Umberg/Zipser LLP (U/Z) partner Halim Dhanidina and other distinguished alumni and faculty addressed prospective students during the UCLA School of Law Admitted Student Day on April 11, 2021. Halim is alumni of UCLA School of Law (’97), and in 2013, received the UCLA Asian Pacific Islander Law Students Association Alumnus of the Year award.

Halim says, “I was honored to be asked to address the next generation of lawyers. When I started at UCLA Law many years ago, I never would have predicted that my career would take me through the trial court, judicial branch, and now with a premier litigation firm. The education I received at UCLA has played a significant role in all that I have done in the legal profession.”

Since college, Halim has been of great service to the community of Los Angeles. Before joining U/Z, Halim served as an appellate court justice with Division Three of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, in Los Angeles. Halim was the first South Asian American to serve as an appellate justice in the State of California and the first Muslim appellate-level judge in the United States. Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeal, Halim served for six years on the Los Angeles County Superior Court, making him the first Muslim judge ever appointed in California history. Prior to his judicial career, Halim had extensive trial experience as a Deputy District Attorney of Los Angeles County, where he prosecuted 68 jury trials in 14 years, primarily while assigned to the Hardcore Gang and Major Crimes Divisions.