Students Elected to Leadership Roles in National Associations

First-year students Joshua McKinney and Catherine Hu at the University of Virginia School of Law have been elected to leadership roles for the National Black Law Students Association and the National Asian Pacific American Law Student Association.

The students will spend next year acting as liaisons, aiding in fundraising efforts and bolstering the organizations’ impact both nationally and on North Grounds.

“I want to see every minority student at UVA Law succeed,” said McKinney, who was elected a member-at-large at the national BLSA conference in March. “I want to take what’s great about UVA and what I’ve learned in my career and use it at the national level to give others the same community that I have here.”

Hu was elected director of national partnerships for national APALSA.

“I’ve found that APALSA is my niche,” Hu said. “It’s the place I can go to feel safe and to get a mental break from law school and the world around.”

Both students came to the Law School after spending a few years working after college. A bit older than the average UVA Law student, McKinney and Hu found their communities in the school’s BLSA and APALSA chapters. As their 1L year progressed, both students found there were some perks to being older.

“There’s some wisdom and knowledge that I’ve gained through my failures and successes. Over time, I started trying to be the weird old guy imparting knowledge [to other BLSA members],” McKinney said. “That led me to think, maybe I could take a leadership role in this.”

While working at Google, McKinney built an inclusion task force and expanded it from one office to a global division. Initially, he felt uncertain about running for a position with NBLSA, but decided he wanted to use his skillset to help the organization navigate recent legal and cultural changes around affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion.

“Here at UVA, we’re very lucky — we’re blessed that the school really sees value in student organizations. Our voices are heard,” McKinney said. “Dean [Risa] Goluboff has made this community into one that tries its hardest to be as accepting as possible.”

Hu knew from the day she enrolled at UVA Law that she would get involved with APALSA because she’s made it a point since high school to partake in Asian community initiatives and organizations.

“I fell in with the APALSA community right away and feel lucky to have gotten here when I did,” she said. “Even as recently as four or five years ago, the organization saw much less student involvement.”

She credits the growth to current APALSA President Christopher Huh and the outgoing 2L board.

“They have poured their heart and soul into building up the organization this year,” Hu said. “I get unsolicited texts from people saying ‘Wow, APALSA does so many cool things.’”

Both students are excited about using the organization to help budding lawyers outside UVA Law.

As the new director of national partnerships, Hu wants to put her experience and connections to work for APALSA at the local and national chapter levels.

“Having been part of the Asian American community in New York City, I have an idea of what’s possible,” she said. “I want to help expand APALSA’s connections and help every Asian American UVA Law student achieve their goals and succeed in their professional development.”

She plans to spend the next few months focusing on fundraising.

“I want to spend the summer being creative on the ground in D.C., interacting with the organization and reaching out to alumni,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge, the ability to pick up new skills and to see what I can achieve on that front.”

McKinney said he’s excited about creating opportunity for students at schools with fewer resources than UVA Law.

“Our Office of Private Practice is so plugged in,” McKinney said. “I want to help other students use their strengths to get to the same places we can.”

Both students expressed their belief that BLSA and APALSA — and all affinity groups — benefit from working together, particularly as DEI initiatives face scrutiny.

“I know that BLSA and APALSA are going to work together to face future challenges,” McKinney said. “But my hope is that we can expand even beyond that and work with all the other student organizations to realize that DEI initiatives are meant for all of us.”

On North Grounds, Hu is one of the incoming professional development chairs for the APALSA chapter at UVA Law and is involved with pro bono work with The Repair Lab on Main Grounds, a project that produces research, teaching, public programming, and solutions for environmental and climate injustice locally and around the world.

McKinney is a member of the BLSA mock trial team at UVA Law and was recently named Best Advocate at the regional level.