Name: Esma Karakas

Recipient Year: 2024

Major: Law

Description: Esma Karakas, a third-year law student at American University Washington College of Law and a Public Interest Public Service Scholar, has always been driven to support her community. Before law school, she worked in St. Louis as a community organizer, researcher, and resettlement service coordinator, co-founding initiatives to assist refugees and asylum seekers—a personal cause, as she herself has experienced displacement. In law school, she has worked in the Re-entry Clinic, externed with the Public Defender Service in D.C., and interned at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and the Legal Action Center. After graduation, Esma plans to do direct legal services work, then transition to civil rights law and eventually enter local politics. Outside of law, she enjoys hosting dinner parties and pop-up cafes and is working on an oral history project to preserve her family’s story of intergenerational displacement, focusing on sisterhood and womanhood.

School Name: American University Washington College of Law

Sponsor: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Scholarship

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esma-karakas-6b8501211/