2025 Year in Review

Our Top Stories

Historic gift from Ken Ziffren ’65 boosts media and entertainment law

Supreme Court Clinic earns several big successes at the high court

Latoya Baldwin Clark (left) and Cheryl harris

All-star symposium celebrates 25 years of the Critical Race Studies program

UCLA School of Law Library's Tower Reading ROom

Scholarly impact rankings: UCLA Law faculty earns high marks

People celebrating at UCLA Law's 75th anniversary party

All Rise: Join us on a long look back at the first 75 years of UCLA Law

UCLA Law students aid Angelenos impacted by the January 2025 wildfires

Faculty Highlights

The cover of the book Borders and Belonging: Toward a Fair Immigration Policy

Books and Publications

In 2025, research and publications by UCLA Law professors ran the full scope of legal academic scholarship, including 13 new books and countless articles, chapters, and commentaries. Hiroshi Motomura sat down for a Q&A pegged to the release of the third book (pictured) in his trilogy on immigration law and policy, Borders and Belonging: Toward a Fair Immigration Policy (Oxford University Press, 2025).

More recent books and publications

Honors and Awards

UCLA Law faculty members earned many honors this year. Kimberlé Crenshaw received multiple awards, including the National Bar Association’s Justice and Impact Award (pictured). Stephen Gardbaum earned the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award. Iman Anabtawi won the Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching. Joanna Schwartz and Anna Spain Bradley got faculty chairs. Five professors were recognized for their excellence in legal scholarship.

More honors and awards

Special Election Ballot from November 4, 025

In the Media

From the environment to entertainment to elections, UCLA Law professors were go-to commentators on a broad range of global affairs. Kimberly Clausing discussed tariffs and testified before the U.S. House of Representatives. Jon Michaels weighed in on the nation’s rash of political violence. Rick Hasen offered authoritative views on California’s Proposition 50 and other election law matters in the headlines.

More of our work in the media

Top row, left to right: Brian Highsmith and Yutian An. Bottom row, left to right: Matthew Nickell and Julia Powles

New Faculty Members

UCLA Law welcomed law and government scholar Brian Highsmith as an assistant professor, Julia Powles as the executive director of the Institute for Technology Law and Policy, and Matthew Nickell as the inaugural director of the new Housing Justice Clinic. The law school also looks forward to welcoming comparative law and politics scholar Yutian An as an assistant professor, plus other leading academics, in the new year.

More about our faculty

Intellectual Property

Illustrations of (from left to right): a UCLA baseball cap, a stack of books, a judge's gavel, a manual typewriter, a paper scroll, the scales of justice, a podium with a microphone, bread with soup, and a change purse

Outstanding scholarship and teaching is a cornerstone of the UCLA Law community. To celebrate generations of great professors, we asked current faculty members to share their thoughts on the giants who came before them – and continue to walk among them.