News

On May 28,  Lisa Ikemoto participated in the University College London symposium “A Century of Eugenics on our Borders: Centennial of the Johnson-Reed/U.S. Border Patrol.” 

Ikemoto chaired the panel “Population Bomb, the Great Replacement Theory  and Pronatalism,” and provided commentary on the symposium’s wrap-up panel.

Professor Rick Frank spoke to Los Angeles Times Washington columnist Doyle McManus for a March 31 column on how Donald Trump plans to roll back California’s clean energy initiatives if he is elected president again.

On March 25, Professor Lisa Ikemoto presented at the 2024 American Association for Anatomy annual meeting in Toronto. She addressed social justice and legal concerns for body donation programs, when potential uses have changed between the time of donation and the donor’s death.

In a May 23 op-ed in The Hill, Professor Emeritus Alan Brownstein explored the argument that protests challenging government action and decisions, whether protected speech or not, deserve special recognition and respect.

In a May 22 op-ed for The Hill, Professor Stacy-Ann Elvy argues that Congress should enact a comprehensive statute to protect children’s online privacy. 

Professor Darien Shanske spoke to Law360 for an April 12 story about litigation challenging a New York regulation outlining when certain online activities by out-of-state businesses exceed protections against state income taxes.

On April 19, Professor Courtney Joslin  presented a forthcoming book chapter, “The High Stakes of Gamete Regulation in a Post-Dobbs World,” at the LGBTQ+ Rights and Advocacy in Legal Education Summit at Gonzaga University School of Law. Joslin co-authored the chapter with Northeastern School of Law Assistant Professor Katherine Kraschel and Yale Law Professor Douglas NeJaime.

Professor Courtney Joslin spoke to NPR for an April 2 report on how families circumvented Michigan’s restrictions on surrogacy before the Michigan Family Protection Act was signed into law on April 1.

Sacramento Bee reporter Matthew Miranda interviewed Dean Kevin R. Johnson for an April 17 story based on recent polls showing an increasing number of Latinos are frustrated with the United States’ immigration system, and in some cases, with arriving migrantts as well.

Professor Courtney Joslin was a panelist for an April 17 American Bar Association Family Law Section webinar on the recently enacted Michigan Family Protection Act (MFPA).

Joslin helped draft the MFPA, which updates Michigan’s parentage laws to ensure that they apply to and protect all children born through assisted reproduction and surrogacy. 

On April 16, Professor Courtney Joslin and Yale Law School Professor Douglas NeJaime presented their forthcoming NYU Law Review article “Multiparenthood” for Yale Law Professor William Eskridge’s Sexuality, Gender and the Law class.

By Carla Meyer

After three terms and 16 years of service, Kevin R. Johnson will step down as dean of UC Davis School of Law.

Senior Associate Dean Afra Afsharipour spoke to Bloomberg for a Feb. 29 story on Exxon’s legal fight with Chevron over a rich oil source off the coast of Guyana.

On May 9, the Daily Journal profiled Magistrate Judge and  UC Davis Law adjunct professor Dennis Cota ’86 of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

In the story, Cota discusses his devotion to teaching and coaching trial practice students at UC Davis Law, and how Professor Emeritus Edward Imwinkelried “really inspired me to be a litigator.”

“Public hanging” is not a punishment for treason despite claims in a video shared online, Professor Carlton F.W. Larson told Reuters Fact Check in March. 

“It’s entirely false,” Larson said.

In March, Professor David Horton presented his paper “Forced Arbitration in the Fortune 500” (forthcoming, Minnesota Law Review) at UC Berkeley and University of Virginia School law schools.

The first presentation was part of the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law symposium “The Current State and Future of Forced Arbitration.”  The second was for the 34th Sokol Colloquium, “Landmines, Black Holes and the Contract Production Paradox.” 

Professor Donna Shestowsky was an invited panelist at the inaugural “Girls on the Rise: Find Your Place in the Legal Field” event held May 4 at the Solano County Events Center in Fairfield.

Supported by the Solano Superior Court, Solano Bar Association and Solano Commission for Women and Girls, the event served as an introduction to the legal profession for girls and women ages 15-25.

Constitutional law scholars Professor Vikram Amar and Professor Emeritus Alan Brownstein wrote a May 2 essay for Justia’s Verdict about why even peaceful expressive encampments at universities are not

Bloomberg Tax quoted Professor Darien Shanske in an April 25 story about whether Microsoft’s $94 million win at California’s Office of Tax Appeals should be declared a precedent for how the state taxes companies with income repatriated from abroad.

Shanske has urged that the ruling not be precedential, because it would encourage income-shifting.

United States Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed Sarah F. Torres ’07 as an immigration judge at the new Concord Immigration Court in Contra Costa County.

For five years, Torres served as managing attorney for the immigration legal services program at the Opening Doors nonprofit in Sacramento. Before that, she was a partner at Tomlinson & Torres PC. 

The UC Davis Academic Senate honored Professor Courtney Joslin with its 2024 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award. Joslin received the award at a May 13 ceremony.

Dean Kevin R. Johnson and Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin spoke on the panel “Contemporary Civil Rights Issues: 2024 and Beyond,” on May 18 at the Unity Bar Summit at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento.

Dean Kevin R. Johnson spoke to the Dallas Morning News about a new Texas law that seeks to wrest power over immigration enforcement from the federal government. The law would allow state judges to deport unauthorized migrants apprehended near the border.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed Clara Levers '03 to serve as a Yolo County Superior Court judge on an interim basis.

Levers won election in March to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge and fellow King Hall alum David Rosenberg ’74. The governor’s appointment allows Levers to take the bench before her official January 2025 start date.

A Woodland native, Levers has served as a California deputy attorney general since 2008.

Dean Kevin R. Johnson and Maggy Krell ’03 spoke to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Raheem Hosseini for a May 19 story about how former President and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appears to be encouraging Christian nationalism,  which was once considered a fringe element of Christianity.