Scholarship
RECIPIENTS OF THE JUDGE PAUL G. FEINMAN SCHOLARSHIP
The International LGBTQ Judges’ Foundation’s objectives include providing financial scholarships to support law students who demonstrate a commitment to the LGBTQ+ community. Consistent with this mission, the Foundation strongly supports the recognition of legal excellence among law students by funding the Judge Paul G. Feinman Scholarship awarded by the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges. For more information about the Feinman scholarship, please visit: https://lgbtqjudges.org/scholarship/
Illustrative of the kind of scholarship endeavors anticipated to be supported by the Foundation is the history of scholarship awards made by the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges. The 2024 recipients of the Judge Paul G. Feinman Scholarship are:
Jasir Soomro (he/him)
Juris Doctor, 2024, University of San Diego School of Law
In 2025, Jasir will be a Judicial Law Clerk at the Nevada Supreme Court and afterwards, he intends to pursue a career in intellectual property litigation. He considers it imperative for LGBTQ+ law students to extern or clerk within the judiciary to ensure that diverse perspectives inform legal decision-making. Further, he believes that by honoring LGBTQ+ students who serve in these roles, it will incentivize future students to participate in the judicial branch and will eventually create a system that better reflects the experiences and needs of everyone in our country.
Throughout his tenure at USD Law, Jasir externed at the California Supreme Court, Orange County Superior Court, and twice at the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. He was also chosen as fellow in the Appeals, Writs and Trial Section of the California Attorney General’s office and was a legal assistant at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In each of these roles, he has strived to represent the LGBTQ+ community and to offer the unique perspectives rooted in his Pakistani and Muslim heritage.
Outside of his work experience, Jasir earned over 100 pro bono service hours and was extensively involved in multiple school organizations. He was Magister of Phi Delta Phi’s Wigmore Inn and served as a 3L class representative. He further served as Vice Chair of USD’s Moot Court Team and competed in numerous national competitions, including the Emory Civil Rights Moot Court Competition and the Young Lawyers Division of the Federal Bar Association Moot Court Competition in Washington, D.C. He received Best Oralist at USD’s Alumni Torts Competition and First Place at the Paul A. McLennon, Sr. Honors Moot Court Competition. In honor of his oral advocacy, he was inducted into the Order of Barristers.
Saul Thorkelson (he/him)
Juris Doctor, 2024, Cardozo School of Law
Saul has worked to promote inclusion and equity for the trans community, as a student, as a professor, and most recently in legal internships. Before entering law school Saul was a professor of sociology and statistics for Bard Prison Initiative (Bard College). He earned a B.A. in Evolutionary Biology at Columbia University, an M.S. in Human Geography at Umeå University, and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Demography at Princeton University.
While directing Bard College’s degree program at a New York state prison, Saul saw that incarcerated women and LGBTQ+ people were disadvantaged in the laws around earning college degrees. This observation inspired advocates to work to change New York’s laws and improved gender equity for college in prison. He also observed the added difficulties that trans students faced both within and outside the prison, which was among his motivations to turn to a career in law.
More recently, Saul had the opportunity to assist with investigations of anti-transgender discrimination in city jails as a legal intern at the New York City Commission on Human Rights. He has written on gender-based prison placement; misgendering and the First Amendment; and evidentiary hurdles for trans asylum seekers. Having both witnessed and experienced gender- and sexuality-based discrimination, Saul is committed to working toward equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community throughout the next stages of his career.
Marcella Molenari (she/her)
3L, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Prior to starting law school, Macella worked as a paralegal at a small civil rights firm representing victims of police misconduct. Throughout her studies including receiving a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Political Science from Boston University, Macella has remained dedicated to seeking justice and bringing underrepresented issues to light. In graduate school, she focused her master’s thesis on inequities in remote learning for low-income high school students. Now in law school, she focuses her studies on cash bail elimination, access to the courts for incarcerated litigants, and prison reform.
Marcella’s time in law school has not only been essential academically, but also a time for personal growth. Law school was the first place Macella was able to be openly queer, and has embraced the Loyola and Chicago LGBTQ+ communities. She is actively involved as a student member of LAGBAC (Chicago’s LGBTQ+ legal affinity group) and cannot wait to serve as a full member and give back to the LGBTQ+ community as a future attorney.
Erick Alexander Ruiz Jr. (he/him)
3L, Western State College of Law
Erick has a unique perspective that stems from his diverse cultural background, as he is of both white and Guatemalan descent. As a first-generation college graduate, he holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science, with an emphasis in Law, Politics, and Public Policy from California State University, Long Beach. During his undergraduate career, Erick was actively engaged in leading student organizations, one as President of the Law Society. As a law student, Erick had the privilege of serving as a Judicial Extern to the Honorable Sherri L. Honer in the Superior Court of California, County of Orange. Over the nearly year-long experience, he significantly deepened his comprehension of family law and court procedures. Additionally, this experience has ignited Erick’s passion for the judiciary, inspiring his aspiration to become a judge one day. He has a vision to uphold justice and fairness in our legal system, driven by the insights and knowledge gained from his mentor, Judge Honer.
Erick is not only dedicated to his work but also to student life. He was recently elected to be the Parliamentarian of OUTLaw, showcasing his leadership within his school’s LGBTQ+ community. Erick will also be appointed to be the Parliamentarian of his law school’s Student Bar Association (SBA), where he will govern the student body by following parliamentary procedures and, with his training and knowledge of being able to read and interpret statutes and bylaws, he will be able to ensure that the student body and executive board conduct business consistently and reliably.
Erick’s journey is driven by his passion for justice and a desire to impact the legal field positively. With his dedication, drive, and unique perspective, he has the potential to achieve great things upon his graduation in 2025.
William Finkle (he/him)
3L, University of the Pacific
William came to law school after having careers in hospitality and software engineering but studying law has been a lifelong dream. As an older student, William has seen the tide turn in gay rights from when he came out in 1982 at the dawn of the AIDS epidemic, to the broad acceptance of gay and queer people in large swaths of America and worldwide, to the unfortunate retrenchment of the culture wars now facing our community both here and overseas. Today William lives comfortably out and proud as a gay man and aspire to impact the perception of LGBTQ+ persons just by being myself, unashamed, and doing both good and meaningful work. After graduation next year, William hopes to clerk for a federal judge where he can bring his unique perspective as a mature “young” lawyer to the federal bench.
Though for now he has his sights set on a judicial clerkship, William is interested in many different areas of the law, from Estate Planning and Bankruptcy to fighting for social justice through advocacy and legislation. Next Spring, in his final semester of law school, William will be externing with Federal Magistrate Alison Claire – a member of the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges – working on prisoner civil rights complaints. William believes that all people, but especially people in the system, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. William aspires to be part of a judiciary that embodies sensitivity, compassion, and fairness in dealing with gender and sexual minorities.
2023 Recipients
Abdiel Lopez-Castro, Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law
Tamia “Mia” Perez, William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Jeramy Ashton, Willam H. Bowen School of Law, University of Arkansas, Little Rock
2022 Recipients
Tamia “Mia” Perez, William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Sunny Khan Frothingham, The University of North Carolina School of Law
Etty Singer, Boston University School of Law