Among other initiatives, APILSA hosted a phonathon supporting improved voting access for immigrants, redistricting reform and restrictions on private prisons that profit from deportation. Members of the group visited the chambers of Judge Jacqueline Nguyen ’91 of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a UCLA Law alumna who was the first Asian-American woman to serve on the federal appellate bench. They organized Mimosas and Affirmations events for survivors of sexual assault. And they mobilized a campaign to address xenophobia and racism in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, drafting an open letter that drew national support and will be published in two academic journals.

Five graduating students were honored with the 2020 UCLA Law Enhancement Award for their substantial contributions to the law school.

• Sam Davies ’20, vice president of the SBA, was cited for launching the Off the Record event series dedicated to promoting diverse student voices, and for his leadership of the Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs and the Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law.
• Andrea Del-Carmen Gonzalez ’20 received recognition for her work as a 1L class representative, legal research and writing advisor, moot court competitor, co-chair of the Latinx Law Students Association and co-editor-in-chief of the UCLA Law Review.
• Zalondria Graham ’20 was lauded for her work as co-chair of the Black Law Students Association, where she spearheaded wide array of impactful events, and for her service on the National Black Law Journal and in the El Centro Reentry Legal Clinic.
• Hannah Pollack ’20 was commended for leading the UCLA Women’s Law Journal and Law Women of UCLA and her service to UCLA Law Women LEAD, as well as for the energy that she committed to Wellness Wednesday and Real Music events.
• Jaylin Stevenson ’20 was applauded for her tenures as co-chair of OUTLaw, the Womyn of Color Collective and the El Centro LetsGo! Liberation Clinic, plus her work on the Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture, and Resistance.

Tocicki, Davies and other outgoing SBA board members — John Rigby ’20 (external vice president), David Polyakov ’21 (treasurer) and Madison Way ’21 (secretary) — were honored for their outstanding service. Way will return as vice president for the 2020-21 school year, with incoming president Adrian Rios ’21.

Distinguished alumna Marisa Hernández-Stern ’10, president of the Mexican American Bar Association and one of the state’s leading civil rights advocates, offered inspirational remarks. She is a deputy attorney general in the Worker Rights and Fair Labor Bureau of the California Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Enforcement Section, and she previously won a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award from the UCLA Academic Senate for her outstanding work.

The Class of 2020 includes 315 juris doctor (J.D.) graduates, 212 master of law (LL.M.) recipients and two people who earned a doctor of juridical science (S.J.D.) degree.

Holder commended the graduates on their accomplishments in law school, even as they become lawyers at a time of great uncertainty. He highlighted the contributions of young lawyers, including framers of the Constitution, at critical times in the nation’s history.

Your responsibility as graduates of one of the finest law schools in this nation is to overcome the circumstances thrown at you and use your formidable skills to make better the nation that you will now be called upon to serve and, ultimately, to lead,” he said. “Do not bemoan your fate. Ask instead how you can improve the lives of those who are suffering through this health and economic emergency. Ask how you can help to address longstanding issues of inequality, injustice and unfairness that this pandemic has helped to make even more apparent.”

The Class of 2020’s J.D. graduates include roughly equal numbers of men and women, ranging in age from 22 to 42. Approximately 28% identify as Hispanic, African-American, Asian, Native American or Pacific Islander, and 18% are first-generation college students. About 7% of the J.D. graduates already hold another advanced degree.

The LL.M. graduates, many of whom were already accomplished legal professionals before they came to UCLA Law to pursue their legal master’s degree, hail from 33 countries, are 61% female and range in age from 20 to 56. They include four Fulbright Scholars, two judges and a judge advocate general in the U.S. Army.

Chilean S.J.D. recipient Ricardo Lillo worked under the supervision of professor and Criminal Justice Program faculty director Máximo Langer to produce a dissertation on due process in non-criminal cases. Chinese S.J.D. recipient Qin Xia worked under the supervision of professor and Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy faculty director James Park on a dissertation about securities regulation in the United States and China.

UCLA Law Dean Jennifer L. Mnookin served as host of the festivities, which streamed from the school’s Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library. The program featured live and recorded remarks from more than a dozen students, faculty members, leading alumni and friends of the school, including social justice pioneer Antonia Hernández ’74, film executive Stacey Snider ’85, UCLA Law Board of Advisors Chair Alicia Miñana ’87 and comedian Jay Leno.

“I hope you can face this intimidating moment with confidence — confidence that challenging moments like these are precisely what you’ve been training for here at the law school,” Mnookin said. “There aren’t easy answers to our current predicament, that’s true. But lawyers face thorny problems every day, tough situations without quick fixes or simple solutions. And in those moments, you’ve got the resources to handle this. … I’ve seen firsthand your empathy, your passion, your desire and ability to make a difference. I’ve seen your fortitude and your ability to problem solve and to lead.”

J.D. class president Sara Williams, who was a key member of the team that organized the ceremony, touched on the generosity that she saw from her classmates and said that they are “well-suited for the task of building a more just, equitable and compassionate society. … Even now, in the midst of a global health crisis, you think not of yourselves but of others.”

Taylor de Laveaga spoke for the J.D. graduates. “I hope you don’t have any regrets,” she said to her classmates, “and that the things you do regret are not the times you try and fail, but the times that you fail to take risks, fail to be brave, fail to be kind.”

Adwoa Ankoma spoke for the LL.M. graduates, noting that she and her classmates came from nearly three-dozen countries and found a home in UCLA Law’s diverse community. “You can communicate all you want to someone, but if you don’t allow different ideas into your way of thinking, it is useless,” she said. “Real comprehension has to do with having an open mind.”

Professor of the Year honoree LaToya Baldwin Clark shared in the graduates’ pride. “Today marks the occasion where you add ‘lawyer’ to your identities,” she said. “But ‘lawyer’ is not the sum-total of who you are. … Walk into every room, with all of your identities — lawyer, artist, organizer, parent — and use the tools you’ve learned over these past three years to strengthen those identities, create new ones, and chase the dreams you have for yourself, your families, your communities and the things and people you care about.”