2025-2026
Visiting Lecturers
At UC Davis School of Law, we have excellent visiting law lecturers. Read about our guest lecturers to learn more about their background and law interests.
Kristin Brandt
Kristin Brandt currently serves as a Head of Public Services at the UC Davis Mabie Law Library. After earning her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, Ms. Brandt practiced litigation at Morrison & Foerster, where she later served as firm-wide Manager for Attorney Training and Development. She clerked for the Hon. Robert J. Kelleher of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and served as an Extern for the Hon. Dorothy W. Nelson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In addition to her J.D., Ms. Brandt has an A.B. in Psychology from Stanford and a Master’s in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University.
Daniel Calabretta
Judge Calabretta serves as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of California. Prior to his assuming the federal bench in 2023, he was a Superior Court Judge for Sacramento County where he served in juvenile dependency and as Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court. From 2013-2018 Judge Calabretta served as a Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary for Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. where he advised on various matters including appointments, pending legislation, and issues related to the Political Reform Act and the Emergency Services Act. Judge Calabretta also served as a Deputy Attorney General at the California Department of Justice from 2008-2013 where he represented California’s Constitutional Officers, including the Governor, Controller, and Secretary of State in civil litigation on a range of topics including election law, constitutional challenges, and public finance. Judge Calabretta previously practiced as a Litigation Associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP and served as a Judicial Clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens at the United States Supreme Court and Judge William A. Fletcher at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Calabretta received his B.A. in Bioethics from Princeton University in 2000 and his J.D. from the University of Chicago School of Law in 2003.
Michael Canzoneri
Michael Canzoneri is a Supervising Deputy Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General, California Department of Justice. He is currently the Trial Team Coordinator, supervising trial and DA conflict assignments in northern and eastern districts of California (32 counties). He has presented numerous felony trials, ranging from special circumstance murder cases to DNA serial rapist prosecutions. He has also litigated numerous appellate and habeas corpus matters at the state and federal court level, including the California and United States Supreme Courts.
Allison Claire
Allison Claire has served as a United States Magistrate Judge since November of 2012. Judge Claire earned her B.A. in American Studies at U.C. Santa Cruz and her law degree at Berkeley Law in 1993. After law school she clerked for U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton here in the Eastern District of California. In 1995 she was a founding member of SacLEGAL, Sacramento's LGBTQ+ bar association. Following her clerkship she joined the Office of the Federal Defender in Sacramento, where she eventually specialized in capital post-conviction litigation. Since joining the federal bench, Judge Claire has served on the Diversity Committee of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association and the Magistrate Judge Education Advisory Committee of the Federal Judicial Center (FJC). From 2015 to 2023, Judge Claire taught de-biasing strategies to new and continuing judges through the FJC. She is active in local bench/bar activities including civics education, programs that promote access to justice, and initiatives encouraging diversity on the bench and in the legal profession. As a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of California, she deals with civil rights litigation on a daily basis. She has been teaching Civil Rights Law at King Hall since 2018.
Erica Costa
Erica Costa is an attorney at Berkey Williams LLP in Davis, California, where she has worked since 2017. She specializes in Indian law, focusing on areas such as natural and cultural resource protection, healthcare, employment, child dependency, and water rights. Costa has represented Indian tribes and tribal organizations in tribal, federal, and state courts and has been involved in water rights settlement negotiations. She has worked in various legal roles, including as a legal extern at the Tribal Law and Policy Institute and as a legal clerk for the Yurok Tribe and the Wishtoyo Foundation. Costa has been actively involved in teaching and speaking engagements, including guest lecturing at UC Davis and UC Law SF (formerly UC Hastings). She has also participated in numerous panels on topics such as California Indian Law and tribal governance. Costa has published work title “Revitalizing Stewardship and Use of Tribal Traditional Territories: Options for Improving California Policy and Law in State-Managed Lands and Waters,” The Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture & Resistance (2023).
Dennis Cota ’86
Since 2018, Dennis Cota has been a magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Judge Cota was the founder of Cota Cole & Huber LLP, and has over 30 years' experience representing both private clients and public entities. As part of his extensive public law litigation practice, he served as special litigation counsel to City of Ontario, Madera County, and San Joaquin County. Judge Cota's extensive trial experience includes complex civil litigation in the areas of labor and employment, civil rights, municipal defense, and environmental and hazardous waste litigation in which he has obtained successful results before both the state and federal bar. Judge Cota's experience includes numerous semesters as a trial practice instructor at UC Davis School of Law where he has taught Trial Practice and Advanced Trial Practice and has coached nationally recognized Trial Practice Competition teams.
Lauri Damrell ’05
Judge Lauri Damrell has been a judge for the Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento since 2018. She has presided over various civil and criminal trials and other proceedings, including misdemeanor arraignments and sentencing, civil harassment and domestic violence restraining order hearings, and family court proceedings. From 2006 to 2018, she practiced at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP, where she provided legal advice to leading national and international corporations on a full range of business decisions, agreements, investigations, and litigation, with a focus on employment matters. She received Sacramento Magazine’s award for “Top Lawyer” in 2017, and Sacramento Business Journal award for “40 under 40” in 2016.
George Demos
George G. Demos is a partner at DLA Piper LLP where his practice focuses on securities enforcement, white collar criminal defense, and corporate investigations. He previously served as senior counsel in the Enforcement Division of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's New York Regional Office where he led many high profile and complex corporate fraud investigations. During his tenure at the SEC, he was also detailed to the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. He has taught at the UC Davis School of Law since 2016; courses he has taught include Corporate and White Collar Crime, Presidential Power Seminar, and Securities Enforcement.
Brian Feinberg
Brian Feinberg has served as a Deputy District Attorney for the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office for more than 20 years. Mr. Feinberg created the office’s first Conviction Integrity Unit, which he currently oversees. He examines post-conviction claims of factual innocence, reviews sentences on murder cases and recommends best practices for investigative agencies. Mr. Feinberg previously taught at Berkeley School of Law and Golden Gate University School of Law. He can also be heard on his podcast, “Cross Examination,” which explores the intersection of the criminal justice system with our everyday lives.
Eric Fersht
Since the fall of 2018, Eric M. Fersht has been a Visiting Scholar and Lecturer on International and National Security Law. He came to King Hall after a distinguished legal career in the federal government spanning 24 years. From 1995 to 2002, he was an Associate Deputy General Counsel for International Affairs and Intelligence at the Department of Defense. In 2002, he became the Senior International Counsel for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). During his tenure at NGA, he was the principal negotiator on more than fifty high-priority intelligence agreements with the country's most important intelligence partners. From 2017-2018, he served as NGA’s Acting Chief of Intelligence Oversight, responsible for ensuring agency compliance with privacy and civil liberties protection requirements. Prior to becoming an attorney, Fersht was an executive of Greenpeace International. He directed Greenpeace’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Campaigns, and subsequently oversaw the establishment of Greenpeace affiliates in the Soviet Union/Russia and other Eastern European countries. In 2018, Fersht was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service.
Marjorie Florestal
Since 2015, Marjorie Florestal has been a Lecturer at the UC Davis School of Law and has also taught at Berkeley Law School. Previously, Ms. Florestal was a tenured Professor of Law at Pacific McGeorge Law School, where she taught contracts and advanced courses in international trade and commercial law. Ms. Florestal began her career during the Clinton Administration at the White House Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Her work experience also includes stints at the U.S. Department of Commerce and a major U.S. law firm. In addition, she has consulted with leading institutions, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. State Department, and The African Development Bank. Ms. Florestal received her JD from New York University School of Law where she served as a Root-Tilden-Snow Scholar, an International Law Fellow, and a staff editor at the Journal of International Law and Politics. After law school, Ms. Florestal completed a federal court clerkship and was subsequently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to France. Florestal also holds a MA in Jungian Psychology from Sonoma State University and is a PhD candidate in Human Development at Fielding Graduate University where she focuses her doctoral studies on trauma and depression in law students. She has completed several advanced trainings in trauma and is co-author of Trauma-Informed Lawyering, which was published by the American Bar Association in 2023.
Mary Louise Frampton
Since Mary Louise Frampton joined UC Davis as the Director of the Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies in January 2017. She taught in the areas of restorative justice, structural inequality, law and social justice, legislative advocacy, and professional responsibility. She has co-taught courses on critical race theory and participatory action research in low-income communities in the Central Valley. Professor Frampton led the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at Berkeley Law for more than a decade. She was a UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Public Scholar and an Association of American Law Schools (AALS) National Bellow Fellow. Frampton’s research interests are focused on the use of restorative justice as a tool to dismantle the school to prison pipeline, reduce the over-incarceration of people of color in the criminal justice system, and heal divided communities. She is engaged in research projects in juvenile justice systems and schools in the Central Valley and in the community of Greensboro, North Carolina. She was a co-founder of the Community-University Research and Action for Justice, a collaborative effort of UC academics and community activists in the San Joaquin Valley to alleviate poverty. Her publications include After the War on Crime: Race, Democracy, and a New Reconstruction (NYU Press). For 30 years, before joining Berkeley Law in 2001, Frampton was a civil rights attorney focusing on employment discrimination.
Jessica Gosney ’10
Jessica Gosney currently serves as a Deputy Legislative Counsel in the Office of Legislative Counsel (OLC), where she drafts bills, amendments, resolutions, and initiatives, and provides legal advice on current and pending legislation for both houses and parties of the California Legislature. Gosney previously worked in political campaigning and nonprofit advocacy in California and Washington, D.C., including for MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, the California Public Interest Research Group, and a California Assembly Member. Gosney designed and has co-taught the Legislatures and Lawmaking course for the Masters in Science and Law (MSL) program at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law since 2019. Gosney earned her J.D. from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 2017 where she was named Valedictorian and was a recipient of the Pacific Law Academic Scholarship, the Amicus Lex Alumni Association Scholarship, the Order of the Coif, and several Witkin Awards. She also served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of the Pacific Law Review. Gosney received her B.S. degree from the University of California, Davis in 2010.
Hayley Graves
Hayley Graves is currently a law clerk for the Honorable Jeremy D. Peterson in the United States District Court, Eastern District of California. She served as the judicial law clerk for the Honorable Jerome T. Tao, Nevada Court of Appeals (2020-2021) and prior to that as a judicial extern for the Honorable Ronald B. Robie, California Court of Appeal, Third District. Since 2016, Graves has coached her former high school mock trial team where she represented Sacramento County and took her team to the California State Finals. Graves has been a trial practice and mock trial coach at King Hall since 2022. Graves received her J.D. (Order of the Coif) from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 2020. At McGeorge, Graves served as the Editor-in-Chief of the University of the Pacific Law Review and was on the McGeorge Mock Trial Team, ranked seventh in the nation at the time, and has completed in several national competitions. She received her B.A. in Political Science, with a minor in English from Southern Methodist University in 2016.
Beth Greenwood ’91
Beth Greenwood is the Associate Dean for Global Legal Education at UC Davis Extension and the Executive Director of International Law Programs at the UC Davis School of Law. With more than 30 years of leadership experience in international education, she has pioneered a range of innovative programs, which consistently attract the best students from Asia, Latin America and Europe to enroll in UC Davis courses. Greenwood also manages a large number of international law programs, including the International Summer Law Programs, the International Commercial Law LL.M. Program, Visiting Scholars Program, International Student Exchange Programs, and Corporate Legal Education Programs in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Since 1990, the International Law Programs have educated more than 2,400 leading lawyers, judges, and academics from 50 countries. Greenwood earned her J.D. and B.A. degrees at the University of California, Davis.
Emily Hajarizadeh
Emily Hajarizadeh is a Deputy Attorney General for the Natural Resources Law Section of the Office of the California Attorney General in Sacramento, CA. She is an experienced attorney specializing in environmental, natural resources, and land use law. Ms. Hajarizadeh formerly served as Deputy Legislative Counsel for the California State Legislature and clerked at the Los Angeles County Superior Court of California. She has been involved in legislative drafting, litigation, and providing legal counsel on environmental and public policy issues to federal, state and local government agencies. Her teaching experience includes lecturing on Constitutional Law at the University of Oregon, and her scholarly work includes several publications on environmental hazards, mediation privilege, and wildfire law. Ms. Hajarizadeh is also an active member of several legal organizations related to environmental law. She holds a Juris Doctor with a concentration in Environmental Law from the University of Oregon (2018) and a Master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning (2018).
David Holt
Holt currently works as a Senior Research Law Librarian at the UC Davis School of Law. Prior to joining UC Davis, he served as the solo branch librarian at the Ninth Circuit Courthouse Library in San Jose, where he provided reference services to clerks, three Article III judges, two magistrates, and one appellate judge, and managed all technical service responsibilities including serials management, collection development, website administration, and oversaw a $120K/yr. collection budget. Holt has also served as a Research and Emerging Technologies Librarian and Circulation Manager at the Santa Clara University School of Law. He also served as an Adjunct Professor at Santa Clara University where he was responsible for creating the Advanced Legal Research curricula and taught both the generalized course and a specialized course on intellectual property. Holt received his Masters in Library Information and Science (M.L.I.S.) degree from San Jose State University in 2006, his B.A. in English from Southern Oregon University in 2000, and his J.D. from the Santa Clara University School of Law in 2013.
Christopher Ide-Don
Ide-Don currently serves as the Assistant Dean of Academic Success at the UC Davis School of Law. A graduate of the UC Hastings School of Law, Ide-Don practiced disability rights and civil rights law for five years. His attorney and non-profit work encompassed representing students with disabilities and their families, and the provision of special education training and resources for students with disabilities. Ide-Don has taught the Legal Analysis course since 2013 at UC Davis School of Law and the Problem Solving and Analysis since 2011. Furthermore, he created curricula and course materials for both courses. Ide-Don has over a decade of experience consistently working with diverse law student populations. As the current Assistant Dean of Academic Success, his work has emphasized academic support for students of color, first generation students, and students at risk for not passing the Bar Exam. He also actively meets with students from various affinity groups to present information on law school exams, the Bar exam, and class selection.
Jason Jasmine ’01
Jason Jasmine is the Managing Partner at Messing Adam & Jasmine LLP, with offices in Sacramento and the Bay Area. His practice primarily focuses on representing public employees and employee associations in a wide range of labor and employment issues, with an emphasis on public safety employees and public safety employee unions. Previously he was a Partner at Carroll, Burdick & McDonough LLP where he successfully handled all facets of a labor law practice. Jasmine has been active with the Sacramento County Bar Association, having been on its Board of Directors for three years, and previously serving as Chair on the SCBA Mentorship Task Force where he worked with minority and disadvantaged students and new lawyers. He is active as an Arbitrator for fee disputes between attorneys and clients, through the California State Bar Association. He was named as a Rising Star in Northern California by Super Lawyers from 2010-2015 and as a Super Lawyer from 2016-2024. He received his J.D. from UC Davis School of Law in 2001 and received his B.A. in Political Science from UC Davis in 1998.
Shannon Kahn
Shannon Kahn is the Director of the Externship Program at the UC Davis School of Law. For the past ten years, Kahn has worked closely with law students to support them in their legal job search and to help them develop practical lawyering and professional development skills. Prior to her position as Director of the Externship Program, Kahn served as Deputy Director of Berkeley Law’s Career Development Office where she managed a team of 9 attorney-counselors and worked closely with the Assistant Dean to develop priorities, implement a strategic plan, and design a messaging and programming calendar. During Kahn’s time at King Hall as Associate Director of Career Services (Nov 2015 – Mar 2019), she co-developed and co-taught a seminar on professional development and legal practice, which covered topics such as professional development planning, professionalism, time management, and effective communication. Kahn also worked as a practicing attorney at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. Kahn earned her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law (2008), and a B.A. in Politics, cum laude, from the Princeton University (2003).
Leeron Kalay
Leeron Kalay currently serves as the Silicon Valley Office Hiring Principal at Fish & Richards P.C. where he has successfully tried patent, trade secret, and antitrust cases before the United States International Trade Commission, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, and various district courts. He served as the Trade Secret and Misappropriation Section Subcommittee Chair of the American Bar Association (2017-2021). He has been named in the Best Lawyers in America (2023), as the Northern California Rising Star in Intellectual Property Litigation by Super Lawyers (2010-2014) and has received the Wiley Manual Award for Pro Bono Legal Services (2013). Kalay received B.A. degrees in Political Science and Rehetoric, cum laude, from the University of California, Berkeley and his J.D. from the New York University School of Law.
James Liu
James Liu currently serves as Corporate Counsel at Krafton, Inc. where he primarily assists the company's esports department. Previously, he was an associate at Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe LLP where he assisted in various litigation case teams in matters involving privacy and data breach, intellectual property, and other general litigation matters. Prior to this, he served as a Judicial Extern for Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye at the California Supreme Court. James received his B.A, summa cum laude, in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2015 where he served as National Society of Collegiate Scholars Chair of PACE Mentoring Program, and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 2019 where he served as Publishing Editor for the Berkeley Journal of Entertainment and Sports Law, member of the Asian American Law Journal, and received a Law and Technology Certificate from the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.
Lizzie Lockwood
As a staff attorney with For The People, Lizzie Lockwood is experienced in cutting-edge areas of criminal practice such as Prosecutor-Initiated Resentencing (PIR). She currently serves as the lead attorney in Yolo, Santa Clara, San Diego, Merced, and Humboldt Counties. In this capacity, she has reviewed hundreds of C-Files, presented upwards of 50 cases to various California District Attorney’s Offices, drafted over 20 Motions for Sentence Reduction, and helped facilitate the resentencing and early release of more than 40 incarcerated people. She has directly supervised volunteer attorneys and legal interns, and created the vast majority of For The People’s PIR trainings, guides, and toolkits. Prior to her work with For The People, she worked as an investigator at the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, conducting complex investigations on death penalty cases in preparation of filing their state habeas petitions, served as a Judicial Intern with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and Law Clerk and Legal Intern with Bonjour, Thorman, Burns & Dahm. Lockwood previously served as a Teaching Assistant for Legal Writing and Research courses at UC Hastings College of Law. Lockwood received a B.A. in Anthropology from Wesleyan University in 1994 and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2019 where she served as Senior Staff Editor for the Hastings Environmental Law Journal.
Keith Long
Keith Long is currently serving as an Administrative Law Judge at the Office of Tax Appeals (OTA) in Sacramento, CA where he conducts oral hearings and handles appeals related to audits from the Franchise Tax Board and California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Before his role at OTA, Long worked as a Tax Counsel at the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA), where he conducted appeals conferences, provided research, and drafted decisions on business taxes. He has also worked in private practice, representing clients in tax debt collection cases and advising on tax compliance, penalties, and court filings. Long is an active member of the California Lawyer’s Association (CLA) Taxation Section, where he serves as an executive committee member, and previously co-chaired the State Standing Committee of Young Tax Lawyers. Long received a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation (2012) and a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law (2011) and a BA in Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2004.
Jordan Lowery ’14
Jordan Lowery is a Deputy City Attorney at the Sacramento City Attorney’s Office. Lowery serves as counsel to the Police Department and is one of the primary resources for advising City departments responsible for managing our population of people experiencing homelessness. Prior to joining the Sacramento City Attorney's Office, Jordan worked at the City of San Diego and County of Shasta where she handled various labor and employment law issues, conservatorship hearings and trials, implementation of Care Court, bail bond motions, contracts, records requests, and felony cases. Jordan earned her Juris Doctor from the University of California, Irvine School of Law, in 2021, and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Davis, in 2014.
Cinthia Padilla Martin ’23
Cinthia Padilla Martín is an associate attorney at the Law Offices of Taylor P. Call in Sacramento, Padilla Martín conducts research on substantive and procedural matters for probate and civil litigation. Padilla Martín received her B.A. in Political Science, Minor in Civic Engagement (2018) and received her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law (2023). While at King Hall, Ms. Padilla Martín served on the First Generation Advocates (FGA) Board; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) Committee; Trial Practice Honors Board; and the Carr Mock Trial Competition. She also worked as an Academic Success Tutor and as a teaching assistant for Property Law.
Samuel McAdam
Judge McAdam has presided over 15,000 court cases since his appointment to the Yolo County Superior Court in 2008. He currently serves as the Supervising Judge of the Criminal Division. He has been responsible for building the Virtual Courthouse and promoting and preserving access to justice during the Pandemic. He previously served as the Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Division, the Supervising Judge of Civil Division and Supervising Judge of the Family Division. Prior to his work as a Judge, McAdam served as a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Judge McAdam has previously served as an Adjunct Professor at the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, where he taught Employment Law from 2012-2016. McAdam received his B.A. in Political Science, with honors, from Stanford University in 1987, his Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 1991, and his J.D., with distinction, from the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in 1996.
Sarah McBride ’09
Sarah McBride is a Senior Field Attorney with the National Labor Relations Board. She has worked in the major West Coast offices in San Francisco and Seattle, handling complex investigations and administrative hearings as well as injunctive litigation. She has extensive experience as a neutral party evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of legal claims as well as negotiating settlements and preparing witnesses for trial. For the past several years Ms. McBride has focused on mentoring younger attorneys and helping to build their skill sets. At King Hall, Ms. McBride was a volunteer judge for negotiations and Co-Chair of the UC Davis Moot Court Board Asylum & Refugee Law National Moot Court Competition. Ms. McBride is in a unique position to provide guidance to our students in negotiations competitions, having won the international law student negotiation competition while a student at King Hall, which entailed excelling at the regional and national competition levels that preceded it. Ms. McBride earned her J.D. (Order of the Barristers) at the University of California, Davis, School of Law in 2009 and a B.A. in Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2003.
Sinead McDonough ’22
Sinead McDonough is an Associate in Lozano Smith's Sacramento office. Her practice is primarily focused on the labor and employment aspects of public agency law, with an emphasis on education law issues. Ms. McDonough earned her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 2022. During law school, she served as a member and Articles Editor of the UC Davis Law Review, and was a board member and 1L Competition Chair of the UC Davis Moot Court Honors Board. She also served as a skills tutor for first-year law students. Ms. McDonough earned a B.A. in Spanish and Communications with an emphasis in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2014.
John McKinsey ’99
Mr. McKinsey has practiced law in the private practice setting continuously since graduating from King Hall in 1999. He focuses on energy, commercial, regulatory and environmental law in several industries, chiefly Energy and Food, Beverage and Hospitality. He has extensive classroom teaching experience, including teaching Energy Law since 2011. He regularly writes and speaks on energy policy and law. Mr. McKinsey gained significant applied science knowledge and skills while serving in the United States Navy on submarines as a nuclear power plant operator and supervisor and leading electrician. He graduated cum laude with his B.A. from California State University Sacramento in Economics and received his J.D. from UC Davis School of Law.
Taryn McLaughlin ’23
Taryn McLaughlin is an associate in the Sacramento, California office of Jackson Lewis P.C., McLaughlin’s practice focuses on defending and advising employers in workplace law matters, including wage and hour practices, class actions, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination lawsuits. McLaughlin practices before state and federal courts and administrative agencies in California. McLaughlin received her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 2023, and a B.A. (cum laude) in English with a Psychology minor from California Polytechnic State University in 2020. While at King Hall, McLaughlin graduated Order of the Coif and Order of Barristers, served as an executive editor on the UC Davis Law Review and as the research editor for the UC Davis Social Justice Law Review. She also competed for three years on the UC Davis Trial Practice Honors Board, most notably advancing to the quarterfinals of the AAJ Student Trial Advocacy Competition Nationals. In addition, McLaughlin served as an Academic Success Tutor for both Criminal Law and Constitutional Law.
Shama Hakim Mesiwala ’98
In 2023, Shama Hakim Mesiwala became an Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District. Prior to that, she served on the Sacramento Superior Court since 2017, presiding over trials, hearings, and law and motion matters. Before becoming a judicial officer, Justice Mesiwala was an appellate attorney for 18 years, first representing indigent defendants, parents, and juveniles in criminal, dependency, mental health, and delinquency proceedings and then working for the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District. She began her legal career as an attorney with the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Sacramento. Justice Mesiwala is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession. She created the first Indian Child Welfare Act courtroom in Northern California. She serves as the co-founder of the South Asian Bar Association of Sacramento, hosting its annual Diversity Law Student Reception, president of the Schwartz/Levi American Inns of Court, and working group member of the California Judicial Mentor Program.
Chris Micheli
Chris Micheli is an attorney and lobbyist with the Sacramento governmental relations firm of Snodgrass & Micheli, LLC. As a legislative advocate, Micheli regularly testifies before policy and fiscal committees of the California Legislature, as well as a number of administrative agencies, departments, boards, and commissions. He drafts legislative and regulatory language and is considered a leading authority on state tax law developments and California's legislative process. He has written and lectured extensively on lobbying and the legislative process. Micheli has been an attorney of record in several key cases, having argued before the Supreme Court of California, as well as the Court of Appeal several times. He has filed many amicus curiae briefs in California courts and has published half a dozen peer-reviewed law journal articles and is the co-editor and co-author of the books “A Practitioner’s Guide to Lobbying and Advocacy in California” and “Guide to Executive Branch Agency Rulemaking.” In addition, he has published three textbooks: “Introduction to California State Government,” “An Introduction to Drafting Legislation in California,” and “Understanding the California Legislative Process.” He is also the author of two recent casebooks: “The California Legislature and Its Legislative Process: Cases and Materials” (Carolina Academic Press) and “Cases and Materials on Direct Democracy in California” (Kendall-Hunt Publishing). He has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at McGeorge since 2015 where he co-teaches the course Lawmaking in California. He co-designed and co-teaches the online Legislatures and Lawmaking course, as well as designed and teaches the Lobbying and Politics course.
Suzanne Miller ’92
Suzanne Miller is a Vice President at HP Inc. and leads the legal team supporting the HP Solutions global business unit. Prior to this she served as the Director & Managing Counsel of Global Sales and led the North America Legal Team. Previous roles include supporting a number of sales, software, and services business units within HP and serving as Senior Counsel at a web-based start-up in San Francisco. Miller has taught Transactional Lawyering Skills and now teaches in our Lawyering Process program. She has also participated as a guest lecturer numerous times for the Advanced Negotiations course and has served as a judge for our negotiation competitions. Miller received a B.A. in History from UC Davis in 1992 and a J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1996 where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Computer & High Technology Law Journal.
Johann Morri
Johann Morri is a lecturer and associate director for International Programs at the UC Davis School of Law. During his time here, he has taught legal methods and academic writing courses and co-taught the Legal Writing seminar with Associate Dean Beth Greenwood. In addition to teaching a series of classes at UC Davis School of Law, he has also taught at institutions in various countries, such as UC Berkeley School of Law, the China University of Political Sciences and Law, the University of Paris Nanterre, and the University of Montpellier. In 2020, he taught the seminar on the US Supreme Court in the Master's degree in human rights of University of Paris Nanterre and had one of his articles published in the law review of the French Constitutional Court. Prior to joining UC Davis, Johann Morri was a judge for the Trial Court in Public Law (2011-2014) and the Appellate Court in Public Law (2011-2014) both in Versailles, France as well as the Trial Court in Public Law (1999-2004) in Montpellier, France. He has also been the Deputy Director of the Public Law Section of the Legal Division for the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Paris, France and the Office chief (Chef de Bureau) of the International Law Section of the Legal Division for the French Ministry of Economy and Finance in Paris, France.
Kim Ng ’20
Kim Ng is a former Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Jeremy D. Peterson in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Ng previously worked as an Associate Attorney at Perkins Coie LLP, focusing on privacy and data security, where she advised clients on data privacy issues and litigated civil and criminal information requests. Kim Ng graduated from the University of California, Davis School of Law in May 2020 with a Juris Doctor degree. She earned numerous honors, including Certificates of Achievement for Public Service & Pro Bono, Outstanding Appellate Brief, and Best Oral Appellate Advocate. At King Hall, Ng served as Managing Editor of the Business Law Journal, served as the Problem Writing Chair on the Court Honors Board, and was a teaching assistant for Legal Research and Writing II and Contracts. Prior to law school, she earned a Bachelor of Arts with distinction in Political Science and Asian American Studies from UC Berkeley.
Jeremy Peterson
Judge Peterson has been a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of California since 2018, and has presided over a wide variety of civil and criminal matters, including many settlement conferences. Prior to his appointment, he served as both a federal prosecutor and a private defense attorney. His career began with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., where he prosecuted domestic violence offenses. He next joined the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he was part of the Deepwater Horizon Task Force. Judge Peterson then joined Arnold & Porter, a national law firm, where he represented clients in a variety of civil and criminal matters. Judge Peterson is active in the Kennedy Inn of Court. While in private practice, he served as co-chair of a conference on trial strategy and helped lead an American Bar Association committee that reviewed federal and state enforcement actions. Judge Peterson received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was Managing Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal, and his B.A., with honors, from Swarthmore College. After law school, he served as a law clerk for Judge Ruggero J. Aldisert of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Kari Peterson ’23
Kari Peterson is currently working at the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation as an immigration attorney, providing pro bono affirmative immigration services and removal defense representation. Peterson is a recent graduate of the University of California, Davis School of Law (2023), where she earned a JD and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. At King Hall, she received several prestigious awards, including multiple Reynoso Academic Excellence Awards and the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence. Peterson was also a research assistant for Professor Raquel Aldana and served as a TA in contracts. She has extensive experience in immigration law, having worked in various legal roles. She has also contributed to several legal publications and participated in internships focusing on family reunification and assisting unaccompanied migrant children. Additionally, she holds a BA in History and Spanish from Pennsylvania State University, where she graduated magna cum laude.
Heraclio Pimentel ’18
Heraclio Pimentel currently serves as an Environmental Litigation Associate at Stoel Rivers LLP where he represents clients on a variety of environmental law and regulatory matters. Prior to this, he served as an Associate Attorney at Best Best & Krieger LLP where he assisted on municipal law cases. He has also served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Richard W. Pollack at the Supreme Court of the State of Hawai’i. Pimentel received his B.A. in Drama from the University of California, Irvine in 2009 and his J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 2018, where he was named to the Order of the Coif and awarded the Academic Excellence Scholarship, the 2018 King Hall Alumni Award, and served as the UC Davis Law Review Senior Notes and Comments Editor.
Katherine Prescott
Katie Prescott has been practicing intellectual property litigation for more than 20 years and has experience with trade secret misappropriation cases (and associated contractual, unfair competition, and patent disputes) in federal court, state court, and arbitration. In addition, she regularly advises clients, from start up to Fortune 100, on trade secret protection strategy and how to minimize their risk of facing a trade secret misappropriation claim. Prior to joining Fish & Richardson, Prescott served as senior counsel at Apple Inc.. In 2019, the Daily Journal recognized her as a Top Trade Secret Lawyer in California and in 2022 she was recognized for Intellectual Property Litigation in the Best Lawyers in America. Prescott has been a repeat guest lecturer for UC Davis School of Law’s Trade Secret Law class. Ms. Prescott received her B.A. with General Honors, Earth & Planetary Science in 1997 from Johns Hopkins University, her MS in Civil & Environmental Engineering in 1998 from Stanford University, and her J.D. from UC Berkeley in 2001 where she graduated Order of the Coif and received the Prosser Prize in Civil Procedure and American Jurisprudence Awards in Patent Law, Trademark Law, and Antitrust Law.
Marcus Salvato Quintanilla
Marcus Quintanilla is an independent arbitrator, mediator, and counsel, with arbitration chambers in San Francisco, Houston, and Miami. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, he focuses primarily on complex commercial, construction, and intellectual-property disputes in the US and internationally. Before launching as an independent neutral, Marcus was a Partner in the Global Disputes group at Jones Day, practicing in the areas of International Commercial Arbitration and Cross-Border Litigation. He also practiced as an Associate at O’Melveny & Myers, LLP in the areas of International Arbitration and International White-Collar Investigations and served as a Consultant for U.S. Litigation and International Arbitration with Solórzano, Carvajal, González, Pérez-Correa in México. Before beginning the active practice of law, Marcus served as a Law Clerk at both the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and United States District Court, Central District of California. Marcus has previously served as a Visiting Lecturer on Transnational Legal Practice and International Arbitration at the UC Irvine School of Law, a Visiting Lecturer on International Commercial Arbitration at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, an Instructor in Classical Rhetoric and Ethics at the New Oxford Collegiate Academy, and as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. Marcus received his B.A. in Philosophy from Georgetown University in 1993, an A.M. in Classical Philosophy (Ethics) from Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1996, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1999.
Alberto Rosas
Alberto Rosas serves as an Administrative Law Judge with the State of California, He is a visiting lecturer at UC Davis School of Law and an adjunct professor at McGeorge School of Law. He volunteers with the Superior Court of California (Sacramento & Yolo). He serves as Vice President of Yolo Conflict Resolution Center’s board of directors, as a director-at-large of the Sacramento County Bar Association, and as a cofounder and Vice President of Communications of the Unity Bar of Yolo County. Rosas received his B.A. in English and Criminal Justice from San Francisco State University in 2006 and his J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2009, where he was awarded the C.A.L.I. Award for Excellence in Employment Discrimination Law, Federal Income Tax Law, and Immigration Law.
Ronald Scholar
A litigator for 27 years, Ronald Scholar started his career as a public defender before moving to civil practice where he represents public entity and private business clients in a diverse scope of litigation including federal and state civil rights, employment law, dangerous conditions of public property as well as contract and business disputes. Named to Sacramento Magazine’s Top Lawyers List for 2016, Scholar also serves as a Judge Pro Tem in the Placer County Superior Court. Scholar has been active in the trial practice and mock trial programs at King Hall since 2016.
Dana Scott ’19
Dana Scott currently serves as an Associate General Counsel with the California School Boards Association in West Sacramento, CA. Prior to joining the California School Boards Association, she was an Associate Attorney with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore and Parker & Covert L.L.P. where she counseled public entity clients on a variety of matters including school board governance and school district elections. Ms. Scott received her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 2019, and her B.A. in Political Science and Psychology (with honors) from the University of California, Davis in 2016. While at King Hall, she served as a tutor for Legal Research and Writing.
Saba Shatara ’13
Saba is a partner in Reed Smith LLP's State Tax Practice, where he focuses on representing multistate corporations in state and local tax controversy matters before California state tax agencies. Saba represents clients in a wide range of industries in connection with state tax return positions, audits, administrative appeals, and litigation. In addition, Saba has extensive experience in resolving cases favorably via negotiated settlements, closing agreements, and rulings, based on his clients’ needs. Saba is also active in the California tax community, serving as the former chair for both the State and Local Tax Sections of the California Lawyers Association and the California Office of Tax Appeals Pro Bono Project. He is the current vice-chair of the California Lawyers Association’s Executive Committee for the Taxation Section and is a frequent speaker and author on issues in state and federal taxation. He has presented a number of legislative proposals before the California State Legislature (which have resulted in modifications to California's tax laws), as well as before U.S. Congressional Committees. He received his J.D. from the UC Davis School of Law in 2013 and his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 2009. He has taught at King Hall since January 2017.
Prince Singh ’20
Princepreet (Prince) Singh is currently Counsel at Rocket Money, Inc., where his practice focuses on advertising, marketing, and intellectual property law. He primarily works with in-house marketing teams on advertising compliance, and IP enforcement, as well with product teams on data privacy and regulatory matters. Prior to going in-house Prince was an IP litigation attorney at Reed Smith LLP where he handled full scale trademark and patent litigation matters. He subsequently served on his firm’s summer associate hiring committee and was actively involved in immigration pro-bono matters. Singh earned his bachelors with honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a Masters in Public Health from Harvard University, and a Juris Doctorate and Immigration Law Certificate from University of California, Davis School of Law where he was selected as the Class of 2020 commencement speaker. While at King Hall, Singh was the president of the Middle Eastern South Asian Law Student Association, Career Chair of the IP Law Association, Above the Line and Senior Interview Editor of the Business Law Journal, Immigration Law Clinic Clerk, and was a recipient of the David & Mariana Beatty Law Award. Singh currently serves on the board of the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California and was recently awarded the 2025 Rising Star Attorney Award.
Selvi Stanislaus
Selvi Stanislaus is the first woman to lead the second largest tax department in the nation. She administers two of California's largest tax programs namely Personal Income Tax and Corporation Tax, which collects over $60 billion for the state’s general fund. She overseas a department of over 6000 employees in 11 offices located in California, Illinois, New York and Texas. She advises the Franchise Tax Board Members and the California Legislature on statewide policy issues. In 2006, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States presented her with the “IRS Commissioner’s Award”, which recognized the excellent work done under her leadership in federal/state initiatives. In 2008, she received the Government Technology Conference Award for “Innovation and Leadership” in state government and was also judged as one of the nations “Doers, Dreamers and Drivers for the year 2011.” Ms. Stanislaus has been a professor for the Lincoln Law School since 2006, where she teaches Federal Income Taxation. She has previously taught State and Local Taxation at the UC Davis School of Law. Ms. Stanislaus received her LL.M. in Taxation from the McGeorge School of Law in 1997, her J.D. from the Lincoln Law School in 1995, and her B.A. in Law from the Sri Lanka Law College in 1981.
Lynn Starr
Lynn Starr has taught Pretrial Skills at UC Davis School of Law since 2001. Previously a litigation partner in the San Francisco office of Jackson Tufts Cole & Black LLP, she represented clients in Federal and California courts as well as various ADR forums. She also served as the firm’s hiring partner. Ms. Starr was a board member of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and the San Francisco Shelter Grievance Advisory Committee. She received her J.D., with Distinction, from Stanford Law School and was the recipient of the Frank Baker Belcher Prize for Best Academic Work in Evidence. She received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University.
Darrell Steinberg ’84
Steinberg began his career as a legal advocate for workers and organized labor. He argued numerous cases that set legal precedents, and served as an Administrative Law Judge Administrative Law Judge and taught Labor Law at UC Davis. As former Mayor of Sacramento, he played a key role in transforming the city, focusing on inclusive economic growth, equity, and addressing homelessness. With nearly 30 years of experience, his legislative record is marked by leadership in various policy areas, crisis management, problem-solving, and coalition-building. Prior to becoming President of the Senate, Steinberg chaired several influential committees and negotiated multiple state budgets, showcasing his unparalleled expertise and commitment to public service. Steinberg graduated from University of California, Los Angeles, where he earned a BA in economics, then earned a Juris Doctorate from UC Davis Law School. He went on to serve as an employee rights attorney for the California State Employees Association for 10 years before his work as an Administrative Law Judge and mediator. Steinberg served on the Sacramento City Council from 1992 to 1998, and as an Assemblymember from 1999 to 2004.
Jake Storms ’10
Jake Storms is an attorney and Partner at Cox Castle & Nicholson LLP in San Francisco, with a focus on real estate and renewable energy development. He has led over $5 billion in real estate transactions over the past ten years. Jake advises Fortune 500 companies, developers, and high-net-worth individuals on national portfolio strategies and complex real estate and leasing matters. His work in the renewable energy space includes advising on over 15GW of utility-scale solar, wind, and geothermal projects, along with securing more than $10 billion in financing. Previously, Jake held associate roles at Farella Braun & Martell LLP and Stoel Rives LLP, where he specialized in real estate, natural resources law, and regulatory permitting. Recognized as a Lawdragon 500 Leading Energy Lawyer (2025) and a Northern California Rising Star (2019–2020), Jake earned his J.D. from UC Davis School of Law (2010), an MFA in Acting from the University of Alabama, Montgomery, AL and a B.A. in Theatre from Willamette University, Salem, OR.
John Tan ’10
Mr. Tan is currently the Managing Attorney/Program Manager of the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program/Medicare unit at Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC), a non-profit legal services organization serving 23 Northern California counties. During his career at LSNC, he has staffed and supervised law student volunteers at free legal clinics. He has also supervised law clerks at LSNC during summer internships and school-year externships. Mr. Tan has been a Lawyering Process Laboratory Lecturer since Spring 2019. He received a BA in 2004 from the University of Southern California in Political Science, Biological Sciences, and Asian American Studies, an MPH in Community Health Sciences (2007) and an MA in Asian American Studies (2008) from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a JD in 2010 from UC Davis School of Law.
Kelli Taylor
Kelli Taylor has over 26 years of litigation experience, as an Assistant United States Attorney and as a shareholder in private practice. Currently, Ms. Taylor defends the United States in civil lawsuits brought against the United States, federal agencies and federal employees concerning a wide range of topics including environmental issues, employment, civil rights, medical malpractice, catastrophic injuries and death on federal lands, other Federal Tort Claims Act allegations, and more. Previously, as chief of the Affirmative Litigation Unit for eight years, she handling all aspects of her own caseload while also supervising as many as 11 AUSAs and 20 support staff (paralegals, investigators, auditors and clerks). Ms. Taylor also periodically handles criminal prosecutions, including at trial. She has regular interactions with highly sophisticated opposing counsel, cultivated relationships with federal agencies, and provided regular briefings to the U.S. Attorney and other senior members of the Department of Justice. A member of the Schwartz-Levi Inn of Court, Ms. Taylor has mentored numerous King Hall students and judged the law school’s moot court competitions. Ms. Taylor has been a Lawyering Process Laboratory Lecturer (Spring 2019-2022). She received her J.D. from the University of San Diego, School of Law in 1996 and a B.A. with distinction in her major from San Diego State University in December 1992.
Samantha Ting ’18
Ms. Ting is currently an Assistant Public Defender in the Sacramento County Office of the Public Defender where she represents indigent accused persons during all stages of criminal proceedings. Previously she worked as a Research Assistant for the Sacramento County Office of the Public Defender. Ting also participates in a number of professional associations including Women Lawyers of Sacramento and the California Public Defender’s Association. Ting received her B.A. in Criminal Justice from California State University Sacramento in 2013, and her J.D. from UC Davis School of Law in 2018.
Alyssa Thurston
Alyssa Thurston is the Director of the UC Davis Mabie Law Library. She received her B.A. from Middlebury College, J.D. from UCLA School of Law, and M.L.I.S. with a special certificate in law librarianship from the University of Washington Information School. Prior to joining UC Davis, she worked as a Research Services Librarian and later as the Head of Reference Services at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law's Jerene Appleby Harnish Law Library.
Jennifer Umberg ’22
Jennifer Umberg is an Attorney with the California Department of Rehabilitation in Sacramento where she provides legal advice and conducts research on topics related to fair employment, disability rights, and vocational rehabilitation. Prior to that, Umberg served as a Staff Attorney and Child Advocate Supervisor at The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, where she advocated for unaccompanied children in the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) custody, ensuring their best interests during custody and placement decisions. Umberg holds a J.D. from UC Davis School of Law (2022), a M.A. in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University (2018), and a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from UC Berkeley (2013), where she minored in Global Poverty & Practice. At King Hall, Umberg served as a Student Law Clerk at the UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic. She received the Dean's Merit Scholarship, the Reynoso Academic Excellence Award in Asylum Law and the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence in Lawyering Process class. Prior to law school, Umberg worked in international human rights and humanitarian aid, including working with refugees in Southeast Asia and in food security in South Africa.
Ruben Villalobos ’98
The Hon. Rubén A. Villalobos is a Superior Court Judge for Stanislaus County, California, where he has served since 2015, with a current focus on Juvenile Justice. He has held various leadership roles, including Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court from 2020-2021, and is active in statewide judicial committees such as the Judicial Council's Family and Juvenile Committee and the California Judges Association. Prior to his judicial appointment, Villalobos worked as a partner at Law Office of Villalobos, Meyer, and Borthwick, and as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Las Vegas. He earned his J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 1998 and holds a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley. Villalobos is also a dedicated educator, teaching and leading seminars in juvenile law and judicial education, with an emphasis on racial justice and juvenile dependency.
Ryan Wagner
Since 2007, Ryan Wagner has served as Deputy District Attorney for the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office. He has prosecuted violent sex offenders, developed a training program for new attorneys on the different phases of a criminal trial, and supervised and trained incoming attorneys. Currently, he serves as the head of the Law & Motion Unit and Director of Recruitment & Hiring. He has taught a specialized course to Coast Guard JAG Corps Attorneys on effective investigative techniques and trial strategies in sexual assault cases. For many years, Mr. Wagner has been an instructor for the Law Enforcement Training Center, where he lectures on multiple criminal law topics, including Search and Seizure, Property Crimes, and Investigations. At King Hall, he has served as a lecturer since 2019, teaching both Introduction to Criminal Litigation and Best Practices for Justice.
Danny Walvick
Danny Walvick is an attorney at the intersection of music and technology, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He currently serves in-house counsel at Sirius XM and its subsidiary, Pandora Media, where he counsels and advises the business (and negotiates various commercial transactions) supporting all matters involving the distribution of music and music-related content. Previously, Mr. Walvick was in-house counsel at leading music video distribution and monetization outlet, Vevo, supporting all departments of the organization. Prior to his time at Vevo, Mr. Walvick worked in-house for a music streaming start-up and a world-class music publishing company. Danny began his career at a boutique entertainment law firm, where he supported musicians, record labels, film studios, concert promoters, authors, actors, producers, screenwriters, and start-up founders across the digital entertainment ecosystem. Walvick earned his J.D. from UC Law San Francisco (2013) and his undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California (2009).
Tracy Winsor ’96
Tracy’s areas of interest include water rights, water quality, the Public Trust Doctrine, environmental justice, environmental enforcement, negotiations, oral advocacy, and legal writing. When she is not teaching, she is a Senior Assistant Attorney General for the California Attorney General’s Office, Natural Resources Law Section. There, she has served as environmental litigation counsel for the State of California’s natural resources agencies since 1996, advocating in state and federal courts in trial and appellate litigation. She has taught environmental law at UC Davis since 2008.
Helen Winter
Dr. Helen Winter is an Assistant Professor of Law and Practice at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, teaching at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. Dr. Winter teaches in the Straus Institute’s academic programs and professional training programs and provides mentorship and advisory services to international students. Winter has been published in the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, and Conflict Resolution Quarterly and has been invited to speak at numerous events, webinar series, and podcasts within the ADR community both nationally and international. She is the co-founder of R3SOLUTE, a nonprofit dedicated to training refugees and local populations in peer mediation to resolve conflicts peacefully. This initiative has trained hundreds of peer mediators, emphasizing the practical intersection of ADR principles and social impact. Winter holds a Ph.D. from European University Viadrina (magna cum laude) that she pursued in part at Harvard Law School as a research fellow at the Program on Negotiation, an LL.M. in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine, and a J.D. from Heidelberg University. Her research focuses on innovative dispute system design, intercultural mediation, and the role of self-efficacy in conflict resolution, particularly in underserved communities.
Jaclyn Zumeata
Jaclyn Zumaeta is currently an Assistant Chief Counsel at the Franchise Tax Board, where she serves as the department's appeals coordinator and manages a team of 30 attorneys, paralegals, and program specialists who represent the State in various levels of state tax controversy, including internal protests and appeals before the Office of Tax Appeals. She also serves as a member of the Taxation Section of the California Lawyers Association's Executive Committee, creating networking and professional development activities, publications, and programming for the tax community. Prior to this, she served as Assistant Chief Counsel at the State of California Office of Tax Appeals. She previously served as a Manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers, a Tax Council III with the Franchise Tax Board, where she was the recipient of the Sustained Superior Accomplishment Award, Individual Gold Superior Accomplishment Award, and the Group Gold Superior Accomplishment Award, and served as a Chief Legal Advisor for Franchise and Income Tax and a Franchise Tax Board Liaison with the Office of Jerome E. Horton, Board of Equalization. Zumaeta received her B.A. in Criminology, Law, & Society and Psychology & Social Behavior, cum laude, from the University of California, Irvine in 2006, her LLM degree in Taxation from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2009, and her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2009.
Visiting Professors
Michael T. Colatrella, Jr.
Michael Colatrella is a Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. Professor Colatrella joined the McGeorge faculty in 2009 as an Assistant Professor of Law. He served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from June 2015 to May 2019 and Interim Dean from July 2019 to June 2020. He is an expert in alternative dispute resolution, including mediation, negotiation, and conflict management. He is co-author of the interdisciplinary text Mediation—Skills & Techniques, which is widely used in law schools, graduate schools, and schools of diplomacy. Professor Colatrella's dispute resolution scholarship focuses on improving mediator techniques and mediation processes so that self-represented litigants may participate more meaningfully and effectively. Professor Colatrella also educates lawyers, corporate executives, and businesspeople in a wide variety of negotiation, conflict management and human relations matters. Professor Colatrella received his J.D. from Seton Hall University, LLM at New York University and B.A. from Rutgers University.
Michael S. Mireles
Michael S. Mireles, Jr. is a Professor of Law, McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. He currently teaches intellectual property law, Property, Wills & Trusts and Cybersecurity Law and has published papers in numerous journals including, Cardozo Law Review, Southern Methodist University Law Review, University of Utah Law Review, and Indiana Law Review. Mireles was an associate attorney at Downey Brand, practicing intellectual property and commercial law, and was a law clerk to Circuit Judge S. Jay Plager of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. He has served on the board of directors of several professional and community organizations, as Co-chair of the Federal Circuit Bar Association Diversity Committee, as President of the Asian Bar Association of Sacramento, and as a mayoral appointment to the City of Sacramento Racial Profiling Commission. Professor Mireles received his BS from the University of Maryland in Sociology, a JD from University of the Pacific (Order of the Coif), and LLM in intellectual property law from George Washington University Law School, with highest honors.
Kyung Sin (K.S.) Park
Kyung Sin “KS” Park is a professor at the Korea University School of Law, and co-founder and Executive Director of www.opennetkorea.org. He served as Commissioner at the Korean Communication Standards Commission, a presidentially appointed internet content regulation body (2011-2014), and as a member of the National Media Commission, a Parliament-appointed advisory body on newspaper-broadcasting co-ownership bans and other media and Internet regulations (2010). He also served as International Relations Counsel to the Korea Film Council, arranged the Korea-France Film Co-production Treaty, and advised on the UNESCO Cultural Diversity Convention (2002-2007). He is Executive Director for both the PSPD Law Center (2008-) and Open Net Korea (2013-), which have pursued and won several high profile litigation and legislative actions in the areas of freedom of speech, privacy, net neutrality, web accessibility, digital innovation, and intellectual property. He founded the Korea University Law Review and the Law School’s Clinical Legal Education Center, and spearheaded www.internetlawclinic.org and www.transparency.or.kr under that Center. Dr. Park has been a visiting lecturer in Internet Law at UCI Law (2017) and in Global Censorship at UC Davis School of Law (2017). He has an AB in Physics from Harvard University, and JD from UCLA School of Law.
Jaime Ubilla
Jaime Ubilla is a Lecturer of Law at UC Davis School of Law. In the past he has been a Professor of Law at the Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile, where he taught courses on jurisprudence, legal sociology, and global law. His research focuses on: (a) Transnational – Global Law; (b) Legal Theory and Socio-legal studies of Global Law; (c) Socio-legal studies of Post-Modern Regulatory Approaches - to tackle various regulatory failures; (d) Legal theory and Socio-legal studies on property rights; (e) Socio-legal studies of biodiversity – conservation law, and the analysis of property rights for the development of new social practices that promote the conservation of biodiversity. He holds a PhD, from the School of Law, University of Edinburgh, an M.A. in Law from Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan), and a J.D. from Universidad de Chile. He has been a member of the Global Commission on Environmental Law of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He is also the founder and director of the Conservation Law Center of Chile, and he has also been a partner with Ubilla and Cía (Santiago, Chile; Shanghai, China), handling various transnational business transactions in different continents.