I went to the townhall meeting to find out more about the UCSD-Cal Western merger. The status seems to have downgraded from an issue of "when" the merger will happen to "if" the merger will happen. The whole situation appears pretty disheartening for current students and alumni.
The townhall speakers didn't have much in the way of substance. When asked about the greatest impediment to the merger they cited economic issues but didn't elaborate. A further point of concern stems from UCSD refusing to grant degrees to students they didn't have a hand in educating. This would mean the alumni base and the current students at Cal Western will not longer have a law school to call their own. No retroactive degrees and no reissued degrees means having to explain to clients why you have a J.D. from a non-existent school.
I think this probably damages UCSD if they merge with California Western. It means they will effectively alienate the alumni base, which is quite significant in San Diego. They will hamstring their ability to solicit donations from such a wide group of professionals.
Another audience member asked about the internal politics of California Western and the merger. Dean Smith characterized Cal Western as a much more fluid and nimble bureaucracy than UCSD and hinted they couldn't reach an agreement with the UCSD panel to even get to a stage with a written proposal.
I really hope California Western merges with UCSD in the next year. If it doesn't happen then, I suspect the project will lose momentum and die.
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My scholarly writing is moving along ok. I'm taking notes and writing at the same time. Most of the writing isn't formal or for the paper but to help me remember why I took notes the way I did.
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I'm now a volunteer legal intern for the in-house counsel for the San Diego Zoo. My internship is really fun. I'm working one Friday a week and I really like the people I get to work with. I'm hoping they start giving me a little more responsibility as time goes on.
