This April, nearly 200 members of the UCLA School of Law community gathered in the Shapiro Courtyard for the school’s fifth annual U. Serve L.A. Celebration honoring students and alumni for their commitments to pro bono, public interest, and public service.

Amber Dean ‘23 and Monica Gibbons ’22 are the winners of the 2022 Skye Donald Spirit of Community Award, the highest recognition for student service to UCLA Law. Their recognition was announced this week by Bayrex Martí, the assistant dean for student affairs, in a message to the community.

The first encounter Joel Marrero ‘10 had with legal advocacy was as a 7-year-old.

Marrero’s mother brought him to New Jersey when he was 5 years old, leaving an abusive situation in Puerto Rico. “We were entirely dependent on government assistance,” he recalls.

Marrero’s mother counted on him to translate conversations with social workers and other service providers from Spanish to English. When she got into a car accident, he helped her communicate with a lawyer.

UCLA School of Law students Akruti Chandrayya ’22 and Jenna Finkle ’22 have earned Gideon’s Promise fellowships. Both are students in the law school’s David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy, and they are just two of six law students across the country to whom the Gideon’s Promise fellowship program awarded the prestigious fellowships this year.

When Dorothy Wolpert ’76 started at UCLA School of Law, she wasn’t the typical new student. Nearing 40, she had just celebrated her 20th wedding anniversary and she was the mother of 10- and 13-year-old boys.

But it wasn’t the difference in age or experience that made Dorothy stand out. It was her wit, intelligence, charm, and passion. With those qualities, and her husband Stanley—already a successful UCLA history professor —at her side, she forged a career in law of uncommon decency and service.

Sixteen members of the UCLA School of Law faculty have been recognized as leaders of legal scholarship based on the impact of their research and writing. The total is a new high for UCLA Law.