The Law Alumni Society (LAS)’s annual awards honor exemplary and inspirational members of the Penn Carey Law community.
The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School presented the 2023 Law Alumni Society Awards during a ceremony in May.
Honorees were Steve Stoute L’14; Gigi Sohn L’86; Victoria Joseph C’11, L’17; Randy Mastro L’81; Beth Brown; and the Honorable William Platt L’64.
Young Alumni Award
Appointed in 2022, Stoute has prioritized making the school more accessible and affordable. Nearly 100 percent of the student body receives some form of financial aid. He has also instituted a policy under which standardized tests will not be required for admission.
Louis H. Pollak Award
Sohn, a longtime advocate for access to the internet, is a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a Benton Senior Fellow & Public Advocate. She is the former Executive Director of the Media Access Project, the first public interest law firm dedicated to communications; co-founder of Public Knowledge, a Washington-based nonprofit focused on freedom of choice in the digital marketplace; and Special Counsel for External Affairs for the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
Howard Lesnick Pro Bono Award
Joseph served on a pro bono basis as Special Prosecutor for the State of Minnesota in the George Floyd murder case. She and her colleagues were tasked with writing motions throughout the case. A former employee in Development & Alumni Relations at the Law School, Joseph went on to clerk for the Honorable Gregory M. Sleet of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware following graduation.
Alumni Award of Merit
Randy Mastro L’81 received the Alumni Award of Merit. Mastro is a member of the Penn Carey Law Board of Advisors, an Adjunct Professor at the Law School, and a mentor for a Levy Scholar.
Named one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America,” Mastro has been a legendary attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, King & Spalding, and Cravath, Swaine and Moore, where he was part of the successful libel defense team in the famous Westmoreland v. CBS defamation case. He also served the City of New York during 9/11, representing families of firefighters, for whom he successfully fought on a pro bono basis to restore millions in support funds. He was also a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York.
Distinguished Service Award
She also played a major role in the overhaul of the physical plant, culminating in the construction of Golkin Hall, a centerpiece of the Law School campus. Brown is now Chief of Staff, Secretary of the Corporation, and Vice President at Tulane University.
James Wilson Award
In addition to writing numerous seminal opinions, Judge Platt was called on by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to make recommendations regarding the handling of an important case involving libel and organized crime in which one of the parties alleged judicial improprieties.