Brittany Stringfellow Otey Honored at Union Rescue Mission's Dare to Dream Gala

October 30, 2017 |  From Dean Paul Caron -- Congratulations to Brittany Stringfellow Otey, Director of Pepperdine's Legal Aid Clinic at the Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, on receiving the Lyman Stewart Founders Award Saturday night at the Dare to Dream Gala. The Union Rescue Mission is a Christian organization that is the largest private mission serving the homeless in the United States. I was honored to present the award to Brittany, and told the audience in part:

Twenty years ago, Pepperdine launched a legal aid clinic at the Union Rescue Mission.

Nineteen years ago, a first year law student named Brittany Stringfellow Otey started volunteering at the clinic.

Fourteen years ago, Brittany became director of the clinic.

During that time, the clinic has helped thousands of homeless people and trained hundreds of law students.

Brittany embodies the essence of Pepperdine Law School, pursuing excellence and faith on a daily basis in transforming the lives of our students and the homeless people they serve.

One of the first things I did upon becoming Dean on June 1 was spending half a day at the Union Rescue Mision observing Brittany and her students (as well as Isai Cortez and his students at the Pepperdine Low Income Taxpayer Clinic).

That experience transformed me, as I have worked since that day to secure additional funding to enable Pepperdine to increase the number of clinical opportunities for our students and thereby increase the number of people with legal needs they can serve.

Please join me in congratulating my friend and hero, Brittany Stringfellow Otey, this year's recipient of the Lyman Stewart Founders Award.