Lorena Peñaloza

Chief Campus Counsel, UC Santa Cruz

Experience 

Lorena joined UC Santa Cruz in 2017.  She provides advice to the University on a broad range of legal issues, including employment, police, academic affairs, Title IX, Clery, land use, environmental health and safety, and student affairs. She reports jointly to Chancellor Cynthia Larive and UC system Senior Vice President and General Counsel Charles Robinson and serves on their respective leadership teams. 

Prior to joining UC, Lorena worked for the Office of General Counsel for the California State University system, where she first served as a litigator and then as University Counsel for two of the system’s twenty-three campuses.  She also served as Assistant City Attorney with the City Attorney’s Office for the City of Santa Ana, and began her legal career with the Social Security Administration’s Office of the General Counsel in Maryland through the Presidential Management Fellowship (formerly known as Presidential Management Internship) program.  Lorena earned her B.A. in Sociology and Political Economies of Industrial Societies from the University of California, Berkeley, and her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.​ 

Education
University of California, Hastings College of the Law
University of California, Berkeley

Bar Admissions
U.S. Supreme Court
All district courts in California
California Bar