Royal named to “Forty-under-40”

04/10/2008

Royal named to "Forty-under-40"
K Royal

K Royal, Director of
Pro Bono Programs &
Student Life
     K Royal, Director of Pro Bono Programs and Student Life at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, is receiving an award from a Phoenix newspaper for her contributions to the Valley's business community.
     Royal has been selected as one of the Phoenix Business Journal's 2008 Class of Forty-Under-40, a program that salutes up-and-coming leaders in the community. She and 39 other young professionals, all under 40 years old, were chosen from among 228 nominees. They'll be honored at a reception on Thursday, April 17.
     Rebecca Light, the Journal's events director, said this year's class is noted for its community service.
     "The candidates are always judged based on their character, community involvement and career accomplishments, but the big hit this year was community involvement," Light said. "K was one whose application really stood out."
     Royal said she was proud to be chosen.
     "This award isn't just looking at a certain area, this is taking all the business people in Phoenix who are under 40 years old and looking at their accomplishments," she said. "It's very gratifying."
     This is the latest of several awards Royal has recently earned. The YWCA named her the Education Leader in its Tribute to Women 2007, and later that year, the State Bar of Arizona selected her as one of the inaugural members of its Bar Leadership Institute. She also was honored in 2007 by the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education as one of the top Pro Bono attorneys in the state.
    A 2004 alumna of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Royal is active in the legal profession, especially in efforts to provide quality legal services to the underserved, increase diversity in the legal field and partner with non-profit agencies for the benefit of law students and the community.
     As director of the College's Pro Bono Program, Royal works with students to coordinate and promote student activities, pro bono work, youth outreach, pipeline programs, fundraisers and seminars, and she serves as a resource to student leaders. Last year, law students contributed more than 73,000 hours of law-related public service to low-income and underserved populations, services that had a fair-market value of more than $7.3 million.
     Royal said she has especially enjoyed working with disadvantaged students at South Mountain High through the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, serving on the State Bar's task force on minorities and women in the law, and mentoring with Arizona Quest for Kids, which prepares low-income students with high potential for success in college and beyond, Best Buddies' e-Buddies program, which creates e-mail friendships between children and adults with intellectual disabilities and their peers who do not have intellectual disabilities.
     Royal also works with the students individually and in groups on many issues, including leadership skills and professional development. In addition, she helps strengthen the relationships between the law students and the community, in order to provide the students with quality opportunities and enable the students to pursue those opportunities. 
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