School of Law News

On July 1, Johanna Kalb began her tenure as USF School of Law’s 20th dean and its second female dean since the school’s founding in 1912. She arrived in San Francisco with her family from Idaho, where she was the first woman to serve as dean of University of Idaho College of Law.

Twenty years ago, I found myself in the enviable position of sitting in former Dean Jeff Brand’s office being interviewed for a USF Law faculty position. As our conversation was ending, Jeff leaned forward and shared his most profound insight about law school teaching. “The best law professors are like jazz conductors,” Jeff confided. “A great law school class is jazz music at its finest.

In 1998, Rhonda Magee left corporate law practice in Chicago to teach at USF School of Law. As she reflects on her legacy at USF, Magee expects “that the School of Law will continue to support cutting-edge teaching and learning about the legacies of our shared multicultural histories and how they impact law and policy today.”

A father and his son’s distinctive education in the Criminal & Juvenile Justice Clinic.

The University of San Francisco School of Law was awarded a one million dollar gift from the Crankstart Foundation to support the Racial Justice Clinic which will expand its efforts to enforce the California Racial Justice Act. The California Racial Justice Act (RJA) aims to eliminate racial bias from the state's criminal justice system.

The Class of 2024 celebrated their graduation in a memorable ceremony at St. Ignatius Church on Friday, May 17. Lindbergh Porter ‘81, senior shareholder emeritus at Littler, received an honorary degree and delivered the Commencement address.

Four second-year law students spent their spring break at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where they learned what it’s like to live in confinement.

This February, a USF Law advocacy competition team took first place at the Western Regional Division of the Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition. The International Trademark Association hosts the competition and this year’s case problem involved a trademark infringement dispute between two fictional candy companies.

Joe Soberon is a first-year student in the School of Law and a starting pitcher for the Division I Dons baseball team — at the same time.

Last August, when USF Law Professor Heidi Ho ‘97 received news of the devastating wildfires on Maui, she swung into action. A native of the island, Ho has led response efforts by co-founding Pro Bono Organization for Native Ohana (PONO) Legal, a non-profit providing legal support to residents impacted by the fires.