Luz Herrera, assistant dean for clinical education, experiential learning and public service at UCLA School of Law, has been selected to receive the Hispanic National Bar Foundation’s Academic Leadership Award. She will be presented with the award in honor of her outstanding contributions to the Hispanic community during the organization’s annual awards dinner, which will be held in Washington, D.C., in July.
Before arriving at UCLA School of Law, Herrera was an assistant professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, a visiting clinical professor at UC Irvine School of Law, a visiting professor at Chapman University School of Law and a senior clinical fellow at Harvard Law School.
In her various academic positions, she has encouraged innovation and promoted access to justice through experiential learning. At Thomas Jefferson School of Law, she developed a transactional clinical program, the Small Business Law Center (SBLC). The SBLC was recognized in 2013 by the American Bar Association for the program’s emphasis on helping students understand themselves as potential lawyer-entrepreneurs.
At UC Irvine, Assistant Dean Herrera supervised students in the Consumer Protection Clinic and the Community Economic Development Clinic, as well as managed special projects for the California Monitor — a program of the Office of the California Attorney General providing oversight of the National Mortgage Settlement implementation.
Assistant Dean Herrera has been recognized for her public service work, including being named one of the 100 top atorneys in California by the Daily Journal and receiving the Cruz Reynoso Community Service Award from the Mexican American Bar Association in 2011, the La Opinión Mujeres Destacadas Award in 2011 and the Emerging Scholars Award from "Diverse: Issues in Higher Education" (January 2013).