Civil rights attorney and co-executive director of the Peace and Justice Law Center
IRVINE, Calif. (Oct. 3, 2024) — The University of California, Irvine School of Law is pleased to announce that the UC Irvine Alumni Association will present Sean Garcia-Leys, UC Irvine Law ’16, with the Distinguished Alumni Award at the Lauds & Laurels ceremony on October 10 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine. The Lauds & Laurels awards recognize outstanding UC Irvine alumni for their service to the community, professional excellence and campus involvement.
Sean is a civil rights attorney and public safety advocate who works to end racial disparities and counterproductive gang suppression strategies in the criminal legal system. He serves as co-executive director of the Peace and Justice Law Center, an organization he co-founded in Orange County with a movement-lawyering practice focused on public safety reform.
Sean has successfully fought gang injunctions in Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura counties and has testified as a gang expert in immigration court where he has successfully helped stop deportations. In addition, he was instrumental in reducing the number of people in the CalGang database from 200,000 to 20,000 and successfully advocated for the closure of Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles.
Sean’s research has been published by Oxford University Press and in white papers from UC Irvine Law and the Urban Peace Institute. In addition, he is a frequent source to the news media on gang policing and juvenile justice. He is the recipient of the 2017 Chicano Hero Award from Chicanxs Unidxs and the 2018 Equal Justice Award from the ACLU of Southern California.
Before becoming an attorney, Sean worked as a high school teacher in Watts and East Los Angeles, and as a labor organizer. He is also a former commissioner of the Los Angeles County Probation Oversight Commission.
Sean’s teaching experience inspired him to pursue law so that he could directly advocate for his students, who were often unfairly targeted by the criminal justice system. “I asked myself what else do these students need, what else could I do for them?” he explained. “I cared about them more than anything and teaching was getting exhausting. I knew my students were targeted by the criminal justice system and that kind of targeting usually leads to worse life outcomes, not better. These students needed someone to help keep them out of jail.”
During his time at UC Irvine Law, Sean was active in the Law School’s Immigrant Rights Clinic and in the National Lawyers Guild. After graduation, he joined the Urban Peace Institute, where he focused on gang suppression practice reform and led the institute’s community lawyering and legal services efforts. He then returned to UC Irvine Law as a Munger, Tolles & Olson Fellow and a Visiting Scholar, continuing his work on over-policing reform through the Criminal Justice Clinic.
Sean remains deeply connected to UC Irvine Law. A consummate teacher, Sean supervises pro bono student projects and externships. Earlier this year, he spoke about the California Racial Justice Act on a panel at the Law School’s 2024 MLK Teach-In event. He also facilitated the Peace and Justice Law Center’s co-sponsorship of a post-graduate fellowship — a program akin to one that helped Sean launch his own movement-lawyering career.
About Lauds & Laurels
Celebrating its 53rd year, Lauds & Laurels is UC Irvine’s oldest campus tradition, recognizing outstanding individuals for their service to the community, professional excellence and campus involvement. The event highlights exceptional individuals, but also promotes the university’s and the UC Irvine Alumni Association’s role in inspiring and assisting the next generation of alumni — an “Anteaters for Anteaters” movement. Net proceeds from the Lauds & Laurels ceremony benefit the UC Irvine Alumni Association Endowed Scholarship Fund.
The Lauds & Laurels award ceremony will take place Thursday, October 10, at the Hyatt Regency Irvine. For tickets or more information, visit engage.alumni.UC Irvine.edu/s/lauds.
About the University of California, Irvine School of Law
The University of California, Irvine School of Law is a visionary law school that provides an innovative and comprehensive curriculum, prioritizes public service, and demonstrates a commitment to equity within the legal profession. Nearly half of all UC Irvine Law’s J.D. graduates are people of color, and almost a third are first-generation students. At UC Irvine Law, we are driven to improve our local, national, and global communities by grappling with important issues as scholars, as practitioners, and as teachers who are preparing the next generation of leaders. The collaborative and interdisciplinary community at UC Irvine Law includes extraordinary students, world-renowned faculty, dedicated staff, engaged alumni, and enthusiastic supporters. Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads, and sign up for our monthly newsletter for the latest news and events at UC Irvine Law.