2024 - 2025
Visiting Lecturers
At UC Davis School of Law, we have excellent visiting law lecturers. Read about our guest lecturers to learn more about their background and law interests.
Samuel Bacal-Graves ’20
Mr. Bacal-Graves is an Associate at Downey Brand who assists public agencies and private clients in land use compliance and litigation. He has expertise in the California Environmental Quality Act, California housing laws, the Planning and Zoning Law, the federal and California Endangered Species Acts, and the Subdivision Map Act. He is also an author of CEQA Chronicles Blog. Sam received his B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Santa Cruz and his J.D. from King Hall, where he was awarded Order of the Coif.
Karin Bailey ’19
As an attorney investigator at Ellis Investigations Law Corporation, Karin conducts impartial investigations into a variety of issues, including compliance concerns and complaints of harassment, discrimination and retaliation. Prior to joining Ellis Investigations Law Corporation, she represented public and private employers at a Sacramento, California law firm. Among other things, she handled collective bargaining, administrative hearings and disciplinary matters involving public safety employees. In 2022 and 2023, Ms. Bailey also worked with recent King Hall graduates participating in the school’s bar essay writing and grading program. Ms. Bailey received her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 2019 and her B.A. in Government from California State University, Sacramento in 2008. While at King Hall, she served as a tutor for property law and lawyering process courses.
Esha Bandyopadhyay
Esha Bandyopadhyay has previously taught Trade Secrets at King Hall and is excited to be back. She is currently the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Spectrum Dynamics Medical. She was previously an Intellectual Property Litigation partner at the law firm of Fish & Richardson. Prior to that, she was a partner at Winston & Strawn and Kirkland & Ellis, among other firms. She practiced intellectual property litigation and counseling in the Bay Area close to a quarter century before moving into her current GC role. Her trade secret cases have been in state and federal courts throughout the country. Bandyopadhyay frequently publishes articles and speaks on issues pertaining to trade secrets, and has twice been named a Top California Trade Secrets Lawyer by the Daily Journal. Bandyopadhyay is widely acknowledged as a woman trailblazer in law. The Silicon Valley Business Journal named her a 2018 “Woman of Influence,” she has been recognized by Super Lawyers® every year since 2008, and repeatedly by Best Lawyers® in the fields of patent litigation and trade secrets. She serves on the Boards of Legal Momentum® (which named her a Woman of Achievement in 2018) and World Arts West, a non-profit devoted to diversity in the arts. Bandyopadhyay received her B.A. Magna Cum Laude in Economics with Highest Distinction from the University of California, San Diego in 1996 and her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2000.
Kristin Brandt
Kristin Brandt currently serves as a Research Law Librarian at the UC Davis Mabie Law Library. She has co-taught Advanced Legal Research with Judy Janes, Elisabeth McKechnie, Alyssa Thurston, and David Holt since 2019. She teaches legal research modules in the first year Legal Research and Writing course and has guest-lectured in law school classes such as Reproductive Rights, Law and Policy, Bioethics, and Corporate Governance. After earning her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, Ms. Brandt practiced litigation at Morrison & Foerster, where she later served as firm-wide Manager for Attorney Training and Development. She clerked for the Hon. Robert J. Kelleher of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and served as an Extern for the Hon. Dorothy W. Nelson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In addition to her J.D., Ms. Brandt has an A.B. in Psychology from Stanford and a Master’s in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University.
Malcolm Brudigam ’18
Malcolm Brudigam is a Deputy Attorney General in the Government Law Section of the California Department of Justice, where he advises and represents California's Constitutional Officers and various agencies on a wide range of complex legal matters, including constitutional law, government operations, and elections. He represents clients in state and federal courts at both the trial and appellate levels, prepares titles and summaries for ballot measures, and analyzes proposed state legislation. Prior to his current role, Brudigam served as a law clerk for the Honorable Dale A. Drozd, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California (2021-2023) and was a Litigation Associate with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (2018-2021). Brudigam received his J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 2018, where he graduated Order of the Coif, served as the Senior Notes & Comments Editor for the UC Davis Law Review, was a teaching assistant for Legal Research & Writing, and a member of the King Hall Negotiations Team. He holds a B.S. in Environmental Management & Protection from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Daniel Calabretta
Judge Calabretta serves as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of California. Prior to his assuming the federal bench in 2023, he was a Superior Court Judge for Sacramento County where he served in juvenile dependency and as Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court. From 2013-2018 Judge Calabretta served as a Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary for Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. where he advised on various matters including appointments, pending legislation, and issues related to the Political Reform Act and the Emergency Services Act. Judge Calabretta also served as a Deputy Attorney General at the California Department of Justice from 2008-2013 where he represented California’s Constitutional Officers, including the Governor, Controller, and Secretary of State in civil litigation on a range of topics including election law, constitutional challenges, and public finance. Judge Calabretta previously practiced as a Litigation Associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP and served as a Judicial Clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens at the United States Supreme Court and Judge William A. Fletcher at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Calabretta received his B.A. in Bioethics from Princeton University in 2000 and his J.D. from the University of Chicago School of Law in 2003.
Michael Canzoneri
Michael Canzoneri is a Supervising Deputy Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General, California Department of Justice. He is currently the Trial Team Coordinator, supervising trial and DA conflict assignments in northern and eastern districts of California (32 counties). He has presented numerous felony trials, ranging from special circumstance murder cases to DNA serial rapist prosecutions. He has also litigated numerous appellate and habeas corpus matters at the state and federal court level, including the California and United States Supreme Courts.
Dennis Cota ’86
Since 2018, Dennis Cota has been a magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Judge Cota was the founder of Cota Cole & Huber LLP, and has over 30 years' experience representing both private clients and public entities. As part of his extensive public law litigation practice, he served as special litigation counsel to City of Ontario, Madera County, and San Joaquin County. Judge Cota's extensive trial experience includes complex civil litigation in the areas of labor and employment, civil rights, municipal defense, and environmental and hazardous waste litigation in which he has obtained successful results before both the state and federal bar. Judge Cota's experience includes numerous semesters as a trial practice instructor at UC Davis School of Law where he has taught Trial Practice and Advanced Trial Practice and has coached nationally recognized Trial Practice Competition teams.
Lauri Damrell ’05
Judge Lauri Damrell has been a judge for the Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento since 2018. She has presided over various civil and criminal trials and other proceedings, including misdemeanor arraignments and sentencing, civil harassment and domestic violence restraining order hearings, and family court proceedings. From 2006 to 2018, she practiced at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP, where she provided legal advice to leading national and international corporations on a full range of business decisions, agreements, investigations, and litigation, with a focus on employment matters. She received Sacramento Magazine’s award for “Top Lawyer” in 2017, and Sacramento Business Journal award for “40 under 40” in 2016.
Lydia de La Torre
Lydia de La Torre currently serves as Board Member of the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA), and she is the founding Partner of Golden Data Law. Golden Data Law is a mission driven benefit corporation that serves the nonprofit/not-for-profit community by providing legal advice in the areas of privacy, data protection and cybersecurity law to assist them in creating and expanding their privacy programs in compliance with data protection regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Prior to this, Lydia served as of counsel in the Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice at Squire Patton Boggs, inaugural Privacy Fellow at Santa Clara University, Senior Data Protection and Privacy Counsel at Axiom Legal, Senior Data Protection and Privacy Counsel at eBay/PayPal, Appellate Counsel with the Sixth District Appellate Program, and Senior Associate at Garrigues Law Firm. De La Torre currently teaches Comparative Privacy at UC Hastings and previously taught Comparative Privacy at Santa Clara University, and Spanish Grammar, Translation Theory and Technique, Legal Interpretation, and Medical Interpretation as an affiliated faculty member at National Hispanic University. De La Torre received her LL.M. degree in Intellectual Property from Santa Clara University School of Law in 2013, an LL.M. degree in EU Tax Law from Centro de Estudios Garrigues, in Madrid, Spain in 1996 and a J.D. from Universidad Complutense, in Madrid, Spain in 1995.
George Demos
George G. Demos is a partner at DLA Piper LLP where his practice focuses on securities enforcement, white collar criminal defense, and corporate investigations. He previously served as senior counsel in the Enforcement Division of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's New York Regional Office where he led many high profile and complex corporate fraud investigations. During his tenure at the SEC, he was also detailed to the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. He has taught at the UC Davis School of Law since 2016; courses he has taught include Corporate and White Collar Crime, Presidential Power Seminar, and Securities Enforcement.
Stacy Don ’03
Stacy Don is a California trademark and litigation attorney representing clients in intellection property cases. She has taught Trademark and Unfair Competition Law for UC Davis and Trademark Law, Introduction to Litigation in U.S. Courts, and Directed Research courses for the USC Gould School of Law. Don has represented clients in California federal and state appellate and trial courts on cases involving a range of issues including trade secrets and right of publicity. She also served as a senior associate with Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe LLP where she litigated in state and federal trial and appellate courts on trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret, and general commercial disputes. Don received her B.A. (with Honors) in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 2000 and her J.D. from the UC Davis School of Law in 2003 where she was awarded the Order of the Coif, the Witkin Award for Civil Procedure, and served as the UC Davis Law Review Articles Editor.
Eric Fersht
Since the fall of 2018, Eric M. Fersht has been a Visiting Scholar and Lecturer on International and National Security Law. He came to King Hall after a distinguished legal career in the federal government spanning 24 years. From 1995 to 2002, he was an Associate Deputy General Counsel for International Affairs and Intelligence at the Department of Defense. In 2002, he became the Senior International Counsel for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). During his tenure at NGA, he was the principal negotiator on more than fifty high-priority intelligence agreements with the country's most important intelligence partners. From 2017-2018, he served as NGA’s Acting Chief of Intelligence Oversight, responsible for ensuring agency compliance with privacy and civil liberties protection requirements. Prior to becoming an attorney, Fersht was an executive of Greenpeace International. He directed Greenpeace’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Campaigns, and subsequently oversaw the establishment of Greenpeace affiliates in the Soviet Union/Russia and other Eastern European countries. In 2018, Fersht was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service.
Timothy Foley
Timothy Foley is a criminal defense attorney specializing in the defense of capital crimes. From 2004 to 2012 he was an Assistant Federal Defender (AFD) with the Capital Habeas Unit of the Office of the Federal Defender for the Eastern District of California, located in Sacramento. Previous to his appointment as an AFD, Mr. Foley was in private practice in San Francisco, specializing in criminal defense with a particular emphasis in capital cases. He has represented capitally-charged individuals at all levels, in state and federal courts from trial through appeal through habeas corpus through clemency. In addition to death penalty cases, Mr. Foley has experience in misdemeanor and felony trials, appeals, and habeas corpus proceedings. He has been a visiting lecturer at King Hall, UC Berkeley Law School, the University of San Francisco School of Law and UC Law, SF (formerly Hastings College of the Law). He frequently gives presentations at conferences throughout the country and is a faculty member of the “Death Penalty College” at Santa Clara University. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his B.S. in Economics from Santa Clara University.
Jessica Gosney ’10
Jessica Gosney currently serves as a Deputy Legislative Counsel in the Office of Legislative Counsel (OLC), where she drafts bills, amendments, resolutions, and initiatives, and provides legal advice on current and pending legislation for both houses and parties of the California Legislature. Gosney previously worked in political campaigning and nonprofit advocacy in California and Washington, D.C., including for MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, the California Public Interest Research Group, and a California Assembly Member. Gosney designed and has co-taught the Legislatures and Lawmaking course for the Masters in Science and Law (MSL) program at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law since 2019. Gosney earned her J.D. from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 2017 where she was named Valedictorian and was a recipient of the Pacific Law Academic Scholarship, the Amicus Lex Alumni Association Scholarship, the Order of the Coif, and several Witkin Awards. She also served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of the Pacific Law Review. Gosney received her B.S. degree from the University of California, Davis in 2010.
Hayley Graves
Hayley Graves is currently a law clerk for the Honorable Jeremy D. Peterson in the United States District Court, Eastern District of California. She served as the judicial law clerk for the Honorable Jerome T. Tao, Nevada Court of Appeals (2020-2021) and prior to that as a judicial extern for the Honorable Ronald B. Robie, California Court of Appeal, Third District. Since 2016, Graves has coached her former high school mock trial team where she represented Sacramento County and took her team to the California State Finals. Graves has been a trial practice and mock trial coach at King Hall since 2022. Graves received her J.D. (Order of the Coif) from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 2020. At McGeorge, Graves served as the Editor-in-Chief of the University of the Pacific Law Review and was on the McGeorge Mock Trial Team, ranked seventh in the nation at the time, and has completed in several national competitions. She received her B.A. in Political Science, with a minor in English from Southern Methodist University in 2016.
Beth Greenwood
Beth Greenwood is the Associate Dean for International Programs at UC Davis Extension and the Executive Director of International Law Programs at the UC Davis School of Law. With more than 30 years of leadership experience in international education, she has pioneered a range of innovative programs, which consistently attract the best students from Asia, Latin America and Europe to enroll in UC Davis courses. Greenwood also manages a large number of international law programs, including the International Summer Law Programs, the International Commercial Law LL.M. Program, Visiting Scholars Program, International Student Exchange Programs, and Corporate Legal Education Programs in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Since 1990, the International Law Programs have educated more than 2,400 leading lawyers, judges, and academics from 50 countries. Greenwood earned her J.D. and B.A. degrees at the University of California, Davis.
David Holt
Holt currently works as a Senior Research Law Librarian at the UC Davis School of Law. Prior to joining UC Davis, he served as the solo branch librarian at the Ninth Circuit Courthouse Library in San Jose, where he provided reference services to clerks, three Article III judges, two magistrates, and one appellate judge, and managed all technical service responsibilities including serials management, collection development, website administration, and oversaw a $120K/yr. collection budget. Holt has also served as a Research and Emerging Technologies Librarian and Circulation Manager at the Santa Clara University School of Law. He also served as an Adjunct Professor at Santa Clara University where he was responsible for creating the Advanced Legal Research curricula and taught both the generalized course and a specialized course on intellectual property. Holt received his Masters in Library Information and Science (M.L.I.S.) degree from San Jose State University in 2006, his B.A. in English from Southern Oregon University in 2000, and his J.D. from the Santa Clara University School of Law in 2013.
Christopher Ide-Don
Ide-Don currently serves as the Assistant Dean of Academic Success at the UC Davis School of Law. A graduate of the UC Hastings School of Law, Ide-Don practiced disability rights and civil rights law for five years. His attorney and non-profit work encompassed representing students with disabilities and their families, and the provision of special education training and resources for students with disabilities. Ide-Don has taught the Legal Analysis course since 2013 at UC Davis School of Law and the Problem Solving and Analysis since 2011. Furthermore, he created curricula and course materials for both courses. Ide-Don has over a decade of experience consistently working with diverse law student populations. As the current Assistant Dean of Academic Success, his work has emphasized academic support for students of color, first generation students, and students at risk for not passing the Bar Exam. He also actively meets with students from various affinity groups to present information on law school exams, the Bar exam, and class selection.
Leeron Kalay
Leeron Kalay currently serves as the Silicon Valley Office Hiring Principal at Fish & Richards P.C. where he has successfully tried patent, trade secret, and antitrust cases before the United States International Trade Commission, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, and various district courts. He served as the Trade Secret and Misappropriation Section Subcommittee Chair of the American Bar Association (2017-2021). He has been named in the Best Lawyers in America (2023), as the Northern California Rising Star in Intellectual Property Litigation by Super Lawyers (2010-2014) and has received the Wiley Manual Award for Pro Bono Legal Services (2013). Kalay received B.A. degrees in Political Science and Rehetoric, cum laude, from the University of California, Berkeley and his J.D. from the New York University School of Law.
James Liu
James Liu currently serves as Corporate Counsel at Krafton, Inc. where he primarily assists the company's esports department. Previously, he was an associate at Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe LLP where he assisted in various litigation case teams in matters involving privacy and data breach, intellectual property, and other general litigation matters. Prior to this, he served as a Judicial Extern for Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye at the California Supreme Court. James received his B.A, summa cum laude, in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2015 where he served as National Society of Collegiate Scholars Chair of PACE Mentoring Program, and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 2019 where he served as Publishing Editor for the Berkeley Journal of Entertainment and Sports Law, member of the Asian American Law Journal, and received a Law and Technology Certificate from the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.
Lizzie Lockwood
As a staff attorney with For The People, Lizzie Lockwood is experienced in cutting-edge areas of criminal practice such as Prosecutor-Initiated Resentencing (PIR). She currently serves as the lead attorney in Yolo, Santa Clara, San Diego, Merced, and Humboldt Counties. In this capacity, she has reviewed hundreds of C-Files, presented upwards of 50 cases to various California District Attorney’s Offices, drafted over 20 Motions for Sentence Reduction, and helped facilitate the resentencing and early release of more than 40 incarcerated people. She has directly supervised volunteer attorneys and legal interns, and created the vast majority of For The People’s PIR trainings, guides, and toolkits. Prior to her work with For The People, she worked as an investigator at the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, conducting complex investigations on death penalty cases in preparation of filing their state habeas petitions, served as a Judicial Intern with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and Law Clerk and Legal Intern with Bonjour, Thorman, Burns & Dahm. Lockwood previously served as a Teaching Assistant for Legal Writing and Research courses at UC Hastings College of Law. Lockwood received a B.A. in Anthropology from Wesleyan University in 1994 and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2019 where she served as Senior Staff Editor for the Hastings Environmental Law Journal.
Sinead McDonough ’22
Sinead McDonough is an Associate in Lozano Smith's Sacramento office. Her practice is primarily focused on the labor and employment aspects of public agency law, with an emphasis on education law issues. Ms. McDonough earned her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 2022. During law school, she served as a member and Articles Editor of the UC Davis Law Review, and was a board member and 1L Competition Chair of the UC Davis Moot Court Honors Board. She also served as a skills tutor for first-year law students. Ms. McDonough earned a B.A. in Spanish and Communications with an emphasis in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2014.
John McKinsey ’99
Mr. McKinsey has practiced law in the private practice setting continuously since graduating from King Hall in 1999. He focuses on energy, commercial, regulatory and environmental law in several industries, chiefly Energy and Food, Beverage and Hospitality. He has extensive classroom teaching experience, including teaching Energy Law since 2011. He regularly writes and speaks on energy policy and law. Mr. McKinsey gained significant applied science knowledge and skills while serving in the United States Navy on submarines as a nuclear power plant operator and supervisor and leading electrician. He graduated cum laude with his B.A. from California State University Sacramento in Economics and received his J.D. from UC Davis School of Law.
Shama Hakim Mesiwala ’98
In 2023, Shama Hakim Mesiwala became an Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District. Prior to that, she served on the Sacramento Superior Court since 2017, presiding over trials, hearings, and law and motion matters. Before becoming a judicial officer, Justice Mesiwala was an appellate attorney for 18 years, first representing indigent defendants, parents, and juveniles in criminal, dependency, mental health, and delinquency proceedings and then working for the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District. She began her legal career as an attorney with the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Sacramento. Justice Mesiwala is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession. She created the first Indian Child Welfare Act courtroom in Northern California. She serves as the co-founder of the South Asian Bar Association of Sacramento, hosting its annual Diversity Law Student Reception, president of the Schwartz/Levi American Inns of Court, and working group member of the California Judicial Mentor Program.
Chris Micheli
Chris Micheli is an attorney and lobbyist with the Sacramento governmental relations firm of Snodgrass & Micheli, LLC. As a legislative advocate, Micheli regularly testifies before policy and fiscal committees of the California Legislature, as well as a number of administrative agencies, departments, boards, and commissions. He drafts legislative and regulatory language and is considered a leading authority on state tax law developments and California's legislative process. He has written and lectured extensively on lobbying and the legislative process. Micheli has been an attorney of record in several key cases, having argued before the Supreme Court of California, as well as the Court of Appeal several times. He has filed many amicus curiae briefs in California courts and has published half a dozen peer-reviewed law journal articles and is the co-editor and co-author of the books “A Practitioner’s Guide to Lobbying and Advocacy in California” and “Guide to Executive Branch Agency Rulemaking.” In addition, he has published three textbooks: “Introduction to California State Government,” “An Introduction to Drafting Legislation in California,” and “Understanding the California Legislative Process.” He is also the author of two recent casebooks: “The California Legislature and Its Legislative Process: Cases and Materials” (Carolina Academic Press) and “Cases and Materials on Direct Democracy in California” (Kendall-Hunt Publishing). He has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at McGeorge since 2015 where he co-teaches the course Lawmaking in California. He co-designed and co-teaches the online Legislatures and Lawmaking course, as well as designed and teaches the Lobbying and Politics course.
Mahliya Montgomery
Mahliya Montgomery is an attorney at The Law office of Josiah Young specializing in family law. She is the Founder of Tutor In Law which offers accessible and affordable comprehensive tutoring and educational resources to law students from diverse backgrounds. Montgomery serves on the faculty at Monterey College of Law, teaching a 1L Skills class , and at Mitchell Hamline School of Law where she is an Adjunct Professor (Trust and Estates). She is a member of the bar preparation panel for the UC Davis School of Law, Spring 2024. Montgomery earned her Associate Degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Phoenix in 2025 and her Juris Doctorate (magna cum laude) from Lincoln Law School of Sacramento in 2020.
Johann Morri
Johann Morri is a lecturer and associate director for International Programs at the UC Davis School of Law. During his time here, he has taught legal methods and academic writing courses and co-taught the Legal Writing seminar with Associate Dean Beth Greenwood. In addition to teaching a series of classes at UC Davis School of Law, he has also taught at institutions in various countries, such as UC Berkeley School of Law, the China University of Political Sciences and Law, the University of Paris Nanterre, and the University of Montpellier. In 2020, he taught the seminar on the US Supreme Court in the Master's degree in human rights of University of Paris Nanterre and had one of his articles published in the law review of the French Constitutional Court. Prior to joining UC Davis, Johann Morri was a judge for the Trial Court in Public Law (2011-2014) and the Appellate Court in Public Law (2011-2014) both in Versailles, France as well as the Trial Court in Public Law (1999-2004) in Montpellier, France. He has also been the Deputy Director of the Public Law Section of the Legal Division for the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Paris, France and the Office chief (Chef de Bureau) of the International Law Section of the Legal Division for the French Ministry of Economy and Finance in Paris, France.
José Olivera ’11
José Olivera is a former federal prosecutor and currently a Director and Associate General Counsel at Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook, Inc.) where he leads a team of attorneys working on some of the most complex issues in the areas of security and privacy law. From 2014-2019, he served in the U.S. Department of Justice as a civil trial attorney in Washington, D.C., where he handled all aspects of civil litigation in federal courts across the United States, including against companies failing to comply with federal regulation. Subsequently, Olivera served as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California where he prosecuted complex white-collar cases. Olivera served as a Staff Sergeant in the United States Air Force from 2002-2008, where he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his actions. He was the recipient of the U.S. Department of Justice, Tax Division, Outstanding Attorney Award (2013 and 2014) and the IRS Chief Counsel’s Mitchell Rogovin Award (2012). José Olivera received his J.D. from the University of California School of Law in 2011. He was a member of the National Mock Trial Team and Order of the Barristers Member Selectee in 2011. Olivera received his B.A. in History from the University of Santa Barbara in 2008.
Cinthia Padilla Martin ’23
Cinthia Padilla Martín is an associate attorney at the Law Offices of Taylor P. Call in Sacramento, Padilla Martín conducts research on substantive and procedural matters for probate and civil litigation. Padilla Martín received her B.A. in Political Science, Minor in Civic Engagement (2018) and received her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law (2023). While at King Hall, Ms. Padilla Martín served on the First Generation Advocates (FGA) Board; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) Committee; Trial Practice Honors Board; and the Carr Mock Trial Competition. She also worked as an Academic Success Tutor and as a teaching assistant for Property Law.
Jeremy Peterson
Judge Peterson has been a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of California since 2018, and has presided over a wide variety of civil and criminal matters, including many settlement conferences. Prior to his appointment, he served as both a federal prosecutor and a private defense attorney. His career began with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., where he prosecuted domestic violence offenses. He next joined the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he was part of the Deepwater Horizon Task Force. Judge Peterson then joined Arnold & Porter, a national law firm, where he represented clients in a variety of civil and criminal matters. Judge Peterson is active in the Kennedy Inn of Court. While in private practice, he served as co-chair of a conference on trial strategy and helped lead an American Bar Association committee that reviewed federal and state enforcement actions. Judge Peterson received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was Managing Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal, and his B.A., with honors, from Swarthmore College. After law school, he served as a law clerk for Judge Ruggero J. Aldisert of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Katherine Prescott
Katie Prescott has been practicing intellectual property litigation for more than 20 years and has experience with trade secret misappropriation cases (and associated contractual, unfair competition, and patent disputes) in federal court, state court, and arbitration. In addition, she regularly advises clients, from start up to Fortune 100, on trade secret protection strategy and how to minimize their risk of facing a trade secret misappropriation claim. Prior to joining Fish & Richardson, Prescott served as senior counsel at Apple Inc.. In 2019, the Daily Journal recognized her as a Top Trade Secret Lawyer in California and in 2022 she was recognized for Intellectual Property Litigation in the Best Lawyers in America. Prescott has been a repeat guest lecturer for UC Davis School of Law’s Trade Secret Law class. Ms. Prescott received her B.A. with General Honors, Earth & Planetary Science in 1997 from Johns Hopkins University, her MS in Civil & Environmental Engineering in 1998 from Stanford University, and her J.D. from UC Berkeley in 2001 where she graduated Order of the Coif and received the Prosser Prize in Civil Procedure and American Jurisprudence Awards in Patent Law, Trademark Law, and Antitrust Law.
Marcus Salvato Quintanilla
Marcus Quintanilla is an independent arbitrator, mediator, and counsel, with arbitration chambers in San Francisco, Houston, and Miami. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, he focuses primarily on complex commercial, construction, and intellectual-property disputes in the US and internationally. Before launching as an independent neutral, Marcus was a Partner in the Global Disputes group at Jones Day, practicing in the areas of International Commercial Arbitration and Cross-Border Litigation. He also practiced as an Associate at O’Melveny & Myers, LLP in the areas of International Arbitration and International White-Collar Investigations and served as a Consultant for U.S. Litigation and International Arbitration with Solórzano, Carvajal, González, Pérez-Correa in México. Before beginning the active practice of law, Marcus served as a Law Clerk at both the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and United States District Court, Central District of California. Marcus has previously served as a Visiting Lecturer on Transnational Legal Practice and International Arbitration at the UC Irvine School of Law, a Visiting Lecturer on International Commercial Arbitration at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, an Instructor in Classical Rhetoric and Ethics at the New Oxford Collegiate Academy, and as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. Marcus received his B.A. in Philosophy from Georgetown University in 1993, an A.M. in Classical Philosophy (Ethics) from Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1996, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1999.
Sanam Saaber
Sanam Saaber is currently the Chief Legal Officer at Iterable, a cross-channel marketing platform that powers unified customer experiences and empowers organizations to create, optimize and measure every interaction across the entire customer journey. Previously, she served as General Counsel and Interim COO at DFINITY and she was Vice President of Legal for Box, Inc. leading various teams including corporate, commercial, products, privacy, litigation, IP, employment, and risk. She received her B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles, M.S. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University, and J.D. from UC Davis School of Law.
Richard Scholar
A litigator for 27 years, Ronald Scholar started his career as a public defender before moving to civil practice where he represents public entity and private business clients in a diverse scope of litigation including federal and state civil rights, employment law, dangerous conditions of public property as well as contract and business disputes. Named to Sacramento Magazine’s Top Lawyers List for 2016, Scholar also serves as a Judge Pro Tem in the Placer County Superior Court. Scholars has been active in the trial practice and mock trial programs at King Hall since 2016.
Emily Scivoletto
Emily Scivoletto is the Senior Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at the UC Davis School of Law and provides leadership and management for programs and services relating to student services and success. Dean Scivoletto previously served as the Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at the UCLA School of Law where she taught Leadership and the Law and Professional Responsibility. Prior to UCLA, she served as Dean of Students at the University of San Diego Law School as well as the Director of Academic Success at both the UC Davis and McGeorge Law Schools. Scivoletto has previously taught courses in Analytical and Persuasive Legal Writing at UC Davis, Fundamentals of Bar Writing at UC San Diego, Principles of Agency Law at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, and Introduction to U.S. Law for Court Interpreters at the UCLA Extension. Before entering academia, she practiced law in Sacramento where she handled insurance defense and civil rights litigation cases. Scivoletto is a founding member and the Treasurer of the National Association of Law Student Affairs Professionals (NALSAP). Scivoletto received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine in 1993, a Master of Education (M.Ed.) degree in Higher Education Leadership from CSU Sacramento in 2008, and her J.D. from Pacific McGeorge School of Law in 1998. She also holds a Graduate Certificate from the International Institute for Restorative Practices and is trained in restorative justice and restorative practices conflict management.
Dana Scott ’19
Dana Scott currently serves as an Associate General Counsel with the California School Boards Association in West Sacramento, CA. Prior to joining the California School Boards Association, she was an Associate Attorney with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore and Parker & Covert L.L.P. where she counseled public entity clients on a variety of matters including school board governance and school district elections. Ms. Scott received her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 2019, and her B.A. in Political Science and Psychology (with honors) from the University of California, Davis in 2016. While at King Hall, she served as a tutor for Legal Research and Writing.
Saba Shatara ’13
Saba Shatara is currently a Managing Tax Associate at Deloitte Touche LLP, where he regularly represents clients in all stages of tax controversy, including protests, settlement conferences, and appeals. As part of his duties with Deloitte, Saba manages and mentors a team of young attorneys and is committed to helping these attorneys learn the practical skills necessary to succeed in this field. He was previously an attorney at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, where he obtained extensive litigation training, which involved negotiations, client counseling, and oral advocacy. After that experience, he continued working as a litigator in the state and local tax arena, and briefly worked in a quasi-judicial capacity as Tax Counsel to a Board Member at the State Board of Equalization. Saba has authored a myriad of briefs, dispositive motions, memoranda, and subject-specific publications. He has presented a number of legislative proposals before the California State Legislature (which have resulted in modifications to California's tax laws), as well as before several U.S. Congressional Committees. He received his J.D. from the UC Davis School of Law in 2013 and his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 2009. He also received an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law in 2017. He has taught at UC Davis School of Law since 2017.
Lynn Starr
Lynn Starr has taught Pretrial Skills at UC Davis School of Law since 2001. Previously a litigation partner in the San Francisco office of Jackson Tufts Cole & Black LLP, she represented clients in Federal and California courts as well as various ADR forums. She also served as the firm’s hiring partner. Ms. Starr was a board member of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and the San Francisco Shelter Grievance Advisory Committee. She received her J.D., with Distinction, from Stanford Law School and was the recipient of the Frank Baker Belcher Prize for Best Academic Work in Evidence. She received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University.
Alyssa Thurston
Alyssa Thurston is a Senior Research Law Librarian at the UC Davis Mabie Law Library. She currently serves as the Director of the Law Library. She received her B.A. from Middlebury College, J.D. from UCLA School of Law, and M.L.I.S. with a special certificate in law librarianship from the University of Washington Information School. Prior to joining UC Davis, she worked as a Research Services Librarian and later as the Head of Reference Services at the Pepperdine University School of Law's Jerene Appleby Harnish Law Library.
Stephen White ’74
Stephen White currently serves as a Judge for the Sacramento County Superior Court, a position which he has held since his appointment in 2003. In addition, he served as Presiding Judge of the Superior Court from 2010 to 2011. He is currently the president of the Alliance of California Judges and is a member of the Judicial Council Criminal law Advisory Committee. His experience in these positions – as well as his past position as Chief Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Criminal Division, and as District Attorney of Sacramento County – have allowed him to be a successful visiting lecturer at UC Davis School of Law where he has primarily taught Advanced Criminal Procedure since 1995.
Victoria Wood
Hon. Victoria Wood (Ret.) is a retired Judge of the Napa County Superior Court where she presided over a wide range of cases in various assignments, including civil, probate and family law. Her responsibilities extended to overseeing complex jury trials, appeals, and high-conflict mediations. She also held various roles in court leadership, including serving as the Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division, Assistant Presiding Judge of the Court, and as Lead Judge for the Civil, Juvenile, and Family Law Divisions. For three years, Judge Wood served as the judicial liaison to the Napa County Civil Grand Jury, where she supervised recruitment, investigation, and reporting efforts. In addition, she has provided 18-years of service on the Napa County Law Library Board of Trustees. Prior to her appointment to the superior court bench, Judge Wood served for five years as Court Commissioner, where she presided over a family law calendar that included dissolution and child custody matters, as well as restraining orders, child support and small claims cases, in addition to criminal matters. She also worked for nearly a decade as court counsel, performing the legal research and writing for tentative rulings, orders, and opinions for civil law and motion, probate, and Appellate Division matters. In addition to her time at the superior court, Judge Wood worked as a chambers attorney for Justice Wes Walker at the First District Court of Appeal, and in private practice. Judge Wood received a B.S. in Sociology and a B.A. in Spanish from Pacific Union College, graduating magna cum laude. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law.
Jaclyn Zumeata
Jaclyn Zumaeta is currently an Assistant Chief Counsel at the Franchise Tax Board, where she serves as the department's appeals coordinator and manages a team of 30 attorneys, paralegals, and program specialists who represent the State in various levels of state tax controversy, including internal protests and appeals before the Office of Tax Appeals. She also serves as a member of the Taxation Section of the California Lawyers Association's Executive Committee, creating networking and professional development activities, publications, and programming for the tax community. Prior to this, she served as Assistant Chief Counsel at the State of California Office of Tax Appeals. She previously served as a Manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers, a Tax Council III with the Franchise Tax Board, where she was the recipient of the Sustained Superior Accomplishment Award, Individual Gold Superior Accomplishment Award, and the Group Gold Superior Accomplishment Award, and served as a Chief Legal Advisor for Franchise and Income Tax and a Franchise Tax Board Liaison with the Office of Jerome E. Horton, Board of Equalization. Zumaeta received her B.A. in Criminology, Law, & Society and Psychology & Social Behavior, cum laude, from the University of California, Irvine in 2006, her LLM degree in Taxation from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2009, and her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2009.
Visiting Professors
Michael T. Colatrella, Jr.
Michael Colatrella is a Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. Professor Colatrella joined the McGeorge faculty in 2009 as an Assistant Professor of Law. He served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from June 2015 to May 2019 and Interim Dean from July 2019 to June 2020. He is an expert in alternative dispute resolution, including mediation, negotiation, and conflict management. He is co-author of the interdisciplinary text Mediation—Skills & Techniques, which is widely used in law schools, graduate schools, and schools of diplomacy. Professor Colatrella's dispute resolution scholarship focuses on improving mediator techniques and mediation processes so that self-represented litigants may participate more meaningfully and effectively. Professor Colatrella also educates lawyers, corporate executives, and businesspeople in a wide variety of negotiation, conflict management and human relations matters. Professor Colatrella received his J.D. from Seton Hall University, LLM at New York University and B.A. from Rutgers University.
Michael S. Mireles
Michael S. Mireles, Jr. is a Professor of Law, McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. He currently teaches intellectual property law, Property, Wills & Trusts and Cybersecurity Law and has published papers in numerous journals including, Cardozo Law Review, Southern Methodist University Law Review, University of Utah Law Review, and Indiana Law Review. Mireles was an associate attorney at Downey Brand, practicing intellectual property and commercial law, and was a law clerk to Circuit Judge S. Jay Plager of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. He has served on the board of directors of several professional and community organizations, as Co-chair of the Federal Circuit Bar Association Diversity Committee, as President of the Asian Bar Association of Sacramento, and as a mayoral appointment to the City of Sacramento Racial Profiling Commission. Professor Mireles received his BS from the University of Maryland in Sociology, a JD from University of the Pacific (Order of the Coif), and LLM in intellectual property law from George Washington University Law School, with highest honors.
Kyung Sin (K.S.) Park
Kyung Sin “KS” Park is a professor at the Korea University School of Law, and co-founder and Executive Director of www.opennetkorea.org. He served as Commissioner at the Korean Communication Standards Commission, a presidentially appointed internet content regulation body (2011-2014), and as a member of the National Media Commission, a Parliament-appointed advisory body on newspaper-broadcasting co-ownership bans and other media and Internet regulations (2010). He also served as International Relations Counsel to the Korea Film Council, arranged the Korea-France Film Co-production Treaty, and advised on the UNESCO Cultural Diversity Convention (2002-2007). He is Executive Director for both the PSPD Law Center (2008-) and Open Net Korea (2013-), which have pursued and won several high profile litigation and legislative actions in the areas of freedom of speech, privacy, net neutrality, web accessibility, digital innovation, and intellectual property. He founded the Korea University Law Review and the Law School’s Clinical Legal Education Center, and spearheaded www.internetlawclinic.org and www.transparency.or.kr under that Center. Dr. Park has been a visiting lecturer in Internet Law at UCI Law (2017) and in Global Censorship at UC Davis School of Law (2017). He has an AB in Physics from Harvard University, and JD from UCLA School of Law.
Jaime Ubilla
Jaime Ubilla is a Professor of Law at the Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile, where he teaches courses on legal theory, legal sociology, and global law. His research focuses on: (a) Socio-legal study of Legal forms;(b) Socio-legal studies of Post-Modern Regulatory Approaches and particularly the debate about the possibility of steering social change through law;(c) Socio-legal studies of Transnational – Global Law; (d) Socio-legal studies of property rights. (e) Socio-legal studies of biodiversity – conservation law. He is a partner with Ubilla and Cía (Santiago, Chile) and has been a member of the Global Commission on Environmental Law of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He is also the founder and director of the Conservation Law Center of Chile. Ubilla also holds a PhD, from the School of Law, University of Edinburgh, an M.A. in Law from Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan) and a J.D. from Universidad de Chile.