UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law is thrilled to announce that Angel Jingwei Li, JD ’23, has won this year’s NH Women’s Bar Association’s Winnie McLaughlin scholarship. Congratulations, Angel!
The scholarship is named after Agnes Winifred McLaughlin, the first woman admitted to practice law in New Hampshire on June 30, 1917. Award criteria for the scholarship includes demonstrated academic achievement and community service focused on advancing women in society.
Li has been dedicated to community service for most of her adult life. As reported by NH Women’s Bar Association:
“Angel came to the United States to study foreign policy after receiving a handwritten note from President Obama responding to her letter. As an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, she participated in public service work for the Asian Pacific American Theme House, Native American communities, and immigrant communities at the San Diego border. At the Pride Parade in Istanbul, Turkey, where she reported on LGBTQIA+ rights and social media crackdown, she realized the connections between human rights and Intellectual Property rights. Since then, she has dedicated herself to exploring technology for social good and constructing a legal landscape for advancing diversity. As an intern at Outright Action International before starting law school, she advocated for transgender rights and safety at the historic U.N. Committee on the Status of Women and the Outrising Gala in New York. In her first year at UNH [Franklin Pierce School of] Law, she participated in a youth chat in solidarity with Black Lives Matter civil activists to bring awareness to end violence against Asian American women and the AAPI communities. This upcoming fall semester, she will be researching privacy rights for an Asian American non-profit and joining an international civil liberties organization that promotes global Internet freedom, ethical technology policy, and balancing Intellectual Property rights and human rights.”
Despite such a broad range of experiences, Li credits her work with individuals in helping her realize her service-oriented dreams for the future: “These individual faces and stories motivated me to search for technological solutions that bring together the international community.”
Li’s accomplishments will be celebrated at the upcoming New Hampshire Women’s Bar Association’s 24th Fall Reception on Thursday, October 14 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
