TJSL Professor Luz Herrera, co-founder of both TJSL's Small Business Law Center and TJSL's for Solo Practitioners Center, was recently nominated to the 2013 San Diego Latino Champions awards. The awards are presented by the San Diego U-T and the ceremony was held on March 21 at SeaWorld with Mayor Bob Filner delivering the keynote address.
Professor Herrera was one of more than 70 nominees considered this year. A Latino Champion is someone of Latino descent residing in the San Diego region, who has taken an active role in the community and has made an impact on the cultural life of the community through his or her involvement. “Latino attorneys make up 3.7% of lawyers nationwide," said Professor Herrera. "As one of the few, I take interest in how my cultural background can help facilitate more meaningful access to justice to this large and growing population. I am humbled by this nomination.”
The Small Business Law Center that Professor Herrera founded at TJSL provides low-cost legal assistance to entrepreneurs, artists, inventors, small businesses and non-profit organizations that do not have the financial means to hire a lawyer. Components of the SBLC include the Art and Entertainment Law Project, the Community Economic Development Clinic, the Patent Clinic and the Trademark Clinic. The Center for Solo Practitioners is a 12-to-18-month program that supports TJSL’s “new solos” as they establish their own law firms providing much needed, low-cost legal services to traditionally underserved populations.
Professor Luz Herrera is a Stanford University and Harvard Law School graduate. In addition to co-founding TJSL's Small Business Law Center and TJSL's Center for Solo Practitioners Center, she is also the co-founder and board president of Community Lawyers, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides low and moderate-income people access to affordable legal services and develops innovative opportunities for attorneys and law students in underserved communities. She joined the TJSL faculty in 2008 and is the faculty adviser for La Raza Law Students Association. She currently serves on the American Bar Association's Delivery of Legal Services Committee, the board of California Rural Assistance and the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act Implementation Committees.
Last year, Professor Herrera was inducted into the College of Law Practice and Management at a ceremony in Washington D.C. She was also a finalist in the San Diego Business Journal's 19th annual Women who Mean Business Awards and was recently honored by Diverse Issues in Education Magazine as one of its “Emerging Scholars” for 2012-2013.
Congratulations Professor Herrera!