Richard Garzola (LAW ’23) will become the 56th national chair of the National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA), a national organization founded to support Black and minority attorneys across the United States. 

Garzola, who currently serves as the vice chair of NBLSA, will begin his one-year term as national chair April 1 where he will lead the National Chapter of NBLSA. Garzola is currently a student at the Georgetown University Law Center (GULC).

Throughout his time as an undergraduate student at Florida State University, Garzola advocated for minority students’ rights, spearheading protests against the white supremacist organization League of the South and participating in rallies in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. In 2018, Garzola ran for public office for the Tallahassee City Commission Seat 3. He later lost the election. 

Garzola said his experience with activism has prepared him for the national chair role. 

“All those experiences have prepared me for moments like being at Georgetown when we face a lack of support from our administration at times in regards to our arguments being met or not as Black law students, but also understanding that we just want to be heard,” Garzola said in an interview with The Hoya. 

Earlier this year, Garzola assisted students in the protests against Ilya Shapiro, an incoming GULC administrator who was put under investigation following his racist and sexist tweets related to President Biden’s announcement that he would nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court. 

Garzola said he plans to hold Georgetown administrators accountable for their response to student concerns about Shapiro. 

“We just haven’t heard anything since when there was, for lack of better words, noise around the situation, once things kind of calmed down and spring break. There really hasn’t been a lot of communication from administration down,” Garzola said.

Current NBLSA National Chair Simone Yhap said Garzola is the best option for the role because of his ability to expand the organization. 

“As the people’s chair, Richard will reinvigorate our membership by providing a number of strategic programs that not only provide exposure to different legal sectors, but opportunities for personal and professional growth through mentorship,” Yhap wrote to The Hoya. 

NBLSA, which was founded in 1968, currently has over 6,000 active-member law students and holds over 200 chapters for students in law schools nationally. 

Garzola’s success within the NBLSA, single-handedly raising over $100,000 for the organization this year and advancing scholarship opportunities within the organization, is inspiring, according to Yhap. 

The Georgetown community is proud of Garzola’s work and looks forward to seeing what he does in his new role, GULC Dean William Treanor said. 

“This is a wonderful and very fitting recognition of Richard and his many accomplishments as a rising leader in the national law student community,” Treanor wrote in an email to The Hoya. “He already is an important voice in the Black community and an accomplished champion for equity, opportunity, and inclusion. We are very proud he will be representing Georgetown Law and Black law students nationwide.”

In his role as national chair, Garzola plans to create a national mentorship program to help first-generation students.

“A lot of our members are first-generation students, so that’s something that I saw as a gap that I want to fill,” Garzola said. “This would be a national mentorship program where it’s a structured program monthly where they would talk about different topics, but also provide opportunities remotely, because the space we’re in both socially one time a year to meet in person.” 

One of his goals is to expand pre-law scholarships for first-generation students as well as to pay for Law School Admission Test prep and bar exam prep, according to Garzola. He also hopes to host the first in-person NBLSA National Convention in three years so the group can come together again. 

As national chair, Garzola said he will make the voices of Black GULC students heard. 

“If someone’s not being remorseful for a racist action, that shows that they don’t apologize for anything, and they think that they’re going to get away with this behavior, and it’ll be repeated,” Garzola said. “As a national figurehead, I have to step into most situations and assist the students and make sure they’re being heard.”