UC Law SF Alumni Return to Campus for First-Ever Spring Week

Alumni mixed and mingled at a Spring Week reunion jazz brunch on May 14.

For the first time in over two years, alumni were welcomed back to the UC Law SF campus to celebrate Spring Week – a first-ever weeklong celebration for law school alumni.

More than 200 alumni cheered on the Giants at Oracle Park, mentored recent grads at a mixer on the Sky Deck at the Cotchett Law Center, and mingled with former classmates at a reunion jazz brunch.

“Spring week is about bringing alumni together,” said Meredith Jaggard, executive director of the UC Law SF Alumni Association. “It’s an ode to, ‘Let’s just have a good time and engage with law school graduates in a way that creates community.’”

UC Law SF Dean and Chancellor David Faigman spoke to alumni during the May 14 reunion jazz brunch.

The week kicked off on May 9 with a virtual town hall discussion with Chancellor and Dean David Faigman. The dean updated alumni on the school’s Academic Village campus expansion plan. He also spoke about the college’s expected name change and curriculum offered by more than a dozen specially focused education hubs, including the Center for Innovation and Indigenous Law Center.

“One of the great things about being a law school as big as UC Law SF is the depth and the breadth we can offer our students,” Faigman said. “If you’re interested in being a public defender or district attorney, doing corporate work or politics and legislative opportunities, we have it all. We really are a big tent.”

On the first-ever UC Law SF Day of Giving on May 10, people generously donated more than $132,000 to support scholarships, alumni reunions, student organizations and other school resources.

UC Law SF alumni watched a San Francisco Giants game at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

Also on May 10, more than 100 alumni and community members shared in the fun at Oracle Park as the Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 9-2. After enjoying dinner and drinks in Triples Alley, UC Law SF faculty, staff, and alumni cheered on San Francisco’s baseball team while getting a shoutout on the jumbotron.

On May 12, alumni delved into the legal issues surrounding the metaverse – a new frontier of online technology where users immerse themselves in interactive, virtual worlds. Partnering with Fenwick & West, the UC Law SF Alumni Association offered the cutting-edge seminar. It explored issues of privacy, content moderation and intellectual property, among others, in a future version of the internet championed by Silicon Valley heavyweights like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Alumni earned CLE credit for attending the one-hour lecture via Zoom.

Alumni hobnobbed on the Sky Deck during a May 13 Spring Week happy-hour celebration.

Rounding out the week, alumni got a firsthand peek at UC Law SF’ Platinum LEED-certified Cotchett Law Center building during campus tours on Friday, May 13. That evening, they sipped drinks and snacked on hors d’oeuvres during an alumni celebration on the fifth-floor Sky Deck with a view of City Hall’s gold-trimmed dome in the background.

Nicholas Keats, class of 2017, said he hadn’t been back in years and was impressed with new on-campus spaces like the Quad where students can meet up, study and have fun.

“It’s nice that there’s a place for students to get together,” Keats said.

Saint Gabriel’s Celestial Brass Band played jazz music during a May 14 alumni reunion brunch.

On Saturday, alumni returned to the Sky Deck for a reunion jazz brunch, where they sipped mimosas, nibbled breakfast treats, and took in the sounds of a New Orleans-style brass band.

“We are thrilled to welcome alumni into this space,” said UC Law SF Chief Development Officer Eric Dumbleton. “This is exactly what we envisioned when we built this space – having a place for students, alumni and faculty to gather for events.”