Marina Torres, JD ’08, was awarded the Rising Star Award of the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia at the 2015 Annual Equal Justice Awards in November 2015 in Washington, D.C. The ceremony honors individuals and organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to achieving equal justice the D.C. area.

The Rising Star Award recognizes an active legal professional with 10 or fewer years of experience, principled legal service, and outstanding contributions to the profession of law.

An assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District Columbia, Torres has a busy career working on prosecuting violations of federal crimes and serious crimes committed by adults in the district. Outside of the office, she is an active volunteer in her community. She served on the Hispanic Bar Association of D.C. and on the Scholarship Committee for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. She has been honored for her civil rights work by the National Immigration Legal Center and has received a number of awards, including the 2011 Courageous Advocacy Award and the 2010 Social Justice Award from the ACLU of Southern California.

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Torres was with the Department of Homeland Security, where she was counselor to the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. She also was a lawyer with Obama for America; a litigation associate with Munger Tolles & Olson LLP; and a senior litigation associate at Wilmer Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP.