News

The Sacramento Bee has honored Professor Amagda Pérez as one of its 2026 Change Makers. 

In partnership with Nehemiah Leaders Programs, the Bee is spotlighting 60 “innovative and diverse people who are shifting our region’s landscape.”

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Lauri Damrell ’05 has been appointed to serve as an associate justice on the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District.

A Superior Court judge since 2018, Damrell 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.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit this week drew on and cited to Professor Vikram Amar's work in the area of voting equality in Grant v. Belangia, a case involving a South Carolina law that discriminates on the basis of age with respect to absentee-voting eligibility. 

Professor Sarah Polcz co-wrote an op-ed published Aug. 12 in Time magazine.

Professor Emeritus Kevin R. Johnson spoke to the New York Times for an Aug. 11 report on how body-camera footage, text messages and other evidence from lawsuits indicate racial profiling within the mass deportation campaign by President Donald Trump’s administration.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit relied on Professor Chimène Keitner’s scholarship in its decision in Kuiper v. Reyes Mena affirming that former foreign officials cannot use sovereign immunity as protection against allegations of torture, slavery, arbitrary detention and extrajudicial killing. 

Professor Nila Bala spoke to the BBC’s The World Tonight podcast on Aug 6.

Bala discussed the conviction and recent sentencing to 15 years in prison of Colin Gray, whose son used a gun Gray gave him for Christmas in a deadly 2024 school shooting in Georgia. 

Professor Mary Ziegler has been elected to the American Law Institute, the nation’s premier nongovernmental law reform organization.

UC Davis Law now counts 21 current and nine emeriti faculty in the ALI, which consists of judges, lawyers and law professors and caps membership at 3,000.

Chancellor Gary S. May has appointed Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law Mary Ziegler as a UC Davis Chancellor’s Leadership Professor. 

The five-year appointment recognizes outstanding scholarship and contributions to campus and includes $25,000 in research support funds each academic year.

UC Davis School of Law has been honored with the Insight into Academia 2026 Excellence in Innovation: Law Schools Award for its Water Law Program. 

UC Davis Law pioneered some of the first water law classes in the nation in the early 1970s and has been developing into its full structure more recently.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed Sarah Carrillo ’03 to the Tuolumne Superior Court. 

Carrillo previously served as Tuolumne County counsel from 2013-2025 and as deputy county counsel from 2005-2013.

Read the full press release from the governor’s office.

Professor Chimène Keitner spoke to The New York Times about Mexican officials’ announcement on June 9 that they planned to file criminal complaints in the United States regarding the deaths of several Mexican citizens during immigration operations.

ChangeLawyers, a community foundation that empowers the next generation of lawyers, judges and activists, has highlighted incoming UC Davis Law student Sharan Kalkat ’29 as a member of the Next Gen Scholars cohort.

Professor Karrigan Börk spoke to the New York Times about the Trump administration’s recasting of the word “harm” in the Endangered Species Act.

On July 10, the United States' Interior and Commerce departments announced they had rescinded the longstanding interpretation of “harm” to include not just killing or injuring animals but destroying habitat.

Professor Sarah Polcz spoke to The Atlantic for a July 2 story headlined “Why Everyone Is Suddenly Talking About ’Universal Basic Capital.’”

Professor Carlton F.W.

Since 2001, the King Hall Outreach Program has helped high-potential first-generation or economically underserved college students and recent graduates gain the knowledge and skills needed to excel in the law school admissions process.

The brainchild of then-Assistant Dean of Admission Sharon Pinkney, KHOP began as an in-residence program, held during the summer, before assuming its current schedule of distinct winter and summer sessions unfolding over four Saturdays.

In a July 2 article in the New York Times, Professor Vikram Amar offered analysis of the role of Chief Justice John Roberts during this year's tumultuous Supreme Court term. The article points out that while the recently ended term that included several controversial cases left many unhappy, it was a triumph for Roberts.

Professors Gabriel “Jack” Chin and Kevin R. Johnson spoke to media about the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on June 30 to reject President Donald Trump’s executive order attempting to end automatic birthright citizenship.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has named UC Davis Law Visiting Lecturer George G. Demos as director of its Division of Enforcement and Investigations. He will manage the PCAOB’s investigations and enforcement of violations of its rules, professional standards, and other securities regulations. 

On June 18, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) introduced a bill based on Professor Sarah Polcz’s research.

Mila and Ernie Llorente ’75 have made a gift to establish a public interest internship fund at UC Davis School of Law. 

The Mila and Ernie Llorente ’75 Public Interest Internship will provide stipends to support students who work for city or county governmental agencies during the summer, with a preference for positions in the Bay Area.

James Gallagher ’07 has been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, filling the Northern California District 1 seat long held by Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who died in January 2026.

Gallagher won the June primary special election to serve out LaMalfa’s term. A state Assembly member for 12 years, Gallagher served as Assembly Republican Minority Leader from 2022-25. Before the Assembly, Gallagher served on the Sutter County Board of Supervisors.

Six UC Davis Law students have received prestigious John Paul Stevens Foundation Public Interest Fellowships.