J. Clark Kelso
Professor of Law
Director, Governmental Affairs Program and the Capital Center for Government Law and Policy
Director, Governmental Affairs Certificate
B.A., University of Illinois
J.D., Columbia University
E-mail Professor Kelso
Tel: 916.739.7104
Professor Kelso has worked closely with the leadership in the California Senate and Assembly and within the Judicial and Executive Branches on constitutional amendments, legislation, and rules of court to improve and reform the California Judiciary and the administration of justice. In recognition of his service, the California Judicial Council selected Professor Kelso to receive the 1998 Bernard E. Witkin Amicus Curiae award. Kelso was called upon to serve as Acting Insurance Commissioner for California in 2000 and was selected to serve as the Scholar-In-Residence at the California Administrative Office of the Courts. He was selected by Governor Gray Davis to serve as the State’s Chief Information Officer in May 2002, and continues to serve in this position in the Schwarzenegger Administration. He was recognized by Government Technology as one of the 25 Top Chief Information Officers in the public sector for 2004. Professor Kelso clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, before he was appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Courses: Remedies | California Legislature: Law Revision Seminar | Government Law Theory and Practice | Issues in Governmental Lawyering
Recent Publications: "Reform of California's Grand Jury System," 35 Loyola L. Rev. 513 (2002) (with Michael Vitiello), "Statutory Interpretation: Four Theories in Disarray," 53 SMU L. Rev. 81 (2000) (with Charles Kelso).
Curriculum Vitae:
Clark Kelso is a Professor of Law and Director of the Capital Center for Government Law and Policy at the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California. A graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, Professor Kelso clerked for the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy on the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit. As Director of the Institute for Legislative Practice, Professor Kelso has worked closely with the leadership in the California Senate and Assembly and within the Judicial and Executive Branches on constitutional amendments, legislation, and rules of court to improve and reform the California Judiciary and the administration of justice.
Professor Kelso's work with the California Judicial Council has included service as consultant and reporter for the Blue Ribbon Commission on Jury System Improvement, the Business Courts Study Task Force, the Select Coordination Implementation Committee, and the Court Technology Task Force. Most recently, he has been appointed to serve as Reporter to the Council's Appellate Process Task Force and as a member of the Task Force on Complex Litigation. He has been the primary consultant on trial court unification to the Judicial Council and the California Law Revision Commission since 1993. Professor Kelso is the Director of the Center for Access to the Courts through Technology. The Center is committed to improving consumer access to dispute resolution processes using modern communication and information processing technologies.
In recognition of his service to the administration of justice, the California Judicial Council selected Professor Kelso to receive the 1998 Bernard E. Witkin Amicus Curiae award, which is given to an individual other than a member of the judiciary for outstanding contributions to California's courts. A profile published in legal newspapers throughout California described Professor Kelso as "a thoughtful analyst of legal and public policy matters," a "visionary in the area of computers and the law," and a scholar with "a reputation for outspoken independence."
