The faculty of UConn School of Law has recognized the many and varied achievements of 40 students and one graduate with an array of prizes and awards.<\/p>\n
The recipients, announced at the end of the academic year, are honored for their academic and extracurricular accomplishments, which may include grades, class participation, clinical work, leadership and community involvement. Many awards provide a financial component while others offer books, certificates, memberships and other gifts.<\/p>\n
The 2023 awards and recipients are:<\/p>\n
The Honorable Herbert Barall Family Law Award<\/strong> The Honorable M. Joseph Blumenfeld Award<\/strong> The L. Steward Bohan Connecticut Attorneys Title Insurance Company Foundation (CATIC) Award in Real Property <\/strong> The Elihu Burritt Award <\/strong> The Clark-Janis International Award<\/strong> The Clinical Legal Education Association Certificate of Recognition<\/strong> The Clinical Legal Education Association Outstanding Externship Student Award<\/strong> The Connecticut Bar Association Real Property Section Award<\/strong> The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities Award<\/strong> The Maxwell Friedman Award<\/strong> The Thomas F. Gallivan, Jr. Memorial Award<\/strong> The Milton W. Horwitz Award<\/strong> The Insurance Law Center JD Award<\/strong> The Insurance Law Center LLM Award<\/strong> Olimpiad Ioffe Award<\/strong> Fleming James Jr. Award<\/strong> Kathryn Mikolinski \u201917 Memorial Award for Criminal Law<\/strong> The Distinguished Alumni Professor Kent Newmyer Award in American Legal History<\/strong> Joseph F. Noonan Memorial Award<\/strong> The Pomp-Shine Family Award in Taxation Award<\/strong> The Alvin Pudlin Memorial First Amendment Fund Award<\/strong> The Judge Robert Satter Award<\/strong> George and Lorraine Schatzki Award<\/strong> Paul Schneider LLM ’18 and Bryan Garcia Human Rights and Social Justice Award<\/strong> Thomas J. Staley Award<\/strong> William F. Starr Fellowship Award <\/strong> William F. Starr First Year Award <\/strong> Edward L. Stephenson Memorial Award<\/strong> Terry J. Tondro Award<\/strong> UConn School of Law Award for Exceptional Achievement in Scholarship<\/strong> UConn School of Law Award for Outstanding Service to the Law School<\/strong> UConn School of Law International Award<\/strong> UConn School of Law Pro Bono Award<\/strong> Cornelius W. Wickersham Jr. Award<\/strong> Women Law Students Award<\/strong> National Association of Women Lawyers Award<\/strong> Allstate Foundation Scholarship<\/strong> American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education Scholarship & Leadership Award<\/strong> The 2023 awards were coordinated by a committee working at the request of Dean Eboni S. Nelson in consultation with faculty members in each subject area. The committee members were Professor Susan Schmeiser and Professor Robert Birmingham (Co-Chairs), Professor Nadiyah Humber, Professor Tara Cooley, and Professor Lisa Perkins, Christina Mohr, Shelby Summers, and the Academic Affairs Team of Jazmin Bello, Teresa Thomas and Ellen Swanson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The annual awards recognize achievements in many areas of the law as well as contributions to the law school and the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":198989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1857],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1856],"class_list":["post-198978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 19:20:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198978"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199666,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198978\/revisions\/199666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/198989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198978"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=198978"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=198978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u2022 Rachel Kupec \u201923
\nEstablished by friends and family of Judge Herbert Barall and awarded to a graduating student who has excelled in the study of family law and has shown a commitment to family law.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Enrique Lopez Ramirez \u201923
\nEstablished by friends of U.S. District Judge M. Joseph Blumenfeld and awarded to a student who has rendered outstanding service to clients in a clinic program.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Sebastian Ullman \u201923
\n\u2022 Zoe Heard \u201923
\nAwarded to students for outstanding work in real property law.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Juli\u00e1n Qui\u00f1ones Reyes \u201923
\nAwarded to the student with the highest academic average achieved at a semester abroad program sponsored by the Law School.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Hannah Bauer \u201923
\nEstablished by Professor Mark Janis and his wife, Janet Janis, in honor of their parents, Martha and Allan Clark and June and Henry Janis, and given to an international student for superior academic achievement.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Joyce Lopes \u201924
\nAwarded to a student for outstanding performance in a clinical program.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Briana Fernald \u201923
\nAwarded to a student for outstanding performance in an externship.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Robert Clayton
\nGiven to the student who has contributed substantially to the development of a sound body of law in the field of real property.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Madison Schettler \u201924
\nGiven to a student who, in the judgment of the faculty, has written the best paper addressing a problem in municipal law or another aspect of municipal government, or has completed an internship or service project in municipal government in Connecticut and demonstrates the greatest contribution to excellence in local government.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Jared Lincoln \u201923
\nPresented to a student for outstanding achievement in commercial subjects.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Tatiana Yevin \u201924
\nPresented by the Law School Alumni Association for outstanding scholastic achievement in property law in honor of the late Thomas F. Gallivan, a lecturer at the Law School.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 William Fallon
\nAwarded to a student who has excelled in the 1L Torts course and who demonstrates a dedication to the highest standards of morality and integrity of the profession.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Jenna Pepe \u201923
\nPresented to a graduating student who has excelled in the study of insurance law or rendered outstanding service to the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal or to the Insurance Law Society.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Kathryn Dzurec \u201923
\nGiven to the student receiving a Masters of Laws (LLM) in Insurance Law who best exemplifies the law school\u2019s commitment to scholarship in insurance law and service to the community.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Kirill Gorlov \u201923
\nEstablished by friends of Professor Olimpiad Ioffe to recognize a graduating student who has excelled in the study of comparative law or Eastern European law.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Nicole Van Lear \u201923
\nEstablished in honor of the late Professor Fleming James Jr. to recognize an upper-level student who has excelled in the study of labor law.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Emily Leen \u201923
\nAwarded in memory of Kathryn Mikolinski \u201917 to a graduating student who demonstrates excellence in the study or practice of criminal defense law or who best exemplifies dedication to protecting the rights of criminal defendants.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Jenna Pepe \u201923
\nEstablished in honor of Kent Newmyer to recognize a student who demonstrates excellence in the study of American legal history.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Gwendolyn Pastor \u201923
\nEstablished in memory of Joseph F. Noonan \u02bc48 to recognize a student who combines outstanding legal scholarship with a commitment to public service.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Constance Chien \u201923
\nEstablished by Professor Richard Pomp in honor of his father, Morris Pomp, and awarded to the student in the tax certificate program with the highest grade point average in tax coursework.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Emily Scace \u201923
\nAwarded to a student who advances the understanding and appreciation of the rights secured by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Thomas Bransfield \u201923
\nAwarded in memory of Judge Robert Satter for contributions through a student\u2019s efforts or written work to the advancement or preservation of civil liberties in America.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Mailande DeWitt \u201923
\nAwarded by fellow graduates Aaron and Sandra Gersten in honor of Dean George Schatzki to a student for outstanding service to the school.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Madara Melnika \u201923
\n\u2022 Anna Everett \u201923
\nAwarded to two students with demonstrated achievement in and dedication to the area of domestic and\/or international human rights and a commitment to advancing human rights and social justice.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Danielle Sturgeon \u201923
\nAwarded in honor of Thomas J. Staley to a student for distinction in the study of labor law.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Jessica Thomas \u201922
\nEstablished in honor of the late Professor William F. Starr to recognize the student in the previous year\u2019s graduating class with the highest grade point average.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Chelsea Connery (Day Division) \u201924
\n\u2022 James Convey Hallinan (Evening Division) \u201925
\nEstablished in honor of the late Professor William F. Starr to recognize the students who achieved the highest grade point averages in last year’s day and evening divisions.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Eduard Batash \u201923
\nEstablished in honor of the late Professor Edward L. Stephenson and awarded to a student for outstanding scholastic achievement in civil procedure.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Pearl Rourke \u201924
\nAwarded in honor of the late Professor Terry J. Tondro to a student for excellence in the study of land use, historic preservation, affordable housing or urban revitalization.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Riley Breakell \u201923
\nAwarded to a graduating student for exceptional achievement in scholarship.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Bryce Simmons \u201923
\nAwarded to a graduating students for outstanding service to the law school community.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Zain Sarmad \u201923
\nAwarded to an international student receiving a Masters of Laws (LLM) in U.S. Legal Studies for a commitment to distinguished scholarship in international studies and service to the community.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Shantel Doss \u201923
\nPresented to a graduating student who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to pro bono work that benefits persons of limited means.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Richard Metzroth \u201923
\nGiven by the Federal Bar Council in honor of Cornelius W. Wickersham, Jr. for excellence in the study of constitutional law.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Emily Collins \u201923
\nAwarded by WLSA to honor and support a University of Connecticut law student who is using legal skills to serve the community by promoting the interest of women.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Danielle Erickson \u201923
\nAwarded to an outstanding law student in the graduating class who has demonstrated academic achievement, exhibited motivation, tenacity, and enthusiasm, and who is likely to contribute to the advancement of women in society.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Brice Russo \u201924
\nAwarded to a student who excelled in last year’s Torts and Contracts classes.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Jacqueline Bashaw \u201923
\nAwarded to a graduating law student who best represents a combination of scholarship and leadership.<\/p>\n