SWLAW Blog | Awards & Honors
May 13, 2024
2024 Southwestern Public-Interest Law Service Awards
On Thursday, April 18, 2024, our Public Interest Law Faculty Committee celebrated and honored our graduating students at the Public Service Program Awards Luncheon. Special recognition was given to eleven outstanding students for their demonstrated and significant dedication to public-interest law activities while at Southwestern. During the past year, more than 120 Southwestern students collectively volunteered 5,000+ hours of legal services through our Public Service Program. These hours were performed in various ways: representing clinic clients, supporting civil legal aid and nonprofit organizations, and volunteering at local, state, and federal agencies.
We are proud to recognize and celebrate our 2024 Southwestern Public-Interest Law Service Award recipients:
2024 Recipient: Bryon Alvarez
2024 Recipient: Natalie Diaz
Natalie Diaz is a proud child of Mexican and Salvadorean immigrants and a first-generation law student from the Inland Empire. She is very thankful for everyone who has helped her along her journey to becoming an attorney and is grateful for all of her experiences throughout her time at Southwestern. Those experiences include serving as a student instructor through Southwestern’s Street Law Clinic, as a board member for Southwestern’s Women’s Law Association, as a law clerk for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, and for the Riverside County Public Defender’s Office.
Natalie came to Southwestern with the dream of helping and uplifting individuals in her community and has been able to do so during her time at Southwestern. Following the bar exam, Natalie continues on in her journey of learning and dedicated service to her community as a post-bar law clerk with the Children’s Law Center of California.
We asked Natalie...
What is the most satisfying aspect of public service for you?
The most satisfying aspect of public service is seeing that I am making a difference in someone's life. Whether it was helping an attorney in a trial or seeing a client complete a court-ordered program, seeing that I could make an impact was rewarding. I am eager to continue helping my community and making a difference as a licensed attorney because I will have the platform to make a bigger impact.
2024 Recipient: Karen Herrera
Karen is a first-generation law student and daughter of Salvadoran immigrants; she grew up in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles, where most residents, including her family, struggle with immigration and workplace issues. As a law student, she has been engaged in public-interest activities both on and off- campus, serving unhoused veterans as a law clerk at Inner City Law Center, in Southwestern’s Eviction Defense Clinic, and most recently, as a Peggy Browning Fund Fellow at the Wage Justice Center assisting day laborers experiencing wage theft. Karen is an active member of the Public-Interest Law Committee, Homelessness Prevention Law Project, Labor and Employment Law Association, and Women’s Law Association. By drawing upon her personal and professional experience, Karen aims to work at the intersection of labor and immigration law to ensure that immigrant communities can achieve the equity and justice they deserve.
We asked Karen...
What words of advice would you have for future Southwestern students?
My advice is to find a community within public interest work. The work is difficult and can often be draining and even isolating, but finding fellow law students who are supportive and believe in the work can be a source of motivation that makes all the difference.
2024 Recipient: Mingyu Kong
Mingyu Kong is a traditional day student currently serving as a Lead Articles Editor for the Southwestern Law Review and is an advanced law clerk in Southwestern’s Community Lawyering Clinic. He is interested in advancing the rights of immigrants and plans to practice immigration law after he graduates from law school.
We asked Mingyu...
What have been some of your favorite highlights of your service involvement during law school?
My favorite involvement during law school was participating in the Community Lawyering Clinic. The clinic gave me an opportunity to interact with clients directly, and I was able to learn about practical lawyering skills.
2024 Recipient: Brenda Martinez Jaurrieta
Brenda’s aspirations to pursue a career in public-interest law, specifically in the areas of education and child advocacy, have been shaped by her first-hand experiences as a first-generation student from the Inland Empire. As a student, Brenda has served as a law clerk for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, as a legal volunteer for Inland Counties Legal Services Expungement Clinics, and as a judicial extern to the Honorable Annabelle Cortez at Edelman Children’s Courthouse. In addition to Brenda’s off-campus work, Brenda has held positions as a research and teaching assistant to faculty members, leadership positions with Southwestern’s Women’s Law Association and Advocates for Children’s Rights, and was recognized by Southwestern’s Children’s Rights Clinic as a “rising star.” Brenda is invested in giving back to her community and proudly graduates from Southwestern with a Public-Interest Concentration.
We asked Brenda...
What is the most satisfying aspect of public service for you?
As a native Spanish speaker, I understand the barriers that language can create for immigrant communities. There is power in our voices, and when individuals are unable to communicate, they lose their power to advocate for themselves. The most satisfying thing about public service is being able to show individuals that their voice matters and their needs are being heard. By creating the space, clients are being validated, and they are also being empowered.
2024 Recipient: Ester Mendez
Ester is a first-generation indigenous woman with roots in Oaxaca, Mexico, who has spent most of her life in South Los Angeles. Motivated by her personal experiences with the criminal legal system, she made the courageous decision to pursue a legal education. As a law student, she gained valuable experience as a law clerk for the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, the Alternate Public Defender's Office, and Loyola’s Project for the Innocent. She also co-founded IMPACT at Southwestern Law School, a student organization providing assistance, mentorship, and networking opportunities to formerly incarcerated law students. Ester is dedicated to using her education and experiences to make a difference in the lives of marginalized people. As a passionate advocate for equity and justice, she is committed to representing marginalized communities at the public defender's office, striving to create positive change and inspire others like herself to improve their lives and ensure fair representation for all, including those most vulnerable to mass incarceration.
We asked Ester...
What have been some of your favorite highlights of your service involvement during law school?
Among the highlights of my service involvement during law school, co-founding IMPACT stands out as particularly memorable. Through IMPACT, we had the opportunity to give back to youth impacted by the criminal legal system. IMPACT provides a unique and much-needed outreach service, inspiring impacted youth to pursue higher education while emphasizing a career in law. IMPACT is passionate about reducing recidivism rates in our community.
2024 Recipient: Zara Mokhtar
Zara is deeply passionate about public-service law and has a keen interest in criminal, human, and civil rights law. Her commitment to public-service has been unwavering throughout her life, starting at age 10 when she visited an orphanage. She has been actively involved in various organizations as a law student, holding leadership positions with Southwestern’s Mass Incarceration Awareness Law Society, Delta Theta Phi, as a Senior Advocate for the Trial Advocacy Honors Program, as a Dean’s Fellow and a two-time Judge Harry Pregerson Public-Service Fellow. Alongside her student leadership roles, Zara has served as a law clerk for the Loyola Project for the Innocent, the Trial Unit of the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Central District of California, and the Jails Project with the ACLU of Southern California.
We asked Zara...
What words of advice would you have for future Southwestern students?
Find your community and your purpose. Everyone comes to law school with different motivations. Identify yours, stay committed to it, and let it guide you every day.
2024 Recipient: Karla Munoz
We asked Karla...
What have been some of your favorite highlights of your service involvement during law school?
My favorite highlights include working at the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office and spearheading an annual service project with my fellow student cohort in the Immigration Law Student Association (ILSA).
2024 Recipient: Jericca-Anne Salazar
Jericca-Anne Salazar is a proud Filipina-American and first-generation student who earned her B.A. in Business Administration from California State University, Fullerton, and spent six years in hospitality management before embarking on her law school journey. She is involved with local and international organizations that combat human trafficking and contribute to the protection of children’s rights. While at Southwestern, she has dedicated her volunteer time as an Education Rights Holder for foster youth and served as a law clerk for the Children’s Law Center of California, Southwestern’s Community Lawyering Clinic, Family Law Clinic, and as a judicial extern to the Honorable Judge Amy Pellman of the Family Law Division of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. After graduation, Jericca plans to pursue a career in family law practice in Orange County.
We asked Jericca...
What words of advice would you have for future Southwestern students?
Explore other areas of law, even the ones you thought you would never be interested in. Join a clinic, get a mentor, and be open to different internships or jobs - each can lead you to exactly where you need to be and open doors to other opportunities. Lastly, make sure to take care of yourself and enjoy the process. Check in with family/friends/Southwestern faculty and staff when you need to because, as they say, “It takes a village to raise a successful lawyer!"
2024 Recipient: Nadia Salcedo
Nadia is a first-generation law student from Southeast Los Angeles who is always eager to share their opportunities with others. To Nadia, this means bridging systemic gaps in access to legal advocacy. On campus, she has contributed to opportunities for community support, such as Southwestern’s Street Law Clinic, where she taught high school seniors about various areas of law that would impact them as they transitioned into adulthood, and Southwestern’s Community Lawyering Clinic, where they prepare immigration petitions and provide legal consultations for California State University, Northridge students in need of legal services. Off-campus, they have served as a law clerk with the Collective for Liberatory Lawyering, creating legal resources and conducting community trainings for community youth organizations and with Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, Inc., providing legal defense for caregivers in Dependency Court.
We asked Nadia...
What is the most satisfying aspect of public service for you?
Public service has guided me through my time at Southwestern. I applied to law school with the intention of providing legal support to communities like the one that raised me. Little did I know that I would also find a whole new community of like-minded advocates who have supported me in this goal we share. This is not a common path, but it is one I can be proud of.
2024 Recipient: Hugo Stern
Hugo Stern was born in Tokyo, Japan, and moved to California on his own after graduating high school. He made the decision to attend law school to pursue a legal career in the field of criminal justice and reform after being inspired by the George Floyd protests, as well as his own lived experiences with the law as a teenager. At Southwestern, Hugo has served on the board of the Mass Incarceration Awareness Law Society and IMPACT, a newly created student interest organization that advocates for formerly incarcerated students, and he takes pride in having served as a law clerk and student instructor through Southwestern’s Street Law Clinic providing legal education for youth at the Dorothy Kirby Center. Following bar studies, Hugo continues on in his work with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office.
We asked Hugo...
What have been some of your favorite highlights of your service involvement during law school?
This year, along with the members of IMPACT, I led a class of probation youths on a campus tour of Southwestern, which finished with a mock trial in which every kid showed such promise for advocacy and speaking up for themselves. I hope Southwestern works with their home group to continue the tours in the future.
Congratulations to all the award recipients!