Students

UC Davis Law environmental law student experienced remarkable success during the spring 2025 semester.

In February, the 3L trio of Kaylinn Charnley, Abigail Talboy and Alina Werth finished among the three finalist teams in the prestigious Pace University Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition.  Thanks to King Hall alum and longtime coach David Green ’12 for guiding the team.

The King Hall Negotiations team hosted 30 teams of talented first-year UC Davis Law students on March 1 at the 17th annual Intraschool Negotiations Competition.

Congratulations to the winning teams of Anusha Entezari and Reagan Lewis and Wyatt Herrera and Cameron Lane and finalist teams Farhad Abadani and Logan James and Madison Mitchell and Angelene Obedoza. 

On March 6, students Thacher Hoch ’25 and Sinporion Phuong ’25 argued on behalf of a Civil Rights Clinic client before a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. The panel comprised Judges Kim McLane Wardlaw, Richard A. Paez and Kenneth K. Lee.

Nayarith Franco Vasquez ’26 has received a prestigious Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund Law School Scholarship. Franco Vasquez is one of 10 law students across the nation awarded $5,000.

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 November’s second round of 32 teams.

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

This week, UC Davis School of Law welcomed one of the most accomplished and diverse first-year classes in the law school’s history.

The Class of 2027 consists of 198 students, with a median undergraduate GPA of 3.68 and median LSAT score of 163. A remarkable 68% of the class are students of color, with enrollment of African American (14%) and Latinx (26%) first-year students at their highest levels in at least a decade. The class includes four Native American students. Women compose 54% of the class, and 24% of 1L students identify as LGBTQ+.

UC Davis ranks No. 2 historically in student diversity, according to the new Northwestern Pritzker School of Law paper “Affirmative Action and Racial Diversity in U.S. Law Schools, 1980-2021.”

The paper by New York University Professor Richard R.W. Brooks, Northwestern Law Professor Kyle Rozema and Yale Law Professor Sarath Sanga studies racial diversity in American law schools and the impact of state-level affirmative action bans.

Thirty-two talented teams from the Class of 2026 participated in the 17th UC Davis Law Intraschool Negotiations Competition, held March 2 at King Hall.

Congratulations to winning teams Nicole Larson and Olivia Shaw and Artem Borysyuk and Michael Yoakam, and to finalist teams Ramanjit Kaur and Sabrina Duvall and Lexi Vitangcol and Victoria Wong.

Maxwell Davis ’25 and Aeman Shahbaz ’25 placed first at the regional ABA Client Counseling Competition held Feb. 16-18 at the University of Oregon School of Law. The pair will compete in the national finals March 15-16 at Louisiana State University.

In a Feb.

The Chicago Cafe in Woodland is the oldest Chinese restaurant in California – and possibly the United States – an interdisciplinary UC Davis research project led by Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin has found.

The Unity Bar of Yolo County honored Dean Kevin R. Johnson, Professor Amagda Pérez ’91 and the UC Davis Law Black Law Students Association at its first awards gala on Nov. 2.

Criminal law Professors Irene Joe, Andrea Cann Chandrasekher and Gabriel “Jack” Chin will hold a special class for first-year law and LL.M. students at 1 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 3 at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

Professors Rick Frank and Karrigan Börk led a group of 25 King Hall law students who attended the California Lawyers Association’s/Environmental Law Section’s 32nd Environmental Law Conference Oct. 18-22 at Yosemite.

Thirty-one teams from the Class of 2026 competed in the King Hall Negotiations Team’s 12th annual 1L Negotiations Competition, held Saturday, Oct. 7.

Congratulations to winning teams Claire Stoecklein and Mia Brittingham and Steven Li and Parham Pahlevani, and to finalist teams Kessie Huang and Victoria Tam and Allison Hodge and Pendar Salemi.

Many thanks go to the judges and to the KHNT membership, executive board and advisor Professor Donna Shestowsky.

By Carla Meyer

Entering her 1L year at UC Davis Law, Kimberly Martinez ’25 anticipated having “a lot of questions that I wouldn’t necessarily know who to ask,” she said. As the first college graduate in her family, she knew she differed from most law school peers, so “there was also that element of thinking other students won’t understand why I am asking certain questions – or why some resources might not be available to me.”

Earlier this year, Grace Wiley ’24 received UC Davis Law’s Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) award for outstanding externship student. Externship Director Dena Bauman nominated Wiley for her accomplishments in her two externship placements. 

In fall 2022, Wiley interned with Justice Shama Mesiwala ’98, then a Sacramento Superior Court judge and now a California Court of Appeal, Third District associate justice.

The John Paul Stevens Foundation selected six UC Davis Law students as 2023 Fellows. Named for the late Supreme Court justice, the prestigious fellowship provides grants to enable law students to work in unpaid public interest summer law positions.

The selected students will work with governmental agencies or nonprofit organizations this summer:

By Carla Meyer 

UC Davis School of Law alumni and students are leading efforts to assist migrants who were transported unannounced to Sacramento from the U.S.-Mexico border under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ relocation program. 

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg ’84 set the tone for local officials by warmly welcoming the 36 new arrivals, who were sent to Sacramento on two chartered flights in early June.

On May 15, the King Hall community gathered at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts for the first in-person commencement in three years.

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.

Professor Lisa Pruitt, Kaceylee Klein ’25 presented their paper “Rural Bashing” on Feb. 17 at the University of Richmond Law Review symposium “Overlooked America: Addressing Legal Issues Facing Rural United States.” 

Thirty-four teams participated in UC Davis Law’s Intraschool Negotiations Competition, held March 4 at King Hall.

Congratulations to winning teams Sinporion Phuong ’25 and Mark Lerner ’25 and Garrett Vena ’24 and Ethan Hicks ’24, and to finalists Hannah Thomas and Morgen Hopson and Kim Martinez and Ethan Bell – all from the Class of 2025 – and to all the teams for their strong efforts in the competition.

Thanks to Dean Kevin R. Johnson for offering opening remarks, King Hall Negotiations Team advisor Professor Donna Shestowsky, and to all of our practitioner judges.

UC Davis Law ranks No. 1 among the nation’s law schools in “greatest resources for women,” according to The Princeton Review’s just-released “Best Law Schools, 2023” rankings. Davis also placed high for “best quality of life” (No. 10).

UC Davis School of Law students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends marked Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. holiday with the law school's fourth MLK Day of Service and Celebration. The day’s activities furthered the principle of community service so vital to the mission of King, the civil rights giant whose name graces the law school's building.