University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall)

University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall)

Admissions Office, 400 Mrak Hall Drive Davis, CA 95616-5201 Phone: 530.752.6477

E-mail: lawadmissions@ucdavis.edu; Website: www.law.ucdavis.edu

Introduction

The School of Law at the University of California, Davis, was founded in 1965. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. The law school building, King Hall, was named for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in recognition of his efforts to bring social and political justice to disadvantaged peoples. The school has a chapter of the Order of the Coif, the national honor society. A statue of Dr. King is located in the law school lobby.

The Davis campus is 20 minutes from Sacramento and a little over an hour from San Francisco, within easy reach of the major recreational areas of Lake Tahoe. The campus occupies 3,600 acres within the college town of Davis, where the law school is well-known for its commitment to community among students and faculty as well as its cutting edge scholarship, teaching, and service.

The close proximity to the state capitol and the Bay Area provide the opportunity for a well-rounded educational experience. The campus offers a full range of graduate and professional programs.

Library and Physical Facilities

Faculty offices, classrooms, and the law library are housed in King Hall on the Davis campus. It has a moot courtroom, a pretrial-skills laboratory, a large computer lab, study carrels, student journal offices, lounges, infant care co-op, and offices for student organizations, all easily accessible to disabled students. Every law student is given a key to the building allowing 24-hour access.

First-year students are assigned to carrels where books can be charged. Students have access to many online databases via the library and California Digital Library. The library is a federal and California document depository.

Classrooms have state-of-the-art audiovisual and multimedia equipment. Wireless Internet access is available throughout the building.

The law school’s clinical programs are housed in law offices a short distance from King Hall.

Curriculum

The law school offers a three-year, full-time program in law leading to the Juris Doctor degree and a postgraduate program leading to an LLM. At King Hall, a faculty with a national reputation for excellent scholarship and teaching is combined with an outstanding and diverse student body. The faculty’s scholarship is renowned in many different fields, including Constitutional Law; Environmental Law; Civil Rights; Critical Race Theory; Trusts, Wills, and Estate Planning; Property; Contracts; Evidence; Criminal Law and Procedure; Civil Procedure; Federal Courts; Complex Litigation; Latinos and the Law; and Immigration Law and Policy. Ordinarily each first-year section has less than 70 students. Each student is taught at least one of the required first-year courses in small sections of 25–35 students. The first year begins with a weeklong introductory course and includes courses in legal research and writing. Upper-division courses may be selected within broad areas of concentration such as criminal justice,

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University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall)

business and taxation, civil litigation, estate planning and taxation, labor and employment law, environmental law, human rights and social justice law, immigration law, intellectual property, international law, and public law. Students may also combine JD studies with another graduate or professional program such as an MBA degree.

Special Programs

King Hall is renowned for its excellent clinical programs. Students have the opportunity to work under the supervision of practicing lawyers in many different substantive areas. Students also participate in judicial externships in trial and appellate courts.

The law school has four of its own clinics: Immigration, Civil Rights, Prison Law, and Family Protection. The Immigration Law Clinic, in which students have as a resource the best immigration law faculty in the United States, allows students to assist immigrants facing deportation. Students prepare clients and their cases for hearings.

King Hall has an integrated civil rights curriculum, including a substantive course in civil rights law and clinics representing clients in federal civil rights cases. Students participating in the Civil Rights Clinic are certified to appear in federal court, where they represent people who might otherwise have no counsel, and gain firsthand experience in constitutional litigation.

The Family Protection Clinic is based in a small town and represents low income people, including many Spanish speakers needing family law and domestic violence assistance.

First-year students engage in oral argument as a part of the required legal research and writing course. This provides basic preparation for participation in the formal Moot Court Program, which emphasizes appellate advocacy. Skills courses cover the major elements of both litigation and nonlitigation practice. These include pretrial skills (interviewing, counseling, and document drafting); negotiation, mediation, and alternative dispute resolution; and trial practice.

Students in the Public Interest Law Program receive a certificate based on required coursework, practical experience, and community service. A Public Service Graduation ceremony is the culmination of this program. Students in the Environmental Law Program receive a certificate for completion of an environmental curriculum. King Hall students participate in a Pro Bono program designed to help address the unmet legal service needs of disadvantaged persons and nonprofit organizations while inculcating the professional responsibility of lawyers to perform public service.

Admission

The Admission Committee seeks students of diverse backgrounds and interests. The entire application is carefully reviewed with consideration given to many factors, including undergraduate grades, LSAT score, economic and other disadvantages, advanced studies, work experience, extracurricular and community activities, maturity, and commitment to the study of law. Residency is not a factor in the admission process. An open house for prospective applicants takes place in October, and Information Sessions are held for counseling and advice. All financial aid services, from October through January. Guided tours can be arranged.

Student Life

King Hall is renowned for its wonderful sense of community. The student body is small compared to that of most law schools, which lessens competition among a highly qualified student cohort. Students work extraordinarily well with each other, faculty, administrators, and staff. Cooperation and
collegiality are the hallmarks of student life at King Hall. Faculty and administrators have an open-door policy for students. Student/faculty relations are excellent. Alumni of the School of Law look back fondly on their law school years. An academic support program is available to students in the first-year class. There are four student-run journals: the UC Davis Law Review and specialized journals in International Law, Environmental Law, and Juvenile Justice Law. Students sit on the student-faculty Educational Policy, faculty appointments, and admission committees. There are about 30 active student organizations encompassing a wide variety of interests. The La Raza Law Student Association’s Lorenzo Patiño Banquet honoring a Latino alumnus and the King Hall Legal Foundation auction to raise funds for public interest are two of many student-sponsored events that highlight each academic year. The extremely positive attitude of King Hall students was noted and commented upon in ourmost recent ABAinspection report.

Expenses and Financial Aid

The School of Law Financial Aid Office, located in King Hall, is available for the exclusive use of law students and is available for counseling and advice. All financial aid services, from entrance through graduation, are administered at the law school. The law school Financial Aid Office administers all nationally recognized aid programs, such as Perkins Loan and Work Study, and participates in the Federal Direct Student Loan Program. Over 70 percent of King Hall students receive need-based grants as part of their financial aid award. Each year, two entering students are selected to receive the
prestigious MLK scholarship based on demonstrated commitment to public interest. University student loan and grant funds are available for child care.

Housing

Awide variety of reasonably priced housing is available in the local community. The university maintains on-campus apartments for students and student families.

Career Services

The office successfully and enthusiastically assists students in securing rewarding summer and post-JD positions. Close to 150 employers visit the school to interview students, and advertise many positions through the office. Career Services presents speakers and training workshops geared to student needs and to the hiring cycles of various segments of the legal and law-related job markets. Students also have access to many professional opportunities through job fairs, online nationwide listings, and other sources. Virtually all students are employed nine months after graduation.

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