For two decades, UCLA School of Law professor Anna Spain Bradley has sought to promote peace and human rights through international law as a scholar, attorney, and leader. In 2024, she was appointed by President Biden to the World Bank-ICSID Panel of Conciliators.
UCLA School of Law welcomes Gautam Hans as its vice dean for experiential education. Hans, who starts the position in January, will oversee the law school’s robust suite of clinics, practicums, simulations, and externships. He will also be a teaching professor.
Voting by mail. Misinformation. Control of Congress. We have read the news, received the mailers, and seen all of the ads. The issues abound. It’s enough to make your head spin.
UCLA School of Law alum Jon Mandel ’18 leads government relations practices as senior vice president for Bose Public Affairs Group.
What do you do each day?
Around the globe, nearly 3.4 billion people lack access to sanitation services that are essential to the health and welfare of populations in large cities and rural communities alike, according to the United Nations.
UCLA School of Law has launched the UCLA Tech Law Network, an alliance of law firms, legal technology and content companies, and practitioners that will connect the law school with leaders in law and innovation across Southern California’s technology law ecosystem.
Even before he enrolled at UCLA School of Law, Eli Sills ’26 had a passion for housing justice. He volunteered with LAFLA, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, where he worked with tenants’ rights organizations to protect residents from eviction by unscrupulous landlords. There, he saw how many of the city’s most economically vulnerable residents benefit from rent stabilization laws but still can be forced from their homes by landlords who hope they don’t know their rights and won’t fight back.
UCLA School of Law alum Heather Anderson ’97 is vice president of original content and business affairs for ESPN, where she uses her legal training to lead business negotiations and deal strategy for several of the sports media giant’s flagship programs, including 30 for 30, In the Arena, and ESPN Films.
What do you do each day?
A new report from the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law offers judges guidance on potential law enforcement efforts to seize election materials.
At UCLA School of Law’s annual convocation ceremony on Aug. 21, Dean Michael Waterstone welcomed the newest entering class of students with a plea to prioritize public service.
Students steer clients through pivotal life events
One significant opportunity that new and returning students will be able to seize during their time at UCLA Law is the Alternative Spring Break program into which Han invests significant time and resources every March.
That’s how she and a group of students found themselves on the Justice Caravan, a three-day road trip of sorts, from Ontario, California, to Big Bear Lake to Palm Springs to Indio, where they teamed with Inland Counties Legal Services.
Their purpose was to bring legal services to underserved areas that have considerably lower attorney-to-resident ratios than elsewhere in California. This included working with families to prepare for adverse life events like incarceration, detention/deportation, hospitalization, incapacitation, or death by making plans for assets and care of children. Along the way, the students gave community presentations on estate planning and legal family planning, such as caregiver affidavits for senior citizens and families who are at risk of a parent’s detention or deportation.
Jannet Riveros Gomez LL.M. ’26 was one of those student volunteers. “This experience was eye-opening. I had the opportunity to listen to impactful stories from our clients and re-evaluate decisions I hadn’t considered before,” she says. “UCLA Law is great because of these experiences. It is a place where you can pursue a specialization with top-tier professors while also helping the community at the same time.”
She adds that the service was particularly personal for her. “During my childhood, my family heavily depended on these kinds of initiatives back in Mexico. I was able to access education, scholarships, government programs, et cetera, thanks to the students and associations who took the time to visit my small town,” she says. “I am who I am now because of it, and it is only natural to want to give back and hope that someone’s trajectory is positively influenced by my dedication to community work and service.”
Pro bono volunteers help out close to home
At the same time last spring, elsewhere in Southern California, other students participated in a collaboration that Han had arranged to confront the housing crisis.
“As we build the program,” she says, “we have prioritized involvement that is organically embedded within long term community relationships, with a focus on starting close to home and building outward. Each of our projects has been thoughtfully developed with the goal of creating sustainable partnerships that will continue year after year, building lasting connections between UCLA Law and the communities we wish to serve.”
In 2025, Han helped launch the Stay Housed LA partnership following that year’s devastating wildfires. She did so with an eye on creating a pipeline of students who are interested in working in the fields of housing and eviction defense after law school, whether as legal aid attorneys or through continuing pro bono work.
As part of that project, Matthew Ryan ’28 helped people who had an active eviction case or were in danger of getting one. He observed attorney consultations for people struggling with various housing issues housing, helped people use an online tool to answer eviction complaints and thus avoid default judgments, and watched eviction court proceedings where he got a close-up view of how attorneys from various organizations help tenants arrive at favorable settlements. His interest stemmed from things that he did earlier in his career.
“I worked as a case manager for people who were chronically homeless in the past, and they were always facing issues with their landlords,” he says. “Often, it was an eviction that had led to their initial homelessness, and they were often in danger of another eviction. When I came to law school, I was looking for ways to help that population, and I knew that helping people stay housed could be important and rewarding work. I was really looking for the chance to explore a different area of law and see how I felt. I was looking for a way to spend spring break that helped me stay grounded during my 1L year – instead of just focusing on the very insular world of the classroom – and let me remember why I had come to law school in the first place.”
Hayden Fuchino ’27 also found deep meaning in the Stay Housed LA work, particularly as a lifelong Angeleno who hopes to use his law degree to give back to the community.
“One part of the experience that jumped out at me was how many UCLA Law alumni we met across the housing law world, who were all very impressive, hard-working advocates for the tenants they represented,” he says. “Another amazing part was how non-legal it was. For example, when a tenant negotiates with a landlord, their main considerations may be non-legal in nature, instead being related to things that might be going on in their lives. Though the law is an important backdrop, I learned that we must consider these non-legal aspects of a client's situation when adhering to our duty to represent their best interests.”
Soon enough, more people there and around California will experience for themselves the positive impact of UCLA Law’s students – and they will see clearly that the law school’s celebrated tradition of service continues.