Clinical Law Prof Blog

2024 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: Kentucky's Sydney Larue and Alyssa Wiggins

Each year, 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 students. 

 

From the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law: 

Outstanding Clinic Team Award: Sydney Larue and Alyssa Wiggins

The University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law is thrilled to announce Sydney LaRue ‘24 and Alyssa Wiggins ‘24 as the recipients of the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) Outstanding Clinic Team Award. Both students were part of the inaugural cohort of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice-Kentucky (CRRJ-KY) legal clinic at UK Law and stood out among their classmates as outstanding researchers, legal thinkers, and ambassadors for the program. Sydney and Alyssa, through their outstanding commitment to truth and reconciliation within cases of historical racial violence, were each instrumental towards CRRJ-KY’s success as it navigated from pilot program to an official part of UK Law’s curriculum.

Sydney and Alyssa excelled in both their initial semester with the clinic, as well as a second semester of work within the CRRJ-KY Advanced Clinic. Both students were responsible for four cases of historical civil rights violations where the initial facts were not fully developed, and they surpassed their peers and initial course expectations with detailed case research and creative thinking to uncover truths and historical injustices. Sydney and Alyssa consistently demonstrated careful reading of required course materials and produced outstanding seminar papers, filled with additional secondary research that enhanced their digital and archival case research. Working together, they developed their work into a draft intended to become a law review article. Within the CRRJ-KY Advanced Clinic, Sydney and Alyssa continued to develop their cases by communicating with living descendants of their historical clients and worked together to organize a fact-finding field trip to Harlan County, KY to canvas the area related to their case work. Additionally, Sydney and Alyssa completed a historical and legal research project related to racial violence in Lexington, KY that will become a digital exhibit housed at the Lexington History Museum and contributed to a planned historical marker in downtown Lexington.

After graduation, Alyssa will be returning to her hometown of Paducah, Kentucky to join the local office of the Department of Public Advocacy.  Sydney will be joining the Lexington office of Landrum & Shouse LLP.  We are so proud of their work and look forward to following the next steps in their legal journey!

2024 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: UConn's Benjamin Kline, Stefanie McArdle, Rachel Sandor, and Olivia Kappel

Each year, 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 students. 

 

From the University of Connecticut School of Law:

 

Outstanding Clinical Team: 

 

Benjamin Kline '24, Stefanie McArdle '24, and Rachel Sandor '24 were UConn Law School's recipients of the CLEA Outstanding Team Award. When our Asylum and Human Rights Clinic unexpectedly took on an extremely challenging case in a difficult posture—filing to reopen a Connecticut family’s in-absentia removal orders issued by an immigration court in Arizona—we assembled this team of students, who had already distinguished themselves in prior cases.  Their work together was guided by a collaborative spirit, thoughtful planning, and an intuitive ability to pivot and respond to unexpected developments. They produced a brilliantly argued brief and masterfully marshaled evidence package arguing for reopening due to exceptional circumstances. To prevail, they needed to demonstrate both satisfaction of the stringent standard for reopening and the underlying merits of the family's asylum claim. Between September and December 2024, they sprinted a marathon, conducting legal and empirical research, conceptualizing and refining case theory, engaging in client rapport-building and fact investigation, cultivating expert witness testimony, and drafting and redrafting their brief to achieve eloquent impact. Their work culminated in an order reopening the case and restoring the family’s ability to seek asylum.

 

Outstanding Externship Student: 

 

The UConn Law recipient of this year’s Outstanding Externship Student Award is Olivia Kappel (’25).  Olivia spent the full ’23-’24 academic year as an extern with the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General, Special Litigation Unit, Reproductive Rights.  Olivia’s site supervisor described her as “hard-working, self-motivated, and extremely pleasant to work with.”  She is a student who “went above and beyond,” and produced “extremely helpful” and “excellent work product” that will assist the office going forward.  As a seminar student, Olivia was engaged, well-prepared, and distinguished herself as a thoughtful contributor to class discussions, and as a reflective learner and law student.  Olivia’s excellence in both fieldwork and coursework makes her an ideal candidate for this award.

2024 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: Campbell's Madelyn Fogleman and Sarah Varela

Each year, 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 students. 

From Campbell University Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law:

Outstanding Clinical Student: Madelyn Fogleman

 

Madelyn Fogleman served as a leader in the inaugural semester of operation for Campbell Law's Richardson Family Education Equity Clinic and set a high standard of exceptional service.  She billed a whopping 174.84 hours to clinic client matters.  This went well above and beyond what was required for the course.  She successfully mediated a particularly challenging case to an amicable resolution, fully restoring her client's educational rights and accomplishing for him even more than the law technically required!  She picked up the phone each time it rang and provided sound, strategic advice (after approval by a supervising attorney) to multiple callers in crisis.  And she offered mentorship to other clinic students when they needed guidance.  She was a true stand-out clinical student.  I am grateful she chose to participate in the service we offer.

 

Outstanding Externship Student: Sarah Varela

 

During her time with the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Sarah made outstanding contributions to the representation of indigent clients charged with federal crimes. Sarah’s supervisor rated her lawyering skills, professionalism, and work habits as “excellent” in every applicable category and praised her attitude, her care for clients, and the quality of her performance. Sarah used this opportunity to hone her legal analysis skills and judgment, as she learned how to better identify and argue meritorious issues (even in the absence of precedent precisely on point). Her writing skills also improved, drafting an appellate brief described as “fantastic” and which left her supervisor “impress[ed.]” Sarah demonstrated excellence in the externship classroom too. In her reflective journals, Sarah was candid and thoughtful in connecting her experiences with her professional identity and understanding of what it means to be an attorney in this space. She described learning the importance of collaboration with others to confront tough questions, particularly as a new attorney. Sarah also bravely engaged with fundamental issues like well-being as a criminal attorney, bias in the legal system, and how to navigate relationships with attorneys, clients, and clients’ families. As Sarah aptly stated, through this externship, she not only learned what she wants her career to look like, but she also learned more about “how to make that happen,” the skills she “needs to succeed,” and her “identity as an attorney.” In her own words, “I really feel ready to call myself an attorney.”

2024 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: Miami's Ariana Kravetz and Jenna De Stefano

Each year, 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 students. 

From the University of Miami School of Law:

Outstanding Clinic Team: Ariana Kravetz and Jenna De Stefano

The faculty of the University of Miami School of Law Clinics are proud to recognize Ariana Kravetz and Jenna De Stefano with the 2024 CLEA Outstanding Clinical Team Award for their exceptional work in the Children and Youth Law Clinic. Approaching their cases with care, commitment, and enthusiasm, Kravetz and De Stefano successfully handled an administrative appeal of a denial of Medicaid Waiver benefits for a child with disabilities. They fully immersed themselves in all aspects of the case, producing solid initial drafts of work product, including legal research memos, witness scripts, discovery requests, and a proposed order. What truly distinguished them was their thoughtful integration of feedback, significantly improving each subsequent version. Eager to learn and demonstrate strong strategic thinking, they made sound decisions during the hearing regarding deviations from the planned script. They ultimately won the APD hearing, securing lifelong access to disability-related services for the client, a rare outcome despite the merits of such cases.

Among their other major accomplishments for the year were securing court-ordered visitation for a client with her sibling and another client with her parents. In both situations, visits had been stalled for various reasons, and Kravetz and De Stefano employed creative out-of-court advocacy to lay the groundwork for court approval. They also conducted excellent legal analysis in preparation for a termination of parental rights trial likely to occur in the Fall. Fostering strong relationships with all their clients, they were able to provide sound advice and legal counseling throughout the year. They also brought a high level of thoughtful reflection and intellectual curiosity to the seminar component of the class.

2024 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: William and Mary's Madison Albrecht

Each year, 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 students. 

From William & Mary Law School:

Outstanding Externship Student: Madison Albrecht 

Ms. Albrecht externed with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. She served as third chair for two trials and second chair for another. Ms. Albrecht's supervisor praised her work which, among other matters, involved high-profile gang prosecution: "Madison Albrecht's work is exemplary. She has been interning/externing with this office since her first summer. Her work effort is outstanding. She maintains the highest ethics and adds value to any team she joins. I've been supervising interns for 27 years now. Madison Albrecht is the best. I'm not certain with the six years I have left anyone will ever be better. She is a credit to your academic institution, and she will be a valued public servant for her legal career. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with her."

After graduating in May 2024, Ms. Albrecht will join the USDOJ's Honors Program in the Criminal Division, Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section.

 

2024 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: Buffalo's Kelly Tripi and Amy Crosier

Each year, 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 students. 

From the University at Buffalo School of Law:

Outstanding Clinic Student: Kelly Tripi

At the University at Buffalo School of Law (UB Law), Kelly Tripi, Class of 2024, served as a student attorney in the Family Violence and Women’s Rights Clinic from Spring 2023 through Spring of 2024, including the winter bridge. Ms. Tripi began law school as a non-traditional student with three school-age children at home and five years of experience as a paralegal.
Despite her busy schedule, she logged nearly 500 hours with the clinic on a variety of family and domestic violence cases. Ms. Tripi represented nine clinic clients and assisted clinical faculty in the delivery of community legal education and the development of innovative projects, such as a new program with campus police to scan cars for tracking devices on behalf of
domestic violence survivors. Several cases stand out as examples which illustrate Ms. Tripi’s superior work, including drafting two emergency family offense petitions and arguing successfully to secure temporary restraining orders for both clients. Among other cases, Ms. Tripi also was successful in: (1) securing a divorce within five months for her client despite a
business subject to equitable distribution and a spouse suffering from substance abuse; (2) representing a young working mother whose former partner engaged in abuse and strangulation and obtaining an extension of an order of protection (not a given with this particular judge) and an order requiring the abusive partner to receive needed assessments before he could exercise non-supervised visitation; and (3) after preparing for a trial in a highly contentious case with cross-allegations of domestic abuse, reaching a settlement on the morning of trial which fast-tracked the final divorce and provided the client with much need finality. In nominating Ms. Tripi for the CLEA award, Professor Judith Olin stated that, “Ms. Tripi is one of a handful of student attorneys whose work reaches the highest levels given her conscientiousness, case analysis, organization, and preparation; [h]er representation of clients is better than that of many practicing attorneys in our community.”

Outstanding Externship Student: Amy Crosier

Amy Crosier, University at Buffalo School of Law Class of 2024, came to law school after having served with the New York State Police force for more than 25 years. During her time at the School of Law, Ms. Crosier distinguished herself through her hard work, common sense and wise counsel to her classmates (and sometimes, faculty). Her ability to solve problems and
communicate directly and honestly became an invaluable asset to the externship team. The University rolled out a new a course management software package just as Ms. Crosier started her first externship. Almost immediately, Ms. Crosier stepped up to offer helpful and constructive feedback on how the new online format was working, and how to optimize it. She
became a crucial part of the team crafting the future of the externship course. In the field, Ms. Crosier completed two externships with distinction. Her first was with the New York State Unified Court System, 7 th Judicial District, where her judges praised her willingness to learn, ask astute questions and display effective communication skills. Ms. Crosier proceeded to complete a second externship with the Monroe County, NY District Attorney’s Office. The supervising attorneys remarked of her, “Amy came in every day with a positive attitude and excitement to learn…she helped us out tremendously and we can't wait to see her succeed in her legal career!” Unsurprisingly, Ms. Crosier is currently employed as an Assistant District Attorney in Monroe County.

AALS Clinical Section Newsletter for Spring 2024

The AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education has published its Spring 2024 newsletter with news from the annual conference, program updates, honors, and committee announcements. 

Download and read the Newsletter here.

It's good! 

2024 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: Harvard's Gabrielle Grossman and Alexandra Kersley

Each year, 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 students. 

From Harvard Law School: 

Outstanding Clinic Student: Alexandra Kersley 

Alexandra Kersley ’24 is the recipient of the 2024 CLEA Outstanding Clinical Student Award in recognition of her significant contributions to the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRCP). Over the course of four semesters in the clinics, Kersley has represented clients on a diverse array of humanitarian protections and procedures, while displaying “remarkable legal instincts.”

“My clinical experience has been the most meaningful part of my time at HLS, and I am incredibly grateful to the amazing instructors in the Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Clinic and the Crimmigration Clinic,” says Kersley. “When I came to law school, I knew that I wanted to use my legal education for something that mattered. I can’t think of anything that could matter more than fighting alongside clients for the right to live their lives free from detention, and here in the United States.”

In the fall of 2022, Kersley hit the ground running in the Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Clinic, working on client representation, district court FOIA litigation, appellate litigation, and pre-litigation work to build community partnerships. “With all of these cases, she had to contend with learning complicated new areas of law, while at the same time balancing client crises and needs, and she did so flawlessly,” says Sabi Ardalan, clinical professor of law and director of HIRCP.

Her work continued in the spring when Kersley joined the Crimmigration Clinic, for which she would earn the Dean’s Scholar Prize. Kersley worked on an affirmative litigation project concerning access to counsel and detention conditions at a local immigration detention facility, helping to secure the release of several individuals and taking care to ease their transitions back home. In her second semester in the clinic, she represented a client with significant mental and physical disabilities, constructing a thorough bond packet, drafting an affidavit, and orally advocating for the client’s release. “The work was incredibly challenging, but Aly was undeterred and passionate about zealously and ethically representing our client,” says assistant clinical professor law and clinic director Phil Torrey.

“When I think back on the most memorable moments in the clinic, it’s tempting to focus on the wins,” Kersley reflects. “And I am very grateful for the wins we’ve had — nothing will beat getting to pick up a client from immigration detention after he won asylum! But the immigration system is profoundly harmful, and this work is full of losses. One of the biggest things I’ve learned, or begun to learn, from instructors, clients, and students over the past two years is how to keep fighting through those losses. The clinical community has been an incredible support system for me, and I can only hope that wherever I land in the future I will find a community that is as passionate, kind, and brilliant as this one.”

This spring, Kersley served as a teaching fellow for both clinics, pursuing new initiatives including developing “clinical student families” — a space for advanced students to meet with new students during the semester to talk about their clinic experience, course selection, and summer work. She also successfully helped two detained clients secure humanitarian protection in the United States.

Kersley participated in the student practice organizations HLS Immigration Project and Harvard Defenders, and she was a member of the Harvard Law Review. She spent her 1L summer working at Al Otro Lado, a legal and humanitarian support organization for refugees, deportees, and other migrants in the U.S. and Tijuana, Mexico, and her 2L summer working at the public interest firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland in Chicago, IL. This January, she completed an independent clinical project at the Committee on the Administration of Justice in Belfast, Northern Ireland. After graduation, Kersley looks forward to clerking on the New York Court of Appeals for Chief Judge Rowan Wilson.

 

 

Outstanding Externship Student: Gabrielle Grossman

Gabrielle Grossman ’24 is honored with the 2024 CLEA Outstanding Clinical Externship Student Award in recognition of her extraordinary commitment to the Child Advocacy Clinic, where she has completed four semesters of externship placements across three organizations. As a Fellow of the Youth Advocacy & Policy Lab (Y-Lab), Grossman leveraged each externship and Fellow experience into a comprehensive education and developed a sophisticated understanding of the youth advocacy landscape.

“My experiences with the Child Advocacy Clinic have far and away been the highlight of my time at Harvard Law,” says Grossman. “It changed my life and helped me discover my passion for working with kids and centering the autonomy of young people. This award is a testament to the hard work that Crisanne Hazen and Mike Gregory put into making youth advocacy clinical opportunities at Harvard such a wonderful experience.”

The Child Advocacy Clinic offers students the opportunity to work with external organizations on substantive topics related to youth advocacy including child welfare, education, and juvenile justice. Grossman has taken full advantage of these opportunities, completing externships with Pine Tree Legal Assistance, Children’s Rights, and the Juvenile Law Center. Each opportunity was a new educational experience: in client representation, impact litigation, and juvenile legal system reform, respectively.

“Each of the three agencies at which Gabby has externed has a substantive focus on one of three different child-facing systems, and each agency employs a different primary advocacy strategy,” says Crisanne Hazen, lecturer on law and director of the clinic. “The result of this constellation of placements is that Gabby has embraced the spirit of the Y-Lab mission: to understand in a deep and holistic way the complexities of working in the youth advocacy field.”

“I’ve learned so much from my peers within Y-Lab, from Crisanne and Mike’s wonderful guidance, and from all my supervisors at my clinical placements at Pine Tree, Children’s Rights and the Juvenile Law Center,” Grossman reflects. “With each internship or even individual young person I worked with, I learned that the obstacles my clients faced were multi-faceted, and therefore required a holistic response. I always wanted to gain more experience, to look for more perspectives from which I could approach my advocacy for young people. I’ve been lucky enough to do direct services, policy work, and impact litigation involving the three major child-facing systems: education law, foster care, and the juvenile legal system. I’m so grateful to the clinic for helping me find my passion and getting to work with young people who teach me so much about how to be a better and more creative advocate every day.”

Hazen commends Grossman’s determined spirit and positive attitude as integral to her talent as a student attorney: “She is a compassionate and empathetic advocate, earning the trust of her clients and her supervisors to handle the great weight of the work before her.”

As a Y-Lab Fellow, Grossman has made a mark on the child advocacy field at HLS: She has mentored students interested in youth rights, completed a capstone writing project, and served as a teaching fellow for the Art of Social Change course. Grossman also spent a summer interning with the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Practice. After graduation, she will be clerking in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and she hopes to do litigation in pursuit of youth education rights in the future. 

2024 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: Boston College's Andres Solis

Each year, 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 students. 

From Boston College Law School: 

Outstanding Externship Student: Andres Solis 

Andres Solis externed during the Fall 2023 semester with the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson’s chambers.  Andres externship supervisors report that he was a true joy to work with. He had a great attitude; took on some very tough assignments; showed a clear understanding of the cases he was assigned; and consistently delivered timely, thorough analysis. Andres had an impressive ability to make complicated matters digestible; he always went above and beyond; was a great team player; and was always willing to raise his hand for additional work.  Andres was a thoughtful contributor to weekly chambers meetings, chiming in with great questions and unique insights that showcased his curiosity about the law and our profession.  Andres was also an active participant in the companion Judicial Process Externship Seminar. He contributed highly thoughtful remarks and consistently displayed a positive attitude and enthusiasm.

2024 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: Ohio Northern's Haley Tandy

Each year, 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 students. 

 

From Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law

 

Outstanding Clinical Student: Haley Tandy

 

Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law was pleased to give the CLEA award to Haley Tandy. Haley is from the Columbus, Ohio, area. She graduated from Ohio State University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Minor in English. Prior to joining us at the ONU Legal Clinic, Haley gained a ton of practical legal experience by working at the Legal Aid Society of Columbus Tenacy Advocacy Project, and at the law firm of Barkan, Meizlish, and DeRose. Haley was at the Clinic for two semesters. Since her first day at clinic she demonstrated an eagerness to learn and immerse herself in the clinic experience. Haley genuinely wants to assist clients in achieving their goals and thus, always interacts with her clients from a place of empathy and genuine concern. She was always willing to take on a new case, new client, or a new situation and she put in the time and effort needed for a client. Haley faced challenges quite admirably during her time at clinic. Whether negotiating with opposing counsel or dealing with a difficult client situation, she approached those situations with confidence, care, and tact, all the while advocating for her client’s objectives. We were very lucky to have her with us. She was a wonderful advocate for her clients and demonstrated the flexibility and professionalism necessary for law practice. We have no doubt that she will be a great addition to the profession, and we wish her all the best in her endeavors.

2024 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: Case Western Reserve's Brooke White and Olivia Cobb

Each year, 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 students. 

From Case Western Reserve University School of Law: 

Outstanding Clinic Student: Brooke White

Brooke White’s work representing clients in the First Amendment Clinic in the Fall 2023 Semester exemplifies the ideals this award honors: excellence in client service, thoughtfulness, and self-reflection in the various legal, ethical, and strategic issues raised by our matters. Brooke was one of a remarkable team of students involved in a Civil Rights lawsuit against a local government body alleging unconstitutional censorship of our clients and challenging the constitutionality of the body’s public comment policy. Brooke excelled in researching the issues, drafting court filings, and negotiating with opposing counsel—all in a high-profile case involving timely First Amendment issues surrounding the First Amendment standards that apply in certain types of government forums. Brooke’s curiosity and zeal for our client’s position, along with her superb legal research, shaped the team’s views of how to best pursue our client’s claims. Brooke was also put on the spot with very little notice, preparing for and handling a call with a team of government lawyers asserting our client’s position and attempting to negotiate a potential resolution of our client’s claims. Brooke also took a role in our Clinic's efforts to engage with community partners, and presented to student journalists in Athens, Ohio about defamation and the First Amendment. Brooke is a skilled advocate, a collaborative and thoughtful colleague, and a curious student of the law. Her dedication to our clients’ matters made significant positive impacts on our clients, the community, and the state of free speech in Ohio.

 

Outstanding Externship Student: Olivia Cobb

Oliva Cobb took advantage of the myriad of experiential opportunities available to her at CWRU Law, and she handled fieldwork in particular with an impressive amount of diligence, cultural sensitivity, and client empathy. For her capstone this past fall - a graduation requirement satisfiable through a clinic or intensive capstone externship - Olivia worked full time at DNA People’s Legal Services in Window Rock, Arizona. Located on a Navajo reservation, DNA People’s Legal Services assists underserved and/or indigenous American clientele on criminal and civil matters. Interested in criminal defense work, Olivia could have selected a Cleveland-based externship or clinic placement to meet her mandatory capstone requirement. Instead, she tapped into a budding professional network to create a bold and innovative capstone experience and moved halfway across the country to complete it. This was an opportunity guaranteed to challenge her personally, intellectually, and professionally. In Window Rock, Olivia handled criminal as well as civil cases. She worked with tribal law and tribal advocates. She drafted criminal motions under pressure and time constraints. And she went to court - a lot. Olivia’s mentor, Daniela Dwyer, was “surprised to learn that [the externship] course was pass/fail” when all was said and done because “the level of effort (A+) which Olivia put into her work with [DNA] was very detailed and thorough.”

 

2024 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: Brooklyn's Shaun Lederman

Each year, 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 students. 

From Brooklyn Law School: 

Outstanding Externship Student: Shaun Lederman

This year’s recipient of the BLS Outstanding Externship Student Award is Shaun Lederman ‘24. While at BLS, Shaun completed three semesters of externship work on behalf of three different field placements—Merson Law, PLLC, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, and the chambers of the Honorable Marcia M. Henry, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York.  The diversity of these placements exemplifies the value of externships in training law students across the many dimensions of practice, and Shaun excelled in all: representing injury victims, investigating civil rights violations, and supporting the work of a judicial chambers.  Delivering work of “consistently high quality,” Shaun impressed his supervisors as “diligent,” “eager to learn,” and “an absolute pleasure to work with.”  Supervisors also uniformly remarked on Shaun’s “excellent” research and writing skills. One noted how he “is great at taking a complex legal issue, digesting it, and translating the facts to answer the legal question in a succinct way.”  One supervisor summed it up: “Shaun has the skills and intangible qualities to make a great lawyer.”  Shaun also excelled in the externship program’s corequisite seminars, taking seriously the goal of reflective practice and thoughtful critique of the legal profession and legal institutions. 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.

 

2024 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Clinical and Externship Students: Seattle's Agnes Bresee, Christine Choong, and Davis Ka’imipono Haas

Each year, 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 students. 

From Seattle University School of Law:  

Outstanding Clinic Team: Agnes Bresee and Christine Choong

Agnes and Christine represented a young mother who is a recent arrival to the United States and is caring for her two small children. Their work spanned three different tribunals: state court, Immigration Court, and the USCIS bureaucracy. The team prepared thoroughly and thoughtfully, albeit at speed because the client was at risk of aging out of a valuable form of relief. They prepared a comprehensive and clear set of the necessary pleadings and forms, presented the case effectively to the state court judge, and wrapped everything up in plenty of time for the client to maximize her opportunity. They established a strong connection with the client, which facilitated the necessary and difficult conversations they had, and they thought to bring her professional attire to wear to the hearing, cloaking the event with an additional jolt of accomplishment for her.

Outstanding Externship Student: Davis Ka’imipono Haas

Entering his third year in Seattle University School of Law’s Flex JD (part-time) program, Davis Ka’imipono Haas has already completed two successful externships, the first in-house at the Ho’okele Title and Escrow Company and then a second with the Hawaii Legislature. These follow an internship at the Hawaii Supreme Court.

During the legislative externship, Davis’s supervisor provided him the opportunity to draft, introduce, and shepherd a resolution for an issue he believed in. Working with charter school advocates, he developed and successfully advanced House Concurrent Resolution 166 through both houses. The resolution urges the Hawaii State Charter School Commission to work with advocates and charter schools to create rules to govern charter renewal processes, making negotiations fairer for charter schools in Hawaii by limiting the discretion retained by the commission. The Hawaii Charter School Network told Davis this was the most significant piece of legislation to benefit them in more than a decade.

Davis’s work reflects his well-defined sense of purpose:

“As a Native Hawaiian, the furtherance of Native Hawaiian rights and dignities is one of the issues close to my heart. During my legal journey, I want to influence the Department of Hawaiian Homelands to carry out its mission of developing housing projects on areas of land reserved for Hawaiians because they have improperly carried this constitutional trust obligation. Additionally, I want to volunteer at Hawaiian charter schools to introduce the field of law to the next generation of Hawaiians, encouraging them to advocate for a better Hawaii.“