UC Davis School of Law

Last updated
University of California, Davis
School of Law
Law-logo.png
MottoFiat lux (Latin)
Parent school University of California
Established1965 [1]
School type Public
Parent endowment$2.2 billion (2021) [2]
Dean Jessica Wilen Berg
Location Davis, California, U.S.
38°32′09″N121°44′57″W / 38.53583°N 121.74917°W / 38.53583; -121.74917
Enrollment622 [1]
Faculty62 [1]
USNWR ranking55th (tie) (2024) [1]
Bar pass rate84% (July 2019 1st time takers) [3]
Website law.ucdavis.edu
ABA profile Standard 509 Report

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. [4] It joined the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1968. [5]

Contents

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. [6]

History

During the late 1940s, the rapid expansion of the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings) 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. [7] :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. [7] :241

To further protect UC Berkeley School of Law, the university appointed a committee in 1960 to prepare recommendations for the establishment of additional law schools in the UC system. [7] :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. [7] :261

Formal planning for the law school at Davis began in 1962. [7] :261 The Berkeley Law faculty 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. [7] :261 It helped that one of their own, Edward L. Barrett, Jr., was appointed as Davis's first dean in 1964. [7] :261 UC Davis School of Law opened in a temporary space in 1966 and moved to a permanent building in fall 1968. [7] :261 The first class of 69 students graduated in June 1969. [7] :261

Rankings and academics

Mabie Law Library Mabie Law Library.jpg
Mabie Law Library

In 2016, U.S. News & World Report ranked UC Davis 30th among all law schools in the United States. [1]

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. [8] 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. [9]

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. [10]

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. [11]

UC Davis has been ranked as the fifth most-expensive public law school in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. [12] It is also ranked first for providing the most financial aid. [12]

Main Entrance to King Hall Main Entrance of King Hall.jpg
Main Entrance to King Hall

UC Davis grants the second-most in financial aid in the country. [13] [14] [15] 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. [16]

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. [17]

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. [18]

Bar passage rates

Based on a 2001-2007 6 year average, 79.4% of UC Davis Law graduates passed the California State Bar exam. [19] In 2009, 89% of first-time test takers passed the California bar. [20]

For July 2012, 78.9% of first-time test takers passed the California bar exam. [21] For July 2013, 85.0% of first-time test takers passed the California Bar Exam. [22]

For July 2014, 86% of first-time test takers passed the California bar exam. [23]

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. [24] 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. [25]

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. [26]

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. [27]

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. [28]

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[ citation needed ].

Noted people

Faculty

Alumni

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanford Law School</span> Law school of Stanford University, California, U.S

Stanford Law School (SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% in 2021, the second-lowest of any law school in the country. George Triantis currently serves as Dean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of California College of the Law, San Francisco</span> Public law school in San Francisco, California

The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco is a public law school in San Francisco, California, United States. It was previously known as the University of California, Hastings College of the Law from 1878 to 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of San Diego School of Law</span> Private law school in San Diego, California

The University of San Diego School of Law is the law school of the University of San Diego, a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1954, the law school has held ABA approval since 1961. It joined the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1966.

Vikram David Amar is an American legal scholar focusing on constitutional law, federal courts, and civil and criminal procedure. In August 2015, he became dean of the University of Illinois College of Law and the Iwan Foundation Professor of Law. He returned to the University of California, Davis School of Law as a Distinguished Professor of Law in 2023.

Cruz Reynoso was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohio State University Moritz College of Law</span> Law school of the Ohio State University in Columbus, OH, US

The Michael E. Moritz College of Law is the law school of Ohio State University, a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1891, the school is located in Drinko Hall on the main campus of the Ohio State University in Columbus. The school is accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and is a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools.

Elon University School of Law is an American law school located in Greensboro, North Carolina, occupying the former downtown public library building. Established in 2006, Elon Law is one of nine graduate programs offered by Elon University. It earned full accreditation from the American Bar Association in 2011 and has announced plans to introduce a part-time program for working professionals in Charlotte, North Carolina, beginning in Fall 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Goode Jones School of Law</span> Law school in Montgomery, Alabama, US

The Thomas Goode Jones School of Law is the law school of Faulkner University, located in Montgomery, Alabama.

The Valparaiso University Law School was the law school of Valparaiso University, a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana. Founded in 1879, the school was accredited by the American Bar Association in 1929 and admitted to the Association of American Law Schools in 1930. In October 2016, the ABA censured the school for admitting applicants who did not appear capable of satisfactorily completing the school's program of legal education and being admitted to the bar. One year later, the school suspended admissions and shut down after the last class graduated in 2020.

Purdue Global Law School, is an online law school based in Los Angeles, California. It is one of several schools within Purdue University Global. Established in 1998, Purdue Global Law was the United States' first fully online law school. The school is approved by the State Bar of California, but it is not accredited by the American Bar Association, making graduates ineligible to take the bar exam in most states other than California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tulane University Law School</span> Law school in New Orleans, Louisiana, US

Tulane University Law School is the law school of Tulane University. It is located on Tulane's Uptown campus in New Orleans, Louisiana. Established in 1847, it is the 12th oldest law school in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of California, Irvine School of Law</span>

The University of California, Irvine School of Law is the law school at the University of California, Irvine, a public research university in Irvine, California. Founded in 2007, it is the fifth and newest law school in the University of California system. At the time of its founding, it was the first new public law school in California in more than 40 years.

Joseph Raymond Grodin is a lawyer, law professor, and a former Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal and an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California. Grodin lost his Supreme Court seat in a contentious 1986 retention election that also removed Justice Cruz Reynoso and Chief Justice Rose Bird.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goodwin Liu</span> American judge (born 1970)

Goodwin Hon Liu is an American jurist who has served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California since 2011. Before his appointment by Governor Jerry Brown, Liu was associate dean and a professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UC Berkeley School of Law</span> Public law school in Berkeley, California

The University of California, Berkeley School of Law is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was never the official name. This came from its initial building, the Boalt Memorial Hall of Law, named for John Henry Boalt. This name was transferred to an entirely new law school building in 1951 but was removed in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tani Cantil-Sakauye</span> American judge

Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye is an American lawyer and jurist who was the 28th Chief Justice of California and is the president/CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. She was nominated by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve as chief justice on July 22, 2010, and retained in office by California voters on November 2, 2010, she was sworn in on January 3, 2011 as California's first Filipino and first woman of color to serve as California's Chief Justice. Prior to her appointment as chief justice, Cantil-Sakauye had served in judicial offices on California's appellate and trial courts. On July 27, 2022, she announced she would retire and not run for another 12 year term on the court in November and stepped down on January 1, 2023, leaving Governor Newsom to appoint her replacement. On September 28, 2022, the Public Policy Institute of California announced that Cantil-Sakauye would become its president and chief executive officer, effective January 1, 2023. On September 21, 2023, the Judicial Council of California voted unanimously to name the new Sacramento County courthouse after former Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UC Davis pepper spray incident</span> Occupy movement event in 2011

The UC Davis pepper spray incident occurred on November 18, 2011, during an Occupy movement demonstration at the University of California, Davis. After asking the protesters to leave several times, university police pepper sprayed a group of student demonstrators as they were seated on a paved path in the campus quad. The video of UC Davis police officer Lt. John Pike pepper-spraying demonstrators spread around the world as a viral video and the photograph became an Internet meme. Officer Alex Lee also pepper sprayed demonstrators at Pike's direction.

Mitchell Hamline School of Law is a private law school in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and offers full and part-time legal education for its Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree.

Jesse Herbert Choper is an American constitutional law scholar and a former Dean of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where he serves as the Earl Warren Professor of Public Law Emeritus.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "U.S. News & World Report, "Best Law Schools: University of California -- Davis"".
  2. "UC Davis Endowment Exceeds $2 billion".
  3. Rubino, Kathryn (16 December 2019). "California Bar Exam Results: A Breakdown By Law School (July 2019)". Above the Law. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  4. "ABA-Approved Law Schools by Year". ABA website. Retrieved April 20, 2011.
  5. AALS Member Schools
  6. King Hall
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Epstein, Sandra P. (1997). Law at Berkeley: The History of Boalt Hall. Berkeley: Institute of Governmental Studies Press. ISBN   0-87772-375-3.
  8. "America's Best Graduate Schools 2008, Law School Diversity Index". U.S. News & World Report . Retrieved 2007-10-20.
  9. Larsen, Rebecca (March 2011), "Most Diverse Law Schools (Diversity Honor Roll)", The National Jurist, 20 (6), San Diego, California: Cypress Magazines: 30–37
  10. Weyenberg, Michelle (January 2011). "Best Law Schools for Public Interest". The National Jurist. 20 (4). San Diego, California: Cypress Magazines: 24–28.
  11. "America's Best Graduate Schools 2008, What are the largest and smallest law schools?". US News . Retrieved 2007-10-20.
  12. 1 2 "Public Cost Programs - Top Law Schools - US News Best Graduate Schools". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  13. "America's Best Graduate Schools 2008, Who's the priciest? Who's the cheapest?". U.S. News & World Report . Retrieved 2007-10-20.
  14. "America's Best Graduate Schools 2008, Which public schools award the most and the least financial aid?". US News . Retrieved 2007-10-20.
  15. "America's Best Graduate Schools 2008, Whose graduates have the most debt? The least?". US News . Retrieved 2007-10-20.
  16. "Law School expands loan repayment assistance program". The Aggie. October 5, 2009. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  17. "Top 25 Law Faculties Based on Scholarly Impact, 2005-2009".
  18. Jones, Dave (2022-11-28). "UC Davis Law Withdraws From U.S. News & World Report Rankings". UC Davis. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
  19. "Internet Legal Research Group: University of California-Davis School of Law, 2009 profile" . Retrieved April 13, 2011.
  20. Robertson, Kathy (2009-11-25). "Top UC Davis, McGeorge law students raise the bar". Sacramento Business Journal. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
  21. Hoerauf, Graham (2013-03-13). "California Bar Admissions 2012" (PDF). California Bar Association. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
  22. "TaxProf Blog: July 2013 California Bar Exam Results".
  23. Robertson, Kathy (January 8, 2015). "UC Davis ranks No. 4 in bar exam pass rate; McGeorge comes in at No. 15". Sacramento Business Journal. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  24. "Employment Statistics". 10 September 2008.
  25. "University of California-Davis Profile".
  26. "Tuition and Expenses". 10 September 2008.
  27. Asylum & Refugee Law National Moot Court Competition
  28. Archived January 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine