Description
Hon. Beverly Reid O'Connell Endowed Scholarship
About Judge O'Connell Not only did Judge Beverly Reid O'Connell have a tremendous impact on the lives of the staff, faculty, students, and fellow alumni of Caruso Law, she was a giant in the Los Angeles legal community. Following law school, Judge O'Connell practiced law for five years at the law firm of Morrison & Foerster. She then joined the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division. At the U.S. Attorney's Office, Judge O'Connell spent a number of years as a Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Section where she trained a large number of AUSAs and routinely lectured at the U.S. Department of Justice's National Advocacy Center. Many of the AUSAs she trained and mentored remember Judge O'Connell with great affection and gratitude for the time and effort she poured into their careers. In addition, she handled several high profile cases for which she received a number of awards. After serving in the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, Judge O'Connell was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005. Judge O'Connell rose to the position of Supervising Judge of the North Valley District of the Los Angeles Superior Court. In that capacity she supervised 27 bench officers in three courthouses. She was delighted to be serving the community where she grew up, Northridge, and relished the fact that she was sitting in the courthouse where she had appeared on a traffic citation as a teenager. In 2012, Judge O'Connell became Caruso Law's first article III judge after she was appointed by President Barack Obama. As then Dean Deanell Reece Tacha, former Chief Judge of the 10th Circuit, said, ""Judge O'Connell's appointment is an important new milestone in the history of this school."" Caruso School of Law had great personal as well as professional meaning for Judge O'Connell, who met her husband, Daniel O'Connell (JD '90), in the Pepperdine law library during her 2L spring break.The two married September 21, 1991, and both went on to prestigious careers as public servants in the state of California. They have both been actively involved as alumni, serving in any capacity asked of them. As Pepperdine Professor Derek Muller (who worked with Judge O'Connell on the federal externship and clerkship programs) put it, ""She was the kind of alumna schools dream about having."" Over the years, Judge O'Connell stayed connected with her alma mater by serving on the Board of Visitors, hiring and mentoring Pepperdine students, teaching classes and legal education courses for alumni, and speaking to recently admitted students. Judge O'Connell traveled to Uganda with Pepperdine's Sudreau Global Justice Program in 2015 to participate in the first-ever plea bargaining conference in the country's history. One of Judge O'Connell's favorite Pepperdine events was the swearing-in of recent graduates to the California and Federal Bar. She would often preside over the ceremonies with her close friends on the federal and state bench, Judge Andre Birotte, Jr. (JD '91), and Presiding Justice Tricia Bigelow (JD '86). In 2015, in recognition of her many career accomplishments and tremendous devotion to Pepperdine and its students, Judge O'Connell received the Caruso School of Law Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award. Judge O'Connell passed away on October 8, 2017 at the age of 52. When news of her passing became public, the Pepperdine flag flew at half-staff to honor her as the entire Pepperdine community mourned her loss. She had suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm while speaking on a panel on September 15 entitled' How to Become a United States District Judge.' The panel was part of a program sponsored by the California Women Lawyers and the State Bar titled' So, You Want to be a Judge?' Judge O'Connell fell into a coma and never recovered. Her last act on earth was one of service as one of her greatest joys was teaching and mentoring others. It is that legacy we ask you to join today. Join Judge O'Connell's Legacy Given Judge O'Connell's most impressive record of achievement in the legal profession, her love of mentoring and teaching, and her great passion and support for her alma mater, her family invites you to participate in her legacy by giving to the Honorable Beverly Reid O'Connell Endowed Scholarship. Open to all Caruso law students for consideration, the scholarship will be given to one or more students each year who embody the characteristics that Judge O'Connell personified. Judge O'Connell's family chose to award the scholarship to law students given that she mentored and taught many Caruso Law students, externs, and law clerks during her career. If you are able to give online, please click the Make My Gift button at the top of this page. If you know of others who would like to honor her memory in this way, please forward the link on the left-hand side. Gifts can also be mailed to the Pepperdine Fund, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA 90263-4579. Please insert the official name of the scholarship in the memo line. We also encourage you to use this website to write messages and share photos to honor Judge O'Connell's memory. If you would like to send a private message or photo for Pepperdine to forward along to her family, please e-mail Alumni Director Jessie Fahy at jessie.fahy@pepperdine.edu. Thank you for honoring Judge O'Connell!
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