Justice Kelli Evans, Class of ’94

King Hall 2023 Distinguished Alumna Award winner Justice Kelli Evans ’94 was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California on January 2, 2023. Previously, Justice Evans served as an Alameda County Superior Court Judge. In 2022, the Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association named her Judge of the Year.

Justice Evans’ illustrious public service career has included serving as Chief Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary in the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Special Assistant to the Attorney General at the California Department of Justice, Senior Director for the Administration of Justice at the California State Bar, Associate Director (and previously Staff Attorney) of the ACLU of Northern California, Senior Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and Assistant Public Defender at the Sacramento County Public Defender’s Office. Justice Evans has also served on a number of non-profit boards and is a Harvard Law School Wasserstein Fellow. As a King Hall student, she received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Public Service.

What did you do to celebrate when you learned you were going to be a California Supreme Court Justice?

I shared the incredible news with my wife and daughter and we had a lovely celebratory dinner. Once the news became public, the support and enthusiasm from friends, neighbors, colleagues, and even people I didn’t know or know very well was truly amazing. In addition to my wife and daughter, my closest friends and family members, including my sister, aunts and uncle, cousins, and in‐laws, traveled to San Francisco to attend my confirmation hearing. It was tremendous having them all there and we shared a joyous weekend of celebration that included lots of good food and laughs.

How do your personal experiences inform you as a judge?

While impartiality is the first principle of being a judge, judges are human beings. Like all human beings, their personal and professional experiences inform their perspectives and viewpoints. I have the privilege of approaching every decision with a certain duality. I have an outsider/insider perspective in that I know what it’s like to grow up with few financial resources and also what it’s like to be at the table where consequential decisions are made and to be the actual decision maker. I know what it’s like to be a Black woman, a lesbian, a working mother, a civil rights advocate, an attorney who has both sued the government and represented it at the highest levels. These lived experiences and many others give me a deep and nuanced understanding of people and of our justice system, including the barriers many people face in accessing it.

You said you placed your King Hall diploma in your grandmother’s casket. Why did she mean so much to you?

Along with raising her own four daughters, she raised me and my little sister. She’s no longer living but she was and will always be my biggest role model. She was understated, had integrity and courage, an abiding commitment to justice, a wicked sense of humor, and a faith in and a love for this country notwithstanding the brutal racism she experienced growing up in the Jim Crow South. Even though she only had an eighth grade education, she understood the importance and power of education and made tremendous sacrifices to make sure that we had opportunities that she and so many others were denied. She worked to make sure that our home always was filled with books including the encyclopedia set she purchased on what was no doubt a usurious installment plan or the books that she found on sale in the bargain bin four for a dollar.

Why did you choose to attend King Hall?

I wanted to become a lawyer in order to practice public interest law and King Hall had an exceptional commitment to public interest programming. I was particularly excited and impressed by the range of clinical opportunities available to students. I also was fortunate to receive a very generous financial aid offer that made it possible for me to attend law school without worrying about accruing a heavy debt load. This was important to me as I knew that I would be pursuing government and non‐profit jobs that, while extremely rewarding, generally did not come with big salaries.

What is your favorite King Hall memory?

There are too many to count. While I certainly enjoyed engaging in many robust classroom debates, I probably look most fondly upon my clinic experiences, including both the Prison Law Clinic and the Immigration Clinic. For example, as part of the Immigration Clinic, we designed and delivered presentations to local Public Defender offices about the immigration consequences of guilty pleas. I absolutely loved having the ability to provide critical information to busy practicing attorneys that could potentially change the trajectory of their clients’ lives. In addition to so many incredible classroom and clinic experiences, I have a searing memory of being in the student lounge with other classmates watching the Rodney King verdict being announced. This isn’t my favorite memory but it was certainly a formative one and probably helped shape the direction of my career.

How have you stayed connected to King Hall?

I’ve stayed connected to King Hall through connections with other King Hall alumni. I also had the pleasure of attending a reunion and periodically running into Dean Johnson!

Of what are you proudest?

On a personal level, I’m extraordinarily proud of my daughter and the young adult she has become. Professionally, I’m proud to have had a career in which I played a role in making the justice system more just and more accessible.

Do you have any advice for current law students?

Don’t be afraid to pursue what interests you even if it means doing something non‐traditional or different than most of your peers. There is no one way to be a lawyer and no single pathway to success, career fulfillment, or even the bench. And, remember that you can always change course. One of the most powerful aspects of having a law degree is that it gives you the ability to work in virtually any sector and to do an incredibly broad range of work. I also encourage law students, no matter what their eventual practice looks like, to try and give back to the community. They’ll not only make a difference, perhaps even a lifesaving difference, in someone else’s life but they will benefit personally and professionally as well.