The Class of 2021 Reaches a New Record in Pro Bono Service

This year's graduating class worked a record 14,133 pro bono hours throughout their time at the Law School, demonstrating a steadfast commitment to public service even while contending with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Class of 2021 celebrated this achievement at the Pro Bono Awards Ceremony, which was held via Zoom last month.

Seventy-two graduating students completed the Pro Bono Pledge to work 50 pro bono hours throughout law school, 26 of whom received the added distinction of Pro Bono Honors recognition for working 250 or more hours.

Evelyn Ayay, ’21, who engaged in 768 hours of pro bono service over the course of her Law School career, earned the Pro Bono Award of Excellence. Public interest awards presented at the ceremony included the 2L Public Service Award, which went to Erik Zimmerman, ’22, and the James C. Hormel Public Service Award, which went to Kyle Kent, '21. The Student Organization Pro Bono Award went to the National Lawyers Guild. Before students received their awards, Samira Nazem, ’10, Associate Director of Advocacy & Programs at the Chicago Bar Foundation, delivered the award ceremony's keynote address.

A full video of the ceremony can be viewed above. A list of those who earned Pro Bono Honors and completed the Pro Bono Pledge can be found below.

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Daniel Abrams

Alex Aparicio

Stephen Ark

Evelyn Ayay

Sam Bonafede

Christy Crouse

Ben Feis

David Finkel

Ellen Goff

Anthony Guttman

Jake Hamburger

Zach Heater

Laura Herrera

Victor Hollenberg

Chelsea Kehrer

Kyle Kent

Max Kober

Jessica Lee

Colin Losey

Joseph Ludmir

Ana Luquerna

Barrett Mills

Angela Reilly

Daniel Simon

Emma Sperry

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Ambreen Ahmad

Ian Baize

Patrick Berning-O'Neill

Ethan Briggs

Rachel Brown

Sara Castiglia

Victor Cedeno

Donna Chen

Divine Collins

Paola Correia

Zach Cracknell

Megan Delurey

Bobby DeNunzio

Tyler Downing

Michael Fiedorowicz

Sean Frazzette

James Gao

Sakina Haji

Kate Harris

Nicole Heller

Hunter Hovenga

Casey Jedele

Katie Karnosh

Brittney Kidwell

Kathleen Larkin

Rachel Lebowitz

Claire Lee

Naphtalie Librun-Ukiri

Kailin Liu

Michaela Mapes

Jared Mayer

Brendan McCartney

Jake McGee

Kenneth Mok

Pauline Nguyen

Olivia Probetts

Matthew Reade

Gianna Santoro

Annie Schoenfeldt

Camilla Sippel

Chas Taylor

Aleksandra Timakova

Kelsey Tuohy

Devin Weinberg

Monika Weisman

AJ Wu

Julian Zhu