Six graduating students at The University of Texas School of Law have been awarded UT Co-Op Public Interest Awards in honor of their extraordinary commitment to public interest law.
The awards were announced by Dean Bill Powers on Thurs., April 21 at a banquet celebrating The Sixth Annual University Co-Op George H. Mitchell Student Awards for Academic Excellence.
Each student received a $6,000 award made possible by a grant from The University Co-Op, and administered by the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law at the Law School.
“We are delighted to recognize these extraordinary graduating students. They are devoted to one of the highest callings of our profession—increasing access to justice for underserved individuals and communities,” said Eden Harrington, director of the Justice Center.
The following graduating students received UT Co-Op Public Interest Awards:
Bronwyn Blake has worked on domestic violence issues at the Women’s Advocacy Project (WAP), the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, and at Break the Cycle, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C. She also served as the Public Service Committee Chair of the Student Bar Association. Blake was recently chosen to receive the first one-year UT Law Faculty Fellowship in Public Interest Law to work with WAP in Austin developing a new project to address teen dating violence.
Kenavon Carter has devoted himself to civil rights work with the ACLU, the Texas Civil Rights Project, and the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York. He served as the President of the Thurgood Marshall Legal Society and as Co-Chair of the National Lawyer’s Guild. Carter was recently selected by the Open Society Institute to receive a two-year Soros Justice Fellowship. Carter will work with the ACLU in Austin on a project to reduce racial profiling in Texas.
Magda Herrera has worked with the Mexican American Legal and Education Defense Fund in San Antonio, the Equal Justice Center in Austin, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Houston, and with Farmworker Legal Services in Michigan. Herrera recently received an Esther Peterson Fellowship to work for the Consumers Union in Washington D.C.
Scott Medlock has worked with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington D.C., Campaigns for People, and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. He also has contributed extensively to the Public Interest Law Association, the Central Texas Million Mom March for the Brady Center, and the Texas International Law Journal.
Bernadette Segura has worked with the ACLU, the Office of the Federal Public Defender in El Paso, and the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office. She served as the President of the Public Interest Law Association, as a Board Member of Texas Law Fellowships, and as a founding member of the Human Rights Law Society. Segura recently received a two-year fellowship from Equal Justice Works to work with Texas Rio Grande Legal Services in San Antonio.
Kelly Stolpman has worked at the Pro Bono Institute in Washington D.C., the Prison and Jail Accountability Project at the ACLU, and with the Farmworker Program of Legal Aid Services in Oregon. She studied abroad in Argentina and is committed to becoming a legal advocate for farmworkers after graduation.