Speaker line-up set for School of Law Class of 2018 commencement

The student and faculty speakers and Law School Medalist have been confirmed for the School of Law’s commencement at 4 p.m. May 19 at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts on the UC Davis campus.

Roza Patterson is the student speaker. Patterson is a recipient of the Dean’s Merit Scholarship, the California Bar Foundation Diversity Scholarship, and the Milton L. Schwartz/David F. Levi American Inn of Court Scholarship. She served in leadership positions for the Black Law Students Association, the Christian Legal Society, and the International Law Association, and as a judicial extern for Associate Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar of the California Supreme Court. She soon will join the Silicon Valley office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Professor David Horton is this year’s faculty speaker. Professor Horton’s primary research and teaching interests are wills and trusts, contracts, and arbitration law. In 2015, he received the law school’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and in 2016, he was selected as a UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow. His scholarship has been published in the nation’s leading law journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, NYU Law Review and California Law Review, among others.

Brittani Bowers Frink is the winner of the 2018 Law School Medal honoring the highest academic achievement among Juris Doctor candidates. In addition to her scholastic achievement, Frink was executive editor of the UC Davis Law Review and Business Law Journal. During her second and third years, she worked as a clerk for the Union Pacific Railroad Law Department. Frink soon will join the Palo Alto office of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

The Chief Justice of California, Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, will deliver the commencement’s keynote address. A member of the UC Davis School of Law class of 1984, Cantil-Sakauye has emerged as one of the country’s leading advocates for equal access to justice, transparency and the independence of the judiciary. Sworn into office in January 2011, she is the first Filipina American and second woman to serve as the state’s chief justice.

Chancellor Gary S. May also will attend the ceremony and give remarks.

Professors Floyd Feeney and Clay Tanaka will serve as commencement marshals.