Scholar Entries - Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund of Illinois

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Are you a past recipient of an Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund award?

Name

Adryanna Salas

Current Mailing Address

1617 East 50th Place
Apt. 8C
Chicago, Illinois 60615
United States
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If mailing address is temporary, expected date when current mailing address is no longer valid

07/31/2026

Phone

(210) 417-3055

Connection to Illinois

Resident

In what city do you intend to practice law upon graduation?

Chicago

Name of Law School

University of Illinois School of Law

Class year

3rd year law student

Full Time or Part Time Student?

Full Time

Date you began attending THIS law school

08/21/2023

Anticipated Graduation Date

05/09/2026

Current GPA

3.42

Law School Class Rank (if known)

64/237

Law School Honors, Awards or Special Recognitions

Moot Court Honors Council (Fall 2024-Spring 2026)
Moot Court Honors Board - Chief Justice (2025-2026)
Trial Advocacy Honors (Spring 2026)
Dean's List (Spring 2025)

Name of Undergraduate Institution

University of the Incarnate Word

Degree (BA, BSE, etc.) and Concentration/Major

BA in Government concentration in American Politics

Undergraduate Graduation Date

05/09/2021

GPA

3.44

Undergraduate Honors, Awards, or Special Recognitions

Pre-Law Academic Achievement Award, 2021
Dean's List, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2021
President, Pre-Law Society

Were you employed in 2025?

yes

If yes, please identify your employer(s).

Impact for Equity (Summer 2025)

What was your immediate family’s (including you and your spouse or domestic partner, if applicable) estimated income from all sources for the 2025 Tax Year?

50,000

Do you expect to be employed in 2026?

If yes, please identify your employer(s).

N/A

Please estimate your immediate family’s (including you and your spouse or domestic partner, if applicable) income from all sources for the 2026 Tax year

42,000

Please estimate your parent's average annual household income over the last five years

N/A

Do your parents own or rent their home? Please describe, if necessary

N/A

Describe your parents' health insurance situation. Do they have employer-sponsored health insurance, health insurance through the exchange, or no health insurance?

No health insurance

LIST below your total EXPENSES for attending law school for ONE YEAR (Please refer to example in FAQs)

Total Tuition Cost $

$46,500.00

Books Cost $

$1,400.00

Fees Cost $

$4,572.00

Housing Cost $

$14,400.00

Food Cost $

$3,150.00

Other Costs $ (describe)

$11,526.00 -- personal expenses, laptop, loan fees

Total Expenses $ (add above entries)

$81,548.00

LIST below your total FUNDING sources you plan to use to pay for these expenses (Please refer to example in FAQs)

Student Loans $

$46,673.00

Scholarships and Grants $

$34,875.00

Work Study, if any $

0.00

Personal Contribution (Savings/Employment) $

0.00

Family Contribution $ (include parents, spouse, partner, etc.)

0.00

Other Sources $ (describe)

0.00

Total Funding $ (add above entries)

$81,548.00

For 2Ls and 3Ls, what is your current TOTAL loan debt from the previous law school years?

$113,608

Please list any community service activities with which you have been involved in the last ten years, paying particular attention to activities in support of the Hispanic community. For each activity, please include the dates of your participation, a short description of the organization and the community they serve, and a description of the activity you performed to help them. (Please read FAQs before completing)

1) UIC Law Latinx Law Student Association "LLSA," Board Member (1L Representative, Secretary, Vice President) - 2023-2026
LLSA seeks to serve the Latino community at UIC Law School. As a member of the LLSA board, I play a hands-on role in fostering a sense of community and comfort among Latino law students at UIC. These roles allow me to serve as a mentor and friend to all Latino students, guiding them through a new and challenging space. I personally planned a variety of events geared toward building community, like a Latinx Night Market, where I coordinated with 6 local Latino small businesses to sell their goods and services to students at the law school. Another event I led was the "Migra Watch," in which I coordinated with Pilsen Puño to bring an ICE Watch training to the law school, so students are better equipped to support our undocumented neighbors.

2) Greater Chicago Legal Clinic "GCLC" - Immigration Asylum Law Clerk Spring 2026
GCLC offers a variety of programs and services to meet the legal needs of underrepresented individuals and families in Greater Chicago. I currently work as a law clerk through the Alvin Baum Scholarship, which applies $3,333 to my school tuition. I debated listing this role, but decided to do so because I do not receive funds that could be applied to personal expenses, as one would with an ordinary job. In this role, I conduct legal research and writing in the area of immigration asylum law. While this role allows me to help people from diverse backgrounds, the majority of our clients are Latino and Spanish-speaking.

3) Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois "HLAI" - Short-Term Guardianship and Power of Attorney Clinic - June 2025
HLAI is a community of lawyers committed to promoting and supporting the advancement of Hispanic and Latinx attorneys in the legal profession and to advocating for justice and fairness in Illinois. As the immigration landscape in this country continues to evolve, HLAI saw a need for a Short-Term Guardianship and Power of Attorney Clinic in which volunteers helped members of the Latino/undocumented community prepare for the unimaginable. I assisted with filling out and reviewing documents in both English and Spanish.

4) HLAI - Volunteer at Multiple Events 2025
As stated above, HLAI is a community of lawyers committed to promoting and supporting the advancement of Hispanic and Latinx attorneys in the legal profession and to advocating for justice and fairness in Illinois. As part of this mission, HLAI holds a number of events throughout the year, such as a Casino Night and a Judicial Reception, for which I have volunteered to help set up and take down and to serve as an usher to guide attendees to the event.

5) Jessica Velez for Judge - Volunteer, Sept 2025
Jessica Velez is a Latina attorney in Chicago who began the signature process to have her name placed on the ballot for judge in the 16th Judicial District. Jessica is committed to justice, equity, and public service. I walked approximately 4 miles on the day of the Mexican Independence Day parade in Little Village to obtain signatures so that Jessica could reach the signature requirement and add her name as a Latina candidate for Judge in this district.

6) Instituto del Progreso Latino, DACA Renewal Volunteer - March 2024
Instituto del Progreso seeks to contribute to the fullest development of Latino immigrants and their families through education, training, and employment. I volunteered with Instituto in their efforts to provide legal services for members of our community by walking individuals through the DACA renewal process. This required examining and preparing legal documents.

Please provide a statement describing your background and focus your statement on your reasons for pursuing a legal career and your legal career goals. This statement is important. Please give it appropriate attention. (min. 1000 characters) (Please read FAQs before completing)

My decision to pursue a legal career comes from seeing, at a young age, how deeply the legal system can shape a person’s life and the lives of those around them. When I was nine years old, my mom was arrested and charged with a nonviolent offense that carried a potential penalty of up to ten years in federal prison. She fortunately did not serve time, but the consequences of that charge followed her for years. A felony record limited the jobs she could obtain, took away her right to vote, restricted her ability to visit family in Mexico, and, because of an electronic monitoring bracelet, prevented her from attending things as simple and meaningful as my fourth-grade play.
I did not fully understand the circumstances of my mother’s arrest until I was older, but when I did, I realized how close our family came to being permanently altered by a single legal outcome. My mom was a first-time offender (apart from a speeding ticket here and there), and while the statute allowed for an extreme punishment, her attorney chose to argue beyond the facts of the charged crime. He emphasized her role as a mother, and the impact her incarceration would have on her kids. He showed the court that the long-term harm of imposing a prison sentence would greatly outweigh any benefit of retributive justice and that rehabilitation was possible. The judge in her case utilized his discretion and opted for an approach rooted in humanity rather than punishment. This allowed my mom to remain present in our lives and ultimately shaped the people my siblings and I became.
As I move forward in the legal profession, I often think about the individuals who were probably not met with that same understanding. The legal system frequently prioritizes punitive measures over rehabilitative ones, especially for people who already exist at the margins. I am also aware that, had it not been for the attorneys involved in my mother’s case, I likely would not be in a position to attend law school at all. That reality has allowed me to understand that the law is a powerful tool that can either compound harm or interrupt it.
In law school, I have intentionally sought out experiences that reflect this belief. I pursued a concentration in Critical Race and Gender Studies because it calls for a deeper examination of the social conditions that bring people into contact with the criminal legal system in the first place. This concentration has reinforced my understanding that legal outcomes cannot be meaningfully separated from race, gender, poverty, and systemic inequality. It has also pushed me to think critically about the role legal actors play in either reinforcing or challenging those structures.
My time working at the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender further solidified my commitment to public-sector work. While there, I observed multiple courtrooms where judges addressed similar charges and similar fact patterns, yet arrived at different outcomes. It confirmed for me something that is often overlooked: judges play a vital role in the broader ecosystem of justice and social welfare. Their decisions shape not only individual cases, but families and communities as well. Those observations, combined with my personal experiences, are what motivate my long-term goal of becoming a criminal court judge. I want to be the kind of judge who understands that accountability and compassion are not mutually exclusive, and that justice requires context.
In the immediate future, my goal is to continue working in the public sector, using the law as a tool for equity rather than exclusion. After graduation, I hope to work at the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender or the Appellate Defender, where I can provide direct representation to individuals navigating a system that often feels stacked against them. In recent months, I have watched the law be used in ways that disproportionately harm immigrants, people of color, and low-income communities. In that context, I am deeply aware of the privilege it is to attend law school. It would be irresponsible not to use that education in service of something larger than myself.

Please upload a copy of your financial award letter labeled as follows: LastName.FirstName.FinAwardLtr*

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Salas.Adryanna.FinAwardLtr.pdf

Please upload a copy of your resume labeled as follows: LastName.FirstName.Resume*

Please upload a copy of your law school transcript labeled as follows: LastName.FirstName.LSTranscript*