Dean's Welcome Message: Fall 2022
A message from Dean Kevin R. Johnson
Welcome to the entire King Hall community. We open the new semester with energy and enthusiasm, Intro Week (and the traditional 1L BBQ), and many wonderful fall events.
Our King Hall community stands proud in topsy-turvy times. This week, Governor Newsom nominated Kelli Evans ’94 as Associate Justice on the California Supreme Court. After a path-breaking run, Chief Justice of California Tani Cantil-Sakauye ’84 announced that she will step down effective January 1, 2023. Sister Simone Campbell ’77 received the Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden. Aidín Castillo ’11 is the new executive director of the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center. Sacramento Superior Court Judge and 2022 Commencement speaker Stacy Boulware Eurie ’95 has been confirmed as a justice on the California Court of Appeal, Third District.
The law school has moved forward on key diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging initiatives led by its Educational Policy Committee and Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. They include a new graduation requirement beginning with next fall’s 1L class and continued implicit bias training for all first-year students.
DEI consultant Marion Cloete will lead an implicit bias training for 1Ls and Academic Success Program tutors on August 17. Our Community Read on August 18 spotlights Zach Norris’ timely book Defund Fear: Safety Without Policing, Prisons, and Punishment. Alexis Elston, our inaugural Director of Diversity and Student Life, organized these events and continues to lead the King Hall DEI Committee.
Our world-renowned majority-minority faculty leads by example. In the classroom and the national media, King Hall’s teacher-scholars provide clarity on abortion rights, business law, criminal law, environmental law, gun control, immigration and civil rights, intellectual property and other public policy issues. The podcast Justice Defined spotlights faculty research.
Top scholars from across the nation will gather at UC Davis Law September 16-17 for the second annual Workshop for Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) and Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Women in the Legal Academy. Thanks to Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor Afra Afsharipour and Professor Lisa Ikemoto for serving on the event’s planning committee.
Our Racial Justice Speaker Series returns this fall:
Sept. 28: Leticia Saucedo, UC Davis Law Professor and National Senior Counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)
Oct. 5: Rose Cuison Villazor, Interim Dean, Rutgers Law School
Oct. 26: Deborah Archer, Professor, NYU School of Law (Barrett Lecture on Constitutional Law)
Nov. 16: Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Thomas E. Lifka Endowed Chair of History & Director, Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, UCLA
Nov. 30: Veronica Root Marti
nez, Professor, Duke University School of Law
March 1, 2023: Bruce Haynes, Professor, UC Davis Department of Sociology
March 15: Serena Mayeri, Professor of Law and History, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (Bodenheimer Lecture on Family Law)
March 22: Thomas Saenz, President and General Counsel, MALDEF
The Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies, directed by Professors Raquel Aldana and Dean Kevin R. Johnson, co-sponsors the Racial Justice Speaker Series. The Center will again offer its own full racial justice programming, which will be posted on its website.
The health and safety of our community remains our foremost concern. Find COVID-19 updates on the King Hall and campus websites. A campus website offers public health updates.
The Amazing Class of 2025!
With 209 members, the Class of 2025 is exceptionally accomplished and diverse. Students of color make up nearly 60% of the J.D. class, women compose 58%, and 22% of the class identifies as LGBTQ+. Nearly one-fifth are first-generation college graduates. Thirty-one percent will receive need-based aid, and 99% will receive some financial assistance. In 2021/22, the law school raised more than $2.63 million, including $900,000 from Bill Mantle ’74 to support scholarships. The class includes four alumni of the King Hall Outreach Program, which prepares students for law school admissions, as well as a U.S. Marine; AmeriCorps alums; and athletes, teachers and advocates for social justice.
Thirty-eight new Master of Laws students join our community with 22 continuing LL.M. students. These pioneers come from around the world: China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States. Thanks to Associate Dean for International Programs Beth Greenwood for her work in assisting the LL.M. students to come to UC Davis.
Faculty News
We have two new faculty and will search for two more in 2022/23. A lateral hire from Florida State, Professor Mary Ziegler has joined the faculty as an expert on the law, history, and politics of reproduction, health care, and conservatism in the United States. She has made many, many media appearances since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and published op-eds in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Professor Ziegler’s new book, Dollars for Life: The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment (Yale University Press), has been published.
Acting Professor Amelia Miazad has joined UC Davis Law as an expert on the nexus between corporate law and environmental, social and governance issues. Her scholarship has appeared in the Vanderbilt Law Review, Minnesota Law Review and UC Davis Law Review, among others. Professor Miazad previously was a Senior Research Fellow at UC Berkeley School of Law, where she founded the Business in Society Institute.
Among an amazing group of visitors and lecturers, Maryam Jamshidi (Florida) and Wadie Said (South Carolina) will be teaching courses at King Hall this year.
Faculty accolades are abundant. Professor Raquel Aldana joined the Council on Foreign Relations. The University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law will publish a symposium on Professor Jack Chin’s article on “Dred Scott and Asian Americans.” Professor John Hunt was elected to the American Law Institute. Still working with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Professor Leticia Saucedo will co-edit a new UC Press book series on race, labor migration and the law. Professor Donna Shestowsky completed a ground-breaking empirical study of online dispute resolution.
Retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer cited Professor Carlton Larson’s scholarship in his dissent in the New York gun safety law case. Professor Lisa Ikemoto and Dean Kevin R. Johnson were widely quoted on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and Biden v. Texas, respectively, helping lead UC Davis’ strong media commentary at the end of the 2021 Supreme Court term. Professor Elizabeth Joh continues her podcast What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law. This year, UC Davis Law will launch the Center for Innovation, Law and Society, led by Professor Peter Lee. Among others, those quoted in the news were Afra Afsharipour, Ashutosh Bhagwat, Holly Cooper, Bill Dodge, Chris Elmendorf, Katherine Florey, Richard Frank, David Horton, Irene Joe, Tom Joo, Courtney Joslin, Al Lin, Lisa Pruitt, Darien Shanske, Brian Soucek, Aaron Tang, and Dennis Ventry.
Student Life, New Classes, and Resources
Students eager to learn about King Hall’s amazing student groups can attend a fair in the courtyard at noon on August 25.
Our students have had incredible success in the job market. Over 90% of the Class of 2021 secured legal jobs within 10 months of graduation, and the Class of 2022 is off to an amazing start with a remarkable 83% already securing full-time legal jobs just a few months after graduation. UC Davis Law also had a bustling on-campus interview season with more than 140 employers participating. This fall, the Career Services Office will hold Small and Midsize Firm and Public Interest and Government job fairs. In mid-September, counselors will begin meeting with each 1L student. The office will present programs for all students on topics including video interviewing and networking.
We added cutting-edge courses to our curriculum, including Advanced Topics in Administrative Law; Art and Cultural Heritage Law; Business in Society; Comparative Privacy Law; Critical Perspectives on Equal Protection; Drafting a Solar Farm Bill Practicum; Global Health Law; Race and the Law; and Transactional Lawyering Skills: Drafting for Tech.
Dr. Margaret Lee is scheduling in-person and virtual appointments. Campus Student Health and Counseling Services also provides counseling. Director of Diversity and Student Life Alexis Elston is available to meet with students about issues of law school climate and related issues.
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For news and announcements, be sure to check the law school website, Dean’s Blog, Faculty Blog and the weekly King Hall newsletter. Follow King Hall on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.