Carmelita Anne Tiu, a third-year student at the DePaul University College of Law, is the ISBA Law Student Division's Public Service Award winner for 2007.

The honor, which includes a $250 donation to a not-for-profit organization of her choice, will be presented Friday, June 22, during the awards luncheon of the 131st Annual Meeting at The Abbey Resort.

Recognizing a dearth of formalized service opportunities for law students, Liu established a Community Service Initiative during her first year as part of DePaul's Center for Public Interest Law.

Prof. Leonard L. Cavise, who nominated her for the award, agreed that a need existed and was surprised to learn soon after that she had lined up participation by 10 agencies.

“She had a general informational meeting for students, and close to 100 of them came,” Cavise recalled. “By the end of that semester, she had 104 participating students donating hundreds and hundreds of hours for the simple satisfaction of doing good.”

By Liu's count so far, more than 150 students have contributed about 1,500 hours to 15 organizations. Among them are the Lawyers Committee for Better Housing, Cabrini Green Legal Aid, First Defense Legal Aid, and the Illinois Coalition on Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

As community service chair for the Student Bar Association, Liu has been founder of a Donate-a-Day program and coordinator of a Thanksgiving food and clothing drive. She was co-founder of Buy Good, Do Good Marketplace for the Center for Spirituality and Values in Practice.

Liu is scholarship banquet chair and past treasurer of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, and a research intern for the American Bar Association Center for Pro Bono.

In her spare time, she raises money for Redmoon Theater Company, participates in a focus group for the DePaul Leadership Project, and performs in Open House Dance Collective benefits.

“What is remarkable about her participation in these activities is that she seeks no glory or even acknowledgement,” Cavise said. “She quite simply does what she does because it's the right thing to do.”

In addition to DePaul's Carmelita Liu, seven ISBA-affiliated law schools nominated students for the Public Service Award. The other finalists are:

Briana Jacobs of Chicago-Kent College of Law, Juanita A. Herring of Northern Illinois University College of Law, Amy Lynn Morgan of St. Louis University Law School, Sarah Simonson of The John Marshall Law School, Shani A. Fregia of University of Chicago Law School, Cordell Carter II of University of Notre Dame Law School, and Patricia Ann Mastagh of Valparaiso University School of Law.