La Verne Law Faculty Gives Back

The La Verne Law Mission Statement is a powerful statement of our commitment to the College of Law, to legal education, and to the university as a whole. The last part of the COL’s Mission Statement refers to the University’s core values:

Our mission is grounded in the core values of the University of La Verne – life-long learning, ethical reasoning and decision-making, diversity and inclusivity, and community and civic engagement. Difference-making is our legacy.

This month’s article about faculty focuses on our community and civic engagement—what we do to give back to others. Our faculty is generous with their time and talents.

Many are involved in local bar associations. Professor Charles Doskow is a past president of the San Bernardino County Bar Association, and the West End San Bernardino County Bar Association. He also serves as a board member to the Inland Empire Chapter, Federal Bar Association, and is a past chapter president. Dean Gilbert Holmes was recently sworn in as a board member for the West End San Bernardino County Bar Association. Professor Ashley Lipson is active in the Beverly Hills Bar Association, and encourages many students to participate. Dean Exon is a long-time member of the Riverside County Bar Association (RCBA), including its Legal Education Committee. As part of that committee, Dean Exon serves as liaison between RCBA and La Verne Law. She has coordinated scholarly presentations by our faculty, including Professors Doskow, Lipson, Michael O’Connor, and Kenneth Rudolf. Exon also has spoken at RCBA functions and other bar associations on numerous occasions.

On the national front, Dean Exon has been actively involved in the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution. She is a former co-chair of the Section’s Ethics Committee, and serves on its coveted Ethical Guidance Committee, participating in the drafting of ethical opinions relating to mediation. Dean Exon also serves on the Section’s Legal Education, ADR and Practical Problem Solving Project (LEAPS) to provide guidance regarding Civil Procedure pedagogy to faculty nationwide.

Professor Placido Gomez is actively involved with the Indian Law Center at the University of New Mexico, especially the Center’s Pre- Law Summer Institute. This summer he judged in the program’s moot court presentations and attended the program’s banquet.

Many faculty members actively participate in nonlegal philanthropy. For example, some are active in their churches. Professor Doskow has been a long-time member of the Claremont Sunrise Rotary and prepares its weekly newsletter. For years, he has served as the Co-Chair of the Rotary’s American Cancer Society Relay for Life fundraising activity. Doskow also fundraises for the annual Turkey Trot (Claremont Thanksgiving Day run), and coordinates a team from the College of Law. Dean Exon was a member of Soroptimist International of Riverside for 18 years, serving as its president during 1994-95. After a hiatus for a few years, she is rejoining the organization, to continue efforts to help women and children.

Every faculty member is generous with his or her monetary donations and indeed too numerous to mention. However, one professor stands out in his support of the University of La Verne. Last year, Professor John Hultman created The Robert Warren Hultman Distinguished Professorship of the College of Arts and Sciences, in gratitude for the outstanding undergraduate education he received there, and also to honor his father’s legacy and distinguished service in World War II. Hultman donates $10,000 a year to this Distinguished Professorship.
Lipson is extremely generous with his donations of the Objection! computer simulation series that he created. He donates the game to many silent auctions and schools nationwide.

As can be clearly seen by the foregoing, the La Verne Law faculty is generous with its time and efforts. Faculty members give back out of the goodness of their hearts, and back because their efforts really make a difference. Although they never ask for anything in return, it is an incredible accolade when others express their appreciation. Perhaps the best illustration of appreciation is a poem that students at the Strayberry High School Mock Trial Team (in Marietta, Georgia) sent to Professor Lipson as a big thank you for his donation of the Objection! Game:

Thank you so much for donating the computer programs
(Though to some it feels like extra classroom exams!)
We cannot wait to learn all about Hearsay Objections
And all those wonderful Evidentiary Foundations
Whether it is ok to simply ask a question?
Or whether it is not fact but mere speculation?
Whether you can challenge beliefs which are religious?
When do statements guarantee trustworthiness?
And when they are lacking responsiveness?
When is the leading question appropriate?
And when is cross beyond the scope?
Am I qualified to give a Present Sense Impression?
Is a pertinent trait of the Witness relevant?
And, hey! Can my OWN witness be incompetent?
Can my calendar be a business record?
What if it’s something I saw, not just heard?
If my MOTHER told me, isn’t it so?
She knows EVERYTHING, so of course she must know!
If you forget can we refresh your memory?
Or just say it over and over and buzz like a busy bee?
If at first the answer is wrong for me,
Can I ask again, and then go for three?
And while we are not suggesting an answer, we are asking an opinion
For which, we thank you in advance, in fact thanks a million
If you would kindly keep your good thoughts for us going strong…
As a talisman of sorts, and maybe even more!
And may we say to you…
THANK YOU…for all that you have done…and do!
Your Friends,
STRAYBERRY HIGH SCHOOL MOCK TRIAL TEAM 2011-2012