Renovation ushers in new era

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The School of Law today (Sept. 3) opened a $30 million expansion that includes a new courtroom, additional classrooms and group study areas, all of which incorporate the latest environmentally sensitive advances.

The new wing adds 18,000 square feet of assignable space, a 29 percent increase, to Martin Luther King Jr. Hall, the home of the nationally ranked law school. Although enrollment has grown steadily in the more than 40 years since the building opened in 1968, its size had remained largely the same.

“There has been an incredible change in legal education and the building hadn’t changed in any substantial way,” said Kevin Johnson, dean of the law school. “It was ill-equipped for a 21st-century law school. We needed to update the building and make it befitting of Dr. King’s name.”

Johnson joined Chancellor Linda Katehi, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento — a 1984 graduate of the law school — and hundreds of alumni, students, friends and supporters to celebrate the grand opening of the new wing.

“In its brief history, the School of Law has risen to national and international prominence,” Katehi said. “Now, thanks to the many individuals and institutions who have helped make the vision of a new building a reality, UC Davis School of Law has a home suitable to its status as one of the nation’s elite law schools.”

Renovation of original wing is next

The project was more than a decade in the making, with construction starting three years ago. The expansion will be followed by a renovation of the original wing, estimated to take 18 months.

The new courtroom — an appellate courtroom with no jury box — seats 125 and is expected to host oral arguments of the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, something the law school has never done, Johnson said.

The state and federal court sessions will be open to both students and the public.

“It’s an incredible educational opportunity for our students and something the courts are trying to do to engage in more outreach, so the public gets a chance to see how the courts work,” Johnson explained.

In 2004, with planning for the expansion already under way, a report from an accreditation team of the American Bar Association noted the law school’s facilities were “small and reflect an earlier era in legal education.”

Changing demographics

King Hall was originally built to accommodate a mostly male enrollment, while women today make up more than half of the enrollment. It was also designed for a smaller student body. Even with the expansion, there are no immediate plans to increase today’s enrollment of 610, Johnson said.

The new wing incorporates many environmentally responsible advances, including the use of recycled denim jeans for insulation, lights that turn off automatically when rooms are empty, a design that maximizes natural light and windows that deflect solar heat.

The project was financed with $17.9 million in state bond funds, $5.5 million raised from private donors and $3.9 million from other campus funds. The law school needs to raise an additional $2.4 million to complete the renovation.

Recently ranked 28th by U.S. News & World Report magazine, the School of Law opened in 1966 and graduated its first class in 1969. King Hall was dedicated in 1969 in a ceremony that included remarks by then-Chief Justice Earl Warren, who had been governor of California before joining the U.S. Supreme Court.