Ricardo Martinez '20 Awarded Prestigious Peggy Browning Fellowship

The Peggy Browning Fund has awarded a 10-week summer fellowship to Ricardo Martinez, a first-year student at UC Davis School of Law.

Ricardo will spend the fellowship working at Bush Gottlieb in Los Angeles, CA. The application process is highly competitive, and the award is a tribute to his outstanding qualifications.

Ricardo was born in Southern California, to parents who emigrated from Mexico. He was motivated to pursue a legal career at a young age as he witnessed his family’s workplace struggles. His experiences as a construction and factory worker exposed him to the positive effects legal aid and public policy could have on workers' lives. Before law school he worked as a paralegal throughout the Inland Empire, where he assisted Spanish-speaking communities with their legal issues. In law school, Ricardo continues to assist workers through the school’s workers’ rights clinic.

In 2018, the Peggy Browning Fund will support more than 80 public interest labor law fellowships nationwide. Securing a Peggy Browning Fellowship is not an easy task, with more than 400 applicants this year competing for the honor. Peggy Browning Fellows are distinguished students who have not only excelled in law school but who have also demonstrated their commitment to workers’ rights through their previous educational, work, volunteer and personal experiences. Ricardo certainly fits this description.

The Peggy Browning Fund is a not for-profit organization established in memory of Margaret A. Browning, a prominent union-side attorney who was a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from 1994 until 1997. Peggy Browning Fellowships provide law students with unique, diverse and challenging work experiences fighting for social and economic justice. These experiences encourage and inspire students to pursue careers in public interest labor law.