Welcome to the 2019/20 academic year!
Professor Chris Elmendorf, second from left, chats with students at the 1L Welcome Barbecue.
Welcome to the Class of 2022, transfer students, international students and visiting scholars, and LL.M. students from around the world. And welcome back to our second- and third-year students, and continuing LL.M. students, and our faculty, all energized by a productive summer recess.
As we embark on a new academic year, UC Davis School of Law remains committed to academic excellence and upholding the ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Leading the way is our outstanding majority-minority faculty, which exemplifies our deep and enduring commitment to diversity and excellence. Besides moving up in the U.S. News rankings, UC Davis Law ranks No. 2 on National Jurist’s list of “Most Diverse Law Schools,” and made The Princeton Review’s top-10 lists for faculty diversity and resources for women and minority students.
Class of 2022: Excellence, Diversity and Community
The Class of 2022, like last year’s, is of the highest academic quality, with a 162 median LSAT score and 3.6+ median GPA. Students hail from Brown, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, all the UC campuses, and many other top tier universities. The Class is the most diverse in the law school’s history. Students of color compose 57 percent of the class, and women make up 58 percent. A quarter of the students are the first in their families to graduate from college. About 40 percent will receive need-based aid. Nine students are alumni of the King Hall Outreach Program, an award-winning program that prepares socioeconomically disadvantaged and first-generation students for the highly competitive law school admissions process. The extraordinary Class of 2022 includes ten military veterans, three Division I athletes, and students who have worked as teachers, in precious metals trading, in the artificial intelligence technology industry, with FEMA, and with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Peace Corp (Liberia) and the United Farm Workers Foundation.
As explained in the attached FAQ, the Class of 2022 is larger than last year’s class. Despite making fewer offers of admission, our acceptance rate increased by 12%. The uptick in our U.S. News ranking, as well as earlier notification of admission and financial aid decisions, no doubt contributed to our resounding admission success.
We have adjusted the first-year sections to accommodate the 1L class. This includes adding (1) two legal writing instructors; (2) an extra tutor for most of the first year classes; (3) a small section in the spring; and (4) a tutor to the Academic Success Program to assist with workshops and individual meetings.
We also welcome 38 new students in our Master of Laws class. The students come from Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Pakistan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan. They join 19 continuing LL.M. students.
Faculty News
We are delighted to welcome our new law faculty.
Professor Stacy-Ann Elvy arrives from New York Law School, where she was a professor of law and associate director of the Center for Business and Financial Law. Her scholarship, which has been published in the nation’s leading law reviews, focuses on the commercial law of privacy and its relationship to emerging technology and human rights. She holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.S. from Cornell. This year, Professor Elvy will teach Civil Procedure, Commercial Law, and Privacy, Technology & the Law.
Professor Karrigan Börk, a scholar in environmental and natural resources law, previously taught at the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He has taught environmental classes at UC Davis and is returning to the campus where he completed his Ph.D. in ecology. Professor Börk, who holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, this year will teach Property and Water Law.
This year, to ensure that we are able to meet our curricular needs, the law school will search for two additional tenure-track faculty members. Law students, of course, will participate in the search process.
Expanding our Legal Research and Writing Program, the law school added instructors Clarisa Sudarma ’12, a Solano County deputy county counsel, and Lisa Klotz, a longtime UC Davis undergraduate writing instructor.
On a somber note, the law school this summer hosted a celebration of the life of founding faculty member Floyd Feeney. Scores of family, friends, faculty, and students attended the uplifting celebration of the life of a King Hall legend.
Assistant Dean for Student Affairs
Emily Scivoletto joins UC Davis Law as senior assistant dean for student affairs. She previously served in the same general position at UCLA School of Law, overseeing student affairs management, diversity and inclusion, curriculum and pedagogy, and student academic success. A few years back, Dean Scivoletto served as UC Davis Law’s inaugural director of Academic Success. She holds a J.D. from McGeorge School of Law, a master’s from Sacramento State, and a B.A. from UC Irvine.
Fundraising Success: More Fellowships, Scholarships, and Hammocks
Development has had a stunning start to the 2019/20 fiscal year, raising more than $1.15 million in July alone for the Immigration Law Clinic to fund attorney fellowships and further serve immigrants. Last year’s development success – nearly $2 million in total funds – made possible the award of scholarships of more than $360,000 to 71 students. The Class of 2019 helped bring hammocks to King Hall – you can find them on the arboretum side of the building.
UC President Janet Napolitano informed us this summer that the UC Office of the President will continue funding the UC Presidential Public Service Fellows program. With the support of the program, students have recently worked at the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR), Federal Defender (Eastern District of California), Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC), and many other prestigious public service employers.
Securing Employment
More than 70 percent of the Class of 2019 already has secured jobs, an increase from the Class of 2018 at the same time last year. More than 110 employers, an increase from last year, are participating in the law school’s On-Campus Interviewing and resume-collection programs. Many firms will attend the Small and Midsize Firm Fair and Government and Public Interest Jobs Fair.
Career Services is making changes to increase student services. Associate Director Lisa Carlock moved from a half-time to a full-time position, and the office is in the process of hiring another counselor for students interested in public interest and government employment.
LRAP
For the past several years, the law school committee of faculty, administrators, students, and alumni have engaged in a process of updating and making financially sustainable the Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP). We want to ensure that the school supports our current students with adequate financial aid while also assisting our alums pursuing public service careers. Several years ago, the law school released a proposed revised program and received faculty, student, staff, and alumni input; the proposal has been revised to respond to the comments. A reform proposal approved by our LRAP committee will be made available in the coming weeks. A town hall will be scheduled in the fall to discuss the proposal.
New Courses
We have added new courses to the schedule: Business Fundamentals for Lawyers; Child Welfare and Dependency Externship; Comparative Study of Forced Migration; Corporate Responsibility: Case Studies in (Un)Ethical Leadership; Farmworkers and the Law; Implicit Bias and the Law; Law and Sexual Assault; National Security Law; Privacy, Technology and the Law; and Representing Spanish-Speaking Clients.
Upcoming Events
Sept. 18: Central Valley Foundation/James B. McClatchy Lecture on the FirstAmendment, with Annette Gordon-Reed, Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History, Harvard Law School.
- Sept. 25: The 26th Capitol Reception at the Golden One Center for first-year students,
alumni, and faculty.
- Oct. 24: Small and Midsize Firm Jobs Fair.
- Nov. 6: Edward L. Barrett Jr. Lecture on Constitutional Law, with Michele Bratcher
Goodwin, Chancellor’s Professor of Law, UC Irvine School of Law.
- Nov. 14: Public Interest and Government Jobs Fair.
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I am looking forward to a great year!