Adelaida Brown

2023 Judge Judith C. Chirlin Scholarship Recipient – in honor of the late Judge Chirlin, a long-standing WLALA board member and 2002 WLALA Ernestine Stahlut (Women in Law Trailblazer) awardee.

Ms. Brown is entering her third year at University of California, Irvine School of Law this fall. Ms. Brown’s commitment towards public interest work and social justice causes is clear.  Notably, she has done over 200 hours of pro bono volunteer work during her first two years of law school.  Among her various projects, last year, Ms. Brown volunteered for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, where she worked in their policy unit and assisted with research used for drafting a legislative bill aimed to increase visiting rights for incarcerated individuals.  Ms. Brown also volunteered for the Children’s Law Center where she helped develop educational materials for school districts on compliance with new state laws. 

This summer, Ms. Brown is working with the Public Counsel’s Children’s Rights Education Advocacy Unit, where she will be involved with advocacy for students of color, English learners, students with disabilities, and students in the dependency and delinquency systems.  Ms. Brown will be providing direct services to such students and their families to ensure that they receive the necessary intervention for an equitable education.  Thereafter, in the fall, Ms. Brown will be attending Columbia University Law School’s Center for Public Leadership and Research, where she will focus on public education issues. 

Ms. Brown plans to use her law degree to work within educational systems to address issues of inequity and injustice for students.