Building community, fostering excellence at student awards receptions

Each fall, alongside family and friends, UM Faculty of Law students have the opportunity to connect with the supporters who fund scholarships and awards that recognize students’ exceptional achievements.

At the annual Pitblado Scholars Program reception and Student Achievement Awards reception, the community within Robson Hall comes together to recognize excellence, share gratitude, and celebrate the bright futures of Manitoba’s next generation of lawyers.

Community members like Jim and Sandra Pitblado, Max Steinkopf, David Nemy [JD/24], and the family of the late Darius Maharaj Hunter [JD/21] have all joined us this fall to meet this students who benefit from their generosity.  At these warm receptions, held annually, they gathered with law students and their very proud families for an evening dedicated to the transformative impact of community support.

The Pitblado Scholarships: Recognizing excellence and rewarding resilience

On September 26, the annual Pitblado Scholars reception welcomed the 20 student recipients of the prestigious Pitblado Scholarships. For the past 24 years, the Pitblado Scholarships have been awarded to the top students on the Faculty of Law Dean’s Honour List.

Each year, Jim and Sandra Pitblado join the celebration, and this year their daughter Diane Pitblado also attended with her family.

Before any awards are given out or names are called, the scholarship winners receive boutonnieres that match the Pitblados’ own. These adornments help donors and students find each other in a room filled with families, faculty, and community members. Striking up conversations, the Pitblados take great interest in getting to know their scholarship recipients and encouraging their career goals.

“Repeats are encouraged,” Sandra exclaimed, encouraging Dean’s Honour Roll students to keep their marks up in order to earn a second scholarship and see the Pitblado’s again at next year’s reception.

Sandra and Jim Pitblado congratulate Dean’s Honour Roll student Cori Lee. Little ones always welcome!

The 2025 Student Achievement Awards: Honouring family and legacy

In November, 40 students received scholarships, prizes, and fellowships at the 2025 Student Achievement Awards.

Max Steinkopf (Bond Capital Partners London) personally presented the Max Steinkopf Entrance Scholarship and the Maitland Steinkopf [LLB/36] Entrance Scholarship, named for his late grandfather and father, respectively. The elder Max Steinkopf, called to the Manitoba Bar in 1905, was the first Jewish lawyer on the prairies.

David Nemy [JD/2024], a recent alum of UM Law and now a practicing lawyer at Levene Tadman Golub, proudly presented the Morton H. Nemy Entrance Scholarship on behalf of his family. Nemy shared that his 102-year-old aunt Enid Nemy, who created the  scholarship in honour of her brother and David’s grandfather Morton H. Nemy, was still “kickin’ it” in Florida.

Honouring the life of her late husband Darius Maharaj Hunter [BA/18, JD/21], Delyar Khaleh shared the legacy of this young UM Law alum and presented the Darius Maharaj Hunter Memorial Scholarship to Abigail Clark.

The award was established “to empower and support law students who have demonstrated a spirit for leadership and community engagement, and a desire to carry this forward in their education and practice,” a spirit that Darius Hunter embodied fully.

UM Law: Where community lives

This year, the Faculty of Law was honoured to welcome The Honourable Matthew Weibe, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Manitoba, as well as University of Manitoba representatives including President Michael Benarroch at the September event, and Vice-Provost (Academic) Diane Heibert-Murphy and Vice-Provost (Graduate Studies) Kelly Main, to these special gatherings. Representatives of the Law Society of Manitoba, the Manitoba Law Foundation, the Manitoba Bar Association, and many members of Manitoba’s legal profession attended to help celebrate the achievements of these law students.

As Manitoba’s leader in legal education for over a century, UM Law inspires and invites the legal community to come together each year to celebrate, connect, and give back.

The Faculty of Law congratulates the 2025 – 2026 Pitblado Scholarship Winners:

Ashley Allan
Yomna Eid
Larissa Einarson
Gianna Froese
Rowan Gannon
Meagan Gillis
Danica Grierson
Sameer Harris (repeat)
William Ho
Erin Kyriakopoulos
Cori Lee (repeat)
Alex Loewen
Kathryn Lyon
Dylan Nuytten
Mariana Pozdirca (repeat)
Vanessa Smith
Andrea Sutherland
Eric Vryenhoek
Eric Wagner
Mark Wilson

The Faculty of Law also congratulates the following award recipients:

Juris Doctor program awards:

Alex Brown Entrance Scholarship in Law:

• Roxanne Balmater

Max Steinkopf Entrance Scholarship:

• Caitlin McDonald
• Kiera Butterfield

Maitland Steinkopf Entrance Award:

• Nicholas Carnelley
• Tiana Klippenstein

Dean’s List Academic Award:

• Talia Taras
• Kaitlyn Clarke

Manitoba Law School Foundation Entrance Scholarship:

• Benjamin Baydock

Pitblado LLP Entrance Award:

• Joshua Ackman

Taylor McCaffrey LLP Entrance Award:

• Lindsy DeGagne
• Kya Jackson-Leclair
• Olivia Barbaro

Patricia N. and Mark G. Smerchanski Law Entrance Scholarship:

• Philopateer Rezk

D’Arcy & Deacon LLP Entrance Scholarship:

• Kate Mulligan
• Mateo Nallim

Morton H. Nemy Entrance Scholarship:

• Sarah Janzen

John Mitchell Scholarship:

• Trechelle Bunn (note – this is a 2^nd renewal of the award)

EJ McMurray Trust Fund Entrance Award:

• Talia Elfenbein
• Shakira Goulet
• Christopher Anderson

David Sowemimo Law Entrance Scholarship

• A’aia Haji Hussein

Darius Maharaj Hunter Memorial Scholarship (2024-2025 winner)

• Abigail Clarke

The Honourable John M. Scurfield Memorial Scholarship – 2024-2025 winners

• Katie McKenzie
• Chloe Dreilich-Girard
• Lori Isber

Brendan Mahatoo Scholarship – 2024-2025

• Brooklyn Kehler

Scotiabank Program for Law Students Scholarship

• Khalil Qasem

Master of Laws program awards

University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship

• Paarth Tarachandani

Bernard B. Dubienski and Amy E. Dubienski Memorial Scholarship

• Megan Filyk

Adalsteinn (Steini) Fridrikson Kristjansson Graduate Fellowship

• Christiana Williams

Right Honourable Brian Dickson Graduate Fellowship

• Megan Filyk

Samuel Freedman Graduate Fellowship

• Bailey Wall

David T. Sgayias Graduate Fellowship

• Paarth Taranchandani

Trevor Anderson Fellowship

• Megan Filyk

Master of Human Rights program awards

Harvey and Sandra Secter Master of Human Rights Fellowship:

• Sydney Reid
• Sarah Rohleder
• Lina Guevara
• Morgan Snape

University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship:

• Maddy Nowosad
• Marie-Chantal Plouffe

Story submitted by the Faculty of Law.