Welcoming 2025 Fellows from UC Law SF

On behalf of the Board of Directors, we are proud to warmly welcome two new Tony Patiño Fellows from the UC Law SF class of 2025, Nooran Alhamdan and Julie Mendoza. Nooran and Julie both exemplify the values of the Fellowship and share a view of law as a calling rooted in service. Please join us in welcoming them.

Both Nooran and Julie will work as litigation associates, Nooran at WilmerHale in Palo Alto and Julie at Keker, Van Nest & Peters in San Francisco.

Pictured left to right: Nooran Alhamdan, UC Law SF Chancellor and Dean David Faigman, Julie Mendoza

 

In Their Own Words: Acceptance Speech Excerpts

Today, as I step into the legal profession, I do so carrying a goal my family has pursued for decades: excellence. It is the excellence that propelled my father, a refugee, to study by candlelight in a refugee camp and become the first in his family to earn an engineering degree, building a new life in America. My circumstances are different, but my drive is the same. To me, an excellent lawyer is one who advocates without needing to announce themselves as an advocate; one who is vigilant against the passivity that allows law to uproot lives rather than protect them; and one who commits fully to both profession and purpose. That is the kind of lawyer I aspire to be.

Nooran Alhamdan

Neutrality is not a way of life for a person who cares about the well-being of other people. If the most vulnerable people in our world have to use the few resources they have to prevent their own erasure, then perhaps we, as attorneys, can at least try to make their collective voice more difficult to ignore. When we empower those who have the least resources with which to defend themselves, humanity prevails. I’m grateful for the Tony Patiño Fellowship community for investing in people who are driven by a vision of a better and more just world. This investment creates a far reaching ripple effect that can be traced to Francesca Turner and Tony himself.

Julie Mendoza