Law And The Pandemic

Today we speak with class of 2020 alums Cindy Muro and Shandyn Pierce about their experiences transitioning to online learning and sheltering in place during their last semester of law school, and the unique challenge of taking the California State Bar exam during the pandemic.

Cindy Muro is a post-bar clerk representing indigent clients in the Santa Clara County Alternate Defender Office.

And Shandyn Pierce is an associate at Meyers Nave, a law firm that handles transaction, litigation and regulatory compliance challenges for clients across California. 

Both Cindy and Shandyn were in the Legal Education Opportunity Program and both are the first in their families to become lawyers.

Today, we welcome back Professor Joan Williams, founder of the Center for WorkLife Law, to discuss the impacts of the pandemic on working mothers and caregivers and what has happened since our original conversation.

Today, we speak with Professor Hadar Aviram to learn the latest developments in the fight to stem the outbreak of COVID-19 in California prisons, which have become hotspots for community transmission. She advocates for substantially reducing prison populations—including by early release.

Today, we speak with Professor Dorit Reiss about waning public confidence in the FDA and the CDC—agencies crucial to managing the pandemic.

Increasingly, Professor Reiss focuses her research on legal and policy issues related to vaccines, school mandates, and tort and administrative issues related to vaccines.

In this episode, we speak with Perkins Coie attorneys Paula Goodwin and Jody Bryson about their pro bono project to provide estate planning to the health care workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 response.

Paula Goodwin is an alumna of UC Hastings Law and a Partner in Perkins Coie’s Personal Planning Group. She recently served as the pro bono chair of the firm’s San Francisco office.

Jody Bryson is an associate in Perkins Coie’s Personal Planning Group. She provides legal counseling and guidance in the areas of estate, tax and gift planning.

Today we speak with Professor Sarah Hooper about why communities of color are hospitalized and dying at disproportionately higher rates and what we can do to mitigate this serious issue. 

Professor Hooper is Executive Director of the UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy. Her research focuses on legal issues in aging and dementia care, including health care decision making and informed consent.

Today, we speak with Professor Shanin Specter about liability waivers and whether they are a viable legal strategy or simply a deterrence tactic.

Professor Specter has been teaching at UC Hastings Law since 2017 and is a founding partner of Kline & Specter, one of the leading catastrophic injury firms in the US. He recently published an opinion piece on CNN.com related to this topic.

Today, we speak with Professor Karen Musalo about changes to the U.S. asylum system since the pandemic hit.

Professor Musalo is the founding director of the UC Hastings Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic. She has contributed to the evolving jurisprudence of asylum law through her scholarship, as well as her litigation of landmark cases.

Today, we speak with Professor Abe Cable about how UC Hastings Law had to suddenly adapt to the pandemic and the implications for Fall 2020 and beyond.

Professor Cable is the Faculty Director of Online Legal Education at UC Hastings Law. This past February, he wrote the college’s Online Education Handbook, which contains information and best practices for faculty.

Today, we speak with Professor John Crawford about the role of the Federal Reserve in managing the financial fallout from the pandemic and his proposal that the Fed should provide a bank account to every American.

Professor Crawford’s current research focuses on the regulation of financial markets and institutions.