Welcome to UC Law SF, Class of 2028
UC Law SF’s newest students mingle on the Quad during orientation, making the first connections in their lifelong professional network. Orientation helps students start their journey with confidence and get to know the students, faculty, and staff they’ll be interacting with over the next three years.
UC Law San Francisco welcomed more than 500 new students who arrived to start their legal education journeys.
The JD Class of 2028 includes 389 students—16% the first in their families to attend college, 62% female, 37% male, and 1% nonbinary or other. Seven are military veterans, and their past careers range from pilot and musician to jeweler and professional gymnast.
They’re joined by 150 new master’s students in the LLM, MLS, CLS, and HPL programs—including the largest-ever MLS and CLS cohorts. These part-time and full-time students bring diverse expertise from fields like firefighting, policing, entrepreneurship, finance, technology, and medicine. UC Law SF has partnered with local agencies to offer master’s level education to employees, in addition to a nationally recognized JD program.
This fall’s curriculum features timely new courses, from Incarceration Law to a California Indigenous Rights seminar exploring the Land Back Movement. Cutting-edge courses in AI Law, Internet Law, Electronic Surveillance, and International AI Law & Governance also return this year.
Scroll down for snapshots from an unforgettable start to the academic year.
On move-in day, we welcome 200 new students to the Academe at 198. They join our returning population of academic partners to our housing community for a great start to the academic year. 1L Victoria Barrios settles into the Academe with help from family.
Ernest Hammond discusses opportunities and challenges that await in law school during orientation. Hammond is the Director of the First-Generation Program and an adjunct professor, where he co-teaches AI Law. He is a first-generation college graduate and serves as Associate General Counsel, AI Product at Meta.
First year law students are divided into five sections, known as “Inns of Court.” 1L students take classes with their Inns, giving them a built-in community from day one. Inns are named after legal pioneers from UC Law SF.
The use of AI in the legal profession and in law school takes center stage on Day 1 of orientation. Students hear from Director of Applied Innovation and Professor of Practice Tal Niv (above) in a session that included a demonstration from a Github engineer and preview of how AI is embedded in the 1L experience. Student opportunities in technology, AI, and innovation at UC Law SF include providing legal advice to startups, a Technology Law and Lawyering Concentration, and learning from Silicon Valley professionals who teach classes and share insights over lunches.
Chancellor and Dean David Faigman tells incoming students that “every one of you will have the opportunity to make your mark on the law and on society. You will be given the tools to change the world, whether the world you decide to change is a child’s, possibly in a family fleeing violence in their home country and seeking asylum in the United States; or Open AI’s, in its efforts to resolve liability issues for artificial intelligence. There is no blueprint for how you should use your law degree. You must chart your own course. But we are here to help.”
Mario Lopez ’15 shared his unique educational and career journey in the keynote speech to 1L students in the Legal Education and Opportunity Program (LEOP). During orientation, Elizabeth McGriff, Assistant Dean of the Legal Education Opportunity Program (LEOP) and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, presented him with the LEOP Luminary Award for his contributions to the program.
UC Law SF is home to nine journals and law reviews. Joining a journal gives students the opportunity to write and publish scholarly articles, essays, and student notes on a broad range of legal topics.
The Associated Students of UC Law SF (UCLAS) is the elected student government of UC Law SF and is responsible for representing the interests of the student body. UCLAS leadership greeted new students in the atrium.
Chief U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of California Troy L. Nunley ’90 encourages UC Law SF’s Class of 2028 to approach law school with curiosity and an open mind. “Your journey is about to start,” he says. “The experience you have at this outstanding institution will prepare you for the challenges ahead.”
Nearly 400 incoming JD students celebrate the exciting start of their legal education journey in a packed auditorium at UC Law San Francisco, marking the end of a four-day orientation that readied them for the academic journey to come.