Scholarship Honors LGBT Law Students

April 11, 2007

Media Contact:
Jill Goetz, Director of Publications and Media Relations
Golden Gate University School of Law
(415) 442-6636; jgoetz [at] ggu.edu

Golden Gate University Scholarship Honors Outstanding Lesbian and Gay Law Students
2007 recipient Teresa McLaren Plans a Career in Criminal Defense

Golden Gate University School of Law has awarded the 2007 Michael A. Zamperini/W. Clay Burchell Scholarship to Teresa McLaren, a third-year law student graduating next month.

The Michael A. Zamperini/W. Clay Burchell Scholarship was established in 1993 through an endowment by Professor Michael Zamperini, director of the School of Law’s Writing and Research Program, and his partner, W. Clay Burchell, to recognize lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) students in their final semester at law school who have demonstrated outstanding overall achievement and who have excelled in the law school’s writing and research courses. Other members of the law school also support the scholarship, which has grown from a single gift of $15,000 to an endowment of more than $70,000.

Candidates for the scholarship write an essay describing the experience of being a gay law student at Golden Gate University and how being gay or lesbian has affected their law school career. McLaren received the award on April 5 at a campus reception sponsored by the School of Law and the Golden Gate University Queer Law Students Association.

McLaren, who resides in San Bruno, CA, is pursuing a JD/PhD through a program offered jointly by Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco and the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology in Palo Alto. Upon graduating from the JD program this spring, McLaren will spend the next three years researching and writing her dissertation in clinical psychology and working in a clinical internship.

In addition to the Zamperini/Burchell Scholarship, McLaren’s honors at Golden Gate have included a full tuition merit scholarship; a Witkin Award for Academic Excellence, Writing and Research; a CALI Award for Academic Excellence, Writing and Research; a Garcia Endowed Scholarship; and a Public Interest Law Foundation Grant. She has held several legal internships as a law student and has been an active member of Golden Gate’s Queer Law Students Association, the National Lawyers Guild, Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, and Equality California, among other organizations. She hopes to practice in the area of criminal defense, as a forensic neuropsychologist in capital cases.

“I am sincerely honored to have been chosen for this year’s Zamperini/Burchell scholarship,” McLaren says. “During my first year [of law school], one of my mentors challenged me to make history, and I feel I’m on my way to doing so.”

She adds, “Golden Gate has provided me with an incredibly supportive atmosphere in which I’ve found my voice as an LGBT student and activist.”

Originally from Queens, NY, McLaren holds a master’s degree in forensic psychology from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, where she made the dean’s list, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and Hispanic languages and literature from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she graduated summa cum laude.

“We are happy to see this annual tradition continue and are glad to support an outstanding LGBT student today who will hopefully be a community leader tomorrow,” says Professor Michael Zamperini of the 2007 Zamperini/Burchell Scholarship recipient.

Anyone can contribute to the Zamperini/Burchell Scholarship endowment by contacting Debra Holcomb at 415-442-7829, dholcomb [at] ggu.edu.

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Note to Editors: For more information about the Zamperini/Burchell Scholarship and a photo of 2007 recipient Teresa McLaren, contact Jill Goetz at 415-442-6636 or jgoetz [at] ggu.edu.