Othmer Scholarship Recipients

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.

2023 Award Recipient 

Camilla Allison

The Public Law Section congratulates Camilla Allison as the 2023 Othmer Scholarship recipient. Camilla Allison is a flex-time law student finishing her fourth and final year at UNM School of Law. She is a single mother to Leo, who is six, and has worked in public interest for the entirety of her time in law school, including summers clerking for the Southwest Women’s Law Center and the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. Camilla is committed to continuing to advocate for underserved communities through law school and beyond. This summer, Camilla externed at the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender in the Serious Violent Offenses section of the felony division. She assisted her mentoring attorney with legal research, briefing and motions drafting, felony arraignments, client meetings and discovery review. She enjoyed gaining more familiarity with courtroom advocacy and getting the opportunity to meet with clients and learn their stories. In addition to working with her mentoring attorney, she also enjoyed assisting the Metro Division managing attorney with docket calls and attended the regional public defenders conference in early June. Following her summer externship, Camilla was pleased to accept an attorney-track position with the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender and looks forward to serving her community as a criminal defense attorney.

Past Recipients

2022 - Brittany Dutton-Leyda- With the support of the Othmer Fellowship, She will be worked at the Office of the Federal Defender, and 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.
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