SWLAW Blog | Awards & Honors
May 15, 2023
2023 Public Service Program Graduating Student Awards
On Thursday, April 20th, 2023, our Public Interest Law Faculty Committee celebrated and honored our graduating students at the Public Service Program Awards Luncheon. Special recognition was given to a few outstanding students for their demonstrated and significant dedication to public interest law activities while at Southwestern.
We are proud to recognize and celebrate our 2023 Southwestern Public Interest Law Service Award recipients:
2023 Recipient: Jenna Karvunidis
Jenna Myers Karvunidis is President of the Environmental Law Society, Co-President of the Women's Law Association, a Dean's Merit Scholar, and one of a select number of students whose article, A Path Back to Lawful Abortion: Transgender Men and the Immutable Characteristic of a Suspect Class, was chosen for publication in Volume 53 of the Southwestern Law Review. Jenna has also been a dedicated student in the pursuit of housing justice for low-income communities clerking for public interest organizations, such as the Eviction Defense Network, Bet Tzedek’s Eviction Defense Project, and Southwestern’s Eviction Defense Clinic. Jenna continues on from Southwestern as a post-bar fellow with Inner City Law Center. She and her husband Niko have three daughters.
We asked Jenna...
What is the most satisfying aspect of public service for you?
I came into each of my clerkships in housing work with a clear goal: change one outcome. If I could change one thing for one person who needed it, then my four years in law school and hundreds of hours working on cases were worth it. Public service is so deeply satisfying because you are changing circumstances for people. The butterfly effect means they are in better positions to care for the people who need them, and we're all better off.
2023 Recipient: Herbert Martinez
Herbert is a student in Southwestern’s accelerated two-year SCALE program who has been actively engaged on and off-campus serving as a Teaching Assistant to faculty members, a student advocate in Southwestern’s Community Lawyering Clinic, and a law clerk for public interest organizations, such as the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Housing Rights Center, and Inner City Law Center. Born and raised in Los Angeles to immigrant parents, Herbert is a first-generation student who came to law school in pursuit of a career serving the diverse and often underrepresented communities he grew up in. He wanted the knowledge and skills to help empower these communities and to make lasting changes. He is so grateful to Southwestern for giving him the skill and expertise to help serve the communities he loves and, following the bar exam, returns to Inner City Law Center as a Housing Justice Fellow.
We asked Herbert...
What have been some of your favorite highlights of your service involvement during law school?
I loved engaging in policy discussions and advocacy through my clerkships with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and Inner City Law Center. These experiences gave me so much hope for a better tomorrow, and how the skills I learned in law school could be used in non-traditional ways to make a difference.
2023 Recipient: Vivian Meza
Vivian is a first-generation Mexican-American from the Inland Empire. While earning her B.A. in Journalism from Arizona State University, Vivian worked as a digital reporter covering politics, tribal lands, and marginalized communities. While at Southwestern, Vivian has participated in Southwestern’s Street Law and Immigration Clinics, competed for the Latino Law Students Association Moot Court Team; clerked with the Central American Resource Center’s Deportation Defense Unit in San Bernardino and with the Riverside County Public Defender’s Office. She holds leadership positions as a 2022 Judge Harry Pregerson Public Service Fellow and with Southwestern’s Latino Law Students Association, Immigration Law Student Association, and the National Lawyers Guild – SW Chapter. She aims to use her experience in both criminal and immigration law to provide high-quality representation for non-citizens facing criminal charges or post-conviction immigration relief. Following the bar exam, Vivian returns to the Riverside County Public Defender’s Office as a post-bar clerk.
We asked Vivian...
What words of advice would you have for future Southwestern students?
If I could give one piece of advice to other Southwestern students, it would be this: your competition isn't other people, your competition is yourself. Don't get caught up worrying about what other students are doing. Focus on what you're doing, what your goals are, and how you can be better than you were the day before. And take care of your health; you cannot expect to be successful if your physical and mental health isn't in alignment.
2023 Recipient: Tina Petrosian
As a passionate advocate for workers’ rights, Tina’s long-term focus is on fighting for a world that is safer, more equitable, and with better living conditions for all people – rather than only the few who have privilege and resources. While at Southwestern, Tina served as a Judge Harry Pregerson Public Service Fellow, Co-President of the Labor & Employment Law Association, Treasurer of the Homelessness Prevention Law Project, Student Advocate with the Community Lawyering Clinic and clerked with the National Labor Relations Board - Los Angeles. Outside of Southwestern, Tina is a volunteer Legal Observer for the National Lawyers Guild – Los Angeles, a Certified Law Clerk with Stop LAPD Spying, an active volunteer with Bet Tzedek’s weekly Workers’ Rights Clinic, and too many more to name.
We asked Tina...
What is the most satisfying aspect of public service for you?
The most satisfying aspect of public service is knowing the work I am doing is positively impacting somebody’s life in a very concrete way. Because so much of law school tends to be theoretical, it’s rewarding to engage in work that has a more immediate and direct impact.
2023 Recipient: Betzy Portillo
Betzy Portillo is a first-generation law student born to Salvadoran immigrants. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine with dual undergraduate degrees in Criminology and Political Science. Betzy currently works as a victim advocate in the Human Sex Trafficking Section of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office in addition to her part-time studies in Southwestern’s evening program. She is looking forward to a career in public interest law.
We asked Betzy...
What have been some of your favorite highlights of your service involvement during law school?
I have deeply enjoyed getting to know nonprofit law firms in Los Angeles and their amazing staff. A special shout-out to the Jenesse Center, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, and the Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law for taking me under their wing and allowing me to assist them.
2023 Recipient: Julissa Salgueiro
Julissa has over twenty years of civil litigation experience and civil procedure is her specialty. Her public interest work includes volunteering for Imagine LA, a non-profit organization working to end homelessness; volunteering as part of food and clothing drives for the unhoused throughout the year; and providing legal assistance on a volunteer basis for monolingual Spanish-speakers through English-Spanish document translation and interpretation. She believes that fighting for people’s rights is essential in the movement to end discrimination by demanding equality no matter how difficult that undertaking will be. She is determined to fulfill her purpose of making a difference by becoming the tool needed to tighten the bolts for the greater good of society and amplify someone’s voice that otherwise would be unheard.
We asked Julissa...
What words of advice would you have for future Southwestern students?
It is not about how much money you will make as an attorney; it is about the impact you create by making the right decisions for your clients and putting their needs ahead of yours.
Congratulations to all the award recipients! Your unwavering dedication to public service and interest law is a true inspiration.