UCLA School of Law alumnus Travis Bell ’17

UCLA School of Law alumnus Travis Bell ’17 has received the first Ambassador Award ever presented by Gideon’s Promise. The award goes to a person who supports the Gideon’s Promise mission to raise the standard of indigent defense by building a movement of public defenders.

Epstein Program faculty member Sherod Thaxton, Janki Kaneria ’19, Gideon's Promise founder and president Jonathan Rapping and Epstein Program faculty director Ingrid Eagly
L to R: Epstein Program faculty member Sherod Thaxton, Janki Kaneria ’19, Gideon's Promise founder and president Jonathan Rapping and Epstein Program faculty director Ingrid Eagly

Three UCLA School of Law students have won prestigious fellowships through which they will serve immigrants and indigent defendants after they graduate in May. In addition, one recent UCLA Law graduate earned a fellowship for his work in helping people who are incarcerated in California.

Professor Jyoti Nanda

The UCLA School of Law will recognize and acknowledge Professor Jyoti Nanda at U. Serve L.A. for her dedication to and leadership in strengthening UCLA School of Law's public service ethic.

Phoebe Kasdin

Phoebe Kasdin '18 came to UCLA School of Law with an unwavering commitment to help those who are struggling. She leaves as the first UCLA Law alum to receive a two-year fellowship that will allow her to provide holistic representation to indigent mothers who are facing criminal charges and a panoply of related troubles, including family destabilization and loss of child custody.

Members of UCLA Law's Criminal Defense Clinic stand with their client Phal Sok.
Members of UCLA Law's Criminal Defense Clinic stand with their client Phal Sok, who was pardoned by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018.

Thanks to the work of UCLA School of Law's Criminal Defense Clinic, five Southern California community members recently received pardons for old criminal convictions from then-Gov. Jerry Brown. All five of the clients represented by UCLA Law students received pardons during a flurry of criminal justice-related activity in Gov. Brown's waning months in office.

Sidewalk vendors in Los Angeles live on subsistence wages earned from an honest day's work. Over the past year, however, these community entrepreneurs have experienced increased police harassment, arrests, onerous criminal justice debt, and even incarceration. These and other findings are documented in a new report issued by law students in UCLA School of Law's Criminal Defense Clinic.

Kath Rogers, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles chapter, with Melina Abdullah, Cal State Los Angeles professor and founder of Los Angeles Black Lives Matter.
Kath Rogers, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles chapter, with Melina Abdullah, Cal State Los Angeles professor and founder of Los Angeles Black Lives Matter.

Energizing law students from across Southern California to engage in the fight for social justice for a wide range of workers, immigrants, inmates and others, students from the National Lawyers Guild chapter at UCLA School of Law hosted their second annual Liberation Lawyering Conference on March 2.

More than 200 law students, law professors, practicing attorneys, community advocates and organizers came to the law school for an all-day program highlighting activist voices.

Special honoree Jyoti Nanda and UCLA Law professor Ingrid Eagly celebrate at the 2019 U. Serve L.A. gala.
Special honoree Jyoti Nanda and UCLA Law professor Ingrid Eagly celebrate at the 2019 U. Serve L.A. gala.

More than 300 members of the UCLA School of Law community gathered for the second annual U. Serve L.A. celebration on April 9, raising $100,000 for UCLA Law’s initiatives in public interest law.

Subscribe to David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy
News
See All