News

On June 24-25, UC Davis School of Law hosted the 15th annual National Business Law Scholars Conference (NBLSC). During the two-day event, legal scholars from across the United States and around the world gathered to share and discuss current research in business law. 

The event featured opening remarks from Dean Kevin R. Johnson, a plenary discussion, concurrent panels, and a reception at the Manetti Shrem Museum. 

UC Davis School of Law hosted the Third Annual Michael A. Olivas Writing Institute at King Hall on June 20-21, 2024. Twenty legal scholars, ranging from recent law graduates and junior faculty, convened to receive input on their recent scholarship from a supportive intellectual community. The workshop engaged many scholars in mutual support and mentorship, helping advance the scholarly endeavors of young law faculty who bring diverse experiences and perspectives into the classroom and to their research. 

Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Mary Croughan announced today that Jessica Berg will be the next dean of the UC Davis School of Law. Berg, who has served as one of two co-deans of the School of Law at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) for nearly 11 years, will start on September 1. 

With new internet privacy regulations demanding compliance from data systems, computer science researchers from UC Davis and UC Irvine have partnered with UC Davis School of Law Professor Stacy-Ann Elvy to translate the regulations into technical language.

Professor Shayak Sarkar wrote a June 11 op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle examining the Internal Revenue Service’s longtime collaboration with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.

The IRS and ICE have used “employer investigations to literally point ICE’s guns at workers — citizens and noncitizens alike,” Sarkar writes. “It needs to stop.”

Professor Stacy-Ann Elvy researches the commercial law of privacy and its relationship to emerging technology and human rights law. She explores those areas in her forthcoming book, The Cambridge Handbook on Emerging Issues at the Intersection of Commercial Law and Technology, co-edited with Nancy S. Kim, and her 2021 book A Commercial Law of Privacy and Security for the Internet of Things, also with Cambridge University Press.

UC Davis School of Law Dean Kevin R. Johnson received the Schwartz/Levi Inn of Court’s Lifetime Service Award at a June 5 meeting.

The retired Sacramento Superior Court Judge Emily E. Vasquez and California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District Justice Shama H. Mesiwala ’98 gave remarks and spoke highly about his dedication to the legal profession and UC Davis Law community members’ great accomplishments. 

The Mexican American Bar Foundation honored Dean Kevin R. Johnson with its 2024 Precursor de Justicia Award at the Foundation’s 33rd Annual Scholarship and Awards Gala. Johnson accepted the award at a June 1 ceremony.  

In a March 7 opinion column, the New York Times’ Pamela Paul reported on a Stanford panel discussion featuring Professor Brian Soucek and other scholars. The participants debated the use of diversity, equity and inclusion statements in faculty hiring decisions.

Dean Kevin R. Johnson spoke to reporter Cory Smith of the National Desk for a May 9 story on the Biden administration’s plan to speed up some asylum claim denials.

There are obviously political ramifications to this proposed change, Johnson told Smith.

Professor Rick Frank spoke to the Daily Journal for a March 12 story on the potential legal ramifications of the deadline passing for seven western states to reach agreement on sharing dwindling water supplies from the Colorado River.

UC Davis School of Law will hold the Third Annual Michael A. Olivas Writing Institute on June 20-21, 2024 at Martin Luther King Jr. Hall. Twenty legal scholars, ranging from recent law graduates and junior faculty, will convene to receive input on their recent scholarship from a supportive intellectual community. The workshop seeks to grow the new pipeline of law professors and advance the scholarly endeavors of young law faculty who bring diverse experiences and perspectives into the classroom and to their research. 

On May 28,  Lisa Ikemoto participated in the University College London symposium “A Century of Eugenics on our Borders: Centennial of the Johnson-Reed/U.S. Border Patrol.” 

Ikemoto chaired the panel “Population Bomb, the Great Replacement Theory  and Pronatalism,” and provided commentary on the symposium’s wrap-up panel.

Professor Rick Frank spoke to Los Angeles Times Washington columnist Doyle McManus for a March 31 column on how Donald Trump plans to roll back California’s clean energy initiatives if he is elected president again.

On March 25, Professor Lisa Ikemoto presented at the 2024 American Association for Anatomy annual meeting in Toronto. She addressed social justice and legal concerns for body donation programs, when potential uses have changed between the time of donation and the donor’s death.

In a May 23 op-ed in The Hill, Professor Emeritus Alan Brownstein explored the argument that protests challenging government action and decisions, whether protected speech or not, deserve special recognition and respect.

In a May 22 op-ed for The Hill, Professor Stacy-Ann Elvy argues that Congress should enact a comprehensive statute to protect children’s online privacy. 

Professor Darien Shanske spoke to Law360 for an April 12 story about litigation challenging a New York regulation outlining when certain online activities by out-of-state businesses exceed protections against state income taxes.

On April 19, Professor Courtney Joslin  presented a forthcoming book chapter, “The High Stakes of Gamete Regulation in a Post-Dobbs World,” at the LGBTQ+ Rights and Advocacy in Legal Education Summit at Gonzaga University School of Law. Joslin co-authored the chapter with Northeastern School of Law Assistant Professor Katherine Kraschel and Yale Law Professor Douglas NeJaime.

Professor Courtney Joslin spoke to NPR for an April 2 report on how families circumvented Michigan’s restrictions on surrogacy before the Michigan Family Protection Act was signed into law on April 1.

Sacramento Bee reporter Matthew Miranda interviewed Dean Kevin R. Johnson for an April 17 story based on recent polls showing an increasing number of Latinos are frustrated with the United States’ immigration system, and in some cases, with arriving migrantts as well.

Professor Courtney Joslin was a panelist for an April 17 American Bar Association Family Law Section webinar on the recently enacted Michigan Family Protection Act (MFPA).

Joslin helped draft the MFPA, which updates Michigan’s parentage laws to ensure that they apply to and protect all children born through assisted reproduction and surrogacy. 

On April 16, Professor Courtney Joslin and Yale Law School Professor Douglas NeJaime presented their forthcoming NYU Law Review article “Multiparenthood” for Yale Law Professor William Eskridge’s Sexuality, Gender and the Law class.

Senior Associate Dean Afra Afsharipour spoke to Bloomberg for a Feb. 29 story on Exxon’s legal fight with Chevron over a rich oil source off the coast of Guyana.

On May 9, the Daily Journal profiled Magistrate Judge and  UC Davis Law adjunct professor Dennis Cota ’86 of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

In the story, Cota discusses his devotion to teaching and coaching trial practice students at UC Davis Law, and how Professor Emeritus Edward Imwinkelried “really inspired me to be a litigator.”