Alum Melinda Guzman Moore to Deliver Keynote at KHOP Awards
Melinda Guzman Moore '88 delivered the keynote address at the UC Davis School of Law's annual King Hall Outreach Program (KHOP) PreLaw Undergraduate Scholars (PLUS) awards banquet held August 8 at the University Club. An attorney with the Sacramento firm of Goldsberry, Freeman & Guzman LLP since 1999, Guzman Moore serves as general counsel for the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the California State University's Board of Trustees.
The KHOP PLUS program is a mentoring program that facilitates genuine equal access to law school for first-generation college students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and underserved communities. Diversity remains a problem in the field of American law, where only around ten percent of the nation's lawyers are American Indian, African American, Asian American, or Hispanic. The program is unique throughout the University of California system and in comparison to outreach programs around the country. Instead of simply offering courses in law, KHOP PLUS assists students in raising their college grades and in scoring well on the LSAT. During their junior and senior years of college, including summer sessions, KHOP PLUS participants commit to an intensive regimen that includes application workshops and courses in test study techniques, logic, and writing.
Since the program's inception in 2001, KHOP PLUS graduates have gone on to study law at UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Seton Hall University, and Golden Gate University. Of the 74 students who have completed the program, 11 have now graduated from law school, three are currently enrolled, and three are entering law school in the fall. This year's KHOP PLUS program celebrates 34 student participants. Partial funding for KHOP is made possible through a grant from the Law School Admission Council PLUS program.