UC Davis School of Law was finishing its second year of instruction when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. His death had an immediate impact on UC Davis Law School students and faculty,who were actively involved in the legal, political, and social debates of the late sixties. Construction of the law school building was completed in the fall of 1968. A committee of students and faculty then begin working to name the building after Dr. King. The building was officially dedicated after Dr. King on April 12, 1969. Today, King Hall stands as a tribute to Dr. King’s efforts to achieve social and political justice by lawful and orderly means.

A student committee commissioned a sculpture of Dr. King in the 1980s. The life-size terra cotta sculpture greets visitors in the foyer of the building. It depicts Dr. King mid-stride, wearing a clerical robe depicting carved illustrations of the civil rights movement.

The law school remains committed to maintaining rigorous intellectual debate, diversity in our faculty and student body, and a commitment to public service.

Martin Luther King - Biography

Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King, Jr.