Chancellor & Dean David Faigman's Message: Reflecting on 10 Years of Growth for UC Law SF and What’s Ahead

Chancellor & Dean David Faigman looks back on a decade of growth during his 10 years of leadership at UC Law San Francisco, marked by stronger student outcomes, expanded programs, and a transformed campus—while affirming a continued commitment to building on this progress.

Dear UC Law SF Community,

This is my tenth New Year’s message to the College community since I was first appointed interim dean in 2016. So much has changed in that decade, and yet so much remains the same. Utmost on the list of things unchanged is my love and devotion for the community of dedicated professionals—students, staff, faculty, and alumni—whom I call family. To all of you, I wish you a safe, healthy, and prosperous year ahead.

It is traditional on New Year’s to look back on the year past and to offer hopeful musings for the year ahead. Please forgive me for instead being nostalgic for the decade past; it has now been ten years since I first sat in what the great Dean Emeritus Leo Martinez refers to as the “hot seat.”

In my 2016 message I commented frankly on the state of the school, and noted that I had received numerous messages from community members stating emphatically that “UC Hastings needs to right its collective ship” and that the school was “adrift.” We had, they asserted, lost focus on our mission as a professional school. Our bar passage for the class of 2015 was 68%, and employment numbers barely surpassed 80%. As I said there, as a professional school we are obligated to ensure our students’ professional success, which means their being licensed to practice law (the bar exam!) and our placing them on paths to successful careers (a job!). Today, the bar numbers are strong (the Class of 2025 had an 86% pass rate), and our employment numbers are excellent (94%). We remain devoted to continuously improving these twin pillars for measuring student success.

Beyond these fundamental measures of excellence, much else has changed at the school since 2016. I spoke then of the coming Academic Village, noting that “these projects … have the potential to transform the identity of the school.” And, indeed, they have. In the last decade, we built the Cotchett Law Center at 333 Golden Gate and the Academe at 198 McAllister, renovated large parts of Kane Hall at 200 McAllister, and commenced the seismic retrofit and renovation of the Tower at 100 McAllister with an expected completion in fall 2027. I noted, however, in that 2016 message that “buildings do not make an institution great; but a great institution should be housed in great buildings.”

The College has not neglected the principle that it is the people who make a great campus. Illustrative of that fact is that, as we expanded our physical footprint, we also expanded our educational and intellectual footprint. The College has broadened and deepened its curricular offerings, including by adding new JD concentrations focused on technology/AI, business, and employment. We also added new clinics and externships, including the Corporate Counsel Externship and, more recently, a new in-house clinic paired with the existing fieldwork placement clinic focused on immigrants’ rights.

We have also greatly expanded our educational and research programs, best seen in the number and range of centers initiated since 2016. These include LexLab, the AI Law & Innovation Institute at the Center for Innovation, the Center for Business Law, the Center on Tax Law, the Center for Racial and Economic Justice, the Center for Race, Immigration, Citizenship and Equality, the Center for Litigation and Courts, the California Institute on Law, Neuroscience, & Education, the Center for Social Justice (which now houses our expanded pro bono programs), and the Center for Constitutional Democracy. These initiatives joined a core group of extraordinary centers, such as the UCSF-UC Law SF Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy, the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, and so many more.

Of course, one of the biggest changes since 2016 has been the name of the school. I know that this was difficult for many of our alumni, as it was for me. I began my career at UC Hastings College of the Law in 1987 and will end my career at the same law school, albeit now named UC Law San Francisco. Though its name has changed, UC Law SF retains its core mission and strengths as a public law school devoted to educating outstanding attorneys, contributing to legal understanding and knowledge, and engaging in public service from its home base in one of the greatest cities and centers of innovation on earth – San Francisco. From innovations such as the Sixty-Five Club in the 1940s to the reconstructed and reconstituted campus of today, the school now known as UC Law San Francisco continues a long tradition of excellence and service.

As much as I would like to take credit for the school’s success, I cannot. Our spectacular students, supported by an incredible cadre of staff and faculty, put in the work that led to bar success and great employment outcomes. Senior leaders put in the hard work necessary to build two buildings, renovate a third, and seismically retrofit and fully renovate a fourth. Faculty and academic leadership were the thought leaders who led to expanded curricular opportunities. Our alumni and donors, together with the work of the Advancement Office, contributed to the school’s success by increasing donations three-fold, year-over year, compared to what we raised prior to 2016. As I’ve said many times, the key to success as a leader is to put into place extraordinary people and then hold on tight.

Beyond this being my ten-year anniversary as dean, the other reason for my nostalgia is, as has been previously announced, that I informed the Board of Directors this fall that I would not seek reappointment after my second term ends June 30, 2027. It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as dean of my beloved law school. I look forward to the eighteen months of my deanship ahead; for all that we’ve accomplished, there is much that remains to be done. And I plan to remain engaged with the law school community long after my deanship ends.

Let me conclude where I began this message. I am so thankful to be a part of this extraordinary community. Thank you all for giving me a professional home for these past, now approaching, 40 years.

I wish you and yours a very Happy New Year!

Warmest regards,

David

David L. Faigman
Chancellor & Dean
William B. Lockhart Professor of Law
John F. Digardi Distinguished Professor of Law
University of California College of the Law, San Francisco