End-of-Year Message 2022/23

  • by Kevin R. Johnson
King Hall building

As 2022/23 comes to a close, we celebrate the amazing achievements and enduring collaborative spirit of our law school community. First and foremost, congratulations 2023 J.D. and LL.M. graduates! We are honored that the Chief Justice of California, Patricia Guerrero, will deliver the keynote address at commencement on May 13. Professor Irene Joe and Ariya Haghighat ’23 also will speak. Professors Karrigan Börk and Peter Lee are faculty marshals.

We started the year by welcoming the J.D. Class of 2025. Nearly 60% are students of color, women make up a similar percentage and almost a quarter of the class identifies as LGBTQ+. Nearly 20 percent are first-generation college graduates. Our LL.M. students, who come from the world over, extend the law school’s international reach.

In its third year, our groundbreaking Racial Justice Speaker Series gathered leading scholars from across the country to explore systemic racism’s impact on law and policy.

Joining our faculty last fall, Professors Amelia Miazad and Mary Ziegler have helped lead national conversations. Professor Miazad weighed in for the New York Times, NPR and elsewhere on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. A leading legal voice in the media on the reproductive rights debate, Professor Ziegler recently was named a Guggenheim Fellow. She organized fall and spring events on the impact of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling that drew scholars and lawmakers from across the country. Professors Katherine Florey, Lisa Ikemoto, Elizabeth Joh, Courtney Joslin and Aaron Tang took part in both events.

Constitutional law scholar Vik Amar, currently dean of the University Illinois College of Law Urbana-Champaign and former UC Davis Law associate dean, will rejoin our faculty this fall. We also will welcome Chimène Keitner, current Fromm Professor of International Law at the University of California, San Francisco College of the Law, and Nila Bala, current legislative director for NYU Law’s Policing Project.

In January, Dean Kevin R. Johnson received the Association of American Law Schools’ inaugural Michael A. Olivas Award for Outstanding Leadership in Diversity and Mentoring in the Legal Academy.

With much hard work by Associate Dean Beth Greenwood and Professor Bill Dodge, UC Davis Law secured a visiting professor position for Afghan scholar Pamir Hazem.

Student Success

Nearly 95% of the Class of 2022 had secured full-time employment by March, the best jobs rate for a class just out of law school in at least 15 years.

We celebrated the Class of 2023 at the Public Service Graduation and barbecue. The class amassed an incredible 27,500 public service hours! Congratulations to MLK Community Service Award winner Mariam Sossouadouno, the MLK Community Builders Award winners Riki L. Walter and Jailene Gutierrez, and Alumni Association Award recipient, and outgoing Law Students Association President, Jason Wong. Other highlights include:

  • The Black Law Students Association (BLSA) and Martin Luther King Jr. Day Working Group organized another successful MLK Day of Service and Celebration in January. Our community donated items to Sacramento’s Malcolm X Academy, held a blood drive, and conducted a naturalization workshop at the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento. 
  • The Latinx Law Students Association honored Pame González Montes de Oca ’23 with the Lorenzo Patiño Award for community service at the 41st annual Patiño Banquet. BLSA and the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association also held banquets honoring graduates.
  • The UC Davis Law Review cracked the top 20 in the influential Washington and Lee law journal rankings. Editor-in-chief Natalie Maas ’23 received the Patrick J. Hopkins Memorial Writing Award.  
  • Neumiller Moot Court Competition finalists John Collins, McKenzie Deutsch, Avery Lajeunesse and Zachary Castagnola-Johnson argued before U.S. District Judge Dale Drozd, Third District Court of Appeal Justice Elena Duarte, Superior Court Judges Kara Ueda ’00 (Sacramento), Renee Reyna ’06 (San Mateo) and Dan Wolk (Yolo), and Administrative Law Judge Dee Brown. 
  • 3Ls Meher Badia, Myra Farooqi, Peter Hoffman, Casey Loosbrock, Taryn McLaughlin, Ariel Mendlin, Nicole Opendo, Ravi Prasad, Anthony Rogari and Carmel Wright were selected to the Order of Barristers, a national honorary society for the best student trial and appellate advocates.
  • Students elected Brenda Quintanilla ’24 as LSA president for 2023/24.  

Outstanding Lectures and Events

ACLU President and NYU Professor Deborah Archer delivered the Barrett Lecture on Constitutional Law, and University of Pennsylvania Professor of Law and History Serena Mayeri gave the Bodenheimer Lecture on Family Law.

The Center for Innovation, Law, and Society, directed by Professor Peter Lee, premiered this spring with several thought-provoking events. Professor Leticia Saucedo and Asian American Studies Professor Emerita Robyn Rodriguez direct the new Labor and Community Center of the Greater Capital Region, which kicks off activities this summer. The Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies presented an interdisciplinary speaker series and partnered with campus’ Hispanic Serving Institution initiatives. The California International Law Center presented talks by Congressman John Garamendi, Mexican Consul General for Sacramento Liliana Ferrer and others. The California Environmental Law & Policy Center held the “Clean Water Act at 50” conference.

Scholars from throughout the United States came to UC Davis Law for the second annual Workshop for Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) and Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Women in the Legal Academy. Senior Associate Dean Afra Afsharipour and Professor Lisa Ikemoto served on the planning committee. 

Faculty Achievements

Our renowned teacher-scholars appear in top law reviews and leading media outlets. Many law faculty and others published op-eds. Other faculty achievements include:

  • Raquel Aldana joined the Council on Foreign Relations and was re-elected chair of the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law initiative’s Latin America and Caribbean Council.
  • John P. Hunt and Peter Lee were elected to the American Law Institute.
  • Courtney Joslin received the Distinguished Teaching Award.
  • Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer cited an article by Carlton Larson in his dissent in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc., v. Bruen.
  • Donna Shestowsky completed a empirical study on online dispute resolution.
  • Brian Soucek received a UC Davis Chancellor’s Achievement Award for Diversity and Community.
  • Aaron Tang was named a UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow.

Alumni Recognition and Accolades

Special 2022/23 law school events included celebrations of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Sister Simone Campbell ’77, former Chief Justice of California Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye ’84, and new California Supreme Court Associate Justice (and 2023 UC Davis Law Distinguished Alumna Award recipient) Kelli Evans ’94.

Superior Court Judges Stacy Boulware Eurie ’95, Shama Mesiwala ’98, and Jose Castillo ’06 were elevated to the court of appeal. Trisha Hirashima ’04 (Placer), Stephen Lau ’02 (Sacramento), Mona Nemat ’04 (Riverside) and Esmeralda Zendejas (San Joaquin) became Superior Court judges.

Rachel Ray ’11, managing attorney at UC Immigrant Legal Services Center, received the 2023 Rising Star Alumna Award. Judge Ramona Garrett ’80 received the Solano County Bar Association Legal Trailblazers Award and delivered the keynote speech at the inaugural MLK Dinner during UC Davis Law’s Admitted Students Weekend.

This year, the alumni reunions drew more than 200 people. Thanks to generous alumni, we broke Give Day records, raising more than $152,000. The law school has raised more than $20 million toward its campus Expect Greater campaign goal of $25 million.

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See you all at graduation!