As KHOP Marks 25 Years, Program Alums Attest to its Power
Since 2001, the King Hall Outreach Program has helped high-potential first-generation or economically underserved college students and recent graduates gain the knowledge and skills needed to excel in the law school admissions process.
The brainchild of then-Assistant Dean of Admission Sharon Pinkney, KHOP began as an in-residence program, held during the summer, before assuming its current schedule of distinct winter and summer sessions unfolding over four Saturdays.
Housed in the Office of Admission and Financial Aid, under the leadership of Assistant Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Lindsay Chuang, KHOP is now led by Director of Admission and Outreach Joe Schneider. The no-cost program enlists professors, current law students, alumni and other practitioners to help participants navigate various aspects of the admissions cycle. Always evolving, KHOP recently added a pilot Zoom program.
KHOP counts more than 850 alumni, 99% of whom went on to graduate from college. Forty-one percent are enrolled in or have graduated from a law program. Among other honors, KHOP received the California State Bar Education Pipeline Award for its contributions to higher education in the state.
To celebrate this remarkable initiative’s quarter-center mark, UC Davis Law is inviting program alumni back to its “25 Years of KHOP” reception on Saturday, July 18 at King Hall.
In anticipation, we spoke to five accomplished KHOP alums about their experiences with the program.
Cherita Laney ’05
Vice President, Legal and Compliance, Morgan Stanley
KHOP 2001 (inaugural) Summer Session; B.S. and J.D., UC Davis
What drew you to KHOP?
I am first-generation college graduate. I only knew one person going to Davis as an undergrad who ended up going to law school. And I didn’t know any attorneys. I wanted to attend these sessions to understand what law school even looked like.
How did KHOP affect your law school admissions journey?
It had a really positive impact. Not just because I ended up getting into UC Davis School of Law, but just in the fundamentals that it provided.
At the time, it was a two-week program; I think there were eight of us. We had lunch with law professors, and the dean, and Admissions, and met actual law students. To have those conversations, and have LSAT tutors come in, was a game changer. It was the first time you felt like ‘OK, I knew I wanted to do it. But to be able to sit in the room with these folks for two weeks made it feel real and tangible.’ … It definitely had an impact on my life, and my trajectory.
Post-KHOP: After Laney appeared in a Counselor alumni magazine story on KHOP’s 20th anniversary, fellow attorney and Atlantan Rachel Oliver Samuda ’03, who had been a student mentor during that first KHOP session, reached out.
“We had lost touch,” Laney says, “but we have been in touch ever since. So, it is full circle.”
The Hon. Esmeralda Zendejas '06
Judge, San Joaquin Superior Court
KHOP 2002 Summer Session; B.A and J.D., UC Davis
What drew you to KHOP?
I was very unfamiliar with the legal profession. I knew I wanted to become an attorney and that going to law school was one of the requirements to do so. So, when I read about how the program gave students the opportunity to engage with both the law school and law students for preparation for admissions, that is what really drew my attention and my desire to (participate).
How did KHOP affect your law school admissions journey?
It definitely gave me an overview of what the admissions process entailed. From what I recalled, there was assistance with preparing a personal statement, information on the LSAT, and then also just a general introduction to the law. I definitely recall having presentations from students. They were giving us some information from their experiences in the application process, just some tips on how to present yourself the best way. I think the program is a great program to kind of get your feet wet and to get an understanding.
Post-KHOP: Zendejas, who spent most of her career with California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc., became the first known KHOP alum to become a judge in 2023.
Andrea Reyes ’22
Staff Attorney, Central American Resource Center, San Francisco
KHOP 2017 Winter Session; B.A., San Francisco State; J.D., UC Davis
What drew you to KHOP?
I understood that coming from an underrepresented community, I would need all the tools at my disposal to be a competitive law school applicant. I also knew that the journey would be challenging and I wanted to face it alongside a community that was invested in my success. KHOP offered this and more.
How did KHOP affect your law school admissions journey?
KHOP offered a unique insight into the law school admission process that I could not have accessed otherwise. I was the first in my family to graduate from college in the United States, and the first in my family to attend law school. I had the motivation and the commitment to get a law degree to continue my work with immigrant communities, but l did not know how or where to begin. KHOP offered me the individualized support I needed to develop the confidence to apply.
Post-KHOP: In her 3L year, Reyes received a Skadden Fellowship, which funds two years of work in public service. She is one of just three UC Davis Law students to receive the prestigious fellowship in its 38-year history.
Kimberly Martinez ’25
Associate, Fisher Phillips
KHOP 2019 Summer Session; B.A, UC Berkeley; J.D., UC Davis
What drew you to KHOP?
I knew that they did weekly seminars and workshops, and that the groups were a decent size—and I believe this is still the case—usually first-generation, low-income students. And that felt like the type of place (where) I find people with similar lived experiences who are all chasing the same goal.
How did KHOP affect your law school admissions journey?
I believe I had signed up to take the LSAT at the end of 2020, because I was working at the time and knew I would be busy. Then the pandemic happened. I decided to apply in fall 2021, and I will say that KHOP gave me the confidence to take that next step, schedule my LSAT, to write my personal statement, and to kind of understand what the application cycle would look like.
I had no idea what to expect before doing KHOP, before hearing from people like Joe Schneider and (Director of Financial Aid) Montré Everett, who gave us a great presentation on what it would cost to go to law school. That was all very useful. … (And) the connection stayed strong, even when I took time between KHOP and actually going to law school.
*KHOP really was one of the biggest motivating factors for me when I decided I was going to commit to this goal of going to law school. And that was really because of the mentors I found in the program.
Post-KHOP: KHOP has built a community of alums that transcends the particular session —or law school—one attends, Martinez says. She first connected with Fisher Phillips colleague Angela Fuentes(KHOP Summer 2018, McGeorge School of Law ’23) over their shared KHOP experience.
“It was such a cool thing to learn about my coworker, and now I consider her a good friend,” Martinez says.
Ndem Emole
Rising 2L, Harvard Law School
KHOP 2024 Winter Session: B.A, UC Davis
What drew you to KHOP?
I think the law school admissions process is very complex and there is no guidebook on how to apply and where to apply and how to take the LSAT. There were a lot of lingering questions when I was considering applying to law school, and I just didn’t know where to get those answers. … I was relying on online forums like Reddit to answer my questions.
Law school is a huge investment financially, and of your time, of course, and you want to put your best foot forward. So, I wanted to make the most informed decision before I applied.
How did KHOP affect your law school admissions journey?
It sort of cleared up all the confusion I had regarding the law school admissions process. Regarding the LSAT, personal statements, schools to apply to, financial aid—all those questions sort of cleared up.
*I was just so grateful for KHOP because it gave me the means to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, and the next step in my journey. … Without KHOP, I am not even sure where I would be.
Post-KHOP: Emole applied to UC Davis Law “and got accepted, thankfully,” he says, but also to Harvard, in part because KHOP“never took any option off the table” about what schools to consider, he says. “They instill a confidence in you that you can be accepted anywhere. … They will reiterate again and again, ‘You belong in these spaces.’”