Susan Abrams 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, Monterey Park, CA Sponsor(s): The Morrison & Foerster Foundation Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Family Law Harvard Law School, 2005

Susan Abrams works with the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles in California. The Children’s Law Center serves as appointed counsel for abused and neglected youth in Los Angeles County. It is the largest representative of foster youth in California, advocating for the vast majority (over 80 percent) of the 30,000 children under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Dependency Court. Susan provides direct client advocacy for those foster youth in danger of crossing into the juvenile justice system. She is also working to affect new policies related to prevention and intervention. Each month, roughly 130 foster children in Los Angeles County have contact with law enforcement. Of these youth, approximately one-third will cross over into the juvenile justice system. This move can have far-reaching negative implications, including the loss of access to a number of invaluable services and resources. Susan’s experiences working with and on behalf of children help her in providing effective representation. Prior to law school, Susan worked as an Americorps Promise Fellow in California, organizing volunteer projects at nonprofits serving Los Angeles County youth. She spent the summer following her first year of law school at the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The next summer, Susan worked at the Children’s Law Center, where she witnessed firsthand the need for advocacy targeted at children in danger of crossing into the juvenile justice system.

Roxanna Vanessa Alvarado 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Learning Rights Law Center, Los Angeles, CA Sponsor(s): Pfizer Inc Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, 2001

Vanessa is an Equal Justice Fellow at the Learning Rights Law Center, where she directs the Los Angeles Family Advocacy Program (LAFAP). LAFAP is a medical legal collaboration between doctors and lawyers designed to improve the well being of patients and their families by increasing their access to legal services. Working at the AltaMed General Pediatric Clinic at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA), Vanessa works closely with hospital staff to identify legal issues that confront patients and their families, with an emphasis on special education issues. The mission of Learning Rights is to ensure students have equitable access to the public education system. Learning Rights is focusing their efforts on the following low-income students in the K-12 system: 1) Students at risk of or involved in the child welfare and/or juvenile justice systems; 2) Students with learning disabilities and/or learning difficulties; and 3) Students not accessing the public school system because of language, disability, sexual orientation, homelessness or inadequate facilities. Many of the patients of AltaMed General Pediatric Clinics at CHLA fall under at least one of these categories. The services provided by LAFAP fill a void previously unmet in this community. Born in 1974 to immigrants from Mexico, Vanessa grew up in a household where all possibilities existed for her future. This upbringing has contributed to the choices and responsibilities she has taken up in life. Vanessa received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and taught in the predominantly minority community of East Palo Alto before attending the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law. Soon after beginning law school, she was accepted into the Public Interest Law and Policy Program, which cemented her future career path. Vanessa chose to work within public interest law because of her desire to work closely with communities that possess few resources. Through this Equal Justice Works Fellowship, she hopes to create possibilities for her clients and their families that may have otherwise been nonexistent or difficult to achieve.

Kimberley Baker 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Protection & Advocacy, Incorporated, Los Angeles, CA Sponsor(s): McDermott Will & Emery LLP Primary Issue Area: Disability Rights Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth University of Southern California Law School, 2005

Kimberley Baker works with the Los Angeles office of Protection & Advocacy, Incorporated (PAI), a nonprofit legal organization dedicated to advancing the human and legal rights of people with disabilities. Among the many services that PAI provides to individuals with disabilities, it brings impact litigation, provides direct representation, investigates complaints of abuse and provides technical support and training. Kimberley’s project is geared toward providing legal services to disabled minority youth in the Los Angeles area. Her project has three components. First, through community outreach meetings with various organizations that she has partnered with, she meets with individuals of the target population, provides them with education on disability rights issues and determines whether or not they are candidates for further assistance. Once she identifies such individuals, she invites them to attend one of the community education sessions. During these sessions, she educates them on their legal rights and responsibilities as they pertain to issues ranging from special education law, juvenile delinquency law, benefits issues and mental health services. Finally, Kimberley provides direct representation in juvenile delinquency, special education and administrative matters to some of the youth identified during the sessions. Kimberley’s dedication to empowering and protecting youth from underserved communities has been a life-long commitment. During law school, she served as a Co-Executive Director of the Street Law Foundation, the Editor-in-Chief of the Southern California Review of Law and Women’s Studies, a Mentor and Academic Coordinator for the Black Law Students Association and a member of the Public Interest Law Foundation. She has interned with PAI, the Alliance for Children’s Rights and the University of Southern California Post-Conviction Justice Project. Prior to law school, she worked as a fifth grade teacher in South Los Angeles.

Gregory Beck 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Public Citizen Litigation Group, Washington, DC Sponsor(s): Friends & Family of Philip M. Stern; Stern Family Fund Primary Issue Area: Free Speech/Freedom of Expression/First Amendment Secondary Issue Area: Consumer Rights University of Illinois College of Law, 2004

Greg Beck works with Public Citizen Litigation Group, where he is developing the new Online Justice Clinic. The project will serve to protect the rights of consumers on the Internet by providing solutions to those faced with actual or threatened lawsuits in response to their online activities. Although the Internet has created unprecedented opportunities for personal communication and individual self-expression, some corporate interests have responded by attempting to silence critics with cease-and-desist letters and lawsuits. "By taking advantage of people's inability to defend themselves against expensive litigation tactics, companies are able to stifle dissent and undermine the promise of the Internet as a forum for the free exchange of information," Greg said. The goal of the project is to advance the cause of free speech and consumer rights on the Internet with selective litigation and the provision of online resources to those who have been targeted as a result of their online communications. Before law school, Greg worked as a computer programmer and gained a concern for digital rights issues. Greg spent a summer as a law clerk at Public Citizen Litigation Group, where he worked on issues of First Amendment and consumer law. Public Citizen Litigation Group is a public interest law firm that specializes in federal health and safety regulation, consumer litigation, open government, union democracy, separation of powers, and the First Amendment. Greg's project expands both the scope and potential audience of the organization's existing work in the area of Internet litigation.

Emily Benfer 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Washington, DC Sponsor(s): Arnold & Porter LLP Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis, 2005

Emily Benfer advocates on behalf of the nearly 5,000 homeless children in the District of Columbia. Her project, DC HEART, addresses the debilitating effects of homelessness on a child’s emotional, physical, and mental wellbeing. She works to improve shelter conditions, increase nutrition and provide children with access to healthcare and an appropriate education. Through legal assistance in the areas of education, healthcare and public benefits; workshops at shelters; collaboration with community groups and education providers; and parent outreach programs, Emily is helping to break the cycle of homelessness for children and future generations. Emily’s dedication to the needs of homeless children and families was first inspired when she discovered the dangerous and threatening family shelter conditions during her internship at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. “In that setting of despair, I realized that my most valuable contribution as an advocate is to strive for a system that recognizes the strengths of individuals in need, lifts them above their struggles and helps them to achieve their full potential,” Emily stated. “Human beings deserve no less.” Emily’s past experiences in poverty law and the human and civil rights fields prepared her to implement DC HEART. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand, Zimbabwe and Belize, Emily organized members of impoverished communities and determined that she could surmount even greater barriers through legal advocacy. Emily also worked as a law clerk at New Haven Legal Assistance Association, the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Protective Order Pro Bono Project, Teen Court and as a court extern for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. These experiences gave Emily critical insight into the many hurdles facing children raised under adverse living conditions and the tools with which to find real solutions to the inequities.

Maria Bernal 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow National Immigrant Justice Center, Chicago, IL Sponsor(s):  Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Loyola University Chicago School of Law, 2005

Maria Bernal works with the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), a nonprofit legal organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of immigrants. NIJC provides many services to immigrants including impact litigation, direct representation and advocacy. Maria’s project is geared toward providing direct legal services, community outreach and advocacy to immigrants in the Midwest. Her project focuses on the importance of counsel to immigrants and an immigrant’s right to counsel. Her project has three components. First, she will develop and implement an education and outreach campaign in Chicago’s immigrant communities to ensure that they understand their legal rights, particularly their right to an attorney. Second, she will provide direct legal representation, intake services and counseling to immigrants who would likely appear pro se at their removal hearings without access to affordable services. Third, she will advocate for improved access to legal information and justice for immigrants. As the sister and daughter of immigrants from Venezuela and El Salvador, Maria knew that she would like to use her law degree to help immigrant communities. Maria’s dedication to assisting immigrants began when she interned for The Chicago Legal Assistance Foundation’s Migrant Project after her first year of law school. Working for this project, she helped provide legal services and access to legal information to immigrant farm workers throughout the Midwest. Maria then interned for NIJC’s detention project after her second year of law school and throughout her third year. While working for the detention project, she helped provide direct legal services to immigrants in immigration detention facilities who were facing deportation.

Emily Breon 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Center for Children's Advocacy, Hartford, CT Sponsor(s): Pfizer Inc Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Fordham University School of Law, 2005

Truancy is often a symptom of underlying problems, such as long-standing academic difficulties, emotional crises, safety concerns or low self-esteem. Emily’s initiative, the Truancy Court Prevention Project (TCPP), attacks the root causes of truancy at Hartford Public High School by providing legal advocacy to combat barriers in the provision of services to truant students in the educational, medical and social service systems. This vital advocacy will improve school attendance before a referral to the Juvenile Court is necessary and, most critically, before a student decides to drop out of school. Emily’s motivation for this project stems from her field experiences as a joint law and social work student. Her work in both disciplines convinced her that interdisciplinary approaches are necessary to solve the complex problems faced by vulnerable populations. The TCPP is a unique collaboration between students and their families, the Center for Children’s Advocacy and various community agencies, Hartford Public Schools, the Connecticut Judicial Department and the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. Emily’s host organization, The Center for Children’s Advocacy, protects and promotes the rights and interests of poor children who depend on the judicial, child welfare, health, education and juvenile justice systems for their care. The TCPP is a perfect fit for the Center, which has a reputation for implementing community-based interdisciplinary models to improve the quality of legal representation of children. Emily has demonstrated her commitment to youth since college. After graduation, she fundraised and coordinated after school programs in New York City. Through her social work and legal internships, she has counseled children and adolescents in a mental health clinic, served elementary school children through a violence prevention program and advocated for the rights of juvenile delinquents and children in the child welfare system.

Giliane Cherubin 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Human Rights First, New York, NY Sponsor(s): Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Secondary Issue Area: Immigration Law Reform Columbia University School of Law, 2003

Giliane will be working with the Asylum Program of Human Rights First. The Program advocates for the fair treatment of asylum seekers in the United States and for U.S. compliance with international human rights and refugee law. The Program also provides free legal representation to asylum seekers through the largest pro bono asylum legal representation program in the country. Giliane is committed to the struggle for justice and dignity for underrepresented populations throughout the world. After college she spent two years serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali. In her first year of law school, she volunteered at the Workplace Project in Hempstead, New York where she assisted immigrant workers in dealing with injustices at the workplace. She then spent a summer interning with the Asylum Program of Human Rights First and completed a two-year internship at Catholic Charities Immigrant and Refugee Services in New York. Her international work includes a 2002 summer internship at the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA), in Gambia. Among its work, IHRDA brings cases in front of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights on behalf of individuals and groups. Upon graduation, Giliane used the Post-Graduate Human Rights Fellowship that she was awarded by Columbia’s Human Rights Institute to carry out another project at IHRDA. The work of the Asylum Program fits perfectly into Giliane’s ongoing commitment to human rights and social justice. Through her project she will link together and unite the voices of refugee advocates, local legal service providers and refugees themselves to improve the legal access of detained asylum seekers as well as ensuring their fair and just treatment. The project will focus on key problems such as legal access and representation, fair release procedures and the treatment of detainees while in custody. This project will assist thousands of asylum seekers across the country by helping to change U.S. policies.

Catherine Crump 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow American Civil Liberties Union, New York, NY Sponsor(s): Bruce J. Ennis Foundation Primary Issue Area: Free Speech/Freedom of Expression/First Amendment Stanford University Law School, 2004

Catherine Crump works at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)to safeguard the right to engage in political dissent. The ACLU is a nationwide, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to the principles of liberty and equality embodied in the U.S. Constitution. The ACLU has been at the forefront in numerous state and federal cases involving freedom of expression and the right to engage in political dissent. Catherine’s project seeks to protect the First Amendment rights of government whistle blowers and political protesters. She counsels and supports government employees who wish to come forward with information about shortcomings in the government’s national security strategy. She also works with political protesters who are critical of government and have been forced to protest in relatively remote locations because of their viewpoint. Catherine’s involvement in public interest law began in college, when she volunteered at the tenants’ rights section of the East Palo Alto Community Law Project. She eventually served on the board of directors of that organization, as well as its successor organization, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto. In law school Catherine particpated in the Stanford Cyberlaw Clinic, which afforded the opportunity to work to protect the free speech rights of those publishing anonymously on the Internet. She also volunteered at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where she was involved in litigation and policy projects aimed at reining in government surveillance and protecting the right to speak anonymously.

Alaric Degrafinried 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow National Housing Law Project, Oakland, CA Sponsor(s): ALM Primary Issue Area: Community Economic Development Santa Clara University School of Law, 2005

Alaric Degrafinried works with the National Housing Law Project (NHLP), a national housing law and advocacy center in Oakland, California that was founded in 1968. The goal of NHLP is to advance housing justice for the poor by: increasing and preserving the supply of decent affordable housing, by improving existing housing conditions (including physical conditions and management practices), by expanding and enforcing low-income tenants’ and homeowners’ rights and by increasing opportunities for racial and ethnic minorities. At the NHLP, Alaric provides support and legal assistance to local advocates regarding Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Section 3 regulations. The stated purpose of the Section 3 regulations is to ensure that “employment and other economic opportunities generated by Federal financial assistance for housing and community development programs shall, to the greatest extent feasible, be directed toward low- and very low-income persons, particularly those who are recipients of government assistance for housing.” Consequently, Alaric promotes employment opportunities for low income individuals by providing advocates with the necessary training and transactional documents to ensure and/or enhance the compliance of HUD’s Section 3 regulations. Alaric first became interested in community economic development while working as a Small Enterprise Development Volunteer for the Peace Corps in Haiti. Specifically he began working in this area while interning at the NHLP and later at the East Bay Community Law Center.

Brent Denzin 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Midwest Environmental Advocates, Madison, WI Sponsor(s): Sierra Club Primary Issue Area: Environmental Justice Secondary Issue Area: Community Economic Development University of Wisconsin Law School, 2005

Brent Denzin works with Midwest Environmental Advocates, a nonprofit environmental law center in Madison, WI. Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA) provides legal and technical assistance to community-based groups, local governments and tribal governments that are fighting for environmental justice. Brent’s project focuses on the environmental impacts of big-box developments, most notably Wal-Mart, in Wisconsin. Brent will connect the efforts of local citizen groups with larger organizations that are fighting similar battles against sprawling big-box developments. To aid these organizations and citizen groups, Brent will develop a comprehensive legal tool-kit for fighting big-box developments, distribute this tool-kit to affected communities and update the tool-kit with successes, failures and emerging strategies. Finally, Brent will file impact litigation in hopes of creating beneficial precedent while defending individual communities. As a lifelong resident of the Great Lakes area with a strong belief in sustainable living, Brent has a deep concern for small communities that are surrounded by undeveloped land. Brent maintains, "As these communities face increasing pressure to transform neighboring farms into parking lots, it is important to fight for well-planned communities and the efficient, low-impact lifestyles they create."

Jameela Donaldson 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC Sponsor(s): Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Primary Issue Area: Human Rights Secondary Issue Area: Public Benefits/Welfare Reform Georgetown University Law Center, 2005

Jameela Donaldson is a Fellow at the Legal Aid Society of D.C., where she provides direct representation, outreach and education and advocacy in an off-site office. Jameela works in the areas of family law, landlord-tenant and public benefits cases in a new satellite office located in the heart of an under-served community. Her project attempts to bring legal services into the community, thereby giving those without transportation or those with small children easier access to the help they need. The Legal Aid Society provides free legal assistance to the poorest residents in Washington, D.C. Jameela’s background, close ties to the city and commitment to public service are a large asset to her project and she hopes to make a difference in the lives of those who are too often overlooked. Prior to her Fellowship, Jameela worked with the Law Students in Court (LSIC) program providing legal services to indigent citizens of Washington, D.C., primarily in the area of housing rights. Landlord-Tenant Court is the highest volume court in Washington, D.C. with less than 10 percent of defendants being represented by an attorney. The program allows students to actively represent clients in Landlord-Tenant Court and provide legal services to those who are facing eviction or being subjected to substandard housing. She was also part of the Georgetown Street Law program where she taught legal concepts to residents in a residential drug treatment facility. As a native Washingtonian, she feels it is important to give back to the community and to work with city residents with whom she feels she has a close bond. She has always tried to make public service a part of her life, being a long-time volunteer for Meals on Wheels and working with Washington D.C.’s public access channel teaching video production to underprivileged youth.

Lucy Eagling 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Advocates for Children of New York, Inc., New York, NY Sponsor(s): Bingham McCutchen LLP Primary Issue Area: Education New York University School of Law, 2004

Lucy Eagling works with Advocates for Children of New York (AFC). Since 1971, AFC has advocated for children and youth who are at greatest risk of school-based discrimination and academic failure due to poverty, race, ethnicity, disability, involvement in the child welfare or juvenile justice systems, immigration status and homelessness. AFC combines direct legal services and advice, public education, public policy, impact litigation and capacity building to foster the goal of equity, access and quality in New York City’s public school system. Lucy’s project focuses on the difficulties faced by students with language-based learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, in the New York City public school system. Despite widespread awareness of such disabilities, schools consistently fail to identify, evaluate and supply these students with the educational services required by law. Lucy provides direct representation to students and parents of students with language-based disabilities, and conducts know-your-rights training sessions for parents, community members and service providers. In addition, Lucy documents the specific barriers faced by her clients in obtaining adequate educational services, with the intention of using the information to implement systemic change. Lucy has advocated for the educational rights of homeless children and children with disabilities in both Boston and New York City. Through her work with The Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts, Advocates for Children and the Brennan Center Public Policy Advocacy Clinic at NYU School of Law, Lucy witnessed first-hand the difficulties that result when children are denied an adequate and appropriate education. She is committed to ensuring that all children are given equal access to the educational benefits and services they are entitled to by law.

Myra Elgabry 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Lawyers for Children, Inc., New York, NY Sponsor(s): The Morrison & Foerster Foundation Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Columbia University School of Law, 2004

Myra Elgabry works on the Immigrants’ Rights Project, at Lawyers for Children, in New York City. The project enforces the rights of immigrant children in foster care to obtain permanent legal residency through advocacy in family court and immigration court. The project eliminates the risk of deportation of children to a country they are no longer familiar with, and ensures eligibility for education, employment, and social services when children “time-out” of foster care. Myra works with city agencies and legal advocates to develop stategies and outreach to educate immigrant youth about their rights. Immigrant children in foster care enter the United States through various means, including accompanying families, fleeing abuse and violence in their home countries or through forced trafficking. If a family court later finds the children to be abused, abandoned and/or neglected, and family reunification is no longer an option, under a provision in the immigration law these children may be eligible for permanent legal residency only until they reach the age of 21, even if the case has already been filed. This project addresses this “timing-out” problem by focusing on early identification so that the rights of immigrant children are fully protected and their goals can be achieved. Myra became interested in representing immigrants after interning at the Legal Aid Society, where she assisted representing clients in deportation proceedings. By witnessing the trauma caused to clients and families, she realized the importance of early-targeted advocacy. Myra volunteered at outreach clinics to educate immigrants from Arab/Muslim countries who are required to report to immigration under the post-9/11 “special registration”. She has also assisted with political asylum cases and government benefits class actions. At Columbia Law School, Myra coordinated law students representing domestic violence victims in family court and helped lead workshops on foster care law in men's and women's prisons.

Julie Farrell 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA Sponsor(s): Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP Primary Issue Area: Community Economic Development University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, 2005

Partnering with the Community Economic Development Unit of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA), Julie Farrell works to curb the severe affordable housing crisis in Los Angeles. The convergence of skyrocketing housing costs and rents, an exhausted supply of vacant land, an alarming rate of demolition and conversion of existing affordable housing and a working poor population that is growing in numbers but not in wealth has generated this crisis. LAFLA has a long history of providing legal services to community-based organizations and nonprofit housing developers in L.A.'s poorest neighborhoods, providing an excellent base for Julie’s work. Julie’s project employs a multi-strategy approach to preserving existing housing, creating additional affordable units and developing innovative long-term housing solutions for the working poor. Working with Los Angeles community-based organizations, Julie uses her land use and development experience to provide needed transactional legal services. She also conducts outreach and education for community-based groups seeking to form community land trusts (CLTs)-nonprofit organizations that own land and create permanently affordable housing. Additionally, Julie works with CLTs and government agencies to effect policy reform to support new incentives for financing affordable housing projects. Julie's commitment to this work stems from her experience as a community-based program manager working on community development projects in rural Colorado for a national land trust. She spent her first summer of law school as a legal intern for the Los Angeles office of the Natural Resources Defense Council where she worked on legal solutions to air quality and other environmental justice efforts in Southern California. During law school, she participated in legal clinics providing advice to tenant groups in the largely immigrant communities of southeast L.A.

Kathleen Ford 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Sacramento Child Advocates, Inc., Sacramento, CA Sponsor(s): Greenberg Traurig, LLP Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Education University of California at Davis King Hall School of Law, 2005

Kathleen (Katie) Ford works on the Educational Opportunity Project at Sacramento Child Advocates, Inc. in California. She works in collaboration with social workers, educators and foster parents to ensure effective implementation of legislation intended to protect children’s educational rights. Katie aims to provide her clients with stable home and educational settings, conducive to her ultimate goal of increasing high school graduation and college enrollment rates for youth in foster care. Katie’s work with dependent youth allows her to ensure that children benefit from the educational rights protections that legislation promises them. She represents youth in achieving Individualized Education Plans, and advocates for their rights in the course of disciplinary hearings and due process proceedings. Katie also provides legal counseling and educational training to service providers, social workers, caregivers and youth. Katie has devoted her career preparation and training to children’s rights issues. This began with her participation and management of a recreation program for urban youth in Los Angeles, and continued through her college internships as a community coordinator for Santa Clara County’s Restorative Justice Program and as a teacher’s aid for ESL students in San Jose. Katie further expanded her interests as a volunteer in after-school programs and at a skills development and child-care center for homeless parents. Her work as a group counselor in a California juvenile detention facility solidified her focus on educational issues within the juvenile justice system. During law school, Katie was involved in the UC Davis Prison Law clinic, addressing civil rights issues through petitions for writ of habeas corpus and representing inmates in parole reviews. She was a writer and editor for the Journal of Juvenile Law and Policy and a member of the Advocates for the Rights of Children.

Michael Haber 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, Brooklyn, NY Sponsor(s): Greenberg Traurig, LLP Primary Issue Area: Community Economic Development Secondary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness Fordham University School of Law, 2005

Mike Haber works with Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A’s Community Economic Development(CED) Unit. The CED Unit is counsel to numerous community groups in North and East Brooklyn. It has helped these groups develop over 1,000 units of affordable housing with the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). LIHTC is a federal program in which businesses and developers or community groups form partnerships to invest in rental housing with affordable units for low-income tenants. Properties developed with the LIHTC must keep their affordable units for a 15-year period. The first LIHTC rentals are now reaching the end of their compliance periods and hundreds of thousands of affordable housing units are at risk of being converted into market-rate rentals nationwide. Mike works with Brooklyn A’s community group clients to finance the purchase of properties at the end of their LIHTC compliance periods to protect them from being converted into market-rate rentals, thus preserving affordable housing while growing residents’ equity in their communities. Mike is also developing a model approach to the legal and financial issues that arise at the end of LIHTC compliance periods. He will train community groups and advocates to use this model to preserve affordable housing throughout the New York City area and across the country. Mike has previously worked on economic justice, community economic development and tax issues as a legal intern with Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, South Brooklyn Legal Services and Lincoln Square Legal Services. He graduated from the Stein Scholars Program in Public Interest Law and Ethics at Fordham University School of Law, where he received the Archibald R. Murray Public Service Award summa cum laude. He has published an article on immigrant taxpayers in The Common Good and was an Associate Editor of the Fordham International Law Journal. Mike received his M.A. from Carnegie-Mellon University and his B.A. from New College of Florida.

Shannon Jones 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Corporation for Supportive Housing, Chicago, IL Sponsor(s): Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP Primary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness University of Chicago Law School, 2005

Shannon Jones works with Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) in Chicago, Illinois. CSH is committed to helping communities create permanent housing with services to prevent and end homelessness. CSH advances its mission to provide high-quality advice and development expertise by making loans and grants to supportive housing sponsors, strengthening the supportive housing industry and reforming public policy to make it easier to create and operate supportive housing. Shannon’s project addresses supportive housing needs for the prisoner re-entry population. Homelessness is distressingly common among individuals who exit the criminal justice system. Recent estimates suggest that as much as 50 percent of the homeless population have criminal histories. Shannon consults with supportive housing developers and government and private sector funding sources to identify current funding streams that could help them create housing. She also identifies obstacles to developing supportive housing for this unique population. Shannon spearheads the legislative advocacy with Congress, drafting documents that highlight innovative approaches in ex-offender supportive housing and the policy prescriptions needed to expand these initiatives. Shannon is excited about this project because it provides a unique opportunity within public interest law to participate in legal transactional work and public policy reform efforts. As a law student at the University of Chicago, Shannon spent her first summer working on housing reform and policy issues with Business and Professional People for the Public Interest. As a summer associate at Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman during her second summer, she immersed herself in several pro bono matters, including a housing discrimination case. She has also taken courses on affordable housing transactions and the fundamentals of real estate transactions. Each of these experiences helped solidify Shannon’s commitment to housing reform and her desire to provide services to develop affordable housing in low-income communities.

Rachael Knight 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, San Mateo, CA Sponsor(s): Bingham McCutchen LLP Primary Issue Area: Health Care Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), 2005

Rachael Knight is the legal director of the Family Advocacy Program, a medical-legal collaborative of the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County and the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Through multi-disciplinary collaboration between medical professionals and patient families, the Family Advocacy Program addresses health disparities for low-income children by using legal advocacy to remove non-medical barriers to children’s health, educating medical providers about patient families’ legal rights and developing a legal services model in which attorneys and physicians work together to advocate for systemic change. Many structural and logistical barriers stand in the way of families’ receipt of legal services. It is thus necessary to bring legal services to the people who need them most by placing legal advocacy projects directly within low-income neighborhoods at sites where families regularly go. The Family Advocacy Program increases communities’ access to justice by providing legal services within pediatric primary care clinics in San Mateo County. Rachael’s work will confront legal issues that directly impact children’s health, such as: poor housing conditions, public benefits denials or discontinuances, domestic violence and access to special education services. Rachael graduated from U.C. Berkeley’s Boalt Hall in 2005. While a law student, she worked to found three medical-legal collaborative programs in hospitals across the Bay Area. She also clerked at the East Bay Community Law Center’s housing unit, helping to represent individuals in unlawful detainer actions. Interning at the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, she contributed to the creation of a “best practices” guide on compulsory land acquisition. As a Fulbright fellow, she investigated the implementation of Mozambique’s new land law as expienced by rural peasants. As a law student, she was a board member of the Center for Social Justice and the Coalition for Diversity.

Laureen Laglagaron 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, San Francisco, CA Sponsor(s): Fenwick & West LLP Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Secondary Issue Area: Consumer Rights University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, 2005

As a multi-lingual advocate fluent in Tagalog, French and conversant in Cebuano, Laureen Laglagaron works with Asian Pacific Islander (API) Legal Outreach to provide direct legal services and rights training to the Greater Bay Area’s sizeable low-income Filipino immigrant community. Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian immigrant population in the Bay Area. However, the dearth of culturally and linguistically appropriate, low-cost or no fee immigration legal services has led to a proliferation of fraudulent immigration providers preying on low-income Filipino immigrants. Laureen’s project aims to protect immigrant consumers by: providing direct legal services to low-income immigrants, educating the community regarding their legal rights to prevent victimization and litigating against fraudulent immigration consultants. Working out of API Legal Outreach’s offices in San Francisco and Oakland, Laureen hopes to continue API Legal Outreach’s legacy of providing holistic and client-centered services to the most marginalized members of the API community. Currently, API Legal Outreach focuses on providing legal services in the following areas: domestic violence, immigration and immigrant rights, senior law, human trafficking and public benefits. Prior to her fellowship, Laureen worked for two years analyzing immigrant and immigration policy at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. and externed at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project during the fall semester of her third year. As the daughter of Filipino immigrants, it was the vision of her family struggling to integrate into North American society that motivated her to become an advocate for immigrant rights.

Lisa Lauck 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, Miami, FL Sponsor(s): The Florida Bar Foundation; Greenberg Traurig, LLP Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Immigration Law Reform University of Miami School of Law, 2005

Lisa Lauck represents unaccompanied immigrant children at the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC) in Miami, Florida. Since its inception in 1996, FIAC has strived to protect and promote the basic human rights of poor immigrants of all nationalities in the state of Florida. FIAC confronts the obstacles that immigrants face through individual legal representation and advocacy on issues that burden immigrant populations as a whole. Immigrant children who arrive in the United States without their parents or adult family members are one of the most vulnerable groups to encounter our country’s governmental institutions. Lisa’s work with these children addresses a variety of their legal and social needs including immigration status, mental health services, conditions of confinement and release from detention. In addition to representing individual clients, Lisa’s work with this project enables her to develop and implement systemic reform advocacy strategies on the issues that create hardships for unaccompanied immigrant children. Lisa’s representation of immigrant children continues her professional commitment to legal advocacy for disadvantaged and marginalized persons. Lisa spent nearly twelve years working as a paralegal in the private, nonprofit legal sector in California and Florida before returning to law school. Lisa’s prior work with low-income clients involved various issues from family law, government benefits, low-income housing to immigration. While in law school, Lisa had the fortune to work at the University of Miami’s Children and Youth Law Clinic where she was able to advocate for the needs of teens in Florida’s foster care system. Helping immigrant children who are far away from both their home country and their family members meets a need in the South Florida community that cannot be ignored.

Lorraine Lopez 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, Chicago, IL Sponsor(s): The Chicago Bar Foundation Primary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness Tulane University School of Law, 2005

Lorraine works with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (LAF). LAF is a nonprofit corporation and is the principal provider of free civil legal services to low-income individuals throughout Cook County in Illinois. Lorraine works at LAF’s northwest office situated in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, to address the needs of Latino Section 8 voucher holders. Lorraine has a special interest in Public Housing legal issues because she has lived, and her family still lives, in public housing. Lorraine previously worked with LAF as a volunteer and was a Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) intern during the summers of her first and second years of law school. During her second summer Lorraine identified several recurring problems that Section 8 voucher holders encountered such as: landlords who retaliate against tenants when they report problems, landlords who attempt to evict tenants without good cause and landlords who unlawfully withhold tenants’ security deposits after tenants move. In addition, security deposits pose a major hurdle for many voucher holders. Voucher holders must give their first landlord one full month’s rent as security deposit. Lorraine observes, “Ironically, poor people are often too poor to use the voucher effectively.” These roadblocks to the effective use of vouchers are exacerbated for Latino families facing language barriers, cultural differences, immigration worries and housing discrimination. Lorraine seeks to address these issues faced by Latino voucher holders by developing a program to educate Latinos on their tenant rights and rights under their Section 8 contract, providing good practices for cooperating with landlords and CHAC (the Section 8 voucher administration authority) and by developing a Security Deposit Guarantee Program to assist families who cannot afford to pay a large security deposit up front. The Guarantee program will be the first of its kind in the Cook County area.

Carrie Ann Lucas 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, Denver, CO Sponsor(s): Greenberg Traurig, LLP Primary Issue Area: Disability Rights Secondary Issue Area: Family Law University of Denver College of Law , 2005

Carrie Ann Lucas works with the Center for People with Disabilities project at the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition in Denver. The Center for Rights of Parents with Disabilities project provides legal service to parents with disabilities who are victims of discrimination or who are in custody battles due to their disabilities. The project also advocates changes in how parents with disabilities are served during child welfare cases, as well as legislative change to remove the statutory bias against parents with disabilities. The project serves parents throughout Colorado. Parents with disabilities are represented in child welfare cases at a rate nearly double that of non-disabled parents. Currently parents with disabilities in Colorado have nowhere to go for legal help that can address both family/juvenile law issues as well as disability rights issues. This project is the first to focus on the legal representation needs of these parents and families. The Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition (CCDC) is Colorado’s largest cross-disability organization that is run by and for people with disabilities. CCDC has innovative legal and advocacy programs, and has trained hundreds of volunteer advocates around the state. The legal and advocacy programs in conjunction with this project will, for the first time, provide Colorado parents with disabilities the legal and non-legal advocacy they need to obtain the services essential to be successful parents. Carrie has been a disability rights activist for over a decade. She has interned, worked and volunteered in the Legal Program at the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition since her graduation from seminary. Carrie has also volunteered with the Arc of Denver and Not Dead Yet. Carrie is a parent with a disability, and knows well the fear many parents with disabilities face when confronted with questions about their ability to parent. Carrie is a single, adoptive mom to 15-year-old Heather and six-year-old Adrianne.

Stacey Mathews 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Southwest Regional Juvenile Defender Center, Houston, TX Sponsor(s): Baker & McKenzie Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Education University of Houston Law Center, 2005

Stacey Mathews works with the Southwest Juvenile Defender Center (SWJDC) in Houston, Texas. Her project focuses on providing educational and advocacy tools and strategies to parents, children and educators regarding special education laws and services. Her project combines community outreach to families with direct advocacy for children who are not receiving mandatory educational services. SWJDC provides training, technical assistance and other resources for attorneys who represent children while taking a lead role in providing resources and reports for policy makers regarding programs that affect children. The Center also provides direct representation for children on a limited basis. Stacey brings a new area of focus to the Center through her representation of the educational needs of children and her approach to encouraging systemic change through increased educational and advocacy services to parents, children and schools. There is a direct correlation between failure in school and delinquency. Therefore, a goal of the project is to ensure children receive proper educational objectives to improve their chances of remaining out of the justice system. Stacey’s commitment to helping students with special needs began while she was a teacher and specialist in a highly diverse, urban school district. She witnessed children with disabilities being denied needed services while others were being incorrectly labeled as a means to move them out of the school and into the justice system. She entered law school intent on advocating for children with special needs and expanded her knowledge of juvenile legal issues through an internship at a children’s advocacy center as well as three clinical experiences: representing juveniles in delinquency cases, working with the district attorney’s specialized unit on child abuse and serving as an attorney for children in abuse and neglect cases. Stacey co-founded a local chapter of the National Association of Counsel for Children.

Natalie Maxwell 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Southern Legal Counsel, Inc., Gainesville, FL Sponsor(s): The Florida Bar Foundation; Greenberg Traurig, LLP Primary Issue Area: Disability Rights Secondary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness American University Washington College of Law, 2005

Natalie Maxwell is combining legal advocacy, public policy advocacy and public education to increase access to accessible and affordable public housing for low-income persons with mobility impairing disabilities in Florida. National studies have documented that the lack of adequate housing presents the most substantial barrier to people with disabilities living in the community rather than in institutional settings. As such, the project includes conducting outreach to individuals residing in institutions and in the community who need publicly funded housing to achieve or maintain their independence. Natalie will also identify and document any systemic problems in obtaining accessible and affordable publicly funded housing. Natalie is a fellow at Southern Legal Counsel, Inc. (SLC), a public interest law firm which has advocated the causes and interest of unrepresented and underrepresented groups since 1977. SLC has a longstanding interest in housing issues, the rights of persons with disabilities and in the development of a system of community supports for persons with disabilities as an alternative to institutionalization. Natalie’s commitment to public interest work began as an eight-year old Girl Scout and has led her to work with and advocate on behalf of various communities, including the elderly, underrepresented youth and people with limited English proficiency. Her more recent work includes clerking with SLC where she focused on housing discrimination, civil rights and disability rights. She also clerked at the Virginia Justice Center where she assisted attorneys with outreach to local day laborers to educate them about their rights as workers. Additionally, as president of her college chapter of the National Organization for Women, she worked on projects to improve access to health care services for young women and to improve services for rape victims on campus.

John Ross McCullough 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Council on Crime and Justice, Minneapolis, MN Sponsor(s): Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. Primary Issue Area: Criminal Law University of St. Thomas School of Law, 2005

John Ross McCullough is working with the Council on Crime and Justice in Minneapolis. Its mission is to build community capacity to address the causes and consequences of crime and violence through research, demonstration and advocacy. At the Council on Crime and Justice, John Ross is developing an expungement clinic in order to facilitate rehabilitated ex-offenders in their transition back into society. This clinic is tied to various nonprofit organizations that assist in the rehabilitation of ex-offenders offering such services as employment and leadership training, parenting classes, education as well as drug and alcohol treatment. It has never been easy for ex-offenders to find work or housing, but it is becoming more and more difficult. The increase in criminal background checks is a result of technological advances, making it much faster and cheaper for companies to do such checks. This has enormous implications on the rehabilitated ex-offender who is striving to overcome the many obstacles placed on the path of reintegration. The need for expungements has never been greater. John Ross became interested in criminal justice issues as a law clerk with the Ramsey County Public Defenders in St. Paul. There he witnessed first hand the cycle of crime that takes place in an individual’s life and the criminal justice system’s failure to respond adequately. This interest was further developed while clerking with the Council on Crime in Justice, focusing on the collateral consequences of crime. John Ross learned that "the criminal justice system fails to provide effective means of completely restoring the social status of the rehabilitated offender." John Ross also believes, "The system fails to forgive, permanently branding individuals as criminals and preventing many of them from achieving a meaningful existence." This project hopes to infuse more forgiveness into the criminal justice system through the expungement process, giving rehabilitated offenders a better chance of a successful reintegration.

Abja Midha 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Sanctuary for Families, New York, NY Sponsor(s): Davis Polk & Wardwell Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Yale Law School, 2005

Abja Midha provides legal services to women who have fled to the United States to escape gender-based persecution in their native countries. As part of her project, Abja represents asylum seekers with gender-based claims, supervises pro bono attorneys and educates community based organizations about gender-based asylum. Thousands of women flee to the United States each year to escape gendered violence and many settle in the immigrant communities in New York. These women constitute one of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups within the city’s large immigrant population. Immigrant communities often blame these women for their experiences or have ties to the persecutors from whom they escaped. Because many of these women do not speak English, have limited job skills and have no immigration status, they often work in exploitative labor conditions and live in abject poverty. Their isolation and poverty is compounded by the psychological trauma they experience as survivors of persecution. Many of these women do not know that they may be able to seek asylum. Those who do seek asylum are not entitled to legal representation. Given its holistic services model, Sanctuary for Families is the perfect home for Abja’s project. Sanctuary’s ties to immigrant women’s groups facilitates community outreach, and its shelter, training, and counseling programs ensure that the non-legal needs of Abja’s clients are also met. Abja’s project builds upon her commitment to immigrant women’s rights. Abja has been active in the Immigration Legal Services clinic throughout her time at Yale Law School. She has also served as a coordinator of the Temporary Restraining Order Project, a program offering assistance to domestic violence victims at the New Haven County courthouse. As an intern at Sanctuary for Families, Abja had the opportunity to work with South Asian and Latina clients on a wide range of immigration and family matters.

Dianna Parker 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Equal Justice Foundation, Columbus, OH Sponsor(s): Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation Primary Issue Area: Education Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law, 2005

Dianna Parker works with the Equal Justice Foundation in a state-wide project assessing and addressing the educational and legal rights of homeless youth. Partnering with organizations such as the Youth Empowerment Program and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO), this project will seek to enforce the unmet legal needs of those youth as set forth under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act. Program implementation will be multi-faceted, focusing on initial needs assessment, widespread awareness-raising, and individual enforcement. Equal Justice Foundation (EJF) was created as a 501(c)(3) organization for the purpose of performing impact litigation and other work prohibited by 1996 federal legislation restricting the actions of federally funded legal service organizations. Its mission is the direct representation of low-income or other disadvantaged Ohio residents in cases raising issues of statewide significance. Dianna became involved with EJF during here first summer of law school, when she worked as a law clerk, and has continued to work closely with members of the organization through her extracurricular activities. More than 60,000 children in Ohio will likely experience homelessness this year, and many of them, particularly unaccompanied homeless youth living in shelters throughout the state, have no realistic picture of their educational entitlements. Dianna learned of the pervasive inequities facing this population during law school at the Ohio State University, through her involvement with the Pro Bono Research Group, the Public Interest Law Foundation and Advocates for Children, which partnered with a state homeless advocacy group to begin monitoring compliance with federal mandates. Through EJF’s program and Dianna’s efforts, homeless youth in Ohio will obtain a clear message that their lives have worth and their rights have meaning.

Kristin Petri 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, Denver, CO Sponsor(s): The Morrison & Foerster Foundation Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities University of Colorado School of Law, 2004

Kristin Petri is developing a legal assistance program for non-citizen children facing removal (deportation) proceedings. The project assists children who enter the U.S., frequently unaccompanied by family, with the hopes of escaping violence, street gangs, poverty, neglect and abandonment in their home countries. Many are victimized by traffickers when they cross the border or are apprehended and placed in detention facilities where they await deportation or “voluntary” repatriation. Kristin's project focuses on delivering “Know Your Rights” legal orientation presentations to the children themselves, identifying legal claims for relief from deportation and referring these cases out to volunteer attorneys and finally, on providing education for, and coordination of, the efforts of social services, juvenile courts and guardians ad litem, that so often play a key role in the fate of non-citizen juveniles. Collaboration with existing agencies and institutions lies at the heart of Kristin’s project. The project’s host organization, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN), provides legal resources to detained adult non-citizens in immigration proceedings. RMIAN facilitates pro bono legal representation by hosting CLE presentations for attorneys and screening cases for referral. Similarly, Kristin’s program for non-citizen children coordinates and utilizes the efforts of volunteers, while at the same time working with state agencies and courts with the goal of uniting children with their families whenever possible and presenting all legal claims for relief from deportation. Kristin’s interest in the plight of non-citizen children in the U.S. stems from her volunteer experiences in Mexico, where she worked with impoverished children and witnessed first-hand the factors that compel juveniles to make the dangerous journey to the U.S.

Sean Pevsner 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Advocacy Incorporated, Austin, TX Sponsor(s): Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation Primary Issue Area: Disability Rights University of Texas School of Law, 2004

Sean Pevsner is working with Advocacy Incorporated, a federally funded, nonprofit organization that protects the civil and human rights of people with disabilities in the state of Texas. Sean represents students with disabilities to ensure that they receive equal access to education and employment opportunities. Sean complements Advocacy’s services not only by providing free legal services to these individuals but also teaching them self-advocacy skills. While providing free legal services to students with disabilities to assist them in obtaining the proper accommodations in their educational and employment careers, Sean involves these individuals in every stage of the administrative and legal proceedings of their case. Many people with disabilities rely on others to protect their rights. As a result, these individuals do not have the self-advocacy skills to ensure that their rights are protected themselves. Sean teaches these individuals their rights under the various laws and how to negotiate with entities in a diplomatic manner. Sean is a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy who operates a motorized wheelchair by the use of head movements. Due to his quadriplegia, Sean cannot write but must rely on an interpreter or a specialized computer to do his work. Sean became motivated to take a lead role in expanding the awareness and protection of disability rights in the community. He encountered numerous obstacles in his pursuit of an equal college and legal education. He overcame these obstacles to achieve equality for himself as well as other individuals with disabilities in similar situations. As a lawyer, Sean plans to assist people with disabilities in breaking down the barriers of discrimination that prevent them from becoming productive citizens. He will achieve this goal not only by working in the legal arena as a lawyer with a severe disability, but also by educating the public on the abilities of people with disabilities who can contribute to society.

Nora Preciado 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow ACLU Foundation of Southern California, Orange, CA Sponsor(s): Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Secondary Issue Area: Health Care University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), 2005

Nora Preciado is currently working with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation of Southern California on a project to protect the language rights of Spanish-speaking community members in Orange County. These individuals often require interpreters to have meaningful access to vital government services, particularly in the area of healthcare. Her project has both a community education and a litigation component. Currently, the need for bilingual assistance in California is acute. In Orange County, the most recent census shows that 41 percent of its inhabitants speak a language other than English. The Latino community is especially affected by the lack of bilingual services. In Orange County, 15 percent of Latinos, over half a million people, speak English "not well" or "not at all." Given the desperate need for work in this area, Nora's project will come as a welcomed relief to the immigrant population of Orange County. The ACLU Foundation of Southern California is at the forefront of civil rights litigation. As such, it is the perfect organization to help Nora carry out her project and eliminate the barriers that prevent Latinos from becoming full and productive members of our society. Nora's interest in helping members of the immigrant community, in particular those facing language barriers, stems from her own experiences as an immigrant. As someone who struggled with a language barrier, she understands the importance of making sure that the state complies with the law by providing services and materials in languages other than English in the health care and public services areas. While in law school, Nora's commitment to this population was further solidified by her previous work with MALDEF, the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, the California Asylum Representation Clinic and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. This project will allow Nora to make full use of her background and experiences to help the Latino immigrant community in California.

Mónica Ramírez 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, Oakland, CA Sponsor(s): Latham & Watkins LLP Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Secondary Issue Area: Workers Rights Stanford University Law School, 2004

Mónica M. Ramírez works with the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants’ Rights Project (IRP) in Oakland, California. The IRP conducts the nation’s largest litigation program dedicated to defending and expanding immigrants’ constitutional and statutory rights. It has pursued class action cases as well as represented individuals in impact litigation to invalidate unconstitutional detention practices, enjoin agency practices that deny immigrants due process, enforce the application of federal civil rights and employment discrimination laws to non-citizens and protect workers’ rights. Mónica’s project tackles the exploitation, discrimination and abuse that immigrant day laborers confront in attempting to find employment and live in Northern California. Through an innovative combination of strategies – including outreach, public education, community organizing and litigation – Mónica is using a holistic approach to expose and challenge the twin forces that marginalize immigrant day laborers: private employers that capitalize on their vulnerability and government practices that violate workers’ civil liberties and constitutional rights. Mónica’s commitment to improving the lives of immigrant workers stems from her personal history — she is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and grew up in a working-class, immigrant community in southeast Los Angeles. Studying immigration law and policy was central to her academic life as a Harvard University undergraduate and Stanford Law School student. In particular, she found inspiration for her current work from her experiences with day laborers at the San Francisco Day Labor Program and her internship at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center during law school. Last year, Mónica clerked for Judge Warren J. Ferguson of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Alejandro Reyes 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Gulfcoast Legal Services, Inc., St. Petersburg, FL Sponsor(s): The Florida Bar Foundation Primary Issue Area: Farmworkers Secondary Issue Area: Workers Rights Howard University School of Law, 2005

Alejandro T. Reyes advocates on behalf of undocumented and documented migrant and seasonal farmworkers in Hillsborough and Manatee Counties in Florida. His focus is on health, safety, housing and employment issues. The need to provide legal advocacy for farmworkers in the Tampa Bay area is crucial, as few migrant advocates are active in this region and many area agencies are not able to provide legal assistance to undocumented farmworkers due to Legal Services Corporation funding restrictions. Nearly 50,000 migrant and seasonal farmworkers work in Hillsborough and Manatee Counties. These workers face infant mortality rates that are 125 percent higher than the general population, a life expectancy rate that is 26 years shorter than the national average (49 compared to 75) and a death rate that is five times that of workers in other industries. Over half of America’s farmworkers are undocumented and 77 percent of farmworkers are Mexican-born. Alejandro is originally from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico and grew up in Miami and Northern California before moving to Washington, D.C. During his time in law school at Howard University, Alejandro worked on immigration and asylum cases with Ayuda, Inc. and on Latino civil rights issues with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Alejandro also worked on immigration issues with Gulfcoast Legal Services as a Florida Bar Foundation Summer Fellow in 2004. These professional experiences led Alejandro to shift his focus from immigration issues to advocacy for farmworker rights, where he felt that the need was greatest. The goals of Alejandro’s Fellowship are to reduce the number of farmworker pesticide-related deaths and illnesses, decrease the number of workplace fatalities and injuries, seek the enforcement of existing transportation safety standards and improve the quality of housing provided to farmworkers in his two-county service area of Florida.

Monica Saxena 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC Sponsor(s): Anonymous Primary Issue Area: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties University of Michigan Law School, 2005

Monica Saxena works with the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The Committee was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to address racial discrimination and to move the struggle for civil rights from the streets into the courts. Monica advocates on behalf of those who have been disenfranchised from the voting processes, specifically those who do not have sufficient English language skills to cast a meaningful ballot. "The power of the vote is overwhelming," Monica says. "The sense of belonging and citizenship voting provides in and of itself is imperative, especially for newly minted citizens. Moreover, effective language minority assistance has a significant, long-term economic impact in jurisdictions where it is needed," she notes. Under the Voting Rights Act, political subdivisions which have a defined critical mass of voting age citizens of a particular minority language group are required to provide minority language assistance at each stage of the electoral process. Monica's project focuses on both outreach to disenfranchised communities and litigating lawsuits on their behalf.

Haley Schwartz 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc., Atlanta, GA Sponsor(s): Ford & Harrison LLP Primary Issue Area: Health Care Emory University School of Law, 2005

Haley Schwartz developed the Breast Cancer Legal Project, which serves as a new division of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society Health Law Unit. Breast cancer patients face categorical legal challenges in all stages of diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Haley’s project focuses on legal issues such as obtaining SSI benefits; securing Medicare and Medicaid coverage; protecting against job, housing and insurance discrimination; appealing insurance coverage denials; obtaining and maintaining public benefits; assisting with debt relief; and preparing wills and other advance directives. In addition to direct representation, the Breast Cancer Legal Project trains volunteer attorneys and paralegals about these issues in order to do out reach education to patients, medical service providers and advocacy groups to ensure that knowledge of these legal tools and access to legal services is incorporated into patients’ holistic care. Low-income women are statistically more likely to have their breast cancer diagnosed at a later stage, receive less adequate treatment and a worse prognosis. The provision of legal services is often critical to breast cancer survival because for those that have limited resources and systems of support, an advocate is needed to deal with the legal aspects of the medical, economic and personal issues that arise when patients are debilitated by their illness. Haley’s commitment to assisting low-income and underrepresented individuals gain access to justice was the focus of her experience at the Emory School of Law. She spent both her first and second summer at the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation assisting domestic violence victims obtain protective orders against their abusers and helping low-income clients with a wide variety of legal issues. Additionally, Haley has worked for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia and the Carter Center Office on Human Rights.

Eve Searls 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow The Legal Aid Society of Columbus, Columbus, OH Sponsor(s): Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Disability Rights The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law, 2005

Eve Searls works for the Child Advocacy Project, a new program at The Legal Aid Society of Columbus. The Child Advocacy Project addresses the educational and medical needs of low-income children with disabilities. The Project advocates for families using certain entitlement provisions under federal law, in particular the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act(IDEA) and Medicaid’s Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) provisions. Eve provides legal representation and advocacy to children with disabilities and their families, which guides them through the often confusing and discouraging bureaucracy in order to find the education plan that is right for their child. Often learning disabilities, or behavioral disabilities in particular, are left undiagnosed or untreated, resulting in the child having problems staying in school or staying out of trouble. The Project helps parents who think their child may have a disability get their child tested early, so that they can benefit from special education sooner rather than later. Most of the clients at The Legal Aid Society of Columbus also qualify for Medicaid, so the Project also helps disabled children get the treatment they are entitled to under Medicaid’s EPSDT provisions. The Child Advocacy Project fills a hole in the special education system for children who need help and for parents who don’t know how to get the help their kids need. The Legal Aid Society of Columbus has a 50-year plus history of working in poverty law in central Ohio. The Child Advocacy Project joins Legal Aid’s existing programs in housing, welfare, taxes and domestic violence. Eve was pleased to get involved with Legal Aid after her second year of law school by working for their Housing Conditions Project, which helped her learn about the needs of low-income families. In her spare time, she likes to write songs on her guitar and cook Chinese food.

Bernadette Segura 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, San Antonio, TX Sponsor(s): Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation Primary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness University of Texas School of Law, 2005

Bernadette Segura works on the Texas RioGrande Legal Aid’s San Antonio Legal Assistance to the Homeless project. The project works to help San Antonio’s homeless find safe, affordable housing and to narrow the gap between the San Antonio homeless residents eligible for mainstream benefits and those actually receiving them. San Antonio currently ranks first in the nation in lack of affordable housing. The City’s estimated homeless population is 20,000, with 59 percent of those including families with children. Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) is a non-profit organization that specializes in providing free civil legal services to the indigent residents of central, south and west Texas. TRLA's staff includes approximately 105 lawyers and 51 paralegals and social workers located in 13 offices throughout the state. Bernadette serves as a full-time Homeless Advocate Fellow, helping homeless clients in San Antonio and surrounding counties obtain legal advice, counsel, representation and legal document preparation. She performs outreach activities to encourage San Antonio’s homeless population to apply for mainstream benefits and to assist them in securing affordable housing. TRLA also assists Texas’ indigent residents in matters including domestic violence, elder abuse, consumer fraud and predatory lending. Bernadette will work to extend these services to San Antonio’s homeless population. During law school, Bernadette represented and advocated for indigent clients at the University of Texas’ Housing Law Clinic and worked with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas serving as the State Legal Panel Coordinator. Bernadette interned in El Paso at the Federal Public Defender in the Western District of Texas, advocating for indigent criminal defendants. She also interned with the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office working with families in El Paso and far west Texas.

Galina Sergen 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC Sponsor(s): Steptoe & Johnson LLP Primary Issue Area: Disability Rights University of the District of Columbia, The David A. Clarke School of Law, 2005

Galina Sergen’s project with the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia will seek to expand the legal rights of people with psychiatric disabilities to control their mental health care in accordance with their own values, preferences and needs. The goal of Galina's project is to design and implement a model for self-directed care — which would grant mental health consumers the right to exercise control over funds designated for their care, including choice of providers of health care and support services and a primary role in defining treatment plans. The project will work in partnership with service agencies and with the consumers, so that the consumers can have the support and freedom to elect the type of healthcare and support services they wish to receive to meet their individual recovery needs. Galina's project recognizes that a person who experiences a mental illness undergoes a loss of liberty simply by the nature of his or her illness, but this is only compounded by society's reaction to illnesses such as schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder or severe depression. Building a more compassionate, effective approach to treating mental illness begins with understanding that for the vast majority of people with a mental illness, freedom to have one's life back is the major goal in recovery. Galina wants to convey the message that the road to recovery starts with dignity and choice in the treatment program.

Dena Sher 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Washington, DC Sponsor(s): Anonymous Primary Issue Area: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Secondary Issue Area: Other Area George Washington University Law School, 2005

At Americans United, Dena Sher works on two issues where the Establishment Clause and reproductive rights intersect. Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom. Dena’s project expands the focus of Americans United to address reproductive rights issues for the first time. The first issue Dena’s project addresses is abstinence only sex education. Since 1996, Congress has committed nearly $1 billion in federal and state funding for abstinence only sex education. According to a congressional report, some of this funding supports curricula grounded in religion and not science. Several organizations oppose abstinence only programs on medical, philosophical and social policy grounds, but almost none use litigation or base their challenges on the Establishment Clause. This project fills the gap, employing litigation and non-litigation dispute resolution to define the scope and limits of constitutionally permissible abstinence only programs. The project’s second issue addresses mergers between religious healthcare providers and public healthcare providers. When the religious healthcare providers enforce religious directives at newly merged hospitals, women seeking healthcare services can be given limited, restricted advice or denied access to some services altogether. This project complements and enhances education, outreach and litigation strategies employed by another organization, which are based on other aspects of federal law, by developing the information and capability to challenge these mergers under the Establishment Clause. Prior to law school and at a legal internship during law school, Dena worked to promote reproductive rights and civil liberties. She is thrilled to be able to work on these issues with Americans United.

Ivy Suriyopas 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, New York, NY Sponsor(s): Altria Group, Inc. Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Secondary Issue Area: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties University of California-Hastings College of the Law, 2005

Ivy Suriyopas works with trafficked, undocumented Asian children and women at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). AALDEF protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, advocacy and community education in the areas of immigrant rights, economic justice for workers, voting rights and civic participation, affirmative action, language access to services, youth rights and education equity and the elimination of hate violence and police misconduct. This project addresses the intersection of immigration, race, class, age and sex while adding to AALDEF’s comprehensive approach to serving the Asian community. Ivy provides legal representation to trafficked, undocumented Asian children and women to insure they have access to quality human services. An estimated 600,000 to 800,000 victims are trafficked across international borders each year; 50 percent of the victims are children and roughly 80 percent are female. Overwhelmingly, the largest number of people trafficked into the United States, approximately 5,000 to 7,000 people, come from Asia and the Pacific Islands. Ivy had the privilege of interning with AALDEF the summer after her second year of law school, working with Youth and Educational Equity and the Immigrant Access to Justice Project. Her commitment to social justice and youth issues stems from her experiences as an AmeriCorps*VISTA member working in San Francisco’s Mission District and as a tutoring center coordinator with St. John’s Educational Threshold Center. In that capacity, she worked closely with predominantly low-income youth of color through after-school programs that employed a progressive youth development philosophy to learning. During law school, she was involved in the Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal, participated in the Hastings Civil Justice Clinic and studied abroad in South Africa through Howard University.

Natacha Thomas 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Greater Boston Legal Services, Boston, MA Sponsor(s): Greenberg Traurig, LLP Primary Issue Area: Workers Rights Secondary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Suffolk University Law School, 2005

Natacha Thomas works with the Employment Unit at the Greater Boston Legal Services. Her project focuses on the employment needs of the underserved Haitian community in the Greater Boston area. The project consists of three parts: 1. advocating for the rights of nurse’s aids; 2. representing individual clients in employment matters, such as denial of unemployment insurance and non-payment of wages; and 3. improving access to tax credits amount the Haitian community. Massachusetts is home to the third largest population of Haitian born immigrants in the United States. Immigrants from Haiti are concentrated in low wage and high injury risk jobs such as nurse’s aides, food preparers, cleaners and taxi drivers. 80 percent of nurse’s aides in Massachusetts are Haitian immigrants. Often these immigrants must work under discriminatory treatment and contempt, which leads to an "unsafe care environment" for elder residents. Because of these working conditions, allegations of abuse or neglect are often brought forth. Once accused of abuse or neglect by the Department of Public Health, the nurse’s aid will go through a hearing at the Department of Administrative Law Appeals (DALA), usually pro se and with no interpreters or discovery. The vast majority of these aides lose their appeal given the inequities inherent in the system. Additionally, as wages for low income workers have not kept up with inflation, income tax credits, such as the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), are crucial to workers trying to break even. Many immigrants do not claim tax credits. As a Fellow, Natacha will do outreach to the Haitian Community and help them get the tax credits for which they are entitled. Natacha, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, has seen first hand the illegal workplace practices which affect the Haitian community. She also understands the cultural differences which hinders many Haitians from seeking legal aid. Prior to working as a Fellow, Natacha worked part-time at Greater Boston Legal Services, assisting Haitian clients with unemployment and tax issues.

Laura Townsend 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow National Center for Youth Law, Oakland, CA Sponsor(s): Anonymous Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Health Care Northwestern University School of Law, 2005

Laura Townsend coordinates the Juvenile Mental Health Court Project at the National Center for Youth Law. This initiative trains civil advocates to represent mentally ill youth in a variety of important areas. Laura works closely with several court systems to help them develop and implement sustainable civil advocacy programs. Laura’s project is a direct response to America’s over-reliance on locking up children with mental health problems. It is estimated that 50 to 90 percent of detained youth suffer from some form of mental illness, and every day approximately 2,000 youth are incarcerated simply because community mental health services are unavailable. One response to this crisis has been the creation of specialized juvenile mental health courts. These courts focus on treatment rather than punishment and represent a collaboration between legal and mental health professionals. Adding a civil advocacy component to these courts offers important benefits. Thanks to civil advocates, mentally ill youth are able to access a wide range of public entitlements, educational assistance and heath coverage. These services improve outcomes for youth and help stabilize families. Laura has spent the past 7 years working on children’s issues. Prior to attending law school, Laura did graduate work in clinical psychology and served as a project director in the child psychiatry department at The New York State Psychiatric Institute. During law school, Laura worked at Northwestern’s Children and Family Justice Center and interned at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. Laura also spent summers at the Cook County Office of the Public Guardian (representing abused and neglected youth) and Children’s Rights, Inc. (assisting with class action litigation on behalf of children in foster care). Laura's Fellowship project is a natural extension of her previous work in the fields of psychology and the law.

Maureen van Stone 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service, Baltimore, MD Sponsor(s): Pfizer Inc Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Disability Rights Whittier Law School, 2005

Maureen van Stone has formed a partnership between Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS) and Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI), an affiliate of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. MVLS is a nonprofit organization whose attorneys provide pro bono civil legal representation to low-income clients. KKI is a facility internationally recognized for improving the lives of children with pediatric developmental disabilities through patient care, special education, research, and professional training. This partnership links attorneys, health-care professionals and teachers which enables them to collectively advocate on behalf of children needing both medical and legal services. It also provides direct legal services, educational materials and training for the families of disabled children. Maureen’s host organization, MVLS, has a Children’s Law Project, which serves as an umbrella program for another medical-legal project at The Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and other services related to children’s legal issues. Maureen’s host institution, KKI, offers an interdisciplinary approach in treatment tailored to the individual needs of the child. However, there were no legal or advocacy services available until the inception of Maureen’s project. Prior to becoming a fellow at the Center for Children’s Rights, Maureen served as a clinician at KKI for almost six years. Maureen earned her B.A. and M.S. degrees in psychology with a specialization in childhood mental disorders. Throughout law school, Maureen served as a law clerk for a prominent special education attorney in California. Additionally, Maureen worked as a legal intern on Special Education and Juvenile Advocacy Projects at Mental Health Advocacy Services in Los Angeles and the Children’s Health and Education Project at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Maureen demonstrated her commitment to public service through her leadership in the Public Interest Law Foundation at her law school.

Sarah Wallerstein 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Orange County Legal Aid, Orlando, FL Sponsor(s): The Florida Bar Foundation; Greenberg Traurig, LLP Primary Issue Area: Education Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth Nova Southeastern University - Shepard Broad Law Center, 2005

Sarah Wallerstein works with the Guardian Ad Litem Program which is administered by the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association. Guardian Ad Litem works to ensure children are safe and provided for by advocating for their best interest in court proceedings. The goals of Sarah’s project are to: encourage interagency cooperation to form better policy and regulation, provide legal advocacy and educate the community to recruit surrogate parents to further represent dependent children in Orange County. Her project is aimed at helping the thousands of dependent children in Orange County who do not receive the necessary educational services to provide for their best interest on an academic level. In doing so, Sarah hopes to combat the apathy that exists in the provision of educational services for foster children. Sarah was a Florida Bar Foundation Fellow at the Southern Legal Counsel. She has also served as a Guardian Ad Litem, and worked as a law clerk for Florida’s Children First, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights of at-risk children. As a law student at Nova Southeastern University, she participated in the Street Law Program, teaching law and litigation skills at a local public high school. She also served as a judicial intern under Judge Susan J. Aramony in the dependency division of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. Sarah developed her interest in educational issues and children’s rights as an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Florida. She has a B.A. in Education and a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership, with a primary focus on policy and foundations.

Leah Weaver 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis, Minneapolis, MN Sponsor(s): Leonard, Street and Deinard; The Family of Hyman Edelman Primary Issue Area: Consumer Rights William Mitchell College of Law, 2005

Leah Weaver works on the consumer team at Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis (LASM), which has an 88-year history of providing legal services to low-income residents of Hennepin County. LASM is a member agency of Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance, a nonprofit organization providing legal services to low-income Minnesotans in 20 counties throughout central Minnesota. These services include the following areas of law: housing, public benefits, family, consumer, senior, disability, special education, youth, tax, immigration and employment benefits. Leah enforces newly-enacted legislation that aims to prevent equity stripping, a scam that takes advantage of homeowners in foreclosure. Market forces have created a situation in which property values have skyrocketed, leaving modest homeowners with substantial equity, while at the same time unemployment is on the rise and wages are depressed. The many homeowners who are facing foreclosure have become easy prey for sophisticated predators seeking to strip them of their equity. As an initial response to this phenomenon, the Minnesota Legislature has enacted a new equity stripping law which has yet to be enforced or tested. Leah seeks to combat the spread of equity stripping scams by enforcing the new statute through representation, volunteer attorney training and coordination and community education. Leah has been involved in consumer law and public interest work all through her time at William Mitchell College of Law. During her first and second years, she volunteered at Minnesota AIDS Project Legal Services. In addition to her work at Legal Aid, she spent a summer working at a consumer rights class action firm in Chicago. While in law school, she was a student mentor, an editor of the William Mitchell Law Review and president of the William Mitchell chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. Leah will be getting married on October 1, 2005, shortly after beginning her project.

Benjamin Weber 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Southern Migrant Legal Services, A Project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Nashville, TN Sponsor(s): Anonymous Primary Issue Area: Farmworkers University of Iowa College of Law, 2005

Benjamin Weber is a Fellow at Southern Migrant Legal Services, a project of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, which provides free civil legal assistance to indigent migrant agricultural workers. Benjamin’s project focuses on advocating for the rights of cotton gin workers in the Mississippi Delta to fair working conditions as dictated by federal law. Migrant farmworkers have long been among the lowest paid and most exploited laborers in the United States. The cotton gin, historically the engine of the Southern economy, has always relied on cheap labor. Today, the gins are left relatively unregulated due to the ambivalence of government agencies. Since most migrant farmworkers are Spanish-speaking, they are often unable to effectively complain when they are forced to work for below minimum wage and live in substandard trailers. These workers are often induced to travel thousands of miles with their families based on false promises from employers. To protect migrant workers, federal law requires that working arrangements be disclosed in writing. But this rarely happens and complaints from cotton gin workers often result in nothing more than a warning from the government to the gin owners. Benjamin first worked with farmworkers as a summer intern at Southern Migrant Legal Services in 2004. He became interested in labor law during his first summer as an intern at the New York Attorney General’s Office. Once back at the University of Iowa College of Law, he continued to work on labor law issues with Professor Marc Linder, whose progressive approach to labor law and social change inspired Benjamin to pursue a career representing disenfranchised and exploited laborers.

Tyra Williams 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Advocates for Justice and Education, Washington, DC Sponsor(s): Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP Primary Issue Area: Education Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth University of Maryland School of Law, 2002

Tyra Williams is a fellow at Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc.(AJE) in the District of Columbia. AJE is dedicated to providing quality advocacy training and direct services to parents of children with special needs or those with suspected disabilities. AJE has a specific focus on children living in low-income, underserved communities who are being denied educational and/or related services necessary for their successful matriculation through the public school system. Tyra’s project addresses the needs of disconnected youth and youth at risk of becoming disconnected. The project is designed to ensure the educational rights of the District’s most vulnerable youth are protected, which prevents disengagement and promotes positive outcomes and transitions. Tyra’s project addresses the needs of youth with unmet special educational needs. The legal advocacy project provides youth with an interdisciplinary team of attorneys, social services providers and educators. The interdisciplinary team ensures that the necessary educational services and supports are available to the District’s youth. Tyra’s commitment to protect educational rights comes from her legal and public policy experiences. Before law school, Tyra worked with the Syracuse University Violence Prevention Program, assisting high school students caught with a weapon other than a gun with their community service efforts. Tyra’s desire to enter law school was precipitated by her belief that laws empower individuals, influence policy, and affect social change. As a burgeoning social engineer, some of her experiences during law school included legal internships with the U. S. Department of Education and the Office of Civil Rights, an internship with the Open Society Institute and a judicial internship with the U.S. Federal District Court. As a staff attorney at the Neighborhood Legal Services Program, she advocated on behalf of low-income parents. Tyra believes that access to education is essential to preventing the further marginalization of underrepresented youth.

Yael Zakai 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow The Children's Law Center, Inc., Washington, DC Sponsor(s): McDermott Will & Emery LLP Primary Issue Area: Education Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth Stanford University Law School, 2005

Yael Zakai’s project at the Children’s Law Center (CLC) focuses on educational advocacy on behalf of children with mental health needs. The CLC provides a wide range of comprehensive services to disadvantaged children. The organization works to ensure that their clients are provided with safe, permanent homes, as well as the education, health and social services they need to flourish. Yael’s project addresses the lack of opportunities in Washington, D.C. for indigent families to secure representation in school discipline proceedings. Yael represents children with mental health disabilities in the District of Columbia Public School System, a population of children with unique educational needs. By partnering with health and social service professionals at Children’s National Medical Center through CLC’s Health Access Project, Yael provides direct advocacy on behalf of individual children and engages in community outreach to assist families in the navigation of the District’s special education and school discipline systems. Her project helps to prevent the unjust exclusion of children with disabilities from the classroom setting and assists families in securing the educational supports to which their children are entitled. Yael is committed to providing advocacy on behalf of children in need. At Stanford Law School’s Youth and Education Law Clinic, Yael represented children in a variety of special education and school discipline proceedings. Yael has also advocated in a variety of settings on behalf of juvenile delinquents, including assisting in the representation of children in delinquency proceedings in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., and teaching students in juvenile hall and probation schools about the law and their rights.

Amy Zaremba 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow Georgia Justice Project, Atlanta, GA Sponsor(s): Greenberg Traurig, LLP Primary Issue Area: Criminal Law Secondary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness American University Washington College of Law, 2005

Amy Zaremba works with the Georgia Justice Project, where she interned the summer after her first year in law school. The Georgia Justice Project provides an array of services, including legal representation, addictions counseling, GED preparation and job training for indigent people facing criminal charges. The Project works with and supports these people as they rebuild their lives. Amy fits right in with this agency as she has been committed to working with, and for, people who are indigent or homeless for over 12 years when. While in college, she was co-director of a shelter for homeless adults. In addition to working at various homeless shelters, Amy has worked with the homeless populations in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington D.C. She started a job training program for homeless adults, ran two childcare centers for children and their families who were living in area homeless shelters, and was the director of an outreach program for people who were homeless, in recovery and recently released from prison. Amy currently works on the decriminalization of homelessness. Atlanta is considered one of the worst places for someone who is homeless to live. People are often arrested simply because they are homeless. Amy is working to reduce these occurrences three different ways: 1. by representing people who are arrested for "quality of life" ordinances (loitering, sleeping in public, etc.); 2. by educating people who are homeless on their rights while educating others about the special needs of people who are homeless; and 3. by advocating for changes in city laws and regulations.