Sacramento La Raza Lawyers Renamed to Honor Professor Reynoso

The Sacramento Chapter of La Raza Lawyers, California's foremost Latino lawyers association, has renamed itself in honor of Professor Cruz Reynoso, who helped to found the organization during the 1970s. Newly rechristened as the Cruz Reynoso Bar Association, the group brought together more than 170 lawyers, judges, elected officials, and community leaders for an event honoring Professor Reynoso at Sacramento City Hall on March 30.

The event was the subject of a feature in the Sacramento Bee. The article includes quotes from Professor Reynoso and Dean Kevin R. Johnson, as well as an overview of Professor Reynoso's life experience as the child of immigrant farmworkers who rose from an Orange County barrio to become the first Latino to serve on the California Supreme Court.

A member of the UC Davis School of Law faculty since 2001, Professor Reynoso won national recognition during the 1960s for his groundbreaking work as Director of California Rural Legal Assistance, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization serving the needs of migrant laborers and the rural poor.  He went on to teach law at the University of New Mexico before returning to California to accept an appointment as the first Latino on the California Court of Appeal.  He was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the California Supreme Court in 1981, where he served until 1986.

Since then, he has returned to teaching and has continued to work as an advocate for social justice in various roles, including service as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1993-2004. He is an internationally recognized civil rights leader and the recipient of countless awards, including the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  He is also a revered figure at UC Davis School of Law, which has established the Cruz & Jeannene Reynoso Scholarship for Legal Access to help students with financial needs.