At Berkeley Law, there are three awards that recognize contributions to the Pro Bono Program and/or public service at Berkeley Law. These three awards are the Pro Bono Champion Award, the Eleanor Swift Award, and the Kathi Pugh Award.
Pro Bono Champion Award
Each year, the Pro Bono Champion award is given to the graduating student who best exemplifies a commitment to and the values of pro bono work. Factors that will be considered include but are not limited to hours spent on pro bono work during the academic year, leadership, and support for the Berkeley Law Pro Bono Program (e.g. through SLPS, BLAST, or other efforts).
Nomination Process: Anyone in the Berkeley Law community may nominate any Berkeley Law student. Nominations shall be made in the form of a memo of up to two pages on why the nominee should receive the award. Nominees will be asked for consent to be considered, and must submit a bio, CV or resume. Nominations are currently being accepted and are due by Sunday, February 25, 2024. Nominations should be submitted to the Pro Bono Program at probono@law.berkeley.edu.
Past Recipients:
|
2024 |
Victoria Ami Shirriff‘ 24 Ariane Walter ’24 |
|
2023 |
Amanda Twain-Yi Chang ’23 Gabrielle Anne Basco Birog ’23 Myka Jo Yamasaki ’23 Taliah Sadaat Batol Mirmalek ’23 |
|
2022 |
Sam Sokolsky ‘22 |
| 2021 |
Lindsay DeRight Goldasich ’21 Tae Hwan (Ted) Lee ’21 Simone Lieban Levine ’21 Kelsey J. Peden ’21 |
| 2020 |
Alex Copper ’20 Kiki Tapiero ’20 |
| 2019 |
Amanda Allen ’19 Hannah Flanery ’19 |
Eleanor Swift Award
|
2024 |
Adriana Hardwicke ’24 Ariane Walter ’24 |
|
2023 |
Rebecca Oyama, Lecturer at Berkeley Law and Staff Attorney/Clinical Supervisor in the East Bay Community Law Center’s Clean Slate Practice Meredith Eva Huang ’23 Sara Clark ’23 |
|
2022 |
Lucinda Sikes (posthumously) Professor of Legal Writing, University of California, Berkeley – School of Law Sara Jaramillo ’22 |
|
2021 |
Simone Lieban Levine ‘21 Ted Mermin ’96, Executive Director, Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice |
|
2020 |
Safa Ansari-Bayegan ’20 Miguel Soto, Clinical Supervising Attorney of the Consumer Justice Clinic & Supervising Attorney for the Pro Bono Consumer Rights Workshop, East Bay Community Law Center |
|
2019 |
Amanda Allen ’19 Hannah Flanery ’19 Rey Fuentes ’19 Zainab Ramahi ’19 |
|
2018 |
Marina Lillian Henri ’18 Rosa Bay, Director of the Education Advocacy Clinic, East Bay Community Law Center |
|
2017 |
Alexa Koenig, Ph.D. ’13, Executive Director, Human Rights Center Alynia Phillips ’17 |
| 2016 |
Sharon Djemal, Director, Consumer Justice Clinic, East Bay Community Law Center Amy Utstein, Director of Administration, Berkeley Law Clinical Program |
| 2015 |
Marc Janowitz, Clinical Supervisor, Housing Practice, East Bay Community Law Center Richard Weir ’16 |
| 2014 |
Sean Darling-Hammond ’14 Adrian Kinsella ’15 |
| 2013 |
Elisa Della-Piana ’03, Director of Programs, East Bay Community Law Center Stephen Rosenbaum ’80, Faculty Advisor to Advocates for Youth Justice, Education Advocates, the Boalt Disability Law Society, Campus Rights Project |
| 2012 |
Tony LoPresti ’12 Sue Schechter, Director, Field Placement Program |
About Eleanor Swift
During her thirty-six-year teaching career at Berkeley Law (1979-2015), Professor Eleanor Swift engaged in every aspect of the school’s gradual embrace of experiential learning and its increasing support for public interest and social justice law practice. In 1990, working with Professor Stephen Sugarman, Professor Swift developed and taught the first companion class to the clinical program at the East Bay Community Law Center. In 1992, she was appointed by Dean Herma Hill Kay to lead a special committee to develop a blueprint for clinical education at the law school, advocating for a plan that led to the clinics and the skills and field placement programs that we now have today. In 1996, in the wake of Proposition 209, Professor Swift teamed with Professors Rachel Moran and Angela Harris to start the Center for Social Justice (now the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice). Since then, she has chaired or participated in almost every committee dealing with school support for experiential learning and our students’ public interest and social justice careers.
Kathi Pugh Award
Each year the Pro Bono Program at Berkeley Law presents the Kathi Pugh Award for Exceptional Mentorship to one or two outstanding supervising attorney(s) of our Student-Initiated Legal Services Projects (SLPS) in recognition of their outstanding efforts to encourage, mentor, and supervise our law students engaged in pro bono work.
| 2024 |
Gea Kang, Sam Taylor, Becky Mancero, Hash Zahed ’13, Ryan Shaening Pokrasso ’13, David De La Flor ’13, Elizabeth Thorne, and Tami Gore, SPZ Legal Team
|
| 2023 |
Jermel Elaine Thomas, Contra Costa Reentry Project
Priya Arvind Patel, Berkeley Immigration Group
Susan Beaty ’18, Berkeley Immigration Group
|
| 2022 |
DeCarol Davis ’17, Legal Aid at Work
Prof. Rose Carmen Goldberg, Legal Obstacles Veterans Encounter
Prof. Olivia Cole, Legal Obstacles Veterans Encounter
|
| 2021 |
Prof. Eric Biber, Environmental Conservation Outreach
Lilliana Paratore ’17, Post-Conviction Advocacy Project
|
| 2020 |
Haley Fagan, Foster Education Project
|
| 2019 |
Daniel Faessler, Name and Gender Change Workshop
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| 2018 |
Ubaldo Fernandez ’13, Tenants’ Rights Workshop
Lara Finkbeiner, International Refugee Assistance Project
|
| 2017 | Lisa Knox, Berkeley Immigration Group: Detention Project |
| 2016 | Keith Wattley, Post-Conviction Advocacy Project |
| 2015 |
Yaman Salahi, Berkeley Civil Rights Outreach Project Kim Thuy-Seelinger, International Human Rights Workshop |
| 2014 |
Stephen Poellot, Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project Marc Janowitz, Tenants’ Rights Workshop Brendan Darrow ’10, Tenants’ Rights Workshop |
| 2013 |
Mike Gaitley, Workers’ Rights Clinic & Workers’ Rights Disability Law Clinic Gina Gemello, Workers’ Rights Clinic & Workers’ Rights Disability Law Clinic |
| 2012 | Kaveena Singh, California Asylum Representation Clinic |
About Kathi Pugh
Kathi Pugh, is a graduate of Berkeley Law and a co-founder of the East Bay Community Law Center, the largest provider of legal services in Alameda County. She served on the Board of Directors for the East Bay Community Law Center from 1988-1990 and 2007-2014.
For twenty years, before retiring, she was the firmwide Senior Pro Bono Counsel at Morrison & Foerster LLP, and has won numerous awards and recognition for her work in the community. Kathi continues to devote substantial time and resources to supporting many legal services organizations in the Bay Area. Most importantly to Berkeley Law, Kathi is a Pro Bono Advisor to the SLPS Program, including working closely with individual projects and student leaders.