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UPCOMING EVENTS

Greetings,

Excitement is building toward this year's much anticipated Homecoming and Reunion activities, now just a month away. Join us!

An incredibly important part of our Homecoming and Reunion weekend is the Lifetime Achievement Award reception. Award recipients are selected by Arizona Law faculty for their distinguished and exemplary careers, contributions to the legal profession, support for public causes and law reform, and commitment to the pursuit of justice.  

In today's edition of Letter of the Law, we spotlight the first of our three new Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, Judge Raner Collins ('75). We look forward to sharing profiles of our other new awardees, Justice Frank Gordon ('54), and Dee-Dee Samet ('63) in the weeks to come.

Until the footnotes,

Marc

Class of 1975 alumnus Judge Raner C. Collins is one of three distinguished alumni who will be recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the College of Law on Friday, November 5.

Judge Collins, the Arizona Law community is grateful for your longstanding public service and we look forward to celebrating this award with you.

Award Biography

Raner C. Collins was born in Malvern, Arkansas, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Arkansas Polytechnic College (now Arkansas Tech University) in 1973. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Arizona College Of Law in 1975, one of two African American students in his class. After graduation, Judge Collins turned to the public domain as a young lawyer, serving as Deputy County Attorney with the Pima County Attorney’s Office. In 1981, Judge Collins began his judicial career as City Magistrate with the Tucson City Court. From 1985 to 1988, he served as Judge Pro Tempore for the Pima County Superior Court, and in 1988 he launched a decade of service as Superior Court Judge.  

Judge Collins was nominated in May 1998 by President Bill Clinton to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. He was confirmed by the Senate in July 1998 and received commission in August 1998. In September 2013 Judge Collins became Chief Judge of the District Court for the District of Arizona, the first African American to serve in that position. He assumed senior status in March 2019 and continues to hear cases.

Judge Collins has presided over many notable cases during his years on the federal bench. One such case was the longstanding school litigation, Flores v. Arizona, in which he ordered the Arizona Legislature to pay for adequate English language instruction in public schools or face mounting monetary sanctions. Judge Collins also presided over the original criminal trial and retrial involving Lonnie Swartz, a border patrol agent who faced manslaughter charges for the fatal shooting of a teenaged Mexican boy across the border. In addition, he heard the case of United States v. Scott Warren in which the human rights activist Warren was acquitted of charges of illegally harboring undocumented immigrants.  

Judge Collins, known as an impartial and conscientious jurist, has been recognized by local and statewide organizations for his many achievements. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Arizona in 2008. Judge Collins and his wife Theresa Collins have two children and five grandchildren and view family and religion as of central importance.

Together Again: 2021 Homecoming & Reunion Lineup

There's no place like Homecoming. Join us for both in-person and virtual events, November 4-6, 2021!

NOTE All alumni should have received an email yesterday, which details this year's events. If you did not receive our message, please make sure to update your contact information here. We want to make sure you are kept in the loop with any updates as the big weekend approaches.

Thursday, November 4, 2021

Alumni of the Year Awards Ceremony

Arizona Law honoree Dev L. Stahlkopf, Class of 1999

The University of Arizona Student Union Memorial Center,

Grand Ballroom, 2-5 p.m.

RSVP Required

Register for UA Alumni of the Year Awards Ceremony

50-Year Class Reunion Dinner

Celebrating the Classes of 1970 and 1971

Arizona Sands Club, 565 N Cherry Ave, Floor 5, 5:30-8:30 p.m.

RSVP Required

Register for the 50th Reunion Dinner

Friday, November 5, 2021

Arizona Law’s Lifetime Achievement Awards

The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law

Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie Lobby & Snell & Wilmer Courtyard

Honorees: Judge Raner Collins, Class of 1975; Justice Frank Gordon (posthumously), Class of 1954; Dee-Dee Samet, Class of 1963

4:30-6:30pm

RSVP Requested

Register for the Lifetime Achievement Awards

Arizona Law’s Alumni Reunion Celebration

Celebrating the following classes:

1970, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2016

Culinary Dropout, 2543 E Grant Road, 7-10 p.m.  

RSVP Required

Register for the Reunion Celebration

Saturday, November 6, 2021

Arizona Law’s Red & Blue BBQ

The Snell & Wilmer Courtyard

11 a.m.-2 p.m.

RSVP Requested

Register for the BBQ

Have questions?

Contact Kate Osterholt, Program Coordinator, Alumni Engagement & Special Events, 520-621-8430, [email protected]

The occasion of the above picture was Tara Hubbard’s ('12, center) admission ceremony to practice in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.

Hubbard was sponsored by the Honorable Alfred Urbina ('08, left), Attorney General of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. The ceremony was conducted by the Honorable Stephen McNamee ('69, right), Senior United States District Judge for the District of Arizona. 

Hubbard is an Assistant Attorney General for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and was a 2010-2011 recipient of the Carpenter Scholarship while attending Arizona Law. 

Law Women's Association Invites You to Yoga in the Park, October 14

Please join the Law Women's Association (LWA) in their first fundraising event of the semester—a yoga class at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 14, on the west side of Himmel Park, 1000 N. Tucson Blvd. Tucson, AZ 85716, near the parking lot.

Please plan on a minimum donation of $10 per person and $8 per person for LWA members. You can donate via Square, cash, or check.

Please register below for details on your donation. If the donation is completed virtually, LWA will email an invoice prior to the event. If the donation is via check or cash, it will be collected at the time of the event. 

This event is a fundraising effort to accumulate a summer fund for women in the law who undertake unpaid internships and for LWA to have funding to provide their members with opportunities to attend conferences and events through LWA.  

Please bring your own yoga mat or towel.

Join us in our effort to uplift women throughout the legal community and within the law school.

Journal of Appellate Practice and Process Plans Special Issue on Indian Law

The Journal of Appellate Practice & Process is currently accepting submissions for Volume 23, Issue 1, to be published in late 2022/early 2023. The Journal is published by the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law and edited in partnership with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

This issue will focus on appellate issues in and around Indian Country. We welcome articles on appellate practice in Tribal Courts, articles exploring Tribal sovereignty and appellate justice, articles that explore jurisdictional questions raised by recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and other essays or articles addressing appellate practice issues in and around Indian Country. We welcome articles by academics, judges, and practitioners.

Essays and articles should not exceed 15,000 words in length. Please submit all papers to Professor Tessa L. Dysart ([email protected]) by June 1, 2022. Acceptances will be emailed by August 1, 2022.

You can find out more about the Journal at www.appellatejournal.com.

@uarizonalaw, Twitter

Homecoming will have more meaning than usual as we again gather in person.

I am sure you noticed the dual reunion years—1970 and 1971, 1975 and 1976, and so forth. Bringing more classes together this year is another modest step we can take on behalf of our Arizona Law community as we navigate, adjust, and renew our commitments, all while making our way out of COVID.

The people we will be celebrating during this special Homecoming— Law Alumna of the Year Dev Stahlkopf (’99) and Lifetime Achievement Awardees Judge Raner Collins (’75), Justice Frank Gordon (’54), and Dee-Dee Samet (’63)—embody the commitment of Arizona Law alumni to justice, equality, and law. I look forward to sharing profiles of each of them with you in the weeks leading up to Homecoming.

Warmly,