Retired Navy officer will lead new Military Law Center at McGeorge

McGeorge School of Law announced Tuesday it will open a Military Law Center “to support its military serving and veteran students.” The new center is to open inside the school’s student center by the time fall classes begin on Aug. 16.

Navy veteran Stan Rapada will staff the center. He is the military and veteran student center coordinator at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge parent school.

Rapada spent 32 years as a petty officer in the Navy before going into education. He spent almost 16 years working in admissions and financial aid at San Joaquin Delta College, where he also opened a veterans’ center.

In 2018, Rapada joined the staff at Pacific, where he also recently earned his undergraduate degree. He will split his time between the school’s veteran center at Pacific’s main campus in Stockton and the new center in Sacramento, though students will also be able to reach him on Zoom.

“This is my third career,” Rapada said.

McGeorge has about 30 students who are military veterans, Rapada said, adding he has been reaching out to law firms for donations and furniture for the center.

McGeorge has had a Military Law Society chapter for the past 20 years, created to help students exploring careers in the military’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps and veterans working to begin legal careers.

The news release said the school decided to open the center after surveying students about needed services. The news release also said there are fewer than 10 “similar centers offered to students at ABA accredited law schools” around the nation.