Rex R. Perschbacher, a professor of law at the University of California, Davis, has been selected to receive the law school's 13th annual Distinguished Teaching Award. The award, which includes a $5,000 cash prize, is given each year to a member of the law school faculty chosen by a committee of faculty, students and graduates. The award is made possible by a gift from Sally and William A. Rutter of Los Angeles. "Professor Perschbacher was selected for both his classroom instruction and his obvious concern for students as individuals," said Edward H. Rabin, an associate dean of the law school who served on the selection committee. "Students consistently comment on his friendly and approachable manner." First-year law student Leland Dutcher, also a member of the selection committee, said of Perschbacher, "What really sets him apart is his respect and caring for students. He really wants us to do well and he shows it. He is always free after class, and he deals with you as an equal." A member of the law school faculty since 1981, Perschbacher teaches courses in civil procedure, professional responsibility and lawyering skills. As the law school's director of clinical education, Perschbacher has overseen a burgeoning program that, in addition to judicial clerkships, offers students experience working with the Internal Revenue Service, offices of the district attorney and public defender, and practitioners of environmental, employment-relations and public-interest law. Students in the program also represent clients in administrative-law hearings regarding immigration and deportation, and provide legal services to clients incarcerated in prison. Until last year, Perschbacher worked with the law school's interschool skills competition teams, including the National Moot Court Competition, the Jessup Moot Court Competition, the Traynor Moot Court Competition and the Client Counseling Competition. He was an adviser to the winning teams of six regional competitions and the 1985 National Moot Court Championship, and to the runner-up in the 1984 National Client Counseling Competition. -more- 2-2-2 Perschbacher Receives Teaching Award He is the co-author of "Cases and Materials on Civil Procedure" (first and second editions), "California Trial Techniques," "Problems in Legal Ethics" (third edition), "California Legal Ethics" and "Casenotes Law Outlines: Civil Procedure." He also has published articles in the areas of legal ethics, civil procedure and lawyers' negotiations. His current area of scholarly research is the intersection of professional ethics and rules of litigation and, specifically, the intrusion of judicial sanctions upon the attorney-client relationship. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in philosophy, Perschbacher did postgraduate work in philosophy at Corpus Christi College in Oxford, England, and at the University of Michigan. He received his law degree in 1972 from UC Berkeley, where he served as articles and book review editor for the California Law Review and was named to the Order of the Coif. After graduation, Perschbacher took a clerkship with Alfonso J. Zirpoli, U.S. district judge for the Northern District of California. In 1974, he joined the law school faculty at the University of Texas as an assistant professor, teaching torts, criminal law and a criminal justice seminar. From 1975-78, Perschbacher worked as an associate with Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe in San Francisco. He left the firm to join the law school faculty at the University of San Diego, where he became an associate professor and taught courses in creditors' remedies, federal litigation, trial techniques, legal analysis and civil litigation practice. He also was director of the school's trial techniques course when the school received the American College of Trial Lawyers' Emil Gumpert Award for excellence in teaching trial advocacy.