Today, more than 70 Southwestern students have participated in recurring expungement clinics through a collaboration with Homeboy Industries, working directly with community members seeking relief from the lasting consequences of a criminal record. 

That opportunity did not exist just a few years ago. 

Nicole "Nikki" Bala had already built it once. Before law school, she worked in the Legal Services Department at Homeboy Industries — the world's largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program — where she helped start the community expungement clinics that clear old convictions from people's records. She had seen what a cleared record did for the person who came in to get one, and how the work impacted the volunteers. 

Then she arrived at Southwestern, a first-generation law student from San Jose, and found a gap. What she did next has earned her the 2026 George and Katrina Woolverton Public Service Award. Presented annually through the generosity of George and Katrina Woolverton, the $10,000 award recognizes one graduating Southwestern student who has demonstrated extraordinary dedication to public interest law activities. 

"From my work in these clinics, I knew firsthand how impactful they were, not just for so many members of our community seeking relief, but also for our volunteers who participated in them," she said. 

She took the idea to Southwestern’s Public Service Program director and proposed adapting the Homeboy model to create a new volunteer opportunity for Southwestern students. The question was whether this particular opportunity would draw volunteers. 

It did. More than 40 students turned out for the first training in 2024. Enrollment has since climbed past 70, creating a pipeline of Southwestern volunteers into Homeboy's legal work that has helped clear hundreds of records. 

The deeper Bala went, the more the work told her about itself. Between the clinics and an externship with the Ventura County Public Defender's Office, she spent three years working with people still carrying convictions on their record long after they had served their sentences. 

"In those conversations, it becomes clear how much a criminal record continues to shape someone's access to employment, housing, stability, and justice," she said. 

What Nikki consistently found was that many clients seeking expungement had already done the hard work of rebuilding their lives. The clinic was not helping create that change. It was helping remove barriers that prevented people from fully benefiting from the progress they had already made.  

"Record clearing does not create that transformation," she said. "It recognizes it. It affirms it." 

Bala built a sustainable program that will continue long after her graduation. From the start, that was her goal: new student leaders will lead the program, with Southwestern's Public Service Program and the Homeboy's Legal Services team behind them. 

"I am so excited to see how future students continue to grow the program and expand opportunities to serve our community!" she said.