A year of momentum at UC Law—and the path ahead

Dear Valued Alumni,

As the year draws to a close, I wanted to share a few reflections on the remarkable progress our College of Law has made over the past year, and to express my sincere hope that you will remain connected to us—or take the opportunity to reconnect with us—in 2026. We find ourselves at a genuine inflection point, on the cusp of transformational change for the better.

As in past years, our work is guided by five strategic priorities: enhancing student success; expanding experiential learning; strengthening our centers of excellence; deepening global and comparative engagement; and broadening our educational reach beyond the JD. These priorities continue to shape our decision-making and provide the framework for the progress I share below. I invite you to explore them further through our strategic priorities microsite and blog.

Nowhere is this momentum more evident than in our admissions results. This past year, we received approximately 40 percent more applications than the year before, more than double the national average increase. That growth itself followed a 20 percent rise the prior year, and early indicators suggest that next year’s applicant pool is already tracking nearly 25 percent higher than last year. Simply put, it is becoming increasingly popular to become a Bearcat.

This sustained growth has allowed us to enroll a highly talented incoming class by nearly every measure. What has impressed me most, however, is not any single metric, but rather our students’ resilience and deep commitment to success. Enhancing student success and fostering a strong sense of community remain our foremost strategic priority, and the character of this class reflects a strong alignment with those goals. At the same time, we recognize that supporting students means attending not only to their achievements, but also to moments of challenge. In that spirit, we have a new embedded counselor, who can often be seen with his service dog.  Both counselor and dog have already become deeply valued and highly popular members of our community.

Our commitment to students is matched by our commitment to academic excellence. UC Law faculty continue to shape national and international conversations through their scholarship, media engagement, and citations across state and federal courts, including in opinions issued by the United States Supreme Court. This fall, we hosted a landmark symposium on Herman Melville’s Legacy for Law and the Humanities, bringing to campus many of the foundational voices in the Law and Literature movement alongside leading legal historians. UC Law is, quite simply, a place where serious and exciting intellectual work happens.

Most importantly, I want to underscore how vital it is for me, and for the College, to remain connected to you—our alumni. Your engagement sustains us in countless ways. This past fall, I had the pleasure of co-hosting an alumni gathering at the Queen City Club with Susan Whaley (JD ’97), and I hope to offer additional opportunities to connect in the spring. I also greatly value the time I am able to spend downtown visiting alumni in law firms, public interest organizations, government offices, and corporate settings throughout our city. You are our adjuncts, our mentors, our collaborators, and the employers of our students. Our success is inseparable from your engagement, and for that support, I am deeply and sincerely grateful.

I wish you a wonderful end to 2025 and a joyful start to 2026.

Sincerely,

Dean Haider Ala Hamoudi, Nippert Professor of Law

Lead photo taken by Joseph Fuqua II.