Pro Bono Awards 2025
Presented at the UC Irvine Law Pro Bono & Student Life Awards Celebration (PDF) on April 16, 2025.
Student Awards
The following students were recognized for going above and beyond in terms of pro bono.
Most Pro Bono Hours
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Cumulative (Class of 2025): Claire Foster
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3L: Claire Foster
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2L: Shannon Cheung
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1L: Akua Kesewa-Agyeman
Pro Bono Independent Spirit Award
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Thomas (Yonghyung) Chung for creating Lawyers for the Arts project
Student Leadership Awards
Semmie Lee – Domestic Violence Declarations
Darla Lavi – Disabled and Elderly Benefits (SSI)
Yasmin McGough – Disabled and Elderly Benefits (SSI)
Alyssa May Gonzaga – Decarcerate OC: Individual Letter Writing Project
Kaiya Daniels – Expungement Project--OC Clean Slate Clinic
Christopher Hanna – Expungement Project--OC Clean Slate Clinic
Craig Guzmán – Permanency Project for Victims of Crime
Madeleine Malicdem – Permanency Project for Victims of Crime
Rachel Castillo – Police Misconduct Project
Leili Golian – Saturday Academy of Law
Carolina Garcia – Saturday Academy of Law
Romina Zarbaf - Saturday Academy of Law
Samir Hafez – Saturday Academy of Law
Ariana Keshishian – Saturday Academy of Law
Claire Foster – Street Law
Esther Esho – Street Law
Connor Lennard – Street Law
Lauren Wegener – Street Law
Drew Navarre – Transgender Legal Assistance Clinic
Marlee Grant - Transgender Legal Assistance Clinic
Ashley Miller – Transgender Legal Assistance Clinic
Jenn Hibberts – Transgender Legal Assistance Clinic
Ryan Cantrell – Transgender Legal Assistance Clinic
Graduation Awards
- Pro Bono High Honors (200 hours over 3 years): Kevin Allec Arreola, Rachel Castillo, Michael Coury, Kaiya Daniels, Claire Foster, Edith Guadalupe Garcia, Griffin Goldberg, Alyssa Gonzaga, Craig L. Guzmán, Honna Li, Ashley Miller, Donald Ray Owens, Jr., Isabella Palermo, Angelique Phillips, Sarah Salame, Arturo Samaniego, Devin Ton, Vanessa Vasquez, Victor Wu, Makayla Woods
- Pro Bono Honors (120 hours over 3 years or 100 Hours for LL.M.'s): Chaeyoung (Clara) Baik, Henry Borkgren, Curtis Ferrarini, Lamia Mansur, Daniel Mina, Logan Nantais, Drew Navarre, Vito Thanh Nguyen, Leslie Ozuna, Matthew Scammahorn, Romina Zarbaf
Pro Bono 50 & 100 (Hour) Awards: These students far exceeded the recommended number of annual pro bono hours during the 2024-2025 academic year.
- 100 Hour Award (3L & LLM): Kevin Allec Arreola, Claire Foster, Honna Li, Ashley Miller, Vanessa Vasquez
- 100 Hour Award (2L): Ryan Q. Balaoing, Shannon Cheung, Paulina Farley-Kuzmina, Christopher Hanna, Cynthia Jung, Gabrielle Moore, Jose Echeona, Stanley Shaw, Marlee K. Grant, Lindsay Waters, Gloria H. Yang
- 50 Hour Award (1L): Nathan Akiyoshi, Mia Alvarez, Cade Bachman, James Blitz, Jacob Boarnet, Saga Chidella, Christopher J. Contreras, Sarah Curtis, Jingyi Dou, Madeleine Gam, Seyar Gardezi, Kyle Graham, Hunter Griffith, Akua Kesewa-Agyeman, Jamie Morishima, Melissa N. Inda Ramos, Estrella Azusena Ramos, Sofia Rizkkhalil, Daisy Rodriguez, Isaiah Roe, Athina Mae Yelo Rosure, Navsukhmani Sandhu, Mikayla Sarmento, Makayla Shapiro, Kayla Solomon, Colleen Erin Kahelelani Tam, Kelly Valentine, Kevin Arthur Valero, Lauren Zakari
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 2024–2025 academic year.