gratitude for a caring professor

Jason Jia ’11, managing partner of Jia Law Group in New York City, created the Jason Jia and Professor Barbara Gartner Scholarship to honor his Brooklyn Law School writing professor and to help immigrant law students.

Ask Jason Jia ’11 about his life and you’ll quickly recognize the arc of a classic American Dream story—one in which Brooklyn Law School played a pivotal role.

Jia is managing partner of his own midsize law firm, Jia Law Group, which he launched in 2018 and which employs nearly 45 full-time staff members, including eight attorneys who are Brooklyn Law alumni. Two of his law firm partners are friends he met at Brooklyn Law, fellow alumni Thomas Kung ’09 and Joseph Hamel ’11. The firm specializes in employment and immigration law.

“I saw a lot of international companies coming to New York City and setting up shop here, and bringing their teams here, and realized it was a big niche market that could use legal services,” Jia said.

Spotting opportunities is very much part of Jia’s upbringing, as is making sacrifices in the name of education. He was born in Beijing, and primarily raised by his grandmother in China after his parents emigrated to the United States to attend college when he was four years old. He didn’t see his mother or father again until nine years later, when he was able to join them at age 13. After arriving in the States, without knowing a word of English, he attended school in California, living with his mom after his parents divorced.

Jia saw the struggles that immigrants go through firsthand. Money was tight. He recalls his mother working multiple jobs to support the family and going through the lengthy and time-consuming process of getting her green card. Through it all, the family continued to focus on education as the route to success, as is illustrated by Jia, who graduated from the University of California San Diego before enrolling in Brooklyn Law School. Now, 12 years later, he still calls Brooklyn Heights home, and remains actively involved with the Law School through such activities as participating in the annual Business Boot Camp.

He created the Jason Jia and Professor Barbara Gartner Scholarship to honor a professor who helped him improve his writing, and to give back to students like himself who grew up in immigrant families and are navigating the challenges of law school.

“One of the things I always remember from BLS is [now retired legal writing] Professor Barbara Gartner, who worked with students for whom English is not their first language, to improve their legal writing,” Jia said. “I’m very grateful for the time she worked with me.”

Two new graduates who migrated to the United States explain how joining the Brooklyn Law School community changed their life’s journey.

Jia’s loyalty and generosity has benefited two students who have won the scholarships that he provided. One is Harrie Eun Byul Im ’23, who is from Seoul, South Korea. Like Jia, she was the first person in her family to go to law school.

Im says her goal is to work as a cross-border transactional lawyer by using her linguistic skills (she speaks Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and English) while helping domestic violence victims and advocating for animal welfare. While in law school, she worked as a student ambassador in the Brooklyn Law School Admissions Office and as the Inter-Journal Committee Representative for the Brooklyn Journal of the International Law, advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the BLS community.

“The scholarship meant the world to me,” Im said. “During COVID-19, my family’s finances plummeted and, as an international student, I was not eligible to obtain any federal or corporate loans to continue my studies. The scholarship helped me and my family tremendously in continuing Law School.”

Because she was able to continue her education, Im says, she is joining Big Law, with a position at Linklaters LLP. She received the firm’s Making Links 2L Diversity Fellowship of $25,000, under the condition that she join Linklaters as a first-year associate.

Kaicheng (Newton) Yu ’23, who grew up in Shanghai, is another scholarship recipient, one who is known for mentoring students in the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association.

“This scholarship opened many doors for me,” Yu said. “I chose Brooklyn Law School because of the people. The students and professors are caring, supportive, and, most notably, all have a great passion for the profession.”