Peter M. Cicchino Public Service Awards
The Peter M. Cicchino Awards for Outstanding Advocacy in the Public Interest are given annually to three persons during the Cicchino Public Service Awards Dinner: a current second or third-year WCL student, an alumnus or alumna whose work is primarily in the United States, and an alumnus or alumna whose work is primarily abroad or in international law. The Cicchino Awards recognize and honor those students and alumni whose devotion to and creative service in the public interest exemplify the highest ideals of the Washington College of Law.
Peter M. Cicchino
Peter M. Cicchino was an Assistant Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law (WCL), where he taught Constitutional Law, Torts, Jurisprudence, and Sexual Orientation and the Law. He joined the WCL faculty in 1998 after a distinguished career in public interest law. He founded and directed the Lesbian and Gay Youth Project of the Urban Justice Center, and, in that capacity for four years, provided legal representation for lesbian and gay street youth in New York City. He also served as a staff attorney in the national office of the ACLU and clerked for Justice Alan Handler of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
In January 2000, the WCL faculty voted unanimously (with Professor Cicchino abstaining) to create these public interest awards in his name. Professor Cicchino was a cherished figure at WCL and in the national public interest law community. He passed away on July 8, 2000.
Cicchino Public Service Awards Dinner
This annual event is held in honor of beloved former WCL Professor Peter M. Cicchino, who passed away in 2000. Professor Cicchino was a brilliant scholar and teacher, and a brave and creative public interest lawyer, who among many other accomplishments founded the Lesbian and Gay Youth Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City.
The Cicchino Awards Dinner is the academy awards of student public interest and pro bono work. Students are recognized at a sumptuous dinner before their peers, faculty and staff for a variety of awards and accomplishments, including: completion of the Pro Bono Honors Pledge Program, external pro bono and public service awards, post-graduate public interest fellowships, and the Cicchino Awards themselves.
2010-2011 Peter M. Cicchino Public Service Award Recipients
Richael Faithful, WCL Class of 2011
Winner in Category of Current Washington College of Law Student
Richael Faithful was raised in Fairfax, Virginia, outside of Washington D.C. Her pursuit for justice came early in life through the influence of her civil servant father and politically-spirited mother. While studying at The College of William and Mary, she was a campus activist focused on racial justice, housing access, and LGBTQ rights. During this time, she was mentored by old-style community organizers, and new-style activist scholars, both of whom contributed to her choice to attend law school. At WCL, Richael was Editor-In-Chief of The Modern American, a scholarly publication dedicated to diversity, where she implemented a re-vamping of the young publication. She has been involved in range of events and projects, including Immigrant Justice Week, PILRAP Awareness Week, and most recently, a conference entitled Roots & Reality II: Hip Hop, Law, and Social Justice Organizing. Richael is also committed to scholarship as a way to envision transformative change. She has written several law review articles to bring visibility to issues such as the treatment of transgender prisoners and land liberation for American Indians. After law school, she will spend two years as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at Advancement Project in D.C. developing innovative legal solutions to support on-going grassroots efforts to dismantle Virginia’s system which permanently denies voting rights to people convicted of felonies. Throughout law school, she has remained deeply committed to a Southern peoples’ community-building movement and several spiritual healing communities, and hopes that she can contribute toward bringing together community-builders and conscious lawyers to solve urgent social problems.
Whitney Louchheim & Penelope Spain, WCL Class of 2005
Co-Winners in Category of Alumna or AlumnusWhose Work is Primarily in the United States
Whitney Louchheim is an attorney licensed to practice in the District of Columbia. As Co-Founder of Mentoring Today, she works daily with youth in DC’s juvenile justice system, both before and after they are incarcerated, to support their successful reintegration into their families and community. She also represents youth in DC’s criminal justice system as a public defender. Ms. Louchheim earned her Juris Doctor from American University’s Washington College of Law (WCL) in 2005. Prior to founding Mentoring Today, she joined Ms. Spain in founding Students United, a student group at WCL that matched law students with incarcerated youth at DC’s secure juvenile facility. Ms. Louchheim was a student attorney as part of WCL’s criminal defense clinic, and was also a Marshall-Brennan fellow, teaching constitutional law in a DC public high school. Also during law school, Ms. Louchheim served as a law clerk in the Parole Division of the Public Defender Service for DC and for a magistrate judge in the Child Abuse and Neglect Division of DC Superior Court. Ms. Louchheim’s commitment to community service prompted American University to award her the University Award for Outstanding Service to the University Community, as well as the Pro Bono Community Service Award. Before attending law school, Ms. Louchheim worked for the Honorable Judith Heumann in the field of disability rights and also volunteered at a transitional housing organization in Maryland.
Penelope Spain earned her Juris Doctor from the Washington College of Law (WCL) in 2005 and is an attorney licensed to practice in the District of Columbia and Maryland. As CEO of Mentoring Today, Ms. Spain advocates to improve re-entry services for youth transitioning out of incarceration and returning to the District. She also serves as a public defender, directly representing youth charged with acts of delinquency in DC Superior Court. Shortly after graduation from WCL, Ms. Spain supported the National Juvenile Justice Network as a Program and Policy Associate to promote statewide juvenile justice reform efforts across the US. While at WCL, Ms. Spain founded and directed Students United, a program that trains law students to serve as mentors and advocates for incarcerated youth. She also worked in the Trial Division and the Community Defender Program of the Public Defender Service for DC, where she focused on Latino outreach and projects to aid ex-offenders in reentering the community. In addition, she participated in the Criminal Justice Clinic and served as an interning Law Clerk for a judge in the Felony I Criminal Division of DC Superior Court. WCL and American University recognized Ms. Spain’s dedication to public interest by awarding her the Student Bar Association’s Pro Bono Community Service Award, the University Award for Outstanding Service to the University Community, the Office of Career Services’ Pro Bono Superstar Award, the Myers Scholarship, and the Mary C. Arends Scholarship for dedication to public service law and civil rights. Prior to attending WCL, Ms. Spain received a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Chicago. After receiving her BA, she moved to Venezuela where she taught literacy classes for rural families and mentored adolescent students living in a barrio community fraught with violence. Ms. Spain also worked with President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center to observe elections in Venezuela and Sierra Leone.
Javier Vásquez, WCL LL.M. Class of 1996
Winner in Category of Alumna or Alumnus Whose Work is Primarily Abroad or in International Law
Javier Vásquez earned his LL.M. in international legal studies from the Washington College of Law (WCL) in 1996 and obtained his law degree in Panama, from Santa Maria La Antigua University in 1992. As the Human Rights Law Advisor of PAHO/WHO, Mr.Vasquez advises Member States, PAHO/WHO’s national offices, Ombudspersons, and civil society organizations on international human rights law issues and strategies for reforming national health laws, policies and programs in a manner consistent with international human rights law instruments, especially those that protect the “right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health” (“right to health”). He has conducted training activities and missions in 30 countries of the Americas for public health officials, judges, legislators, civil society organizations, international human rights bodies and other actors on the international and regional human rights treaties and standards that protect the right to health and other related human rights and fundamental freedoms. Mr. Vasquez has been involved since 2000 in several national consultations for reforming health services and laws related to the health and wellbeing of groups in situation of vulnerability such as persons with physical, intellectual and mental disabilities; persons living with HIV/AIDS; LGTBI groups; indigenous peoples and other ethnic/racial groups; children; women; older persons; second hand smokers; persons affected by neglected diseases and young people; among others. Shortly after graduation from WCL, he was selected as a Romulo Gallegos Fellow by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights where he worked on the first report regarding violations to the human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with mental disabilities. While at WCL, he worked for Disability Rights International (DRI) where he collaborated in the first DRI´s fact finding mission to Mexico with regard to the situation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons retained in mental health institutions. Prior to attending WCL, Mr. Vasquez implemented a literacy campaign and human rights program in the National Psychiatric Hospital of Panama with the Committee of Orientation and Support for Panamanians, a national Non-Governmental Organization. In addition, in 2008, Mr. Vasquez received the “PAHO/WHO exceptional leadership award” in recognition of his invaluable contributions and leadership on promoting and protecting the right to health and other related human rights in the Americas.
