Professor Sameer Ashar, UCLA School of Law’s vice dean of experiential education, has been honored with the inaugural Ellmann Memorial Clinical Scholarship Award from the Association of American Law Schools’ clinical section.

The award is presented to “scholars and teachers who have dedicated their careers to clinical and experiential teaching, whose written body of work evinces a concern for justice and a commitment to healing the world, and whose body of work emanates from [their] clinical commitments.” Ashar will be celebrated during an online ceremony on May 27.

A member of the UCLA Law faculty since 2018, Ashar is a national leader in experiential legal education who focuses on advocacy on behalf of marginalized communities. He teaches UCLA Law’s Workers, Law, and Organizing Clinic and the Immigrant Family Legal Clinic. Under his leadership, UCLA Law has honed its experiential offerings to both train advocates in service to the broader community and advance clinical pedagogy, an area of legal education that UCLA Law helped pioneer in the 1970s.

“Professor Ashar epitomizes the intent of this award,” says Allison Korn, UCLA Law’s assistant dean for experiential education. “His scholarship challenges law schools and faculty to reimagine clinical legal education and legal practice. His teaching centers social problems and inspires deep political engagement. And his mentorship creates opportunities for junior and veteran clinicians to seek justice and community in their own work.”