KHLF Turns 30
In the spring of 1978, the UC Davis School of Law graduating class pledged more than $5,000 to form KHLF, a public interest law foundation that was member controlled and operated and independent of the Law School.
The founding members' purpose-to promote and support public interest law and provide public interest programming at the Law School through outside speakers, films, and discussions-was quickly realized.
That first summer, KHLF awarded two grants that significantly impacted the community: $4,000 to Asian Legal Services Outreach, Inc. to conduct community housing forums and print a tri-lingual handbook on public and subsidized housing in the Sacramento area and $225 to alum Rufino Diaz '77 of ACLU San Bernardino Legal Project to rent office space for a civil rights and public interest litigation project in San Bernardino.
Programming, such as the showing of the controversial Frederick Wiseman documentary film, portraying the bleak conditions of patients in a Massachusetts state hospital for the criminally insane and banned for 25 years by the Massachusetts's Court, highlighted the critical need for public interest attorneys.
Joel Diringer '80, an incorporating director and first president of KHLF, says the foundation captured the enthusiasm in the late 70s of law students and recent graduates to support public interest law. Diringer, who has worked for more than 30 years in the nonprofit, health, government, and philanthropic sectors says, "Creating KHLF was also one of the more sustainable achievements of my legal career in public interest law."
In the beginning, the KHLF Board was comprised of alumni, public interest attorneys, community members, faculty, and law students. Over the years, the Board evolved to become entirely King Hall students.
Grant applications during the first few years were accepted from and awarded to outside agencies and alumni. The bylaws were amended in 1979 to provide grants only to Law School students.
Today, every dollar raised by KHLF goes directly toward grants for UC Davis law students.
In 2007, the Board awarded a record 15 Public Interest Summer Grants to law students.
Nushin Sarkarati '09 served at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She visited sites of the Rwandan genocide and talked to the people in the process of recovering. "It turned the countless hours of reading witness testimony into something real," she says.
Jeff Edwards '09 served with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and spoke with incarcerated survivors of domestic violence who had never discussed the connection between their commitment offenses and their experiences of abuse.
Others served with the ACLU, California Endowment Health Grant, Disability Rights Advocates, East Bay Community Law Center, International Institute of the East Bay, Justice Now!, Law Students for Choice in Northern Thailand, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Legal Services of Northern California, Public Defender's Office of Santa Clara, Sacramento County Family Law Facilitator, and San Francisco Human Rights Commission
Deborah Gettleman '09, who worked at Justice Now, a prison abolitionist organization, says the grant allowed her to pursue her passion by funding what would've been unpaid summer work. "This summer made me remember why I chose to come to law school and how the law has perhaps the greatest capacity to achieve social change out of any profession."
Former KHLF President Diringer says, "Obviously the vision and enthusiasm of King Hall students is alive as KHLF continues to grow and prosper."
For more information about KHLF, check out their website.