2024-2025 Coaches
Founding Faculty Advisor: Honorable Dennis M. Cota
Dennis Cota is a public law specialist with over 23 years of experience representing both private clients and public entities. He previously served as Interim County Counsel for Plumas County, and currently acts as advice and litigation counsel to Madera County, San Joaquin County, Trinity County, and the Fresno County Sheriff. Mr. Cota is familiar with the Brown Act and has advised public agency clients around the state.
Mr. Cota's extensive trial experience includes complex civil litigation in the areas of civil rights and municipal defense, and environmental and hazardous waste litigation in which he has obtained successful results before both the state and federal bar. He is also experienced in real estate, contract, labor (management side), and business litigation. He has successfully brought to verdict numerous bench and jury trials (including a recent defense verdict on behalf of Madera County regarding a lawsuit brought by a former Deputy Sheriff), and is trained in mediation at the Strauss Institute at Pepperdine School of Law.
Mr. Cota earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in May 1983 from the University of California Los Angeles, and he obtained his Juris Doctorate degree in May 1986 from the University of California Davis School of Law. He has since graduated from the Trial Advocacy Skills Program in August 1989 from the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and in March 1998 from the Teaching Advocacy Skills Program at Harvard University.
Mr. Cota's experience includes numerous semesters as a trial practice instructor at U.C. Davis School of Law and previously as an instructor of civil procedure and evidence courses at the University of California Riverside Extension Program, as well as a guest lecturer at the University of La Verne School of Law. He has also served as a Judge Pro Tempore in Los Angeles County, Citrus Judicial District.
Prior to founding Cota Cole LLP (formerly Cota Cole & Associates), Mr. Cota was Managing Partner of the Sacramento office of Best Best & Krieger LLP, and held the same position previously for the firm's Ontario office.
Faculty Advisor: Hayley Graves
Hayley Graves is currently a law clerk for the Honorable Jeremy D. Peterson in the United States District Court, Eastern District of California. She served as the judicial law clerk for the Honorable Jerome T. Tao, Nevada Court of Appeals (2020-2021) and prior to that as a judicial extern for the Honorable Ronald B. Robie, California Court of Appeal, Third District. Since 2016, Graves has coached her former high school mock trial team where they have represented Sacramento County in the California State Finals several times. Graves has been a trial practice and mock trial coach at King Hall since 2022. Graves received her J.D. (Order of the Coif) from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 2020. At McGeorge, Graves served as the Editor-in-Chief of the University of the Pacific Law Review and was on the McGeorge Mock Trial Team, ranked seventh in the nation at the time, and has competed in several national competitions. She received her B.A. in Political Science, with a minor in English from Southern Methodist University in 2016.
Jackson Lucky
Jackson Lucky has been a neutral with JAMS since August 2021. He serves as a mediator, arbitrator, and private judge for civil and family law cases. Before joining JAMS, Judge Lucky served on the Riverside Superior Court for thirteen years. His assignments included unlimited civil and family law. Judge Lucky was the supervising judge of the family law division from 2012 to 2016 and the criminal supervising judge from 2017 until 2019.
Judge Lucky loves to teach, especially about evidence and technology. He is a lecturer on trial advocacy at the UCLA School of Law. He was faculty at the Bernard E. Witkin Judicial College from 2011 to 2021.
Judge Lucky has served on several boards, including the Asian-Pacific American Lawyers of the Inland Empire, the Riverside County Law Library, the Leo A. Deegan Inn of Court, the California Judges Association, and the Center for Judicial Education and Research.
Judge Lucky met his wife, Deborah, in law school. They have been married since 1995. They have two adult children and two dogs.
When he’s not with his family, at work, or teaching, Judge Lucky likes to coach mock trial, play with computers, run, and cook (but not at the same time).
Michael Hopkins
Michael Hopkins is a litigator who works with clients on the range of business disputes as well as employment and labor litigation. He has represented clients in federal and state courts, in arbitration, and before administrative agencies. His experience in the courtroom has been shaped through two terms of work as both a Judicial Extern and Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Troy L. Nunley, United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Michael graduated magna cum laude from UCLA and was the Valedictorian of his class at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.
Bonnie Schmidt
Sean McCoy
Chris MacHold
Chris Machold (King Hall Class of 2020) is a felony trial attorney at the Law Offices of the Public Defender in Albuquerque, NM. Prior to his work as a public defender, Chris attended Cornell College in Mount Vernon, IA, where he competed in AMTA mock trial. He and his teammates made three straight National Tournaments from 2014-16, posting the program’s best finish in 2016: 7th place in their division at nationals. Following graduation in 2016, Chris worked for a legal nonprofit in Atlanta, GA, where he fell in love with indigent criminal defense and decided to go to law school.
At King Hall, Chris worked as a Senior Articles Editor for the UC Davis Law Review and served as the Trial Practice Honors Board president during the 2019-20 academic year. He competed in a number of competitions with TPHB, including the Fordham Kelly Competition (where he won Best Advocate in the Final Round) and the Mockingbird Challenge (where he won Best Advocate). He was named to the Order of Barristers upon graduation. Whenever he could, he escaped from the classroom to intern with Sacramento and Bay Area public defender’s offices.
After graduation, Chris moved to New Mexico. When not in the courtroom, Chris runs the trails of the Sandia Mountains, occasionally dons a green hat as a legal observer, and coaches and judges mock trial – most often for King Hall from afar.