Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law's Ninth Annual Wm. Matthew Byrne, Jr. Judicial Clerkship Institute March 19 - 21, 2009

Judicial Faculty

The Honorable Carol Bagley Amon
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Judge Amon was a member of the Judicial Committee on Codes of Conduct from 1993 to 2001 and chair from 1998 to 2001. She also served as an advisor to the American Bar Association Joint Commission to Evaluate the Model Code of Judicial Conduct. She is a graduate of William and Mary and the University of Virginia School of Law. Prior to her appointment to the district court in 1990, Judge Amon served as a U.S. magistrate, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Honorable Carlos Tiburcio Bea
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Judge Bea earned his B.A. and JD from Stanford University. He practiced in San Francisco with Dunne, Dunne & Phelps, before starting his own law office, which specialized in civil trial practice. In 1989, Governor George Deukmejian appointed Judge Bea to the San Francisco Superior Court. He was re-elected again in 1996 and 2002. In 1989, Judge Bea received the Pro Bono Recognition Award from the State Bar of California for his work on pro bono immigration matters. Judge Bea was named Honorary Vice Consul of Spain from 1979-1993, and he received three decorations from the King of Spain and the Spanish government in recognition of his services. President George W. Bush nominated him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in April 2003, and he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in September 2003.

The Honorable Karon Owen Bowdre
United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama

Judge Bowdre received her bachelor's degree, cum laude, from Samford University and her law degree, cum laude, from Cumberland School of Law. She taught at Cumberland School of Law from 1990 until she took office in November 2001. Judge Bowdre was director of the legal research and writing program at the school and taught courses in insurance law, torts, professional responsibility, and appellate advocacy. Prior to joining the law faculty, Judge Bowdre practiced law with the Birmingham law firm of Rives & Peterson, handling numerous trial and appellate matters in state and federal court.

The Honorable Charles R. Breyer
United States District Court for the Northern District of California

Judge Breyer received his A.B. in 1963 from Harvard College and his JD in 1966 from Boalt Hall School of Law. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Breyer clerked for Oliver J. Carter, chief judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He then served as an assistant district attorney in San Francisco until 1973, when he was appointed assistant special prosecutor, Watergate Special Prosecution force. He entered private practice in 1974, specializing in the defense of white collar criminal cases. Judge Breyer is also an adjunct professor at Hastings College of the Law. He was appointed to the U.S. District Court, Northern district of California in 1997 by President Clinton.

The Honorable Jeremy D. Fogel
United States District Court for the District of California

Judge Fogel received his B.A. from Stanford University and his JD, cum laude, from Harvard University. Judge Fogel was in private practice in San Jose, 1974-1978, and was founder and directing attorney, Mental Health Advocacy Project, Santa Clara County Bar Association Law Foundation, 1978-1981. In 1981 he was appointed to Santa Clara County Municipal Court and appointed to Santa Clara Superior Court in 1986. He is a frequent lecturer on ethics, discipline, and professional conduct for both bench and bar and a lecturer at Stanford University Law School. He was appointed to the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, in 1998.

The Honorable Royce C. Lamberth
Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Columbia

Judge Lamberth graduated from the University of Texas with a B.A. degree in 1966 and from the University of Texas School of Law in 1967. He served as a captain in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1974. After service at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and in Vietnam, he served in the Litigation Division of the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Army at the Pentagon from 1971 to 1974. He served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia from 1974 to 1987. He was chief of the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office, 1978 to 1987. He was appointed U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia in 1987 and assumed his current position as chief judge in 2008.

The Honorable Nanette K. Laughrey
United States District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri

Judge Laughrey received her bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and her JD from the University of Missouri at Columbia (UMC). She has served as an assistant and deputy attorney general for the State of Missouri and as a municipal judge for the City of Columbia. From 1983 to 1996 she was a faculty member at the UMC Law School, where she served as the William H. Pittman Professor of Law. She has been a member of the Eighth Circuit Model Jury Instruction Committee, the Electronic Case Filing Committee, and the Local Rules Committee of the Western District of Missouri. She is a current member of the American Law Institute.

The Honorable Barbara Jacobs Rothstein
United States District Judge for the Western District of Washington

Judge Rothstein is a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Washington and was appointed director of the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, D.C. She was chief judge of the Western District of Washington from 1987-1994. She graduated from Cornell University and Harvard Law School. Before her appointment to the federal bench in 1980, she served as a King County Superior Court judge for the State of Washington.

The Honorable Pamela Ann Rymer
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Judge Rymer brings experience on both the district court (1983-89) and the circuit court (1989-present) to the Institute. She has served on the Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals, the Federal Judicial Center's Committee on Appellate Judge Education, the Judicial Conference of the U.S. Committee on Federal- State Jurisdiction, and the Ad Hoc Committee on Gender-Based Violence. In 1990 she served as the chair of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference. She is a graduate of Vassar College and Stanford University School of Law, and was a partner with two Los Angeles law firms prior to moving to the district court bench.

The Honorable Sonia Sotomayor
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Judge Sotomayor graduated, summa cum laude, from Princeton University in 1976, and received her JD from Yale Law School. She began her legal career as an assistant district attorney in New York County and then practiced with the law firm of Pavia & Harcourt. Appointed in October 1992 as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York, she was elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals in October 1998. Judge Sotomayor is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York City Chapter of the Women's Bar Association, the National Hispanic Bar Association, the Puerto Rican Bar Association, the Association of Hispanic Judges, and the American Philosophical Society.

The Honorable Margaret Mahoney
United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Alabama

Judge Mahoney holds a B.A. from the College of St. Catherine and a JD from the University of Minnesota. She served as a bankruptcy judge in Minnesota and Texas from 1984 to 1989. From 1989 to 1993 she was a partner in the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges in Texas. In 2003 she returned to the bench as a bankruptcy judge in Alabama and from 1996 to 2003 she was the Chief Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Alabama. She is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and was the Editor-in-Chief of the American Bankruptcy Law Journal from 1998-2002.

The Honorable Steven Rhodes
Chief Judge, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

The Honorable Steven Rhodes has been a bankruptcy judge for 22 years in the Eastern District of Michigan and is currently the chief judge. From 1997-2004, he also served on the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Sixth Circuit, the last three years as chief judge. His undergraduate degree is from Purdue University and his law degree is from the University of Michigan Law School, where he has served as an adjunct professor. He is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. His publications include: The Ethical Obligations of a Chapter 7 Trustee, 80 AM. BANKR. L.J. 147; An Empirical Study of Consumer Bankruptcy Papers, 73 AM. BANKR. L.J. 653; Eight Statutory Causes of Delay and Expense in Chapter 11 Cases, 67 AM. BANKR. L.J. 287. He presently serves as Vice President for Research of the American Bankruptcy Institute.

The Honorable Barry Russell
Former Chief Judge, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California

Judge Russell received his B.S. and JD from the University of California, Los Angeles. He served as an assistant United States attorney before his appointment to the Bankruptcy Court in 1974. He has taught bankruptcy, evidence, and ethics at UCLA, USC, Loyola, and Whittier Law School. A member of the Federal Judicial Center faculty since 1977, he has lectured to other bankruptcy judges throughout the United States, China, Mexico, and Brazil. He has received outstanding jurist and distinguished service awards from several organizations, including the American Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the Southern California Mediation Association. Judge Russell is the author of Bankruptcy Evidence Manual, a book first released in 1987, with new editions published annually.

The Honorable Gregg W. Zive
Chief Judge, United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada

Judge Zive is a chief bankruptcy judge for the District of Nevada in Las Vegas. Prior to taking the bench, he practiced as a general civil litigator in the areas of commercial, contract, real property, and employment-relations law and was admitted to the bars of California and Nevada. He has taught and been a presenter at numerous seminars regarding various bankruptcy-related topics as well as civil procedure, evidence, real property issues, employment law and trial techniques, and has published articles relating to those topics. He received his B.A. in journalism from the University of Nevada and his JD, magna cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame.

Academic Exchange

Akhil Reed Amar
Southmayd Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale Law School

Professor Amar is considered by many to be the most outstanding constitutional law scholar of his generation. As an undergraduate he attended Yale College, where he majored in history and economics, won many prizes, earned a perfect grade point average, and was a star debater. Later, as a student at Yale Law School, he served as editor of the Yale Law Journal. Professor Amar is the author of several distinguished scholarly books and law review articles, and is one of the most frequently quoted academics in America. His most recent book is American Constitution: A Biography.

Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Distinguished Professor, University of California, Irvine, School of Law

Dean Chemerinsky is the founding dean of the School of Law, University of California, Irvine. From 2004 to 2008 he was the Alston and Bird Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law and he was on the USC faculty for over 20 years. Dean Chemerinksy regularly lectures to judges in programs for the Federal Judicial Center, the National Judicial College, and the American Bar Association. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and Harvard Law School. He is the author of six books and over 100 law review articles. He regularly argues appellate cases, including in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jan Crawford Greenburg
Senior Legal Correspondent for ABC News, Washington, D.C.

Ms. Greenburg covers the Supreme Court and provides legal analysis for ABC News broadcasts. Prior to joining ABC, Ms. Greenburg was the national legal affairs reporter for the Chicago Tribune, the Supreme Court correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS, and a legal analyst for CBS Evening News, The Early Show and Face the Nation. Her book on the modern Supreme Court and its justices, Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court, was published in 2007 and became a New York Times bestseller. Ms. Greenburg graduated from the University of Alabama, received her law degree from the University of Chicago, and is a member of the New York bar.

Christopher L. Eisgruber
Provost, Princeton University

Christopher L. Eisgruber became the Provost of Princeton University on July 1, 2004. He is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Public Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School and the University Center for Human Values. From 2001 through June 2004, he served as Director of Princeton's Program in Law and Public Affairs. He is the author of The Next Justice: Repairing the Supreme Court Appointments Process (Princeton 2007), Religious Freedom and the Constitution (Harvard 2007) (co-authored with Lawrence G. Sager), and Constitutional Self-Government (Harvard 2001), as well as numerous articles in books and academic journals. Before joining the faculty in 2001, he clerked for Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the United States Supreme Court, and then served for eleven years on the faculty of the New York University School of Law. Eisgruber earned an A.B. magna cum laude in Physics from Princeton, and then received a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University, where he obtained an M. Litt. in Politics. He holds a JD from the University of Chicago Law School and is a member of the American Law Institute.

Douglas W. Kmiec
Caruso Family Chair in Law and Professor of Law, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law

Professor Kmiec served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice, where among other responsibilities he assisted President Reagan in the selection of federal judges. He is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles, including the following with Northwestern legal historian Stephen Presser: The American Constitutional Order(2004), Individual Rights and the American Constitution(1998), and The History, Philosophy and Structure of the American Constitution(2004). The contributing editor for constitutional law for the ABA's Supreme Court Preview, Professor Kmiec is a frequent commentator for the national media.

Kenneth W. Starr
Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law

Kenneth W. Starr is counsel to the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he was a partner from 1993 to 2004, specializing in appellate work, antitrust, federal courts, federal jurisdiction, and constitutional law. From 1983 to 1989 he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He served as the Solicitor General of the United States from 1989 to 1993. He was formerly a partner with the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Having received his B.A. from George Washington University in 1968 and his M.A. from Brown University in 1969, Dean Starr graduated from Duke Law School with a JD degree in 1973.

Former Law Clerk Panelists

Johanna S. Schiavoni
Litigation Associate, Latham & Watkins LLP

Johanna S. Schiavoni's practice focuses on complex litigation, with a specialty in state and federal appellate court litigation. She rejoined the firm in 2007 following a clerkship with the Honorable M. Margaret McKeown on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to that clerkship, she spent three years in the firm's New York office. She also clerked for the Honorable Christina A. Snyder in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California during the 2002- 2003 term. Schiavoni has experience in a variety of complex litigation matters, including California business torts, claims against public entities and skilled nursing facilities, patent litigation, copyright, trademark, trade dress, unfair competition, trade secret, commercial fraud, insurance, securities, and employment matters.

Dr. Aaron D. Ford
Commercial Litigator, Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.

Dr. Aaron D. Ford is a commercial litigator at Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., in Las Vegas, Nevada. His practice concentrates in commercial and dispute resolution, with an emphasis in contract and real estate disputes, employment law (domestic and international), and public/education law. He received a B.S. from Texas A&M University, an M.A. from George Washington University, and an M.A., JD, and Ph.D. from Ohio State University. After law school, he served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Denise Page Hood, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He then clerked for the Honorable Johnnie B. Rawlinson, United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Jacqueline Scott Corley

Jacqueline Scott Corley has served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Charles R. Breyer of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California since Judge Breyer joined the bench in January 1998. She received her B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and her JD from Harvard Law School, where she had the privilege of serving on the Harvard Law Review with President Obama. Following law school she served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Robert E. Keeton of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and then practiced civil litigation at Goodwin, Procter & Hoar in Boston, Massachusetts and, after returning to California, at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass in San Francisco. Jackie will be returning to private practice later this year.