2024 Postgrad Fellows
Sharra Gardner at Loyola Project for the Innocent - This project seeks to expand access to comprehensive legal representation for wrongfully convicted indigent persons, many of whom have been incarcerated for decades. This project is twofold. First, it will focus on expanding LPI’s capacity to take on indigent clients, by creating a network of private law firms that will donate their time pro bono to assist with the litigation of LPI’s most complicated, time-consuming, and policy-implicating cases. This integration of the greater legal community will allow for expanded and more comprehensive representation of these wrongfully convicted individuals, providing necessary resources to resolve these cases. Second, a sub-goal of this Project is to build a network of experts who are willing to donate their time to cases. Experts are often the key to unwinding a wrongful conviction, but their cost can be prohibitive to a non-profit with limited resources. In addition, the long-term goal of this project is to create a framework that can be replicated on a larger level in the form of a Pro Bono database that other innocence projects (and similar non-profits) may use to supplement their resources and expand their representation capacity.
Adam Reese at Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles - This project will be made up of several related components. It will involve 1) providing direct legal services to asylum seekers from West Africa, 2) based on this work, creating a framework for narrativizing West African asylum seekers’ key life events into succinct stories that clearly meet the elements of an asylum claim, 3) applying this framework in our work with direct services clients, 4) sharing this framework with other providers of immigration legal services, and 5) identifying claims and potentially also plaintiffs for cases brought by our impact litigation department.
Kevin Sarabia at Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic - This fellowship project aims to support Loyola's Immigrant Justice Clinic’s (LIJC) novel Binational Migration Advocacy Project by providing legal services to underserved sections of the immigrant community residing on both sides of the US/Mexico border. This project will provide ongoing legal services to recent arrivals residing in Our Lady of Guadalupe’s migrant shelter in San Diego via intake clinics, know-your-rights presentations, and pro se workshops. Furthermore, this work will also provide ongoing legal services to migrants in transit, deportees, and undocumented Americans residing in Tijuana, Mexico in collaboration with IBERO, a Jesuit University, via intake clinics, know-your-rights presentations, and pro se workshops. This fellowship project will give LIJC clinical law students the opportunity to provide unique legal services for the immigrant community by going on border trips to serve these hard-to-reach communities. By collaborating with immigration clinics and organizations both in the US and Mexico, this fellowship will work towards expanding this binational coalition to serve as an exemplary model of legal advocacy that more holistically serves the migrant community.
Aria Soeprono at Advocates for the Environment - This project will promote environmentally sound infrastructure for the benefit of California by holding local governments accountable for adequate environmental review of industrial and commercial developments with excessive greenhouse gas emissions. This objective will be accomplished on two fronts: 1) litigating under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), particularly targeting non-housing developments which have considerable indirect greenhouse gas emissions, and are often in areas disproportionately impacted by environmental harms; and 2) developing comprehensive resource guides to effectively and efficiently oppose developments that are harmful to the communities they are sited in and contrary to California’s climate goals.
2023 Postgrad Fellows
Andre Enriquez at Bet Tzedek - This fellowship project seeks to develop legal service referral and education programs for medical providers in Los Angeles County supporting at-risk transgender and LGBTQIA+ patients with intersectional legal issues impacted by their gender identities. Operating from a medical-legal-partnership(“MLP”) and policy model, the project will work with regional medical providers, hospitals, and community partners.
Layla Forghani at Learning Rights Law Center - This project will focus on educational advocacy for high school-age foster youth. In addition to the direct representation of students who are experiencing violations of their educational rights, the project will promote the use of workshops and materials to inform foster youth of their educational rights. By gearing the materials and workshops towards the foster youth themselves, this project aims to empower students to engage and invest in their own futures and allows foster youth experiencing placement instability to keep this knowledge with them and recognize when their rights are being violated.
Tessa Oliver at Post-Conviction Advocates - This project is twofold – the first focus will be to provide legal representation for incarcerated elders through California’s Elderly Parole Program by advocating for their release at parole hearings and conducting research into this underrepresented and vulnerable population on to best serve their needs. The second part of the project is to establish long-term support and resources for people who are released from prison in their process of re-entry. This will include assisting in housing, medical, and mental health services, employment, training, and more. It will also create a network of partnerships with other reentry-focused organizations and businesses that will be able to help support newly released clients.
Megan Mars at Science for Democracy - This fellowship project with Science for Democracy seeks to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world, primarily through advocacy efforts using United Nations mechanisms and review processes. This work will focus specifically on using human rights treaty bodies to raise concerns over and provide recommendations about State parties’ lack of compliance with their obligations regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights and the right to science. The primary means of accomplishing this will be through parallel reports which are an assessment of the progress a State has made in implementing a particular human rights treaty. Without “parallel reports,” these specific issues risk being neglected in the process of review of the State’s compliance. By preparing these reports, it will not only guide State governments in their application and understanding of human rights law, but can aid in the development of international sexual and reproductive health and rights standards.
2022 Postgrad Fellows
Victoria Bonds at Public Counsel - This fellowship project focuses on bringing impact litigation cases to hold Los Angeles County child welfare systems accountable for carrying out their mandated responsibilities to effectively protect and serve LGBTQIA+ foster youth as part of a sustained, multi-pronged advocacy strategy, involving amplifying the voices and experiences of LGBTQIA+ foster youth when working with stakeholders, policy workers, and the courts.
Rebecca Brown at Public Counsel - This project will increase access to Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (“SIJS”) for youth in asylum-seeking families who have been placed in removal proceedings or whose asylum application is mired in the Los Angeles Asylum Office’s backlog.
Amelia Andrews-Jubelt at LAFLA - This project will include development of a practice guide and educational materials for both family law and immigration law attorneys addressing intersectional issues in cases involving domestic violence. The applicant has experience in both areas of the law.
Lena Kerouani at Loyola Project for the Innocent - This fellowship project will focus on the legal needs of wrongfully convicted Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (“BIPOC”) through (1) screening, evaluating and assisting in litigating cases where BIPOC have been judged by an all-White jury, and (2) launching LPI’s Executive Clemency Project to work for the mass release of a number of BIPOC clients.
Annabelle Ostin at Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic- This project, working with the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic on behalf of non-citizens residing on the Eastside of Los Angeles, will implement a replicable model of holistic representation by recruiting and training Master of Social Work students to collaborate with lawyers in serving indigent immigrant communities of color.
2021 Postgrad Fellows
Erica Cervantes - Propose to develop the Disability Justice Project at the Disability Rights Legal Center in Los Angeles, California. Building on DRLC’s tremendously effective work historically in the realm of disability rights in law enforcement, and capitalizing on the current police reform movement, I propose to add community education, legislative and policy advocacy, and additional litigation to DRLC’s growing Civil Rights Program. The fellowship is intended to serve as seed funding for a new and permanent Disability Justice Project at DRLC.
Ayesha Hussain - This project will continue the post-conviction legal services that I have been providing since May 2020 to LPI’s wrongfully convicted client of over 30 years, using DNA testing. The ultimate goal of this project is this client’s release from prison and establishing an expertise in DNA Post-Conviction Testing which can be used for all clients. I will also pursue a subproject of being LPI’s point person for all 1405 Motions for Post-Conviction DNA Testing.
Claire Davey - Through direct representation and research-based policy recommendations, advocate for a new parole hearing process in California for inmates with cognitive disabilities. California’s parole suitability standard, with its heavy emphasis on insight, participation in educational programming, and behavior while incarcerated, creates a nearly impossible standard for many inmates with cognitive impairments, thus prolonging their incarceration for reasons having nothing to do with their risk of dangerousness if released. Given California’s overpopulated prisons, and especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, California must implement reforms that would serve to reduce the prison population while maintaining public safety. Allowing inmates with cognitive impairments to benefit from a parole process that takes into account their disability would serve this purpose.
Jessica Sanborn - This project seeks to implement George Gascón’s Special Directive 20-14, which created a Resentencing Unit in the Los Angeles County DA’s Office, pledging to examine up to 30,000 out of policy sentences, including up to 7,000 youth sentences. Because the Juvenile Innocence & Fair Sentencing Clinic has been central to juvenile sentencing reform in Los Angeles County, the Clinic is part of a small team of stakeholders that will assist the Resentencing Unit in setting up protocols, adopting best practices, and assuring the early success of the Unit. The Fellow would be the liaison with the Unit for the JIFS Clinic.
2020 Recipients
D Abuyounes developed a project with Public Counsel's Community Development Project, which aims to support the economic empowerment of child care providers in underserved communities in Los Angeles County through (1) Providing legal services for small business development in ECE, (2) Conducting tenants’ rights education and advocacy focused on the needs of in-home child care providers, and (3) Advocating for city- and state-level policies that address economic and legal barriers to establishing ECE facilities.
Paige McGrail worked with Loyola Project for the Innocent to address the legal needs of wrongfully convicted women in scenarios where no crime occurred at all. Paige's project placed emphasis on developing a female-focused intake form to target and identify wrongfully convicted women in California prisons. Paige evaluated, investigated and litigated the cases of innocent women identified through female focused intake as well as in-person out reach at California’s women’s prisons. Through collaboration with an expert forensic pathologist, Paige also developed a best practices guide aimed at preventing erroneous homicide determinations and future injustices. Lastly, Paige coordinated a symposium to present and disseminate the findings of the best practices guide.
Hilary Morman created a project with Loyola’s Project for the Innocent (LPI) to address the need for post-conviction representation of inmates claiming innocence under new laws. LPI consistently works to amend laws that allow for a fairer and more just criminal law system in California and has co-sponsored several bills which were recently signed into law by the Governor. The new legislation has significantly changed the ability of LPI to investigate and evaluate cases in order to uncover the wrongs committed before, during and after an inmate’s trial. This project allowed for those changes in the law to be implemented in the cases once closed by LPI due to the unavailability of relief under past laws and to conduct an updated evaluation to determine whether new laws apply. The project’s goals opens the door to further investigation leading to the possibility of relief for inmates who have waited years, if not decades, for a chance to be heard on their claims of innocence.
Sara Rohani developed a project with Asian Americans Advancing Justice – LA to advocate for electoral reforms in cities throughout LA County. During the redistricting cycle, the project targeted communities historically left out of process, such as those with low English proficiency. Using a multi-pronged outreach strategy, public education, and threats of litigation under the California Voting Rights Act, the project resulted in shifts from at-large to by-district elections at a city council level.
2019 Recipients
Elizabeth Alva-Rajakumar developed a project to address the pressing needs of undocumented survivors of domestic violence while she worked for Jenesse Center, Inc. Domestic Violence Intervention and Prevention Program. Her fellowship focused on the immigration form of relief known as the U Visa. Taking a two-step approach, Elizabeth worked to provide remedies for undocumented survivors who had not yet applied for immigration relief, advocating to expand T Visa eligibility to encompass survivors and developing strategies and templates to address common inadmissibilities raised by survivors. In addition, her project used writ of mandamus to order United States Immigration and Citizenship Services to issue a prima facie determination on survivors’ applications who had been waiting years for their applications to be adjudicated, which granted survivors work authorization and deferred action from deportation.
Alison Hahm served as an Access to Nature Fellow for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Santa Monica, California. Alison focused on preserving and protecting existing communities along the Los Angeles River in conjunction with the Los Angeles Regional Open Space and Affordable Housing Collaborative (LA ROSAH). As an Access to Nature Fellow, Alison worked to reduce negative environmental impacts from new developments along the Los Angeles River. Finally, Alison supported community groups comprised oif individuals who live near the LA River by enhancing community outreach and policy advocacy to promote infill housing, anti-displacement and anti-gentrification policies, emissions reduction programs, and sustainable water usage and recapture.
Jennifer Harkins partnered with Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles (NLSLA) to address housing concerns of low-income Los Angeles County seniors. The limited income of seniors coupled with the high rental costs in California make low-income seniors particularly vulnerable in the housing crisis. Her work provided outreach and education to seniors about landlord/tenant rights and the right to request reasonable accommodations under the Fair Housing Act. Jennifer provided direct service representation to tenants and landlords with the goal of keeping seniors in safe, affordable housing and preventing homelessness. Jennifer advocated for low-income seniors strategically through affirmative litigation by identifying cases of housing discrimination against seniors, housing habitability, illegal rent hikes, and unlawful evictions.
Elizabeth Robles teamed with California Rural Legal Assistnce, Inc. (CRLA) and created a project and new position which seeks to achieve lasting change in preventing, identifying, and addressing sexual harassment against low-wage agricultural workers in California's Central Valley. Ms. Robles worked toward achieving this goal through targeted outreach campaigns, direct legal representation, and collaboration with social service organizations and government entities.
Katelyn Tully developed a project with Inner City Law Center, which focused on obtaining housing stability for People Living With HIV/Aids (PLWHA) by directly representing PLWHA at risk of eviction, or other legal matters that threaten their living situation, and by bringing affirmative litigation to prevent housing and other discrimination against people living with hiv/aids in Los Angeles County. In 2017, Los Angeles County had more than 58,000 individuals who experienced homelessness on any given night with the rate of HIV/AIDS among the homeless in the County being more than triple the national rate. Among those most affected, and with the least access to treatment, are women of color. Ms. Tully’s project would help to provide direct legal services to low-income people living with HIV/AIDS and develop affirmative litigation cases focused on HIV/AIDS discrimination.
2018 Recipients
Eva Grenier used direct representation in delinquency court, community outreach, and skill-based training facilitation to address gaps in services for crossover youth with disabilities at the Center for Juvenile Law and Policy. Her fellowship created a system of navigation and support for crossover youth to help fulfill their educational, emotional, and legal needs resulting in prevention of escalation in youths' involvement in the juvenile delinquency or adult criminal justice system. Eva's work helped to reduce negative outcomes associated with the school-to-prison pipline such as suspensions, limited access to special education services, the level of charged or admitted offenses, sentencing lengths, placement determinations, probation violations and re-arrests. Her work as a fellow strived to positively impact the outcomes of crossover youth with disabilities and reduce the collateral consequences of juvenile justice system involvement on their lives.
Anabel Merino addressed the pressing need for post-conviction representation of immigrants facing deportation while she worked for Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project. Her work focused on adult detainees in ICE custody for criminal convictions that may have been avoided if their defense attorneys properly advised them of the immigration consequences of their pleas. Her work focused on the elimination of the barriers to immigration benefits created by the ineffective assistance of counsel by representing detainees in vacating and reducing their prior convictions in criminal court. In addition to providing direct representation to immigrant detainees, her fellowship also created a referral system for future placement of such cases and developed Pro Se forms to assist detainees seeking post-conviction relief.
Ariana Rodriguez worked at the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California. Her project sought to eliminate inequities in the Inland Empire by filling information and resource gaps related to the school-to-prison pathways most traveled by girls, gender non-conforming, queer, and non-binary students of color and challenging punitive school policies that directly contributed to the exclusion of these groups.
2017 Recipients
Meghan Best worked with the Children's Defense Fund. As part of her project, Meghan worked with community organizations within Mar Vista Gardens, a housing project in West Los Angeles, to document, analyze, and eventually brainstrom strategies to combat the overpolicing of juveniles. Additionally, and along with other organizations throughout Los Angeles, Meghan studied the collateral consequences of involvement in the juvenile delinquency system, particularly those related to housing rights for juveniles and their families living in HACLA communities. Along with gathering information and strategic planning with stake holders, Mehghan also represented CDF clients in juvenile delinquency court.
Megan Bradley represented individuals who were wrongfully convicted with Loyola's Project for the Innocent. Megan focused on investigating claims and drafting habeas petitions for LPI's most difficult "cold" cases. During her fellowship, Megan collected data on innocence claims, identified patterns that gave rise to wrongful convictions, and advocated for criminal justice reform based on her research. Finally, Megan worked with LPI to execute advocacy plans and campaign for changes to unjust sentencing guidelines for youth offenders.
Marisa Sacks worked with the Juvenile Innocence and Fair Sentencing (JIFS) Clinic as a Training and Resentencing Fellow to provide services to clients at specialized hearings called Franklin hearings, as well as training and materials for the attorneys who conduct those hearings. Franklin is a brand new remedy that allows youth offenders serving life sentences, and who are eligible for Youth Offender Parole Hearings, to present mitigating evidence pertaining to the "hallmark qualities of youth", in court proceedings. In addition to providing direct services to clients and representing clients at their Franklin hearings, Marisa facilitated trainings for attorneys, clients, clinical students, and experts in Franklin hearings, with an eye toward creating a "best practices" manual to be used by practitioners throughout the state of California. Ultimately, Marisa worked with the JIFS Clinic toward its goals of remedying juvenile oversentencing and creating new law, policy, and practices in the area of juvenile sentencing in California.
2016 Recipients
Emmy Aceves sought to break the school-to-prison pipeline by reducing racial disparities in school discipline, particularly those related to "willful defiance" with Legal Services of Northern California in Sacramento. The project used a sustainable advocacy model where she represented students in expulsion hearings, worked to remove "defiance discipline" from schools, implemented implicit bias training for teachers and administrators, and educated the community about its discipline rights.
Hannah Comstock helped to create a project with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU) to minimize the effects of exclusionary school discipline and campus law enforcement practices that needlessly criminalize vulnerable student groups in the Inland Empire. Through her project, Hannah represented students in school disciplinary proceedings, collaborated with local students' rights coalitions and community partners to pursue broader advocacy efforts, and challenged systemic discrimination through impact litigation.
Hannah Van De Car worked with the Louisiana Center for Children's Rights to implement Montgomery v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court's decision to make Miller v. Alabama retroactive. Collectively, these decisions offer the possibility of resentencing or parole for individuals who were convicted and sentenced as juveniles to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The project focused on building coalitions with community members to end juvenile life without parole, and assisting defense advocates in parole hearings and resentencing litigation in Louisiana.
2015 Recipients
Alejandro Barajas developed a project with the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic to provide free direct legal services for the new Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) and Extended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applicants within the indigent immigrant community in East Los Angeles. Through Alejandro's project, he engaged in education efforts to inform the noncitizen community of the status, eligibility requirements and benefits allotted through the programs. He also trained and mobilized law students and attorneys in the greater LA area to provide greater pro bono assistance in order to advance immigrant rights and related reform.
Cameron Bell teamed with Demos working with the Voter Protection Project. The project was a three-pronged nonpartisan advocacy campaign that used litigation, public education, strategic communication, and policy advocacy to prevent practices that purge eligible voters from voter registration lists, effectively disenfranchising them.
Jessica Mark added a new component to Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles' (LAFLA) government benefits advocacy. Through her project, individuals encountering major barriers to public assistance due to their lack of knowledge of the rules or government agency error, misapplication of the law or intransigence will get the legal assistance from an attorney that they need to access subsistence benefits. The project focused on Skid Row and South Los Angeles targeting populations most in need which included individuals with criminal histories who were trying to improve their lives, the mentally ill, seniors, and persons with disabilities.
2014 Recipients
Dean Conklin began working with Learning Rights Law Center by providing advocacy to students with mental health needs who were in the foster care system. Dean's project focused specifically on issues created due to the elimination of AB 3632 funding, as well as issues that existed for children who have trouble accessing county-delivered services because of out-of-county foster care placements. Dean provided direct services to children who faced these daunting issues, and worked with Learning Rights to develop educational materials and provide in-person training to help involved schools, administrative agencies, and affected families streamline communication and understand their legal rights and responsibilities.
Laura Diven joined the Los Angeles HIV Law and Policy Project (LA HLPP) in serving the legal needs of over 60,000 people living with HIV in Los Angeles County. LA HLPP is a collaborative program of the UCLA School of Law, the AIDS Legal Services Project of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, Disability Rights Legal Center, and Inner City Law Center. LA HLPP offers a comprehensive legal intake system, education, outreach, and direct legal services for those living with HIV. Laura focused her project on expanding LA HLPP’s services to currently underserved populations, primarily women and those living in the perimeter cities of Los Angeles County.
Natalie Klasky worked with Public Counsel's Consumer Law Project to ensure Veterans and low-income individuals in Los Angeles County were protected against the predatory practices of for-profit schools. Her fellowship sought to address other consumer law violations against Veterans, such as those involving payday lending and harassment by collection agencies. To achieve the goals of this fellowship, Natalie conducted legal research and intake to determine the viability of an impact litigation case against for-profit schools taking advantage of Veterans living in the Los Angeles area. In addition, Natalie provided direct consumer law services for Veterans through legal clinics and at those clinics, she surveyed other consumer law needs. Natalie also worked with the Consumer Law Project to develop "Know Your Rights" workshops. Furthermore, she worked on a national level with the American Bar Association (ABA) to address Veterans' consumer law issues. Lastly, Natalie conducted legal research and intake with the Consumer Law Project for all low-income individuals to bolster her knowledge of this area of the law and further pursue her passion to work for social justice.
2013 Recipients
Mieko Failey focused on healing the damage caused by discrimination and advocating for full access and equality for all people regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender identity at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. Ms. Failey's project, The Violence within and Violence Against LGBTQ Youth Legal Advocacy (VIVA Project), provided direct representation to and advocacy on behalf of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning youth victims of bullying, dating violence, sexual assault, and hate crimes.
Claudia Menjivar supported the Western Center on Law and Poverty's belief that low-income Californians deserve the finest possible legal representation before every institution that shapes their lives - courts, the legislature, government agencies, and private organizations. Ms. Menjivar provided assistance to the poor focusing on public benefits, healthcare, affordable housing and access to justice issues through impact litigation; legislative and policy advocacy; negotiations and collaborations with state and local government; and support for local legal aid programs. Ms. Menjivar's project and newly created position sought to improve access to the state's three largest basic needs programs, CalWORKS, CalFRESH and Medi-Cal, for the 2.5 million low-income persons with limited English proficiency through litigation, policy advocacy, and training of legal services staff.
Kelsey Williams worked with the Association of Pro Bono Counsel (APBCo), a membership organization of attorneys, who on a full-time basis manage the pro bono programs at major law firms across the country to elevate firm participation in pro bono activities and support ongoing pro bono work. In partnership with OneJustice, the nationwide APBCo IMPACT (Involving More Pro bono Attorneys in our Communities Together) program sponsored Ms. Williams' project to provide free wrap-around legal representation to low-income survivors of domestic violence and abuse and assist them by addressing their long-term legal needs such as housing, eligibility for public benefits and immigration status.
2012 Recipients
Joanna Florentyna Furmanska created the first nonprofit immigration unit in the Inland Empire working with attorneys at Inland Counties Legal Services. Her project focused on serving victims of violence and human trafficking. Joanna collaborated with local victims' rights and anti-trafficking coalitions to reach out to victims, educate the public and coordinate services. She also worked with these groups to strengthen relationships with local law enforcement agencies. Finally, she created a network of experts and pro bono attorneys who committed to serving victims in the future providing immigrant victims in the region a more holistic support system.
Brendan Hamme worked at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California to secure the rights of all students to an education, freedom of speech, due process, privacy and to learn in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and bullying. Brendan pursued these goals through an aggressive campaign of impact litigation, policy advocacy and community engagement. Specifically, he: 1) expanded the Juvenile Rights Project model, which brought Loyola Law School students to local high schools to teach the students their civil rights vis-a-vis the police and expand this policy to other law schools in Southern California; 2) developed a similar program teaching such students their First Amendment rights on their campuses; 3) continued the work begun combating invasive cell phone searches and seizures; and 4) worked with the Seth Walsh Student Rights Project to address the current epidemic of bullying confronting LGBT youth.
Emily Robinson and H. Marissa Montes partnered with Homeboy Industries, Inc. alongside Eleanor Miller, Director of Legal Services, to 1) provide immigration relief to constituents of Homeboy Industries, Dolores Mission, and the East L.A. community through direct legal services, and 2) educate law students, community members, and current legal practitioners on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. Emily and Marissa provided legal representation to immigrants with minor criminal convictions who were eligible for humanitarian immigration. They engaged Loyola Law School students to host community outreach events, and to assist with identifying clients who are eligible for their services. Additionally, Emily and Marissa developed materials and held monthly workshops to train immigration and criminal defense attorneys and community leaders to equip them with the legal tools needed to protect immigrants from wrongful deportation based on minor criminal convictions.
2011 Recipients
Veronica Aragón worked with the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) to narrow the gap between the normative international human rights standards and the current status of women’s rights in the Americas by focusing on women’s access to justice. Spending the first year in Washington, D.C. and the second in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Veronica implemented a four part strategy: 1) research and publication to create a knowledge management system accessible to human rights defenders throughout America and from which to build a litigation strategy; 2) initiate litigation before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Inter-American Court of Human Rights to deepen the jurisprudence on women’s rights in the Americas and monitor country compliance with past jurisprudence to ensure domestic implementation of international norms; 3) conduct regional and country-specific education and outreach activities to assist local human rights defenders in bringing cases at the domestic and regional levels; and 4) advocate before nation states through regional mechanisms such as the General Assembly of the Organization of American States and through domestic human rights organizations.
David Szeles worked at the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) to expand their affirmative gender based asylum program as well as provide legal services, screenings and placement for detained immigrant victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes and asylum seekers at a newly opened detention center in Orange County. David's project addressed a critical gap in legal services in Orange County where no single service provider has had the capacity to serve this unrepresented detainee population.
Anna Walther worked with the indigenous people of Guatemala to protect their collective rights, especially the right to consultation concerning the exploitation and use of their ancestral lands. Working with the Office of Human Rights of the Archdiocese of Guatemala, Anna collaborated with a team of lawyers dedicated to making the pluricultural society of Guatemala a less exclusionary society and a society that respects and fosters human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples. Her work focused on the proliferation of large scale industrial projects, extractive and agricultural, on indigenous peoples' lands and the processes related to consultation of the affected communities. The project also included an educational element to make the communities aware of their collective rights.
2010 Recipients
Rachel Brewer created a project for Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLS-LA) that analyzed the existing public policies regulating foster youth care and how those policies were actually implemented in Los Angeles County. The project provided direct legal representation at foster care benefits administrative hearings, and advocacy and education to foster care children and their caregivers to ensure the receipt of the proper level of benefits.
Daniel James Ediger sought to enhance access to civil legal services for low income elderly persons, their families, and caregivers in Idaho at Idaho Legal Aid Services (ILAS). Dan's project focused on justice for the under privileged and poor through increased direct representation, development of topical community seminars and mobile legal clinics and the creation of a comprehensive Guidebook of Idaho Elder Law Rights and Options.
Jenna Gilbert empowered refugees throughout Ecuador to assert their rights through the development of a mobile legal aid clinic and the training of local community legal advisors. Jenna worked with Asylum Access in Africa helping refugees receive asylum and legal sanctuary in the countries to which they flee. Jenna's project helped to protect refugees from unlawful or unjust detention, deportation, torture and death with emphasis on providing the necessary tools for refugees to rebuild their lives in a new home, free from fear.
Megan Hayati worked with the Levitt and Quinn Family Law Center (LQFLC) to provide legal representation in family law matters to low-income working families living and working in the greater Los Angeles area. Megan's Intercountry Family Adoption Initiative was a legal project proposal which provided community education to families on their rights under the Adoption Hague Convention, educated attorneys about the implications of the Hague and their responsibilities to their clients in their intercountry adoption process.
2009 Recipients
Amanda Anderson provided legal support at the California Women's Law Center (CWLC), a non-profit organization that works extensively with community organizations to identify persistent and emerging issues of concern to women and girls, to implement strategies to address those concerns and make it possible for individuals to know, understand and change the laws that govern their rights. Amanda's project was a comprehensive public education, training and advocacy program designed to ensure that disabled female veterans' receive the benefits they are entitled to. Through research of the substantive and procedural law regarding veterans' benefits, conducted outreach to women's veterans organization in Los Angeles, and investigation of the barriers that female veterans encounter when trying to access their benefits, Amanda produced and distributed a legal resource guide for female veterans to help them through the Veterans Administration disability benefits process, create a pro bono program to match disabled female veterans with firms providing pro bono representation, and advocate for public policy solutions to their systemic problems uncovered by the program.
Melissa Keaney worked with the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) as a staff attorney to research, document, report on, and challenge, through litigation and other advocacy, state and local law enforcement participation in federal immigration enforcement. Melissa's project addressed the pressing needs of low-income immigrants and their families by focusing on state and local involvement in federal immigration enforcement and the inherent constitutional and human rights problems with the current framework.
Srividya Panchalam undertook work with the Disability Rights Legal Center (DRLC) to establish a Housing and Homelessness Rights Initiative. The project addressed the needs of homeless people and encompassed work to combat systemic discrimination against people with disabilities who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Downtown and Skid Row in Los Angeles via education, litigation and legislative advocacy.
2008 Recipients
Jaime Cartagena worked with the HIV & AIDS Legal Services Alliance, Inc. (HALSA) to provide legal advocacy to the Los Angeles County HIV/AIDS immigrant community. HALSA provides a wide scope of immigration services in order to help people living with HIV disease in the areas of health care, benefits, employment insurance, debtor relief, discrimination and housing. Jaime's project focused on HIV + undocumented women who face violence in their homes and who most often have contracted HIV from their male partners. With extensive outreach and training efforts to non-legal HIV/AIDS service providers, Jaime helped to provide and negotiate any positive resolution to the women and children who usually had no means of financial support and were totally dependent on their abusers.
Tommy Hung Keng Lim spearheaded a new community economic development effort, the Small Business Legal Aid for Los Angeles, as a staff attorney in the Community Economic Development (CED) Unit at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA). Tommy's project focused on small business development by rendering both legal and technical services sought by small business owners who are unable to afford such services from a private attorney.
Naomi Svensson was awarded a legal fellowship position with the International Justice Mission (IJM) providing litigation support for the legal team in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. IJM is a human rights organization that partners with governments in the developing world to help secure the rights of victims subject to violent forms of injustice. IJM's mission is to contribute to the significant reduction of child sexual exploitation and child sex-trafficking in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Silhanoukvile. Naomi's project encompassed research that would focus on the motives and methods employed by the human traffickers, brothel owners or others involved in the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children. The research sought to obtain trafficking intelligence from the unique perspective of the perpetrator and to learn factors of prevention and rehabilitation from incarcerated women who had been convicted of sex-trafficking related offenses and were typically the operators of the establishments that traffic underage girls for sexual exploitation.
2007 Recipients
Jaime Cartagena worked as a staff attorney at the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice (LACLJ), a non-profit organization that provides free legal assistance to low-income residents of Los Angeles in the areas of family law (domestic violence restraining orders, child custody and visitation, child support, divorce, paternity; housing law (eviction defense, affirmative litigation regarding wrongful eviction, slum conditions, and tenant education; and, public benefits law (Social Security, SSI, Calworks, Medicare and Medi-Cal). Jaime's fellowship project encompassed the Chinese Legal Advocacy and Awareness Project which serves immigrant survivors of domestic violence, expanding the immigration practice to include services to immigrants with HIV/AIDS.
Marie Claire Tran was offered a staff attorney position at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. Her fellowship project aimed to reduce employment barriers for people with criminal records. Specifically, she focused on increasing the accuracy and reliability of those records as well as limiting their dissemination by private companies. The Shriver Center champions economic opportunity through laws and policies that help people move permanently out of poverty. Through policy development, communications, and diverse advocacy strategies, the Shriver Center leads a national network of advocates and attorneys who are taking action to end poverty. The Shriver Center is improving the lives of low-wage workers, advancing families toward economic security, and creating communities of opportunity.
2006 Recipients
Shauna Curphey provided legal assistance involving cases of police misconduct in Portland as a staff attorney for the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center in Portland, Oregon. Ms. Curphey worked to protect the rights of political activists and provide legal assistance with cases involving police misconduct in Portland. The Northwest Constitutional Rights Center is a non-profit legal and advocacy organization that works to safeguard and extend the civil rights and civil liberties of political activists working in the areas of human rights, animal rights, worker's rights, the environment, women, and people of color.
2005 Recipients
Heather McGunigle worked for the Disability Rights Center, as their Inland Empire Director serving both the San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Heather's project focused primarily on providing special education outreach, training, and advocacy services as well as strategic litigation. The Disability Rights Center is the oldest cross-disability legal advocacy organization in the country. The Center is located on the campus of Loyola Law School. Their mission is to promote the rights of people with disabilities and the public interest in awareness of those rights by providing legal and related services.
Amy Woo assisted undocumented immigrant and refugee women, who could not obtain legal services and were often victims of domestic violence, as a staff attorney in the domestic violence unit of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice. The Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice is a non-profit legal services firm that provides free legal representation to indigent residents of East, Southeast and Northeast Los Angeles. The Center provides legal services to low income, disabled and elderly residents regardless of their immigration status.
2004 Recipients
Blanca Banuelos was a staff attorney in the migrant unit with California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) providing services to the migrant farm worker community. She also provided litigation support on cases filed on behalf of farm workers. CRLA is a statewide non-profit organization providing free legal services to low income clients. CRLA focuses its services in a variety of emphasis areas, including: housing, education, labor, rural health, environmental justice, civil rights, public benefits, community building and economic development.
Phong Sara Wong joined both the Western Center on Law & Poverty, Inc. and Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) with the Access to Justice Project. Ms. Wong's project was designed to assist countless numbers of indigent individuals whose fee waiver applications were erroneously denied of obtaining basic court access. Phong worked to establish a uniform statewide fee waiver application process. The Western Center on Law & Poverty is the state support center for California's many local services. WCLP specializes in high impact class action policy litigation affecting poor persons in California. Cases involve welfare, housing, health, and other areas, including civil rights. LAFLA provides direct legal services to Los Angeles' poorest communities. LAFLA offers a full range of legal services. These services are provided in seven substantive areas of law - Housing, Government Benefits, Family Law, Immigration Rights, Consumer, and Community Economic Development.
2003 Recipients
An Le worked on developing the Korean Workers Rights and Outreach Project as a staff attorney with Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates (KIWA). Her project served to assist victims of human trafficking and undocumented immigrant workers with wage and hour claims. KIWA is a non-profit organization that fights for economic and social justice by empowering and organizing Korean Immigrant workers.
Anel Flores served as a staff attorney for Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA). Her position was designed to combat various policy issues affecting low-wage workers. LAFLA provides direct legal services to Los Angeles' poorest communities, offering a full range of legal services. These services are provided in seven substantive areas of law - Housing, Government Benefits, Family Law, Immigration Rights, Consumer, and Community Economic Development.
2002 Recipients
Joanna Fawzy worked as a staff attorney with the Cancer Legal Resource Center developing a nationwide resource directory of legal resources and a Patient Guide on the laws facing those with cancer. The Cancer Legal Resource Center is an on-campus community-based resource program, which provides information and education outreach on legal issues to people with cancer, cancer survivors, care givers, health care providers, and employers.
Minah Park served as an advocate for worker's rights at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC). Ms. Park's project analyzed the intersection between immigration laws and worker's rights. The Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) is one of the leading law firms in Southern California dedicated to providing the growing Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) community with multilingual, culturally sensitive, legal services, and civil rights support.
2001 Recipients
Adalila Garcia worked as the first HEED staff attorney with the National Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles Chapter. Adalila assisted HEED's pro bono lawyers in international human and environmental rights. Adalila's project gave the Loyola Postgraduate Fellowship Program an opportunity to expand into international law and global issues. HEED (Human, Economic and Environmental Defense) was founded in 1996 by the National Lawyer's Guild, Los Angeles Chapter, as a separate Chapter project with the mission of using international law to widen and protect the fundamental human, economic and environmental rights of present and future generations of human beings and the biosphere.
Vanessa Lee worked as a fellow with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center on a project aimed at protecting and improving the rights of Asian and Pacific Islanders with limited-English proficiency through a comprehensive strategy of advocacy, education, research and assessment. The Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) is one of the leading organizations in Southern California dedicated to providing the growing Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community with multilingual, culturally sensitive, legal services, education and civil rights support.
2000 Recipients
Lisa Sergi worked as a Legal Advocate for Catholic Charities in Orange County. She provided educational workshops, training programs, and staff/client consultations in the areas of family law, immigration, domestic violence, and child custody. Catholic Charities is a neighborhood-based social service organization, which partners with the public and private sector to improve the quality of life of people in Orange County by addressing the issues that contribute to poverty and isolation.
Davilena Bailey O'Connor was a Law Fellow with Break the Cycle. Davilena's fellowship duties centered around enhancing the Education and Outreach and Legal Services programs. Break the Cycle is a non-profit organization offering education, intervention and legal services to young people concerning domestic violence related issues.
1999 Recipients
Sister Sharlet Wagner worked for the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) as the "Detention Project Attorney". The fellowship allowed Sister Wagner to provide pro bono legal services to immigrants who were being detained by the INS and were in deportation proceedings. CARECEN is a public interest organization that provides direct immigration services and assists clients in preparing applications for asylum and suspension of deportation.
Carol Oh' Basile worked as the Executive Director and Founder of the Neighborhood Legal Center providing legal services to low-middle income families in areas of family law and criminal law. Carol's project oversaw all operations of the organization she created through her Loyola Law School public interest fellowship.
1998 Recipients
Jedidiah Minoff completed his 2-year fellowship with Public Counsel overseeing the Juvenile Court Intervention and Advocacy program by providing legal services for children with mental-health issues and delinquency histories. He also directed the group's legal education outreach and served as a policy advocate. Public Counsel was so pleased with Jedidiah's work that they created a position for him at Public Counsel. He was also named one of the top 20 lawyers under the age of 40 by California Business Law. Public Counsel offers a wide variety of legal services to the poor.
Denise Baez completed her 2-year fellowship with Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLIN). Denise represented minors and women being held in detentions. NILC was so pleased with Denise's work that they created a position for her to provide immigration legal services to the poor.