2020 UCLA Law Magazine:
Meeting the Moment

Our annual UCLA Law Magazine is here! And this year, amid physical distancing, economic strain and other effects of the pandemic, we present it in an online-only format. Visit the magazine’s dedicated website to read how, even in these most challenging and unprecedented times, people across the UCLA Law community stood up and stood out, heightening our twin aims of service and excellence like never before.

Read our celebration of the Critical Race Studies program as it turns 20, including essays from seven CRS faculty members on the most pressing issues of the day. Check out articles on the A. Barry Cappello Program in Trial Advocacy’s tremendous strides, the amazing successes of the Achievement Fellowship program as it enters its fifth year, our outstanding new faculty members who work on the cutting edge of legal scholarship, and alumni who lead from the top. And peruse a host of stories that detail how we benefitted from visionary gifts, built a key resource on prisons and COVID-19, offered vital services to asylum seekers and unemployed workers, and even found time for some fun while sitting in the virtual classroom. Plus much more!

Register Today to Join in UCLA Law’s Inaugural Public Service Challenge

From Oct. 30 to Nov. 3, UCLA Law is hosting its first Public Service Challenge, in which people from across the law school community – students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends and families – are encouraged to devote two hours to volunteering in an array of opportunities surrounding the election and elsewhere. To boost participation and voting, the law school will not hold classes on Election Day, Nov. 3. Visit the Challenge’s registration page to join in this incredible initiative that will serve so many in the greater community.

Six Professors Appointed to Endowed Chairs

UCLA Law faculty members William Boyd, Laura E. Gómez, Mark Greenberg, Jill R. Horwitz, Timothy Malloy and Adam Winkler – leading scholars in environmental law, critical race studies, law and philosophy, health law and constitutional law – have earned appointments to endowed faculty chairs. Endowed chairs recognize the distinction of the law school’s exceptional faculty members and are made possible by the tremendous generosity of UCLA Law’s alumni and friends. Congratulations, all!

Trial Team Rises to No. 1 in the Nation

The A. Barry Cappello Trial Team at UCLA Law now ranks as the No. 1 trial advocacy team in the nation. During the 2019-20 academic year, UCLA Law’s team rose two positions to take the top spot in the Trial Competition Performance Rankings, an objective measure of success in interscholastic competitions, where more than 160 law schools regularly participate. And in its first event since reaching the top, the trial team scored a big win. Read more in the UCLA Law Magazine about the trial team and the Cappello Program’s rapid rise as a destination for promising future courtroom advocates.

Alumni on the Move

Katherine Pérez ’13, director of Loyola Law School’s Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy, and Innovation, earns a Distinguished Alumni Award from her undergraduate alma mater, Chapman University, for her longtime commitment to disability-rights advocacy. George Brown ’88 is appointed to the board of directors of the engineering and scientific consulting firm Exponent. Entertainment, sports and media lawyer Kendall K. Johnson ’12 is elevated to partner at Latham & Watkins in Century City. Environmental litigation specialist Denise G. Fellers ’02 is elected partner in Morgan Lewis’ Los Angeles office. Mike Ouimette ’00 is appointed general counsel and corporate secretary of the biotech company Pliant Therapeutics. Randolf Katz ’78 joins the Los Angeles office of Clark Hill as a member of the corporate law practice. Trusts and estate planning lawyer Jenna Glassock ’10 moves to the investment advisory firm Lido Advisors. Mallory O. Yumol ’17 joins the Irvine office of Berger Kahn as an associate.

Langer Named President of
American Society of Comparative Law

UCLA Law Professor Máximo Langer has been named president of the American Society of Comparative Law, the leading comparative law organization in the United States. A renowned authority in domestic, comparative and international criminal law and justice, Langer also serves as director of UCLA Law’s Transnational Program on Criminal Justice and as faculty director of UCLA Law’s Criminal Justice Program.

‘Inventing Latinos’: A Conversation
With Professor Laura E. Gómez

Gómez, a co-founder and the current faculty director of UCLA Law’s Critical Race Studies program, discusses her newest book, Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism (The New Press, 2020), which has drawn wide acclaim for its reframing of the story of Latinos in the United States and deep look at the often devastating impact that U.S. policies have played in neighboring nations over many generations. Gómez shares more on her book and its arrival during the current moment in the UCLA Law Magazine.

USPTO Director Iancu ’96 Talks Patents and More in Probing Ziffren IN-DC Discussion

Distinguished alumnus Andrei Iancu ’96, who serves as director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and under secretary of commerce for intellectual property, participated in a wide-ranging conversation with UCLA Law Professor Doug Lichtman on Oct. 15. The latest installment in the Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law’s insightful IN-DC series, the webinar allowed Iancu to share his unique perspective on the patent process and its intersection with COVID-19 and initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion in innovation.

Criminal Justice Program Proposes
a Pre-Trial System Without Money Bail

Faculty and students in UCLA Law’s Criminal Justice Program and Bail Practicum, led by CJP Faculty Director Máximo Langer and Gilbert Foundation Associate Director Alicia Virani, have published a report that explores ways of improving the process by which people are released before their criminal trials. The proposal, “Creating a Needs-Based Pre-Trial Release System: The False Dichotomy of Money Bail Versus Risk Assessment Tools,” looks beyond two commonly considered alternatives – money bail and risk assessment tools – and argues for robust pre-trial detention hearings and the implementation of community care and support agencies that could support individuals who are released before trial. Download the full report here.

Support Black Law Students and More Through Giving to UCLA Law

As protests over systemic racism transpired this summer, UCLA Law’s board of advisors, alumni and friends united with students in a robust effort to boost the Black Law Students Association Scholarship, raising nearly $150,000 to support Black students at the law school. BLSA member Janay Williams ’22 (pictured) recorded a video recognizing this incredible community effort. The BLSA Scholarship is just one of the many ways in which, as the end of the year approaches, you can support UCLA Law through giving.

Ingrid Eagly co-authors an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, emphasizing that a large majority of immigrants return to court to attend all of their hearings. Ann Carlson speaks with The New York Times, The Hill and the Independent about Amy Coney Barrett, the U.S. Supreme Court and climate change. Kirk Stark appears on KPCC to discuss California’s Proposition 15 regarding taxation of commercial and industrial real estate property, and speaks with The Wall Street Journal about President Trump’s taxes. Hiroshi Motomura is quoted in the Los Angeles Times on how President Trump’s immigration policies will outlive his administration in California. Alex Wang weighs in on China’s pledge to go carbon-neutral by 2060 in Politico. Laura E. Gómez appears on the NBC Sports show Race in America: A Candid Conversation to discuss her current book, Inventing Latinos. Kimberlé Crenshaw discusses Critical Race Theory in Time after it was attacked by the president. Sean Hecht shares his views in The Washington Post and Bloomberg Law on a procedural climate-change case that big oil companies brought to the Supreme Court. Adam Winkler discusses Amy Coney Barrett and the Second Amendment with The Washington Post and NPR. Plus William Boyd in The Hill about new rules regarding carbon pricing; Jennifer Mnookin in Business Insider about alternatives to the bar exam; Lynn LoPucki in the Los Angeles Times on the Exide Technologies bankruptcy and cleanup of its battery plant; and much more.