UCLA Law News | UCLA Law

The coronavirus pandemic has created profound challenges for higher education and UCLA School of Law. As UCLA Law makes changes to ensure the safety of our community and create the best educational environment under the circumstances, we encourage students, faculty and staff to consult our policies and procedures.

Members of the UCLA Law community have responded to the legal issues raised by the evolving health, social and economic crisis with insight and impact.

In a June 2020 note to students, faculty and staff of UCLA School of Law, Dean Jennifer Mnookin wrote, “As members of a law school community… we must recognize and grapple with the complicity of the legal system and law enforcement in acts of racism and violence.”

A report issued on Jan. 7 by UCLA School of Law’s Criminal Justice Program, the RAND Corporation and other organizations details the extent to which Los Angeles County may divert people with serious mental health disorders away from traditional criminal-justice processes and into community-based clinical programs or permanent supportive housing.

To explore how new technology affects society, privacy, government and public policy, the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and UCLA School of Law have launched the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law and Policy. The cross-disciplinary institute will examine advances in artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, robotics and new forms of digital media to identify the benefits and risks they represent.

L to R: Documentary Film Legal Clinic students Graham Fenton ’20, Keegan Hawkins ’21 and Michelle Banayan ’21 take the stage at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Three students in UCLA School of Law’s Documentary Film Legal Clinic won a round of applause from movie industry insiders in a packed theater at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 27, where they attended the premiere of The Cost of Silence, a documentary about the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Entertainment Law Initiative chair Kenneth Abdo congratulates UCLA Law student Christopher Chiang ’20 — Entertainment Law Initiative chair Kenneth Abdo (left) congratulates UCLA Law student Christopher Chiang ’20 on his winning essay.

UCLA School of Law students Christopher Chiang ’20 and Graham Fenton ’20 won the top two prizes in the Recording Academy’s 22nd Annual Entertainment Law Initiative Writing Competition on Jan. 24 and were honored at a number of red-carpet events during Grammy Awards week.

Expanding UCLA School of Law's role as a national leader in immigration law and boosting its robust immigration programming and clinics, the school has established the Center for Immigration Law and Policy with a $5 million commitment from alumna Alicia Miñana '87 and her husband, Rob Lovelace.

From left: Allen Secretov, Daniel Gibbons, Ashley Berk, Jonathan Sauer and Gabriella Nourafchan.

For the third consecutive year, the Ziffren Institute on Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law presented 5 Years Out, an event aimed at providing current law students a candid look at the day-to-day work lives of UCLA Law alums now five years into their professional careers. On Feb.

Tower of building on the UCLA Law campus

Alumni and friends raised $181.2 million for UCLA School of Law during the Centennial Campaign for UCLA, far exceeding the school's goal during the campus-wide fundraising drive that was designed to prepare the university for its second century of excellence.

Marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of UCLA, the Centennial Campaign raised $5.49 billion.

This article was originally published on the UCLA Newsroom website on February 26, 2020. We share it here with UCLA Newsroom's permission.