A Letter from the Dean
Dear Friends,
August was a really busy month at Lincoln in all the best ways!
Our 14 1Ls arrived a week before everyone else and spent their first five days together getting oriented to law school. A week later, the rest of our students returned and the hallways filled up again. Student Government and the Lincoln Law Review, both casualties of the COVID years, are coming back. Even our old vending machines have been replaced by a student commissary.
Our faculty came together for a full day of training as we prepare for changes in legal education and the bar exam. Then, on August 21, we received approval from the Board of the California Committee of Bar Examiners to move forward with our redesigned J.D. program.
One of my favorite moments of the month happened outside Lincoln. Third-year student Gabriela Cabanayan walked into Superior Court as a certified law student representing the City of San Jose and walked out with her first courtroom victory. She also helped open a door that had previously been closed to students from California-accredited law schools.
There is still a lot of work ahead. In some ways, it feels like we’re just getting started.
But there is an energy at Lincoln right now that is hard to miss. Students are stepping forward. Faculty are stepping forward. Alumni are opening doors. New opportunities are taking shape.
That’s a pretty good way to begin a school year.
Warmly,
Mary Fuller
President and Dean
Around Lincoln: Looking Ahead
⚖️ Prosecutors Come to Lincoln – September 21
Join us for From Case File to Verdict: How Prosecutors Seek Justice for Victims, featuring four experienced prosecutors, including three Lincoln alumni. Come learn something, meet someone and support Lincoln. REGISTER HERE
🎓 Lincoln Is Out and About
September is a busy month for Lincoln. We’ll be meeting prospective students at Cal State East Bay, Menlo College, San José State University, De Anza College, and Las Positas College. If you know someone who has been thinking about law school, send them our way by having them contact admissions@lincolnlawschool.edu.
💡 Lincoln at Innovate Bay
I’ll also be spending time with Innovate Bay this month, first as a panelist for its Founder-First Series in Fremont, talking about startup essentials, then as a guest lecturer in a focused course. It’s another chance to connect Lincoln with the entrepreneurs, professionals and future lawyers building things here in the Bay Area.
📝 The Lincoln Law Review Is Coming Back
Professors Sal Torres and Kristen Merriman are helping bring back a Lincoln tradition that went quiet during COVID. Watch for submission information soon.
First Victory, and an Open Door
There are some firsts worth celebrating.
Lincoln 3L Gabriela Cabanayan recently walked into Department 18 of the Santa Clara County Superior Court as a certified law student representing the City of San José. She walked out with her first courtroom victory.
Working under the supervision of the San José City Attorney’s Office, Gabriela prepared the hearing brief and exhibits in a case involving an appeal from an administrative hearing over blighted conditions at a vacant San José building. She made the opening statement, conducted the direct examination of the City’s witness, and argued on behalf of the City before Judge Shella Deen.
The judge denied the property owner’s appeal. And then Gabriela got the frog.
The slightly unconventional trophy pictured here is passed from litigator to litigator in the City Attorney’s Office after a courtroom win. It reads, “Excellence in Litigation,” and Gabriela gets to keep it until the next litigator brings home a victory.
But there is another first in this story that may be even more important. Gabriela is among the first students from a California-accredited law school to be accepted by the San José City Attorney’s Office as a certified law student. The office had previously accepted students only from ABA-accredited law schools.
The door is now open.
There’s also a wonderful Lincoln connection behind the story. Gabriela’s father, attorney Ronald Cabanayan, is a Lincoln alumnus. He was the one who sent me the news, writing that he was proud of Gabriela both as her father and as a Lincoln graduate.
We are too.
Congratulations, Gabriela. And enjoy the frog while you’ve got it. 
Student Life is Back
Some things disappeared during COVID that proved much harder to bring back than anyone expected. For Lincoln, two of them were Student Government and the Lincoln Law Review. The Law Review had been part of Lincoln for decades, but both organizations went quiet during the pandemic.
We’re changing that.
This fall, students are restarting Student Government, and Professors Gonzalo “Sal” Torres and Kristen Merriman have volunteered to co-advise the revived Lincoln Law Review. Both organizations will have their own physical space at the school, giving students a place to meet, work, write, plan and, we hope, make a little noise.
Student Government is also getting its first assignment: the commissary.
We finally said goodbye to vending machines that had an unfortunate habit of being empty when students were hungry and occasionally offering snacks whose best days were behind them. In their place is a new student commissary stocked with drinks, snacks and the essentials of evening law-school survival.
Going forward, Student Government will help decide what gets stocked and oversee the commissary.
In other words, students – rather than the vending machine company – will decide what they actually want on hand to eat and drink.
The Lincoln Law Review will soon begin inviting submissions as well. Stay tuned for information about submission guidelines and how to submit an article for consideration.
These may seem like small changes, but they’re part of something bigger. Law school should be more than arriving for class and heading home afterward. Student organizations create places to lead, write, organize, make friends, and become part of the life of the school.
Lincoln is starting to feel more lively. We like it.
Welcome, Class of 2030
Fourteen new students began their legal education at Lincoln this August, double the size of last year’s entering class.
And this year, we tried something new.
The Class of 2030 arrived at Lincoln a full week before our returning 2L, 3L and 4L students. For five evenings, Professor Gil Adauto taught a new 15-hour Introduction to Law course designed to give students a head start on both what they would be learning and how to learn it.
They got an introduction to the subjects they would soon encounter in their doctrinal classes, but just as importantly, they began learning how to read cases, prepare for class, study effectively and adjust to the very different demands of law school.
The idea was to give them a map before asking them to start the journey.
Starting a week early had another benefit we hoped for. For those first five nights, the new students essentially had Lincoln to themselves. They learned together, found their way around together, asked questions, and got to know one another before the regular semester began.
The Class of 2030 with Professor Gil Adauto at the end of their first week at Lincoln.
By the time the rest of Lincoln returned the following week, our newest students already knew their way around and, perhaps most importantly, knew each other.
We’re continuing the experiment this semester with another pilot. Gil is hosting Sunday study sessions, giving students a regular opportunity outside the classroom to work on study skills, ask questions, and get some additional support as they make their way through the first year.
Both programs are pilots. We’ll listen to our students, see what works, and adjust along the way. But the thinking behind them is something we feel strongly about.
Getting students into law school is important. Helping them succeed once they’re here matters even more.
Welcome to Lincoln, Class of 2030. We’re glad you’re here!
Lincoln Gets the Green Light for an Updated J.D. Program
On August 21, the Board of the California Committee of Bar Examiners approved Lincoln’s Major Change Request, giving us the green light to move forward with an updated 80-unit J.D. curriculum beginning in 2027 and the ability to incorporate synchronous remote instruction into our evening program. The changes can apply to current as well as future students.
This is about much more than changing the number of credits. California’s Bar Exam is changing in July 2028, so we are redesigning our curriculum to ensure our students are ready for it. New required courses will focus on the knowledge and skills students will need to take and pass the new exam.
The new curriculum will also give students more choice through targeted electives. Students who want to take electives beyond the 80 units required for graduation will not pay additional tuition for them. As a nonprofit law school, we work hard to keep tuition reasonable while giving our students as many opportunities as we can.
Some of those opportunities will take students outside the classroom. Students now have access to a habeas clinical opportunity, and this year we are piloting an immigration clinic with the Asian Law Alliance.
There is still a lot to figure out about hybrid instruction. We have not decided which courses will be hybrid or exactly what hybrid will look like at Lincoln. We are working with our faculty on those questions and asking our students what they would most value. Their input matters as we decide how to use this new flexibility.
We have already begun preparing. As promised in last month’s Fuller View, our faculty gathered on August 8 for a full day of training focused on adult learners, hybrid instruction, technology, and bar readiness.
There is plenty of work to do between now and January, but this approval gives us the ability to get started working on it.
The goal is not to offer less. It is to be more thoughtful about what we require, give students meaningful choices, keep Lincoln affordable, and prepare our graduates for the bar exam and the practice of law.
One Way You Can Strengthen Lincoln This Month
Come to Lincoln on September 21, 6:30 – 8:00pm
We’re bringing four experienced prosecutors to Lincoln for From Case File to Verdict: How Prosecutors Seek Justice for Victims, a practical conversation about what happens as a criminal case moves from initial evaluation toward trial. The discussion will cover evidence, witnesses, pretrial issues, case strategy, jury selection and some of the surprises that inevitably happen along the way.
There’s a strong Lincoln connection, too. Three of our four panelists, Ney Montenegro ’16, Gerlie Fishel ’15 and Victor Alfaro ’20, are Lincoln graduates now working as prosecutors. They’ll be joined by experienced Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Teresa Souto.
If you’re an alumnus, attorney, student, curious about law school or Lincoln, friend of Lincoln or simply interested in courtroom advocacy, please come. Your participation helps us build these programs, supports our speakers and gives our students another opportunity to connect with the legal community they are preparing to join.
September 21, 2026 | 6:30pm – 8pm | Light Refreshments
Lincoln Law School | 384 S. 2nd St., San Jose, CA 95113
Come learn something. Meet new people. Inspire a Student. Support Lincoln.
REGISTER HERE (It’s FREE!)
Wear Your Lincoln Pride
Lincoln shirts, jackets, hats and more are available through our Lands’ End storefront. Lincoln doesn’t make money from these purchases. We just like seeing Lincoln out in the world.
Wear it to work. Wear it to court. Wear it around town. Help people get to know Lincoln.
