During her second year of law school, Leanne began working for CCPOA as a Hearing Representative. After passing the bar, she was promoted to Staff Counsel and specializes in union labor defense. In her work at CCPOA, she successfully has defended Correctional Peace Officers in administrative merit-related appeals, grievance arbitrations, and civil actions for the last 12 years. Leanne is also known for her extensive experience negotiating collective bargaining agreements with the State. “I became a lawyer to help. CCPOA represents a group of State employees about which the public knows little, including the challenges of their work environments. It is an honor to help improve their working conditions.” Leanne fondly remembers Moot Court with Peter Wall (’08) and Jennifer Byers-Lawton (’09), Professor Purvis’ challenging Constitutional Law class, and working with Ben Greer (’08) in SJCL’s law library.
Alumni Success
Explore the diversity of our Alumni careers, to learn what a Juris Doctor degree can provide. One Degree. A World of Option.
Leanne Kent - Class of 2008 - Staff Counsel, California Correctional Peace Officers’ Association, West Sacramento
Extensive and Diverse Alumni Network
Our success can be seen in the extraordinary achievements of our graduates in bar passage rates and dynamic careers. San Joaquin College of Law graduates serve as District Attorneys, Superior Court judges, court commissioners, administrative law judges, general counsel of large corporations, in-house counsel to agricultural enterprises, and much more. Alumni have benefitted from launching their careers in a region where the population is growing and the prospect of getting into a prominent position quickly is proven higher. If a graduate desires to leave the Valley, he or she is in a strategic position to make a lateral move to a city of their choice or obtain a leadership position nationally or internationally.
More than 30% of the practicing lawyers in the Fresno-Clovis area are SJCL graduates. Of the women lawyers in the area, nearly 44% are SJCL graduates. More than 37% of the minority lawyers are graduates.
Careers of SJCL Alumni in the Area Include
- Administrative Law Judge
- Baker, Manock & Jensen
- Bankruptcy Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- California State Assistant Attorney General
- Centex Homes In-House Counsel
- Children’s Hospital of Central California Counsel
- City Attorney
- County Counsel
- District Attorney
- Dowling Aaron
- Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters
- McCormick, Barstow, Sheppard, Wayte & Carruth
- Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- Member, Fresno County Board of Supervisors
- Pappas Telecasting, Special Counsel & Vice President
- Private Practitioners in every area of practice
- Public Defender
- Saint Agnes Medical Center Counsel
- Superior Court Commissioner
- Superior Court Judge
- Research Attorney, Fifth District Court of Appeal
- Research Attorney, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- Trinity Fruit In-House Counsel
Careers of SJCL Alumni Outside the Area Include
- California Environmental Protection Agency, Deputy Director
- California Secretary of Health & Human Services
- California State Water Resources Control Board, Member & Chair
- Chevron Human Resource Manager, Asia south Business Unit, Thailand
- Chief of Staff for California State Assemblyman
- Contra Costa County Court Commissioner
- Delta Dental, In-House Counsel, San Francisco
- Glenn County Superior Court Judge
- Honeywell Corporation, Phoenix, Arizona
- Monterey County Superior Court Judge
- Nevada Care Counsel & CEO
- Point Loma Nazarene University, Fermanian Business Center Director
- San Francisco Assistant City Attorney
- San Luis Obispo County Court Commissioner
- Santa Barbara County Counsel
- TelePacific Communications Corp, Assistant General Counsel, Nevada
- U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Washington, D.C.
- Wells Fargo Bank, Trust Counsel, North Carolina