National Jurist magazine named John Marshall Law School third-year student Oluchi Ifebi a “Law Student of the Year.” Ifebi is one of five law students recognized in the Midwest region.
Ifebi was born in Nigeria and immigrated to Texas, where she graduated college from the University of Texas at Austin.
Ifebi has two passions: mentoring and affordable housing. As a college student, she found the lack of available mentors glaring and vowed to fill that hole for others.
“I have dedicated my law school experience to making sure incoming law students have the tools and resources they need to be successful. Everything I do, I do for others,” Ifebi said.
Over the past three years, Ifebi has interned with organizations such as the Chicago Department of Buildings, the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Ifebi hopes to continue working in affordable housing and urban development after graduation.
As a student at John Marshall, Ifebi has also been extremely active in law school organizations. She is a member of the Moot Court Honors Council, a finalist on the Frederick Douglass Moot Court competition team, a representative for Themis, an ambassador for LexisNexis, past treasurer and current member of the Black Law Student Association and a member of the Cook County Bar Association and the Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity.
Ifebi was honored at the 2016 Unity Dinner, the premier event of the Diversity Scholarship Foundation. She was awarded the Jerold S. Solovy Diversity Scholarship Award, an award given to a law student who advocates for diversity within the Illinois legal community and works to bring focus to those who do pro bono work.
“Oluchi is a wonderful role model for our students. She’s smart, engaged, passionate and directs her energies to important causes. National Jurist couldn’t have made a better pick,” said John Marshall Dean Darby Dickerson.
