News

Professor of Environmental Practice and California Environmental Law & Policy Center Co-Director Rick Frank co-taught a Dec. 12-13 California Judicial Council-sponsored course in Sacramento designed to train state court judges regarding principles of California water law. 

Professors Kevin R. Johnson and Amagda Pérez appeared on ABC10 Sacramento’s To the Point with Alex Bell for an expansive Dec.

Professor Emeritus Alan Brownstein wrote an essay titled “Teaching Controversial Subjects” for the 2024 edition of the California Supreme Court Historical Society’s California Legal History journal.

The annual journal publishes scholarly articles as well as oral histories of important figures from California’s bar and judiciary.

Professor Afra Afsharipour delivered two lectures as a visiting scholar in Taiwan in early December. National Chung Hsing University in Taichung hosted Afsharipour’s visit.

On Nov. 22, Professor Lisa Ikemoto gave a presentation titled “Genome Nation”  as part of the Governing Reproduction: Exploring Law and Politics conference at the University of Ottawa. 

The interdisciplinary conference explored issues related to reproductive rights in Canada.

On Dec. 10, Professor Emeritus Ed Imwinkelried delivered a two-hour lecture on expert testimony to the Puerto Rican Bar Association.  The continuing legal education program is sponsored by the federal district court for Puerto Rico.

Several members of the UC Davis School of Law faculty are featured speakers and hold leadership positions at the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) 2025 Annual Meeting, in San Francisco, Jan. 7-11, 2025. The theme of the conference is “Courage in Action.”

Wednesday, Jan. 8:

Professor Kevin Johnson spoke to the Sacramento Bee for a Dec. 5 story on an Assembly bill that would restrict immigration officers from school campuses and childcare centers. 

On Nov. 22, Professor Kevin Johnson spoke as part of the workshop “Policies, Practices, and Systems to Retain and Advance Black People in SEM.”

Rithwik Gupta ’25 and Steven Li ’26 made a strong showing at the invite-only MAC Cup II: American Bar Association M&A Negotiations Competition. The pair advanced from October’s initial round of 64 teams to Novemeber’s second round of 32 teams.

Gupta and Lee skillfully negotiated a draft purchase agreement and issues list from both buyer and seller perspectives. 

Michael Taylor ’69 is a judge on the Appellate Courts of Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington State and the Tulalip Tribes and San Manuel Band of Serrano Indians in California. Previously, he has served as a judge on the Appellate Courts of Quinault Nation (Washington State); Lower Sioux (Minnesota); and Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw (Oregon).

Professor Lisa R. Pruitt’s career has stretched from early international work on cultural conflict to exploring how rurality affects people’s engagement with law and the state. She is now a leading expert on rural law and justice.

Professor  Chimène Keitner talked to BBC radio and blogged for Lawfare about the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants on Nov.

Professor Nila Bala’s forthcoming Boston College Law Review article  “Parent-Child Privilege as Resistance” received a highly positive and expansive review in Jotwell from Rutgers Law School Professor Anibal Rosario-Lebrón.

On Nov. 8, Professor Afra Afsharipour presented her article “ESG Dealmaking” (University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law, 2024) as part of the Emanuel Emroch Colloquy Series at the University of Richmond School of Law. 

Politico reporters Blanca Begert and Ry Rivard quoted Professor Rick Frank in a Nov. 18 report on how New Jersey and several other U.S. states now face drought and wildfire conditions long familiar to Californians.

Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin spoke to David Shribman for a Nov. 16 story in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper on President-elect Donald Trump’s unorthodox Cabinet picks, including former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services.

Professor Kevin R. Johnson spoke to Sacramento’s ABC10 news for a Nov. 22 report on whether California can afford to challenge moves made by the new Donald J. Trump presidential administration.

Professors Afra Afsharipour and Amelia Miazad moderated panel discussions at the 2024 Berkeley Fall Forum on Corporate Governance, presented by UC Berkeley School of Law’s Center for Law and Business and Cooley Nov. 12-13.

Professor Lisa Pruitt spoke just before the Nov. 5 presidential election to reporter Catarina Maldonado Vasconcelos of the Portuguese newspaper Expresso.

The Nov. 4 article looked at the state of the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on the final weekend before the election.

Professor Carlton F.W. Larson spoke to Katie Couric Media for a Jan. 12 story on what will happen to President-elect Donald Trump’s legal cases now that he has been re-elected.

Professor Lisa Ikemoto appeared on the CBS Evening News on Nov. 12 to discuss the lack of genetic information protections for customers of struggling genealogy testing website 23andMe. The company laid off 40% of its work force recently.

Professor Lisa Pruitt presented a  work in progress, “How the Rural Lawyer Shortage and Spatial Inequality are Undermining the Criminal Legal System in Washington State,” on Nov. 15 at the Law &  Rurality Workshop at the University of Iowa College of Law.

Professor Afra Afsharipour appeared on the Nov. 7 episode of the public radio program Marketplace in a report on mergers and acquisitions as an economic indicator.