By Andrew Cohen
Berkeley Law’s Public Interest Scholars Program offers a transformative three-year scholarship covering full tuition and fees for J.D. students with a demonstrated commitment to public interest work. Launched in 2021, the initiative aims to reduce the barriers students face when deciding whether to pursue public interest legal careers.
About 10 students are chosen for the program each year. They attend networking and social events with students, staff, faculty, alumni, and local attorneys involved in public interest work, build connections with other Public Interest Scholar cohorts, and may obtain funds to attend conferences, plan events, or join bar associations.
A member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, 1L Kamryn Yanchick absorbed the law as a path to frustration rather than justice while growing up, too often seeing it used “as a tool wielded against us.”
As a high school senior, she asked to bead her graduation cap and adorn it with an eagle feather. Though hopeful her school would understand the significance of wearing culturally significant items at such an important milestone, her request was denied — fueling powerful motivation to effect change.
While interning with the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Political Advocacy Department in college, Yanchick designed an Indigenous justice advocacy campaign. Targeting states where Indigenous students were experiencing the same denials she endured, she launched a campaign plan to pass similar bills.
In 2023, Oklahoma passed Senate Bill 429, which allows students in public schools, charter schools, technology centers, and state higher education institutions to wear traditional tribal regalia during official graduation ceremonies. Five other states have since passed similar legislation.
“It was extra special to eventually see my little brother graduate with a feather on his cap and see him celebrate his accomplishments without having to fight to have his identity recognized and culture respected,” Yanchick says.
Before law school, she managed political leadership programs and civic engagement initiatives at the Native Action Network, a nonprofit supporting Native women, including those that trained them to run for office and educated youth on topics such as voting and community organizing.
“I also was excited to collaborate with other Native organizations to host the first statewide Native American lobby day at the Washington state Capitol,” Yanchick says.
That led to an appointment to the Seattle Community Involvement Commission, which advises the mayor, city council, and city departments on how best to create equitable public outreach and engagement strategies to make civic participation more accessible.
Winner of the Best Overall Student award this past summer at the American Indian Law Center’s Pre-Law Summer Institute, which prepares incoming Native American 1Ls for law school, Yanchick was drawn to Berkeley Law’s public mission.
“It was also a top priority to go to a law school that has an active Native student community and Indian law opportunities. I’m very excited to get involved with our Native American Law Students Association chapter and to learn from Native faculty,” she says. “Having that community, along with a tight-knit community of support within the Public Interest Scholars Program, makes the transition to law school less intimidating.”
Leading by example
Fellow 1L Public Interest Scholar Aidan Lin-Tostado co-founded a nonprofit in high school, Our Time To Act, that provided free music tutoring to students whose parents could not afford private lessons. In San Diego, he expanded it to address redistricting and housing justice — mobilizing over 120 students to give public comments to improve youth representation in San Diego city council districts and raising over $500,000 to help pass tenant protections and zoning reform.
“We also trained hundreds of organizers in youth summits and workshops, and now employ a young leader as our full-time executive director,” he says. “She’s leading a campaign to end segregationist zoning practices, like minimum lot sizes, that became popular in the mid-20th century as a ‘color-blind’ alternative to explicit forms of segregation like redlining.”
Working for Nonviolent Peaceforce after college, Lin-Tostado facilitated multi-day safety training sessions and served as evacuation lead of the safety team for the People’s March in Washington, D.C., which drew over 75,000 protestors.
“By working in civilian protection and community-led safety, I saw firsthand the ability of lawyers to defend people’s rights,” he says. “I also saw the law fail to protect many more people against state and non-state violence.”
He now chairs the California Youth Empowerment Commission, representing it in events and at the state Capitol. The first statewide commission made up entirely of youth members, ages 14-25, it advises the governor, state legislature, and state superintendent of public instruction on youth-related matters.
“As young people, we bear the consequences of many policy decisions that are decided today,” Lin-Tostado says. “It’s my goal, and the goal of many of my peers on the commission, to carve a space for youth power in state-level decisions. No decisions for us without us.”
As a community organizer interested in advancing social, racial, and housing justice, he wanted a law school that prioritized those values.
“Berkeley Law felt like the right choice,” he says. “The most important factor to me is the people. I saw professors who could be great teachers and mentors, alumni who are actively advancing social justice, and peers who are interested in public interest work across a wide range of fields and careers.”
Grateful for the mentorship and guidance of 2L and 3L Public Interest Scholars, Lin-Tostado adds that seeing program alumni thriving as public interest lawyers is both inspiring and motivating: “It helps me imagine what I can accomplish and how to get there.”