The Student Leadership Award is the National LGBTQ+ Bar’s highest honor for law students. The award recognizes two law students who have demonstrated leadership within their school and in the surrounding community, especially in the area of LGBTQ+ equality. The 2025 co-winners will receive free Lavender Law® registration as well as travel and lodging assistance to New York City (up to $500) if they are still a law student at the time of the conference and are able to attend the conference. Those who have already graduated or otherwise will not be able to attend Lavender Law® will receive a $500 cash gift.
Nominations may be submitted by anyone, including nominees themselves. In addition to a letter of support signed by the nominator, three additional letters of support may be submitted with the nomination, but are not required (for a total of four letters maximum). Please carefully review the criteria and direct all questions to Judi O’Kelley, Chief Program Officer, at judi@lgbtqbar.org.
Nominations due April 1, 2025 by Midnight Eastern Time
2024 Winners
Jibri Douglas (they/them) is a Black transmasculine non-binary law student from Newark, NJ. They are a rising 4LE evening/part-time Rutgers Law School – Camden student. In 2010, Jibri graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor’s degree in Health Promotion and Behavior. In 2017, Jibri graduated with a Master of Public Health degree from Drexel University with a concentration in Health Management and Policy and a certificate in LGBTQ Health. Jibri worked for nearly 15 years in public health, becoming a subject matter expert in public health practice, diversity, equity, and inclusion, eliminating health disparities in healthcare, global health, and HIV/AIDS prevention and education.
Today, Jibri is pursuing a career shift into the legal field. As a law student, I served on the e-board for the Black Law Students Association and the Philadelphia LGBTQ Bar Association. Jibri is also a Distinguished Social Justice Scholar who dedicates their time to pro bono projects ranging from expungements and pardons to transgender name and gender marker changes. Outside of law school, Jibri is a competitive powerlifter in the LGBTQ Powerlifting Union and the International Association of Trans Bodybuilders & Powerlifters and plays softball in the City of Brotherly Love LGBTQ Softball League.
As a practicing attorney, Jibri plans to start their career in big law, gain invaluable commercial litigation experience, and clerk for a US District Court Judge. Then, Jibri hopes to combine their litigation experience and passion for public health to fight against codified disenfranchisement in our legal system for Black and Brown individuals and LGBTQ communities of color as a civil rights trial attorney. Jibri’s ultimate goal is to one day become the first Black Trans/Non-Binary US District Court Judge.
Charlie Ferguson (they/them) is a recent University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School graduate. They came to law school with a strong dedication to advancing LGBTQ+ civil rights after a career running an LGBTQ+ youth center in Brooklyn and serving as the Vice President of Collegians on the National Council for Gamma Rho Lambda, a Greek organization for LGBTQ+ college students. At Penn Carey Law, Charlie was the President of Penn Carey Law Lambda, competed in the Williams Institute National Moot Court Competition, served as the Research Director for the Transgender Empowerment and Advocacy Pro Bono Project, worked on the National LGBTQ+ Bar Law Student Congress. They also published two articles on transgender constitutional and administrative law. During law school, they interned with the National ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project, Lambda Legal, and the HIV Law Project. Following graduation, Charlie will clerk for the federal judiciary before pursuing a career in LGBTQ+ civil rights impact litigation, with a focus on justice for transgender youth and incarcerated populations. They are deeply grateful and excited to spend the rest of their career fighting with their community for a more just world.
Previous Awardees:
2023
Winner – Wenxi Lu, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Winner – Kyle Hildebrand, Georgia State University College of Law2022
Winner – Dylan Bitar, Charleston School of Law
First Runner-Up – Edson Abadia Jr., Stetson University College of Law2021
Winner – Julio Cazares, University of Mississippi School of Law
First Runner-Up – Demetrius Williams, Emory University School of Law2020
Winner – Ian F. Tapu, University of Hawai’i
First Runner-Up – AK Shee, University of California, Los Angeles2019
Winners – Chan Tov McNamarah, Cornell Law School, and Candelario Saldana, University of Miami School of Law
2018
Winners – Nicole Schladt and Faris Mohammed, Emory University School of Law
First Runner Up – Ashley Fasano, University of San Diego School of Law2017
Winner – Christopher “Tripp” Zanetis, Stanford Law School
First Runner-up – Andy Blevins, Willamette University
Second Runner-up – Beck Zucker, The George Washington University Law School2016
Winner – Joshua Treybig, Seattle University School of Law
Winner – Kathleen Cullum, Indiana University Maurer School of Law2015
Winner – Adam Grogan, Albany Law School
Winner –Paul Sautter-Walker, Albany Law School2014
Winner – Deborah Lolai, Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
Runner-up – Brenna Ragghianti, Elon University School of Law2013
Winner – Mieko Failey, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
Runner-up – Elizabeth Dooley, Stanford Law School2012
Winner – Michelle Garcia, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
Runner-up – Adam Chang, University of Hawaii, Manoa2011
Winner – Jason C. Beekman, Cornell Law School
Runner-up – Ashland Johnson, University of Georgia School of Law2010
Winner – C. Hays Burchfield, University of Mississippi
Runner-up – Danielle Hawkes, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law