Clinical Law Prof Blog

Open Conversations: Building Culture, Developing Discourse, Nurturing Democracy

The Holloran Center Professional Identity Blog at the University of St. Thomas School of Law originally posted this piece from Prof. Tanya Asim Cooper and me. 

 

In 2015, as the Ferguson uprisings swelled in Missouri, we felt a rising tension, anxiety, anger, and discord among our law students at Pepperdine (now Pepperdine Caruso School of Law). Students had organized demonstrations for justice at the law school, and they were seeking other outlets and means to engage. Like much of the nation, they wanted to talk about it, but the law school did not have a ready forum for them to process this controversy together. Professors are often reluctant or unable to pause their regular teaching to engage in wide debates on current events, especially when they are trying to cover significant material in class. But the need persisted, and intensifying frustration created and deepened divisions within the school. 

The dean of students and diversity council conferred with each other and with students, and a student suggested regular, simple lunches and conversation for the student body on the potent questions surfacing around race and racism, policing and police violence, and our national convulsions toward justice. 

This was the provenance of our first Open Conversation. Over fifty students attended, and we set out some simple guidance. This was not a teaching moment for the faculty, and it was not a debate. It was a conversation, discourse to share perspectives, an opportunity to speak and listen, to engage across difference, to give voice to pain and anger, to explore paths forward, all from the students' perspectives and experiences. With general prompts and light moderation while breaking bread together, the conversation was rich, critical, vibrant, heartfelt, and serious. It did not fix all of the issues or resolve all the tension within our school, but it was a moment of genuine community struggling with itself but refusing to alienate each other. 

The students expressed gratitude for the time and the opportunity to speak and listen. Afterward, a member of the diversity council wrote: 

My fear going into it was that either no one would come or no one would engage in conversation. I was pleasantly surprised that my fear was unfounded. If anything, I thought the hour felt too short for the full conversation. Which I think just goes to show how necessary these open forums are and how glad I am that we are starting this. The other thing I noticed is how sad some of the comments made me. I consider myself very aware of racial tension happening across the country but to hear the struggles from some of our own students was tough.

A senior administrator reported, "We held a very intense, but positive open forum on Monday at which our students were very responsibly and respectfully engaged.  It was well attended and, in my opinion, very worthy of good lawyers discussing hard topics." 

After that first Open Conversation, we continued to offer them when controversies erupted nationally or locally, refining the approach. In time, they became so important to our community, the law school began offering them monthly during the school year. Now, they are a permanent project of the diversity council, and the law school prioritizes them with "black out" dates once per month so that there is no competition from other events during the lunch hour. And, as an essential ingredient of the experience, the law school provides great food for all comers. (Typically, it's burritos from Lily's in Malibu, the best breakfast burrito in Los Angeles County.) 

The broad objective for Open Conversations is to build a healthy culture within our law school community. It is not to resolve every issue or to engage in antagonistic debate; there are plenty of other opportunities for that during law school. Rather, it is to enrich our discourse with care, respect, and dignity, even over the most contentious issues. Moderation and centrism are also not the aims; students advocate and argue in Open Conversations with conviction but within a framework that aims to hold our shared life at the heart of our discussions. In our current national season of extreme polarization, brutal partisanship, personal antagonism, and so-called "cancel culture" (all of which have been topics of our discussions), the Open Conversations are counter-cultural exercises in democratic engagement.  

To these ends, we developed a practice of lightly-moderated discussions around curated topics, over lunch with important ground rules for the conversation. We typically have fifty to sixty students and another ten staff and faculty in the room.The ground rules are "conversational harnesses" to preserve the objectives of discourse and engagement, and we share them at the top of each open conversation: 

Open Conversations are for discourse, not debate.

Listen; don't try to win. 

Share the airspace equitably; speak only when you have the mic.

Be respectful; address ideas, not people. 

Speak from your own experience and perspective; do not question or attack others for theirs. 

Do not broadcast, record, or disseminate anything from the conversation on social media.

We pass a microphone around the room to ensure that one person speaks at a time (like the conch rule in the first, happier part of Lord of the Flies) and to promote accessibility and clear communication. On very rare occasions, the moderator may intervene if a student transgresses a ground rule or if the conversation turns personally confrontational. Sometimes the moderators, faculty, or staff in attendance will participate in the conversation itself, but we try to keep our comments limited to asking follow up questions, providing factual or historical context, or identifying constructive threads running through the students' contributions.  

After everyone gets their food and we have explained the ground rules, we introduce the topic for the day with a few general prompts to get the conversation started. We take real care in selecting topics; the diversity council meets monthly, usually the week before the Open Conversation, to consider the hot topics of the day. We do not necessarily pick topics that are divisive on partisan lines, but we pick topics that are immediately controversial, critically interesting, or universal to the law student experience. Among many others over eight years, topics have included school shootings and the Second Amendment; #MeToo and the Kavanaugh hearings; human rights at the Olympics; impeachments and January 6; faith in the law; the Dobbs decision and reproductive justice; "Cancel culture" and free speech in the academy; Trump Indictments and the Tennessee 3; the nature of justice; police violence and procedural reform; and family conversations at Thanksgiving (which has been hilarious).

Good food is a critical element for the success of Open Conversations. We almost always hold them during the lunch hour, and it is a specific discipline to eat together while discussing hard, divisive topics. Across all cultures, breaking bread together, especially with adversaries, is a mark of intentional hospitality and peacemaking. During the pandemic, we saw our various student groups polarizing before our eyes as they launched invectives at each other online while otherwise alienated from each other. But we have seen constructive engagement, even healing, across our school culture when the community eats together while looking at each other directly to talk about intense controversies. 

People talking together over a meal is not novel or revolutionary, but it is ancient and radical. Of course, we've had mixed results. Some conversations are vibrant, energetic, critical, and creative. Some are chilled and reticent; some veer into personal confrontation. Our hope is that merely holding Open Conversations and attempting the exercise signals the values and aspirations of our community. We aim to contribute to a robust, generous, vital culture of engagement within the law school, and we hope that this models the best kind of culture possible in our diverse communities. If our students can experience the work of hard conversations together with constructive advocacy and critical, benevolent disagreement, we hope it will equip them for this work as public citizens in their careers.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: UDC David A. Clarke School of Law's Genesis Aguirre Guerra, Kenya Whitaker, Andrea de la Torre, and Beth Brodsky

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students. 

In May 2023, UDC David A. Clarke School of Law presented the following awards to our graduating students at our Hooding Ceremony.

The CLEA Outstanding Externship Student Award for demonstrating excellence in externship fieldwork and thoughtful, self reflective participation in the externship seminar was presented to Genesis Aguirre Guerra.  Genesis’ own immigration experience inspired Genesis Aguirre Guerra to pursue public interest law. She participated in both the General Practice and Immigration and Human Rights Clinics, was a summer fellow with Yale Law’s Workers and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic and the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy, and externed with the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition. Through this externship, Genesis researched alternatives to appearing before an immigration judge for bond release and traveled to Pennsylvania to assist a detained client. She used her trauma-informed skills to assist a mother and her children who escaped partner physical violence. She also served as a Law Review editor and President of the Latinx Law Student Association.  Post-graduation, Claudia will be an Immigrant Justice Fellow, through Immigrant Justice Corps, with the CAIR Detained Adults Coalition.

The CLEA Outstanding Clinic Student Award for excellence in clinic fieldwork and thoughtful, self-reflective participation in the Clinical Program was presented to Kenya Whitaker. Kenya displayed excellence in both the Community Development Law Clinic and the Criminal Law Clinic, including participating in extended clinic. She was a leader in the Community Development Law Clinic and an exceptional research assistant for the professor. In the Criminal Law Clinic, Kenya Whitaker zealously advocated for a client facing charges in D.C. Superior Court and a severely ill, elderly man petitioning for parole after decades in prison. Kenya displayed compassionate leadership in her advocacy and in clinic seminar. She also delivered powerful testimony, based on extensive research and using persuasive and creative arguments, to the Maryland General Assembly regarding access to medical parole. Kenya embodies all the qualities of an exceptional defender – she is hardworking, intelligent, passionate, creative, detail-oriented, and client-centered. Kenya reflects on her work thoughtfully and honestly and takes advantage of trainings to improve her advocacy skills. Post-graduation, Kenya will be a Policy Fellow working at the DC Justice Lab.

UDC Law also presented a UDC Outstanding Clinic Team Award for excellence and thoughtful reflective while working collaboratively in contributing to the clinical community at the law school, legal community, or broader community.  This year’s winners are Andrea de la Torre and Beth Brodsky. As evening students, Andrea de la Torre and Beth Brodsky demonstrated exceptional teamwork in the Tax Clinic, each contributing over 425 hours of clinic work in their Fall semester. Their work involved hours of research and communication with the IRS and other relevant agencies regarding a complex tax matter. The team diligently pursued all remedies for their client, engaging in creative and zealous advocacy. Beth and Andrea also presented an engaging and thought-provoking presentation at a DC library on how to apply for DC Homestead tax credits and DC Homeowner and Renter tax credits. With this presentation, DC residents better understand how to reduce their income tax using DC tax credits.   

 

UDC Law is proud of each of our 2023 graduates.  All students graduating from our day program completed at least two seven-credit clinics and our evening students completed at least one ten-credit clinic to graduate. Through our clinics, our students are equipped to Practice Law, Promote Justice, and Change Lives! 

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: UC Law SF's Jess McPeake and Adriana Diaz Mireles, Jonathan Escobar Valencia and Ana Sofia Mello

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students. 

Outstanding Externship Student Award: Jess McPeake from UC College of the Law San Francisco (UC Law SF; formerly UC Hastings)

Jess McPeake excelled in multiple externships during law school. At their criminal justice reform nonprofit placement, Jess worked diligently to advance the organization's innovative approach to resentencing and displayed an exceptional willingness to receive feedback, actively seeking it out to further improve their abilities. At the placement and in the legal externship seminar, Jess' thought-provoking questions and ideas made valuable contributions. Their honest and open communication style enriched class discussions, encouraging their classmates to actively participate.

Jess also stood out for their profound contributions to the Haiti Justice Partnership human rights course. During spring break, they interviewed a Cuban family fleeing political persecution stranded in Tijuana, Mexico, quickly building rapport and mobilizing efforts; this family is now safely in the U.S. seeking asylum because of Jess. In addition, they coordinated a group of students collaborating with our partner law school in rural Haiti to document deteriorating conditions at the local prison there. Through it all, they have faced challenges with grace, leading with compassion, humor, and intelligence and inspiring others to do the same.

Jess’ engagement in the Criminal Practice Clinic demonstrated a deep recognition of and respect for the humanity of every client, a willingness to go the extra mile in their representation, and impressive acumen to further that representation. Jess’ reflections on their experience were replete with powerful insights on justice and compassion, as well as the role attorneys should play in championing both.

Overall, Jess’ contributions to each of the programs represented in this award were stellar!

Outstanding Clinic Student Team Award: Adriana Diaz Mireles, Jonathan Escobar Valencia and Ana Sofia Mello, Refugee and Human Rights Clinic (RHRC), UC Law, San Francisco (UCLSF)

Adriana, Jonathan and Ana Sofia participated in the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic (RHRC) in the Fall of 2022. The RHRC works in collaboration with the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) of UCLSF, which provides support to attorneys and law clinics across the country who represent asylum seekers.

There has been growing recognition that a major driver of forced migration is climate change. However, asylum claims based on climate change face barriers and there is the need to document country conditions and develop innovative legal theories to overcome these barriers. CGRS is at the forefront of these efforts, which will include fact-finding trips to key refugee-sending countries. The RHRC Clinic team took on the challenging task of carrying out the first of these fact-finding visits, selecting Honduras as the country to visit.

The team prepared for their fact-finding by doing intensive research on the history, politics and legal system of Honduras. They read and digested Honduran laws in Spanish on climate change, the environment, the protection of forests, wildlands and water, as well as the very controversial laws permitting open pit mining.

After analyzing the laws, identifying the government bodies charged with enforcement, and the NGOs fighting for climate and environmental justice, Adrian, Jonathan and Ana Sofia prioritized and prepared for the in-country interviews with these sources. Their in-country performance was outstanding; they returned with invaluable information, including the identification of key experts willing to testify in support of asylum claims – resources which will be shared with attorneys and clinics throughout the U.S.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: St. Mary's Jessica Ann Henry and Danielle Throneberry

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship Student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students.

St. Mary’s University School of Law, CLEA Outstanding Clinic Student Award:
Jessica Ann Henry

Jessica Henry not only demonstrated excellence in her representation of clients facing housing instability, but also a commitment to advancing greater understanding of eviction proceedings. In Fall 2022, Jessica began her work in the Consumer Protection Clinic. There, she staffed the Project’s Housing Hotline, where, under supervision, she advised and counseled callers facing housing instability. Jessica also represented clients in justice court facing evictions. A tenacious advocate, Jessica prevailed in court—and prevailed upon her supervisors to assign her additional matters, even after the close of the semester. She represented at least five clients in eviction proceedings in her first semester in clinic. Jessica complemented this litigation practice with advising low-income clients on transactional real estate matters. Her work with homeowners seeking to clear, record, and transfer titles continued into Spring 2023 as a second-semester clinical student, helping clients preserve homes and build intergenerational wealth. In Spring 2023, Jessica also pursued an independent study, where she researched Texas procedures governing eviction trials and appeals. Her research led her to volunteer with a legal aid help desk and to interview housing practitioners across the state. Jessica produced both a scholarly work and a general audience publication to better inform all community members about the unfairness of eviction proceedings. Jessica contributed all this while also serving as an editor on the flagship law journal and—most importantly and impressively—while parenting two teenaged children. Well-respected among faculty, staff, and students, Jessica’s dedication to her clinical program merits widespread recognition.

 

St. Mary’s University School of Law, CLEA Outstanding Externship Student Award:
Danielle E. Throneberry

Danielle Throneberry completed two Externships, each with a general counsel’s office, but each in different industries. In both, she delivered exemplary performances. Her first position required in-depth research and writing, including specialized regulatory areas. In her second position, Danielle prioritized gaining contract experience—reviewing, editing, and drafting contracts; determining opposing party obligations; and preparing default notifications—all tasks new to her outside a classroom. Danielle dove deep and actively sought out detailed feedback on contract terms, strategies, and negotiations—as she said in an essay, making it her “mission to understand the ins and outs of contract-drafting.” These reflections are demonstrative of the time and care Danielle invested in her work both at the site and in the course classroom component. Danielle’s supervisors at both sites rated her as excellent in all categories of lawyering skills and professionalism. They praised, in particular, her ability to analyze complex issues and condense them into clear and concise explanations. They praised her communication and judgment and her ability to work independently and in collaboration. They described her diligence in reviewing details and her ability to step back and see the bigger picture—to offer options for a revised approach. A supervisor described working with Danielle as “the ideal interaction and working relationship for a young associate.” That Danielle performed her work for both Externships remotely warrants additional praise, as it is challenging to become such an integral part of a team, produce such excellent work, and earn such high praise while working remotely.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Brooklyn’s Joseph Cairo

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship Student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students.

Brooklyn’s Outstanding Externship Student: Joseph Cairo

This year’s recipient of the Brooklyn Law School Outstanding Externship Student Award is Joseph Cairo ‘23. While at BLS, Joe completed three semesters of externship work on behalf of three different field placements—ArtWorks Legal Incubator, Ametaek Aerospace & Defense, and the Honorable Cathy L. Waldor, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of New Jersey. The diversity of these placements exemplifies the value of externships in training law students across the many dimensions of practice, and Joe excelled in all: direct legal services, corporate compliance work, and judicial chambers support. Quickly recognizing Joe as “self-motivated and autonomous,” his supervisors assigned him challenging, sophisticated projects that extended to strategizing with clients, presenting comments to regulatory agencies, and drafting judicial opinions. In their formal evaluations of his work, Joe’s supervisors described him as “a joy to host” who “consistently gave more than was required with a high level of professionalism.” They uniformly remarked on Joe’s “stellar” research and writing skills. One supervisor summed it up: “Joe’s genuine curiosity in and interest about the law was refreshing. He brought an infectious enthusiasm to his assignments.” Joe also excelled in the externship program’s corequisite seminars, earning the respect of his classmates for good humor and thoughtfulness. As an emissary to the legal profession, he represented the best of Brooklyn Law School, and we are proud to honor him with this award.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Rutgers Law's Brooke Buchan

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship Student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students.

From Rutgers Law in Camden:

Professors Anne Mallgrave and Caryn Schreiber nominate Brooke Buchan for the for the Clinical Legal Education Association award. Over the past two years, Brooke has demonstrated excellence in her work and a passionate commitment to housing justice in the Mortgage Foreclosure Clinic and Housing Advocacy Clinic. Brooke has that rare ability to both see the big picture, and envision possible solutions, while at the same time focusing in on the very important (and in foreclosure cases, challenging) details. Her fact investigation, legal research and analysis, writing skills, work ethic, and professionalism are excellent but what really stands out about Brooke is the compassion she consistently demonstrated toward her clients. This compassion enabled her to form very effective working relationships with her clients and inspired her to work tirelessly to get the best possible outcome for them. During her two years with Clinic, Brooke worked both independently and with several other different students in either teams or groups. While she is very capable of working independently, she is also a great team player, always committed to being a valuable contributing member of the team. As an Advanced Clinic student, she was always willing and available to help newer Clinic participants, whether it be with office administrative tasks, or a legal question. Brooke helped create a positive, supportive learning and lawyering environment in both the Mortgage Foreclosure and Housing Justice Clinics and has been a great role model for other students. For these reasons, we believe Brooke Buchan is an ideal candidate for the Clinical Legal Education Association Award.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: UVA's Whitney Carter

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship Student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students.

University of Virginia's Outstanding Clinic Student: Whitney Carter

For three semesters, as part of her fieldwork in the Decarceration and Community Reentry Clinic at UVA, Whitney Carter ‘23 has been leading an initiative to create a “reentry legal services helpline” serving formerly incarcerated people in Central Virginia.

Whitney launched this project during the spring semester of her 2L year, pulling together several non-profit organizations and government programs to design a survey tool to identify common and recurring legal barriers confronted by people leaving prison. She then recruited and trained more than 30 law students and undergrads on how to use the tool. To date they have interviewed 153 people.

Whitney also lead a team of four students to review responses, identify discrete legal needs, research how to effectively respond to these needs, and provide 1:1 direct representation. Whitney has also created self-help modules that can be widely accessed by people navigating reentry barriers who may not have access to an attorney.

This semester she expanded the project to include interviews with people at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. To accomplish this she made a presentation to Superintendent of the Jail, Colonel Martin Kumer, securing his support. She then recruited and trained 9 students to accompany her to the jail, and last Friday she and the students interviewed 18 people.

Every part of this project has been led by Whitney; however, what has been most impressive is how she has demonstrated her commitment to the sustainability of the project by inspiring and training other students to carry it on after her graduation.

When told of her award at a recent celebration, her friends were not surprised: they refer to her as the “Clinic Queen!”

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Denver's Annika Winans and Sharon Malhotra

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship Student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students.

The Denver Law Student Law Office is proud to nominate Annika Winans and Sharon Malhotra from our 2022-23 Immigration Law and Policy Clinic for the Outstanding Student Team Award. Anni and Sharon took on the case of a detained immigrant with a vision disability who many seasoned attorneys would have declined to touch and won multiple forms of relief for him at the Aurora Immigration Court, allowing him to be free in the US and with his family for the first time in more than 20 years. The decision from the immigration judge in this case is one of the first in the country to uphold claims of persecution and torture in President Nayib Bukele’s State of Emergency in El Salvador. Anni and Sharon creatively briefed an area of law that is rapidly evolving, effectively took testimony from the client and an expert, and nimbly responded to opposing counsel’s arguments in opposition. During the course of representation, they exhibited outstanding client centeredness, advanced intersectional disability and immigration arguments, and demonstrated a fearless commitment to speaking truth to power on behalf of someone whose voice had been effectively silenced for decades. Since the client’s release, they have worked hard to support his transition back to his family and community. Their work reflects the goals and principles of experiential learning and the difference it can make in people’s lives.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Penn State Dickinson Law’s Mallory Turner

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship Student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students. 

Penn State Dickinson Law’s Mallory Turner

Mallory Turner was selected for the CLEA Outstanding Clinic Student Award because of her excellent work representing clients of the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic, her thoughtful contributions in class, and her commitment to providing legal services to underserved populations. Regarding lawyering skills, Mallory has become adept at delivering difficult news to clients—an unavoidable task when working with noncitizens whose status may prevent them from accessing critical resources. Her clients appreciated her for being empathetic yet frank, and for thinking creatively about solutions outside of the law.

Two anecdotes shed light on Mallory’s current and future contributions to her community. First, during our class session on the history of community health centers, Mallory contributed important historical and cultural information to our class discussion by sharing her research on the history of the Tufts-Delta Health Center in Mississippi; her valuable comments drew on both her experience growing up in rural Mississippi and her prior work as a College and Career Readiness Coordinator at a community college there. Second, Mallory participated in the inaugural Health Equity Immersion, a five-hour learning experience offered to law students and medical students developed to educate learners about the social and political roots of health disparities in the region. Afterwards, Mallory shared “I felt I got to meet people whose lives were dedicated to their surrounding community. This is how I see my future as well because I want to become a Law Clinic Professor.”

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Baltimore's Akil Holmes, Jessica Sims, Amy Werner, and Alona Del Rosario

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students. 

CLEA Outstanding Clinical Team Award: Akil Holmes, Jessica Sims, and Amy Werner at UBalt Law’s Innocence Project Clinic

Akil, Jessica, and Amy have been a model of collaboration in the Innocence Project Clinic, which represents individuals convicted of crimes they did not commit. They came together quickly as a team and have gone above and beyond to provide excellent, client-centered representation to their client. They have done exceptional casework, mastering a procedurally and factually complex case, while quickly building rapport and trust with their client. The team has completed a thorough and comprehensive investigation, finding witnesses that a hired and experienced investigator was unable to locate! They worked diligently on their client's Motion to Modify during winter break, organizing over 70 exhibits. In class, they offer insightful and meaningful feedback to their colleagues, elevating the conversation and improving the lawyering skills of all the students. Akil, Jessica and Amy are a model of collaboration and teamwork.

CLEA Outstanding Externship Student Award: Alona Del Rosario at UBalt Law

Alona has completed externships with Sen. Van Hollen’s Office and as a Housing Justice Fellow with the Pro Bono Resource Center. She was a standout extern and has made her commitment to public service evident throughout her law school career. During her time at UBalt Law she has also participated in the Family Mediation Clinic, co-founded the If/When/How’s student chapter, and served on the UBalt Student for Public Interest Board. She has also interned at the Public Justice Center, the Network for Victim Recovery of DC, Maryland Association of Nonprofits, and the Office of Administrative Hearings. She received a Turner Research and Travel Award from UBalt to present at the National Network to End Domestic Violence Economic Justice Summit in April on the intersection between domestic violence and right to counsel in evictions. She embodies the best of UBalt Law’s Externship program through her dedication, self-reflection and contributions to the broader public interest community.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Maryland Carey Law's David Karpay and Skylar Johnson

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students. 

From Maryland Carey Law: David Karpay and Skylar Johnson in the Criminal Defense Clinic: 

David and Skylar represented an indigent client charged with burglary, trespass, and destruction of property.  David researched, drafted, and argued a motion to suppress based on a Miranda violation; Skylar prepared and argued the motion for acquittal based on a defect in the charging document. As a result of David’s research and persuasive argument, the judge granted the motion and suppressed the client’s statements; Skylar’s motion for acquittal was granted and the client was acquitted of the lead charge, saving the client months, possibly years of imprisonment. Perhaps most importantly, David and Skylar cared deeply about their client’s case and his wellbeing. At a post-trial meeting, David and Skylar’s client thanked them for their work, commenting that he could see how hard they had fought for him and that he would remember it because it was, in his experience, uncommon.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Catholic's Mary Maloney

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students. 

Mary Maloney, The Catholic University of America: 

Mary was a student in the Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Clinic. Her dedication to her clients was unwavering. She was patient and did whatever she could to make the interviewing process easier including speaking to clients in flawless Spanish and meeting with them in the evenings, on weekends, or at their apartments. Mary excelled in her ability to integrate the skills she learned in class and implement them in her interactions with clients. We had a class on trauma informed practice in which students learned techniques for helping clients relay traumatizing events during interviews. The very next day Mary had an interview with a client who had had great difficulty completing her asylum declaration because she would become so upset when discussing what she had experienced in her home country. Mary masterfully implemented the skills she had learned in class, using active listening and grounding techniques to allow her client to fill in missing pieces of her story. Mary further employed her talents as an empathetic and effective advocate in our Low Income Tax Clinic.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Loyola New Orleans's Clifford Fields, Alexys Peron, Jessica Barton, Aspen Murphy, and Kevin Michot

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students.

Loyola New Orleans nominated these Family Law Student Practitioners: Clifford Fields, Alexys Peron, Jessica Barton, Aspen Murphy, and Kevin Michot.

The Family Law Section represented children in five custody cases with children ranging in age from 4 to 16 years of age. This team gained a protective order for a 15 year girl in an abuse case and successfully advocated for three little girls in a nonparent case with allegations of drug abuse and domestic violence. After 13 scheduled trial dates, the nonparents dismissed their intervention. In other cases, the team represented clients in divorces, continuing tutorships and absent defendant cases. The student practitioners made 20 Court appearances this Spring 2023 semester.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Texas Law's Anastasia Zaluckyj

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students. 

The University of Texas School of Law has selected Anastasia Zaluckyj to earn the 2023 CLEA Outstanding Student award. Anastasia participated in our Supreme Court Clinic as well as the Capital Punishment Clinic. She was nominated for the award by multiple faculty members who shared the following words.

Anastasia was a spring 2022 Supreme Court Clinic student, a fall 2022 advanced Supreme Court Clinic student, and a pro bono contributor for the Supreme Court Clinic in spring 2023. From the start, Anastasia went the extra mile on every assignment, was a team player through and through, and fully immersed herself in Supreme Court practice, not only working on cases already on our plate, but also doing split searches (“for fun”!) to look for new cases that might meet our criteria—even over summers and after no longer being enrolled in the clinic. Anastasia is always working, always identifying ways to sharpen her skill set, and always bringing her unique, effervescent energy to every project she tackles. We loved having her on our team.

Anastasia was similarly outstanding during the two semesters – fall 2021 and spring 2023 – in which she was enrolled in the Capital Punishment Clinic. She took a lead role in drafting a petition for certiorari in one of our cases in the fall 2021 semester, enthusiastically embracing the opportunity to think creatively about the legal issues in the case and fully immersing herself in the record and legal research. As an advanced student in the spring 2023, she took on several challenging assignments in a direct appeal brief, again demonstrating an eagerness to learn and improve her advocacy skills, and a determination to provide the best representation possible.

In addition to her achievements in the clinics, Anastasia participated in our Judicial Internship in the summer of 2021. She was also selected as one of three in her class to receive the Pro Bono Beacon award for having completed over 500 hours of pro bono work. Texas Law is proud to recognize Anastasia. Hook ‘em!

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Columbia's Emma R. Alzner

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students. 

Columbia Law School clinical faculty selected Emma R. Alzner, Class of 2024 as the Outstanding Externship Student Award. Here is the statement that her direct Supervisor and her Lecturers (adjunct professors) prepared on her behalf.

Emma Alzner is going to be an excellent public defender. Her supervisor knew to expect that she would be exceptionally intelligent, hard-working, enterprising, and reliable. But what sets her apart are two qualities that can't ever really be taught. One, Emma has a natural ability to connect with vulnerable clients, and two, she is utterly fearless in court. Emma is the real deal, and our clients have been better served because of her. She provides effective advocacy to the marginalized and ignored members of our community.

In court, she is confident but never brash, strong but never sharp, and respectful but never afraid to stick to her guns. She is fantastic with clients. Whether it is a distraught woman in the hallway worried about her security guard license or the man in custody who needs to be firmly advised, Emma provides informed counsel with patience and empathy.

Additionally, she goes above and beyond, even making weekend visits to Rikers Island to help prepare clients for hearings or trial. Whenever her supervisor has been unavailable, she has actively sought out assignments from other attorneys and has similarly impressed them with her desire to do this work.

Emma provided invaluable and up-to-date research on the intersection between a client's right to a speedy trial and the people's obligation to provide discovery. She researched a winning search issue and has written professional quality briefs. In these and other instances, it wasn’t only our clients that benefited from Emma's work.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Syracuse's Milana Casillas, Anthony Emmi, Michael Poggi, and Bill Rielly

The Clinical Legal Education Association invites law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding clinic and externship students. 

From Syracuse for the Outstanding Clinical Team: Milana Casillas, Anthony Emmi, Michael Poggi, and Bill Rielly

The four nominated students worked collectively (for nearly a year) on an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to advocate on behalf of the widow of an Army Reservist and her eligibility for survivor benefits. The case was an appeal from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which originated with the Army Board of Corrections for Military Records. In April 2023, one of the students presented the oral argument in front of the Court of Appeals.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: UC Berkeley's Anthony Ghaly

The Clinical Legal Education Association invites law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding clinic and externship students. 

The Berkeley Law CLEA Outstanding Clinical Student Award goes to Anthony Ghaly. 

In the International Human Rights Law Clinic Anthony demonstrated excellence across a range of advocacy projects including providing legal support to a UN human rights mechanism assessing the potential negative human rights consequences of a nation's new counter-terrorism financing law. He also conducted briefings with UN diplomats and is filing an UN human rights petition regarding targeted repression by Vietnam of journalists and human rights activists. Over the course of his four semesters in clinic Anthony has forged meaningful and trusting relationships with clients and his peers, one of whom describes him as "a wonderful team member and... a very reflective person who is committed to becoming the best advocate he can be."

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Pepperdine Caruso Law's Deepika Chandrashekar, Chloe Wigul, and Brooke Lindsey

The Clinical Legal Education Association invited law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding students. 

From Pepperdine Caruso School of Law: 

 

CLEA Outstanding Clinical Student or Team Award: Deepika Chandrashekar and Chloe Wigul in the Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic:

Deepika Chandrashekar and Chloe Wigul acted as the lead attorneys in an appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, preparing the briefs and presenting oral argument. The case presented many challenges, but Deepika and Chloe provided zealous advocacy of the highest level and overcame various obstacles, ultimately producing a victory for their client.

Their client was Glenn Leonard, an inmate in Oregon state prison. Mr. Leonard, who had experienced a brutal assault by a fellow prisoner, brought a civil rights lawsuit against prison officials, alleging that they failed to take action when he warned them he was in imminent danger. The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendants, finding that Mr. Leonard failed to demonstrate any triable issue of fact.

The Ninth Circuit appointed Pepperdine’s Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic to represent Mr. Leonard on appeal. The case was assigned to Deepika and Chloe, who prepared briefing on an accelerated briefing schedule that provided half the time typically allotted for a Ninth Circuit appeal.

At oral argument, all three members of the panel were active in questioning the students. The questions revealed some internal disagreement between the judges about how to resolve the case. Ultimately, the Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 in favor of Mr. Leonard, concluding that the district court had improperly granted summary judgment. As a result, the case will be remanded to the district court so that Mr. Leonard can proceed with his claim for damages as a result of the assault.

 

CLEA Outstanding Externship Student Award: Brooke Lindsey at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Civil Division, in Washington, DC

In her externship in the Civil Division at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, DC, Brooke Lindsey distinguished herself as a capable advocate with skills beyond her limited experience as a 2L. She is a fast and cheerful worker, who understands the honor of working at the USAO and contributes very meaningfully to the work of the office. Undeterred by complex issues, she dives in fully; her intellectual curiosity and desire to "get it right" are readily apparent in the initiative she takes in going beyond the initial premises or paths suggested by her supervisors. She has added great value to her office and has done so with great humility. In the workshop (seminar) component of the program, Brooke is a thoughtful contributor who is a model of how students--and attorneys--should reflect upon their experiences and use those reflections to actively seek the best path forward for them. She likewise comments with wisdom and humility in response to issues other students are facing. She is the "whole package"--intelligent, hard-working, conscientious, mission-driven, teachable, and humble. Pepperdine Law is proud to call her one of ours.

2023 CLEA Student Awards for Clinics and Externships: Loyola - LA Law School's Kendall Weaver

The Clinical Legal Education Association invites law schools to nominate students as their Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship student. This series includes submissions from law schools celebrating their outstanding clinic and externship students. 

 

Loyola Law School's nominee this year for the CLEA award is Kendall Weaver, a graduating clinical student who worked at the Loyola Project for the Innocent. Here's what one of her clinical supervisors had to say about her:

Kendall Weaver was an invaluable asset to Loyola Project for the Innocent's clinic over the 2022-2023 school year. As a clinical student, Kendall enthusiastically volunteered for any project and demonstrated a deep understanding of the complex considerations of post-conviction litigation. Kendall served as an important member of the litigation team in preparing for the evidentiary hearing of a client who has been incarcerated for 33 years for a crime he did not commit. She zealously advocated for her clients, undertook research of niche legal issues, prepared witness examinations, reviewed and compiled reports, drafted file-ready motions, and examined an important witness in court as a certified law student. Kendall demonstrated compassion for her clients and tenacity in tackling even the most tedious assignments. Kendall brought to LPI her experience and skills learned in Loyola’s Center for Juvenile Law and Policy, the San Diego County Alternate Public Defenders' Office, Right Choice Law, and a firm representing over 200 victims of Northern California’s wildfires. She has dedicated her academic career to advocating for underserved populations. There is no doubt that she will succeed in any position she accepts as a public interest lawyer and that she will obtain justice for the clients she serves.