Brenda Maritza Mendez ’25 and Yuxin Feng LLM ’25 will take the stage at Madison Square Garden on May 20 to deliver the student addresses for NYU Law’s JD Convocation ceremony and graduate Convocation ceremony, respectively.
Mendez was born in Huntington Station, New York, to El Salvadoran immigrants. She is a double violet, having earned her BA from NYU in politics and social and cultural analysis, and was a recipient of the College of Arts and Science-NYU Law Pathway Scholarship. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, she interned in the offices of US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and US Representative Tom Suozzi as well as at the US Department of Justice.
At NYU Law, she served on the board of the Latinx Law Students Association; as one of the managing editors of the Journal of Legislation & Public Policy; as a Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Fellow; as a research assistant for Barry Friedman, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Professor of Law; and as a teaching assistant for Professor Trace Maddox’s Lawyering class. Mendez spent her summers in law school as a law clerk with US Senator Cory Booker’s Judiciary Committee team and as a summer associate at Venable in Washington, DC. In fall 2025, Mendez will move to El Paso, Texas, to join Texas RioGrande Legal Aid as a Re-Entry Legal Fellow.
Yuxin Feng was born in Beijing, China, and relocated to Singapore with his family at the age of eight. In addition to earning his LLM, he will graduate with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in July, under a dual-degree program jointly offered by NYU Law and NUS. Prior to beginning his studies at NYU Law, Feng interned at the London office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, working primarily on international arbitration. Before law school, Feng completed his mandatory military service in Singapore, serving as a medic in the Singaporean army.
Feng represented NYU Law at the recently concluded Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, where he, together with his team, ranked among the top 16 teams in the preliminary rounds and emerged as double-octofinalists. Feng is also a research assistant to Franco Ferrari, Clarence D. Ashley Professor of Law, and is interning at the New York Supreme Court under the supervision of Judge Gerald Lebovits. After graduating, Feng intends to return to Singapore and practice litigation and international arbitration.
Posted April 25, 2025