24th Annual Harpole Awards & Ceremony
Open gallery
On April 13th, members of the Joyce Ann Harpole Committee celebrated what was long overdue – the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th Annual Harpole Award & Ceremony – all at once. Overlooking the gorgeous view from the 30th floor of Stoel Rives, the attendees heard from the founding members of the Harpole Committee – Barnes Ellis, a former colleague of Joyce at Stoel Rives, and Jack Lundeen ’79, a former classmate of Joyce. Also in attendance were Joyce’s husband, daughter, sisters, and brother-in-law. Past Harpole Attorney Award recipient and former co-chair of the Harpole Committee, Leslie Johnson ’95 was the emcee for the evening.
The 2022 Harpole Attorney Award recipient is Kristin Winnie Eaton ’95, who practices domestic relations law at the firm she founded, Eaton Family Law. “Kristin exemplifies the utmost in a truly balanced, well-rounded life,” wrote one of her nominators, attorney Jennifer Sackett. “Not only does she work tirelessly on behalf of her clients during the most difficult and emotionally charged moments of their lives, but she also finds time to support her children and extended family, and to donate her time and talents to our greater community.” In addition to being a practicing attorney, Kristin has raised three children on her own – one is in medical school, one is in college, and one just graduated – and she also lives and cares for her elderly mother and sister, who has Downs Syndrome. “Kristin has somehow figured out that you need to care for yourself, to be a good caretaker to others,” says Jennifer.
The 2022 Harpole Scholarship Award recipient is Jose Garcia-Fuerte ’23. One of his fellow classmates, Karla E. Marquez Gaab ’23, said that Jose is “an amazing and talented student, who is considerate of his peers and future law students. He is currently balancing being a law student, a research assistant for his mentor at Duke University, a leader with the Latinx Law Society, and a co-founder in UndocLaw Northwest, [an organization that supports current and future undocumented law students in Oregon and Washington, like Jose],” not to mention a newly wed, to boot! Professor Robert Klonoff describes Jose as “a good student and always prepared,” and that he is someone who is “a true leader and not someone who is just worried about his own advancement.” Jose was truly excited about being selected for the Harpole Scholarship and wrote to the committee, “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
We also took an opportunity of this in-person event to honor the previous award winners from the past two years. Corina Ubario, an immigration law attorney with Marandas Garcia Law Group, nominated her friend and colleague, Luis Garcia, who received the Harpole Award in 2020. Luis, also an immigration law attorney, who spoke about the perseverance needed to practice law. Next, Eliza Silverman ’22 introduced Natalie Hollabaugh ’20, who was nominated by four of her peers for the Harpole Scholarship in 2020. Though so many of her peers credit having Natalie in their corners, Natalie thanked everyone for being her corner, especially particularly during the difficult times of the pandemic.
In 2021, the Harpole Committee only granted the Harpole Scholarship Award and that year’s recipient was Akriti Bhargava ’22. Akriti was nominated by five of her peers and she was introduced by Professor Lisa Benjamin. Among her many titles, Akriti is this year’s Student Bar Association (SBA) President, the former Vice President of Equity and Inclusion of the SBA, and a research assistant to Professor Benjamin.
For more information about all the past Harpole Award winners, click here. To make a gift to the Joyce Ann Harpole Memorial Scholarship fund, click here.
