News

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.

Thirteen years after starting a UC Davis Law scholarship, Ken and Susie Cassman remain excited about its mission – and cherish the memory of the person who inspired it.

Celestial Summer Dove Cassman ’04, known as “Dove” to her family, “was always interested in the vulnerable and the underserved” and in trying to right inequities, her father said during a recent visit to King Hall with his wife.

The Hawaii Supreme Court cited Professor Courtney Joslin in its decision in JK v. HK. The decision held that a woman was a legal parent to a child born to her former same-sex partner and for whom she had jointly planned and cared.

Professor Hannah Buxbaum spoke to the New York Times for a May 28 report on a highly unusual development in the long-running dispute between Greenpeace and the American pipeline company Energy Transfer.

The New Republic quoted Professor Darien Shanske extensively in a May 26 essay by Alex Thomas exploring efforts by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and others to fight the “billionaire’s tax” California ballot initiative with competing initiatives.

Professor Nila Bala spoke to CNN for a May 24 report exploring potential prosecution of the parents of a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old suspect in the San Diego mosque shooting. Three people were killed in the May 18 attack.

Professor Brian Soucek wrote a May 7 op-ed for The Chronicle of Higher Education, "What Makes Yale Think It Speaks for Higher Ed." 

Read the the full op-ed.

Professor Sarah Polcz published an op-ed in The Hill on April 29, "Let the public share in the rewards of artificial intelligence." 

On April 29, UC Davis School of Law recognized faculty and staff excellence at its annual Celebrating King Hall event.

Professor Nila Bala commented in a May 14 story in The Guardian centered on parents being prosecuted in school shootings perpetrated by their children. 

The story mentions the murder conviction earlier this year of a Georgia father whose son killed four people and the groundbreaking 2024 case of a Michigan couple convicted of involuntary manslaughter in their son’s deadly shooting.

Judy Holzer Hersher ’84, a retired Sacramento Superior Court judge, has established an endowment at UC Davis School of Law for the Study of Judicial Philosophy and Jurisprudence in the Modern Judiciary. 

Professor Darien Shanske collaborated on a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed piece and spoke to the San Jose Mercury News about the proposed California “billionaire’s tax” ballot initiative that he helped draft.

Professor Lisa R. Pruitt commented in a May 8 story in The Guardian on former California State Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, a Sonoma County Democrat running for Congress in Northern California’s first district. Maguire could be competitive in the historically Republican district, which was redrawn by California’s Proposition 50 to favor Democrats.

The King Hall community gathered on April 22 for a Public Service Graduation (PSG) ceremony celebrating members of the Class of 2026 for their achievements in public service law. The event featured remarks from Dean Jessica Berg, Professors Nila Bala, Holly S.

UC Davis School of Law is pleased to announce that California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District Associate Justice Shama Mesiwala ’98 will deliver the keynote address at its Class of 2026 commencement on Saturday, May 9 at the Mondavi Center.

Professors Vikram Amar, Gabriel "Jack" Chin and Kevin R. Johnson have been in the media spotlight regarding Trump v. Barbara, the Supreme Court case challenging President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.

UC Davis Law’s Black Law Students Association (BLSA) was named National Chapter of the Year at the 58th National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA) Convention, held March 18-22 in Portland, Ore.

The National Jurist’s preLaw News has ranked UC Davis School of Law No. 6 on its list of “top law schools for social justice.”

The National Jurist stated that the rankings resulted from an examination of “how social justice is embedded across legal education, from classroom instruction and experiential learning to clinics, centers and career support.”

Robert Coronado ’86, a retired environmental lawyer, has made a donation through his estate plan to establish endowments for UC Davis Law’s Lambda Law Students Association, the Latinx Law Students Association, and the Environmental Law Society, as well as endowing a scholarship for students pursuing the study of environmental law. 

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently nominated Professor Peter Lee to serve a three-year term on the Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation.

The forum is a group of thought leaders from government, industry, academia, and other sectors who work on issues related to biopharmaceutical innovation.

UC Davis School of Law’s Water Justice Clinic has received a $3.2 million grant that will support its work on behalf of rural and low-income communities for the next three years.