King Hall alumni gather at two Southern California events

Last week, UC Davis School of Law had a pair of wonderful alumni events in Southern California.   Senior Director of Development and Alumni Relations Karen Charney, Development Officer Jin Kim, and Assistant Dean for Career Services Craig Compton joined me on the trip.

We had an enthusiastic group of alums meet up for lunch in Orange County, which Kim Chase ’07, Antoinette Hewitt ‘95, and Dina Randazzo ‘08 helped   org anize.   I filled in the King Hall faithful on the great developments at the law school, including the amazing entering class, faculty in the national and international news, and amazingly successful development efforts.

We had a stellar group of King Hall faithful, including a number of my former civil procedure students, including Dennise Willett ‘94, Deborah Perlman ‘95, Mike Williams ‘97, and Juan Cervantes  ‘ 05. I enjoyed hearing of their achievements. Former Law Student Association President Rabia Chaudhry ‘12, a remarkable student leader, made the trip from Riverside, where she works, to the OC. It was gratifying to learn that a former research assistant, Agiana Verraster ’18, had landed a job. After lunch, I caught up with John York, 72, who I learned played football for UC Davis as an undergraduate.

Next stop of the King Hall caravan was the beautiful offices of Best, Best, & Krieger in Riverside.   Mark Easter ‘89, a partner at the firm, hosted   an elegant reception for local alumni. Two Superior Court judges, Kenneth Fernandez ‘92 and Chad Firetag ‘01, were in attendance.   The group also included Ward Simmons ‘03, Daniel Shimell ‘14, Karen Dong ’06 (who I remember recruiting to King Hall), Sunny Huynh ‘17 (one of my former research assistants) and Marissa Morimoto ‘16 were among those in attendance.   We had a member of the Class of 2018, Marine Papillaud, talking with alums about employment opportunities in the area.   I enjoyed sharing with this energetic group news from UC Davis.

It was a wonderful day of King Hall energy and enthusiasm in Southern California. A day of rain could not put a damper on the good feelings.   Alumni visits

remind me of the wonderful community at UC Davis School of Law.