Pro Bono Awards 2023

Presented at the UCI Law Pro Bono & Student Life Awards Celebration (PDF) on April 19, 2023.

Student Awards

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

Most Pro Bono Hours

  • Cumulative (Class of 2023): Anna Setyaeva 
  • 3L: Brittany Emsais 
  • 2L: Jared Gheen 
  • 1L: Katrina Carney

Pro Bono Independent Spirit Award

  •  Linsha Qi for launching the Virtual Domestic Violence Declarations project

Pro Bono Student Leadership Award

  • Linsha Qi - Domestic Violence Declarations
  • Addy Brown, Grace Palcic - Disabled & Elderly Social Security Benefits (SSI)
  • Audra Schumm, Katie Peters and Annie Wang - Expungements--Clean Slate
  • Anna Setyaeva - IRAP
  • Jillian Lynk - Justice Warriors 4 Black Lives
  • Sandra Guzman and Victor Avila - Permanancy Project
  • Priya Gambhir, Candice Gwak, Brenda Rosas, Miranda Tafoya and Romina Zarbof - Saturday Academy of Law
  • Caoline Nester - Special Education & Casework with ELDR 
  • Benjamin Hung and Ambria Dean - Street Law
  • Lisa Cintron, Hanna Bayer, Elizabeth Duran - Tijuana Border Rights Protection Project
  • Karen Kartun, Shannon Eagen and David Manrique - Transforming Justice OC--Incarcerated Individual Letter Writing Project
  • Sam Kishiyama, Jared Gheen and Jean Selep - Transgender Legal Assistance

Graduation Awards

  • Pro Bono High Honors (200 hours over 3 years): Annie Barker, Hanna Bayer, Sarah Beydoun, Erin Black, Jasper Burroughs, Jenna Cowan, Lauren Davis, Cameron Dekens, Elizabeth Duran De La Herran, Brittany Emsais, Solange Fortenbach, Natalie Gould, Rachel Iida, Jorge Iniguez, Rosanna Kaile, Samuel Kishiyama, Chloe Lee, Carolin Nester, Elizabeth Shatz Cordero, Audra Schumm, Anna Setyaeva, Ethan Smith, Adam Snider, Miranda Tafoya
  • Pro Bono Honors (120 hours over 3 years or 100 Hours for LL.M.'s): Judy Baladi, Lisa Cintron, Sara Denk, Priya Gambhir, Jason Grimm, Bethool Zehra Haider, Dana Matsunami, Kaitlyn O'Rinn, Honoka Ozeki, Mira Patel, Hailey Phelan, Linsha Qi, Nathan Romo, Katie Seaman, Nicole Tackaberry, Jennie Woo, Yiching Yang (LL.M.)

Pro Bono 50 & 100 (Hour) Awards: These students far exceeded the recommended number of annual pro bono hours during the 2022-2023 academic year.

  • 100 Hour Award (3L & LLM): Annie Barker, Jenna Cowan, Lauren Davis, Elizabeth Duran De La Herran, Brittany Emsais, Solange Fortenbach, Jorge Iniguez, Samuel Kishiyama, Chloe Lee, Caroline Nester, Elizabeth Schatz Cordero, Audra Schumm, Anna Setyaeva, Miranda Tafoya (LL.M.), Yiching Yang
  • 100 Hour Award (2L): Fernando Acevedo, Joyce Chang, Madelyn Delucca, Jared Gheen, Jacob Greenstein, Jim Henshaw, Millie Hobaish, Alfred Hwang, Ali Jamwal, Karen Kartun, Maximilian Maravilla, Grace Palcic, Adriana Perera, Brenda Rosas, True Shields-le, Annie Wang
  • 50 Hour Award (1L): Kevin Allec Arreola, Chaeyoung (Clara) Baik, Joseph Barajas, Katrina Carney, Rachel Castillo, Valentina Comar, Michael Coury, Claire Foster, Carolina Garcia, Griffin Goldberg, Alyssa May Gonzaga, Craig Guzman, David Itkin, Yucy Jia, Bradley Kahn, Gabe Kirsch, Joshua Kuhn, Irene Lee, Honna Li, Brian Ligh, Polina Litvina, Lamia Mansur, Yahel Michael, J.R. Owens, Leslie Ozuna, Isabella Palermo, Renee Reed, Matthew Scammahorn, Shelby Slaughter, Devin Ton, Vanessa Vasquez, Makayla Woods, Victor Wu, Romina Zarbaf, Annie Zwarg

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 2022–2023 academic year.

  • Class of 2023 (50 Hours) : Hanna Bayer, Sarah Beydoun, Changdeok Gim (LL.M.),Natalie Gould, Jason Grimm, Bethool Zehra Haider, Rachel Iida, Katie Seaman, Adam Snider, Nicole Tackabery, Jennie Woo
  • Class of 2024 (50 Hours) : Shaady Alavi, Samantha An, Anthony Birong, Addy Brown, Mackayla Class, Chazz Estelle, Isabella Guerrero, Nicholas Guo, Esther Jeon, Kanome Jones, Virgina Kennedy, Jiehui (Britney) Li, Alex Mayeda, Talha Muhammad, Katie Peters, Adrienne Pham, Soemi Photavath, Anthony Pimentel, Omar Rizk, Jean Selep, Madelyn Sickle, Matthew Sigala, Emma Steiner, Alliyah Thomas, Haley Trudell, James Tsang, Michael Vine
  • Class of 2025 (20 Hours) : Darina Abulkhanova, Miriham Antonio, Ahmad Azzawi, Sullyari Bautista, Henry Borkgren, Fiona Chin, Kaiya Daniels, Nada Elquosey, Esther Esho, Curtis Ferrarini, Edith Garcia, Elisa Herrera, Jaimee Hocker, Ryan Johnson, Jennifer Kaku, Courtney Le, John Lee, Alexandria Lee, Erica Lee, Haozhen (Sunny) Liu, Iris Lopez, Diana Mansuryan, Melanie McCorkle, Daniel Mina, Elizabeth Monroe, Logan Nantais, Jay Narimatsu, Evelyn Oates, Lawrence Oberemok, Ikenna Ojukwu, Angie Phillips, Paul Pouzet, Keili Prenton, Arletha (Ari) Saint-Jean, Sarah Salame, Riley Salvo, Arturo Samaniego, Ji Seo, Hyeonji Shim, Michael Shloub, Sasha Stepanov, Danielle Straus, Zohal Taheri, Ramon Thomas, Zach Unsell, Nicholas Ushiyama, Neil Vermani, Cassidy Wakeham, Kathleen Won, Genie Yae

2023 Pro Bono & Student Life Awards