Judge Harry Pregerson And The Legacy Of The Century Freeway On Its 50th Anniversary

Image - Judge Harry Pregerson and the Legacy of the Century Freeway on Its 50th Anniversary

Friday, February 4th, 2022
9:00 A.M. - 4:15 P.M.
Register here

Join us as we honor Judge Pregerson’s dedication to a life and career in public service and the awe-inspiring example he set in increasing access to justice for all, human-centered perspectives on systems change, and forging relationships in building stronger and collective advocacy to address systemic inequities.

This symposium will explore the legacy of the landmark Century Freeway litigation, its impact on the affordable housing program, civil and environmental rights effects, affirmative action implications, as well as the big picture meaning and future legacy for both the region and for California as a whole.

Panel Topics

Panel One: The Century Freeway Litigation at Age 50
This panel features an overview of the litigation presented by Professor Chris Cameron.

Presenter – Chris Cameron, Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School

Speakers:

John R. Phillips, Phillips & Cohen

Henry Weinstein, Professor of Law, UC Irvine School of Law
Panel Two: The Affordable Housing Legacy of the Century Freeway
This panel features an overview covering three things: (1) the housing program and its origins; (2) the creation and accomplishments of the Century Housing Corporation; and (3) CHC's plans for the future.

Moderator – John Heilman, Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School

Speakers:

Yvonne B. Burke, Chair and Director, Century Housing Corp.

Tracey Burns, Vice President, Construction Lending, Century Housing Corp.

Brian D’Andrea, Senior Vice President, Housing, Century Housing Corp.

Ron Griffith, President, Century Housing Corp.

Carrie Hawkins, Director, Century Housing Corp.

Daniel B. Lopez, Director, Century Housing Corp.
Luncheon: Pregerson Awards Ceremony

This year’s Symposium will feature the Judge Harry Pregerson Public Service Award Ceremony honoring outstanding recent graduates of Southwestern Law School whose professional lives and careers reflect the values of the late Harry Pregerson.

Award recipients are alumni who have demonstrated leadership in helping the underserved and whose professional or pro bono work has substantially improved the lives of those in need.

For our inaugural celebration, Southwestern is thrilled to be honoring two exceptional individuals, Karina Godoy, ’15, Associate Attorney, JML Law, and Andres Holguin-Flores, ’15, Staff Attorney, Mexican American Legal Defense, and Educational Fund.

Presenters –

Dean Darby Dickerson, President & Dean, Southwestern Law School
Elana Rodan Schuldt, President & CEO, Rodan Family Foundation
Michelle Takagishi-Almeida, Public Service Program, Southwestern Law School

When directed, please click on the award ceremony link to join the virtual luncheon and awards presentation.
Panel Three: The Social Justice Legacy of the Century Freeway
This panel features the affirmative action, civil rights, environmental, and other implications of the freeway litigation.

Presenter – Dean Kevin R. Johnson, UC Davis School of Law

Moderator – Isabelle Gunning, Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School

Speakers:

Felicia Marcus, William C. Landreth Visiting Fellow, Stanford University

Dr. Drusilla van Hengel, Senior Principal, Nelson Nygaard
Panel Four: The Future Legacy of the Century Freeway
This panel features the Big Picture meaning of the freeway litigation, both for the region and California.

Presenter – Raphael Sonenshein, Executive Director, Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs, Cal State LA

Speakers:

Beth Caldwell, Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School

9:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.	Welcome
9:15 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.	Introduction: Who Was Judge Harry Pregerson? A Brief Biography
9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.	Panel One: The Century Freeway Litigation at Age 50
10:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.	Break
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.	Panel Two: The Affordable Housing Legacy of the Century Freeway
12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.	Luncheon — Pregerson Awards Ceremony www.swlaw.edu/PregersonAwards
1:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.	Panel Three: The Social Justice Legacy of the Century Freeway
2:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.	Break
3:00 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.	Panel Four: The Future Legacy of the Century Freeway
4:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.	Farewell

View Bio	View Bio
View Bio	View Bio
View Bio	View Bio
View Bio	View Bio
View Bio	View Bio
View Bio	View Bio
View Bio	View Bio
View Bio	View Bio
View Bio	View Bio

Law Review Moderators

Image - Hartman

View Bio

Image - Levine

View Bio

For our inaugural celebration, Southwestern is thrilled to be honoring two exceptional individuals with the Judge Harry Pregerson Public Service Award.

Karina Godoy ’15

Image - Karina Godoy '15 Professor Godoy is an associate attorney at JML Law where her practice focuses on representing employees in all areas of employment law including discrimination, wage and hour, whistleblowing, wrongful termination, labor disputes, and personal injury cases. Professor Godoy handles all phases of litigation including vetting clients, discovery, depositions, mediation, trials, and pre and post-trial motions. Professor Godoy has been recognized as a “Super Lawyer - Rising Star” by the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine for 2019 and 2020.

Professor Godoy graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in History, and a B.A. in Political Science, and a minor in Sociology from the University of Southern California, completing her honors thesis for both of her B.A. degrees. She earned her J.D. from Southwestern Law School. While in law school, she was active on campus and served as an editor for the Journal of International Media & Entertainment Law, received recognition for her commitment to academic excellence graduating in the top 10% of her class, recognized on the Dean’s List, and received Witkin Award for Labor Law. She volunteered over 500 hours of pro bono work at various legal non-profits and received the Dean’s Merit Scholarship, the ABTL Public Service award, the Wildman/Schumacher Scholarship, and many other accolades for her achievements. Her externship experience is includes taking part in Southwestern Law School’s Immigration Law Clinic, serving as a judicial extern for the Honorable Terry J. Hatter, Jr., as well as externships with EEOC and Bet Tzedek’s Wage and Hour Clinic.

After completing her law degree, Professor Godoy served as an ABOTA Fellow, working at a defense firm prior to focusing her practice on representing employees through all stages of litigation. Professor Godoy continues to be an active volunteer with Bet Tzedek’s Workers’ Rights Clinic, as well as taking on other pro bono cases. Professor Godoy is also involved in several legal organizations and serves as the Vice-Chair for the Workers Outreach Committee and the Treasurer for the Whittier Bar Association.

Andres Holguin-Flores '15

A Image - Andrés Holguin-Flores ndrés Holguin-Flores is a staff attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) where he leads national class action suits challenging employment discrimination and civil rights violations of immigrants, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients, and Latinos.

Mr. Holguin-Flores graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with dual undergraduate degrees in Sociology and Chicana and Chicano Studies. He earned his J.D. at Southwestern Law School. As a law student, he was active in leadership positions on campus, including Southwestern’s Public Interest Law Committee, and his law clerk experiences included clerking for the Immigration Law Clinic at Southwestern, serving as a judicial extern to the Honorable Terry J. Hatter, Jr. of the U.S. Central District Court for the District of California, and externships with Inner City Law Center, MALDEF, and the ACLU of Southern California.

Upon law school graduation, Mr. Holguin-Flores clerked for the Honorable Terry J. Hatter, Jr. and the Honorable Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. After completing his postgraduate clerkships, Mr. Holguin-Flores went on to begin his work in impact litigation and immigrant rights’ policy advocacy with MALDEF handling all phases of civil rights litigation including investigation, discovery, depositions, settlement, and appeals in the representation of individuals throughout the United States.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Image - Century Housing Corp Logo

Image - Rodan Family Foundation Logo

The Southwestern Law Review is a student-edited quarterly journal that publishes scholarly articles and commentary on the law contributed by prominent jurists, practitioners, law professors, and student members of the Law Review staff.

Click to register now!

About Judge Harry Pregerson

The late Judge Harry Pregerson served on the federal bench as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a combined 50 years.
A native Angeleno, Harry was born and raised in City Terrace, near Boyle Heights, and graduated from Hollenbeck Junior and Roosevelt Senior High School. The diversity as well as the poverty of his Depression-era community – Catholic and Jewish, with people of Eastern European, Italian, Japanese, Mexican American, and other backgrounds – would have a profound impact on his views as a lawyer and judge. “I remember going to school with kids who didn’t have shoes,” he once said. “I thought, ‘Somebody needs to help them.’”
That somebody turned out to be Harry Pregerson.
During a lifetime of good works both on and off the bench, Harry charmed or ordered government officials, university presidents, and titans of industry to get what he wanted: desegregated schools for children of color; equal rights for women; dignity for veterans and immigrants; respect for workers; food for the hungry and shelter for the homeless; and clean water, affordable housing, and better transportation for everyone. Proof of his success can be found in the fact that he is the only federal judge to have named after him a child care center (in the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building), a freeway interchange (where the Century and Harbor Freeways meet), and a wastewater treatment building (at the Hyperion Treatment Plant).
Thanks to a series of public-private partnerships forged by Harry with the federal government, the Salvation Army, and so many others, the Bell Homeless Shelter and similar facilities were established. As a result of these partnerships, each day some 1,000 homeless men and women, most of whom are veterans, receive not only food and shelter, but also substance abuse treatment and job training opportunities.
Harry, who could be seen wearing his trademark cowboy hat and leather boots all over town, was always a leader. He won a Purple Heart with the U.S. Marines on Okinawa during World War II and later countless awards from community organizations, including an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Southwestern Law School.
After graduating from UCLA, where he became the university’s first Jewish student body president, Harry Pregerson earned his law degree at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. Upon returning to Los Angeles, he set up a storefront practice in Van Nuys at a time when fewer than 40 lawyers practiced in the San Fernando Valley between Topanga Canyon and Lankershim Boulevards. He represented whoever walked through the door and accepted whatever they could pay. In 1965, he was appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court by Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, and in 1966, he was elevated to the Los Angeles Superior Court. In 1967, Judge Pregerson was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and in 1979, he was elevated to the Ninth Circuit by President Jimmy Carter.
Harry died in 2017 at age 94. His last words, uttered to Bernardine, a professor of microbiology at Pierce College in Woodland Hills and his wife of 71 years, were as follows: “The hard thing is that I don’t have strength anymore to help people.”