public service program award luncheon Thursday, April 15th, 2021
margorp NOEHCNUL
OPENING AND INTRODUCTION Michelle Takagishi-Almeida, Public Service Program Director DEAN'S WELCOME AND MESSAGE Dean Susan Prager GEORGE AND KATRINA WOOLVERTON AWARD PRESENTATION Andrea Ramos, PILC Faculty Committee Chair WOOLVERTON FAMILY PUBLIC INTEREST AWARD PRESENTATION Julie Waterstone, Associate Dean for Experiential Learning, Clinical Professor of Law, Children's Rights Clinic Jenny Rodriguez-Fee, Clinical Professor of Law, Children's Rights Clinic SOUTHWESTERN PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD PRESENTATION Kathryn Campbell, Professor of Legal Analysis, Writing, and Skills Julia Vazquez Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Community Lawyering Clinic STUDENT ORGANIZATION VOLUNTEER AWARD PRESENTATION Emily Goldberg, 2021-22 PILC Co-Chair Jeff Martin, 2021-22 PILC Co-Chair
PUBLIC INTEREST LAW FACULTY COMMITTEE
Through Southwestern’s Public Service Program Award Luncheon, the Public Interest Law Faculty Committee honors those students from each year's graduating class with a demonstrated dedication to public interest law activities or career practice. The Public Service Program (PSP) Award Luncheon also aims to cultivate in the wider Southwestern student body a commitment to pro bono and public service through the recognition of students who fulfill their PSP Pledge of completing a minimum of 75-hours of service by graduation.
PUBLIC INTEREST LAW COMMITTEE
Southwestern’s Public Interest Law Committee’s mission is to help create a community where Southwestern students are educated and incentivized to participate in issues concerning and advancing the public interest. Each year, the student-led Public Interest Law Committee focuses efforts in raising the financial support necessary for those students who wish to spend a summer contributing to the work of public interest and government agencies providing legal services and representation for underserved communities across California.
congratulations to our 2021 graduating student award recipients!
GEORGE & KATRINA WOOLVERTON
Made possible through the generosity of Southwestern alumni George Woolverton ‘75 and Katrina Woolverton '02. Established in 2010, the George and Katrina Woolverton Public Service Award is given to one graduating student in recognition of demonstrated and extraordinary dedication to public interest law activities while at Southwestern. Established in 2017, The Woolverton Family Public Interest Award honors one graduating student in recognition of exceptional dedication to public interest law activities while at Southwestern.
ABRAHAM BRAN
george and katrina woolverton Public service award recipient
Abraham (Abe) Bran is a first-generation student born from Honduran and Guatemalan immigrants. He obtained Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Spanish from Tufts University and worked as a supervising immigration paralegal prior to law school. At Southwestern, he served as President for the Student Bar Association, Special Projects Editor for the Law Review, Co-President to the Latino Law Students Association and the Environmental Law Society, and clerked in the Community Lawyering Clinic and the Appellate Litigation Clinic. In Fall 2021, Abe continues on to begin his Master’s program in Business Administration at the Peter Drucker School of Management concentrating in leadership and focusing on sustainable business models and social corporate responsibility.
EMILY HART
woolverton family public interest award recipient
While attending Southwestern, Emily achieved over 200 public service hours by actively volunteering with Teen Court and various family law organizations, including LevittQuinn Family Law Center, Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law, and the Honorable Judge Amy Pellman's family law courtroom. Following summer bar exam, Emily will begin her career as a child rights advocate and associate at Tollner Law Offices, a special education law firm. Emily takes with her the knowledge and experience she has gained through her various volunteering activities, including Southwestern's Children's Right Clinic, where she served as an advanced student, in order to help children with disabilities receive access to an adequate education.
Southwestern public interest law service award Honoring selected graduating students in recognition of an individual's demonstrated and significant dedication to public interest law activities while at Southwestern.
BRITTANY BUTLER
southwestern public interest law service award recipient
Brittany Butler has been committed to becoming a Public Defender before coming to Southwestern and, once at Southwestern, she continued on her path to become a Public Defender by working for the Loyola Project for the Innocent and for the Los Angeles County Public Defender. She participated in the Street Law Clinic as well as served as the Co-President of the Mass Incarceration Awareness Law Society. Following bar exam, she is excited to continue her journey to become a Public Defender by clerking for the Orange County Public Defender. She is very grateful to receive the Southwestern Public Interest Law Service Award so she can continue to use her legal education to help those who need it most.
BRENDAN NAFARRATE
southwestern public interest law service award recipient
Brendan was raised by grandparents from Mexico and Guatemala, whose struggles inspired him to pursue a career empowering immigrants. While at Southwestern, he focused his studies and experiences exclusively on understanding all facets of law impacting noncitizens, including criminal convictions, asylum, DACA, and employment discrimination. He hopes to use the perseverance and strength instilled in him by his family to advocate for immigrants’ rights as a future attorney. Following graduation he will continue expanding his knowledge of immigration law as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Executive Office of Immigration Review.
HALEY POLLOCK
southwestern public interest law service award recipient
Haley Pollock is a first-generation college graduate, first-generation law school graduate, and a non-traditional student. Haley came to law school singularly focused on serving populations that are typically and historically excluded from accessing professional legal services. After graduation, Haley will join Inner City Law Center’s Tenant Defense Project as a Housing Justice Fellow, where she will fight to preserve safe and decent housing for low-income tenants threatened or in imminent danger of homelessness due to eviction.
NICOLE ROSSI-STANDLEY southwestern public interest law service award recipient
Nicole Rossi-Standley is a SCALE student who has had an incredible experience at Southwestern Law School, serving as the Chair of the Board for the Trial Advocacy Honors Program, on Law Review, as a Dean's Fellow, Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant, and, notably, a PSP Student Leader. As a first-generation law student, the Public Service Program has enabled her to help host the Small Claims Court Clinic for litigants, work with applicants through LAFLA's Expungement Clinic, write letters responding to individuals who are incarcerated through the MIALS Mail Nights, and work with high school students as a board member for Teen Court, a juvenile diversion program. She has always enjoyed volunteering, and is grateful that there are so many opportunities to put the privilege of her law school education to work by using her legal knowledge to help others.
KATHERINE VAZQUEZ
southwestern public interest law service award recipient
Katherine is a first-generation student and child of Columbian immigrants. During her studies at Southwestern, she has served as a Dean’s Fellow, Senior Articles Editor of Southwestern’s Journal of International Law, Contributing Editor to the American Bar Association – Section of Litigation’s Litigant News, the Co-President of Southwestern's Christian Legal Society, and as a law clerk for Southwestern’s Removal Defense Clinic advocating and defending client rights in immigrant removal proceedings. Following bar exam, Katherine will return to the State of California's Office of Legislative Counsel where she served as a second-year summer clerk.
MEGAN WILLIS
southwestern public interest law service award recipient
Megan Willis is a first generation college graduate who came to law school with the dream of becoming a Deputy District Attorney. She is very grateful for the opportunities Southwestern has afforded her, such as being this year's Competitions Chair for the Trial Advocacy Honors Program, Co-President of the Criminal Law Society, Co-Vice President of the Latino Law Student’s Association and a Peer Mentor. She has helped indigent litigants with legal issues including housing law, tax services, domestic violence, veterans’ services, and family law matters—these experiences have molded her as a future lawyer and as a person. Following bar exam, Megan will begin her career as a prosecutor with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
pilc student organization volunteer award Honoring a student organization who, as a whole, has demonstrated the most significant contribution to public service activities and engagement both on- and off-campus during the academic year.
MASS INCARCERATION AWARENESS LAW SOCIETY
MIALS is dedicated to educating students about mass incarceration's effect on the criminal justice system. Through partnerships with Initiate Justice, a grassroots prison policy advocacy organization, MIALS has launched Southwestern’s Mail Night Project, responding to letters and questions from inside individuals on sentencing laws and other policy efforts. Through a partnership with non-profit Pages & Time, MIALS organizes book drives responding to individuals educational needs while incarcerated; and most recently, in partnership with ACLU-Louisiana’s Justice Lab Project, MIALS conducts remote legal research and assessment of individuals' Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment violations. Through direct action, MIALS members have expanded service and educational opportunities for Southwestern students.
Southwestern's public service pledge Southwestern’s Public Service Program was established in 2009 to encourage students to perform 25 hours of service each year as part of the legal profession’s responsibility to ensure equal access to justice for all communities. In partnership with civil legal aid, nonprofit services organizations and government agencies, students provide direct legal services, litigation and policy advocacy as well as community legal education in a wide-variety of settings and contexts. Students who have performed a minimum of 75 hours of public service throughout their law school experience receive special recognition at Commencement and have the notation “Public Service Distinction” placed on their law school transcript.
1202 fo ssalc
Congratulations to the graduating students who have fulfilled the Public Service Pledge Cindy Alvarado Abraham Bran Nicole Bryant Brittany Butler Matthew Calcanas Hope Casella Kelly Chacon Dustin Charpie Samantha Dennis John Lucas Frye James Glassman Elijah Hakobian Emily Hart Michael Juarez-Munoz Keila Magana
Evlin Mehrabian Brendan Nafarrate Paulina Nunez Haley Pollock Nicole Rossi-Standley Liliana Sanchez Maria Erlinda Santiago Astina Shakilyan Shiva Shenavi Elizabeth Siruno Carlos Soriano Matthew Stein Elmira Tofanyan Jose Valdez Katherine Vazquez Megan Willis
congratulations to our 2021 pilc summer grant recipients!
STNEIPICER TNARG CLIP
Shara Darden Harvey L. and Lillian Silbert Public Interest Fellow Emily Goldberg Harvey L. and Lillian Silbert Public Interest Fellow Alexandra Christensen Dean Leigh H. Taylor Public Interest Law Fund Angelique Ajala Dean Susan Westerberg Prager Endowment Fund Cheryl Cruz Emily Karsik Vivian Meza Jovana Morales Anna Pasano Diana Perez Breanna Ramirez Stephanie Rendon Jennifer Rivera Kristin Strange Alexandra Tunaru Abimelec Vargas Reyes