The Foundation recognizes its top scholars with named scholarships. We sincerely thank the following law firms and corporations for their generous contributions to the Diversity Scholarship Program.

Raymond Rollan, University of San Francisco School of Law
Calvo Fisher & Jacob LLP Scholar

Maria Sofia Corona Gomez, UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall)
Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP Scholar

Melissa C. Gant, UC Hastings College of the Law
Fenwick & West LLP Scholar

Monique Loy, Stanford Law School
Gibson Dunn and Frederick and Christine Brown Scholar


Heidy Lozano Pineda, Loyola Law School
Girardi & Keese Scholar

Yesica Hernandez, UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall)
Howard Rice Scholar

Leilani Lipa, UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall)
Keesal, Young & Logan Scholar

Sharitie Williams, Loyola Law School
Lim Ruger Foundation Scholar

Alexa Camarena, UCLA School of Law
Manatt Scholar

John Haney, UCLA School of Law
The Morrison & Foerster Foundation Scholar

Christina Lynn Burke, UCLA School of Law
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe Foundation Scholar

Jennifer Marie Barlock, University of San Diego School of Law
Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP Scholar

Sadath Garcia, UCLA School of Law
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Scholar

Tristan Bufete, UCLA School of Law
Sidley Austin Scholar

Autumn Joy Anderson, USC Gould School of Law
SNR Denton Scholar

Cinthia Nataly Flores, UC Irvine School of Law
Southern California Edison Scholar

Cassandra Carrasco Borjon, California Western School of Law
Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas & Electric Scholar

Maya Dillard Smith, UC Hastings College of the Law
UPS and Morrison & Foerster LLP Scholar

JeAnne Reyes, UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall)
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation Scholar

Stephanie Dianne Hyland-Zacarias, Southwestern Law School
Board of Directors Scholar

Samantha Morales, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Board of Directors Scholar

California Western School of Law
Cassandra Carrasco Borjon Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas & Electric Scholar
Cassandra developed an interest in pursuing a career in criminal defense at a young age. She faced many health and family challenges growing up, as her father died when she was a freshman in high school and she was diagnosed with a chronic kidney disorder.  Yet Cassandra persevered and enrolled in college at San Jose State, made the women’s tennis team, and became involved in many community activities.  Cassandra is deeply motivated to achieve her long-term goal of becoming a lawyer and advocating for the under-represented.

Loyola Law School
Heidy Lozano Pineda Girardi & Keese Scholar
Heidy immigrated to the United States from Guatemala as a teenager.  After graduating from UCLA, she served as a National AmeriCorps Fellow and worked as a program manager for the Coalition for Humane and Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, which triggered her interest in attending law school.  Heidy co-founded the CHIRLA Action Fund to engage immigrants in civic participation and political advocacy. She has interned at Neighborhood Legal Services and taught Spanish to elementary school students. Heidy hopes to pursue civil rights law after graduating from Loyola.

Sharitie Williams Lim Ruger Foundation Scholar

Despite growing up with an alcoholic parent and spending much of her childhood in foster care, Sharitie embraced academics, graduating as salutatorian of her high school class, and committed herself to helping others. Her first job, at age 18, was serving as a case manager’s assistant for low-income senior citizens in South Los Angeles. A member of UC Irvine’s track and field team, Sharitie joined the staff of the university’s athletics department after graduation, rising to the position of director of camps and community relations.  She hopes to work with and mentor minority athletes in navigating the complex world of college athletics.

Southwestern Law School
Stephanie Dianne Hyland-Zacarias Board of Directors Scholar
Growing up in a low-income home, Stephanie overcame many odds to graduate from Pitzer College and receive a Fulbright Research Fellowship to study Nicaraguan immigrants in Costa Rica.  She has demonstrated a deep commitment to helping marginalized communities and immigrants, working as a community organizer at the Center for California Cultural and Social Issues, where she organized events supporting day laborers and volunteered at the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center.  In Costa Rica, she organized agricultural workers and taught English to domestic workers in addition to working on research projects.

Stanford Law School
Monique Loy Gibson Dunn and Frederick and Christine Brown Scholar
Monique is grateful for the sacrifices made by her Mexican immigrant grandmother and her single mother to provide her with the opportunity to pursue her dream of becoming a lawyer. A graduate of Stanford University, where she conducted writing workshops for high school students and led an organization focused on teenage relationship abuse education, Monique spent two summers interning at California Rural Legal Assistance, where she worked on farm worker wage claims and discrimination cases. This experience gave her a greater appreciation of her family heritage and solidified her desire to serve the community as a public interest lawyer.

Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Samantha Morales Board of Directors Scholar
Samantha's desire to help victims of violent crimes as an attorney is rooted in her own personal experience. The release from prison of the man who had stalked and murdered her mother has fueled her commitment to public service. After graduating from UC Davis, Samantha has worked in various social service roles for the County of Sacramento, managing foster care cases, investigating cases of child abuse and neglect, and helping families receive welfare benefits. Samantha is the president of the Sacramento County Latino County Caucus, leading community service projects and promoting domestic violence awareness.

University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall)
Maria Sofia Corona Gomez Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP Scholar
Maria grew up in the San Joaquin Valley surrounded by immigrant Latino farm workers who faced economic, cultural, and social prejudice on a daily basis.  While serving as translator and cultural guide for her parents, she excelled at school.  At Fresno State, she studied the history of marginalized communities and became involved in community organizing activities.  While earning her master’s degree at the University of Texas, she was a union organizer and volunteered with the Workers’ Defense Project.  For the two years prior to law school, Maria served as a community worker for California Rural Legal Assistance in Fresno.

Yesica Hernandez Howard Rice Scholar

Complementary interests in music and social change are common threads throughout Yesica’s educational and career paths. Just prior to law school, Yesica spent a year in Lima, Peru, as a Fulbright-mtvU grantee, conducting research for a documentary on the influence of Afro-Peruvian music on race relations in Peru. As a dual major in sociology and film and media studies at Stanford University, her studies focused on social movements in Latin America as well as on the use of film and other media to empower and educate communities. As a lawyer, Yesica plans to practice environmental justice law.

Leilani Lipa Keesal, Young & Logan Scholar

Although the odds were stacked against her as an African American growing up in a blue-collar, single-parent household, Leilani realized the importance of her education and was fueled by a determination to rise above her circumstances. At George Washington University, she became a leader in her sorority, educated other students about healthy life choices through a student outreach group, and developed a passion for helping others. Prior to law school, she provided audit and advisory services to corporations with Ernst & Young LLP.

JeAnne Reyes Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation Scholar

Though JeAnne was born in the United States, her mother's immigration problems forced her family to move to the Philippines. When they returned, she struggled as a monolingual Tagalong speaker in the midst of a Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrant community. Despite her father's death and the loss of her family home at age 12, JeAnne has been determined to overcome her circumstances — a drive that led her to Haverford College and, for five years prior to law school, to the International Institute, where she provided assistance to low-income immigrants.

University of California, Hastings College of the Law
Melissa C. Gant Fenwick & West LLP Scholar
The granddaughter of an illiterate African American sharecropper in the South and the daughter of a poor Thai immigrant, Melissa has overcome numerous challenges.   She was diagnosed with lupus at the age of 16 and suffered kidney failure in college, but she has not let her disability hold her back.  She graduated from UC Davis and earned a master’s degree from Cal State Sacramento.  With a law degree, Melissa hopes to become an advocate for those with disabilities.

Maya Dillard Smith UPS and Morrison & Foerster LLP Scholar

With hard work and determination, Maya survived a tough childhood in a poor, crime-ridden Oakland neighborhood and a teenage pregnancy to graduate with degrees from UC Berkeley and Harvard. Currently the youngest member on the California Commission on Judicial Performance, Maya has worked as an analyst for the Judicial Council of California, as a senior advisor to the mayor of San Francisco, and as the director of strategic investments for Youth UpRising. As a lawyer, she intends to practice in government regulation, investigations, and systems reform.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Irvine, School of Law
Cinthia Nataly Flores Southern California Edison Scholar
Raised by a single mother on welfare, Cinthia believes that higher education is the key to ending her family's cycle of poverty. Despite a counselor who discouraged her from applying to top colleges, she was accepted at UCLA, where she became involved in many student organizations. As a senior, Cinthia was elected the campus' first Latina student body president, leading efforts to protest fee increases and advocating for financial aid for undocumented students. Cinthia hopes to pursue a career in immigration and labor law.

University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law
Tristan Bufete Sidley Austin Scholar
When he was 12, Tristan's family left the Philippines for a better life in the United States.  But unable to get green cards immediately, they spent nine years in immigration limbo, during which time Tristan could not work for pay, obtain a driver's license, or enjoy other opportunities.  Receiving a full, merit-based academic scholarship to Fresno State, where he was active in student government and the Economics Student Association, was a significant achievement for Tristan.  For the past three years, Tristan worked at Public Counsel Law Center in Los Angeles.

Christina Lynn Burke Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe Foundation Scholar

Growing up in a low-income, single-parent household in Stockton, Christina overcame many odds to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where she was a member of the National Society of Black Engineers, swam on the swim team, and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology. Christina has worked as a family therapist to low-income minority families, coordinated research projects for the Veterans Medical Research Foundation, and volunteered as president of the Child Youth Program Parent Involvement Board at Navy bases in Japan and Spain.

Alexa Camarena Manatt Scholar

With her mother suffering from epilepsy and her father struggling to make ends meet, Alexa was forced to navigate her education on her own. She worked a retail job to put herself through community college and fulfilled her goal of attending a four-year university when she transferred to UCLA. Determined to attend law school, she sought out programs that would help advance her educational goals and founded the Latina/o Pre-Law Society. Alexa intends to use her law degree to fight for equal rights for the LGBT community.

Sadath Garcia Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Scholar

The son of Mexican migrants who never finished grade school, Sadath became the first in his family to graduate from college. After completing his studies at the University of Redlands, he was determined to effect social change through film, providing translation for PBS’s The New Americans and designing social action campaigns for films like An Inconvenient Truth. When his father suffered a heart attack and stroke, Sadath struggled to secure health care for him as well as help his parents navigate the legal system as they faced foreclosure. That experience, along with his activism in the marriage equality movement, motivated Sadath to become an attorney.

John Haney The Morrison & Foerster Foundation Scholar

The son of a Seminole chief and an attorney devoted to Native American affairs, John is proud of his Seminole, Creek, and Choctaw heritage.  He is a recent graduate of Columbia University, where he was chair of the Native American Council and helped found the Native American Alumni Association.  A major in architectural history, John also has a deep interest in the arts.  He has worked as a graphic designer and webmaster, curated Native American art exhibits, and plays the jazz guitar.  John also interned with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. He intends to practice Native American tribal law in California.

University of San Diego School of Law
Jennifer Marie Barlock Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP Scholar
As a member of the U.S. Marine Corps, Jennifer developed focus, strength, and a commitment to community service and learned to succeed in a male-dominated environment.  She also went beyond the call of duty to serve the community throughout her time in the Marines, whether it be coordinating Toys for Tots drives, volunteering with disabled children in Okinawa, Japan, or volunteering at an animal shelter.  Jennifer is a graduate of the University of Maryland University College.

University of San Francisco School of Law
Raymond Rollan Calvo Fisher & Jacob LLP Scholar
Raymond developed a commitment to public service as a young boy in the Philippines who helped his grandmother deliver donated books to poor local children. When he immigrated to the United States at age 14, it was another community service project – volunteering at a senior home facility – that helped him adjust to his new surroundings. At UC San Diego, Raymond became an active volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, while working full-time and earning top grades. More recently, Raymond has promoted AIDS awareness with the San Francisco LGBT Coalition and is active in a nonprofit hip-hop dance company.

University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Autumn Joy Anderson SNR Denton Scholar
Autumn grew up in Wyoming, where she and her two siblings were three of four African Americans in their elementary school.  When she moved to California at the age of 13, she began to fully explore her identity as an African American, and, despite her family’s economic and mental health struggles, she graduated from high school with a 4.0 GPA and attended UC Berkeley, where she became very involved in her sorority and worked at the Black Recruitment and Retention Center.  Autumn hopes to pursue a career in international human rights law or indigent criminal defense.