Life as Dean (2008-24)

Karen Charney, Executive Director for Development and Alumni Relations, met up with alum Bill Mantle '74 in Santa Barbara for a little dog show and a little alumni time. It was wonderful that Karen could catch up with Bill on all that’s going on at King Hall and visit his new home. It was also nice that Bill got to see Karen’s dog, Gwen, do well in the show ring.

Welcome back King Hall students! The second- and third-year students are back in classes and joined the incoming 1L class.

As I wandered the building Monday morning, Professors John Hunt (contracts) and Dennis Ventry (federal income taxation) "held court" in class. It was great to have a full house!!

Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies Legal Fellow Giselle Garcia '23 has posted an insightful blog about race and admission policies in the University of California system.

Steve Boutin ’72 is co-founder and principal in Boutin Jones Inc., one of Sacramento’s largest law firms. Before co-founding his firm in 1986 with King Hall alum Chris Gibson, he was a partner at Downey, Brand, which was started by his grandfather Stephen Wheeler Downey, Jr. He has appeared before the First and Third Appellate District Courts and the Supreme Court of California. His notable clients have included General Motors, McClatchy Newspapers, The State Bar of California, then-Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, and CBS.

This September, the Aoki Center will begin its Critical Perspectives on 1L Classes. The series will feature Professors Hunt, Elvy and Chin. We are looking forward to connecting with our incoming students through these illuminating discussions!

We hope you'll join us for a great slate of events put on by the California Environmental Law & Policy Center led by Professor Rick Frank. The following events will take place during the fall semester:

UC Davis School of Law had the honor of co-sponsoring the annual SacLegal Gala. SacLegal is Sacramento’s LBGTQ+ bar association. It was a wonderful evening. Giselle Garcia '23, a fellow for the Aoki Center on Race and Nation Studies, also represented the School of Law. We ran into many King Hall alums, including California Supreme Court Justice Kelli Evans '94, Court of Appeals Justice Shama Mesiwala '98, Stephanie Finelli '94, Kendra Rivas '21, Heather Rowan '04, and many more.

UC Davis Law Professor Chimène Keitner will deliver a lecture - "Accountability for Russian Aggression in Ukraine" - on Sept. 5. The California International Law Center (CILC) event will take place at King Hall in room 1301 from 12-1 p.m.

The law school was fortunate to have Reverend Sam Offer of the multicultural organizational development firm Washington Consulting Group with us this week for implicit bias trainings with incoming Class of 2026 students and King Hall staff members.

Reverend Offer engaged participants in important conversations about how to address implicit biases and micro-aggressions in various settings.

Welcome to the Class of 2026, transfer students and LL.M.s, and welcome back returning students, faculty and staff.

We want to echo this statement by Chancellor Gary S. May regarding the tragic fires in Hawaii:

As Californians, we are no strangers to the danger of wildfires and their impact on our communities. The recent wildfire destruction that ravaged the Lahaina community on Maui is incomprehensible. The loss of life is devastating, and we mourn for the people of Hawaii and the tragic loss of the historic town.

Recent King Hall grads, and many other students, have graciously donated all of these books so that our first-generation students can borrow them for free for the semester. This entire bookshelf is donations of textbooks and supplements. The student org has a library app they use to track the book checkouts and it’s completely run by students. It's wonderful to see this support for first-gen students!

It was so nice to see old colleagues together when Professor Rose Cuison-Villazor - formerly of UC Davis Law now at Rutgers Law - sent some photos of her time catching up with other former UC Davis Law faculty members. Now at Georgetown Law, Madhavi Sunder and Anupam Chander hosted Rose at their home for a fun night of reconnecting.

The recording of Professor Anil Gupta´s presentation for the California International Law Center is available here. It includes an introduction by UC Davis Law Associate Dean Beth Greenwood and CILC Senior Fellow Dr. Jorge Rojas. Commentators included Dr. Stephanie Couch and Professor Juan Francisco Reyes.

UC Davis Law Professor Brian Soucek was featured in this month's UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement SpeechMatters podcast episode, "Courting Controversy: Upcoming Cases on Campus Speech."

Professor Soucek and the Center's Executive Director, Michelle Deutchman, discuss what's happening in the lower courts with campus speech. Other topics include diversity statements and the recent lawsuit against UC Santa Cruz.