Chelsea Kehrer Wins 2024 Kathi Pugh Pro Bono Service Award

Chelsea Kehrer is the recipient of the eleventh annual Kathi Pugh Award for Pro Bono Service. 

Chelsea is a litigation associate in the firm’s Palo Alto office and has been deeply committed to pro bono service since the beginning of her legal career.

Chelsea joined the Firm in October 2021 and immediately started doing pro bono work. In her own words, “MoFo was a natural fit for me after law school because of the Firm’s commitment to pro bono work, particularly for causes that I believe in. On one of my first days at the Firm, I was staffed on a pro bono case about students who did not have equal access to education during the COVID-19 pandemic.” The case was Cayla J. v. State of California.

Chelsea was an invaluable team member on the Cayla J. case, which sought remediation from the State of California to help disadvantaged schoolchildren who suffered the most from pandemic-related learning loss. Earlier this year, the team reached a historic settlement that secured at least $2 billion to help students recoup academic losses and close opportunity gaps.

By all accounts, Chelsea’s contributions to the case were extraordinary. Colleagues cite her first-rate legal work, superb advocacy, and endless passion. And when senior team members were pulled in other directions, she stepped up to a level of responsibility that far exceeded what would be expected of a junior associate. 

Chelsea’s sustained commitment to pro bono is demonstrated in the impressive number of hours she has logged during her first three years at MoFo. When she is not working, Chelsea also makes time to volunteer at harm-reduction organizations and advocate for people struggling with substance abuse. In all ways, Chelsea exemplifies Kathi Pugh’s legacy.

As the 2024 winner of the Kathi Pugh Award, Chelsea may direct $10,000 to a nonprofit legal services organization that improves access to justice. She has chosen to split her donation as follows: $5,000 to Public Counsel, our co-counsel in the Cayla J. case, and $5,000 to Abolitionist Law Center, a public interest law firm and community organizing project that addresses criminal justice issues in Pennsylvania.

The Kathi Pugh Pro Bono Service Award was established by MoFo in 2013, when Kathi Pugh retired after two decades of running the firm’s pro bono program. It recognizes the values, enthusiasm, and compassion that Kathi brought to the pro bono program and celebrates the remarkable ways that lawyers like Chelsea proudly carry out Kathi’s pro bono legacy. Past award winners include Andrew Kissner, Camila Tapernoux, Chris Gloria, Tushna Gamadia, Mercedes Samavi, Adam Hunt, Christian Andreu-von Euw, Ruth Borenstein, Natalie Fleming Nolen, and Fredo Silva.