Pro Bono Awards 2022

Presented at the UCI Law Pro Bono & Student Life Awards Celebration (PDF) on April 12, 2022.

Student Awards

The following students were recognized for going above and beyond in terms of pro bono.

Pro Bono Independent Spirit Award

Sadaf Doost for the Afghanistan UN Project and Palestinian Displacement Legal Advocacy and Research; Yuqin Eva Shen for Afghan Humanitarian Parole Requests Project; and Solange Fortenbach, Zehra Haider and Dana Matsunami, for supervising and expanding the ACLU Incarcerated Individuals Letter Writing Project.

Most Pro Bono Hours

Cumulative (Class of 2022): Emily Phillips
3L: Victoria Cendejas and Emily Phillips
2L: Anna Setyaeva
1L: Brenda Rosas, Andriana Perera, and Millie Hobaish
LLM: Khorshid Kamran

Pro Bono Student Leadership Award

Ryan Aymard, Ariel Greenwood – Disabled and Elderly Benefits (SSI)
Emily Phillips – Domestic Violence Declarations
Elizabeth Schatz-Cordero, Audra Schumm, Lauren Davis – Expungement Project – OC Clean Slate Clinic
Solange Fortenbach, Zehra Haider, Dana Matsunami, Anna Setyaeva - ACLU Incarcerated Individuals Letter Writing Project
Jessica Santiago, Sandra Guzman - Permanency Project for Victims of Crime
Jessica Santiago, Alicia Hernandez, Emily Tanaka, Priya Gambhir, Miranda Tafoya, Brenda Rosas - Saturday Academy of Law
Benjamin Hung, Victoria Cendejas - Street Law
Perla Ramos, Jose Rosales - Tijuana Border Rights Protection Project
Ethan Smith, Sam Kishiyama, Jared Gheen, Jean Selep – Transgender Legal Assistance Clinic

Graduation Awards

Pro Bono High Honors (200 hours): Amy Abshier, Kayley Berger, Victoria Cendejas, Maria Luiza V. Coelho Dos Santos, Sadaf Madina Doost, Alice Doyle, Ariel K. Greenwood, Jason A. Hane, Margaret Hinson, Diana Minh-Hue Hoag, Amanda Le, Bianca T. Leichnitz, Clair Leonard, Mayra Lopez, Sydney Leigh Martin, Emily McCorry, Emily Phillips, Jessica M. Santiago, Srivats Shankar, Yuqin Eva Shen, Nicole Stemet, Zachary Watson, Jon Widjaja, Colleen A. Wisel
Pro Bono Honors (120 hours): Nadia Blant, Spencer R. Elam, Laura N. Flores, Franceska Gonzalez, Allison N. Greenberg, Madison Gunning, Khorshid Kamran, Madeline Knutson, Samuel J. Leff, Tuyet A. Pham, Perla Ramos, Jonathan M. Routson, Andrew Van Ligten, Edgar Wang, Jaclyn Z. Warwick, Mengyuan Xiao

Pro Bono 50 & 100 (Hour) Awards: These students far exceeded the recommended number of annual pro bono hours during the 2020-2021 academic year.

100 Hour Award (3L & LLM): Victoria Cendejas, Sadaf Madina Doost, Diana Minh-Hue Hoag, Khorshid Kamran, Emily McCorry, Emily Phillips, Zachary Watson
100 Hour Award (2L): Rosanna Barrett, Hanna Bayer, Erin Black, Sayid Bnefsi, Lauren A. Davis, Cameron Dekens, Sara N. Denk, Elizabeth Duran, Brittany Emsais, Solange Fortenbach, Natalie Gould, Chloe Lee, Maxwell Levins, Elizabeth Schatz Cordero, Audra Schumm, Anna Setyaeva, Ethan Smith, Miranda Tafoya
50 Hour Award (1L): Fernando Acevedo, Anthony Birong, Adelaida Brown, Tristan R. Campbell, Franklin D. Castro, Maria Fotiadis, Ryan Ghassemi, Jared Gheen, Hannah Haines, Millie Hobaish, Alfred Hwang, Kanome V. Jones, Luiza Lage, Timothy Mertikas, Grace Palcic, Adriana Perera, Soemi Photavath, Omar Rizk, Brenda Rosas, Kiran Sekhon, Emma R. Steiner, Donald Swartz, Nicholas Thiele, Michael Vine

Pro Bono Achievement Award Winners: The Pro Bono Achievement Awards recognize all students who met the recommended number of pro bono hours (50 hours for 2Ls and 3Ls; 20 hours for 1Ls) during the 2020–2021 academic year.

Class of 2022: Amy Abshier, Alice Doyle, Spencer R. Elam, Ariel K. Greenwood, Madison Gunning, Jason A. Hane, Margaret Hinson, Amanda Le, Bianca T. Leichnitz, Clair Leonard, Mayra Lopez, Sydney Leigh Martin, Tuyet A. Pham, Perla Ramos, Stephanie Sneddon, Nicole Stemet, Edgar Wang, Jaclyn Z. Warwick, Menyuan Xiao
Class of 2023: Kelark Azer Habashi, Judy Baladi, Annie Barker, Sarah Beydoun, Jasper Burroughs, Alexandra P. Cadena, Jenna Cowan, Avery M. Dillon, Courtney M. Echols, Jason Grimm, Sandra K. Guzman, Bethool Zehra Haider, Rachel Iida, Samuel Kishiyama, Dana F. Matsunami, Karsen Melgard, Caroline Nester, Kaitlyn O'Rinn, Mira Patel, Hailey Phelan, David Plick, Nathan Romo, Katherine F. Seaman, Divya R. Seth, Adam Snider, Tackabery, Anna Wood
Class of 2024: Shaady Alavi, Megan Bilbao, Clara Bourget, Alicia Burrell, Jonathan J. Caceres, Christina Carter, Kangdi Cheng, Sophia Cianfrani, Richard R. Corredor, Isaiah Keshaun Crosby, Ambria Dean, Madelyn Delucca, Willie Duhart, Shannon Eagen, Gabi Elias, Chazz Estelle, Ce-Lai Fong, Mark J. Green, Jacob P. Greenstein, Joshua Grossman, Nicolas J. Guo, Candice Gwak, Jim Henshaw, Jake Hermansen, Marcela Hernandez, Harry Hoke, Ali H. Jamwal, Esther Jeon, Wesley Juels, Karen Kartun, Virginia C. Kennedy, David Ye Kim, Karena Kong, Sawyer J. Labbe, Emily Laskoe, Gabriel Lazo, Abby Leigh, Spencer L. Levitt, Maximilian Maravilla, Seth S. McCormick, Joshua T. Nguyen, Eric Nguyen, Maki Obryan, Jessie Padua, Michael A. Paganelli, Katie Percz, Lauren Peterkin, Anthony M. Pimentel, Elijah Rosen, Jean M. Selep, True Shields, Matthew G. Sigala, Allysa Suhaidi, Kelsey Sutton, Alliyah Thomas, Allyson Thompson, Devon Tice, Theodore C.C. Torry, Haley Trudell, James Tsang, Hailey Ashley Tull, Veronica A. Van Heel, Lexi Van Hoek Sennet, Annie Wang, Xandra J. Xiao, Joanna Yam, Wenny Zhu