Justice Shama Mesiwala ’98, Dana Cruz ’16 to Receive Alumni Awards

UC Davis School of Law will honor two highly accomplished and devoted alumni at its annual Reunions celebration on Saturday, Oct. 3 at King Hall.

California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District Associate Justice and longtime UC Davis Law Visiting Lecturer Shama Mesiwala ’98 will receive the Distinguished Alum Award. Dana Cruz ’16, a Judicial Council of California attorney and California State Guard captain, will be recognized with the Rising Star Alum Award.

Justice Mesiwala was confirmed to the Third District bench in early 2023 after six years on the Sacramento County Superior Court. She has spent her career in public service.

Post-law school, Justice Mesiwala represented indigent criminal defendants at the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Sacramento and the Central California Appellate Program, where she argued cases before the state Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal.

She then transitioned to the judiciary with attorney roles at the Third Appellate District. In 2017, Justice Mesiwala was appointed commissioner of the Sacramento Superior Court, and as a judge 10 months later.  

Justice Mesiwala has taught Appellate Advocacy to more than 1,000 students at UC Davis Law over the past 14 years. In 2026, she received the law school’s Distinguished Visiting Lecturer Award and served as keynote speaker at commencement. She previously received the King Hall Legal Foundation’s Judge of the Year award.

Active in the community, Justice Mesiwala served as president of the Schwartz/Levi American Inn of Court. Co-founder of the South Asian Bar Association of Sacramento, she has hosted its annual Diversity Law Student Reception for two decades. She also serves on the California Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Ethics Opinions.

Cruz is a governmental affairs attorney at the Judicial Council of California, the constitutional policymaking body for the state judiciary. Working at the intersection of law and public policy, he represents the courts before the Legislature and the governor on mental health issues.

Previously, he served as a fiscal policy advisor under two California governors and as a legislative aide in the state Senate, working on housing, homelessness and workforce-development issues. Cruz also volunteers as a judge advocate in the California State Guard, where he has achieved the rank of captain.

Cruz credits his time at King Hall with deepening his commitment to public service and helping shape a career across all three branches of state government.