Public Service Graduation Honors King Hall Class of 2016

More than half of the UC Davis School of Law Class of 2016 received the Law School's Public Service Certificate as the King Hall community gathered for the 2016 Public Service Graduation on April 21.  The event included the presentation of public service-related honors and awards including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Public Service Award, which went to Bianca Dueñas '16.

Speakers included Robbie Clark, Housing Rights Campaign Lead Organizer, founder of Causa Justa: Just Cause, and a leader in the San Francisco Bay Area Black Lives Matter movement; Dean Kevin R. Johnson; Associate Director for Public Interest & Public Sector Careers Timothy Griffiths, Executive Director of the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation and Supervising Attorney with the King Hall Immigration Law Clinic Amagda Pérez '91, Associate Director of the Immigration Law Clinic Holly S. Cooper '98, and Professor Anupam Chander, Director of the California International Law Center (CILC).

"I always look forward to this event," Dean Johnson said in his opening remarks. "There is no gathering that is truer to this law school's mission than the Public Service Graduation.  King Hall year after year produces students who exemplify Dr. King's character by turning words about justice into deeds about justice."

A total of 84 members of the Class of 2016 earned Public Service certificates, Dean Johnson said, and 23 earned Pro Bono certificates.

Following brief remarks from the Immigration Law Clinic's Holly Cooper praising the dedication of the students in King Hall clinical programs, Amagda Pérez presented the Outstanding Clinical Student Award to Bianca Dueñas.  Trevor Fehr '17 announced the 15 King Hall Legal Foundation Summer Grant recipients and presented the Hogan Award for the strongest summer grant proposal to Daniel Stewart '18. 

Timothy Griffiths thanked Phil Satre '75 and his family for endowing the Satre Family Summer Public Interest Fellowships, which were awarded to Masao Taylor '17, Sadie Weller '17, and Nicole Zanardi '17.  Griffiths also announced John Paul Stevens Foundation Public Interest Fellowship recipients Kaly Rule '17 and Courtney Hatchett '17. Abigail Mulvihill '16 presented the Bill E. Smith '98 Memorial LGBT Rights/Disability Rights Fellowship to Itir Yakar '17, and Professor Anupam Chander presented the new King Hall International Law Association Drum Major Award to Varun Aery '16.

In the keynote address, Robbie Clark spoke of the Public Service Graduation as "a new beginning with a new commitment to what your life's work is going to be."  Clark talked about the critical role played by the "legal allies" who work with community activists to achieve change, and the importance of listening to the community members whose lives are most directly impacted.

"As you all are moving forward and thinking about this new chapter in your lives and committing yourselves to public service, to the interests of the public, to human life being able to sustain itself on this planet, I want to invite you to commit to listening to your heart, listening to the people you're working with, and who you're working beside."

Bianca Dueñas said she felt "humbled" to be accepting the Martin Luther King Award, which is chosen each year by the Public Service Graduation Committee to honor the student who best exemplifies Dr. King's vision and commitment to public service. She encouraged her classmates to continue to "fight the good fight" no matter what field of law they might be going into.

"Whether you're going to do public interest work, whether you're going to do big law, whatever you're going to do there are always opportunities to give back to those who don't have a voice," Dueñas said.