32nd KHLF Auction Set for February 19
The King Hall Legal Foundation (KHLF) Spring Charity Auction, one of the most anticipated annual events on the UC Davis School of Law community calendar, is set for February 19, and hopes are high that this year's auction will be another entertaining and enjoyable opportunity for UC Davis School of Law faculty, friends, alumni, students, and staff to come together in support of public interest law at King Hall.
The event will take place at Freeborn Hall, adjacent to the Memorial Union on the UC Davis Campus, with doors opening at 6:30 pm on February 19. There will be silent and live auctions featuring items donated by local businesses, students, faculty, and staff, with proceeds funding public interest law grants and fellowships awarded by KHLF. Tickets are available online prior to the event (see link below) for $12, or for $15 at the door for UC Davis students, $20 for non-students.
The Spring Charity Auction is a Law School tradition that began in 1978 as a modest affair, drawing a small but dedicated group of supporters. It has grown into one of the key events of the year for the King Hall community, offering an opportunity for alumni, faculty, students, staff, and friends of the Law School to mingle and mix while also providing vital funding for King Hall students' public interest law activities. Last year, more than 600 alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends of the Law School came together to raise almost $30,000 to support KHLF and celebrate the achievements of King Hall's public interest law community.
"I've been coming every year since I graduated," said Bruce Chang '05. "It's a good way to reconnect with faculty and alumni in the area, and they've also got a lot of very interesting items to bid on--some things that are kind of funny, some are a really good deal, and some things are pretty unique. I've bid on items every year, and every year I've been very pleased with what I ended up getting--restaurant gift certificates, artwork, gift certificates and coupons for various businesses in the area."
Last year, dozens of King Hall faculty and several alumni contributed items for the auction, which ranged from opportunities to dine with faculty in their homes or favorite restaurants to the offer from Kirsten Hill '04, Associate Director of Career Services and Public Interest Career Planning, and Professor Amagda Pérez of a rafting tour down the South Fork of the American River, complete with a picnic lunch packed by Professor Pérez.
"I guide whitewater rafting trips for the university's Outdoor Adventures program and I've taken the KHOP participants and the Dean down the river for the past several years. That experience prompted me to start donating rafting trips to the KHLF auction. In fact, Dean Johnson bought the last rafting trip I donated."
KHLF and the annual auction serve critical needs for the Law School and the community, Hill added. The money raised through the auction funds grants that enable students interested in public interest law to work for legal services organizations, provide much needed help to underserved populations, "and still make enough money so they can eat and pay their rent over the summer."
"It's also a great way for alumni and other people in the community to come together, catch up with one another, have a great time, and support a good cause," she said.
The King Hall Legal Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the access of underserved populations to the American legal system through the funding of projects proposed by King Hall students and support for students pursuing careers in the public interest law. In 2009, KHLF awarded 12 Summer Public Interest Grants, which funded 4,800 hours of public service work, and two Bar Fellowships, distributing over $55,000 in grant monies. In past years, recipients of KHLF funds have engaged in projects at California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Georgia Capital Defender Project, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Donation and sponsorship opportunities still exist for this year's auction. All proceeds from the auction fund project grants awarded to current students pursuing unpaid legal work in the public interest, and Bar Fellowships for graduating King Hall students pursuing a career in a public interest position. To find out more, contact KHLF co-chairs Theo Cuison ([email protected]) and Scott Vignos ([email protected]). To purchase tickets online, use the link below.