet with us. Spending time with the children was the best part ofeach day.

We also had the opportunity to see firsthand the impacts thebankruptcy of the sugar cane industry in the DR has had on therural communities, especially the small Haitian village we visited.Most of the people in this village, Mato los Indios, are unemployedand must leave their families throughout the week to search forwork in the city. Many community members live week-to-week,dependent on donations and support from international non-governmental organizations and others. As a result of the generos-ity of many of our supporters, we were able to bring medicalsupplies and other donations to the village.

Our hearts were deeply touched that day, and each day wewere in the Dominican Republic. Our duty and challenge now isto be a voice to the inequalities we witnessed, and to find ways towork for justice throughout the world and in our communities.

We hope our experience has planted the seed for the develop-ment of this program and future service.

Additional Thoughts—by Jaime Hawk and Michael Pellicciotti

We will never forget the special memories and friendshipswe made in Cruz Verde, or the beautiful smiles andunending hospitality that were extended to us. From

learning how to make chocolate straight from the cocoa tree tosharing their homes and joy, the community of Cruz Verde gave somuch to each of us.

We will also never forget Roberto. He is a leader, mentor, andvisionary who has dedicated his life to improving the future of hiscommunity. He touched hearts and taught many lessons.Roberto’s wife, Tamari, also made our trip unforgettable. Shecooked us yummy daily meals with rice and beans, pasta, freshpineapple and papaya.

We miss our roommates from Cruz Verde the most of all. Itwould not have been the same without the frogs, lizards androosters singing to us throughout the night.

Our journey to Cruz Verde was also a personal growthexperience. Throughout our time together, our group gave 110%to every task we were assigned. We depended on each other,confronted challenges together, and made the most of everysituation and experience. It was really special to share this timewith such a diverse and dynamic group of individuals. We enjoyed the opportunity to meet so many amazing

Jaime Hawk


STUDENT PROFILES

Dominicans and connect with some of the most talented lawstudents at Gonzaga Law. The 15 volunteer students are: Michael Pellicciotti, JaimeHawk, Shannon Thomas, Kristin Boehm, Thad O’Sullivan,Chris Galbreath, Brooke Kuhl, Dawn Vidoni, Michele Devlin,Britt Cotter, Jordana Griff, Mike Chin, Crissy Anderson, SarahFudge, and Thoran Towler.

Michael Pellicciotti ’04

Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander O. Brynerpresents the Seal of Alaska to former Dean Dan Morrisseyin April. The Alaska seal will be placed in the BarbieriCourtroom along with the states of Washington, Oregon,Montana, California, and Idaho.

Jeremy Gugino & Gordon Karg Linden CupWinners

Gordon Karg and Jeremy Gugino were this year’s winners of the Linden Cup competition. James Parker and Eric Wilbanks were runners-up. The final round of the

competition was judged by Alaska Supreme Court Chief JusticeAlexander O. Bryner,Montana SupremeCourt Justice PatriciaO’Brien Cotter, andWashington SupremeCourt Justices BarbaraMadsen (’77 GU lawgraduate), RichardSanders, and FaithIreland. GU lawinstructors Joe Hnylka,Jared Levinson, MarkDeForrest, PatrickFannin, and LaurenWinters were advisorsfor the competition.

Approximately 75students participated inthe competition, pairedin teams of two. Thestudents are judged inthe preliminary,quarterfinal, andsemifinal oral rounds

by faculty,and morethan 90area attorneys and judges serve as judges.

The competition was founded in 1935 by Rev.James Linden, S.J., a Gonzaga Law School regent andinstructor for more than 30 years.


2004CommencementGonzaga University School of Law


Class of 2004Degree Candidates

School of LawDaniel J. Morrissey, Dean

Juris DoctorDecember 2003, May, August 2004

Shelley Ann Ajax, Cum Laude§Ann Theresa Wick Allison, Cum LaudeW. Brett Amrine, Magna Cum LaudeKathryn Lynne AndersonStanton Alexander AnkerMatthew J. AshtonVanessa Louise Backman, Summa Cum LaudeLeslie John Balsiger, Magna Cum LaudeDouglas Ray BarnesSara Irene BeighLimor Ben-Maier, Cum LaudeReneé Magdalen BernierSummer Dawn BishopAmy Catherine BistlineKristin C. Boehm, Cum LaudeBrian Michael Bradford, Cum LaudeKim-Ann BriamonteCamerina I. Brokaw-ZorrozuaAshleigh Jeanette BrownThayer Michael BryantPaul L. CalabroDavid R. Carlson, Cum LaudeAdriAnne Noël CarrierGregory Russell CernokTami Michele Chavez, JD/MAcc, Magna Cum LaudeGregory James Christiansen, Magna Cum LaudeRuben David CleavelandMindy Lynn ColemanBryon CollinsSheila L. Corcoran, Cum LaudeKenneth Mark Cox, Cum LaudeErin Kathleen Culver, Cum LaudeHeather Dawn Czebotar, Summa Cum LaudePaula Kaye Davenport, Cum LaudeScott James DavisJohn Brian DiefenbachErin DivenNanette Kaye Dockum, Cum LaudeClifford P. DukePhong D. Duong, Magna Cum LaudeErin Colleen DyerRoss Nathaniel Eide, Cum LaudeKrista Leigh ElliottMarriya EsterleKelli Johnson FiveyAlicia Kathleen FollmerAnni Lori Hill-FosterJordan K. FosterChad Harrison FreebournJonathan Lee FrenchKaren FriendMaren Elizabeth FurlongChristopher GalbreathKarey Lillian GallagherDaniel Anthony GasperinoAnthony D. Gillette, Cum LaudeRyan Highsmith Goodell, JD/MBAJerry M. GrayAlia S. GriffingPaul J. GroveHarold Kenneth GroverAlberto GuadagnoBrooke Diane HagaraMatthew Richard HaleCheryl E. Handy, Magna Cum LaudeBrian James HanisPatricia Marie Hardina, Magna Cum LaudeCerissa Andrea Renée Harper, Cum Laude

Spencer William HarringtonJeffery D. Hart, Cum Laude§Jaime Michelle Hawk, Cum LaudeMolly Aubin HayesMitchell Jay Heaps, Cum LaudeDavid William Higer, Summa Cum Laude

Clifford Lawton HillRachel Melissa HillGrace Catherine HolterStormy HowellJeremy Scott HuberdeauCarissa A. JakobeScott Charles Jansen, Cum LaudeAngela Marie JohnsonDeanna JohnsonVictoria Marie Johnston, Cum LaudeCarla Rosa JorgeFonda Lynn Jovick, Cum LaudeMelissa Beth JuelisLacey KenmoreJason Kettrick, Magna Cum Laude, JD/MBASan KhamAllison Michelle KingDerek N. KlemetsenMichael Thompson KlepsSamantha Maren KlugerNicholas Ross Knapton, JD/MBANicholas Duane Kovarik, Summa Cum Laude§Brooke Castle Kuhl, Magna Cum LaudeAlexandra J.M. KwakAlison Wong LeeTammy LeeCole M. LindemannApril Marie LinscottCristine Anne Dunn LongBridget LubavsChristian Yoshio LundyStacey Lee MacDonaldJill Anne MaloneJenna Victoria Mandraccia, Cum LaudeAndrea Lynn MarableAngelina Elena MárquezDaniel Bell MathewsMeghan McEvillyThomas Wayne McGirkAlexandra MeighanKammi Lee MenckeGlen Miller, Cum LaudeAlejandra MirelesJohn Mitchell, Cum Laude, JD/MBAWilliam MitchellStephanie Michele MooreDaniel Gordon Morgan§Candelaria Fernandez MurilloJennifer L. NeeleyKristina Marie Nichols, Magna Cum LaudeAlison Catherine NisbetTimothy Scott NoteKaren Orehoski, Summa Cum LaudeTimothy Scott OrrBradley Scott OsburnEmma Paulsen-Thew§Michael John Pellicciotti, Magna Cum LaudeTravis PhelpsBlake Michael Pickett, Magna Cum LaudeJason Thomas Piskel, Cum LaudeNoel James Pitner, Summa Cum LaudeBenjamin David PlattSunshine Marie PoliquinJennifer Rose PortoJessica Lyn QuickleAaron RasmussenBrandon L. RedalRobert Leonard Redmond, Magna Cum LaudeTracy Jean ReesePamela Karen Renfree

Christine Lynn Rosenberger, Cum LaudeGretchen Jaime Alvord RussoMaureen Grage Ryan, Magna Cum LaudeSophia Paulette Tenorio SantosJeramy SchmehlVicky Autumn ScollonShane Richard Seaman, Cum LaudeJonathan SeldenJeffrey Ray SmithSeong-Cheol SonZachary H. Spanier§Matthew C. St. John, Cum LaudeMichael Stephen Strange, Cum LaudeMelanie Ann StumAdam Matthew Susser§Shannon Clare Thomas, Magna CumLaudePaul William ThompsonSheri Lorraine ThonstadChristopher Gorden TorroneVicky TreadwellTracy TribbettJennifer C. Underwood, Cum Laude§Geana Mae Van Dessel, Summa CumLaudeHenri Scott Vanderhage, Summa CumLaudeShannon L. VielLaura Jeannette Waldman, Summa CumLaudeDarren LeGrande WalkerKevin Scott WalkerMarlene K. WengerSarah WhitneyNichole Marie WittigDouglas YaguchiJonathan James YoungAdolf Vladislav Zeman, Jr., Cum Laude

The Thomas More ScholarshipProgram provides a unique educationalexperience at the Gonzaga UniversitySchool of Law for a limited number ofhighly motivated and qualifiedindividuals committed to public servicethrough the practice of law. ThomasMore Scholarships in the amount offull tuition are awarded on the basis ofmerit through an open, nationwidecompetition.

Final Degree EvaluationThe listing of graduates, degrees, andacademic honors listed above ispreliminary and subject to final degreerequirement evaluation at the time thispublication went to print.


2004ReunionGonzaga University School of Law

Every fifth class from 1939through 1999 gathered inSpokane June 18-20. After aCLE in the afternoon,participants dropped into the

Bulldog Tavern for a brew. Later thatevening alumni attended a Wine andCheese Reception in the Law School’scourtyard. Saturday’s events included ascramble format golf tournament, tours ofthe Law School building, and HawaiianLuau at Bozarth that night. Alumniattended from as far away as Saipan andChina.

The classes of ’39 through ’99contributed to the Class Reunion LawStudent Scholarship. The donations forthe reunion classes reached over $3,500.Thank you!


News flashback—from University of Idaho schoolnewspaper in 1935Greathouse and Orland To Meet GonzagaTeam. Debaters will discuss munitions inthird contest of year.

The third of a series of home varsity debates will be heldtomorrow at 8 p.m. in Ad 311, when the Idaho team willmeet the Gonzaga team.

Cecil Greathouse and Lewis Orland, Idaho debaters will take thenegative side of the question, “Resolved: That the Nations ShouldAgree to Prevent International Shipment of Arms and Munitions.”

Prospects GoodE.A. Whitehead, debate coach, said, “this debate should be very

interesting. I have a great deal of confidence in our men, and it willprobably be a fairly evenly balanced match, since SmithmooreMyers and Henry Barrett, who will represent Gonzaga, are a‘crack’ team. Both of them have had a great deal of experience,and plan to make a debate tour of the entire Pacific coast later inthe season.”

Main speeches will be 12 minutes and rebuttals seven minutes.It will be a non-decision debate.

Lewis Orland, 89 years young is an Associate Dean andProfessor Emeritus at Gonzaga Law School. Smitty Myers, 90years young is Dean Emeritus.

Feb., 2004Pentagon Publishes Guide to Legal Authority ofEmergency ManagersBy Caitlin Harrington, CQ Staff

An Army task force has just arrived on the scene of whatlooks like a terrorist attack, a “dirty bomb” explosion inDupont Circle, a busy neighborhood of restaurants and

shops in Washington, D.C.The FBI takes command and control of the scene. But it asks the

Army’s “Defense Coordination Element” to provide it with chemicaland biological warfare experts. The Army colonel in charge turns tohis legal adviser in this hypothetical case: “Does the law,” he asks,“allow the Defense Department to do this?”

“Let’s see,” the lawyer might say, “on page 46 . . .” Far-fetched?Not anymore. In recognition that all levels of emergency respondersare likely to wrestle with questions about their authority in somelarge future terrorist incident, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency(DTRA) has published the first legal guidebook to deal with theissue.

The “Domestic WMD Incident Management Legal Deskbook” isdesigned to provide the legal groundwork for federal and statelawyers and agency emergency planners in the throes of respondingto a terrorist attack or natural disaster.

“We need to get our hands around this in some kind of deskbookfashion,” said Gregory Huckabee, a former judge advocate, ormilitary lawyer, who helped write the book. “Lawyers aren’t going tohave expertise in this - they don’t teach this in law schools.”Hard copies of the handbook are accompanied by a CD, but thehandbook is also available on the DTRA web site. “We came up withthe idea of a CD-ROM and a book so they can turn to the issues andfind the law, because in this business, the margin of error is prettyslim. When the commanders ask you: ‘Can I do this?’ you can’t say,‘Jeez, give me a week and let me study this and I’ll get back toyou,’” Huckabee said.

Legal PlaybookThe handbook covers nearly every statute that could come into playduring an emergency - from a description of laws on quarantiningvictims of chemical or biological attacks, to a brief history of thePosse Comitatus Act (an 1878 law that generally bars the militaryfrom law enforcement activities) and a discussion of statutoryexceptions to it. Officials from NORTHCOM in Colorado Springs,Colo., as well as attorneys and emergency planners from ninecabinet-level departments, including the Department of HomelandSecurity, compiled the handbook over the past two years.“The most important thing about it is the comprehensive nature of allthe sources that have been pulled together involved with emergencyresponse,” said Raymond Heddings, the associate general counsel atDTRA, who coordinated the handbook project.

DTRA first assembled a group of attorneys to discuss the federalagencies’ legal authority during a weapons of mass destruction attackonly a few months before the Sept. 11 attacks, according toHeddings.

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Lew Orland and Smitty Myers


But since those terrorist hijackings, changes in the legal authoritysurrounding federal and state response to terrorist incidents - fromthe enactment of the USA Patriot Act (PL 107-56) to thePentagon’s decision to create NORTHCOM, a new militarycommand with responsibility for the continental United States -have highlighted the need for a kind of playbook for emergencyresponse, Huckabee said. “This is a growth industry. This isn’tgoing away,” he said.

Needs UpdatingHeddings said the 529-page legal manual is probably the most

comprehensive record of federal and state emergency laws to date,but he also warned that as the emergency response “industry,” asHuckabee calls it, grows, the guidebook will have to be updated toreflect changes in statutes and regulations.

“ It’s close to one-stop shopping, but you wouldn’t want to saythat’s all you have to have to go to,” he said. Heddings said thatDTRA has tentative plans to periodically revise the handbook. Hesaid he will meet with officials at the Center for Law and MilitaryOperations at the Army Judge Advocate General’s School inCharlottesville, Va., this March to discuss the possibility of theschool’s updating the handbook in the future. “It’s not a done dealyet, but we’re hoping,” he said.

* View the DTRA handbook http://www.dtra.mil/news/deskbook/index.html.Caitlin Harrington can be reached via [email protected]: CQ Homeland Security

Congress does it again —The ghost of MajorJohn Wigmore returns!Gregory M. Huckabee

Past is PrologueUnusual to say the least: the U.S. Senate Subcommittee of the

Committee on the Judiciary met on Saturday morning, September22, 1917, to hear the legal giants of their time—Secretary of WarNewton D. Baker; Major John H. Wigmore, JAGC, U.S. Army;and Walter George Smith, of Philadelphia, President of theAmerican Bar Association. Secretary of War Baker began. “In asentence, this bill is intended to place our soldiers, who in a veryshort time, will be overseas in very large numbers, in a state ofmind where they and their families will be relieved from theanxieties and solicitudes which follow from legal complications athome to which they cannot give their attention.” Knowing thatdistraction, loss of focus and concentration, more often thancalculated enemy success, is what kills or wounds servicemembers,Secretary Baker pleaded, “Men who owe money, men whosefamilies are likely to be embarrassed by inopportune pressure fromcreditors even for trifling sums, cannot be expected to have thesame sort of freedom of mind as if they were relieved from thatsort of stress.”

Then came the legal legend of evidence. Committee ChairmanSenator Overman asked, “You are the author of a great book on

evidence, the Dean of Northwestern School of Law, and now youare in the Judge Advocate General’s Office, under appointmentfrom civil life, with the rank of major?” With reverent silence inthe hearing room, the witness responded, “Yes, sir. I should like tosay something on the need, and the power, and the method of thebill before you. The need is illustrated by this letter which cameinto our hands.”

Reading slowly, but powerfully, Major Wigmore gave physicalpresence to the letter stating the case of a petitioner not present, yetbeseeching his Congress “…I am not kicking on having to servemy country at this time and I expect to give my best in me in herbehalf, …the way things stand now I am stripped of everything Ihave and my business is destroyed, and I have no income whateverother than my business, and the moment I am gone that stops. I amnot asking to be exempted; all that I ask is that my Government,who in a manner is breaking up my house and taking everything onearth I have, make some provision by which I can save my equitiesand take care of my family.” As if lecturing his law class, theProfessor and Major asked Socratically, “What shall we do aboutthis, gentlemen?”

What the Congress did about it is encompassed within the firstSoldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act of 1918 (SSCRA), draftedby Major Wigmore and a committee he led. Six months after thesigning of the Armistice, the SSCRA expired. In 1940, with thegathering storm of war again in Europe, another Congressreenacted the SSCRA verbatim for precisely the same publicpurpose. This time it remained in effect with no expiration date.While amended a number of times in an attempt to keep pace withlegal developments, by 1990, time and advances in the law had left

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Lt. Col. Greg Huckabee


the SSCRA with ineffective and outdated protections.To illustrate, Sect. 530’s protection against eviction of military

members, without court order, from their leased premises onlyapplied to cases where the rents did not exceed $150. By 1990,virtually all dwelling rent exceeded that eligibility threshold,resulting in the elimination of this protection. The SSCRA’s rustedarmor was in need of rapid repair. Saddam Hussein did the SSCRAa favor in a sense with his August 2 adventure into Kuwait, and themassing of his forces on the Saudi Arabian border. With mobiliza-tion of hundreds of thousands of citizen-soldiers, CongressmanSonny Montgomery, Chair of the U.S. House of RepresentativesCommittee on Veterans’ Affairs (the congressional committee withlegislative jurisdiction over the SSCRA), asked the Dept. ofDefense (DoD) for emergency legislative drafting assistance.

A DoD SSCRA Task Force, commissioned by the DoD GeneralCounsel with one representative from each of the Armed Services’JAG Corps, drafted amendments updating the most outdatedsections, such as the rent-eviction protection, raising the $150 rentthreshold to $1200, and Sect. 520’s stay protection, authorizing anautomatic stay upon request by a military member, expiring not laterthan June 30, 1991. Congress subsequently enacted the emergencyamendments and President Bush signed them into law in February1991. Realizing the SSCRA of 1918 needed a more completereview and a thorough update, Congressman Montgomery askedDoD to retain and commission the DoD SSCRA Task Force toconduct a complete analysis and propose recommendations for acomprehensive update.

The Task Force completed its exhaustive work, and its legislativedrafting product became embodied in H.R. 4763 in 1992. WithOperation Desert Storm over and because it was an election year,the SSCRA update never made it to either house’s floor for a vote.While reintroduced in succeeding congresses, it remained for 9/11to open another window of opportunity. Introduced as H.R. 100, itbecame law on December 19, 2003, when President George W.Bush, signed a twelve-year legislative pilgrimage into law.

For What Purpose?Enacted as Public Law 108-189, 117 Stat. 2835, The

Servicemen’s Civil Relief Act (SCRA) supercedes the SSCRA,updating its protections in key ways. Sect. 502’s purpose capturesthe public policy in two straightforward statements. The SCRA “(1)is to provide for, strengthen, and expedite the national defensethrough protection extended by this Act to servicemembers of theUnited States to enable such persons to devote their entire energy tothe defense needs of the nation, and (2) to provide for the temporarysuspension of judicial and administrative proceedings and transac-tions that may adversely affect the civil rights of servicemembersduring their military service.”

What is New?First, the definition of “military service” incorporates the changes

Congress made in 2002 to the former SSCRA. Expanding the term,the SCRA extends coverage to members of the National Guard

serving more than 30 consecutive days under title 32 for purposes ofresponding to a national emergency declared by the President andsupported by federal funds. Previously, National Guard members hadto be serving in a title 10 status (federalized) in order to obtainSSCRA protections.

Second, the new SCRA expands the definition of “court” toinclude an administrative agency of the United States or of any state.This is new, as the prior SSCRA did not apply to administrativeproceedings. This will have a major impact, especially in the field ofdomestic relations law.

Third, the SCRA adds a new provision concerning a legalrepresentative of the servicemember. It authorizes an attorney actingon behalf of the servicemember, or an individual possessing a powerof attorney, to take the same actions as a servicemember. Inaddition, the SCRA defined the term “dependent” for the first time.

Fourth, the default protection procedures are clarified. There is anew provision that defines the procedure for a court to grant a staywhen the defendant is a servicemember and has not received noticeof the proceedings, rather than entering a default judgment. Thecourt must grant a stay of at least 90 days when requested by a courtappointed attorney if there may be a defense that cannot be presentedin the absence of the military member, or if the attorney has beenunable to contact the servicemember to determine the existence of adefense.

Fifth, the stay protection has been revised to mandate an initial stayof 90 days upon request by the servicemember. The previouslydiscussed application of the SCRA to administrative proceedingsincludes this 90 day stay protection as well. While mandating thestay, this new section requires the military member (or his legalrepresentative) to make a request explaining why current militaryduty materially affects the member’s ability to appear. This requestmust provide a date when the member can appear, and include a letterfrom the member’s unit commander stating that the member’smilitary duties preclude his appearance, and that he is not authorizedleave at the time of the hearing.

To remedy past case law problems where such stay requestsconstituted an appearance in some courts, the new protection statesthat such a request does not constitute an appearance for jurisdic-tional purposes and does not constitute a waiver of any substantive orprocedural defense. Those servicemembers unable to appear at theend of 90 days may request additional stays utilizing the sameprocedures. In the event that a request for a further stay is denied, thecourt must appoint counsel, if he does not already have one, torepresent the servicemember before the court can proceed.

The sixth major change involves the most frequently used sectionof the SCRA and its predecessor—the six-percent interest cap. Thenew provision clarifies the ambiguity regarding whether interest inexcess of six percent is forgiven, deferred, or subject to othertreatment. It states the excess must be forgiven. The provision alsospecifies the process the military member must undertake to obtainthe reduction to six percent on all indebtedness incurred before entryinto active duty. The member must make a written request to thecreditor requesting the interest rate reduction in accordance with thisauthority, and he must attach a copy of his military active-duty

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orders. Provided with this information, creditors can easilyprogram their computerized billings to calculate the new rate ofreduced interest, while issuing a new account or card number at theagreed rate for all new debt incurred after entry into active duty.

The seventh significant change involves eviction of aservicemember or dependents from a residential lease. The newprovision increases the eligibility rent ceiling from $1200 to $2400for 2003, and includes a formula for calculating future increases.Using this formula, the 2004 rent ceiling is $2465.

The eighth change authorizes a servicemember to terminate notonly a pre-service dwelling, professional, business, agricultural, orsimilar lease, but also extends coverage to leases entered into whileon active duty when subsequent orders are received for a perma-nent change of station or a deployment for a period of ninety days.In addition, this section includes an entirely new protectionauthorizing termination of automobile leases, for either personal orbusiness purposes, or for use by their dependents, while on activeduty providing the servicemember receives permanent change ofstation orders to a location outside the continental U.S., ordeployment orders for a period of 180 days or more. This alsoincludes pre-service automobile leases provided the memberreceives orders for active duty for 180 days.

A ninth change in the SCRA allows a servicemember to requestdeferments of certain commercial life insurance policy premiumsand other payments for the period of military service and two yearsthereafter. Such payments can be guaranteed by the Veterans’Administration Department (VA) upon request and approval. Inthis case, the member has up to two years after release from activeduty to repay the VA. Coverage has been increased from $10,000under the SSCRA to $250,000 under the SCRA, and will increasein accordance with any changes made in the Servicemens’ GroupLife Insurance.

The tenth significant change involves taxation. While theSSCRA protected servicemembers’ military income and personalproperty from taxation by states in which their presence is pursuantto military orders, some states included the military income of theservicemember when calculating the tax bracket of the member’sspouse, thus placing him or her in a higher bracket. The newprovision precludes states from using the member’s military pay toincrease the state income tax of the spouse.

The eleventh and final major change is of special interest toreserve military lawyers. A 1991 emergency amendment to theSSCRA provided a new protection. It allowed an individual with apre-service professional liability insurance policy to suspendpremiums and coverage during active military service. Theprotection required suspension of all claims brought during theperiod of military service. It also mandated reinstatement of theinsurance at the conclusion of military service, at the premium ratethat would have existed had the member not entered militaryservice. Unfortunately, this protection was limited to members ofthe health care services and others as the Secretary of Defense maydesignate. The new change covers legal services providers as well.

PostscriptIn 1917, when military members most needed support for the

enactment of the SSCRA, the ABA was there in the presence ofPresident Walter George Smith. When successors-in-arms neededan update of their civil legal protections, the ABA’s House ofDelegates approved a resolution in February 1991, sponsored bythe General Practice Section, urging amendment of the SSCRA toclarify and update provisions of the Act to strengthen the protec-tions originally provided by the Act to men and women called toservice in this nation’s armed forces. The ABA’s Governmental Affairs staff headed by Mr. BobEvans and ably assisted by Mr. Ken Goldsmith, Assistant Legisla-tive Counsel, lobbied faithfully, persuasively, and persistently thesepast 12 years for the SCRA’s enactment. They prepared testimonyof ABA presidents, and relentlessly contacted House and SenateCommittee staff seeking support for this important legislationdown through the years, never losing faith that it could beaccomplished. The echoing entreaty of a World War I soldier hasbeen heard by the country and Congress he served. The SCRA’sultimate pilgrimage into law in 2003 is in no small measure theresult of the ABA, and its legislative forces. Perhaps the best signof appreciation has already been stated—“So I’m here, proudlyserving as part of Operation Desert Shield. I train for war, I askGod for peace and I hope America will remain behind me.” Yes,she is.

* The author is a 1974 alumnus of Gonzaga Law School and anAssociate Professor of Business Law at the University of SouthDakota School of Business. In an earlier 27 year career, heserved as the Chair of the DoD SSCRA Task Force in 1990-1992.

IPub. L. No. 108-89 section 101(2)(A)(ii) (2003).IIId. section 101 (5).IIIId. section 109(b).IVId. section 101(4).VId .section 201(d).VIId. section 202(b).VIIId. section 202(c).VIIIId. section 202(d)(2).IXId. section 207.XId. section 301(a).XIId. section 305(b).XII Id. section 305(b)(2).XIIIId. section 305(b)(2)(A).XIVId. section 402.XVId. section 511.XVIId. section 703.XVIIAsarey, Soldiers’ Morale in Saudi Remains High, ArmyTimes, Dec. 3, 1990. at 22.

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Myra Bradwell Award Presented toCarlin Jude

This year the Women’s Law Caucus presented the 12thannual Myra Bradwell Award to Spokane County SeniorDeputy Prosecutor Carlin Jude. Carlin, who graduated from

Gonzaga Law School in 1986, spent10 years as a crime preventionpractitioner for the Spokane PoliceDepartment. She educated the publicthrough lectures and articles abouthome security, personal safety, andchild safety issues. She was alsopresident of the Washington StateCrime Prevention Association from1987-1989. She cares deeply aboutkeeping people—especially womenand children—safe.

The Myra Bradwell award ispresented annually to an outstanding alumna of Gonzaga LawSchool in honor of Myra Bradwell who, in 1872, was denied theright to practice law on the basis of her gender.

Innocence Project Dinner BenefitsGonzagaR17;s Legal Clinic

Peter Neufeld, co-founder of The Innocence Project andprofessor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, spokeat a benefit dinner on May 6 for Gonzaga’s University Legal

Assistance clinic on the University campus. Proceeds from thedinner will be used to establish anendowment for the clinic.Neufeld is an internationallyrecognized expert on forensicevidence. He is the co-founder,along with Barry Scheck, and co-director of The Innocence Project,which has helped clear more than 80men through post-conviction DNAtesting. Currently, The InnocenceProject represents hundreds ofinmates seeking post-convictionrelease through DNA testing.

Neufeld is a partner in the law firm Cochran Neufeld & Scheck.He and his partners, Johnny Cochran and Barry Scheck, specializein civil rights and constitutional litigation.

Prof. Emeritus Mark Wilson and Jeff Hartje started the clinicprogram at University Legal Assistance in 1975. Its mission is toserve low-income and elderly clients while providing learningopportunities for second- and third-year law students. In its nearly30 years, the clinic has served thousands of clients who otherwisecould not have afforded legal assistance. Clinic students handle a

diverse range of cases, including family, consumer, environmental,criminal, and Native American law issues.

Daniel Morrissey resigns as Dean

Daniel J. Morrissey announced his resignation as dean of theGonzaga University School of Law, effective June 30.Morrissey, who replaced Dean John Clute on June 1, 2001,

delivered the news to a meeting of the Law School faculty and staff,on April 25.

Morrissey said he was stepping down in order to pursue otheropportunities in academic administration. “ My tenure at the helm

has been a wonderful experience and Iwould like to thank President FatherRobert Spitzer and Academic VicePresident Stephen Freedman for theirfull support for the Law School and mywork,” Morrissey said. “Our LawSchool is a great institution with itsstrong faculty, dedicated staff, andmarvelous students.” Freedman credited Morrissey withsecuring an improved pass rate on theWashington State Bar examination,developing a more selective admission

policy, and working toward a long-range financial plan.Morrissey graduated from Georgetown University in 1971 with

degrees in international affairs and economics. Morrissey receivedhis law degree from Georgetown in 1974. A Chicagoan, he workedas a U.S. District Court law clerk in Illinois, and as a supervisingattorney for the Prison Legal Aid Clinic at the Southern IllinoisUniversity School of Law, before serving as professor of law atPepperdine, Seton Hall, Denver and Tulsa universities. He becamedean and professor of law at St. Thomas in 1995, stepping down asdean in 1999 to remain as a professor.

George Critchlowappointed InterimDean of the School of Law

George Critchlow, Associate Professor at the Gonzaga School of Law, has beenappointed Interim Dean of the Schoolof Law. Professor Critchlow graduated fromGonzaga University School of Law in1977. Until his appointment began hewas the director of the Law School’sClinical Law Program and is a board

member of Gonzaga University’s Institute for Action Against Hate.He was the founding editor of the inaugural issue of the Institute’sinterdisciplinary Journal of Hate Studies and is a current member of

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Carlin Jude

Peter Neufeld

Dan Morrissey

George Critchlow


the journal’s editorial board. Professor Critchlow has published inthe area of professional responsibility and legal education, and wasa Fulbright scholar in Romania. Professor Critchlow has 23 years ofclassroom and clinical teaching experience at Gonzaga and 27 yearsof experience as a lawyer in state and federal trial and appellatecourts, including the Washington and Idaho Supreme Courts, theNinth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States SupremeCourt.

A Diamond in the Rough: A Tribute toGonzaga University School of Lawby Arthur Rizer(This article appeared in the Spokesman Review newspaper June12, 2004.)

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg said law school shouldbe a place where students can grow and mature as people.She said students should have the sense they are participating

in a shared adventure with their peers and professors. In the midstof law school it is difficult to evaluate how well your school doesthis job. Most students are just trying to stay above the mountainsof reading, research, and writing. Now, having passed the bar andexperienced a year as an attorney I can confidently say GonzagaLaw School does an excellent job of taking care of its studentsprofessionally and personally.

When I attended Gonzaga Law, I always felt like I was more thana number. The faculty and staff seemed genuinely concerned withmy well-being. As a “non-traditional” student with a wife and child,I benefited from the Student Bar Association’s numerous family-

LAW BRIEFSoriented activities thatallowed me tosocialize with myfellow law studentsbut not forfeitprecious family time(How many lawschools sponsor afamily Easter egghunt?)

Also, the CareerServices Officeactively engaged in

helping me obtain a Federal Clerkship, not because of the prestige aclerkship brings to the school, but because they wanted the best forme. When I was alerted for mobilization to Iraq through my ArmyNational Guard Unit, each and every professor worked out a plan soI could graduate early in case of deployment. Even when I hadfinancial difficulties, the school did its best to accommodate me byhelping me find scholarships.

The question “what makes a good law school” will generatehundreds of subjective responses. What I know is at Gonzaga Law Ireceived great service with a smile. The school not only helped turnmy brain of mush into the mind of a lawyer (a famous line from themovie The Paper Chase), but the personal touch of the school alsohelped me to grow as a person. Dean Bill Bowen of University ofArkansas Law School said, “here we don’t just make you valuable toprospective employers, we make you valuable to society.” Gonzagais doing just that.

Owen W. Taggart ’42, Portland, Ore., died Jan. 9 at age 93. Heserved in the Army during World War II and later was a lawyer forOregon Title and Transamerica Title Insurance.

Beloved Gonzaga University professor Daniel Brajcich ’45, age85, passed away March 18. Mr. Brajcich graduated from GonzagaUniversity and Gonzaga Law School and remained at Gonzaga asan accounting professor for over 50 years. He retired as ProfessorEmeritus and continued his association with the University until hispassing. In addition, he served in the U.S. Navy and was a principlepartner in the accounting firm of Brajcich & Loeffler. He enjoyedhis family, his faith, his students, his clients, Gonzaga University,Priest Lake and telling a good joke. Memorials may be made to theDan Brajcich Scholarship Fund at Gonzaga University.

Lee A. Kamp ’58 , age 72, passed away April 7. Mr. Kamp was anattorney for the Internal Revenue Service. He served in the U. S.Army and graduated from Gonzaga University Law School. Heenjoyed genealogy and computers.

Robert M. Sweeney ’61, age 73, passed away March 20. Heattended St. Augustine’s grade school, and graduated fromGonzaga Preparatory School in 1948 and from Gonzaga Univer-sity in 1952. After two years in the Army, he returned to Spokaneand entered Gonzaga Law School. He was an avid reader andenjoyed cooking and following world politics.

Allen L. Schwenker II ’75, age 47, passed away March 11. Aftergraduating from Gonzaga Law School he practiced law inSpokane until his health led him into early retirement.

Michael J. Murphy ’77, Spokane, died Feb. 1 at age 58. He wasan analyst for U.S. Army Intelligence and an initial member of theSeattle human rights department. He enjoyed reading, camping,fishing and back-road exploration.

Jacqueline Newcomb ’90 J.D., Spokane, died Jan. 1 at age 41.She worked for Paine-Hamblen before opening her own practicein 1993.

THOSE WHO WILL BE MISSED

Arthur Rizer (right)


FACULTY AND STAFF NOTESTeaching the Law SchoolCurriculumby Gerry Hess

A new book on teaching law by Gerry Hess (with Steve Friedland from Nova Southeast-

ern) will be published by CarolinaAcademic Press this summer. It drawsupon the wisdom of hundreds of legal

educators to provide ideas, materials, and alternatives for teaching avariety of law school courses. The book offers guidance for bothnew and experienced law teachers to plan and deliver effectivecourses. Each chapter addresses one of the fifteen courses moststudents take during their legal education:

• Business Associations• Civil Procedure• Clinic and Externship• Constitutional Law• Contracts• Criminal Law• Criminal Procedure• Evidence• Family Law• Federal Income Taxation• Legal Research & Writing• Professional Responsibility• Property• Sales & Secured Transactions• Torts

Each chapter has five sections: (1) Approach, (2) Materials, (3) ClassExercises, (4) Brief Gems, and (5) Evaluation of Students.

Approach. This section addressed the global aspects of a course,such as goals, organizational scheme, general philosophy, syllabi,

and coverage. For example:• is the course best taught through the problem method, the casemethod, with a practicum, or otherwise;• the main principles or skills that students should take away fromthe course; or• the key topics and the order in which they should be covered.

Materials. What kinds of materials enhance the course?• Textbooks – the merits of different types of basic course materials.• Handouts – specific handouts that teachers have created and waysto use them.• Other Resources – legal and nonlegal materials (print, audio, video,Internet sites).

Class Exercises. What teaching and learning activities work well inthis course? This section provides suggestions for in- and out-of-class projects that promote learning, such as:• simulations and role playing projects;• drafting assignments; or• collaborative problem solving.

Brief Gems – In this section, teachers share devices and ideas thathave proven effective in their classes, including:• useful analogies;• humor (cartoons to illustrate concepts);• ways to treat a particular case; or• means to incorporate humanism, ethics, and professionalism intothe course.

Evaluation of Students. When and how should students beevaluated? This section includes teachers’ thoughts on feedback andassessment both during and at the end of the course:• helping students to perform self-evaluation;• providing students with feedback before the end of the semester; or• the variety of evaluation mechanisms (e.g., essay exam, objectiveexam, paper, journal, drafting exercise) most appropriate to thesubject matter.

Gerry Hess

A complete list of clerkships can be found in our Web site on theCareer Services page at www.law.gonzaga.edu. If there are anyerrors or omissions, please bring it to the attention of the editor,Karin Olsen at [email protected].

Henry Gabriel ’80 clerked for the late Chief Judge Henry Politz,United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, 1983-84.Julianne (Folsom) Hirsch ’85 clerked for Judge L. Warden Hanel,Judge John M. Klobucher, and Judge Patricia C. Williams, Bank-ruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Washington, 1988 – present.Houston Lowry ’80 clerked for Judge William M. Acker Jr., UnitedStates District Court, Northern District of Alabama, 1982 - 83.James P. Murphy ‘88 clerked for Judge Walter E. Webster, Jr.,

CLERKSHIPSWashington State Court of Appeals Division I, 1988 - 90.Susan (Sockwell) Bendlin ’80 clerked for the late Judge AlbertHenderson Jr., United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit,Atlanta, GA., 1982 - 83.David G. Stebing ’81 clerked for Chief Judge James A. von derHeydt, United States District Court for Alaska, Anchorage, 1981-1983.Charles E. Siljeg ‘60 clerked for Judge Richard B. Ott, Washing-ton Supreme Court, 1960 - 61.Jason M. Whalen ‘92 clerked for Justice Richard P. Guy,Washington State Supreme Court, 1992 - 93.


Career ServicesJust the facts….

The following is information on Gonzaga Law School’sclass of 2003:Career Services gathers this information annually with muchsupport from students, faculty, staff, parents and friends. The datais collected at 9 months post graduation. For the class of 2003,142 of 143 graduates’ employment status information wasobtained. We are still seeking to contact that missing individual.

The number of graduates in the2002 – 2003 academic year: 143Total Employed: 110

Type of employer:

Law Firms 46Business/Corporate 22

Public Interest 4

Academic 2Government: 37

Military 3

Judicial Clerkship 13Prosecutor/Defender 11

Not specified 10

Job status:Full time 101

Part time 9

Job placement:Before graduation 48

After graduation 37After bar results 23

Not specified 2

Employed by gender:Females 45

Males 66

Enrolled In Full Time LL.M Program: 12Studying for the bar full time 8

Not Seeking work 6

Seeking work 6Status unknown 1

Total percentage of graduates employed, enrolled in LL.M andnot seeking: 95%Salary range: from $15,000* to $72,000+Note: 55 of 110 employed students shared earnings data.

* $15,000 is an exception - entry level in sports/entertainment law.

Average starting salary: $44,000The average law school debt upon graduation: $66,000

Location of jobs:

Washington State 7Idaho 8

California 8

Montana 5Utah 5The following states employed 4 or less of our graduates:Arizona, Alaska, Nevada, District of Columbia, Illinois, Hawaii,Oregon, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania,Florida, Virginia, Colorado.

Location of Bar Exam:Gonzaga’s Registrar provided our graduates bar exam certifica-tion for the following states:

Note: These are all first time takers in these states, but at least 46of them are graduates from previous classes applying for addi-tional bar exams as there were 179 certifications reported.

Washington State 75

Idaho 19

Californa 20Oregon 14

Arizona 8

The following states’ bar exams were taken by 5 or less of ourgraduates:Alaska, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois,Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, NewMexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylva-nia, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia.

Bar pass rate for Washington State(First time takers) 74.3%.

If you have questions about this data or information you’d like tosuggest we start to gather for future classes, please contact JoniDriskell at 800-578-2561 or email [email protected].

CAREER SERVICES


alumni news

Name ________________________________________________ Class Year____________

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GAMP (Gonzaga Alumni Mentoring Program)

I would like to serve as a Mentor Volunteer.

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Gonzaga University School of Law The most avidly read section of The Lawyer is “Class Action.” The LawSchool’s more than 5,000 alumni want to know what their classmates havebeen doing — recent moves, cases they have won, family matters, pro bonoactivities, etc. To ensure that your news gets published, complete the form below and sendit (with a recent photo of yourself) to Karin Olsen, Asst. Dean of Developmentand Alumni Relations, Gonzaga School of Law, P.O. Box 3528, Spokane WA99220-3528 or use the postage paid card below. You can also update yourinformation on our website at www.law.gonzaga.edu or e-mail us [email protected].

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THE LAWYER SUMMER 2004 – 43THE LAWYER SPRING 2004 – 27

Building the bridge into thenext century of excellence . . .

GULAW

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Accomplishment

Pride

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Celebrate these traditions with usGIVE TO THE LAW SCHOOL FUND

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Calendar of EventsSeptemberTuesday, September 21Red Mass for the Legal ProfessionSt. Aloysius Church5:00 p.m.

OctoberFriday, October 1Board of Advisors Meeting9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Sunday, October 10Seahawks Football EventQwest Field, Seattle11:00 a.m.

Wednesday, October 27Luvera LectureGuest Speaker: Gerry Spence11:30a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Karin OlsenAssistant DeanDevelopment, Alumni Relations &Career ServicesPh. 509 323-3605 Fax 509 323-5744Educating People the World Needs MostCheck out our Web site at www.law.gonzaga.edu

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