Past BLSPI Fellows

2011 BLSPI FELLOWS

Matthew Allee ’13- Southern Public Defender Training Center – placed at the Hinds County Public Defender Office (Jackson, MS)        

An experience that stands out to me from the summer was when I was discussing a case with one of the lawyers in the public defender office, about how the prosecution was going to oppose a motion to transfer the case to Youth Court due to the age of the Defendant.  The prosecution opposed the motion due to the severity of the charge (since it dealt with a handgun).  But in discussing the statutory language that gives the Youth Court and the Circuit Court jurisdiction, I was able to identify a way in getting the case transferred without having to address the prosecution’s concern – that given the specifics of the case, the Youth Court has original jurisdiction over the case, regardless of the fact that it was brought by the prosecution in Circuit Court, leaving the Circuit Court with no option but to transfer.  I wrote the motion that afternoon and the judge granted it the following day.  The 15-year old defendant will now have more rehabilitative options available, allowing him to avoid a felony conviction and being incarcerated during his otherwise high school years.

Nicholas Fribourg ’12 –The Bronx Defenders

I remember having a client who had moved to the Bronx from Florida a few months before he was issued a summons. Normally we are unable to help people with only summonses, but in this case it was so outrageous that people in the office offered to work to help him out. He was driving down the block at 945am when he saw a refrigerator that was missing its doors and wiring sitting on the curb with other trash. As it had clearly been thrown out, Client thought that he could put it in his van and take it home to try and fix up. He was unemployed and trying to raise two kids. One child was autistic and took up a great deal of his and his wife’s time. Nevertheless, he was a loving father, and an extremely nice and patient man. Back to the story – he picked up the fridge and put it in his van and drove off. Moments later he was stopped by sanitation police who gave him a ticket and mandatory court appearance. The ticket was for 2000 dollars. Further, the police impounded the van, which belonged to his wife, and was the family’s only means of transportation. When he appeared in court, so do did the issuing officer. The officer testified that he had been watching the fridge since 7am, waiting for exactly this to happen. Mr. CLeint testified that he is unable to pay to ticket because he was unemployed and spent all his money to put food on the table for his kids and wife, and to take care of his disabled child. He also explained that he had no criminal record, had never been in trouble before, and had just moved from Florida to NYC – in Florida doing what he did is not against the law. He apologized to the court and explained that had he known it was illegal he never would have picked it up. The judge said that he believed Mr. Client to be telling the truth and that he was sincere, but ignorance of the law was no excuse, and upheld the fine. Further, Client was unable to retrieve his van until after he paid the fine in full – creating a new problem, which was that the impound lot was charging him a holding fee every single day.

 

While this is not the most egregious or serious offense that I saw this summer, nor is it the most outrageous way that a client was treated, it is emblematic of a system that is screwing people over and perpetuating an already difficult and broken system in the Bronx.

 

Catherine Frizell ’12 - LatinoJustice Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund

The BLSPI fellowship allowed me to work as an Education Pioneers Fellow at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, where I conducted legal research and identified litigation strategies that aided LatinoJustice with its impact litigation docket. As the legal research intern assigned to Aguilar v. ICE, a 4th amendment lawsuit challenging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s practices of targeting Latinos’ homes in home raids in the New York area, I identified ways that the upcoming trial can be structured to best serve the needs of our clients. This project took on particular significance in light of the district judge’s recent decision to deny the defendant’s motion to dismiss with respect to the Fourth Amendment claims brought against two of the defendants and on the denial of the pleadings dismissing the claims for injunctive relief. As a former educator, I was originally drawn to this issue because the children present in the homes during the early morning para-military style raids were traumatized by witnessing family members and other residents being forcefully arrested and detained by ICE agents.

 

Julia Howard-Gibbon ’12 -South Brooklyn Legal Services, Housing Unit

During one of the first weeks of my internship, I went with my supervising attorney to a school meeting with a client to discuss her son’s special education program. In the meeting, my supervisor was able to secure private tutoring services for the student, because he had fallen so far behind in school. On the way out, our client turned to my supervisor, with tears in her eyes, and told him that she did not know what she would do without him and that, thanks to him, her son has a chance at getting a high school diploma. She then turned to me and told me that the world needs more lawyers like my supervisor and thanked me for my interest in education law.

 

Shannon Karam ’12  Urban Justice Center

My favorite part of the internship was working with clients.  They seemed to have endless reserves of humor, determination, or insight, and I felt fortunate that I was able to assist them.  The internship solidified my desire to pursue direct services as a career, and inspired me to pursue family law in the immediate future.

 

Amanda Levin ’13 South Brooklyn Legal Services

About a week after I had completed my internship, I got an email from South Brooklyn telling me that I had won my unemployment hearing and that my client would be receiving benefits. It was very exciting news! My client was a young man who had just hit a very difficult part of his life and I was able to help him by securing his unemployment benefits that he rightly deserved. The entire process of going down to the department of labor and listening to the prior hearings, then meeting the client and prepping him for the hearing, then actually representing him at the hearing, was just an amazing experience and allowed me to actually feel what being lawyer is like.

 

Rebecca McBride ‘13 – Central American Legal Assistance (CALA)    

An experience that stands out to me from the summer was when one of our clients was an asylum seeker who left her country after she suffered horrific sexual abuse at the hands of the gangs who were controlling the town that she lived in.  Because there is no functioning criminal justice system to hold accountable those responsible for her abuse, she and her young daughter fled to the United States to seek refuge and a chance at a better life.  As part of her asylum application process, she had to be evaluated by a psychologist.  Our client did not speak any English, so I accompanied her to her psychological evaluation to act as an interpreter.  This was my first time meeting the client, but she held my hand the whole time as she wept and told me (and I in turn told the psychologist) the story of her abduction, the abuse she suffered, her miraculous escape, and the long, treacherous journey she and her daughter made up to the United States on their own. The evaluation lasted for two hours, afterwards I took her to lunch and she told me all about her daughter and newborn son and she asked me if I would accompany her to the immigration court proceedings that will follow the evaluation. I promised her I would.

 

Maura McCarthy ’13- Bronx Legal Services, Education Unit   

During one of the first weeks of my internship, I went with my supervising attorney to a school meeting with a client to discuss her son’s special education program. In the meeting, my supervisor was able to secure private tutoring services for the student, because he had fallen so far behind in school. On the way out, our client turned to my supervisor, with tears in her eyes, and told him that she did not know what she would do without him and that, thanks to him, her son has a chance at getting a high school diploma. She then turned to me and told me that the world needs more lawyers like my supervisor and thanked me for my interest in education law.

   

Brandon Novelli ’12- United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri       

I received the opportunity to prepare a response to a motion to suppress regarding the legality of a search. A man had noticed his stolen motorcycle for sale in another person’s yard. Despite contrary pictoral evidence, the owner of the yard claimed that the police had broken gates and chains in order to enter the property and examine the motorcycle. I met with police officers and reviewed dash camera video in order to prepare my response. I also performed substantial research and writing for a motion in limine on a case involving a particularly brutal forced labor and sex trafficking scenario. I marshaled support for the position that adding a sexual dynamic to a serious assault should not provide the defendant a legal escape. I found this experience valuable because it allowed me the opportunity to examine the law and possibly play a role in shaping it to more effectively protect victims of similar abuse.

 

Theresa Omansky ’12 - Lawyers Alliance for New York             

My time as an intern at Lawyers Alliance was invaluable. While I was involved with numerous assignments, I especially appreciated the opportunity to see a project through from beginning to end.  I participated in a client screening, followed up with the client to collect documents and then wrote and filed the client’s application for tax exemption

 Kathryn Reiter ’13 – Center for Justice and Democracy

The Center for Justice & Democracy helped to promote the film Hot Coffee, a documentary that debunks myths about the need for tort reform and reveals the impact of damage caps on injured plaintiffs. During the course of this work I was able to spend time with the Gourley family, one of the subjects of the film. One of the Gourleys’ twin sons was born with severe mental and physical disabilities due to a doctor’s negligence. The Gourleys won their suit, and the jury awarded damages equivalent to what Colin Gourley would need to pay for care for the rest of his life. However a damage cap in Nebraska meant that Colin would receive only a very small portion of what the jury actually awarded, forcing him to go on Medicaid. Since then, the family has spent much time traveling the country lobbying against caps and tort reform. It was enlightening to see the effects of these policies first hand, as well as inspiring to help the victims fight back.

Hannah Roth ’12 -National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s General Counsel for International Law-

Hannah spent her BLSPI Fellowship summer working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s General Counsel for International Law. Through the internship she worked on a range of international environmental law issues including: evaluating existing oil spill prevention and response instruments; analyzing the current statutory and diplomatic framework for foreign scientists and vessels conducting marine scientific research in U.S. waters; and drafting issue papers related to free-trade negotiations. The supportive office environment and breadth of substantive assignments provided an excellent atmosphere for learning and reassurance that public service is the best kind of work.

Lenny Sapozhnikov ’13 – Office of the Public Advocate for the City of New York

A particularly memorable moment was sitting at the Board meeting of the NYC Employee Retirement System – where the Public Advocate holds a vote – as municipal workers who have been denied disability payments made a final appeal before the Board. I will never forget seeing an amputee who lost his arm on the job as a city janitor recount the details of how it happened matter-of-factly  self-pity. and walk away with his disability payment

M. Kathryn Seevers ’13- The Legal Aid Society Juvenile Rights Project

While at JRP, I was able to write a memorandum in response to a Rosario violation, which occurs when the prosecution in a criminal case fails to provide required documents to the defense attorney.  I researched the relevant standards and recommended a resolution to the court.  While I had guidance, the final product was largely my own and it was a great experience to be given such responsibility on a real case.

 

Natalie Serra ’13- LGBT Domestic Violence Initiative, Sanctuary for Families’ Center for Battered  Women’s Legal Services           

There’s something very exciting about advocating for a client all on your own. I met with a new client in the crowded and hectic Brooklyn Family Court and drafted her family offense petition based on the stories of abuse she shared with me. She was concerned that the judge wouldn’t see us before lunch because she had to go to work and had a long commute. I had heard rumors that this particular judge doesn’t allow law students to speak in her courtroom, but apparently her practices had changed because she directly addressed me and asked me why she should grant my client an order of protection. Although I was caught off guard for a second because I didn’t expect to be addressed in this way, I quickly regained composure and related the most important parts of the case to the judge. The judge granted my client the order of protection she sought, and as I had felt several other times during my internship, I was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to help someone from a community I care about in a very concrete way. I’m excited to do this every day once I graduate in two years.

Neil Shah ’13- South Brooklyn Legal Services          

The most satisfying experience during my internship was my first UI hearing. A typical hearing lasts anywhere from fifteen minutes to one hour. My first hearing lasted a grueling three and a half hours. I was finally able to catch the employer in a lie during a follow-up cross examination that resulted directly in a judgment in my client’s favor. There is nothing sweeter than seeing that justice has been properly served, especially in a profession where the truth can be buried under piles of discovery.

 

Riti Singh ’12- Legal Aid Society, Juvenile Rights Practice

I remember working with a young teenager who had several delinquency cases pending.  Before meeting him, I expected to him to be brusque and defensive, or perhaps even indifferent.  When I interacted with him, however, he explained that he was desperate to be involved in some sort of summer activity.  He was perceptive enough to know that without anything to do, he would resort to the behaviors that got him into trouble in the first place.  Many of the summer programs were already full, or too expensive to be an option for him.  When we finally found a program that would meet his needs, I went with him to enroll.  He walked out of the program that day with a huge smile on his face, and he was excited to return the next day.  While this experience was not exactly legal in nature, it was a powerful moment for me to know that a simple, structured program might help him stay out of trouble.

 

 G. Victor Suh ’13 -Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A  

The experience that stood out was witnessing the development of a civil rights case involving development in a parcel of Brooklyn land called the Broadway Triangle.  Essentially it was a case that really spoke to the issues of economic and political exclusion that lie at the heart of Brooklyn A’s work.  A former industrial site had been zoned for residential use.  The question, though, was what kind of residential use it would be.  The land was at the border of three large communities:  Hasidic Jew, African American, and Latino. The Hasidim called for low rise buildings with 3- and 4-bedroom apartments, to accommodate their large families and need for walk-ups to observe the Sabbath.  However, the large African American and Latino populations would have benefitted more from high rise buildings, with more 1- and 2-bedroom units.  The Kings County Democratic Chair, without genuine consultation with the stakeholders and apparently for sheer political reasons, backed a plan for low rise buildings. By virtue of this decision and by virtue of the system for assigning slots in these residences, the neighborhood composition would be disproportionately Hasidic. I contributed in a minor way to this case, but it was very much a part of the everyday environment in which I worked.  I also attended several days of the trial, which is ongoing. Seeing the clearcut injustice of the situation, the preparation on our side, and fruits of hours of labor emerging in court was fascinating and rewarding. This was a glamorous case for a public interest lawyer, but after working on group housing cases all summer, I recognized it more as an extension of the work Brooklyn A has always done and continues to do. That work addresses basic human dignity, the exclusion of poorer communities in decision-making, and the role of lawyers to make sure their voice is heard.

 

 

Meredith Symonds ’12- The Legal Aid Society, Criminal Defense Practice

Working at the Legal Aid Society means that a law student has the ability not only to see a case from beginning to end but also to help make an impact on the case and, in turn, the client’s life.  Like any job, this work can have mundane moments, but the rewards can be so great that the day-to-day is never boring.  Working in the public interest such as for a public defender’s office was not possible without public service funding.  I am very grateful for the BLSPI Fellowship and all that public interest law advocates have done to make this summer and my future employment happen.

 

Sarah Udashkin ’13 -New York Legal Assistance Group’s Domestic Violence Clinical Center

The clinic was a fully integrated placement. Not only was I able to represent victims of domestic violence in family court, but I was able to be their advocate in other capacities as well. I had one client whose divorce I was handling. She was also the lead witness in her abuser’s criminal case. I was able to help her regarding her family law issues, and help her prepare for criminal court. This experience gave me a complete view of all the various legal issues involving domestic violence.

 

2010 BLSPI FELLOWS

• Kate Wood ’11

  Legal Interests: Child Welfare, Education, Juvenile Justice, Civil Liberties

  Summer Placement: Children’s Rights

  Children’s Rights is a national advocacy group working to reform failing child welfare systems on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of abused and neglected children who depend on them for protection and care.

  During my internship, I worked on one of their federal class action lawsuits challenging a state child welfare system. I was also able to represent children who were abused and neglected by a foster parent as a result of failures in the New York City foster care system.

  I was able to represent ten disabled foster kids who had been fraudulently adopted by an abusive foster parent. Due to inadequacies in the system and lack of oversight, these kids had slipped through the cracks and into the hands of a woman who regularly beat and neglected them. The battle against the city and private agencies involved in their foster care and adoption was both legally and emotionally challenging. The facts were heart breaking, but it made the work that much more meaningful.

• Melissa Livingston ’11

  Legal Interests: Employment/Labor Law, Government
  Summer Placement: New York State Division of Human Rights, Office of Sexual Harassment Issues
  The NYS Division of Human Rights is the state agency created to enforce New York’s Human Rights Law through the vigorous prosecution of unlawful discriminatory practices, and prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, credit, places of public accommodations, and non-sectarian educational institutions, based on age, race, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, military status, and other specified classes.
  The most rewarding aspects of this work was when I was able to interact with a complainant or respondent, to inform a particular party about her legal rights, and when I was able to bring a complainant’s discrimination claim to the surface.

• Marisa Nack ’11

  Legal Interests: Women’s rights, Domestic Violence Advocacy, Criminal Law
  Summer Placement: American Civil Liberties Union, Women’s Rights Project
  The ACLU is a national impact litigation organization that seeks to defend individual rights and liberties. The Women’s Rights project focuses on current issues that affect women, seeking to eliminate sex discrimination in all walks of life. My work consisted primarily of research and writing.
  I especially enjoyed researching the potential impact of ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women on U.S. prostitution laws. This memo was intended to rebut arguments that the Convention would legalize sex work in the United States. I composed a fact sheet which was distributed to various U.S. Senators during meetings on the Convention’s ratification.

• Eben Saling ’12

  Legal Interests: International Law, Human Rights
  Summer Placement: The Human Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center
  The Human Rights Project focuses on holding local governments accountable to international human rights standards. This is done by introducing legislation in the New York City Council which reflects those standards, analyzing and reporting on City Council Members’ dedication to human rights, and engaging with the UN and other international human rights bodies to create reports documenting the local state of human rights.
  It was extremely gratifying to see the result of a summer of hard work: Our City Council Report.

• Amy Hsieh ’11

  Legal Interests: Public Health Law
  Summer Placement: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the General Counsel
  The Office of the General Counsel in Region II handles any legal issues that arise with any of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ agencies, including Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Agency for Children and Families, and Food and Drug Administration. My projects all involved legal research, factual research, legal writing, client contact, and advocacy.
  One major way CMS seeks to protect the Medicare Trust Fund is to collect conditional payments when a Medicare recipients has been the victim of a tort. Along with the Chief Counsel, I would work with CMS to suggest compromised settlement amounts to ensure that Medicare recipients received a fair portion of the settlement. I was particularly satisfied by being able to negotiate these compromises because it allowed us to ensure that there was a human element to the Medicare system.

• Emily Powers ’12

  Legal Interests: Environmental Law
  Summer Placement: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Criminal Division, Fraud and Public Corruption Section
  I worked on a variety of fraud cases, with a focus on healthcare fraud, due to the recent passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I enjoyed working closely with veteran AUSA, FBI and HHS agents to investigate a large Medicare scam.

• Erika Lorshbough ’12

  Legal Interests: Housing, Landlord/Tenant Proceedings
  Summer Placement: Legal Services NYC, Brooklyn Branch
  I spent my summer working to provide direct services to economically disadvantaged clients in housing proceedings, assisting and interviewing clients, drafting letters, motions, and answers, and performing investigative, legal and policy research.
  I had the opportunity to compile a research project and policy memo on housing discrimination that was introduced at an oversight hearing of the NYC Human Rights Commission.

• Dorothy DiPascali ’12

  Legal Interests: International human rights, immigration and asylum
  Summer Placement: NY State Division of Human Rights, Brooklyn Regional Office
  NYSDHR is the law enforcement agency that enforces the NY State Human Rights Law by investigating complaints of discrimination and sexual harassment in employment and housing. I conducted investigations, weighed the merits, and wrote final determination reports for a number of cases.
  I stayed on at the DHR throughout the Fall Semester, and after four months of working on a very big sexual harassment case, we were able to get both parties to come together for a settlement conference. It was pretty amazing to watch such a meeting unfold, with so much on the line. The best part of this job was being able to help people get back what they had lost as a result of discrimination.

• Lauren Maccarone ’11

  Legal Interests: Public International Law
  Summer Placement: Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC)
  The CICC is an international NGO that represents over 2,000 international organizations who support the International Criminal Court. During my time there, I served as an intern to their head Legal Adviser and actively participated in UN and CICC steering committee meetings.
  My responsibilities included reporting on and analyzing legal and policy issues pertaining to the ICC. I also researched and drafted documents on amendments, stocktaking, and the crime of aggression in preparation for the ICC Review Conference on the Rome Statute. I also had the opportunity to travel with my supervisor to the first ever ICC Review Conference in Kampala, Uganda where the States Parties negotiated the Crime of Aggression.

• Rosa Cohen-Cruz ’12

  Legal Interests: Prisoners’ Rights
  Summer Placement: Sylvia Rivera Law Project
  SRLP provides free legal services to transgender, intersex, and gender non conforming clients who are indigent or people of color. Areas of work include housing, prisoners rights, immigration, public benefits, legal name changes, and assistance with changes to identity documents.
  The most memorable experience from my internship took place in my last week of work. An attorney, a fellow intern, and I, took a two day trip to visit three of our clients who were incarcerated in various facilities in upstate New York. One of our clients hadn’t been visited since his incarceration more than 10 years earlier. After being assaulted by a corrections officer and filing a complaint, he had been placed in solitary confinement, where he remained for eight years. He had reached out to organization after organization looking for someone to help him. We were the first one to ever respond, let alone take the time to visit him. The experience was difficult, emotionally draining and exhausting. But the fact that we had visited him and worked out concrete steps to improve his situation was not only incredibly meaningful for him, but one of the most rewarding moments I have ever experienced.

• Rachel Seelig ’12

  Legal Interests: Immigration
  Summer Placement: Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
  HIAS is a refugee resettlement agency with an asylum program in its national headquarters in New York. I worked on asylum cases, researching conditions in clients’ countries of origin as well as legal issues regarding the interpretation of the refugee definition. To prepare clients for interviews and hearings, I engaged in mock asylum interviews and cross-examination. I also interviewed potential clients and provided recommendations to staff attorneys on asylum claims and qualification for services. In addition, I drafted and revised comments on proposed changes to immigration regulations, forms and fees.
  One of our clients had both been persecuted by her government on account of her minority status and abused by her husband. She was detained upon arrival in the United States and was defensively claiming asylum in immigration court. Seeing her relief when she was granted asylum was the highlight of my summer.

• Madeleine Elkan ’12

  Legal Interests: Domestic Violence Prosecution and Victim Advocacy, Child Advocacy
  Summer Placement: Kings County DA’s Office, Domestic Violence Bureau
  I interviewed victims of domestic violence to ascertain facts of abuse and to provide victims with necessary safety planning and social services. In addition, I reviewed case files, in which the complaining witness was not available to testify, in order to develop alternative strategies for prosecution.
  My best experience was being able to handle an entire case in one whirlwind day, including meeting with a complaining witness and then being able to appear on the record in a short trial that day to advocate for my client’s interests.

• David A. Shapiro ’12

  Legal Interests: Juvenile Justice
  Summer Placement: Legal Aid Society, Juvenile Rights Practice
  I worked with attorneys in both child protection and juvenile justice, helping foster kids find relevant employment, educational, and housing services. I also interviewed young clients to ensure they were in safe, caring environments, and researched delinquency issues to defend clients accused of committing various offenses.
  After interviewing clients in our office, we bring them to our book room so they may take a book home. One of my clients was such a voracious reader that he brought home the entire Chronicles of Narnia anthology. It was great to see such a passion for reading!

• Alison Schill ’12

  Legal Interests: Child Advocacy
  Summer Placement: Legal Aid Society of Queens, Juvenile Rights Practice
  I worked in proceedings concerning child abuse and neglect. Attorneys and Paralegals work together with the expertise of Social Workers to represent the interests of the child in court. Cases concerned custody, adoption, guardianship, foster care, visitation, and judicial findings of abuse and neglect.
  The highlight of the summer was when I was able to find some obscure case law that allowed a child to remain with the foster family he had been with since birth despite their relocation to another state.

• Jesse Thompson ’11

  Legal Interests: Immigration, Refugee Advocacy
  Summer Placement: Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS)
  CGRS is the leading organization in the US focusing on issues that affect women, children and refugees. As a fellow, I assisted attorneys from across the country build their cases, map their strategies, and develop a superior case file.
  The highlight of my summer was seeing an article about CGRS written in the New York Times for winning a case they had been working on for 15 years.

• Antonia Pereira ’12

  Legal Interests: Community and Economic Development
  Summer Placement: Brooklyn Legal Services
  I interviewed people facing the consequences of predatory lending, wrote affidavits and answers for pro se litigants, and aided clients with court proceedings.
  One client that stood out was a foreclosure case where the homeowner’s signature was forged on all of the loan application documents. She was therefore put into a mortgage which she would never be able to afford. She came to us once the bank foreclosed on her. I worked on an answer to the foreclosure complaint. After my summer was over, she called me to ask if I could accompany her to court and continue helping her. It felt good to know that she valued the work I did for her.

• Hanna Morrill ’12

  Legal Interests: International Criminal Law, Humanitarian Law
  Summer Placement: International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
  I interned in the Chambers of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, working on a single-prosecution case. I assisted in drafting and editing portions of judicial opinions and compiled witness testimony and background information in preparation for site-visits to Rwanda.
  I had the opportunity to observe two judgments being passed down. Both Dominique Ntawukulilyayo and Yussuf Munyakazi were found guilty of genocide. While not a “best” moment, it was a remarkable experience to be present for the culmination of all the hard work that was done on a daily basis at the ICTR.

• Kelly Shaw ’12

  Legal Interests: Criminal Defense, Exoneration Work
  Summer Placement: The Exoneration Initiative
  The Exoneration Initiative provides legal assistance to wrongfully convicted persons based on the actual innocence doctrine. As an intern, I evaluated claims of potential clients for credibility and likelihood of success at trial.
  One of the most impactful cases EXI was working for was a man who was wrongfully convicted in 1985 and was still in prison. During my internship, the attorney on the case had a breakthrough and was able to contact a major witness in the case. The witness signed an affidavit stating that our defendant was not the perpetrator. We were also able to obtain an affidavit from the actual perpetrator, who was deported to Guiana and has never been jailed for the crime. While this case is a tragedy, being involved in it has made me even more grateful for organizations like EXI.

• Michael Berman ’12

  Legal Interests: Housing Law, Disability Law, Ex-Offender Advocacy
  Summer Placement: New York Legal Assistance Group, Legal Health Project
  The New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) provides legal services to low income New Yorkers. My unit, the Legal Health Project, obtained its clients through a partnership with New York City hospitals and provided across-the-board legal assistance in areas such as housing, disability, public benefits, immigration, and others. As an intern, I had the opportunity to take on a large case load and work independently. I worked closely with my clients to help build their cases and advise them on how to proceed. I also conducted research on a wide variety of topics and wrote answers that were filed in housing court.
  One client that particularly sticks out in my mind was a woman who suffered from so many physical ailments she barely could remember them all. Along with many other conditions, she weighed about 75 pounds and had severe osteoporosis. This made it very difficult and dangerous for her to get around the city. She had applied for the MTA Access-A-Ride program but was denied. I put together an appeals package for her, and, after a few weeks, I was delighted to learn that her denial had been overturned by a review board. It was my first legal victory!

2009 BLSPI FELLOWS

• Andrea Clisura ’11
• Anthony Consiglio ’11
• Coco Culhane ’10
• Archana Dittakavi ’11
• Kristin Gallagher ’10
• Michael Higgins ’11
• Edward Huang ’10
• Michael Kennett ’11
• Shayna Kessler ’10
• Svetlana Kolomeyer ’11
• Angela Lam ’11
• Leigh Mangum ’11
• Michael Mastrangelo ’11
• Nithya Nathan ’10
• Cristina Pejoves ’11
• Alexandra Puleo ’11
• Elizabeth Retter ’10
• Sarah Westby ’11
• Laura Vogel ’10
• Laura Zimmerman ’11

2008 BLSPI FELLOWS

• Melissa Brennan
  Labor Rights Promotion Network & UN Inter‐Agency Project on Human Trafficking (Thailand)
• Sundrop Carter
  NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund (NYC)
• Kathleen Christatos
  Legal Services for the Elderly (NYC)
• Seth Cohen
  New York Attorney General’s Office, Civil Rights Bureau (NYC)
• Deborah Diamant
  Legal Aid Society, Project FAIR (NYC)
• Nicholas Enrich
  Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (NYC)
• Amy Friedland
  U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Criminal Division (NYC)
• Eric Goldman
  Safe Horizon, Domestic Violence Law Project (NYC)
• Leila Hull
  Legal Aid Society, Prisoners’ Rights Project (NYC)
• Basil Kim
  The Opportunity Agenda (NYC)
• Monica Lewis
  Lawyers for Children (NYC)
• Kyle Marler
  Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (NYC)
• Paul Molina
  Louisiana Capital Assistance Center (New Orleans, LA)
• Samuel Palmer‐Simon
  Legal Aid Society, Prisoners’ Rights Project (NYC)
• Rebekah Pazmino
  Louisiana Capital Assistance Center (New Orleans, LA)
• Stephanie Pope
  Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NYC)
• Benjamin Riskin
  Lawyers for Children (NYC)
• Scott Ruplinger
  Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (D.C.) & Kenya Education Partnership
• Haeya Yim
  Urban Justice Center, Community Development Project (NYC)