Class of 2017 Joins King Hall

Members of the UC Davis School of Law Class of 2017 began their first semester courses on August 25, bringing a diverse range of talents, backgrounds, and interests to the King Hall community. The 165 new J.D. candidates were selected from more than 3,000 applicants.

The Class of 2017 includes students from 14 different states as well as from China, Taiwan, and Singapore. The students have a median GPA of 3.60 and LSAT score of 162. Women comprise 56 percent of this class; students of color make up 47 percent. They arrive at King Hall with a wide range of life experiences: many have studied abroad, worked as paralegals or legal assistants at large law firms, interned with public defenders and judges, worked with organizations such as Teach for America and Americorps, and volunteered in their communities.

A few examples of members of the class (pictured from left to right, back row: Chelsea Bond, Jermain Jones, Gorev Ahuja, and Alexandra Johnson; front row, left to right: Jacqueline Simonovich, Lotus Fung, and Zachary Zaharoff) include:

• Gorev Ahuja is an alumnus of the King Hall Outreach Program (KHOP) and a graduate of UC Davis, where he majored in Political Science and was a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society and the Sikh Culture Association. He has worked as an intern for Premier International Law Group and as a Youth Development Coordinator for the Boys and Girls Club of America.
• Chelsea Bond is a graduate of Chapman University, where she majored in Political Science and worked as an intern for the Orange County Public Defender. She has volunteered for various political campaigns and worked as program director for three years for Death Penalty Focus. She has also volunteered for Oakland Animal Services and performed with the San Francisco-based music ensemble Bell Appeal.
• A native of the Bay Area, Lotus Fung earned her undergraduate degree from UCLA and travelled to China to earn a master's degree from Beijing Normal University. She has worked as a pole vault coach and English teacher, interned at ChinaSF (a nonprofit supporting commercial interaction between San Francisco and China), and published "Transferring Made Simple," an eBook detailing the university transfer process.
• Alexandra Johnson graduated with a degree in Political Science from UC Berkeley, where she was vice president of the Undergraduate Political Science Association and PR Chair of Habitat for Humanity, among other activities. She has been very active in state politics, holding leadership positions in the California Young Democrats for six years. She has also worked in the capitol offices of Assembymember Fiona Ma and Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg '84. She is engaged to classmate Joel Guerra '17.
• Jermain Jones graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Politics. His experiences include working as biology researcher, sports photographer, and as a student teacher in a summer school math class. He spent the last three years working as a Legislative Aide to Mayor Edwin Lee of San Francisco.
• Jacqueline Simonovich studied literature and gender theory at New York University, where she earned a Master of Arts in Humanities and Social Thought. She has served with Americorps VISTA for Court Appointed Special Advocates and worked as a Human Resources Assistant for the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. A former ballet dancer, she recently completed the San Francisco Marathon, raising $1,000 for Project Night Night, which aids homeless children.
• Zachary Zaharoff earned a degree in Philosophy from the University of Washington, where he worked at the Housing Justice Project in Seattle providing legal assistance to low-income clients facing eviction, played rugby with the UW club team, and spent a semester studying Latin American literature, film, and Spanish in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He also has worked as a litigation analyst in the San Francisco office of Munger, Tolles & Olson.