Alumni

I ended up choosing UC Davis mostly because of the diverse faculty. I’ve been taking classes with Professor Karima Bennounce, and I’ve also been doing research with her. It’s been really fulfilling for me to get back to doing something meaningful, helping people and contributing in some way to fighting injustice and standing up for those who are threatened.

I really enjoyed my studies in a program at King Hall called English for Legal Professionals. We had a great time interacting with classmates from different countries. The professor taught us practical skills for practicing law in English, which I found very useful as a non-native speaker.

The program helps you strengthen both your English and your legal knowledge before starting the LL.M. program.

Pursuing business law at UC Davis was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.

The knowledge I gained there is one of the main reasons I’m working in litigation today. My understanding of business and corporate law increased significantly because of the breadth of the coursework. At UC Davis, I was able to specialize deeply in subjects that I had previously studied only as individual courses back in India.

My main goal in coming here was to take environmental law classes. While I was here, I also had the chance to take courses connected to environmental law, including human rights, which had already been one of my main interests when I was in Chile.

I can remember that since I was very young, I always wanted to do something valuable. Fthe or example, to serve my country and help people. Experiencing this program has been very important for a judge advocate like me. It’s especially valuable to understand the U.S. legal system.

The main reason I decided to do an LLM in Business Law is because the subjects I'm studying right now—I didn't know that much about them when I was studying law back home, like antitrust and copyright. We just read about them a little bit, but now we get a chance to study them in detail.

Bijal Vakil ’96 is a Partner at Skadden in Palo Alto, specializing in intellectual property, technology, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. Named California’s Intellectual Property Expert of the Year in 2025, he has advised clients across diverse sectors, including software, AI, fintech, semiconductors, drones, e-commerce, social media, autonomous vehicles, consumer electronics, telecommunications, video games, medical devices, and cryptocurrency. 

By Sue Walther Jones

The photo from 1930 captures a thriving community. Half of the Japanese Americans who lived in and around Winters, California—about 150 men, women, and children—are dressed in their finest for a funeral. They pose in a neighborhood with homes, a general store, other prosperous businesses and a Buddhist temple.   

On V-J Day in 1945, it all burned. 

Phil Satre ’75 and his wife, Jennifer Satre, have made a $50,000 leadership gift to establish the Harrison “Hap” Dunning Endowment Fund to honor Dunning, a beloved UC Davis Law professor emeritus who passed away earlier this year.