Cindy Ventura, Third-Year UCI Law Student, Honored as a 2023 Latino Excellence Leadership Award Recipient
IRVINE, Calif. (April 21, 2023) — The University of California, Irvine School of Law (UCI Law) is proud to announce that Cindy Ventura, a third-year law student at UCI Law, won a UCI 2023 Latino Excellence and Achievement Award (LEAD). The university-wide accolade recognizes key leaders, graduate students, staff and faculty who support and champion student success and research excellence in the Latinx community at UCI and in Orange County. Cindy was the only law student, and one of only 15 graduate students from across the entire UCI campus, to receive this honor at the award ceremony on April 6.
Cindy Ventura is the daughter of Salvadoran immigrants and grew up in South East Los Angeles. She graduated cum laude from UC Irvine in 2017 and received her bachelor’s degree in Public Health. During law school, Cindy worked with the Civil Rights Litigation Clinic, where she was committed to representing individuals and groups to vindicate their civil and human rights in state and federal court. She has worked extensively on cases involving police accountability and assisted with litigation involving family separation cases at the border. Her efforts included participating in the LA District Attorney’s review efforts of past officer-involved shootings and being part of the litigation team that fought to have Miranda rights recognized as a constitutional right before the United States Supreme Court. She has held several leadership positions at UCI Law, including serving as the Co-Chair for the Latinx Law Student Association, Articles Editor for the UC Irvine Law Review, and Research Fellow for the first-year students’ writing course.
“I want to thank the LEAD Committee for selecting me as the 2023 recipient,” said Cindy Ventura. “I look forward to being a resource and mentor for aspiring Latinos interested in law school.”
For more about the awards, please click here.
About the University of California, Irvine School of Law
The University of California, Irvine School of Law is a visionary law school that provides an innovative and comprehensive curriculum, prioritizes public service, and demonstrates a commitment to equity within the legal profession. UCI Law students have completed more than 135,000 hours of pro bono work since 2009. Forty-eight percent of UCI Law’s J.D. graduates are people of color. At UCI Law, we are driven to improve our local, national, and global communities by grappling with important issues as scholars, as practitioners, and as teachers who are preparing the next generation of leaders. The collaborative and interdisciplinary community at UCI Law includes extraordinary students, world-renowned faculty, dedicated staff, engaged alumni, and enthusiastic supporters. More information on UCI Law is available here. Connect with us on Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, and sign up for our monthly newsletter for the latest news and events at UCI Law.
Media Contact:
Colleen Taricani
Assistant Dean for Communications
ctaricani@law.uci.edu