Justice Kelli Evans ’94 Helps Build King Hall Legacy on State High Court
In January, students, faculty, staff and alumni gathered in King Hall’s courtyard to celebrate the appointment of Associate Justice Kelli Evans ’94 to the California Supreme Court.
“I remember the first time I set foot in King Hall and saw the statue of Dr. King and knew I had come to the right place,” Evans told the audience. The Martin Luther King Jr. Service Award winner in her 3L year, Evans credits her UC Davis Law education as integral to her distinguished career in public service.
“At King Hall, you learn how to passionately state your positions, to be clear writers, and you learn how to do the right thing, and to speak up,” Evans said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom selected Evans, previously an Alameda Superior Court judge, to fill the seat vacated by then-Associate Justice Patricia Guerrero’s elevation to chief justice after Tani Cantil-Sakauye ’84 announced she would retire. Sworn in by Gov. Newsom in January, Evans became the second UC Davis Law graduate to sit on the state high court, after Cantil-Sakauye.
Before joining the judiciary, Evans served as chief deputy legal affairs secretary in Gov. Newsom’s office. She previously served as special assistant to Attorney General Xavier Becerra in the California Department of Justice; senior director for the administration of justice at the California State Bar; and as associate director of the ACLU of Northern California. Evans also worked as a senior trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and as an assistant public defender for Sacramento County.
“There is no single pathway to career fulfillment,” Evans said during her King Hall visit, directing her remarks to students. “Make sure you do what you want to do, not what you think you are expected to do. I think I have been so happy in my career because that’s advice I gave myself and have tried to follow.”
“I have done a lot of different things, but there is a connection there — they are all building blocks for one another,” Evans continued. She encouraged students to be willing to “change things up” in their own careers.
In the spring, Evans delivered the keynote speech at the Black Law Students Association annual banquet and received the Distinguished Alumna Award at “Celebrating King Hall.”