UC Davis School of Law

The University of California-Davis School of Law, known as King Hall, remains one of the nation’s top-tier law schools in 2025, recognized for its strong commitment to academic excellence, diversity, equity, and inclusion. It currently ranks among the top 20 in the nation for constitutional law, criminal law, and environmental law, and is fourth nationally for the percentage of graduates entering public interest law. Faculty scholarship is a hallmark of the school, with UC Davis Law ranked 18th nationally for scholarly impact. The school also earns top spots in national recognitions for racial justice, diversity in faculty, and resources for women. In 2025, King Hall hosted notable events such as the Immigration Law Symposium addressing policy changes under the 2025 Trump administration, and celebrated its graduating class with awards honoring public service and community engagement. The Mabie Law Library continues to support students with research consultations and cultural programming. The fall 2025 semester begins with Introduction Week from August 18–22, followed by the start of classes on August 25, and concludes with exams from December 2–12. The estimated cost of attendance for 2024–25 is $83,011 for California residents and $95,256 for non-residents. UC Davis Law maintains a strong employment record, with a high percentage of graduates securing full-time, long-term, JD-required positions, reflecting its continued role as a leader in legal education and service.

History

Founded in the mid-1960s and named after America's most famous civil rights pioneer, the University of California Davis School of Law has a tradition of educating lawyers with an emphasis on social justice. As one of the smallest of the University of California system's law schools, King Hall offers a congenial feel in a quiet town that sits in one of the country's most varied and exciting areas.

UC Davis, School of Law's building, is named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the influential civil rights leader whose personal integrity and insistence on nonviolence inspire all who seek to promote social justice through lawful and orderly means. Dr. King represents many of the values the law school seeks to instill in its students, and the designation of the building as King Hall is a tribute to his legacy.

The UC Davis School of Law is a top-quality institution that provides its students with a collaborative and dynamic learning environment. The school is committed to excellence, service, and individuality and looks for students who have demonstrated academic ability. This is shown through factors such as LSAT and GRE scores, undergraduate GPA, and any economic or other disadvantages the applicant has overcome. The School of Law also values diversity, and one of the goals of the admission process is to have a diverse student body in backgrounds interests, and skills.

Admissions

For 2025, admissions to the UC Davis School of Law full-time, three-year J.D. program open on September 1, with a preferred deadline of March 15 and a final deadline of June 1. Applicants are encouraged to submit all required materials—including LSAT or GRE scores, transcripts, letters of recommendation, a personal statement, and any relevant addenda—by the preferred date to maximize their chances for admission and scholarship consideration. The binding Early Decision program is available for applicants who are certain UC Davis Law is their top choice, requiring submission by November 1 and offering a decision by November 30. Early Decision admits must commit to enroll, withdraw applications to other schools, and submit a deposit by January 1, with eligibility for exclusive Select Scholars scholarships. The school reviews applications on a rolling basis from November through early May, with fewer offers typically made after mid-April. Admissions decisions are based on a holistic evaluation of academic performance, test scores, personal achievements, character, unique experiences, and contributions to diversity.

Statistics

For the 2024–2025 admissions cycle at UC Davis School of Law, the 25th to 75th percentile LSAT range was 159 to 165, and the GPA range was 3.48 to 3.87. The school experienced a higher acceptance rate compared to the previous year, admitting a larger proportion of applicants from a smaller pool of total applications. While the number of applications decreased from the prior cycle, the number of acceptances slightly increased, resulting in a modestly smaller entering class. These figures reflect both a competitive admissions environment and a selective approach to building the incoming cohort.

Admissions Stats
Class of:	2023-2024	2024-2025
25th - 50th - 75th percentile LSAT	159 - 165 - 167	159 - 163 - 165
25th - 50th - 75th percentile GPA	3.49 - 3.69 - 3.82	3.48 - 3.68 - 3.87
Acceptance rate	25.2%	33.2%
Applications received	3163	2880
Acceptances	917	955
Matriculants	205	191

Requirements for All Applicants:

LSAT or GRE

The UC Davis School of Law requires that you take either the LSAT or GRE to be considered for admission. Your test scores must be from within the past five years to be considered valid. For more information, please see the FAQs.

Personal Statement

The UC Davis School of Law asks for a personal statement of two to four pages discussing various factors. Some examples of what they are looking for are an academic promise, background information, GPA and LSAT score discrepancies, community service, and advanced study. They also value diversity in their students, so if you have any skills or experiences that make you stand out, mention them. Be honest and sincere in your writing, and let your personality shine. Show the admissions committee that you are passionate about learning law and committed to becoming a successful lawyer.

Letters of Recommendation

The UC Davis School of Law requires a minimum of two letters of recommendation from individuals who know the applicant well and are unrelated to him/her. Letters must be submitted through LSAC, and evaluations are not considered. The UC Davis School of Law requires at least two, but no more than three, letters of recommendation from individuals who know the applicant well and are not related to him/her. These letters must be submitted through LSAC, and evaluations are not considered.

Transcripts

Official Transcripts from all schools attended are required, and applicants earning grades after the initial application should submit supplementary transcripts as soon as they are available. The UC Davis School of Law uses the CAS-calculated undergraduate GPA to make decisions for admission purposes. This GPA may be different from your undergraduate institution's cumulative degree GPA.

Resume

Résumé (one to two pages preferred). For advice about creating a professional law school resume, click here.

Supplemental Materials Optional for All Applicants

NOTE: All optional supplemental material (see below) combined with the personal statement should NOT exceed four pages. Supplemental addenda should follow your personal statement and be appropriately labeled within the personal statement document you plan to upload with your application. Supplemental materials submitted after the reached four-page limit may not be added.

• Diversity Statement - describing background or an experience that enables an applicant to bring a unique perspective to the study of law or contribute to serving diverse populations
• Addenda - (for example, LSAT, GRE, GPA, leave of absence from school, etc.) providing additional context and describing special circumstances necessary to evaluate the application fairly

Transfer Admissions

UC Davis Law is straightforward about the process for admitting transfer students after their 1L years at other ABA-approved law schools: although a personal statement, undergraduate transcript, and LSAT score are considered, first-year law school performance is by far the most essential factor. At least one letter of recommendation from a law school professor is also essential. From the school's website:

Applicants performing in the top 5% - 10% of their 1^st year class[es] receive serious consideration. In exceptional cases, and based on the law school attended, applicants performing slightly lower in the class may be admitted.(vii)

This last sentence suggests that applicants from more highly ranked original law schools have more leeway on grades. King Hall usually admits 20 to 30 of the 100 individuals that apply as transfers; about a dozen of these enroll in a typical year. Applications are accepted from June 1 to June 30 of each year. To read a fantastic article about transferring, click here.

Early Decision

The Early Decision program at the UC Davis School of Law offers a decision on or before November 30. Applicants may be accepted, denied, placed on the waitlist, or held for consideration as part of the general application process. If an applicant is held for consideration and offered admission as part of the general application process, that does not constitute a binding commitment to enroll. All Early Decision applications are evaluated using the same criteria for the general admissions process. Admission is highly competitive. Successful applicants must immediately withdraw applications to all other institutions, decline open admissions offers, and make a $500 deposit no later than January 3.

California Residency

The law school admission process does not consider residency. This means that you do not have to be a resident of California to attend UC Davis Law School, although tuition rates are based on residency. Detailed information about residency can be found on the UC Davis Office of the Registrar's website. If you have any questions about residency, you can contact the Residency Deputy at UC Davis. In addition to passing a bar examination, to be admitted to the bar in any U.S. jurisdiction, applicants must meet certain character and fitness requirements. You can learn more about these requirements by contacting the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

Tuition and Expenses

The estimated UC Davis School of Law Student Expense Budget below covers the nine-month academic year only and represents the average costs for a single, first-year law student living off-campus. For second and third-year student budgets, please refer to the Budget and Institutional Analysis website. Students who are married, have dependents, or have other special circumstances, should contact Financial Aid for a personalized review of the standard budget. Please note financial aid is not available for the summer or any other period of non-enrollment; students should access other resources to cover expenses during these times.

Cost of Attendance

For the 2025 academic year, the estimated cost of attendance at UC Davis School of Law for a nine-month period—which includes tuition, fees, living expenses, books and supplies, transportation, and personal costs—is approximately $90,457 for California residents and $102,702 for non-residents. These estimates reflect the total expected budget for a single, first-year law student and are designed to help prospective students plan financially for their studies.

Here are the 2025 law student expense budgets for UC Davis School of Law, covering the nine‑month academic year for a single, first‑year student living off‑campus:

Law Student Expense Budget – 2025–2026

Category	California Resident	Non-Resident / International
Tuition and Fees	$59,870	$72,115
Books and Supplies	$2,273	$2,273
Housing and Food (non-university)	$18,859	$18,859
Personal Expenses	$2,130	$2,130
Transportation	$3,018	$3,018
Total (excluding health insurance)	$86,150	$98,395
Health Insurance (SHIP)	$7,992	$7,992
Total (including health insurance)	$94,142	$106,387

Financial Aid

At King Hall, they believe that finances should not be a barrier to engaging in their high-quality public legal education. They offer a wide variety of funding options and extraordinarily generous merit- and need-based gift aid ensures that the UC Davis School of Law remains financially accessible. They aim to provide exceptional customer service and the information and tools necessary to fund your education. If you cannot find the information you need on this site, please get in touch with financialaid@law.ucdavis.edu.

King Hall Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) assists graduates in the public interest/public benefit legal employment with their educational loan repayments. The program is in the form of a forgivable loan, which is issued twice during the calendar year to cover six months. Recipients use the LRAP proceeds to make regularly scheduled student loan payments to the holders of their education loans. At the end of the six-month loan period, recipients submit documentation confirming that loan payments were made on time and in the previously agreed-upon amounts. If all requirements are met, the previous LRAP loan is forgiven, and a new six-month LRAP loan is issued. This cycle repeats every six months as long as the recipient remains eligible for LRAP.

Public Interest Support

Though most of its students still go into private practice, UC Davis has a strong public interest reputation fitting for a school named after Reverend King. Experienced faculty, connections to government agencies and non-profit organizations, and enviable clinical programs mean little, however, if students cannot take public service jobs for financial reasons. As mentioned above, the school has some scholarships meant to support public interest-minded students, and outside organizations endow public service scholarships often overlooked by law students. But King Hall's biggest source of support for public interest students is its recently expanded LRAP, which helps graduates with relatively low salaries deal with high loan payments after graduation and is more generous (at least for those with low incomes) than many of its peers' programs.

To qualify for the program, recent graduates must work as attorneys for a tax-exempt non-profit organization or a local, state, or federal government agency and have a total gross income of less than $60,000. Twice each year, interest-free loans are disbursed to cover part or all of the educational debt payments as follows: lawyers making less than $40,000 a year are not expected to contribute anything and receive funds to cover all payments; those making between $40,000 and $60,000 receive checks to cover payments minus 35% of income over $40,000 (e.g., an attorney with $10,000 of yearly debt payments and an income of $50,000 would receive $6,500 of total assistance for that year). If a participant stays in qualifying employment for one year after the disbursal of an LRAP loan, that loan is forgiven; if the graduate leaves qualifying employment during that period, he or she must repay that loan with interest.

Graduates can receive assistance for a maximum of ten years. In the case of married participants, the school will consider the applicant's income as his or her actual gross (if the participant earns more than his or her spouse) or one-half of the average of both spouses' incomes (if the spouse earns more). UC Davis will also deduct $5,000 from imputed income for each tax dependent. Unlike most law schools' programs, King Hall's LRAP covers educational debt from college and prior graduate school, which could make a big difference for some students. Though the rigid income cap of $60,000 may frustrate graduates who make slightly more - including those working for the federal government, with its automatic but modest pay raises - the UC Davis LRAP compares favorably with those of many "Top 14" schools for graduates making less. Prospective law students who feel certain they will work in the public interest should also familiarize themselves with federal Income Based Repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness and do their best to minimize accumulated debt while in law school, since - as the reduction of subsidized Stafford loans in the recent debt ceiling deal and the decision by many schools to require federal IBR participation for LRAP benefits illustrate - neither university nor government debt relief programs are guaranteed for the future.

Law School Culture

Whether because of its small size, focus on public service, or the easygoing yet adventurous spirit of California, King Hall students report a collegial and supportive environment. With less than 600 J.D. students, first-year students quickly get to know a large portion of their class and find encouragement and friendship much more often than the overt competition, as one student relates:

[When I got to UC Davis] people were overwhelmingly friendly. They shared their outlines and wanted to help each other succeed. Looking back, it was pretty extraordinary, given the fact that we have the same curve for bar classes that other law schools do. The underlying motivation to do the best work we could for the public good made us all more interested in working cooperatively. I was in a lot of clinics and public interest classes and I saw so many people collaborate to do important legal work and also to help each other find summer positions by reviewing resumes and that sort of thing. If you ask for help, especially from the years above you and professors, it's really hard not to find it. It's not all sunshine and rainbows - you will meet some jerks - but I felt like law school stress was not fellow-student stress.

Another student explains that while living in a bubble has its drawbacks, King Hall's size makes getting settled easy:

The good thing about having only 200 people in your entire class is everyone is a "friend of a friend." So it's really easy to hang out with anyone because nobody is completely alien to you. It's also cool because it's easier to ask a favor from a friend of a friend than from a random Joe you've never heard of. The downside, I guess, is since everyone sort of knows everyone, there is plenty of gossips. But that's part of law school fun!

The small-school feel and aura of accessibility extend to the faculty as well, with many professors being happy not just to answer questions during office hours, but to forge relationships with students and create a genuine sense of intellectual community.

Diversity

One would expect a school named after Dr. King to be inclusive. Dean Johnson confirms that diversity is crucial to King Hall's mission: "Within the constraints of the law," he says, "we seek to admit a class that reflects the socioeconomic and other diversity of the state of California and the nation as a whole." Johnson quickly points out that learning is best accomplished in a setting that celebrates pluralism of not just race and background but also of thought and experience.

The UC Davis School of Law is ranked 37th in the United States News & World Report's latest Diversity Index. This ranking measures how well a school recruits and enrolls students from minority groups.

UC Davis Law ranks No. 3 in the United States - and No. 1 in California - for top schools for racial justice according to a 2020 ranking in preLaw Magazine. National Jurist magazine named UC Davis School of Law the No. 2 most diverse school in the country in 2019. Princeton Review’s "Best Law Schools 2021" placed UC Davis Law among the top 10 nationally in the categories of “Greatest Resources for Minority Students,” "Greatest Resources for Women," and "Most Diverse Faculty.”

Academics

Curriculum

King Hall eases first-year students into law school with a one-week Introduction to the Law, which gives a broad overview of the American legal system and the tools necessary to interpret cases and statutes. After this crash course, 1Ls take traditional core classes: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Property, and Torts, and two semesters of Legal Research & Writing. This highly structured first year differs significantly from the 2L and 3L years, in which students choose all classes. To graduate, a student must complete 88 units and take Professional Responsibility or Legal Ethics in Corporate Practice and classes that satisfy writing and skills requirements.

Grading System

King Hall uses a traditional grading system of letter grades paired with a corresponding grade point average number (an A is 4.0, an A- is 3.7, and so on). In 1L classes, professors are strongly encouraged to adhere to the following distribution: 20% A grades, 60% B grades, and 20% C+ and below. Faculty members are encouraged to keep the 1L curve fairly symmetrical by maintaining a mean GPA of 3.0 and 3.1 for each sectioned class. Davis does not rank each student individually but does provide an approximate rank GPA range by 5% intervals after each semester.(xii)

Professors

King Hall has aggressively built up its faculty in recent years by hiring away prominent professors like Miguel Méndez and John Hunt, formerly of Stanford and Berkeley. Other highly regarded scholars include Edward Imwinkelried, the most cited Evidence professor in academia, and Anupam Chandler, who works on legal issues raised by the globalization and computerization of society. Vikram Amar, the Associate Dean for Student Affairs, is noted for his contributions to civil procedure and constitutional law studies. Madhavi Sunder's research interests range from cyberlaw to international human rights. In several recent faculty rankings, UC Davis has placed solidly in the mid-twenties: 23^rd in a Brian Leiter study on scholarly impact, for example, and 27^th in the peer academic reputation survey used in the most recent U.S. News rankings.(xiii)

Experiential Learning

The law school sees its clinical programs as integral to the school's mission of serving the greater good, and supplements four well-developed live-client clinics with a versatile externship program. Clinics are open to 2L and 3L students, who can take up to 16 total clinical and externship credits without special permission. Clinical participants, supervised by faculty, help real clients with cases about civil rights, family law, immigration law, or the plight of prisoners. Clinical students may even get to argue in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, considered one of the most prestigious appellate circuits. In addition to aiding needy clients, clinic students can apply their theoretical training to realistic practice settings, helping much focus on career goals and demonstrate abilities to employers. Some offerings - most notably the Immigration Law Clinic and the Prison Law Clinic- are extremely popular, so some students may have to wait until they have registration priority in 3L year to take their top-choice clinic.

Eight externship programs expand skills training to a broader array of fields, including Federal Taxation, Intellectual Property, and Environmental Law. Students who wish to do internships must take the initiative to secure a placement, although the school provides a list of contacts at previous partners. An on-site supervisor and a faculty advisor supervise externship participants.

A particularly exciting experiential opportunity for King Hall students is the UCDC Law Program, which allows law students from the UC schools at Los Angeles, Berkeley, Irvine, and Davis to spend a semester in Washington, D.C. taking a seminar and completing a full-time externship. The program is competitive and necessitates a detailed application process, but past placements have included the White House Counsel's Office, the Department of Justice, and the NAACP.(xiv)

Combined Degrees

UC Davis maintains a flexible combined degree program for law students, allowing J.D. candidates to begin a master's degree any time before the beginning of 3L. Although such students must apply separately to the master's program and almost always spend at least four years at the university, they can usually save some time and money by counting about 10 hours of law school credit toward the second degree.

Graduate Degrees

King Hall confers a Masters of Laws degree (LL.M.) to international law graduates who want to gain familiarity with the American legal system or study some aspect of law in detail. LL.M. students study alongside J.D. candidates and must complete at least 20 credit hours. Tuition and fees are just shy of $40,000. UC Davis offers more flexibility than most law schools by offering an International Commercial Law LL.M. that can be completed over two or more summers. International lawyers should note that an American LL.M. is not sufficient qualification to sit for the bar exam in most states, although California is one of the more notable exceptions.

Study Abroad

The law school maintains exchange agreements with the China University of Political Science and Law, University College Dublin, and the University of Copenhagen, which allow J.D. students to spend one semester studying in an international context while still making progress toward their King Hall degree.

Student Activities

Especially for a law school of its size, King Hall has an impressive range of ways for students to stay busy outside of class. Approximately 50 student organizations allow UC Davis students to share common interests and celebrate shared backgrounds. Liberals and conservatives can both find like-minded activists in the American Constitution Society or Federalist Society, respectively. Affinity groups include law associations for African-Americans, Korean Americans, Native Americans, and practitioners of the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faiths. Other organizations are dedicated to professional interests (Environmental Law Society), the common good (Humanitarian Aid Legal Organization), or simple fun (Golf Club, Law Capella). Student organizations also plan events for the law school as a hole, such as King Hall Bar Review's weekly waterhole gathering. With King Hall's small student body, it can be surprisingly easy for students to take leadership roles in the organizations that interest them quickly.

Journals

For many law students, the most time-consuming extracurricular activity is a journal, of which King Hall publishes six, a large number for such a small school. In addition to the flagship UC Davis Law Review - extremely attractive to law firms and judges - King Hall students also edit publications dedicated to business law, environmental law, international law, juvenile law, and public policy. Law Review membership is determined through a write-on competition at the end of 1L year, though students can also gain membership by writing a qualifying note. Other journals have more open membership policies, although they still represent a significant time commitment.

Facilities

King Hall is located on the 5,300-acre UC Davis Campus, fully integrated with the rest of the university. As the name suggests, the law school is housed in a single building. King Hall recently began a $30 million renovation that has already added a new wing of classrooms and offices and a courtroom used by state and federal courts. The expansion also added study areas, enlarged dining and recreation areas, and the central courtyard.

Employment Prospects and Bar Passage

In 2025, UC Davis School of Law graduates demonstrated strong outcomes in both employment and bar exam performance. For the Class of 2024, the bar passage rate for first-time exam takers was approximately 88.9%, surpassing the national average for ABA-accredited institutions by a significant margin. On the employment side, 91% of graduates secured positions within nine months of graduation, with the vast majority—around 82%—working in full-time, long-term roles that required bar passage, while others entered J.D.-advantage positions. These results highlight King Hall’s continued success in preparing its students for both professional licensure and meaningful legal careers.

Bar Passage

In July 2024, first-time test takers from UC Davis School of Law achieved an 87.4% bar exam pass rate, exceeding the California statewide average of 81% and placing the school among the stronger performers in the region.

Career Services

Career Services, open five days a week, helps students and alumni with wide-ranging aspects of career exploration and job finding. Four of the six staff members are former practicing attorneys, and bring various areas of expertise to the office: Kirsten Hill, who has worked for legal aid organizations in Hawaii and California, directs public interest career planning, while Alison Shinsato, whose experience includes Biglaw and international criminal prosecution, helps clerkship applicants. Career Services also organizes On-Campus Interviews (OCI) and resume collections for private and public employers.

Private Practice

Even at a school like UC-Davis, which carries a special reputation for a public interest, law firms are by far the most common destination, employing a slight majority of recent grads in each of the past few years. Firms vary greatly in size, specialty, workplace culture and pay; although many small firms provide great environments and room for career advancement, the most sought-after private sector jobs for indebted law students continue to be associate positions with Biglaw firms. These jobs, which have always required good grades from UC-Davis applicants, have gotten even more competitive as the legal market has soured. Some firms now require top 10% grades for serious consideration, and even getting interviews with large firms can be tough for that outside of the top fifth or quarter of the class.

Clerkships

Many successful lawyers have reported that "clerking" for a judge was their most rewarding career experience. Besides the prestige bump that working for a federal or state Supreme Court judge can impart, a clerkship year with almost any judge teaches familiarity with the court system, hones legal research and writing skills, and can lead to a valuable professional relationship with a powerful mentor. About 5% of each King Hall class has clerked in recent years, with somewhere around half of these clerks landing posts with coveted "Article III" judges. Besides good grades, judges typically look for law review membership, moot court success, or other credentials that suggest strong reasoning, writing, and editing skills.

Government and Public Interest

Among its peers, King Hall's reputation for the public interest is arguably unmatched. Since experience and commitment often trump grades for public service hiring, Davis's clinical and externship programs are a serious advantage. According to Johnson, the school's proximity to Sacramento - the "public policy capital of the seventh largest economy in the world - and the Bay Area provide students with ample networking and experiential opportunities as well.

The law school also confers certificates in Public Service Law and Pro Bono Service. Still, one student contends that King Hall's public interest opportunities can't be captured by concrete offerings like clinics and focused classes, as good as they may be:

Overall, the reason Davis is great for public interest students is not because of the courses...every school will have at least a few public interest classes. Rather, it's because so many students here are public interest minded, so there are many resources/connections for getting into the public interest field.(xix)

The percentage of students who go into public interest or government work - approaching one-quarter in some recent years - is significantly higher than most schools.

Quality of Life

Davis is unquestionably dominated by university life, with the total university population (about 32,000) equal to about half of the total permanent population of 65,000. The university also employs over 30,000 people. As might be expected of a California college town, Davis is famously liberal and highly educated: it has often ranked as one of the top handfuls of U.S. cities in terms of the percentage of residents with a college degree. The area's feel is laidback and outdoorsy, with bike paths nearly everywhere and myriad parks dotting the landscape.

The city's entertainment options do not scream "metropolis," although big-name acts will sometimes play university events; however, there is a variety to be had in terms of restaurants and plenty of college bars. Many students head to San Francisco - 75 miles east - when they want more exciting nightlife, or just a chance to escape law school for a while in one of the world's great cities. Also within a relatively short drive are ski resorts at Lake Tahoe and world-class wine tasting at Napa and Sonoma. While Davis may not be the world's most exciting city, there is something to be said for going through stressful experiences in relaxing places. A college town with a Mediterranean climate and easy access to Northern California's many treasures offers plenty of chances for R&R.

Housing and transportation

The University of California, Davis School of Law has various student housing options. However, many of these options have low vacancy rates due to the high demand for housing on campus. As a result, they strongly encourage you to begin searching and adding your name to waiting lists for housing as early as possible - preferably before you even know if you have been admitted to the school. By doing this, you will maximize your chances of getting the type of housing that you want.

On-Campus Housing Law students may apply for campus housing at Solano Park apartments. Applicants are placed on waiting lists for the month they indicate they wish to move in and are prioritized as follows: 1) students with children, 2) married students/domestic partners, 3) graduate students, and 4) undergraduates. Contact housing.ucdavis.edu, e-mail studenthousing@ucdavis.edu, or call Residential Services at (530) 752-2033.
Privately-owned and managed on-campus apartments include:

• 8th & Wake (Graduate students only housing) (530) 298-777
• The Atriums at La Rue/Russell Park (530) 753-7322
• The Colleges at LaRue (530) 754-5797
• Primero Grove (530) 754-8455
• West Village: Viridian/The Ramble/Solstice (530) 759-0661

Off-Campus Housing The Student Housing Office provides a list of community housing resources for professional school and graduate students. Call (530) 752-2033 or e-mail studenthousing@ucdavis.edu. Here are three resources to help you get started on your off-campus housing search:

• The ASUCD Community Housing Listing Service, (530) 752-1990 chl.ucdavis.edu
• Classifieds in the community newspaper, The Davis Enterprise, davisenterprise.com
• Classifieds in the campus newspaper, The California Aggie, theaggie.org

Synopsis

As a rule, students at King Hall are happy with friendly classmates, engaging professors, and an ethos that encourages cooperation and working toward the greater good. For those who don't need big-city excitement, Davis is a charming place to study the law and enjoy the fruits of living in California. The most significant stressors affecting UC Davis Law students - high tuition and a barren job market - are not unique to King Hall. However, the dire budget problems in California surely deserve prospective students' continued attention. Especially for students who want to work in the public interest in the state of California, UC Davis is worth a serious look.

Contact Information

The University of California,
Davis School of Law
King Hall 1380
Davis, CA 95616

Admissions Office
Phone: 530.752.6477
Email: admissions@law.ucdavis.edu
https://law.ucdavis.edu/admissions/jd/contact-us

Summary

Established	1968
Location	Davis, CA
Dean	Jessica Berg
2025 US News Ranking	50th
LSAT Median Score	163
GPA Median Score	3.68
Bar Passage Rate	82.7% (2025)
Employment Rate	79.2% (2025)
Cost	"$57,409 (in-state, full-time), $69,654 (out-of-state, full-time)"
Average Debt	$125,961
Application Deadline	June 1, 2025

Forum and Discussion

UC Davis School of Law Discussions
Law School Admissions Forums
Law Student Forums
Law School Class Forums

Reference

https://law.ucdavis.edu/
Rank #50
LSD Law
LSAC Guide
How to Learn to Do Well on a Law School Exam
Success in Law School - A Unique Perspective
The Guide to Law School Loans
Guide to Fee Waivers

Interview: with Kevin Johnson, Dean of the University of California Davis, School of Law
Forums: https://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=4