Judge Harry Pregerson Public Service Legacy Programs

Image - Hon. Harry Pregerson

Made possible by a grant from the Rodan Family Foundation in honor of Judge Harry Pregerson

JHP Public Service Boot Camp

The Judge Harry Pregerson Public Service Boot Camp or “Harry’s Boot Camp” is designed and named in honor of the esteemed 9^th Circuit judge whose work exemplified the highest values of service in the public interest.

Through Harry’s Boot Camp, students will experience a rapid survey of the public interest field, including nonprofits and government lawyers engaged in critical legal advocacy, and will meet their cohort of like-minded aspiring lawyers at the outset of their studies at Southwestern as part of public interest community building at Southwestern. Students will also receive specialized skills training as part of an early introduction to foundational lawyering skills that will supplement traditional academic programming.

JHP Public Service Fellowships

In addition to Harry’s Boot Camp, Southwestern also offers the Judge Harry Pregerson Public Service Fellowships, our premier summer fellowships that are designed to encourage and support Southwestern students who are pursuing careers reflecting the late Judge Harry Pregerson’s values, determination, and impact on life in Southern California.

JHP Public Service Fellows are selected students who demonstrate exceptional dedication to public service, and who are most likely to dedicate their legal careers to working on behalf of underserved communities and causes. Through funded summer fellowships, specialized training, leadership development, and facilitating interaction with practitioners, academics, and like-minded students, JHP Public Service Fellows also serve as an integral part of creating service-minded culture, community, and leadership at Southwestern.

JHP Public Service Fellows will receive one of the most generous stipends of any summer fellowships offered at Southwestern. Fellowships awards will be in the sum of $8,000 each to five (5) second-year students and of $5,500 each to five (5) first-year students.

Meet the 2022 Class of JHP Public Service Fellows

The 2022 Class of JHP Public Service Fellows will work with local and national public interest and government agencies as young advocates impacting change in their respective communities.

Collage of ten 2022 JHP Public Service Fellows headshots — Click the image to learn more about our 2022 JHP Public Service Fellows

2022 JHP Public Service Fellows
2021 JHP Public Service Fellows
Inaugural JHP Public Service Fellows

Selection Criteria

JHP Public Service Fellows are selected through a competitive committee review and interview process comprised of Southwestern faculty, staff and alumni who select JHP Public Service Fellows on the basis of merit, potential for leadership and demonstrated commitment or significant achievements in the fields of public service.

Public service is defined broadly: encompassing policy and legal positions with government, civil legal aid agencies, non-profit organizations, academia, social entrepreneurship, community development, and law firms whose primary mission is serving the public interest.

In assessing these criteria, the program looks at the whole person and considers previous life experience and professional work.

Participation Requirements

JHP Public Service Fellow candidates will be required to meet participation requirements in Public Service Program-sponsored educational and training programming throughout the year that will range from skills-based training, leadership development and mentoring, facilitating interaction with practitioners, alumni, and like-minded students as all JHP Public Service Fellows are an integral part of creating service-minded culture, community, and leadership at Southwestern. Summer fellowship applications to be renewed annually based on satisfactory academic performance and full participation.

The following Southwestern activities and programs are required for all fellow candidates:

Attendance at The Annual Judge Harry Pregerson Public Service Award Program
Seminars and speaker series
Meetings and practical trainings, including the Judge Harry Pregerson Public Service Boot Camp
Full-time summer clerkships during 1L and 2L summers
Public interest / public sector recruitment programs and career fairs
25-hours of pro bono service each year
Remaining in good academic standing

The JHP Public Service Fellowship application requires:

The JHP Public Service Fellows application form
Resume with details of all public service experiences: education, work, and public service
A 600-word minimum statement describing:
1. your experience in public service or commitment to working on behalf of underserved communities
2. factors that influenced your commitment to public service
3. why you are a competitive candidate

Summer 2022 Fellowships

JHP Public Service Fellows are selected through a competitive committee review and interview process consisting of Southwestern faculty, staff, and alumni. The committee will give priority to applicants with a history of full-time nonprofit or public interest-focused work. The application and interview timelines will be announced by January 2022.

JHP Public Service Alumni Award Recipients

The Public Service Program has the privilege to recognize the outstanding recent graduates of Southwestern Law School who have shown extraordinary commitment and demonstrated leadership in utilizing their professional lives and careers to substantially improve the lives of those in need.

Recognizing and honoring the trailblazers among us is critical in sustaining our commitment to helping underserved communities and causes. Southwestern's Judge Harry Pregerson Public Service Alumni Award honors our alumni whose professional lives and careers reflect the values of the late Harry Pregerson.

The Award’s purpose is to inspire successive generations of students to remain dedicated to the belief that they can make a substantial contribution, even in the early years of their careers.

Candidates are evaluated by a committee named by the Dean with selected honorees recognized at Southwestern’s annual award presentation:

Karina Godoy '15

Inaugural JHP Public Service Alumni Award Honoree

Professor Godoy is an associate attorney at JML Law, where her practice focuses on representing employees in all areas of employment law, including discrimination, wage and hour, whistleblowing, wrongful termination, labor disputes, and personal injury cases. Professor Godoy handles all phases of litigation, including vetting clients, discovery, depositions, mediation, trials, and pre and post-trial motions. Professor Godoy has been recognized as a “Super Lawyer - Rising Star” by the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine for 2019 and 2020.

Professor Godoy graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in History, a B.A. in Political Science, and a minor in Sociology from the University of Southern California, completing her honors thesis for both of her B.A. degrees. She earned her J.D. from Southwestern Law School. While in law school, she was active on campus and served as an editor for the Journal of International Media & Entertainment Law, received recognition for her commitment to academic excellence graduating in the top 10% of her class, and was recognized on the Dean’s List, and received Witkin Award for Labor Law. She volunteered over 500 hours of pro bono work at various legal non-profits and received the Dean’s Merit Scholarship, the ABTL Public Service award, the Wildman/Schumacher Scholarship, and many other accolades for her achievements. Her externship experience includes taking part in Southwestern Law School’s Immigration Law Clinic, serving as a judicial extern for the Honorable Terry J. Hatter, Jr., as well as externships with EEOC and Bet Tzedek’s Wage and Hour Clinic.

After completing her law degree, Professor Godoy served as an ABOTA Fellow, working at a defense firm prior to focusing her practice on representing employees through all stages of litigation. Professor Godoy continues to be an active volunteer with Bet Tzedek’s Workers’ Rights Clinic, as well as taking on other pro bono cases. Professor Godoy is also involved in several legal organizations and serves as the Vice-Chair for the Workers Outreach Committee and the Treasurer for the Whittier Bar Association.
Andres Holguin-Flores '15

Inaugural JHP Public Service Alumni Award Honoree

Andrés Holguin-Flores is a staff attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), where he leads national class action suits challenging employment discrimination and civil rights violations of immigrants, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients, and Latinos.

Mr. Holguin-Flores graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with dual undergraduate degrees in Sociology and Chicana and Chicano Studies. He earned his J.D. at Southwestern Law School. As a law student, he was active in leadership positions on campus, including Southwestern’s Public Interest Law Committee, and his law clerk experiences included clerking for the Immigration Law Clinic at Southwestern, serving as a judicial extern to the Honorable Terry J. Hatter, Jr. of the U.S. Central District Court for the District of California, and externships with Inner City Law Center, MALDEF, and the ACLU of Southern California.

Upon law school graduation, Mr. Holguin-Flores clerked for the Honorable Terry J. Hatter, Jr. and the Honorable Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. After completing his postgraduate clerkships, Mr. Holguin-Flores went on to begin his work in impact litigation and immigrant rights policy advocacy with MALDEF handling all phases of civil rights litigation, including investigation, discovery, depositions, settlement, and appeals in the representation of individuals throughout the United States.
Ashley D. Williams '17

2022 JHP Public Service Alumni Award Honoree

Ashley D. Williams was born a product of rape and raised in the foster care system. She lived in 36 placements, with MacLaren Hall being the first of many, and attended 26 schools by the time she turned eighteen.

Ashley attended Dorsey High School, where she was enrolled in the Law Magnet Program. While at Dorsey, she participated in the Los Angeles County Superior Court (LASC) Teen Court Diversion program, UCLA Street Law, and Young Lawyers. Upon graduating, she was honored with the dedication of the “Ashley Williams Computer Center” at Dorsey High School.

Ashley went on to attend UCLA, where she co-founded the Bruin Guardian Scholars Program, which assists former foster youth in navigating the university system. She was a UCLA Law Fellow, McNair Scholar, Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholar, and a Justice Corps Graduate Fellow.

She then attended Southwestern Law School, where she returned to the LASC Teen Court Diversion Program as a mentor, participated in the Associate for Corporate Counsel Diversity Pipeline Program, the Black Women Lawyers of Los Angeles Mentorship Program, and Southwestern’s Children’s Rights and Street Law Clinics, continuing her community activism and leadership work while honing her legal skills.

Following law school studies, Ashley served as a judicial extern with Judge Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and then as a Congressional Intern for U.S. Representative Karen Bass. Guided by her experiences in foster care, Ashley drafted a policy report presented at a congressional briefing titled, “Fostering a Culture of Silence: The Need to Improve Reporting of Sexual Abuse in Foster Care.”

In April 2019, Ashley’s mother’s decades-long struggle with addiction ended her mother’s life. Since May 2019, she has worked at Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, Inc., representing parents like her own mother, many of whose children are in foster care. She has gained experience all over the courthouse, guided by her unique perspectives and insights into the child welfare system as well as her professional experiences and achievements. Ashley is currently assigned to the Dedicated to Restoration through Empowerment and Advocacy (DREAM) Court, a specialized courtroom serving children and youth who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation.

Ashley’s commitment to public service and advocacy has been recognized with a multitude of awards from Sidley Austin LLP, Southwestern Law’s Public Interest Law Faculty Committee, California Change Lawyers, the Langston Bar Association, the Black Women Lawyers of Los Angeles Foundation, the Los Angeles County Public Service Distinction Award, the Hon. Justice Vaino Hassan Spencer Scholarship, the Justice Arleigh Woods Scholarship, and many more. In 2022, Ashley was awarded a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition of Outstanding and Invaluable Service and nominated for the 2022 Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute's Angel of the Year by U.S. Representative Karen Bass due to Ashley’s extensive record of child welfare advocacy. Recently, Ashley was named as Outstanding New Lawyer by the National Association of Counsel for Children and selected to present as a Faculty Member at the National Child Welfare Law Conference.

Ashley considers herself a successful product of the dependency system and aims to one-day sit as a judge serving in the courts of juvenile dependency and delinquency law.

More about the late Judge Harry Pregerson:

The late Judge Harry Pregerson served on the federal bench as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a combined 50 years.

A native Angeleno, Harry was born and raised in City Terrace, near Boyle Heights, and graduated from Hollenbeck Junior and Roosevelt Senior High School. The diversity as well as the poverty of his Depression-era community – Catholic and Jewish, with people of Eastern European, Italian, Japanese, Mexican American, and other backgrounds – would have a profound impact on his views as a lawyer and judge. “I remember going to school with kids who didn’t have shoes,” he once said. “I thought, ‘Somebody needs to help them.’”

That somebody turned out to be Harry Pregerson.

Read More
During a lifetime of good works both on and off the bench, Harry charmed or ordered government officials, university presidents, and titans of industry to get what he wanted: desegregated schools for children of color; equal rights for women; dignity for veterans and immigrants; respect for workers; food for the hungry and shelter for the homeless; and clean water, affordable housing, and better transportation for everyone. Proof of his success can be found in the fact that he is the only federal judge to have named after him a child care center (in the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building), a freeway interchange (where the Century and Harbor Freeways meet), and a wastewater treatment building (at the Hyperion Treatment Plant).
Thanks to a series of public-private partnerships forged by Harry with the federal government, the Salvation Army, and so many others, the Bell Homeless Shelter and similar facilities were established. As a result of these partnerships, each day some 1,000 homeless men and women, most of whom are veterans, receive not only food and shelter, but also substance abuse treatment and job training opportunities.
Harry, who could be seen wearing his trademark cowboy hat and leather boots all over town, was always a leader. He won a Purple Heart with the U.S. Marines on Okinawa during World War II and later countless awards from community organizations, including an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Southwestern Law School.
After graduating from UCLA, where he became the university’s first Jewish student body president, Harry Pregerson earned his law degree at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. Upon returning to Los Angeles, he set up a storefront practice in Van Nuys at a time when fewer than 40 lawyers practiced in the San Fernando Valley between Topanga Canyon and Lankershim Boulevards. He represented whoever walked through the door and accepted whatever they could pay. In 1965, he was appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court by Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, and in 1966, he was elevated to the Los Angeles Superior Court. In 1967, Judge Pregerson was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and in 1979, he was elevated to the Ninth Circuit by President Jimmy Carter.
Harry died in 2017 at age 94. His last words, uttered to Bernardine, a professor of microbiology at Pierce College in Woodland Hills and his wife of 71 years, were as follows: “The hard thing is that I don’t have strength anymore to help people.”
And that’s the purpose of the Harry Pregerson Public Service Legacy Programs: to give strength to Southwestern law students so they can follow in Harry’s footsteps by helping people.