At Elon Law’s April Reception with the Legal Community, 34 students were recognized for significant pro bono and community service, including third-year law student Caitlin Cutchin who was recognized for contributing the most pro bono hours while at Elon with 581 hours logged.
Second-year law student Kelly Stage and first-year student Mark Funkhouser were recognized for logging the most pro bono hours for the Classes of 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Three law students were recognized for exceptional service in the law school’s clinics:
- Wade Love won the Exceptional Service to the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Clinic Award,
- Porsha Washington won the Exceptional Service to the Elder Law Clinic Award, and
- Michael Wynne won the Exceptional Service to the Humanitarian Immigration Law Clinic Award.
The North Carolina Bar Association, represented at Elon’s reception by Georgiana Yonuschot, an attorney at Womble Carlyle, recongized third-year students for significant pro bono service. Yonuschot is the recipient of the North Carolina Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Pro Bono Award. She recognized the following third-year students for contributing more than 75 hours of pro bono service throughout their time in law school:
- Andrew Realon
- Brenna Ragghianti
- Brian Park
- Brittany Long
- Caitlin Cutchin
- Caroline Johnson
- Christian Robin
- David Lambert
- Erica Weatherford
- Kate Bostrom
- Katie Koone
- Kristen DelForge
- Kristen Redman
- LeeAnne Lawrence
- Mallory Horne
- Molly Harris
- Monique Smart
- Patrick Ward
- Pedro Mantilla
- Peyton Mansure
- Rachel Jeanes
- Rachel Spears
- Ross Holland
- Suzi Haynes
- Tony Huynh
- Vanessa Benavidez
- William Mitchell
The 27 students recognized above represent 26 percent of the Class of 2014. Combined, they reported 6,000 hours of pro bono service while at Elon Law.
In addition, the student-led Pro Bono Board at Elon Law recognized the following members of the Class of 2015 for completing more than 75 hours of pro bono service:
- Alex Rogers
- Bree Shadrick
- Devon Johnson
- Emily Pfeiffer
- Kelly Stage
- Lani Wright
The Elon Law Pro Bono Program is housed in the Office of Student Affairs and supported by the Pro Bono Board. The student run board was established in the fall of 2011 and works primarily to raise awareness of pro bono and public interest work through fundraising, service and education. The group works with students, organizations, faculty, administration and the legal community to help assure that there are a number of service opportunities available to students and support legal services for the community.
The Pro Bono Board consists of law students Mark Funkhouser, Victoria Hinton, Jessica Richardson, Alex Rogers and Ian Philips, together with third-year representatives Molly Harris and Daniel Dziuban. The Board is advised by Alexis Martinez Fedrizzi, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs.
More information about the Pro Bono Program at Elon Law is available here.
Reporting for this article contributed by Hayden McNeill L’15