Judge Troy L. Nunley to speak at UC Davis Law commencement

The Honorable Troy L. Nunley, a U.S. District Court judge and longtime friend to King Hall, will be the keynote speaker at UC Davis School of Law’s 2019 commencement on Saturday, May 18 at the Mondavi Center.

Appointed in 2013 by President Barack Obama to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, Nunley sits on the federal bench in Sacramento.

A San Francisco Chronicle profile of Nunley described his journey from a childhood in San Francisco’s Hunters Point neighborhood to a federal judgeship as a “rags to robes” story.

A graduate of San Francisco’s Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, Nunley received his undergraduate degree from Saint Mary’s College of California and his J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law. After law school, he was a prosecutor for the district attorneys’ offices of Alameda and Sacramento counties and for the California Attorney General’s Office. He also worked as a sole practitioner.

In 2002, Gov. Gray Davis appointed Nunley to the Sacramento Superior Court bench, where he served for 11 years.

Nunley is a dedicated supporter of King Hall. Over the years, he has welcomed many externs and judicial clerks from UC Davis Law, sworn in recent King Hall graduates who just passed the Bar Exam, and swung a golf club at the Steve Boutin Invitational, an annual benefit for the King Hall Legal Foundation. His daughter, Cimone Nunley, is a member of UC Davis School of Law’s class of 2018.

Nunley received the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee’s Difference Maker Award, and has been honored by the California Association of Black Lawyers for continued service to the community. He previously was recognized as a state expert on criminal street gangs, and served on the Hate Crimes Task Force.

In celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2013, Nunley’s alma mater Saint Mary’s invited him to be the school’s commencement speaker.

Since 2006, Nunley has been a professor at Lincoln Law School of Sacramento. He currently teaches Business Associations and Partnerships.

Reza Harris ’19 will be the student speaker at UC Davis School of Law’s 2019 commencement. Professor Aaron Tang is the faculty speaker. Professors William Dodge and Clay Tanaka will serve as faculty marshals.

The 2019 UC Davis School of Law commencement will be live-streamed starting at 11 a.m. May 18 at https://bit.ly/2UrKCkg.