2026 Othmer Award and APIL Fellowship Recipients Selected
May 19, 2026
The School of Law’s Association for Public Interest Law (APIL) raised over $26,000 for the APIL/Othmer Award Fellowships to support students with financial need working in public interest jobs this summer. This amount exceeds the total raised in 2025 and reflects APIL’s ongoing commitment to community service, legal equity, and support for underserved populations in New Mexico and beyond.
Each year, APIL organizes fundraising efforts to ensure that law students who have secured summer positions in nonprofit or government roles can afford to accept them. These stipends help cover students’ living expenses, making it financially possible to pursue summer placements that deliver legal support to communities in need.
This year, the Othmer Award Committee selected six awardees and will be granting $26,500 in scholarships. The awardees are Karyn Bloxham, Katherine Castillo, Brayden Gallimore, Abby Gwynn, Noah Passaris, and Damon Sohrabi.
The success of this fundraising campaign was made possible by the increased generosity of longtime donors, new donors, former APIL officers and scholarship recipients, and the community. APIL and the School of Law extend a special thanks to Singleton Schreiber LLP, Professor Emeritus Peter Winograd, Feliz Rael, Sheila Brown, the Public Law Section of the State Bar, Heather Norfleet with Equal Access to Justice, the ACLU of New Mexico, Smith and Marjanovic LLC, the Western Environmental Law Center, and High and Dry Brewing.
Congratulations to the 2026 awardees.
