News

In an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times on May 31, Professor Shayak Sarkar and Josh Rosenthal argue that the Supreme Court decision in Tyler vs. Hennepin County serves as a warning about legal defects in other property tax laws that unfairly harm communities of color, including California’s own Proposition 13.

Jennifer Novak ’96 founded her law firm, the Law Office of Jennifer F. Novak, Environmental Law, to represent clients who value environmental laws and take compliance seriously but want to keep the regulatory process fair. Her clients include small businesses, individual property owners, and Fortune 500 companies. Previously, she was a Deputy Attorney General at the California Department of Justice for nine years. An active volunteer, she has worked with students, cleaned up beaches, sorted food donations, and led the California Lawyers Association’s Environmental Law Section.

Professor Donna Shestowsky presented her empirical work on online dispute resolution (ODR) on May 12 at the 2023 American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution 2023 Spring Conference in Las Vegas.

Shestowsky spoke as part of the panel “ODR - Learning From the New Court Technology Frontier.”

On May 22, Senior Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Emily Scivoletto received the Diversity and Principles of Community Award at UC Davis’ “Soaring to New Heights” celebration.  

UC Davis Law’s Aoki Water Justice Clinic received a $2.58 million grant from the California State Water Resources Control Board that will fund the clinic’s operation into early 2026.

On May 23, Professor Christopher Elmendorf spoke to host Vicki Gonzalez of Capital Public Radio’s Insight program about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious proposals to streamline major infrastructure projects in the state.

Professor Shayak Sarkar presented a draft of his article  “Internal Revenue’s External Borders,” on April 28 at the annual Critical Tax Conference hosted by Loyola Marymount University.

Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law Dean Paul L. Caron wrote about the conference on his TaxProf Blog.

Professor Shayak Sarkar presented a working paper on the exclusion of foreign farmworkers from Social Security taxes as part of a workshop titled “The Interlinking Between Taxation, Citizenship, and Democracy” on May 8 at BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo.

Dean Kevin R. Johnson spoke as part of a workshop titled “Speak or Don’t Speak? Weighing the Institutional Obligation to Make Statements in Times of Trouble” at the Annual Meeting of Law School Diversity Professionals. Chapman University Fowler School of Law hosted the meeting, held April 26-28 in Anaheim.

On May 4, Dean Kevin R. Johnson took part in the virtual, nonpartisan Association of American Law Schools’ Conference on Defending Democracy.

Johnson presented on the panel “Beyond Imagination? The State of the Union Three Years After January 6.”

Watch a video replay of the panel discussion.

Dean Kevin R. Johnson has joined a new, first-of-its-kind Hispanic National Bar Association task force on Hispanic law faculty and deans.

Professor Darien Shanske ranks  No. 6 among tax law professors in all-time SSRN downloads, with 117,196, according to SSRN’s monthly rankings for May.

Pepperdine Caruso School of Law Dean Paul L. Caron broke down the rankings in a May 25 post on his TaxProf Blog.

Professor Lisa Ikemoto spoke at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine workshop “In Vitro Derived Human Gametes: Scientific, Ethical, Regulatory, Legal and Clinical Implications,” held April 19-21 in Washington, D.C.

On April 7, Professor Lisa Ikemoto addressed the legal implications of the Dobbs decision for abortion and other reproductive service as part of the virtual UNLV Health Law Program Annual Conference presented by the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Dean Kevin R. Johnson participated in the Workshop on Race, Empire and Migration. Johnson was the Reader/Discussant for the “Framing Race, Empire, and Migration” panel featuring Professor Stephen Lee of UC Irvine and Professor Karen Musalo of UC College of the Law, San Francisco.

UCLA School of Law’s The Promise Institute for Human Rights and UC Santa Barbara’s Migration Initiative presented the workshop, held virtually May 19-20.

Professor Donna Shestowsky and Jennifer Shack of Resolution Systems Institute wrote about text-based, online dispute resolution for the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Magazine.

Professor Elizabeth Joh wrote a catalog essay for “SHIFT,” an exhibition on artificial intelligence at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.

The essay concerns the work of American transdisciplinary artist and educator Heather Dewey-Hagborg.

Professor Amelia Miazad spoke to the public radio program Here & Now for a March 22 report on conservative pushback regarding ESG (environmental, social and governance) investment strategies, particularly those that eschew fossil fuel investments.

The Boston Globe’s Jeff Jacoby quoted Professor Lisa Pruitt an April 5 opinion piece headlined “Working class voters didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party left them.”

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Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin spoke to the San Diego Union-Tribune for an April 9 story exploring why  judges pushed for settlement in criminal and civil cases tied to an alleged conspiracy to defraud the city of millions and millions of dollars. 

Twenty King Hall law students -- a record number – externed during the spring semester with the Sacramento Public Defender’s office. They provided thousands of hours of legal services while honing valuable skills including interviewing clients and witnesses, completing legal and factual research, negotiating settlements, and appearing in court under the student practice rule.  Students worked in a wide range of practice areas including DUI, misdemeanor intake, and juvenile court.

Dean Kevin R. Johnson explored the future of diversity in legal education in a column written for the March/April 2023 edition of the American Inns of Court publication The Bencher.

Iowa Supreme Court Justice Matthew McDermott cited Professor Elizabeth Joh in his dissent in Iowa v. Jerry Lynn Burns. The court affirmed the 2018 conviction of Burns in the 39-year-old cold case murder of Michelle Martinko, denying Burns’ argument that police violated his constitutional rights in obtaining a DNA sample from a soda straw.

Professor Lisa Ikemoto spoke to Women’s Health magazine for a story published online in April. The story explored programs that allow women to freeze their eggs – usually an expensive process – for free if they agree to donate half of them.