Syracuse University College of Law has nominated Rebekah Gil L’26 and Maxwell Charest L’26 for the 2026 Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) Outstanding Student Awards, recognizing their exemplary work in the College’s nationally recognized experiential learning program.
Gil was nominated for the CLEA Outstanding Clinic Student Award for her leadership and advocacy in the Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic. Charest was nominated for the CLEA Outstanding Externship Student Award for his exceptional commitment to judicial externship work across local, state, and federal courts.
The Clinical Legal Education Association recognizes students who demonstrate excellence in clinical and externship education, including strong lawyering skills, professionalism, reflection, collaboration, and meaningful contributions to clients, courts, law school communities, and the broader legal profession. Syracuse Law’s 2026 nominees reflect the depth and strength of the College’s commitment to preparing practice-ready graduates through hands-on legal education.
“Syracuse Law’s clinics and externship programs give students the opportunity to step into real legal roles, serve real clients and communities, and develop the judgment, professionalism, and confidence they will need as lawyers,” said Professor Beth Kubala, Executive Director of the Office of Clinical Legal Education. “Rebekah and Max represent the very best of that mission. Their work reflects not only individual excellence, but also the power of experiential learning to advance justice.”
Rebekah Gil: Leadership and Client-Centered Advocacy in the Veterans Legal Clinic
Rebekah Gil was nominated for the CLEA Outstanding Clinic Student Award in recognition of her exceptional leadership, initiative, and commitment to client-centered advocacy as a Veterans Legal Clinic II student.
During the Fall 2025 semester, Gil took on a pivotal leadership role in preparing a team of 10 new Veterans Legal Clinic I students for a complex Board of Veterans’ Appeals hearing on behalf of an Army veteran. The case involved five separate and highly technical physical conditions on appeal, requiring careful legal analysis, coordination, and strategic preparation.
Gil organized the student team into smaller working groups, assigning each pair of students responsibility for a specific medical condition. She guided them through relevant provisions of the Code of Federal Regulations, helped them analyze diagnostic codes, assess potential disability ratings, and identify the evidence needed to support increased ratings. She also worked closely with each team to develop thoughtful, targeted questions for the veteran to strengthen the evidentiary record.
Beyond managing the legal preparation, Gil ensured that both the student attorneys and the client were ready for the hearing. She conducted moot sessions, refined arguments, and ultimately helped lead the hearing with professionalism, confidence, and legal acumen well beyond what is expected of a law student.
The Administrative Law Judge remarked on the team’s exceptional preparation, and the veteran expressed deep gratitude for the thorough and compassionate representation. While a decision remains pending, the quality of advocacy delivered was exemplary, due in large part to Gil’s leadership and dedication.
Her nomination reflects the core values of clinical legal education: rigorous preparation, collaboration, professional judgment, and service to clients whose legal matters have profound personal significance.
Maxwell Charest: Advancing Justice Through Judicial Externships
Maxwell Charest was nominated for the CLEA Outstanding Externship Student Award in recognition of his exceptional commitment to judicial externship work and his deliberate preparation for a career serving the administration of justice.
During his time at Syracuse Law, Charest completed three distinct judicial externships, each selected to deepen his understanding of the judicial process and prepare him for future work as a judicial law clerk.
He began in Fall 2024 with the Honorable Melinda H. McGunnigle, where he developed foundational judicial skills in criminal law at the county court level. In Spring 2025, he expanded his experience through an externship with the Honorable Richard Latin of the New York State Supreme Court, Queens County. Most recently, in Spring 2026, Charest completed a federal judicial externship with Magistrate Judge Mitchell Katz in the Northern District of New York.
Through these placements, Charest demonstrated extraordinary dedication to experiential learning, public service, and the careful work of courts. His progression from local to state to federal court reflects thoughtful career planning and a sustained commitment to judicial service.
Charest’s fieldwork supported the efficient administration of justice, contributed to the fair adjudication of cases, and served litigants who depend on the judicial system. His completion of three prestigious judicial externships exemplifies the professionalism, discipline, and reflective practice that the CLEA Outstanding Externship Student Award is designed to recognize.
Syracuse Law’s Commitment to Experiential Learning
Syracuse Law’s nomination of Gil and Charest underscores the College’s longstanding strength in experiential legal education. Through its in-house clinics, externship placements, pro bono opportunities, and skills-based coursework, Syracuse Law students engage directly with clients, courts, agencies, nonprofit organizations, and community partners while developing the habits of professional judgment and ethical lawyering.
The College’s clinical program includes seven in-house clinics serving clients and communities across a wide range of practice areas. Its externship program connects students with meaningful field placements in judicial chambers, government offices, nonprofit organizations, and other legal settings where students can apply classroom learning in real-world environments under close supervision.
Together, these programs reflect Syracuse Law’s commitment to graduating lawyers who are prepared not only to enter the profession, but to lead with skill, integrity, and purpose.
Gil and Charest’s nominations for the 2026 CLEA Outstanding Student Awards recognize two students whose work exemplifies the highest ideals of experiential legal education: service, preparation, reflection, professionalism, and impact.