News

The government of Mexico has honored UC Immigration Services Center Executive Director Aidín Castillo Mazantini '11 with its prestigious Ohtli Award.

The award represents Mexico's highest recognition for individuals who have opened pathways to Mexicans abroad, specifically in the United States.

Consul General of Mexico in Sacramento Christian Tonatiuh González Jiménez presented Castillo with her award at a ceremony held at Sacramento’s Leland Stanford Mansion on Sept. 11.

The Unity Bar of Yolo County will present the Group Advocacy Award to UC Davis School of Law's Immigration Law Clinic for its detention advocacy. Professor and Immigration Law Clinic Co-director Holly S. Cooper will accept the award on behalf of the clinic at the association's third gala in November.

UC Davis School of Law will honor two highly accomplished and devoted alumni at its annual Reunions celebration on Saturday, Oct. 3 at King Hall.

For many law students, becoming a judge represents the pinnacle of a legal career and the ultimate expression of one’s commitment to justice.

Eric Toscano ‘09 continues as president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors for the coming year. Joining him in a new leadership role is Alexandria Goff ‘12, who was named president-elect. 

The board also welcomes eight new members from the classes of 1985 to 2012. Their backgrounds include employment law, immigration, intellectual property, commercial litigation and the judiciary. As alumni board members they will help to build alumni connections, support current students and serve as ambassadors for King Hall. 

Professor Elizabeth Joh and podcasting partner Roman Mars released a flurry of episodes of What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law over the summer, most covering recent Supreme Court cases.

Professor Chimène Keitner spoke to Reuters for a Sept. 1 story on ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s contention that he is immune from prosecution as the head of a sovereign state.

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 its program 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.