February 8, 2018
By Professor of Environmental Practice Rick Frank
On Tuesday, February 6th, I led my Spring 2018 Water Law students on a visit to the California Supreme Court to attend oral arguments in a major water law case pending before the justices. The Supreme Court session began with a warm welcome to our King Hall delegation from Chief Justice of California Tani Cantil-Sakauye, herself a proud King Hall alum. We then observed a lively hour of oral arguments, in a case in which the California building industry is challenging the State Water Resources Control Board's fee system adopted to finance the Board's statewide water pollution control program. The students observed the justices peppering the arguing attorneys with questions, and those attorneys demonstrating dramatically different styles of oral argument. This type of "experiential learning" outside the classroom is a most valuable part of my student's King Hall legal education. And--also importantly--they had a thoroughly good time attending the California Supreme Court arguments.
