This fall, Stanford Law School’s John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law honored two exceptional attorneys who have committed themselves to public service. Amanda Alexander received the Stanford Law School (SLS) National Public Service Award, and Katrina Eiland, JD ’10, received the Miles L. Rubin Public Interest Award.

The SLS National Public Service Award honors attorneys whose commitment to public service has had a national impact, and the Miles L. Rubin Public Interest Award recognizes an alumnus/a whose outstanding work has advanced justice and social change in the lives of vulnerable populations on a community, national or international level.

“Every year, the law school community takes an opportunity to reconnect after the summer, highlight public service, and introduce the newest members of our community to inspiring role models in public service,” said Jenny Martinez, the Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and dean of Stanford Law School. “While we were unable to hold our awards dinner in person this year, we still gathered virtually to celebrate public service and provide a platform for outstanding public interest attorneys like Katrina Eiland, a 2010 graduate who is the Managing Attorney of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project’s California Office, and Amanda Alexander, the founder and executive director of the Detroit Justice Center. Our students were able to chat with Katrina and Amanda in various small group settings and have been inspired by their work and re-energized to pursue social change.”

Amanda Alexander – National Public Service Award Recipient

Amanda Alexander, the founding Executive Director of the Detroit Justice Center, is a racial justice lawyer and historian who works alongside community-based movements to end mass incarceration and build thriving and inclusive cities. Originally from Michigan, she has worked at the intersection of racial justice and community development in Detroit, New York, and South Africa for more than 15 years.

The recording of the 2020 Fall Public Interest Awards lecture with Amanda Alexander can be found here: “Defense, Offense, and Dreaming: Movement Lawyering in the Black Lives Matter Era.”

Katrina Eiland – Miles L. Rubin Award Award Recipient

Katrina Eiland, JD ’10, is the Managing Attorney of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project’s California Office. She has a decade of experience litigating complex immigrants’ rights and other civil and workers’ rights cases. She has been counsel in more than two dozen such suits in federal court. For the past three and a half years at IRP, she has litigated many high impact cases on behalf of immigrants, several of which have challenged immigration enforcement abuses by federal and local law enforcement agencies. For example, Eiland played a lead role in briefing the recent appeals and petitions for certiorari in Ortega Melendres v. Maricopa County, a successful lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Sheriff’s Office for racial profiling and harassment of Latino drivers in Arizona. She was also counsel in Amadei v. McAleenan, a suit challenging Customs and Border Protection’s unlawful search and seizure of passengers disembarking from a domestic flight, which resulted in the government agreeing to measures to prevent such incidents from happening again.

Learn more about both honorees here and the Levin Center public service awards here.

About the John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law

The mission of the John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law at Stanford Law School is – through courses, research, pro bono projects, public lectures, academic conferences, funding programs and career development – to make public service a pervasive part of every law student’s experience and ultimately help shape the values that students take into their careers. It also engages in programming and research that support development of the public interest legal community to increase access to justice.

About Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School is one of the nation’s leading institutions for legal scholarship and education. Its alumni are among the most influential decision makers in law, politics, business and high technology. Faculty members argue before the Supreme Court, testify before Congress, produce outstanding legal scholarship and empirical analysis, and contribute regularly to the nation’s press as legal and policy experts. Stanford Law School has established a new model for legal education that provides rigorous interdisciplinary training, hands-on experience, global perspective and focus on public service, spearheading a movement for change.