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The Craig Othmer Scholarship was established in 2008 jointly by the Public Law Section and Craig's family to honor him. It is intended to provide summer funding for a UNM law student to pursue a project in public interest law. Craig was a proud 1974 graduate of UNM law and was very active in the Public Law Section and community service throughout his career. While on the Section Board, he was instrumental in establishing the Public Lawyer of the year award because he believed public lawyers deserve more recognition.
The Public Law Section congratulates Brittany Dutton-Leyda as the 2022 Othmer Scholarship recipient. Brittany Dutton-Leyda is a 2L/Rising 3L at UNM School of Law. She is first gen in her family to go to college and law school. Brittany was a high school dropout and teen mom, but went back to school later in life and graduated in 2019 summa cum laude from New Mexico Highlands University. Brittany has the strong desire to practice public interest law and give back to the underserved community. She will be working this summer part-time at the Office of the Federal Defender, and part-time as a law clerk for the Honorable Chief Judge Eichwald of the Thirteenth Judicial District Court in Sandoval county as part of the State Bar Diversity Judicial Clerkship Program. She will be assisting Federal Public Defenders’ with defense of complex federal crimes, along with working in the judicial system that helps people at the state trial court level.
2021- Carson Thornton González- With the support of the Othmer Fellowship, she worked as a legal intern with the New Mexico Prison & Jail Project (NMPJP) where she worked as a legal intern, writing, researching and communicating with clients around the state in various facilities. 2020- Anna Trillo- With the support of the Othmer Fellowship, she worked in a Human Trafficking summer internship at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center (“NMILC”) where she was responsible for conducting outreach and training partners on how to screen and refer potential human-trafficking survivors to NMILC. 2019 - Denali Wilson - With the support of the Othmer Fellowship, she spent her summer working in Washington, D.C. with the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth engaging in policy advocacy and litigation to challenge the use of excessive and extreme youth sentencing. 2018 - Verenice Peregrino Pompa - With the support of the Othmer Fellowship, she worked on obtaining equal access to education for all New Mexico children at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty 2017 - Janine Caller 2016 - Laura Johnson