UCLA School of Law students David Griffith ’19 and Ajwang Rading ’20 have been awarded prestigious Langston Bar Association Scholarships for their excellence and leadership in law school.

The scholarships were presented on Jan. 31 at the 43rd Annual Installation and Awards Gala of the John M. Langston Bar Association of Los Angeles, which is California’s oldest African-American bar association. The honors go to students who show laudable commitments to the law and public service, as well as academic success. UCLA Law students represented a quarter of all 2019 winners statewide.

While at UCLA Law, Griffith and Rading have served in leadership positions with the Black Law Students Association; Rading is the current co-chair and president, and Griffith was the cultural awareness chair.

Griffith presently works as a mentor for the UCLA Law Fellows Program and the Munger Tolles & Olson Fellows Program, he is the co-editor-in-chief of the National Black Law Journal, and he devotes a substantial amount of time to counseling prospective law students on the rigors of what awaits them.

“I feel blessed and honored to be a 2019 Langston Scholarship recipient,” Griffith says. “Langston has such a rich history, and I am excited to continue the legacy of the inspirational attorneys who came before me. As a first-generation law student, this award is not only for me but also for my family and the strong village that raised me.”

Rading is a staff member of the UCLA Law Review and veteran of several endeavors that promote civil and human rights, including work at the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, and as a legislative fellow for U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey).

“To paraphrase Maya Angelou, I come as one but stand as 10,000,” Rading says. “This scholarship is for my single mom and for those who came before me.”

Other 2019 Langston gala honorees included U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus; Kevin Brazile ’83, a UCLA Law alumnus and the presiding judge of Los Angeles County Superior Court; OWN network executive Tina Perry; and the law firm of Covington & Burling.