Prior Public Interest Scholarship Recipients


The Asian American Law Fund of New York awards Public Interest Scholarships each year to law students with a demonstrated commitment to the Asian American community. The purpose of the award is to assist law students with their tuition while encouraging them to use their legal knowledge and training to benefit the Asian American community in New York and to foster commitment by law students to public service to the Asian American community in New York.

YearNameLaw SchoolCommunity Service Organization
1997Winnie LeeBrooklyn Law SchoolAALDEF
1998Franklin ChiuBrooklyn Law SchoolAALDEF
1999Pei Pei Cheng
Jason Park
NY Law School
Brooklyn Law School
MFY Legal Services
Korean American Family Services
2000Amelia Toledo
Tony Lu
CUNY School of Law
NYU Law School
AALDEF
UNITE
2001Megan Penick
Soma Syed
NY Law School
Albany Law School
MFY Legal Services
UNITE
2002Silvia Liu
Suyin So
CUNY School of Law
Georgetown U School of Law
MFY Legal Services
AALDEF
2003Bharati Narumanchi
James Paglinawan
CUNY School of Law
CUNY School of Law
AALDEF
AAFE
2004Tzung-lin Fu
Constance Utada
NYU Law School
Northeastern Law School
Sanctuary for Families
MFY Legal Services
2005Deepika Bains
Monica Roli Khare
UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law
Temple UniversityBeaseley School of Law
AALDEF
EEOC, NY office
2006Eileen Choi
Sung-Min Lee
Amy Tai
CUNY School of Law
Fordham University School of Law
American University Washington School of Law
AALDEF
Sanctuary for Families
AALDEF
2007Miya Saika Chen
Hye Won Chung
Ali Najmi
Krishna Sampath
American University Washington School of Law

CUNY School of Law

CUNY School of Law

Northeastern Law School

Center for Constitutional Rights

Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York

AALDEF
AALDEF

2008Haeya Yim
Vichal Kumar*
Brooklyn Law School
Hofstra Law School
AALDEF
NYS Defenders Association
2009Olivia Canlas
Niji Jain*
CUNY School of Law
Emory U School of Law
AALDEF
Safe Horizon
2010Pooja Awatramini*

Trinh Ngoc Tran

John Ting

Seaton Hall University Law School

Hofstra University Law School

CUNY School of Law

NYCLU

AALDEF

Catholic Charities Newark

2011Prathiba Desai

Sapna Patel

Maweza Razzaq*

CUNY School of Law

Boston University School of Law

Brooklyn Law School

Somaly Mam Foundation

MFY Legal Services

Sakhi for South Asian Women

2012Min Young Choi

Yi Lin

Hira Amin*

Columbia Law School

Southern University Law Center

CUNY School of Law

MinKwon

MFY Legal Services

AALDEF

2013Mieon Han

Lucy Zhang

Nabila Taj*

Fordham University School of Law

Duke University School of Law

CUNY School of Law

MinKwon

NYLAG

Queens Legal Services

2014Rebecca Arian

Eva Yung

Pooja Shah*

CUNY School of Law

NYU School of Law

Pace University School of Law

Legal Aid Society

NY Asian Women’s Center

Urban Justice League

2015Kamille Go

Jasleen Singh*

American U Washington College of Law

UC Berkeley School of Law

Legal Aid Society

Legal Aid Society

2016Michelle Chan
Alice Thai
Maria Iman*
University of Virginia Law School
NYU School of Law
NY Law School
NY Asian Women’s Center
Atlas: DIY
Sakhi for South Asian Women
2017Jane Lo
Marissa Wong
Devika M. Balaram*
Ruhi Behal*
Temple University Beasley School of Law
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
New York University School of Law
Fordham University School of Law
AALDEF
Kings County DA Office
Queens Legal Services
Queens Legal Services
2018Henna Kaushal                 
Corinne Merdegia            
Nishat Bella Tabassum*                  
UC Berkeley School of Law  
Arizona State U Law School        
CUNY School of Law         
NYCLU
Legal Aid Society
Kings County DA Office
2019Vaishali S. Kamlal *    New England Law School     Bronx Defenders Office
2020Jenna Agatep
Jeremy Chan-Kraushar
Susu Zhao
Pooja Shivaprasad*
Northeastern University School of Law
CUNY School of Law
Fordham University School of Law
Berkeley Law School
AABANY Pro Bono Clinic
Coalition for Asian American Children and Families 
Urban Justice Center 
Center for Constitutional Rights
2021Amanda Jimenez 
Evelyn (Meng) Lin 
Shelley Wu 
Dawa Lhamo*
CUNY Law School
Syracuse University College of Law
Cardozo School of Law
CUNY Law School
Mission to End Modern Slavery
Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York
Urban Justice Center
Catholic Migration Services
2022Juliana Chang
Vincent Kwan
Emlyn Medalla
Mahum Vance*                
Harvard Law School
UC Hastings Law School
CUNY Law School
New York Law School
A Better Balance
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York
National Domestic Workers Alliance
Lawyers for Children
2023Judy Lee
Mylisa Nogra
Deepti Sailappan
CUNY Law School
Boston College Law School
CUNY Law School
Mobilization for Justice
Bronx Legal Services
Brooklyn Defender Services

*AALFNY – SABANY Public Interest Scholarships