King Hall Welcomes 2012 KHOP Students

UC Davis School of Law welcomed 14 new students into the King Hall Outreach Program (KHOP) as classes began in the 2012 summer session.  A total of 31 students are participating in this year's program, which runs from July 7 through August 3.

KHOP Summer 2012 studentsEstablished in 2001, KHOP is a unique program that helps first-generation college students and economically disadvantaged students prepare for the law school admissions process.  In addition to providing mentoring and pre-law advising during the school year, the program takes eligible college juniors and seniors through two four-week summer sessions in which they learn writing, analytical, and logical reasoning skills, and study techniques for taking the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), in addition to exploring career paths available to law school graduates.  

KHOP students also take part in observational opportunities such as a trip to the Sacramento Superior Courthouse and lunch with lawyers from long-time program supporter, Downey Brand (a trip that was primarily organized this year by Sacramento Superior Court Judges Judy Hersher '84 and Lawrence Brown '89); interactive and informative panel discussions with King Hall alumni in different practice areas and legal sectors; and meetings with prominent King Hall alumni during "Lunch with a Legend" events and alumni topical panel lunches. In recognition of the support provided by the Central Valley Foundation, this year's program included a lunchtime discussion of First Amendment law and practice that was attended by Central Valley Foundation Executive Director Lauren Wolkov, who met and talked with KHOP students.

In coming weeks, KHOP students will cap off the summer with a Mock Trial (for juniors) or Moot Court Oral Argument (for seniors).  The program concludes with the Awards Celebration, at which the participants' friends and families will join members of the King Hall community and program supporters including the Central Valley Foundation and Downey Brand in honoring the students' achievements.  This year's featured speakers include Kathleen Butz '81, Associate Justice of the California Courts of Appeal, Third Appellate District, and the Keynote Speaker, the Honorable Alberto Roldan '92, Chief Administrative Law Judge and Chief Executive of Field Operations for the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board.

To date, a total of 127 students have successfully completed the program. More than half of this year's 31 participants are the first person in their family or part of the first generation in their family to attend college.  The schools represented in the 2012 KHOP class include UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, CSU Sacramento, CSU Chico, Santa Clara University, University of San Francisco, Mills College, and University of the Pacific.  Twenty-one of the students are women. 

Many of the KHOP students are motivated by a desire to give back to their communities. In the narrative profiles submitted for the KHOP Directory, Miguel Zavala, a rising senior at UC Santa Cruz, describes his desire to work in the Mexican-American immigrant community.  "By dedicating my career to the struggle for justice, I am not only pursuing a life of helping others but also carrying out my pursuit towards a better life." Patricia Boone wrote movingly of her experience as an eight-year-old addressing the judge during a court hearing to determine "what stranger's home [she] would be placed in next" and her determination "to advocate for those who have yet to find their own voices... in my own courtroom."