Our Students: Future Lawyers Who Lead

Santa Clara Law students lead in many areas both inside and outside of the academic world. Our diverse student body hails from various countries, states and backgrounds and garnered achievements beyond the classroom. Each personal endeavor contributes to their path of becoming lawyers who lead.

The Student Spotlight features the individual pursuits our students engage in. Discover the lesser-known side of law students. If you’d like to share some good student news, please let us know.

Student Spotlight - Juliana Williamson ’12, advocate for social change

Student Spotlight - Christina Fialho ’12, co-founder of non-profit Detention Dialogues

Student Spotlight - Matthew Izzi ’13, photographer for social change

Student Spotlight - Mathew Tseng ’12, international dancer and choreographer

Student Spotlight - Nike Women’s Marathon runners 2011

Student Spotlight - Santa Clara Law students design social network for Net App legal employees

1L Karla De La Torre was awarded a Diversity Scholarship by Farella Braun + Martel LLP. Diversity Scholarship recipients are selected based on academic accomplishments, commitment to serving the community and financial need. Ms. De La Torre serves as the incoming secretary for La Raza and is the past publicity chair of the Public Interest and Social Justice Coalition. She also attended Santa Clara University for her undergraduate studies, earning a B.S. in political science with a pre-law emphasis. She served as an immersion coordinator, leading students to East Los Angeles to expose gang and social justice issues, and organized an AB 540 student conference to support high school students through the college application process. While pursuing her college degree, De La Torre interned with the Law Offices of Raul Ray, providing translation services for Spanish-speaking clients. She also taught seventh-grade students at Sacred Heart Nativity Schools in San Jose for two years before enrolling in law school. She will clerk with Bay Area Legal Aid this summer.

2/14/12: Santa Clara Law has been well-represented by the early spring Honors Moot Court External (HMCE) teams, including an exciting first place win!!

A. Trademark:

First, one of our two Lefkowitz Trademark teams won at the regionals this past weekend to advance to national rounds! Congratulations to the both HMCE Trademark teams who competed in the Western Regional Rounds of the 21st Annual Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition on Saturday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. This competition is sponsored by the INTA (International Trademark Association). Santa Clara Law fielded two teams, one consisting of competitors Sebnem Kimyacioglu and Martin Kopp, and the second team comprising competitors Jacob Vigil and Christopher Creech.

Both teams were extremely impressive during their oral rounds. Jacob Vigil and Christopher Creech took First Place and will be representing Santa Clara Law and the Western Region at the Finals in Washington D.C. at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 17. This is the first time Santa Clara Law has won Regionals and will be attending the Lefkowitz Finals! The HMCE competition manager was Shyla Jones. Both teams were coached by Santa Clara alum Jeremiah Armstrong from McDermott, Will & Emery in Menlo Park.

Among those mooting these teams were Tyler Ochoa and Adriana Duffy from the Santa Clara faculty, and alums Sriranga Veeraraghavan, Elizabeth Brannen, Erica Tierney and Eric Hutchins. In addition, Judge Leslie C. Nichols mooted the teams.

B. Pace International:

HMCE Congratulations also go to our Pace International Criminal Court (ICC) Team, comprised of Cooper Green, Sam Forbes-Roberts, Eric Ruehe, and Bernadette Valdellon. The Pace ICC team made it to the semi-finals in the 5th Annual ICC Moot Court Competition, Regional Round for the Americas and Caribbean, held at Pace Law School in White Plains, New York this past weekend, and missed winning by only one point.

Each team submits three briefs for this competition, one for each party in the case.Our team came away with two second place awards out of 15 teams!  A special congratulations goes to Sam Forbes-Roberts on his Second Place brief for the Government, and to Eric Ruehe for his Second Place brief for the Defense, and Second Place Oralist overall. The coach of this team is Beth Van Schaack and the HMCE competition manager is Megan O’Brien.

Those who mooted this team included Santa Clara faculty members Kyle Graham, Art Gemmell, and David Sloss.

C. Asylum & Refugee Law:

Additionally, Santa Clara Law had two teams who competed the weekend before in the 5th Annual UC Davis Asylum and Refugee Competition held in Sacramento, CA. The first team included competitors Scott Idiart, Liya Arushanyan, and Jennifer Bregante and the second team included competitors Sita Kuteria, Alyssa Dang, and Amy Quan. The HMCE competition manager was Nedda Alaee.

Both teams were coached by Professor Evangeline Abriel. Among the 21 teams who competed, our teams represented Santa Clara Law extremely well and the team of Scott, Liya and Jennifer finished as quarter finalists! Moreover, Scott, Liya and Jennifer were awarded Second Best Brief overall out of 21 briefs. Both teams were very impressive during their oral rounds. Out of all the oralists competing, our students truly excelled, and Liya was awarded Best Oral Advocate! Congratulations again to both Santa Clara Law teams for all their hard work and great showing at the competition!!

Those mooting these teams included Santa Clara faculty members Angelo Ancheta and Ray Bernstein.

D. Juvenile Law:

Finally, HMCE gives its congratulations to Keith Bayley and Patrick Hensleigh, who competed two weekends ago in the 17th Annual National Juvenile Law Moot Court Competition at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, CA. Keith and Patrick were coached by Missy Dague O’Connell, Staff Attorney with the Northern California Innocence Project and lecturer at Santa Clara Law. The HMCE competition manager was Amy Kennedy. This was Santa Clara Law's first team entry in this competition. Congratulations to Keith and Patrick for their efforts and trailblazing for Santa Clara Law at this competition!!

Those who mooted this team were Patrick Graber ’05 and Terri McLaughlin, both Deputy District Attorneys in Santa Clara County. Holly Dixon ’10 is a paralegal with the DNA Unit at NCIP. Kelley Fleming, a staff attorney with the DNA unit of CDP also mooted the team, along with Julie Saffren, a family law practitioner who also teaches at Santa Clara Law.

The winners of the 20th Annual Russell W. Galloway Criminal Law Moot Court Competition and winners of the Uelmen Prizes are Sara Rose and Clay Lapoint. The runners-up were Chris Mosier and Sergio Gonzalez. Mr. Lapoint also won the Kimura Award for Best Oral Advocate.

3L Christina Fialho’s non-profit Detention Dialogues was featured on Univision on February 9, 2012. The clip is in Spanish. Click here to watch it.

3L Juliana Williamson wrote an article on domestic violence in same-sex relationships that is being cited by experts and prosecutors. Juliana was quoted in a San Jose Mercury News article on January 14, 2012. Read more...

Lizbeth Najera Munoz ’13 was awarded the Daniel Hernandez Scholarship from the La Raza Lawyers of Santa Clara County at their scholarship dinner. This scholarship is awarded to a Bay Area law student who has demonstrated a commitment to community service. Lizbeth is originally from Mexico, and is the first person in her family to go to college. Two other Santa Clara students were awarded stipends: Karla De La Torre ’14 and Barbara Wolfe ’12. Congratulations to all three students!

Christina Fialho ’12 received an honorable mention in PSLawNet's Pro Bono Publico Award competition. Christina also founded Detention Dialogues, a volunteer-run program that connects community volunteers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees to provide a wide array of services. She is in the process of taking Detention Dialogues global. Read more about Detention Dialogues...

Student Spotlight Archives (2009-2011)