Brent Rice '25
Staff Editor
This past Friday, Lambda Law Alliance proved that Feb Club isn’t the only time they know how to throw a good party. Over 210 students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the Law School’s second-largest affinity organization gathered at the Kimpton The Forum Hotel for a night of merriment and celebration as the club rang in its 40th year of existence and paid tribute to three persons who have had an outsized impact on the LGBTQ+ community both locally and nationwide.
The night began with a reflection on LAMBDA’s humble beginnings, founded in 1984 as the Gay and Lesbian Law Students Association and comprised just enough students to fill a dining room table. By spring 1997, GALLSA had grown to 15 members and changed its name to BGALLSA to include bisexual students. Later, somewhere around 2001, the organization changed its name to LAMBDA in an effort to avoid forcing its members into defining themselves with labels of their sexuality. Today, LAMBDA’s membership consists of more than 130 self-identifying queer students.
In her introductory remarks, Dean Risa Goluboff took the time to reflect on the aforementioned growth of the club and also to share a staggering statistic about the current 1L class—that is, nearly 20% of them self-identify as queer. Goluboff closed her remarks by extending to LAMBDA an official welcome to middle-age and wishes for many more successful years to come.
Next, Jennifer Hulvey, the former director of financial aid at the Law School and current senior advisor to the same office, took the stage to share a few touching interactions she has had with students over the years alongside some additionally exciting statistics about the University’s Queer Alumni Network (QVA), which has provided over $350,000 in scholarships to LGBTQ+ students over the years. Hulvey, a past recipient of the Alvarez-Coughlin award which seeks to honor those who have made “extraordinary efforts on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community by creating an open, supportive, and welcoming environment for diversity at the Law School, the University as a whole and beyond,” helped transition the evening to the presentation of the award to three very worthy attendees in the audience.
Photo Credit: Lambda Law Alliance & Reilly Swennes ’25
Scott Migliori ’12, the 2020-21 honoree whose acceptance of the award had been delayed due to Covid, was the first person of the evening to be presented the award. Migliori was the first openly transgender student at the Law School. Despite expressing great pride over the growth of the LGBTQ+ community at UVA Law, Migliori, who is currently considering leaving Florida over concerns for his family’s safety, reminded the room that there is still important work to be done.
Luis Alvarez, Jr. ’88, President and CEO of the Law School Foundation and one of the namesakes of the award, introduced the next recipient, Susan Baker-Manning ’98. Baker-Manning, who worked in Big Law after graduating from UVA, talked about finding ways to make an impact and serve your communities no matter your role. As a Partner at Morgan Lewis, she led large impact litigation matters, including representing some of the largest businesses in the country in an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges. Baker-Manning currently serves as the General Counsel of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Next, the award’s other namesake and long-time LAMBDA advisor, Professor Anne Coughlin, introduced the evening’s final recipient of the Alvarez-Coughlin award, Cordel Faulk ’01. Faulk served UVA Law from 2009 to 2020, first as Director of Admissions and later as Assistant Dean and Chief Admissions Officer. Many of the evening’s speakers took the time to address special thanks to Faulk and testified that the growth of LAMBDA that we had gathered to celebrate was the direct result of Faulk’s work to make UVA Law a more welcoming and inclusive place.
To close out the evening, world renowned drag queen Jackie Cox took the stage and serenaded the crowd before inviting the audience to join her on the dance floor.
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