News

Professor Chimène Keitner spoke to The New York Times about Mexican officials’ announcement on June 9 that they planned to file criminal complaints in the United States regarding the deaths of several Mexican citizens during immigration operations.

ChangeLawyers, a community foundation that empowers the next generation of lawyers, judges and activists, has highlighted incoming UC Davis Law student Sharan Kalkat ’29 as a member of the Next Gen Scholars cohort.

Professor Karrigan Börk spoke to the New York Times about the Trump administration’s recasting of the word “harm” in the Endangered Species Act.

On July 10, the United States' Interior and Commerce departments announced they had rescinded the longstanding interpretation of “harm” to include not just killing or injuring animals but destroying habitat.

Professor Sarah Polcz spoke to The Atlantic for a July 2 story headlined “Why Everyone Is Suddenly Talking About ’Universal Basic Capital.’”

Since 2001, the King Hall Outreach Program has helped high-potential first-generation or economically underserved college students and recent graduates gain the knowledge and skills needed to excel in the law school admissions process.

The brainchild of then-Assistant Dean of Admission Sharon Pinkney, KHOP began as an in-residence program, held during the summer, before assuming its current schedule of distinct winter and summer sessions unfolding over four Saturdays.

In a July 2 article in the New York Times, Professor Vikram Amar offered analysis of the role of Chief Justice John Roberts during this year's tumultuous Supreme Court term. The article points out that while the recently ended term that included several controversial cases left many unhappy, it was a triumph for Roberts.

Professors Gabriel “Jack” Chin and Kevin R. Johnson spoke to media about the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on June 30 to reject President Donald Trump’s executive order attempting to end automatic birthright citizenship.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has named UC Davis Law Visiting Lecturer George G. Demos as director of its Division of Enforcement and Investigations. He will manage the PCAOB’s investigations and enforcement of violations of its rules, professional standards, and other securities regulations. 

On June 18, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) introduced a bill based on Professor Sarah Polcz’s research.

Mila and Ernie Llorente ’75 have made a gift to establish a public interest internship fund at UC Davis School of Law. 

The Mila and Ernie Llorente ’75 Public Interest Internship will provide stipends to support students who work for city or county governmental agencies during the summer, with a preference for positions in the Bay Area.

James Gallagher ’07 has been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, filling the Northern California District 1 seat long held by Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who died in January 2026.

Gallagher won the June primary special election to serve out LaMalfa’s term. A state Assembly member for 12 years, Gallagher served as Assembly Republican Minority Leader from 2022-25. Before the Assembly, Gallagher served on the Sutter County Board of Supervisors.

Six UC Davis Law students have received prestigious John Paul Stevens Foundation Public Interest Fellowships.

Thirteen years after starting a UC Davis Law scholarship, Ken and Susie Cassman remain excited about its mission – and cherish the memory of the person who inspired it.

Celestial Summer Dove Cassman ’04, known as “Dove” to her family, “was always interested in the vulnerable and the underserved” and in trying to right inequities, her father said during a recent visit to King Hall with his wife.

The Hawaii Supreme Court cited Professor Courtney Joslin in its decision in JK v. HK. The decision held that a woman was a legal parent to a child born to her former same-sex partner and for whom she had jointly planned and cared.

Professor Hannah Buxbaum spoke to the New York Times for a May 28 report on a highly unusual development in the long-running dispute between Greenpeace and the American pipeline company Energy Transfer.

The New Republic quoted Professor Darien Shanske extensively in a May 26 essay by Alex Thomas exploring efforts by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and others to fight the “billionaire’s tax” California ballot initiative with competing initiatives.

Professor Nila Bala spoke to CNN for a May 24 report exploring potential prosecution of the parents of a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old suspect in the San Diego mosque shooting. Three people were killed in the May 18 attack.

Professor Brian Soucek wrote a May 7 op-ed for The Chronicle of Higher Education, "What Makes Yale Think It Speaks for Higher Ed." 

Read the the full op-ed.

Professor Sarah Polcz published an op-ed in The Hill on April 29, "Let the public share in the rewards of artificial intelligence." 

On April 29, UC Davis School of Law recognized faculty and staff excellence at its annual Celebrating King Hall event.

Professor Nila Bala commented in a May 14 story in The Guardian centered on parents being prosecuted in school shootings perpetrated by their children. 

The story mentions the murder conviction earlier this year of a Georgia father whose son killed four people and the groundbreaking 2024 case of a Michigan couple convicted of involuntary manslaughter in their son’s deadly shooting.

Judy Holzer Hersher ’84, a retired Sacramento Superior Court judge, has established an endowment at UC Davis School of Law for the Study of Judicial Philosophy and Jurisprudence in the Modern Judiciary. 

Professor Darien Shanske collaborated on a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed piece and spoke to the San Jose Mercury News about the proposed California “billionaire’s tax” ballot initiative that he helped draft.

Professor Lisa R. Pruitt commented in a May 8 story in The Guardian on former California State Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, a Sonoma County Democrat running for Congress in Northern California’s first district. Maguire could be competitive in the historically Republican district, which was redrawn by California’s Proposition 50 to favor Democrats.