For many lawyers, representing a client before the U.S. Supreme Court is a rare career highlight. In this light, it is all the more remarkable that, each year, a cohort of our students has the opportunity to work directly on important Supreme Court cases—while still in law school.

The Supreme Court Litigation Clinic marks its 20th anniversary this year. Founded in 2004 by Professor Pam Karlan and Tom Goldstein, a former lecturer here (2004-2012), the clinic has been the most successful advocate for Court petitioners, with a certiorari grant rate of 30 percent (compared to the average of 1 percent). And its work is highly consequential for the nation. The clinic has won landmark rulings in favor of marriage equality, criminal defendants, and students with disabilities, among many other examples. It’s a model that other law schools have attempted to replicate, and this clinic—with Professors Karlan, Jeffrey Fisher, and Easha Anand as co-directors—remains at the top of its game. I hope you enjoy the retrospective article on its many achievements as much as I did.

As I have become better acquainted with our alumni over the past year, I am struck by the varied career paths along which they have excelled and the significance that they attribute to their Stanford Law education. This issue presents several inspiring examples. Kate Paye, JD/MBA ’03 (BA ’95), played basketball for Stanford when she was an undergraduate and then professionally in the ABL and WNBA. Now the head coach of the Stanford Cardinal women’s basketball team, she’s found that her training in law school and practice is valuable in the challenging environment of college sports. Xavier Gutierrez, JD ’00, pursued his path in the world of sports without practicing law. After serving as the managing director of a large private investment firm and on multiple boards, he became the first Latino president and CEO in the National Hockey League (of the Arizona Coyotes).

Another alumnus, Michael Sulmeyer, JD ’11 (BA ’02), the inaugural assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, is featured in the Q&A. He observes that in his government policy role, “the benefit of the law degree is such that I draw on it every day.”

This issue also describes important new faculty scholarship, including Alan Sykes’ new work on international trade, Michael Klausner’s new book on business transactions, and Deborah Hensler’s storied career as an empirical researcher. And we meet three new members of our faculty—E. Tendayi Achiume, Bernice Grant, and Mila Sohoni—all with stellar résumés.

And there’s much more. I hope you’ll read on. SL