Congratulations UC Irvine Law Class of 2025 | | |
On May 9, 2025, the University of California, Irvine School of Law held its 14th commencement ceremony, celebrating the graduation of 155 J.D., 30 Global LL.M., and 8 Graduate Tax LL.M. students. The event featured a keynote address from the Honorable Roopali H. Desai, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
At least 30 percent of the J.D. class of 2025 were the first in their families to graduate college or law school. The graduating J.D. class participated in nearly 11,000 hours of pro bono work during their three years of law school, and over 96 percent of the class participated in pro bono work. We are so proud of our graduates!
Commencement 2025 | Photos | Video
| | |
Alumni News: UC Irvine Law Announces Gift from Hannah and Jeffrey Wachs to Establish School’s First Alumni Named Scholarship Endowment
The Hannah and Jeffrey Wachs Law Scholarship has been established through a generous $50,000 gift from Jeffrey Wachs ’12, and his wife, fellow Anteater Hannah Wachs, MAT ’11. This gift marks a milestone as the first named scholarship endowed by a UC Irvine Law alumnus.
Learn more
| | |
An impressive 94.5 percent of UC Irvine Law's class of 2024 J.D. graduates were employed within 10 months of graduation, or are pursuing an advanced degree.
Learn more
| | |
UC Irvine Law ranked No. 19 on Law.com’s 2025 Go-To Law Schools list, based on the share of 2024 graduates hired as associates by the nation’s 500 largest law firms.
Learn more
| | |
Clinic News: Criminal Justice Clinic Recognized By Clinical Legal Education Association
Led by Prof. Katie Tinto, the Criminal Justice Clinic was recognized at the Clinical Legal Education Association's annual awards for its work on behalf of a Holocaust survivor on a criminal-immigration matter.
Learn more
| | |
Faculty News: UC Irvine Law Faculty, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality File a Slate of Amicus Briefs
On May 8, Prof. Robert S. Chang and Prof. Annie Lai each filed amicus briefs defending Temporary Protected Status in an immigration case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, Prof. Chang, Prof. Susan McMahon and the Korematsu Center filed five amicus briefs in April supporting the First Amendment rights of law firms and opposing efforts to end birthright citizenship.
Learn more
| | |
Faculty News: UC Irvine Law Hosts 2025 Celebration of Books Honoring Faculty Authors
Our faculty are leading scholars and teachers in the nation, addressing the most important issues of our time. The 2025 Celebration of Books honored nine books authored, co-authored, edited, or co-edited by UC Irvine Law faculty, including: Profs. Joshua D. Blank, Robert S. Chang, Eve Darian-Smith, Ji Li, Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Ann Southworth and Emily Taylor Poppe.
Learn more | Photos
| | |
Faculty News: Global Visiting Scholars Enrich UC lrvine Law
UC Irvine Law welcomed exceptional visiting scholars this year, including experts from Spain, Brazil, and Korea, who advanced research on labor rights, democratic governance, and comparative law.
Learn more
| | |
Academic Skills News: Mary Basick Testifies Before the State Senate Judiciary Committee
On May 6, Mary Basick, Assistant Dean for Academic Skills, testified before the California State Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing focused on SB 47, a bill mandating an audit of the February 2025 bar exam by the State Auditor.
Watch the hearing
| | |
UCI Law Talks: Dean Parrish Interviews Mark Samuels, Firm Vice-Chair and Partner of O’Melveny & Myers LLP
In the episode, Dean Austen Parrish interviews Mark Samuels, Firm Vice-Chair and Partner of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, to discuss the impact of AI on legal practice, the evolution of the legal market in Orange County and Mark's pathbreaking IP practice.
Listen to the podcast
| | |
Faculty News: Professor Elizabeth F. Loftus Receives Double Honors
Prof. Elizabeth F. Loftus has been named a Highly Ranked Scholar by ScholarGPS, and a study she co-authored on artificial intelligence has won a 2025 Best Paper Award from Computer Human Interaction (CHI).
Learn more
| | |
Faculty News: Professor Shauhin Talesh Delivers Presentations on Forthcoming Book in the Emirates
Prof. Shauhin Talesh gave presentations on his forthcoming book, Insuring Cyberinsecurity: Insurance Companies as Symbolic Regulators, at New York University's Abu Dhabi campus and at the University of Sharjah.
Learn about the book
| | |
Faculty Roundup: Pathbreaking Scholarship and Intellectual Community
Read this month's compilation of UC Irvine Law faculty's groundbreaking work, including recent scholarship, conferences and influential leadership.
Read more
| | |
UCI Libraries: Celebrating Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month
UC Irvine Library's guide highlights select resources that showcase Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voices, scholarship, and cultural production.
Learn more
| | |
Meet the Law School: Meet Eric Fanchiang ’17 and Roberto Sagredo LL.M. ’25
Featured in our latest Meet the Law School videos, Eric Fanchiang '17 serves as counsel at Crowell & Moring LLP and Roberto Sagredo is a recent LL.M. graduate from Chile where he is a professor of constitutional and Indigenous law.
Watch the videos
| | |
Center News: The Latest Updates from UC Irvine Law's Korea Law Center
The Korea Law Center's monthly newsletters highlight announcements, events, and milestones by students, faculty, visiting scholars, alumni and collaborators.
Read the latest newsletter
| | |
Q&A with Disha Shenoy, LL.M. '21
Contracts Team, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disha Shenoy graduated from UC Irvine School of Law in December 2021 and currently works on the Contracts team at Amazon Web Services (AWS). She recently passed the July 2024 California Bar Exam on her first attempt. Disha is passionate about working on complex legal agreements and supporting cross-functional teams to ensure compliance and operational efficiency at one of the world’s leading tech companies. Her journey — from attending law school in India to earning her LL.M. at UC Irvine and passing one of the toughest bar exams in the country — has been driven by a deep interest in international commercial law, technology, and cross-border transactions. She continues to build her expertise in contract negotiation, legal risk assessment, and cloud service regulations. If you’re equally passionate about contracts and the impact of AI on the legal industry, Disha welcomes you to connect with her at shenoy.dish@gmail.com.
Q: How did UC Irvine Law prepare you for your legal practice?
My time at UC Irvine Law was a huge help while I was preparing for my bar exam. The connections we could have with alumni, the workshops, training videos and office hours were very helpful. Also, access to resources and subject-wise outlines helped me immensely during my prep. The career support that UC Irvine Law offers is so amazing. It feels like the people at UC Irvine actually care about your growth and success. UC Irvine career professionals are always ready to support and guide you better in your endeavors as well as preparing you for interviews. I am so grateful to have such supportive people from the legal fraternity at UC Irvine Law.
Q: What do you like best about your work?
I love drafting and negotiating commercial technology contracts, learning how to handle complex negotiations and supporting the business teams. With the evolving era of GenAI, I enjoy assisting with negotiations related to GenAI indemnity and liability terms in the contracts.
Q: What was the best part about being a student at UC Irvine Law?
The professors! The ease with which professors try to accommodate students and explain the topics helped learning laws of a different country very interesting. I was glad to have access to professors and ask questions to learn more. The supportive environment aided a very positive learning experience for me! The career support resources have been very helpful even after I graduated.
Q: How do you stay involved with the UC Irvine Law community?
I live in San Diego so I am not local to Orange County but I try to attend online sessions! UC Irvine Law has always supported me and I will continue to support the community in any manner I can.
| |
Mary Basick Leads Charge for Fairness Amid California Bar Exam Turmoil
Mary Basick, Assistant Dean of Academic Skills, has been prominently featured in outlets including Law.com, ABA Journal, Los Angeles Times, KCAL News, Inc.com, AP, San Francisco Chronicle, KCRA, Daily Journal, MSN, and others, voicing concerns over the State Bar’s use of AI-generated questions and technical failures in the February 2025 bar exam. She has emerged as a prominent advocate for the affected exam takers, urging scoring adjustments and a thorough review process to uphold fairness and legal standards in the licensing process.
| | | |
Jeffrey Wachs '12 was promoted to Director and Senior Counsel, Business and Legal Affairs, Film at Netflix.
Tommy Du '15 was honored with a 2025 CLAY Award by the Daily Journal.
Sean Thomas Lobb '18 was named to the 2025 Super Lawyers Rising Stars list.
Ahmad Takouche '18 was named to the 2025 Super Lawyers Rising Stars list.
Sabrina van der Linden-Gonzales '19 was promoted to Counsel at O'Melveny & Myers LLP.
Jier Dong '20 started a new position as Associate Attorney at O'Hagan Meyer.
Chris Wang '20 started a new position as Attorney at Umberg/Zipser LLP.
Sayid Bnefsi '24/Ph.D. (Philosophy) '23 will join Fairfield University's Department of Philosophy as a tenure-track professor.
Bryant Jackson-Green '24/Ph.D. (Social Ecology) '25 will join Loyola University Chicago's Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology as an Assistant Professor (of Teaching).
| |
>> May 15 | 5:30-6:30 p.m. | Spring Swearing-In Ceremony
>> June 4 | 4:00-6:00 p.m. | Center for Legal Philosophy | Melden Lecture: Prof. Niko Kolodny
>> June 14 | 8:30 a.m.-1:45 p.m. | OCBA AI Symposium
>> June 17 | 6:00-8:30 p.m. | Law Alumni Association/Anteaters in Law Orange County Summer Social
>> July 8 | SAVE THE DATE: NEW TIME! | 3:30-5:00 p.m. |Supreme Court Term in Review
(Details and Registration to Follow)
>> Sept. 20 | SAVE THE DATE | Alumni Reunion | Celebrating the Classes of 2015 and 2020
| | | | |
