Boston College Law student Anna Guzman ’26 has been named a Morgan Lewis Foundation Diversity Scholarship Award winner for 2026. The scholarship, founded in 2014, is meant to highlight the necessity and value of diversity in the legal profession and has awarded over $3.3 million since its inception. Guzman is one of fourteen recipients among eight other law schools across the nation, including Duke University, Georgetown, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan.
“Morgan Lewis has a long-standing commitment to the pursuit of all types of diversity in the profession,” said Firm Chair Jami McKeon. “The Morgan Lewis Foundation benefits our profession by affording gifted students the opportunity to complete their legal education.”
Recipients of the scholarship typically receive $20,000 for both their second and third years of law school, bringing the total amount of the award to $40,000. Guzman is the tenth BC Law student to receive the Morgan Lewis Award over the foundation’s history. Previous recipients are Thanithia Billings in 2015, Saba Habte in 2016, Marcus Nemeth in 2017, Helen Kim in 2018, Risa Kuroda in 2019, Ismail Ercan in 2020, Lindsay Kizekai in 2021, Andres Solis in 2022, and Coralie Deus in 2023.
The idea to pursue law was cemented in Guzman while she worked at Panera Bread. Her co-workers included a close-knit group of ten women from Mexico, many of whom had worked there for over a decade and were struggling to obtain their green cards. Before Guzman left for college, one of them joked that she should come back to help her get her papers after graduation, planting the idea of law school in Guzman’s mind. Her experience working alongside these women continues to inspire her to work and fight for fairness, equitable opportunity, and just litigation in the American legal system, she says.
“Labels shouldn’t define diversity, but rather what really makes up a diverse classroom is recognizing that no person fits into any given conception of a diverse student,” she said. “My father was born in Peru, and I am a first generation law student. Yet, I still struggle when defining myself as Latina or white, first generation, etc. No one label defines me as a student, nor should it.” Through her time at BC Law, Guzman has learned to recognize and understand the individuality of clients and hopes to serve the community in criminal and public interest law.
This summer, Guzman is working as an Honors Legal Intern for Division Counsel at the FBI in Boston. In her 1L year she was an Admissions Ambassador and was part of the team that won the Negotiations Competition, attending the national round in Chicago this past spring. She will be co-chairing the upcoming competition in the fall semester and continuing to serve the Office of Admissions as a 2L Lead Ambassador. She is also active in the Criminal Law Society and If/When/How.