California Western School of Law
Jacob Grillot $5000
Jacob is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago. Before attending law school, Jacob worked at The Employment Project, where he provided services to the homeless. Jacob plans to pursue a legal career in public interest law in order to protect individual rights and decrease discrimination.

Victoria Ikerd-Schreiter $5000
Victoria is a graduate of San Diego State University. Victoria spent four years working at the San Diego Regional Center for the Developmentally Disabled, and has been involved in special education and learning disabilities advocacy. After graduating, Victoria intends to advocate for the rights of the disabled and disenfranchised.

Chapman University School of Law
Erin Riley $5000
Erin is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. Erin has held a variety of volunteer positions, including working as a team leader in an inner-city betterment program, as a relief worker in Mexico, at a legal clinic for the homeless, and as an English Teacher in Sopron, Hungary. Erin intends to use her law degree to continue to serve the underrepresented.

Golden Gate University School of Law
Reuben Hart $5000
Reuben is a graduate of the University of Washington. Reuben spent over two years working with Catholic Charities CYO, where he worked with formerly homeless adults with disabling HIV/AIDS, and interned during law school for the AIDS Legal Referral Panel. Reuben plans to continue his work for the betterment of his community, possibly in criminal or international humanitarian law.

Heather Ledgerwood $2500
A graduate of the University of California, San Diego, Heather has spent the last decade working in social services as an advocate for people with little or no political voice. Heather worked for several years providing assistance to developmentally disabled adults in Seattle. Heather plans to work as a public defender and aspires to become a judge.

Angela Lipanovich $2500
A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Angela is committed to protecting the environment. Angela has clerked at a number of agencies related to environmental issues, including the Sierra Club, the U.S. Department of Justice, and Lawyers for Clean Water. Angela plans to use her law degree to represent an environmental nonprofit organization.

Erika Scott $2500
Erika is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Erika has volunteered at a number of organizations, including Legal Aid of Marin and the Women's Employment Rights Clinic. After law school, Erika intends to work for either a nonprofit or a small law firm focused on civil rights enforcement.

Catherine Tullner $2500

A graduate of the University of Virginia, Catherine left a career in oncology research in order to effect social change as an advocate. She is interning with Bay Area Legal Aid and has also worked as a domestic violence crisis intervention counselor and volunteered at a free medical clinic in Haight Ashbury and an orphanage in Vietnam. Catherine plans to work for a domestic violence organization after graduating from law school.

Loyola Law School
Myung Kim $2500
Myung holds an M.A. from Stanford in International Policy Studies and is a graduate of UCLA. Myung recently volunteered at Loyola's Center for Conflict Resolution and the Legal Aid Foundation in Los Angeles. Before law school, Myung worked in Seoul, Korea, with the Bank of Korea, where she organized the Second Annual Southeast Asian Central Banks Symposium. Myung intends to practice international law.

Katherine MacFarlane $5000
A graduate of Northwestern University, Katherine has volunteered extensively with organizations ranging from the Kalamazoo Public School District to La Raza de Loyola, with an emphasis on mentoring and tutoring youth. Katherine plans to work for an organization serving Los Angeles' Latino community and hopes one day to run her own nonprofit tenants' rights organization.

Marissa Prayongratana $5000

Marissa graduated from UCLA and obtained an M.A. in Social Work, also from UCLA. Before attending law school, she worked with the homeless and for the Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services, where she protected the interests of abused and neglected children. Marissa intends to use her law degree to represent youth and to advocate policy change in the juvenile delinquency courts.

Sonia Salinas $7500
A graduate of the University of California, Riverside, Sonia worked as a social worker for the Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services prior to attending law school. Sonia was inspired to go to law school to make impact on the laws affecting families in the social work system. She intends to use her degree to be an advocate for the disenfranchised.

New College of California School of Law
Jhenry Concina $5000
After graduating from the College of New Jersey, Jhenry worked with the Georgia Justice Project (GJP), an agency that provides legal representation and social services for the indigent in an effort to substantially reduce recidivism rates. Jhenry's goal is to establish a private, nonprofit criminal defense firm modeled after the GJP for the indigent, criminally accused in the Bay Area.

Pepperdine University School of Law
Nicole Kamm $2500
After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Nicole worked as a fourth-grade teacher in a low-income community, as a facilitator between adopted children and their biological parents, and as a teacher of special needs students. She has also worked for multiple HIV and AIDS service programs throughout California. Nicole's career goal is to apply her educational background and experience to practice either health law or special education law.

Santa Clara University School of Law
Monica Torrez $5000
A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Monica had extensive legal experience before attending law school, including performing contract administration for NASA and working as a contracts specialist and litigation consultant for the Environmental Chemical Corporation. Monica clerked last summer for the U.S. Attorney's Office, and she is looking forward to practicing public interest law after graduation.

Sonja Zavala $5000
Sonja is a graduate of Holy Names University. She has been active in several organizations that provide mentoring for juvenile offenders. Sonja also clerked at the California Innocence Project and provided worker's compensation counseling at a community law center. Sonja intends to practice as a Public Defender and aspires to become a judge in juvenile court.

Southwestern University School of Law
Alicia Windsor-Svanstedt $2500
A graduate of New College of Florida, Alicia decided to attend law school because of her desire to work in human rights. In furtherance of her interests, she has volunteered at the Museum of Tolerance and the Florida Center for Survivors of Torture and Refugee Services. After graduating from law school, Alicia intends to work with nonprofits that offer assistance to Native Americans or immigrants and hopes to work one day at the Commission of Human Rights at the United Nations.

Stanford Law School
Jonathan Cantu $5000
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Jonathan was inspired to go to law school to help marginalized communities have access to the legal system. While at law school, he has taught youths in juvenile hall about their rights and responsibilities, clerked for the Mental Health Advocacy Project and the Stanford Community Law Clinic, and worked at the Employment Law Center's disability rights unit. Jonathan plans on a career of advocacy for the underrepresented.

Adair Ford $5000

A graduate of Furman University, Adair taught math at a public high school and saw first-hand that the greatest hurdles for her students' ability to learn often lay outside the classroom as their families struggled with eviction and the foster care system. Adair has been a volunteer at a community clinic in East Palo Alto while in law school, and she plans on using her law education to serve low-income populations.

Matthew Liebman $5000
Matthew is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Matthew is a longtime animal rights advocate. Matthew founded the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund at Stanford. Matthew's ultimate goal is to practice animal rights law, which he feels is a facet of public interest practice that is often overlooked.

Olivia Para $2500

A graduate of Stanford University, Olivia has used her bilingual skills to translate and service a variety of communities. She has worked as a legal intake counselor and interviewer at the ACLU and the Bar Association of San Francisco Lawyer Referral and Information Service, as an Elections Inspector, and most recently as an outreach coordinator in juvenile halls for Street Law. Olivia is committed to using her law degree to provide a voice for the underrepresented.

Jason Tarricone $7500

A graduate of Brown University, Jason worked as a policy analyst focused on voting rights issues. He hopes to become a lawyer who can litigate big impact cases but also collaborate with community activists and lawmakers to achieve social justice goals. Jason spent this summer as an intern at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Jason's goal is to help make legal services representation and impact litigation work together to affect meaningful social change.

Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Joshua Tucker $2500
A graduate of UCLA, Joshua has volunteered extensively in the legal field with the U.S. Marshals, the civil division of the San Diego City Attorney's Office, and as an Alternate Public Defender in San Diego County. Joshua is currently the President of the Jewish Student Union at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where he organizes events aimed at increasing awareness of cultural differences. Joshua plans to pursue a career as a public defender.

UC Berkeley - Boalt Hall School of Law
Wanda Hasadsri $5000
Wanda is a graduate of the University of California Berkeley. She has worked in support of immigrant rights for California Rural Legal Assistance and the Asian Law Caucus. Ms. Hasadsri believes in providing individual representation as well as working to increase community empowerment to effect change. Wanda intends to return to the Central Valley in order to assist the underserved by working for a non-profit focused on employment and immigration law.

Madeline Howard $5000

A graduate of Haverford College, Madeline researched the racial and economic disparities of health policy, and she conducted health education outreach programs for low-income families at Boston Medical Center and the Family Advocacy Program, a safety net hospital in Boston. As a result, Madeline decided to attend law school to assist people who are unable to defend their rights to basic resources such as health care. Madeline's goal is to use her law degree to serve low-income communities and to combat environmental racism.

Durwood Riedel $5000

A graduate of the University of Michigan, Durwood also has an International Master's Degree from the European University at St. Petersburg, Russia. Durwood attended law school for one overriding reason: to become a war crimes prosecutor. In furtherance of that goal, Durwood hopes to one day work for the Office of Special Investigations, prosecuting war criminals and others who violate international human rights. In the meantime, he plans to become a prosecutor either as a district attorney, a U.S. Attorney, or through the J.A.G. Corps.

UC Davis School of Law
Andrea Fazel $2500
Andrea holds a master's degree from Stanford and is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz. After seven years as a teacher in low-income high schools, Andrea attended law school to create large-scale change for students, teachers, and anyone facing discrimination. Andrea has interned at the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the City of San Francisco Human Rights Division. Andrea's goal is create an LGBT advocacy organization that improves education policy in furtherance of LGBT rights.

Crisanne Hazen $5000

Before attending law school, Crisanne worked as a grassroots community organizer for a human rights network, a parish administrator, and an outreach coordinate for improving minority access to careers in biomedical research. A graduate of Harvard University, Crisanne came to law school to pursue a career in the field of children's advocacy. To that end, she interned for Sacramento Child Advocates and at the Family Protection Clinic at U.C. Davis. Crisanne is looking forward to using her law degree to advocate for children and juveniles.

UC Hastings College of the Law
Jens Iverson $7500
Jens is a graduate of Yale University. Before attending law school, Jens worked as a technology advisor for a refugee committee in Thailand, participated in a fellowship to document the genocide in Cambodia, worked as a consultant for the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines, and was a technology advisor for the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. Jens envisions using his law degree to continue to build international courts and help communities recover from atrocities.

Vianey Ramirez $5000
A graduate of the University of California, Riverside, Vianey has worked as a conference coordinator for the Womyn of Color Conference and UC LGBTA Association Conference, as an investigative assistant in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and as a law clerk in immigration law and family law. Vianey aspires to serve the public interest through immigration and family law practice.

Helen Redman $5000

A graduate of Yale University, Helen joined Teach for America, where she watched some of her brightest students become entangled in the criminal justice system. After teaching for two years, Helen decided to attend law school to become an advocate for children. To that end, she has worked at Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and the National Center for Youth Law and has presented a paper in Haiti to further the movement to abolish the juvenile death penalty. Helen intends to protect the rights of young people through public defense or civil litigation, and through public policy.

Victoria Robinson $5000
A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Victoria feels an obligation to give back to her community. Victoria has served as a counselor for at-risk and disabled youth, as an intern manager for Alameda County Pre-trial Services, and as an assistant at Bay Area Legal Aid, as well as having been an active volunteer. Victoria plans to serve the public interest as a district attorney.

UCLA School of Law
Stacey Brown $5000
A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Stacey has worked on fair housing rights at the Housing Rights Center in Los Angeles, the rights of the disabled under the Rehabilitation Act at Legal Services of Northern California, and employment rights under the ADA at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Stacey's goal is to work as an advocate for disability rights, which is furthered by her recent work for Protection and Advocacy, Inc.

Deborah Ho $5000

A graduate of UCLA, Deborah worked at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace researching international migration policy, helped develop migration policy for Kosovar refugees in Albania, and researched domestic violence policy at Amnesty International in Mauritius. Deborah received a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to take coursework at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, where she interviewed asylum seekers. Deborah spent this summer as a legal intern at the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and she intends to work with inter-governmental or non-governmental organizations dealing with refugees.

Andrea Luquetta $7500

A graduate of Drew University, Andrea worked towards ending employment discrimination and creating more affordable housing at the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations. Andrea has also volunteered extensively in efforts that fostered community empowerment and development. Andrea spent the last summer working at Public Advocates to help secure access to education, housing, and transportation. Andrea's goal is to apply her law degree at an organization that is committed to serving low-income communities.

Gladis Molina $2500
A graduate of California State University at Long Beach, Gladis has a long-standing interest in protecting immigrants. Gladis has worked as a public policy fellow for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and as a field deputy for Congressman Xavier Becerra, and as a fellow at the Employment Law Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services. Gladis plans to practice immigration law.

Gladdys Uribe $5000

A graduate of Occidental College, Gladdys is from the Santa Ynez Valley, which has a significant Mexican immigrant population whose access to basic needs is very limited. Gladdys has worked at the Learning Rights Project to provide legal assistance to children with learning disabilities and in community outreach and education in a number of organizations. Gladdys intends to return to the Santa Ynez Valley to become an advocate for her community.

University of San Francisco School of Law
Patricia Fullinwinder $2500
A graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, Patricia is interested in ensuring that the indigent are adequately represented in the legal system. Patricia spent this summer as an intern at the Georgia Justice Project and provided written and investigative research for the California Appellate Project and the Capital Appeals Project. Patricia plans to become a criminal defense attorney for the indigent.

Marina Smerling $5000

A graduate of Bard College, Marina has worked in a get out the vote project, as a project coordinator for the San Francisco Census of Families with Children Living in SROs, as an event coordinator at the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center, and as an intern at La Raza Centro Legal. Marina would like to protect basic rights to a living wage, decent working conditions, and collective bargaining and is particularly interested in protecting international labor rights in Mexico and Central America.

Joseph Triglio $2500

Joseph has participated in grass-roots activism since high school. A graduate of St. Mary's University, Joseph has interned at the Office of Capital Defense Counsel and the Habeas Corpus Resource Center and recently externed with Federal Magistrate Judge Chen. Joseph plans to use his law degree to work towards the abolition of the death penalty and to ensure that all have access to legal representation.

University of Southern California, The Law School
Emily Austin $5000
A graduate of UCLA, Emily attended law school to make a difference in the lives of women and girls. Emily has worked at the California Women's Law Center to help incarcerated victims of domestic violence. Emily intends to use her law degree to help victims of domestic violence and to help improve women's access to fair wages and child care.

Benjamin Conway $5000

A graduate of the University of Michigan, Benjamin has volunteered as a mentor to students, at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Central Legal Clinic, and at the Los Angeles County Barrister's Domestic Violence Clinic. Benjamin has provided legal support to various projects at the California Women's Law Center. Benjamin plans to pursue a career in support of gay and lesbian rights and against gender discrimination.

Jason Satterfield $5000
A graduate of the University of Utah, Jason provided support to disabled individuals at Turn Community Services before attending law school. Last summer, Jason expanded his legal knowledge of disabilities rights as a clerk for the Western Law Center for Disability Rights. Jason plans to use his law degree to help remove systemic barriers facing people with disabilities.

University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law
Naomi Coady $2500
A graduate of the University of California, Davis, Naomi worked full-time to support herself and her daughter while pursuing her undergraduate degree. Naomi has since worked as counselor and coordinator at Victims of Crimes, as a legal assistant at Sacramento Child Advocates, and as a law clerk in a family law practice. Naomi has focused on being a voice for abused children and plans on using her law degree as an advocate for children.

Whittier Law School
Kristin Aargaard $5000
A graduate of New Mexico State University, Kristin's commitment to be a voice for children in the legal system began when she worked in a transitional shelter for homeless women and families in one of the poorest communities in New Mexico. Kristin has volunteered shelters for abused women and children and provided legal assistance to families and children at the Children's Advocacy Clinic. Kristin plans to represent poor women and children in domestic violence and family law matters.

Erika De la Parra $5000

Erika grew up in a border town in Texas with her hardworking extended Mexican immigrant family, where her family and community encouraged her success at every turn. A graduate of Princeton University, Erika was an Administrative Fellow at the Norwalk Community Health Center, which serves the uninsured. Erika also actively supports several shelters. Erika wants to use her law degree to empower people by teaching the disenfranchised how to advocate for themselves.

Alfonso Del Valle $5000

A graduate of Loyola Marymount University, Alfonso was a member of the Peace Corps in Honduras, where he helped organize communities to address health-related concerns. During law school, Alfonso provided legal support for the Public Law Center in Santa Ana. Alfonso hopes to use his law degree not only to represent, but also to educate and empower, those in need to help them change their own communities for the better.

Shirin Nassi $5000

A graduate of UCLA, Shirin volunteered to assist a disabled adult through the Best Buddy program and raised money and supported homeless clients at the UCLA Mobile Clinic. After college, Shirin interned at Community Outreach for Prevention Education mentoring at-risk and underprivileged youth. This summer, Shirin worked at Protection and Advocacy, an organization that supports the rights of the disabled. Shirin is looking forward to continuing to serve her community as a public interest lawyer.