ABOTA and Cruz Reynoso Bar Association Defender of Justice Award
School’s out but the beat goes on.
One evening I attended a wonderful reception of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) in Sacramento. The group invited me to attend and bring a student. I brought Taryn McClaughlin, a 2023 graduate who will start work in September at Jackson Lewis in Sacramento. Taryn was a star student at UC Davis, elected to the Order of the Barristers for her excellent trial advocacy, served as Executive Editor of the UC Davis Law Review, worked as a research assistant to Professor Karrigan Bork, and much more. Taryn got to be embarrassed as I introduced her to the group. I also introduced a current law student, Damian Cortez '24, who came as a guest of alum and Justice Shama Mesiwala '98.
In some ways, the ABOTA event was a UC Davis School of Law reunion of sorts. Besides Justice Mesiwala, Judge Dave Brown '74, Judge Lauri Damrell '05, Lincoln Law School Dean Filomena Yeroshek '86, and many others also were in attendance. Judicial Appointments Secretary Luis Cespedes – more on him later – was in attendance.
The next night, the Cruz Reynoso Bar Association at the court of appeals in Sacramento honored Luis Cespedes with the Defensor de Justicia (Defender of Justice) award. I had the honor of introducing Luis and talking about his amazing accomplishments as Judicial Appointments Secretary. I noted that he has been the Judicial Appointments Secretary to Governor Gavin Newsom since December 2020. With him in that post, the state has seen an incredible record of appointments that has no less than transformed the state judiciary. The judges that Luis has shepherded through the process represent a unique and historic combination of excellence and diversity. Many of those new judges include King Hall alumni.
The event was like a UC Davis School of Law reunion. Among those there were Justices Stacy Boulware Eurie '95 and Shama Mesiwala '98 and Professor Amagda Perez '91. Law student Damian Cortez attended as well.