USD School of Law Announces 2020 Distinguished and Rising Star Recent Alumni Award Honorees

San Diego (July 6, 2020) - University of San Diego (USD) School of Law and the Law Alumni Association Board of Directors are pleased to announce the 2020 Distinguished Alumni and Rising Star Recent Alumni Award honorees. This year's Distinguished Alumni Award honorees are Steven J. Cologne, ’84 (JD), Managing Partner, Higgs Fletcher & Mack, LLP, and Kimberly Koro, ’86 (JD), Senior Vice President, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and Division President, Qualcomm Government Technologies. This year's Rising Star Recent Alumni Award honorees are Ben Coughlan, ’12 (JD), Partner, Gomez Trial Attorneys, and Joy Utomi Hartmann, ’11 (JD), Deputy Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, California Department of Justice.

The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented to law school alumni who have distinguished themselves in the legal field or other chosen profession at an exemplary level and who embody the high ethical standards and commitment to community service USD School of Law seeks to instill in its graduates. The Rising Star Recent Alumni Award is presented to alumni who have graduated within the past ten years and have made significant achievements in the legal profession, or chosen field, and demonstrated a high level of community involvement.

This year's awards will be presented on Friday, November, 13, at a first-of-its-kind virtual ceremony. Bartell Hotels is a 2020 Platinum Sponsor for the tenth consecutive year. More information and sponsorship opportunities are available online and registration will be available soon. Please email Shari Baurle Green, Associate Director of Alumni Relations, with any inquiries you have at this time. 

Read more about the Distinguished Alumni Award and Rising Star Recent Alumni Award and view previous recipients.

Honor Distinguished Alumni in your life with a contribution to the Distinguished Alumni Award Honoree Endowed Scholarship by making a gift.

About the University of San Diego School of Law

Each year, USD educates approximately 800 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world.  The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest law and taxation.

USD School of Law is one of the 84 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates.  The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks 36th nationally among U.S. law faculties in scholarly impact and 22nd nationally in past-year faculty downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN). The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.