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Philadelphia Bar Association Confers Public Interest Awards on Three Alumni

three alumni honored by the Philadelphia Bar Association for their pro bono service with 2017 Klothen awards '15 alumna Daniella Price, '17 alumna Angela Ruan, '10 alumnus Juan Baez, '17 alumnus Jaymes Fairfax Columbo, Rashida West, '17 alumna Chelsey Christiansen

June 07, 2017

Recent graduates Angela Ruan, Jaymes Fairfax Columbo and Chelsey Christiansen were honored for their pro bono work at the Philadelphia Bar Association’s quarterly luncheon on June 2.  

The trio received this year’s Eve Biskin Klothen Law Student awards, based on their commitment to providing legal assistance to under-served members of the community.

Ruan spent her law school summers at Philadelphia Legal Assistance and the Mazzoni Center and provided pro bono service at the SeniorLAW Center and Philly VIP.  She interned with the City of Philadelphia Law Department’s Regulatory Affairs Unit and spent a semester working with the Civil Litigation Field Clinic based at Philadelphia Legal Assistance.  In addition to providing 202 hours of pro bono service, she also served as president of the law school’s Asian Pacific American Law Students Association.

Fairfax Columbo volunteered at the Criminal Record Expungement Project and the Juvenile Law Center. Graduating summa cum laude and providing 105 hours of pro bono service, he received the American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education Leadership Award and was also named Drexel Law Review Distinguished Member of the Year.

Christiansen provided extensive public service work through Community Legal Services, the Bucks County Public Defender, the Homeless Advocacy Project and the Philadelphia Family Court.  At graduation, she received the Outstanding Law Student Award for her work in the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, reflecting the 219 hours of pro bono service she provided. She was also president of the Family Law Society.

Joining the trio at the awards luncheon were alumna Daniella Price, ’15, an associate at McDonnell & Associates and president of the National Bar Association Women Lawyers Division, Philadelphia Chapter; alumnus Juan Baez, ’10, deputy managing attorney of the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania and president of the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania, and Rashida West, director of the Public Interest and Pro Bono programs at the Kline School of Law.