# UC Davis School of Law

The University of California, Davis School of Law is the professional graduate law school of the University of California, Davis. The school received ABA approval in 1968. It joined the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1968.
UC Davis School of Law is the smallest of the five law schools in the University of California system, with a total enrollment of around 600 students. The school is located in a building named for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and commonly referred to as King Hall.

## History

During the late 1940s, the rapid expansion of what is now known as the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (then known as Hastings College of the Law) partially relieved some of the political pressure on UC Berkeley School of Law to compromise on its rigid standards for student admissions and faculty hiring.$^{:241}$ Berkeley was able to hold the line on its standards and thereby ascended to the top tier of American law schools by the 1990s.$^{:241}$
To further protect Berkeley Law (then also known as Boalt Hall), the university appointed a committee in 1960 to prepare recommendations for the establishment of additional law schools in the UC system.$^{:261}$ The committee recommended that law schools should be established at Davis, San Diego, and Santa Barbara, but Davis was identified as the highest priority because of its proximity to the California State Capitol at Sacramento.$^{:261}$
Formal planning for the law school at Davis began in 1962.$^{:261}$ The law faculty at Berkeley actively supported and worked on the development of the new law school at Davis because they knew it would relieve the pressure on themselves to ease up on admissions standards.$^{:261}$ It helped that one of their own, Edward L. Barrett, Jr., was appointed as Davis's first dean in 1964.$^{:261}$ UC Davis School of Law opened in a temporary space in 1966 and moved to a permanent building in fall 1968.$^{:261}$ The first class of 69 students graduated in June 1969.$^{:261}$
Apart from Barrett, no one else went from Berkeley to Davis.$^{:261}$ Barrett was exceedingly careful to not compete against Berkeley in hiring the first law professors at Davis.$^{:261}$ He knew Berkeley Law regarded Stanford Law School as its only equal within California, and was "sensitive to the somewhat elitist stance of the Boalt Hall faculty and their skepticism that a first-rate law school could be built on an agricultural campus".$^{:261}$

## Rankings and academics

In 2016, U.S. News & World Report ranked UC Davis 30th among all law schools in the United States.
For diversity among the five law schools in the UC system, UC Davis was named the second-most diverse after UC Hastings by U.S. News & World Report. Princeton Review placed UC Davis Law tenth in the nation for faculty diversity in the 2009 version of its annual law ranking. It is listed as an "A−" in the March 2011 "Diversity Honor Roll" by The National Jurist: The Magazine for Law Students.
It is listed as an "A" (#16) in the January 2011 "Best Public Interest Law Schools" ratings by The National Jurist: The Magazine for Law Students.
UC Davis Law has the smallest student body of the UC law schools. It has a slightly higher student/faculty ratio than UCLA or Berkeley.
UC Davis has been ranked as the fifth most-expensive public law school in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. It is also ranked first for providing the most financial aid.
UC Davis grants the second-most in financial aid in the country. UC Davis Law's King Hall Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), founded in 1990 to help alumni working in relatively low-income public-service law careers to repay student loans, was the first loan repayment assistance program established at any UC law school.
According to Brian Leiter's Law School rankings, Davis ranks 23rd in the nation for scholarly impact as measured by total academic citations of tenure-stream faculty.
On November 28, 2022, UC Davis Law withdrew from U.S. News & World Report rankings and will no longer provide data to contribute to those rankings.

### Bar passage rates

Based on a 2001-2007 6 year average, 79.4% of UC Davis Law graduates passed the California State Bar exam. In 2009, 89% of first-time test takers passed the California bar.
For July 2012, 78.9% of first-time test takers passed the California bar exam. For July 2013, 85.0% of first-time test takers passed the California Bar Exam.
For July 2014, 86% of first-time test takers passed the California bar exam.

## Employment

According to King Hall's official 2019 ABA-required disclosures, 85% of the Class of 2019 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. King Hall's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 6.5%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2019 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.

## Costs

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at King Hall for the 2024-2025 academic year is $83,011 for California residents and $95,256 for non-residents.

## California International Law Center

The California International Law Center is a research center at the Davis School of Law (Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall) that focuses on international, comparative, and transnational law. It works to promote scholarship, curricular and career development, and partnerships with organizations such as the American Society of International Law and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. It was founded in 2009. CILC's co-directors are Associate Dean Beth Greenwood and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law Afra Afsharipour. The acronym "CILC" is pronounced as "silk." CILC sponsors the Asylum and Refugee Law National Moot Court Competition.

### Darfur Project

CILC has partnered with the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights for special project focused on the crisis in Darfur. RFK's 2007 Human Rights Laureate Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah, academic faculty from throughout California, and CILC's fellow, students, and alumni will participate in creating a report of past reconciliation efforts.

### Global Council

CILC's Global Council consists of leaders in international legal and policy advocacy. Current members of the council include Prof. Clayborne Carson, Prof. Mireille Delmas-Marty, Prof. William A. Schabas, former ambassador Derek Shearer, and Judge Patricia M. Wald.

## Expansion

The law school completed a $30 million expansion project in 2011. The project has added an additional wing to the law school's current building, increasing assignable space by nearly 30 percent to provide for additional classrooms, offices, and a new courtroom, named the Paul and Lydia Kalmanovitz Appellate Courtroom in honor of a $1 million gift to the project from the Kalmanovitz Charitable Foundation. The courtroom is used by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, California Supreme Court, and California Court of Appeal.

## Noted people
### Faculty

* Alan Brownstein, professor of law emeritus
* Gabriel "Jack" Chin, professor of law, specialist in fields of immigration law and criminal procedure
* Joel Dobris, professor of law emeritus, scholar of trusts, wills, and estates
* Angela P. Harris, professor of law emerita, critical legal theory scholar
* Robert W. Hillman, professor of law emeritus, fair business practices and investor advocacy chair
* Edward Imwinkelried, professor of law emeritus
* Kevin Johnson, distinguished professor, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o Studies, specialist in civil rights, immigration, and Chicano/a rights law
* Miguel Méndez, professor of law emeritus, evidence law scholar (dec.)
* Terry O'Neill, former president, National Organization for Women, acting professor of law 1988–1989.
* Rex R. Perschbacher, Daniel J. Dykstra Endowed Chair, lecturer (1981–2016), dean of the law school (1998–2008), professor emeritus (2016–2018). Professor of law, civil procedure, professional responsibility, legal ethics and clinical application of legal education. (dec.)
* Cruz Reynoso, associate justice of the California Supreme Court 1982–1987, professor emeritus. (dec.)
* Martha West, former associate dean; professor of law emerita
* William S. Dodge, professor of law emeritus, international law, international transactions, and international dispute resolution.

### Alumni

* Tani Cantil-Sakauye, the 28th chief justice of the Supreme Court of California
* Craig F. Stowers, associate justice (and 18th chief justice) of the Supreme Court of Alaska (dec.)
* Kristina Pickering, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Nevada
* Clint Bolick, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Arizona
* Kelli Evans, associate justice of the Supreme Court of California
* F. Philip Carbullido, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Guam; chief justice 2003-2008
* Luis Alejo, California State Assemblymember and Monterey County supervisor
* Charles Calderon, California State Assemblymember, former majority leader of the California State Senate
* Sharon L. Gleason, chief judge, United States District Court for the District of Alaska
* Elihu Harris, former mayor of Oakland, California
* Ryan T. Holte, judge, United States Court of Federal Claims
* Paul Igasaki, chief judge and chair of the U.S. Department of Labor Administrative Review Board; deputy chief executive officer of Equal Justice Works; former chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), appointed by President Clinton
* Gus Lee, American author and ethicist
* Laura Liswood, co-founder of the Council of Women World Leaders; senior advisor, Goldman Sachs
* George Miller, Democratic congressman; Ranking Member, United States House Committee on Education and Labor
* Angela E. Oh, activist, former chair of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer's Federal Judicial Nominations Committee
* Dean D. Pregerson, judge, United States District Court for the Central District of California; son of Judge Harry Pregerson
* Jane A. Restani, chief judge, United States Court of International Trade
* Jim Rogers, city councilman, City of Richmond, California
* Jon Sands, chief federal public defender for the District of Arizona
* Anna Slotky, actress
* Gary D. Solis, adjunct professor of law, Georgetown University Law Center
* Darrell Steinberg, mayor of Sacramento, California State Senate President Pro Tem, (D-Sacramento)
* Arthur Torres, California State Senator; former chairman of the California Democratic Party
* Monika Kalra Varma, director, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights (RFK Center)
* Steve White, former presiding judge, Sacramento County Superior Court; former inspector general of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
* Christopher Zoukis – Founder of Zoukis Consulting Group, a federal prison consulting and criminal defense firm; author of Federal Prison Handbook and Directory of Federal Prisons; recognized expert on Federal Bureau of Prisons policies.