Profiles
Raised in Southern California, Hill came back to King Hall after earning her B.A. in History from UC Davis in 1998. She enrolled in the UC Davis School of Law in 2001, drawn by many of the same strengths that attract public interest law students today.
“I had worked and volunteered for a number of community-based organizations and had a vision toward using my law degree to make a difference in my community—particularly for groups and individuals underrepresented in the legal and political system,” said Hill. “I chose UC Davis because it was a small school that I felt would enable me to develop closer relationships with my professors, because it was a public law school, and because of its commitment to developing public interest lawyers.”
King Hall provided a strong core legal education, as well as ample opportunities for volunteering, externships, and work with the Law School’s acclaimed clinical programs. “My experience with the Immigration Clinic was by far the most defining for me,” said Hill. “It led to some wonderful externship and summer employment opportunities.”
After graduation in 2004, Hill began her legal career as an AmeriCorps advocate for the Legal Aid Society of Hawai’i, assisting low-income Hawai’i residents with family, housing, and public benefits issues, then returned to California in 2005 to take a position with the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF) in Sacramento, where she directed their Citizenship and Immigration Project. She worked with CRLAF until she was recruited by Mindy Baggish, King Hall’s Director of Career Services, who thought that Hill’s experience and connections in the public interest law community would make her the ideal person to help guide Law School students to a career in public interest law.
Hill became Associate Director of Career Services and Public Interest Career Planning at King Hall in September 2008. “It was difficult to leave CRLAF and a job that was so meaningful to me,” she said. “But every time I am introduced to new students and witness their passion and idealism, I am reminded how important it is that I am here to help them channel that energy into meaningful work that truly benefits our community.”
