Since college, Amanda Le (University of California, Irvine School of Law’ 22) has been involved in the reproductive freedom movement and has worked professionally and personally on reproductive justice issues both on a local and statewide level. As a law student, Amanda was one of three Public Service Scholars in her graduating class contributing over 300 hours of pro bono work during her law school career. She also served as a student leader for Orange County’s Clean Slate Expungement Clinic and UCI Law’s Asian Pacific American Law Students Association. Prior to law school, Amanda worked for four years as a policy associate at the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties (ACLU-SDIC), where she advocated for policy change relating to civil rights and civil liberties. She has served as the chair of the board of directors for the San Diego Coalition for Reproductive Justice and was an active member of her law school’s If/When/How chapter.

Amanda is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego. She was proudly raised in Visalia, California, within the Central Valley.

Ariana Camara (Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law’ 22) has been working in the non-profit sector since 2014. Prior to law school, she worked as the Office Coordinator for Jane’s Due Process and has continued volunteering on their support hotline since 2019. During law school, Ariana served as a student attorney in the Alona Cortese Elder Law Clinic, where she assisted low-income seniors in navigating social benefit programs, particularly for healthcare, and seeking legal recourse in situations of elder abuse. As an intern with Break the Cycle in 2020, Ariana also supported teens experiencing dating violence. Most recently, she has worked with NARAL Pro-Choice America as a legal fellow, advocating at the federal level for reproductive justice policies, including Title X funding, paid family leave, and the expansion of abortion rights and access.

Ariana graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Political Communication.

Elias Fox Schmidt (University at Buffalo School of Law ’22 JD/MSW) is dedicated to bridging the gap between reproductive justice and trans liberation. He is passionate about reproductive justice, trans liberation, anti-racism, anti-imperialism, and trauma-informed lawyering. Elias is a descendant of the Seneca Nation of Indians and prioritizes anti-colonialism and Indigenous sovereignty in all of his work.

During law school, Elias served as a student attorney at the University at Buffalo Civil Rights & Transparency Clinic, working on issues related to fair housing, employment discrimination, government transparency, and police accountability. Additionally, Elias was an Initiative for a Representative First Amendment Fellow with a position at the Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic, where he worked on various tech law issues, including issues relating to video game accessibility, SESTA/FOSTA, and safety for trans people online. Elias also interned at Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc., where he assisted in legal name changes for trans people in Erie and Niagara counties in New York. Elias was very active on campus, serving as the first openly trans President of OUTLaw and the founder and Co-President of his law school’s Native American Law Students Association chapter. Prior to law school, Elias attended Buffalo State College, where he majored in English and minored in Psychology. In his free time, Elias enjoys beading, spending time with his family, and researching transmasculine history.

Nina Haug (NYU School of Law ’22) has spent most of her adult life existing in and cultivating strong communities. In law school, she has been a Women’s Leadership Fellow with the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network, where she’s found one of her most meaningful support networks. She has been both a staff editor and a board member of the NYU Review of Law and Social Change as a Community Education and Accessibility Co-Chair. Nina has been a 2L and 3L Representative on the NYU Law Student Bar Association, where she has served as a Co-Chair of the Advocacy Committee both terms. Throughout her time in law school, Nina has worked to bring the voices of students, particularly those who are historically underrepresented in law schools, to law school administrators.

Nina has also been a student advocate in the NYU Law Reproductive Justice Clinic and the NYU Law LGBTQ Rights Externship, which have allowed her to do meaningful legal work on behalf of communities she belongs to outside of law school. Over the summers, Nina interned first with the Center for Economic and Social Rights as an International Law and Human Rights Fellow and then with the City Bar Justice Center’s Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Project in the Eastern District of New York.

Prior to law school, Nina was a Eugene McDermott Scholar at the University of Texas at Dallas. She then studied history for several years at UC-Berkeley before leaving for law school. She is originally from south Louisiana and spent her 2L year zooming into law school from south Louisiana. She is looking forward to returning to the South to do reproductive justice work next year, and she hopes to continue to do this work in the South in the future.

Meera Rajput graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, summa cum laude, with a B.S. in Psychology in 2018. During her junior year summer, she interned at the Women’s Law Project, a nonprofit organization working to defend and advance the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people in Pennsylvania and beyond. This is where her dedication and passion for becoming a reproductive justice advocate blossomed. After graduation, she completed a year-long service-leadership program called Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience (PULSE). During this year, she served at the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, a nonprofit dedicated to exonerating those convicted of serious crimes they did not commit.

After her service year, Meera attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. During law school, Meera engaged in several activities. She served as a Pitt Law Student Ambassador, a 1L representative, and Secretary and social media Director of Pitt Legal Income Share Foundation (PLISF), a nonprofit dedicated to advancing law students’ careers in public interest. She also served as the Social Media Director of the Prisoner Legal Support Project (PLSP) and was a Legal Analysis and Writing Teaching Assistant. She interned both at the Women’s Law Project, where she prepared advocacy presentations and research on the new Title IX regulations in 2020, and the Education Law Center, where she helped research and write recommendations for school expulsion and SLIFE students.

Most recently, Meera interned at the National Women’s Law Center in D.C., where she worked on reproductive health and rights issues in colleges and universities, and SCOTUS abortion tracking. She also interned at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UPMC’s) corporate legal department, where she updated guidance for COVID-19 vaccine mandates and worked on statutory interpretation issues. She was also a Truxall Scholarship Recipient and Dean’s Scholarship Recipient for all three years of law school and was awarded the Health Law Certificate and Pro Bono Service Recognition.

Heather Allison (University of Texas School of Law ’20) recently graduated with her degree in law and public affairs. As a law student, she served on the board of UT’s If/When/How chapter and interned at Avow Texas and Jane’s Due Process, fighting abortion restrictions in Texas. She found a real passion for helping young people navigate parental consent laws on abortion and birth control as a hotline and textline volunteer for Jane’s Due Process. This year, she wrote a bill that was filed in the Texas Legislature that would allow minors to consent to their own contraceptive care. In her free time, she enjoys camping, walking her dog, and watching reality tv. She could not be more excited to continue working towards advancing reproductive equity in the south as an If/When/How fellow!

Nneka Ewulonu (University of Georgia School of Law ‘21) is a lifelong Georgian committed to elevating the voices of marginalized communities. As a student attorney, they addressed barriers to comprehensive healthcare access at UGA Law’s Community Health Law Partnership Clinic and promoted the rights of student journalists and citizen access to public records at the Stanton First Amendment Clinic. They continued their work for social justice and equity through internships at the East Bay Community Law Center, the ACLU of North Carolina, the ACLU of Georgia, and Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity. As a research assistant to Dean Andrea Dennis, Nneka explored the phenomenon of “rap of trial” and disparities in school discipline. They were also the Executive Online Editor of the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law. Before law school, Nneka received their B.S in biology and B.A. in French from the University of Georgia. They enjoy using their free time to bake and watch college football (Go Dawgs!) and remain close with the Roosevelt Network.

Sallie J. Thomas (Howard University School of Law ’21) is a dedicated reproductive justice advocate who focused her academic scholarship, intern, and extern opportunities on addressing issues of the movement. Sallie interned with the District of Columbia Department of Health (DC Health) in their General Counsel office, where she drafted policies creating easier access to abortion and expanding the scope of practice for APRNs. She also interned at the National Partnership for Women and Families where she compiled a Bad Medicine report and assisted the communications team with legal content for social media platforms. Sallie also interned at the National Institute for Reproductive Health where she helped extensively with their End-of-Year report and wrote memorandums for partners on topics including judicial bypass laws. Prior to law school, Sallie graduated from State University of New York – College at Old Westbury with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She then went on to graduate from Stony Brook University with her Masters in Social Work. Sallie worked as a medical social worker for a bit over two years prior to going to law school.

Aimee Registe (George Washington University Law School ’19) was an active member of GWU’s public interest community. She was a student attorney for GWU’s Family Justice Litigation Clinic, helping people experiencing poverty with domestic violence issues. She also volunteered for both the Family Law Pro Bono Project and the Landlord Tenant project, helping pro se litigants with family law and housing issues respectively, and interned with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), offering legal assistance to people with mental health needs. Until recently, Aimee was a law clerk for the Fairfax Public Defender’s office, where she conducted legal research, wrote motions, helped interview clients, and helped extensively with the bond motion process. Prior to law school, Aimee graduated Summa Cum Laude from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in pre-law studies.

Alex Moody (University of Michigan Law School ‘20) interned at the National LGBTQ Taskforce in 2018 and the National Center for Lesbian Rights in 2019, working on reproductive justice issues that significantly affect LGBTQ people and their families. They received the Outlaws Public Service Fellowship and the Gleason Kettel Summer Fellowship to support their work at these organizations. Alex served as the President and Development Chair of the LGBTQ student organization, an Associate Editor on the Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, and a faculty research assistant. They were a student attorney in the University of Michigan Human Trafficking Clinic, providing legal services to survivors of both labor and sex trafficking. Alex also does research, case tracking, and creates litigation summaries for the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse.

Alex attended Tulane University as an undergraduate, majoring in English with minors in Gender and Sexuality Studies and Political Science. They became involved in state reproductive justice policy through their work as an abortion clinic escort and on the intake hotline at the New Orleans Abortion Fund. After undergrad, Alex worked as an intern investigator at Orleans Public Defenders.

Allie Watson (University of California, Davis School of Law ‘19) graduated with honors and was an active member of the law school’s public interest community and earned a Public Interest Certificate. As a certified law student in the UC Davis Civil Rights Clinic, Allie advocated on behalf of an incarcerated client in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. After completing law school, Allie clerked for the Honorable Sul Ozerden in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Carles’ Anderson (Charleston School of Law December 2019) was Chair for Honor Council and served on the Black Law Students Association outreach board and helped to expand the scholarship reach for minority students seeking a career in the legal field. Additionally, Carles’ interned for several organizations that assisted people experiencing poverty during her law school career, including the Federal Public Defenders’ Office. As a clerk, she dedicated over 200 pro bono hours aiding in the defense of those charged with felony crimes in the Fourth Circuit of the United States. 

Carles’ received her undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina with a major in political science. During undergrad, Carles’ worked as a peer leader on campus educating students on sexual health and healthy relationships.

Elena Ferguson (Belmont University College of Law ‘19) is a Nashville native and completed her undergraduate studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. In law school, she served as the Black Law Students Association Information Officer and volunteered with the Tennessee Youth Court program. Throughout her law school career, she has gotten the opportunity to intern with a variety of wonderful organizations, including the Nashville Public Defenders Office, Juvenile Court of Nashville, and Law for Black Lives. Her favorite legal TV show is “Suits,” and the reproductive justice issue that she is most passionate about is menstrual equity. In her free time, she enjoys exploring new restaurants, playing tennis, and traveling.

Jasmine Yunus (American University Washington College of Law ’20) served on the WCL Chapter’s If/When/How executive board as Vice President of Programming and later as chapter President. Jasmine also served as a Student Attorney in the WCL Woman and the Law Clinic. 

Jasmine’s studies in law school centered on constitutional law with a focus on reproductive rights and justice. As a student attorney in the Women and the Law Clinic, Jasmine represented clients on a range of matters including housing and public benefits cases, approaching these cases through an intersectional reproductive justice lens. Jasmine furthered her commitment to reproductive rights and justice during her time in law school, interning at the Center for Reproductive Rights and working as a policy aide at NARAL Pro-Choice America. Additionally, she choose to focus her legal writing and research project in law school on the intersection of disability rights and reproductive justice. 

Prior to law school, Jasmine attended the George Washington University where her passion for reproductive rights was sparked while attending a rally at the Supreme Court for Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt. Following that experience, Jasmine began working as a clinic escort at her local Planned Parenthood and committed herself to pursuing a career in law and reproductive justice policy.

Lauren North (University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law ‘20) joined her law school class as a non-traditional student following a decade-long career in movement-building and national politics. While in law school, Lauren served on the Executive Board of the University of Louisville’s If/When/How chapter, as Vice President of the Labor and Employment Society, and as a representative on the Student Bar Association. She also co-founded a community justice-law school partnership called HEART, the Housing Equality and Resource Taskforce, to help address the eviction crisis in her city. Throughout law school, Lauren sat on the national student advisory committee for It’s On Us (to stop sexual assault), the Louisville Bar Association’s Gender Equity Committee, and the Associate Board of Maryhurst, Inc., a local shelter for abused and neglected children. In the summer of 2018, she designed and implemented a series of criminal record expungement clinics at Kentucky Legal Aid as a member of the Rural Summer LegalCorps. She spent the Summer of 2019 with the ACLU of Montana working on complex litigation related to indigenous justice, LGBTQ+ employment discrimination, reproductive justice, freedom of speech, bail reform, and the unlawful detention of immigrants. In her final year of law school, Lauren utilized her limited license to represent survivors of domestic violence in civil legal proceedings through the Ackerson Law Clinic.

Prior to law school, Lauren worked as a community organizer and communications specialist for two presidential races, the DCCC, the Giffords Campaign to Stop Gun Violence, the Presidential Inaugural Committee, and the United States Department of Labor. Additionally, Lauren spent two years in the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) as a community health and gender empowerment volunteer with the United States Peace Corps. Lauren holds a bachelor’s degree in Peace & Global Studies from Earlham College, and a master’s degree in Gender, Development, and Globalization from the London School of Economics & Political Science.

Limayli Huguet (American University Washington College of Law ’20) is dedicated to fighting for the rights of vulnerable people at the intersection of immigration and reproductive justice. Through her professional, academic, and extracurricular activities, Limayli has demonstrated her commitment to advocating for the bodily integrity of marginalized individuals. During her summer legal internship with the Florence Project, Limayli represented detained children who had been separated from their parents at the border under the Trump Administration’s Zero Tolerance Policy. As a student attorney with the International Human Rights Clinic, Limayli represented survivors of reproductive coercion, torture, and political persecution in their immigration cases. Limayli had the opportunity to represent two Central American families separated at the border in their Federal tort claims against the government. During law school, Limayli was a Dean’s Fellow for the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP), where she performed legal research on immigration policy and its effects on immigrant survivors of crime, and created materials for the NIWAP web library and trainings. Limayli was an active member of the Washington College of Law Chapter of If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice.

Originally from San Diego, California, Limayli earned her undergraduate degree from the University of San Francisco. She is the proud daughter of working-class immigrants, with a mother from Mexico and father from Peru. In her free time, she enjoys volunteering at the Crumbs & Whiskers Kitten Lounge and consuming all the true crime podcasts she can get her hands on. Limayli is thrilled to center people like her parents while working in the reproductive justice movement and lend her voice to underrepresented communities fighting for their rights.

Israel Cook (American University Washington College of Law ’19) served on the WCL Chapter’s If/When/How executive board as the Vice President of Programming and the Vice President of Outreach and Pro Bono Opportunities, and as a research assistant to the AUWCL Women and the Law Program.

Israel studied international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law with a focus on disability rights. As a student attorney in the Disability Rights Law Clinic, Israel represented clients in special education suits, EEOC claims, and landlord tenant court. Israel furthered her interest in disability justice by interning at the Special Olympics headquarters in Washington, D.C. in the legal department. As the Symposium Editor of Sustainable Development Law and Policy journal, Israel organized a symposium on climate change and human rights focusing on migration and indigenous land rights.

Before law school, Israel studied anthropology and sociology and worked at a residential treatment facility for children with various disabilities. Israel was also an AmeriCorps VISTA for Court Appointed Special Advocates of Lexington Kentucky, where she fundraised for the non-profit, creating institutional capacity to serve abused and neglected children.

Lucie Arvallo (St. Mary’s University School of Law ’19) served as a staff writer and senior associate editor for the St. Mary’s Law Journal, and was designated by the Hispanic Bar Association of Austin as one of their “Five Hispanic Students to Watch.” She was a finalist in the 2018 Federal Bar Association Moot Court Competition, and was a member of the Women’s Law Association and American Inns of Court, interned with the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, and spent much of her time devoted to public interest work. She also served as the Volunteer Attorney Coordinator for the San Antonio Bar Associations’ Veterans Legal Aid Clinic, providing affordable legal assistance to low-income service members, volunteered with the Family Lawyers’ Assistance Project in Phoenix, Arizona, and participated in a service break experience with the disability rights division of Southeast Louisiana Legal Services.

Lucie received her bachelor’s degree in criminology from St. Edward’s University, where she received the Student Excellence Award, honoring the student with the highest GPA in the major.

Nina Gurak (Drexel University School of Law ’19) is an organizer, educator, and law student working at the intersections of disability justice and reproductive justice. While in law school, Nina spent her summers interning for the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania and the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women and held Dean’s Scholar positions in both Contracts and Criminal Law. She served as President of Drexel Law’s If/When/How and served on the executive board of Drexel Law’s National Lawyers Guild. As a member of Drexel’s International Human Rights Clinic, Nina represented the New York City Bar Association as their human rights legal observer during the Military Commission proceedings at Guantanamo Bay. Nina is a proud volunteer with Project Safe, a women-, trans-, and gender nonconforming-focused harm reduction organization working with street-based sex workers and substance.

Nina earned her B.A. from Wesleyan University with dual majors in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and in Government. There, Nina was a founding member of the University’s Title IX Committee, taught sex education at local high schools and volunteered as a clinic escort. When she isn’t studying, Nina can be found riding around Philadelphia on her bike or getting frustrated with a jigsaw puzzle.

Jenn Mahan (University of Baltimore School of Law ’19) was president of her If/When/How student chapter, editor of the University of Baltimore Law Review, and a Constitutional Law teaching assistant. Jenn participated in her school’s Human Trafficking Prevention Clinic, where she provided legal representation to individuals with criminal records stemming from their involvement in the commercial sex industry. Jenn was also a Health Law Fellow in the office of Maryland State Representative Robbyn Lewis during the 2019 legislative session. She also served as a policy intern at the Center for Reproductive Rights, National Abortion Federation, NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, ACLU of Maryland, and the Baltimore City Health Department’s Bureau of Maternal and Child Health.

Jenn received her undergraduate degree from Towson University in Towson, Maryland with a major in political science. After completing her undergraduate degree, she spent two years working as a legal assistant at a boutique law firm in Baltimore, and is a Women’s National Broomball Champion.

Kimya Forouzan (dual J.D./M.P.H., Temple University Beasley School of Law, ’18) interned with a number of public interest-focused organizations and offices during her law school career, including the National Women’s Law Center, the National Institute for Reproductive Health, the Temple University Legal Aid Clinic, and the Office of Councilwoman Helen Gym. Additionally, Kimya was active on campus, serving as vice president of Temple’s If/When/How chapter, president of Temple’s National Lawyers’ Guild chapter, and founding member of the Middle Eastern and North African Law Students Association. Kimya also remained active in diversity and inclusion work at her law school, working closely with the Affinity Group Coalition and serving on the inaugural Dean’s Working Group on Diversity and Inclusion, and served as If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice’s Board Vice President. Outside her school community, Kimya also volunteered as a “hand-holder” for patients receiving abortions, and served as a Farsi language interpreter for recently arrived immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

Kelly Flannery graduated from New York University School of Law with honors in May 2017. During law school, Kelly was an active participant in the Reproductive Justice Clinic both as a member and a research assistant. She spent a significant amount of time supporting and working with clinic supervisors and lawyers at the National Advocates for Pregnant Women as they challenged a state statute that subjected pregnant women accused of drug use to state-sponsored surveillance, detention and forced medical intervention. She was also involved in anti-shackling advocacy in New York prisons, and continued prison conditions work as a member of the New York Civil Liberties Union clinic. Kelly served as an intern at the New York Legal Assistance Group’s housing division and the National Institute for Reproductive Health.

After completing law school, Kelly became the NYU fellow in Human Right’s Watch’s women’s rights division. She has been researching disparities in reproductive health outcomes in the United States as a human rights issue. In doing so, she has been closely connected to grassroots organizations and local human rights commissions to document and address the barriers that racial discrimination and socioeconomic inequalities create in regards to access to women’s health care and information in Alabama. Prior to law school, Kelly received her bachelor’s degree from Elon University and her master’s degree in philosophy from the New School for Social Research.

Jacqueline Tosto (Boston University School of Law ’19) was an active member the law school’s public interest community. She was a student attorney in the International Human Rights Clinic, where she worked with non-governmental organizations on human rights abuses in Tibet, and also traveled to Geneva to meet with special rapporteurs to discuss said abuses committed by the Chinese government. She also was a member of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic and worked on various cases with potential historical procedural errors resulting in wrongful convictions. She also served as the Gala Chair of BU’s Public Interest Project, which helps raise grant money for roughly 60 law students a year who work in unpaid public interest jobs for the summer. She also interned at KRW Lawin Belfast, Northern Ireland, focusing on post-conflict human rights as well as criminal defense cases and worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, researching the effects of the lack of paid family and medical leave on mothers and children in the New England area. After her first year of law school, she interned at the AIDS Action Committee of Boston, helping those in the community with HIV/AIDS attain legal aid on various civil issues.

Prior to law school, Jacqueline graduated magna cum laude from the Macaulay Honors Program at Hunter College in New York City with a Bachelor’s Degree in political science and human rights.

De’Andrea Byrd (Southern University Law Center ’19) was heavily involved in Southern University’s Pro Bono Committee, where she participated in over 300 hours of community service. She prides herself on being a connector of people, and is a mentor to high school and undergraduate students, visiting her alma mater and underserved high schools. Throughout her law school career, she participated in Southern University Law Center’s a two-week legal diversity summer camp, and traveled extensively both domestically and internationally. She received her Bachelor of Science in political science from Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi.

Monica Edwards graduated from The University of Alabama School of Law in 2018. There, she participated in La Raza Law Student Association, the Black Law Students Association, and OUTLaw Queer-Straight Alliance.

Monica worked as an intern in the Perry County District Attorney’s Office in her hometown of Marion, Alabama, in the Drug Task Force Division. There, she discovered her passion for criminal defense and criminal justice policy. She also worked in the law school’s Domestic Violence Clinic, and was selected to give her presentation, “What’s with Misogyny: Eliminating Misogyny & Toxic Masculinity in the Black Community Through Education and Accountability,” at the University of Alabama Student Leadership Summit. Monica was also a Summer Legal Fellow at Harvard Legal Aid Bureau at Harvard Law School. There, she was able to practice family law as Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court 3.03 Counsel, handling cases involving child custody, child support, domestic violence, and guardianship.

Monica received her bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice with minors in Sociology and Women’s Studies from the University of Alabama. As an undergraduate, Monica was a part of the Student Leadership Council and participated in Elect Her, a training event for young women seeking to run for public office. Monica was also a member of the UA chapter of the Alabama Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Justice and volunteered as a patient escort at the West Alabama Women’s Center.

Mashayla Hays graduated from the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law in 2018, where she spent much of her time volunteering and working in the public interest. She served as both the partnership fellow and student teacher with the university’s pipeline program with Central High School in Louisville. As a product of the Central High partnership, Mashayla was able to teach in both the Street Law and Marshall Brennan Programs. She also worked as a co-coordinator for Jefferson County Teen Court and served as a certified mediator with the Brandeis Mediation Clinic. She served as a volunteer in the Legal Aid bankruptcy department and Wayside Christian Mission, helping the homeless of Louisville with issues involving criminal law, family law, and civil rights.

Mashayla was the Vice President of the Black Law Student Association for two years, and participated in two International Service Learning Program trips in the Philippines and Belize. She worked as a clerk in the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office, interned at the ACLU, were she focused on Kentucky’s compliance with state regulations for private probation, and was a legal fellow at the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice, where she researched the University of Louisville’s cultural competencies.

Mashayla received the Louisville Bar Association’s Trailblazer Student Scholarship Award, a Kentucky Legal Education Opportunity (KLEO) Scholar and was awarded the Samuel L. Greenebaum Public Service Award, given to the graduate with the most public service hours. Mashayla earned her bachelor’s degree in Pan-African Studies in 2015 from the University of Louisville.

Jill Heaviside graduated from Vanderbilt University Law School in May 2018. There, Jill served as president of the Health Law Society and participated in the Medical Legal Partnership Clinic, where she provided pro bono legal services to indigent veterans. She also completed a year-long externship with ThinkTennessee, a nonpartisan think tank advocating for pragmatic public policy, and clerked with the American Bar Association Justice Defenders Program where she helped author an amicus brief challenging the use of Ethiopia’s counter-terrorism law to silence religious and other minority leaders.

Jill serves on the Steering Committee of Advocates for Women’s’ and Kids’ Equality (AWAKE), a non-profit advocating for the advancement of women and children through education and policy change, where she led the successful lobbying and advocacy efforts for a child sexual abuse prevention bill in the Tennessee General Assembly. The bill went into effect as law in July and reaches approximately one million students in Tennessee’s public schools. She is active within the Davidson County Democratic Party and volunteers as a Coach with Girls on the Run of Middle and East Tennessee.

Rosann Mariappuram graduated from the University of Texas School of Law, ’18. During law school, Rosann interned with Jane’s Due Process and the Center for Reproductive Rights, was president of her If/When/How student chapter, and served on the boards of the Lilith Fund and NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. Rosann participated in her school’s civil rights and immigration clinics, where she advocated against unfair class C misdemeanor jailing practices, sued to end the mistreatment of incarcerated individuals in a jail-suicide case, and fought to end the prolonged detention of immigrant clients seeking asylum. Rosann is a Next Generation Leader with the American Constitution Society. And in 2018, Rosann was the recipient of the Carol Mason Student Activism Award at the Take Root conference in Norman, Oklahoma.

Prior to law school, Rosann worked at the Reproductive Health Access Project, which helps primary care clinicians integrate abortion, contraception, and miscarriage care into their practice. Rosann received a master’s degree in international relations from the City College of New York and her undergraduate degree from New York University. She was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and is the proud daughter of immigrant parents.

Mariah Lindsay graduated from the University of California, Irvine School of Law in May 2018. There, Mariah interned at the California Women’s Law Center and participated in UCI Law’s Reproductive Justice and Domestic Violence Clinics. She was the co-chair of her campus’ If/When/How chapter and publicity chair for UCI’s Public Interest Law Fund. Mariah served as a Community Fellow and Student Bar Association Mentor. She was active in pro bono service, including participating in naturalization clinics, a legal name and gender change clinic, and a worker’s rights clinic. She also took three pro bono service trips to Mississippi, volunteering at the Mississippi Center for Justice.

Mariah also served as a research assistant to Professor Michele Goodwin, contributing to a 9th Circuit Amicus Brief in addition to law review articles and books. Mariah was also a Summer Law Clerk in the Complex Litigation Unit at the Riverside County Public Defender’s Office and served as a Spitzer Intern at the National Health Law Program, focusing on law and policy surrounding contraceptive equity laws, maternal health, family planning, and Medicaid.

Prior to law school, Mariah interned at the Pomona Superior Court Neighbor Legal Services Self-Help Center, assisting self-represented litigants in family and housing law. She received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in History from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

B. Schaaff graduated in May 2018 from the University of Oregon School of Law with a concentration in Public Law and Policy. During law school, B served as a tutor for first-year legal research and writing students, an editor of the Oregon Law Review, and as a Public Law and Policy Fellow. For B’s Public Law and Policy Fellowship project, B analyzed and recommended modifications to Oregon’s new administrative system for name and gender marker changes to birth certificates. B was a Policy and Constituent Services Intern in the office of Oregon State Representative Nancy Nathanson during the 2017 legislative session, where they reviewed legislation, analyzed the state budget, and prepared testimony for committees on a range of policy issues, including two bills to increase access to affordable healthcare. B was also a law clerk at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, focusing on LGBTQ issues in employment law and assisting in national impact litigation.

B received their undergraduate degree from Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, with a major in Communication and a minor in Political Science. Studying political science and political media inspired B to become an advocate. At Flagler, B successfully campaigned for the implementation of a gender-neutral restroom on campus.

Outside of work, B enjoys exercising, comparing all pizza to New Jersey pizza, and going to the beach.

Sawyeh Esmaili graduated from the University of Miami School of Law in
May 2017. She is a recipient of the Miami Scholars Public Interest
Program scholarship award. During law school, Sawyeh interned with
Planned Parenthood Global’s Latin America Regional Office and with the
Florida Justice Institute, a non-profit firm that focuses on cases
dealing with prisoners’ rights, disability rights, and housing
discrimination. She participated in Miami Law’s Immigration Clinic and
later interned in the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office. Sawyeh also
served as the Chair of the Public Interest Leadership Board and the
Submissions Editor of the Race & Social Justice Law Review.

In May 2016, Sawyeh presented her paper, “An Incarcerated Woman’s
Right to a Nontherapeutic Abortion: A Human Rights Framework” at the
LatCrit South-North Exchange conference in Santo Domingo, Dominican
Republic. Prior to law school, Sawyeh worked as the Program Assistant
of the Urban League of Broward County’s College Tour Program. Sawyeh
received her B.A. in Political Science with a minor in International
Studies from San Diego State University.

Nnennaya Amuchie graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law with a joint JD/MBA. She received a public interest law certificate with a health law. During law school, Nnennaya served as the President of the Black Law Student Association and the Community Relations of the Health Law Society. Nnennaya also served as the law school liaison to the Northern California Black Women Lawyers organization. Nnennaya interned at Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, working in family violence and sexual assault; at Bay Area Legal Aid; and at Catholic Charities of San Jose. Additionally, Nnennaya interned at the Santa Clara County Counsel in Health/Hospital and Impact Litigation and Stanford Hospital and Clinics where she gained an understanding for the hospital structure and the barriers to affordable and adequate reproductive health.

Nnennaya was also an Equal justice America and Justice John Paul Stevens fellow at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco. At the International Human Rights Clinic at Santa Clara, Nnennaya researched violence against women in the Inter-American system. Lastly, Nnennaya curated a blog and YouTube channel discussing gender oppression as a first generation Black Nigerian immigrant feminist through essays, photos, and poetry.

In Spring 2016, the Seattle Law Journal for Social Justice published Nnennaya’s article, “The Forgotten Victims: How Racialized gender stereotypes lead to police violence against Black Women and Girls: Incorporating An Analysis of Police Violence into Feminist Jurisprudence and Community Activism.” Nnennaya also served as the first social justice editor of Santa Clara Law’s newspaper, the Advocate, where she discussed race, social justice, community activism, and law school culture.

Sequoia Ayala graduated from the American University Washington College of Law. As a dual JD/MA candidate, she will receive a Master’s degree in International Development with a concentration in nonprofit management in December 2016. During law school, Sequoia represented clients who had been subjected to partner violence in the District of Columbia and Maryland on immigration and family law matters through her participation in the Women and the Law Clinic. As a law clerk with Maryland Legal Aid, Sequoia assisted low-income Marylanders on matters related to Family Law, Consumer Law, and Elder Law and successfully designed a clinic outreach framework and workshop for pro se litigants in domestic family law cases. In addition to serving on the executive boards of the Women’s Law Association and Action for Human Rights, Sequoia founded the Parents Attending Law School Association and advocated on behalf of pregnant and parenting students. Her work as a research assistant with the Impact Litigation Project involved addressing innovatively the relationship between gender and religion-based violence and repression in Latin America.

Sequoia is a trained facilitator of intercultural dialogue and prior to law school, facilitated a PAHO-sponsored program, Familias Fuertes, designed to strengthen interfamilial communication within Latino families on issues including sex and reproductive health. A proud University of Georgia alumna and native Georgian, Sequoia is excited to return home with her husband and two sons to serve her community.

Christine Castro graduated from Roger Williams University School of Law. Christine is returning to Pittsburgh, PA, where, during her first summer of law school, she interned at the Women’s Law Project working on an array of issues related to women’s and LGBT rights.

During law school, Christine interned at the National Women’s Law Center, where she worked with the Health and Reproductive Rights. She also interned at the Committee for Public Counsel Services assisting with representation of indigent clients accused of crimes. Through her law school, she participated in both an alternative spring break at Brooklyn Defender Services and a bro bono immigration project assisting survivors of domestic violence. Christine was awarded the Leadership Scholarship and was a two-time recipient of RWU Law’s Public Interest Summer Stipend. She also served as a judicial extern for the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit during her 3L year.

Christine is originally from Philadelphia and earned her undergraduate degree in Political Science from Temple University. During her undergraduate years, she actively volunteered at Tree House Books, where she engaged with the community to empower youth through literacy and became inspired to advocate for social justice.

Emily Champlin graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law (GGU) with a certificate in Public Interest Law.  In law school, Emily founded and co-chaired the GGU chapter of LSRJ and served as President of the Public Interest Law Foundation. Emily petitioned for and reinstated a Reproductive Rights and Justice class at GGU, where she wrote a paper and presentation on the role of comprehensive sexual health education in fighting rape culture. She also presented her research paper, “The Myth of the Welfare Queen: Reproductive Oppression in the Welfare System,” at GGU’s annual Poverty Law Symposium in April 2016. Emily interned at Alliance for Justice; at GGU Women’s Employment Rights Clinic; at the California Women’s Law Center; and at Equal Rights Advocates.

After receiving her B.A. in Feminist Studies from University of California Santa Cruz, Emily spent a year working on grassroots campaigns for Greenpeace and worked for two years as a Domestic Violence Advocate at the Family Violence Law Center (FVLC), where she helped survivors obtain restraining orders and find emergency resources.  She also developed FVLC’s first LGBTQ Intimate Partner Violence Training and co-developed their state Domestic Violence Certification Program.

Stephanie Croney graduated from Howard University School of Law. During law school, Stephanie served as the Public Relation’s chair for the University’s Family Law Society, where she organized events advocating for reform in Family Law. Stephanie was a summer law clerk for the United States Attorney General Office for the Southern District of California, where she assisted the AUSAs on ongoing human trafficking cases. Stephanie interned for the Honorable Judge Robert Rigsby at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and worked as summer law clerk for the California Office of the Attorney General, where she argued before the California Court of Appeals. Stephanie also represented parents and guardians accused of child neglect and at risk of losing their families worked in the Howard Clinical Law Center’s Child Welfare Clinic.

Prior to law school, Stephanie received her Masters of Arts degree in Women’s Studies from San Diego State University. Her graduate research focused on the impact of sexual trauma on female juvenile delinquents. Stephanie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a degree concentration in Law and Society from the University of California Riverside.

Cammie Dodson graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. She is passionate about using her legal education to support the larger movement for racial, economic, and reproductive justice. During law school, Cammie worked as a law clerk at Justice Now, where she advocated for compassionate release and health care access in partnership with people in women’s prisons, and at National Advocates for Pregnant Women, where she assisted in efforts to combat the criminalization of pregnant and parenting women. She also clerked at the National Lawyer’s Guild–San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, assisting in civil rights litigation on behalf of protestors who were subject to police brutality during Black Lives Matter demonstrations, and at Root and Rebound, providing legal information and resources to people returning to the community from prison and jails.

At Berkeley Law, Cammie was a member of the Education, Defense, and Justice for Youth Clinic at the East Bay Community Law Center and worked as a student researcher at the Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice. She is a recipient of the Boalt Hall Women’s Association Herma Hill Kay Fellowship and the Cynthia Dailard Public Interest Fellowship.

Cammie holds a B.A. in International Studies with a focus in Health and Human Rights from the University of Washington. Prior to attending law school, she helped run the University of Washington’s Odegaard Writing and Research Center.

Mohini Lal graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law. During law school, Mohini interned with the Criminal Defense Clinic at Chicago-Kent where she worked on cases ranging from drug offenses to murder. Mohini also interned with the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic, where she represented clients in Order of Protection matters, and at the Domestic Violence Team at the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services, where she represented clients in family law cases where domestic violence was a factor. During her final semester at law school, Mohini worked for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, where she worked on cases about ethical violations in the legal community. Mohini has volunteered with the Self-Help Web Desk at the Daley Center in Chicago where she assisted pro se litigants in housing and small claims matters.

During her six years in Chicago, Mohini worked in interfaith efforts through Interfaith Youth Core and One Chicago, One Nation, where she spoke on panels alongside faith representatives from all over the country, including Eboo Patel. Mohini volunteers regularly as a clinic escort for Illinois Choice Action Team. As a law student, Mohini founded Chicago-Kent’s chapter of LSRJ and served as Vice President of the American Constitution Society. She also served on the executive boards of the South Asian Law Students Association, the Philosophy Board, and the Kent Justice Foundation. She was an active member of Chicago-Kent’s Trial Team, and won two regional competitions.

Mohini earned her Bachelor’s of Arts in Social Sciences from Shimer College in Chicago.

Priya Walia is an alumna of the University of Cincinnati College of Law and West Virginia University (WVU). While attending WVU, Ms. Walia worked at West Virginia Women Work, which seeks to help women enter the construction industry. There, she recognized the systemic inequities that contribute to women being treated as second class citizens in all aspects of life. This realization led her to attend law school, where she fostered a passion for the reproductive justice movement.

In law school, Ms. Walia co-founded her university’s If/When/How chapter and served in leadership positions for Out and Allies and the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, where she established a mentorship program for API JD and LLM students. Her legal internships and externship focused on creating progressive policy changes to benefit women, LGBTQ people, people of color, and religious minorities. She also worked as a research assistant in the field of “Crimmigration” and spent her second and third years working for the Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice.

In 2016, Ms. Walia was selected as an If/When/How Reproductive Justice Fellow, working Legal Voice and Surge Reproductive Justice, and focused on moving Washington state’s reproductive rights community in a more inclusive direction.Currently, Priya is back in her hometown working as the Development Director for West Virginia Woman Work. In her spare time, she serves as the President of the Board of Directors for Holler Health Justice and has an upcoming podcast on policy, culture, and feminism called Lowkey Highstrung.

Nimra Chowdhry graduated in May 2015 from the University of Houston Law Center (UHLC). Nimra was active in UHLC’s immigration clinic, where she represented asylum seeking clients, worked on a remand from the Fifth Circuit involving the Hague Convention on Intercountry Child Abduction, and co-authored an article on the state of post-decision federal appeals in the United States. Nimra interned at the Harris County Attorney’s Office and also at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in the Human Trafficking Division. Nimra also interned at the Center for Reproductive Rights. During law school, Nimra was selected as the first Public Policy fellow at the Greater Houston Partnership where she worked on Texas State legislation promoting full-day preschool for low-income students.

Nimra holds a graduate certificate in Women’s and Gender studies from the University of Houston where her research focused on the development and evolution of identities by bridging the gap between how law and policy perceive the needs of women of color in the United States. She was the vice president of the Public Interest Law Organization at UHLC and co-founder of the UHLC chapter of LSRJ and has been an active member of the steering committee for the Gulf Coast Planned Parenthood Young Leaders. Before law school, Nimra worked at Whole Woman’s Health, a reproductive health clinic in Austin, Texas.

Nimra earned her Bachelor’s degrees in Government and Women and Gender Studies from The University of Texas at Austin.

Sabrina Rewald graduated in May 2015 with both an American law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM) School of Law and a Canadian law degree from the University of Windsor Faculty of Law, as a member of the schools’ Dual J.D. program. While in law school, Sabrina interned with the Center for Reproductive Rights’ Africa Regional Office as a Windsor Law Social Justice Fellow, where she worked on a Kenyan case protecting women’s access to safe abortion and the associated rights of health care providers. Sabrina then co-founded the first cross-border LSRJ chapter between her two law schools.

Sabrina served as a Transnational Law and Justice Network Fellow at Windsor Law, researching the criminalization of sexual and reproductive freedoms for Amnesty International’s Law School Initiative. As a UDM Voice for Justice Fellow interning in Detroit with the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, Sabrina worked on a case questioning the constitutionality of Michigan’s emergency manager law. She also researched the rights of LGBT communities in European Union member states with the Helsinki Foundation in Warsaw, Poland. In her final year of law school, Sabrina received an Outstanding Woman Law Student award from the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan Foundation.

While working towards her B.A. in history and political science from the University of Toronto, Sabrina co-founded a student chapter of the organization Bracelet of Hope to fundraise for an HIV/AIDS clinic in Lesotho and to educate the student body about HIV/AIDS in Africa and North America.

Zsea Bowmani (@LiberationGreen on Twitter) is a civil rights attorney and legal scholar with a focus on race, gender, reproductive justice, human and animal rights, environmental justice, and the law. His previous position was as the Tawani Transgender Rights Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Illinois, where he combined impact litigation and policy work in employment discrimination, policing, prisons, youth and schools, and healthcare access cases for transgender and gender nonconforming people in Illinois and throughout the Midwest.

Zsea was the first If/When/How Reproductive Justice Fellow at the National LGBTQ Task Force in Washington, D.C., where he helped develop the organization’s reproductive justice and LGBTQ work across state, federal, and training program areas, including the organization’s involvement in the U.S. Supreme Court cases Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt and Zubik v. Burwell. As a Fellow, Zsea contributed to the Tribal Equity Toolkit 3.0 and authored the first-of-its-kind LGBTQ Reproductive Justice Advocacy Toolkit.

In addition to his legal work, Zsea’s scholarship includes an award-winning article on the racial and sexual discrimination faced by LGBTQ asylum seekers in the U.S., published in Georgetown’s Journal of Gender and the Law. He has also given presentations on the intersection of cisgender identity, trans rights, and reproductive justice, and was awarded a research grant from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics to travel to Cuba to understand the impact of economic development on the country’s environment and growing socioeconomic disparity.

A native of Los Angeles, Zsea received his B.A. from Stanford University and his J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law. In his free time, Zsea enjoys writing fiction, hiking, biking, fashion, and baking vegan desserts.

Rebecca Bucchieri graduated from George Mason University School of Law in May 2015. During law school, Rebecca served as the Executive Editor for the George Mason Civil Rights Law Journal and founded her law school’s first LSRJ chapter, serving as chapter President. Rebecca also served as the Pro-Bono Society’s Student Director for the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project. Rebecca interned with the Honorable Judge Thomas Mann at the Fairfax Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, with Women Thrive Worldwide, with the National Abortion Federation, and with the Center for Reproductive Rights in Washington, DC. Rebecca was a member of the GMUSL Moot Court Board and traveled to Chicago for DePaul’s National Cultural Heritage Moot Court Competition, where she was awarded “Best Oral Advocate.”

In fall 2014, the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender published Rebecca’s research paper, “The Court Treads Lightly: Why Mandatory Pre-Abortion Ultrasound Laws Demand a More Concrete Legal Analysis by Courts.”  And in spring 2015, the Michigan State University School of Law’s Journal of Animal and Natural Resource Law published Rebecca’s article, “Bridging the Gap: The Connection Between Violence Against Animals and Violence Against Humans.”

Prior to law school, Rebecca studied Law and Society at American University and received her Certificate in Advanced Leadership Studies from the School of Public Affairs Leadership Program.

Madeline Gomez graduated from Columbia Law School in May 2015. While at Columbia, Madeline interned at the U.S. Legal Program at the Center for Reproductive Rights, served as a research assistant for Professor Carol Sanger, and worked under the supervision of Professor Suzanne Goldberg with the Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic. Through the Clinic, Madeline worked alongside the ACLU to bring attention to nuisance ordinances that disproportionately penalize domestic violence victims and to develop legislative and litigation strategies combatting state bills that discriminate against marriage for same-sex couples. She also conducted research for Columbia University’s Athena Project related to gender equity in entrepreneurial incubator and accelerator programs. Madeline also served as a Human Rights Internship Program fellow at the ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project, aiding in the representation of Manuel Velez, who was ultimately released from Texas death row in 2014. Madeline joined the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, serving as the Notes Editor and the Executive Editor.

Prior to law school, Madeline was a Senior Case Manager at Tamizdat Artist Services where she secured non-immigrant visa status for international musicians and artists. Madeline received her undergraduate degree in Sociology from New York University and is originally from Texas.

Noel León graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2014. During law school, Noel managed the Penn LSRJ chapter’s Judicial Bypass Assistance Project, coordinating with three Philadelphia LSRJ chapters, two Philadelphia area clinics, and a local attorney to assist minors seeking abortions in Philadelphia. She also participated in the Penn Civil Practice Clinic. Additionally, she served as Co-President and Auction Co-Chair of the Penn Law Equal Justice Foundation; Executive Articles Editor of the Penn Law Journal of Law and Social Change; and a litigation intern at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the Pennsylvania Women’s Law Project.

Upon graduation, Noel was awarded the Penn Law Public Interest Fellowship to serve as in-house fellow at the national If/When/How office in Oakland, CA, where she oversaw the Reproductive Justice Legal Research Initiative (RJ LRI) and created a pro bono toolkit to assist law student chapters and alumni develop new avenues through which lawyers can deploy the RJ framework doing work in their own communities.

Prior to law school, Noel worked outside of Quito, Ecuador, as a Program Director with Manna Project International. She graduated with a degree in psychology in 2009 from Yale University. Noel hails originally from Little Rock, Arkansas.

Sonya Laddon Rahders was the 2015-16 If/When/How Reproductive Justice Fellow at Advocates for Youth. She currently works as an Associate Attorney with Athene Law, LLP, a boutique California health law firm representing providers in regulatory compliance, licensing, enrollment, and reimbursement matters. Immediately following her fellowship year, Sonya worked as Legal Counsel for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, where she focused on clinic licensing and regulatory compliance, and both state and federal policy matters. She is also an adjunct instructor with University of Minnesota, where she developed and teaches the online course “Policy in Human Sexuality: Cutting Edge Analyses.”

Sonya earned her J.D. in 2015 from University of California, Hastings College of the Law, with a concentration in Social Justice Lawyering. During law school Sonya was Editor-in-Chief of Hastings Women’s Law Journal, president of the UC Hastings If/When/How chapter, served on the board of the Hastings Public Interest Law Foundation (HPILF), and helped found Ms. JD at UC Hastings and the Public Interest Coalition for Loan Forgiveness. From 2013 through 2017, Sonya served on the If/When/How national Board of Directors.

Sonya holds a B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Women’s/Gender Studies, summa cum laude, from University of California, Los Angeles. She is a proud graduate of Cabrillo College, where she received her A.A. in Sociology with High Honors. Prior to her legal career, Sonya worked for several years in nonprofit administration and human resources.

Arneta Rogers graduated from University of California, Hastings College of the Law in May of 2015. She is passionate about working towards social justice and an inclusive reproductive justice movement focused on the intersections of race, class and gender. While at Hastings she served on the executive boards of the Black Law Students Association and OutLaw. She is the Symposium Editor for the Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal where she organized “What’s the ‘G’? Gentrification and the Myth of Fair Housing,” an assessment of the lawyer’s role in the current housing crisis. Her student Note, How Police Brutality Harms Mothers: Linking Police Violence to the Reproductive Justice Movement has also been selected for publication in Vol. XII, Issue No. 2 of the same journal.

Through law school she provided direct legal services at the AIDS Legal Referral Panel, supported the policy work of the Reproductive Justice Project of the ACLU of Northern California and worked as a summer clerk in the Alameda County Superior Court.

Prior to attending law school, Arneta organized Oakland youth around issues of sex-trafficking and violence in their communities and served as the Policy Associate for the Women’s Community Clinic in San Francisco.

Julia Quinn was a 2015-16 If/When/How Reproductive Justice Fellow placed at the National Health Law Program, where she worked at the intersection of reproductive health, rights, and justice, anti-discrimination laws in the health care context, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act. Julia began her fellowship after working as a law clerk to federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia from 2014-15.

She graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in May 2014, where she served as an executive board member of her If/When/How chapter, articles editor of Texas Journal of Women and the Law, a student attorney in the Civil Rights and Domestic Violence clinics, and as a teaching assistant for Constitutional Law II: Civil Liberties in Theory and Practice. She was also a member of the board of directors for NARAL Pro-Choice Texas and a volunteer for Jane’s Due Process, an organization that provides legal representation to pregnant minors in judicial bypass proceedings in Texas.

Since her fellowship ended, Julia has worked as a litigation associate at Heller, Huron, Chertkof & Salzman, a plaintiff-side law firm in Washington, DC specializing in individual representation in civil rights matters. Her caseload includes First Amendment, employment discrimination, Title IX, and other civil rights matters in both state and federal trial courts and courts of appeals. She is currently serving as the Secretary on the board of directors for the D.C. Abortion Fund. In addition to her J.D., Julia earned a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Jennifer Chou graduated from the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. During law school, Jennifer interned at the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office and the ACLU of Southern California, where she worked with staff attorneys on reproductive health access, inmate religious freedom, and immigrant rights in education. Through UCLA’s Asylum Clinic, Jennifer represented a young victim of domestic violence in her successful application for asylum. As a student in UCLA’s Appellate Advocacy Clinic, Jennifer will argue this spring in front of a panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. At UCLA, Jennifer also served on the boards of UCLA’s chapter of LSRJ, the Asian Pacific Islander Law Students Association, Law Women of UCLA, and the Women’s Law Journal. Before law school, Jennifer spent three years as one of two paralegal for the Public Policy Litigation and Law Division of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Jennifer did her undergraduate work in Political Science and Women’s Studies at Wellesley College, with a concentration in Asian American Studies. At Wellesley, Jennifer was recognized with the college Excellence in Leadership award for her role in advocating for the diversification of Wellesley’s American Studies Program and the expansion of its Asian American Studies curriculum.

Shelley Halstead graduated from the University of Washington School of Law where she was a Gates Public Service Scholar. While in law school, Shelley participated in the Workers Rights’ Clinic, providing wage claim and wage liens assistance to low-wage workers who remain unpaid by their employers. She also participated in the Immigrant Families Advocacy Project, which obtains U-Visas for undocumented women survivors of domestic violence. Shelley interned at LSRJ’s National Headquarters in Oakland, and at Solid Ground in Seattle, where she advocated for public benefit recipients when they were denied, suspended, terminated from a benefits program. During law school, Shelley served as Co-President for the University of Washington’s LSRJ Student Chapter, Students for Labor and Employment Justice, and the Black Law Students Association. She also served as a board member and hotline volunteer of the CAIR (Community Abortion and Information & Resource) Project, helping low-income women access abortion.

Prior to entering law school, Shelley traveled and worked in various places around the globe before becoming a union carpenter. As a member of Local 131, she was a shop steward and helped domestic partners gain access to employee benefits. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Nerissa Irizarry graduated from William Mitchell College of Law. She is passionate about promoting social justice through the law, particularly in relation to race, class, and gender. During law school, she did direct legal service work in public defense and juvenile dependency at the Child Protection Clinic and the Legal Aid of Marin. She has also worked as a community organizer, research assistant, conference facilitator, and has spoken about the experiences of LGBTQ people of color in a variety of forums. Since 2013, Nerissa has served as a board member on the If/When/How National Board of Directors.

Nerissa entered higher education via Foothill College, and graduated magna cum laude with a presidential citation from Loyola Marymount University with a B.A. in Sociology. While at Loyola Marymount, Nerissa served as the President of the Gender Sexuality Alliance and spearheaded multiple systemic changes for the campus community, including the establishment of a LGBT resource center.

Abbey Marr graduated from Harvard Law School. She served as the Secretary of If/When/How’s National Board of Directors and president emeritus of Harvard’s LSRJ chapter. During her 3L year, Abbey participated in the Harvard-Berkeley Exchange program to assist the Berkeley Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice in completing the first ever Reproductive Rights and Justice casebook.

At Harvard, Abbey helped Professor Mindy Roseman design and teach the Harvard Reproductive Rights and Justice course and served as an editor on the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender and a co-chair of the Gary Bellow Public Service Award. Abbey spent her 2L summer as a Ford Fellow with the National Domestic Workers’ Alliance, working to pass state and local workers’ rights legislation, as well as to bring a gender angle to the immigration debate. She spent her 1L summer with the ACLU – Reproductive Freedom Project.

Abbey graduated in 2009 from George Washington University with a degree in Political Science and Women’s Studies and served as the president of GW’s Planned Parenthood Vox chapter and received an award for an Outstanding Contribution by an Undergraduate Major, Women’s Studies. While at GW, she also worked with Advocates for Youth as an intern, blogger, and member of the International Youth Leadership Council. Between college and law school, Abbey worked for the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division and served as a volunteer case manager for the DC Abortion Fund.

Melanie Medalle graduated from the Northeastern University School of Law. Melanie’s work is grounded by a community whole health lens, with an emphasis on the intersection between self-determination and the social determinants of health, reproductive and sexual health justice, racial and environmental justice.

During law school, Melanie served as a Research Associate with the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy, addressing issues related to the domestic implementation of the international human right to health. She served as a legal extern with the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Office of the Attorney General, where she assisted in the enforcement of state and federal civil rights laws pertaining to race, sex, gender, and ability discrimination. As a legal intern with the California Appellate Project, she assisted in advocacy efforts for unrepresented persons facing capital punishment in California. She also served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Bruce M. Selya on the First Circuit Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and, as a legal intern with the Conservation Law Foundation, she worked on issues of community health, environmental justice, and climate change policy and energy regulation. At Northeastern, Melanie served as an officer on the Committee Against Institutional Racism, an Executive Board member of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, and a standing member of the Black Law Students Association.

Prior to law school, Melanie was an International Fellow with the Global Women’s Water Initiative in Uganda, partnering with women-led environmental initiatives to increase community-based access to clean water and sanitation.

Elena Peifer graduated from the University of Michigan where she was a Darrow Scholarship Recipient. Elena serves on If/When/How’s National Board of Directors.

During law school, Elena was the co-president for Law Students for Reproductive Justice and the Outreach Chair for Black Law Students Association. Under Elena’s leadership, Michigan LSRJ was awarded the Cari Sietstra prize for Excellence in Organizing. Elena served as Information and Technology Editor, Articles Editor, and associate Editor on the Michigan Journal of Gender & Law. Elena was additionally selected by the administration as a leader of the Michigan Access Program, an orientation program dedicated to social justice and diversity in the law school and legal community. Elena received recognition for her commitment to public interest work as recipient of both the Dean’s Public Service Fellowship and the Jenny Runkles Award. Elena has interned at Tahirih Justice Center, representing victims of gender-based violence in immigration and family law matters, and at  the Immigration Practice of the East Bay Community Law Center, continuing to work with immigrant survivors of gender-based violence. Elena also completed the Human Trafficking Clinic, the Child Advocacy Law Clinic, and an externship at the Family Law Project.

Before law school, Elena worked for two years as a consultant for non-profits and a grant writer at the Glen Price Group. Elena received her B.A. in Gender Studies and Politics with a minor in Spanish from Pomona College.

Kelsey Ryland is the Senior Policy and Legislative Affairs Manager for All* Above All. Kelsey manages All*’s federal strategy and works closely with champions on the Hill on both proactive and defensive strategies. Before joining the All* Above All team, Kelsey worked at URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, first as an If/When/How fellow and then as the policy manager. Prior to law school, Kelsey was a domestic violence victim advocate through the AmeriCorps program. Kelsey graduated cum laude from Seattle University School of Law and received her B.A. in Sociology from Seattle University.

Rachel Suppé graduated from American University Washington College of Law, where she focused her studies on gender, sexuality, and reproductive justice.  During law school, Rachel interned at Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, representing LGBT and/or HIV positive servicemembers facing harassment or discrimination, as well as at the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, the National Women’s Law Center, and the Center for Reproductive Rights.  Rachel served as President of her LSRJ Chapter, Senior Articles Editor of the Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law, a Student Advisory Board Member at the school’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, and a Student Attorney with the General Practice Clinic.

Rachel’s research paper, “A Right in Theory but not in Practice: Voter Discrimination and TRAP Laws as Barriers to the Exercising of a Constitutional Right” was selected as one of LSRJ’s Second Place winners of the 2014 Sarah Weddington Writing Prize for New Student Scholarship in Reproductive Rights, and her paper “Pregnancy on Trial: The Alabama Supreme Court’s Erroneous Application of Alabama’s Chemical Endangerment Law in Ex Parte Ankrom” was recently published in the American University Washington College of Law Health Law & Policy Brief.

Prior to law school, Rachel studied Social Work and Asian Studies at Skidmore College.  After college, she worked at Family Planning Advocates of New York State, interned for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and taught English in China.

Ariel Tazkargy received her J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law school in 2014, where she taught legal writing and was the Executive Editor of Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice. She spent her summers in law school using international law to advocate for reproductive justice, clerking for Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis and Center for Reproductive Rights in New York City. Ariel’s law journal article “From Coercion to Coercion: Voluntary Sterilization Policies in the United States” was published in volume 32, issue 1 of Law and Inequality.

During her RJ fellowship year, Ariel’s work at the National Women’s Health Network (NWHN) focused on access to healthcare coverage for women of color and Affordable Care Act implementation. Ariel also worked to broaden NWHN’s existing programming to include intersectionality and reproductive justice frameworks. Some notable accomplishments from her fellowship include co-authoring a white paper on the intersections of the Affordable Care Act and the Ryan White Program for women living with HIV, publishing several articles in Women’s Health Activist, drafting hearing testimony to present before the Food and Drug Administration, and contributing legal analysis to NWHN’s public responses to landmark Supreme Court decisions such as King v. Burwell and Young v. UPS.

Since completing the RJ fellowship, Ariel has moved back to her home state of Kansas to continue fighting for reproductive justice in the Midwest. She currently works as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Kansas City and spends her free time volunteering for progressive political campaigns at the state and local level and working with the Kansas abortion fund.

Ariel graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in English from the University of Kansas in 2011.

Jamille Fields received her J.D and M.P.H. with an emphasis in Health Policy from Saint Louis University in May 2013. Jamille spent her law school summers advocating for vulnerable populations at the National Health Law Program’s North Carolina office and at Families U.S.A. in Washington D.C. She has also served as research assistant throughout law school to Professor Sidney Watson, one of the leading experts on the Affordable Care Act and long-time advocate for increased health care access for all, and worked with Professor Watson as a part of a grassroots advocacy group to expand Medicaid in Missouri.

While in law school, Jamille served on several student and professional boards, including acting as Notes & Comments Managing Editor for the Journal of Health Law and Policy and student liaison for the Women Lawyer’s Association of Greater St. Louis. Jamille has received many honors, including being selected as one of the top three finalists in the White House Policy Challenge for her policy proposal, Utilizing Web-Based Tools to Manage Chronic Illness in the Medicaid Population and placed second in the Frederick Douglas Moot Court Midwest Regional Competition.

Prior to law school Jamille was active in public policy, working in the Office of Senator Barack Obama, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Office of Missouri Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan for Missouri and Robin Carnahan for U.S. Senate. Jamille holds a Bachelor in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Riley Hewko graduated from the University of Washington School of Law where they were a Gates Public Service Scholar. From 2011-2013, Riley was an Equal Justice Works Fellow at Legal Voice where they led a project they created to provide legal education to incarcerated mothers and implement legislative strategies to reduce the chances of family separation in Washington State.

During law school, Riley focused on human rights issues that affect women and girls, including child rape, sex trafficking, abortion access in Latin America, health care access in Washington, and wage claims and lawful status for immigrant survivors of domestic violence in the United States. During law school Riley co-founded the Incarcerated Mother’s Advocacy Project (IMAP), a volunteer led project which provides legal information and resources to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women. They also served as Co-President for the University of Washington’s If/When/How Student Chapter, the Innocence Project Student Chapter and the Latino Law Students Association. They are a recipient of the 2011 Cari Sietstra Award for Excellence in Organizing, and the 2011 University of Washington School of Law Charles Z. Smith Award for Public Service. They served as a member of the Board of Directors for If/When/How and on the board of Surge Northwest.

Riley began their reproductive justice work as Peace Corps Urban Youth Development Volunteer in Concepción, Paraguay implementing community and youth led comprehensive sex-education workshops.

Tiana Patterson graduated from DePaul University College of Law. During law school, Tiana was a law clerk at the State’s Attorneys Office in the Domestic Violence division in Chicago, IL, where she assisted domestic violence victims with trial preparation and with attaining orders of protection. Tiana was also an active member of her LSRJ chapter.

Prior to law school, Tiana attended Emory University where she earned her B.A. in philosophy. While at Emory, Tiana was selected to participate in the Ethics and Servant Leadership Program at the Georgia Justice Project where she helped formerly incarcerated women learn new skills to aid with their reintegration into society. Tiana was also a member of AmeriCorps in Boston, MA where she worked as a literacy advisor at ReadBoston, supporting the implementation of in-school libraries for inner-city public schools.

Lauren Paulk is policy counsel for reproductive health at the National Partnership for Women & Families, where she leads state policy work related to reproductive health, rights and justice. Prior to joining the National Partnership, Lauren was a Senior State Legislative Fellow at the Center for Reproductive Rights. Lauren did her If/When/How Fellowship with the National Center for Lesbian Rights after graduating in 2013 from CUNY School of Law.

Lauren is the author of “What Is an ‘Undue Burden’? The Casey Standard as Applied to Informed Consent Provisions,” in the UCLA Women’s Law Review; “Embryonic Personhood: Implications for Assisted Reproductive Technology in International Human Rights Law,” in the American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law; and co-author of “Resilience at the Texas Border: Migrant Children and Legal Harms,” in Georgetown Immigration Law Journal.

Agata Pelka is a State Legislative Counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, where she works to advance proactive policy strategies in the states. Before that, Agata was a Staff Attorney at the National Health Law Program, where she focused on reproductive health care coverage in Medicaid, other public programs, and private insurance. Prior to that, Agata was a Georgetown Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow at the National Women’s Law Center and If/When/How Reproductive Justice Fellow at the National Abortion Federation. Agata served on the board of directors of If/When/How for five years and in leadership roles of the UNC If/When/How chapter throughout law school.

Agata received her JD from the University of North Carolina School of Law and her B.S. in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School. During law school, Agata was a research assistant for Prof. Maxine Eichner and worked in various roles for the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office, UNC School of Government and National Health Law Program. She contributed to the report “Potential Legal Impact of the Proposed Domestic Legal Union Amendment to the North Carolina Constitution” and worked on a project to evaluate the implementation of North Carolina’s judicial bypass laws with the support of NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina.

Kashif Syed graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he focused on sex and gender inequality under the law. In law school, he was an active member of the college’s LGBT student organization and worked in support of the school’s first LGBT Civil Rights Conference in 2011. He went on to found the Society for Gender & Law in his second year and represented Chicago-Kent with his teammates at the 2012 Williams Institute Moot Court Competition—a competition dedicated exclusively to legal problems relating to gender identity and sexuality.

During law school, Kashif interned with the Women’s Law Project in Pittsburgh, where he worked with staff attorneys on a variety of projects ranging from trans-inclusive housing and restroom policies in higher education to sex discrimination in intercollegiate athletics under Title IX. He later wrote as his seminar thesis a critique of institutional liability standards under Title IX in private actions for sexual harassment. He served for two semesters as a volunteer legal advocate at the Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse, where he aided survivors of intimate and partner violence in petitioning for protective orders.

Prior to entering law school, Kashif interned at a Michigan state lawmaker’s office where he connected constituents with state and local resources and conducted policy research. He also volunteered as counselor and trainer at The Listening Ear, a crisis intervention center in East Lansing, MI. Kashif earned his B.A. in Political Science from Michigan State University in 2009.

Déodonné Bhattarai graduated from Northeastern University School of Law and her M.P.H. from Tufts University School of Medicine. While in law school, she founded and served as co-chair of the Northeastern chapter of LSRJ, successfully advocating for a reproductive justice course offering. Déodonné also helped to establish a Health Law Society and became the first law student coordinator of a graduate student medical-legal partnership program.

While at Tufts, Déodonné designed and conducted a study for the National Women’s Law Center exploring the correlation between Catholic healthcare providers and the procurement of tubal ligation services. Déodonné is a two-time recipient of Northeastern’s Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy Human Rights Fellowship.  Her first placement was at the National Center on Homelessness and Poverty and her work culminated in the publication of an article in the Clearinghouse Review. During her second placement, in the Reproductive Rights Unit of the Human Rights Law Network in New Delhi, India, Déodonné conducted on-site factual investigations and drafted public interest litigation petitions on behalf of tribal populations suffering from forced sterilizations and egregious health disparities. Déodonné served as a legal intern at Prisoners’ Legal Services in Boston, MA, and at the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.

Prior to graduate school, Déodonné spent years as a clinical assistant, providing healthcare to and advocating on behalf of low-income women and families. She holds a B.A. in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic and served on the board of the Concord Feminist Health Center in Concord, NH.

Elizabeth (Liz) Chen is a Senior Staff Attorney at A Better Balance, where she focuses on impact litigation on behalf of pregnant and caregiving workers so that they are not forced to choose between their families and their jobs. She also guides ABB’s direct services work. Liz began her legal career as an If/When/How Reproductive Justice Fellow at the Center for American Progress’s Women’s Health and Rights Program. Following her fellowship, Liz clerked for the Honorable Judge William Joseph Haynes, Jr., U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee. Prior to ABB, Liz was an associate at a plaintiff-side employment law firm, representing clients in the legal, financial services and hospitality industries.

A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, her student Note, “Equal Protection: Why the HPV Vaccine Should be Mandated for Both Boys and Girls,” was selected as If/When/How’s second place winner of the Sarah Weddington Writing Prize for New Student Scholarship in Reproductive Rights, and was published in the Washington University Journal of Law & Policy, where Liz served as an Executive Articles Editor. She also published an article in the Texas Journal of Women and the Law entitled “Caught in a Bad Bromance,” about social boundaries on male intimacy and implications on the law.

Candace Gibson graduated from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. During law school, Candace received the Frankel Public Interest Fellowship to assist Jane’s Due Process with their judicial bypass and community outreach work in Texas and received the Spurgeon Public Interest Fellowship to finance her summer internship at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.  She completed clinics with the Immigration Department at Holy Cross Ministries, the Civil Clinic at the Salt Lake City Immigration Court, and the Legislative Clinic with Utah State Senator Ross Romero. Candace founded and served as the Utah LSRJ Chapter President and as President of the Women’s Law Caucus. She also project managed the law school’s Global Justice Think Tank and participated in Jessup Moot Court.  She is the recipient of the Utah Minority Bar Association’s Ray Quinney and Nebeker Social Awareness Scholarship and the Judge Gilbert Martinez “Semper Fi” Community Service Scholarship.

Candace graduated from Smith College in 2007 with a B.A. in Government and in Spanish. Prior to law school, she worked at Comunidades Unidas, a nonprofit organization in Utah committed to eliminating health disparities in ethnic and refugee communities. Candace is the first in her family to graduate from college and is proud of her bi-ethnic, bi-cultural, Salvadoran background.

Jeryl Hayes graduated from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. Jeryl also holds an LL.M. in Law in Government, with a concentration in Civil and Constitutional Rights and a specialization in Gender and the Law, from American University Washington College of Law. While at American University, Jeryl was a member of WCL’s chapter of LSRJ, Women’s Law Association, Black Law Students Association, Dean’s Fellow for the Women and the Law Program, and staff member for the Health Law and Policy Brief.

In law school, Jeryl served as the President of the LSRJ Chapter and interned for LSRJ’s National Office, where she was awarded the 2010 Sheila Kuehl Award for Outstanding Summer Intern. Jeryl served as the student body President; was on the Executive Board of the Student Bar Association, the Executive Board of the Women’s Law Caucus as Auction Co-Chair, Black Law Students Association, and Big Brothers Big Sisters; co-taught the undergraduate Women and the Law course; and worked as a student attorney in the Civil Justice Clinic.  In 2011, Jeryl was recognized by Missouri Lawyers Weekly and awarded their Women’s Justice – Leader of Tomorrow Award, and received the Washington University in St. Louis Outstanding Graduate in the School of Law.

Prior to law school, Jeryl worked with Citizen Schools, which provides after-school programming for low-income, urban middle-school students. Jeryl received her B.A. in Communication from Denison University in Granville, Ohio.

Melissa Torres-Montoya graduated from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and recevied her M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University.  During law school, Melissa served on the boards of Berkeley’s LSRJ chapter and the La Raza Student Association.  She also served as the outreach coordinator for Boalt Hall Women’s Association, where she coordinated a women’s health fair for law students and faculty.  The Boalt Hall Women’s Association also awarded her a Herma Hill Kaye Summer Fellowship for her summer internship dedicated to improving the health of women through the law.

While at Hopkins, Melissa interned with Planned Parenthood and gained exposure and broader understanding of global reproductive health issues.

Melissa received her B.A. in history and political science from the University of California, Davis.

Laura Nixon graduated from the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law, where she was editor-in-chief of the CUNY Law Review. During law school, Laura interned at National Advocates for Pregnant Women and at the Brooklyn Family Defense Project. Through CUNY Law’s Economic Justice Project, Laura represented CUNY undergraduates faced with termination/reduction of their public assistance or food stamps. Laura also volunteered with the Brooklyn Young Mothers’ Collective to jumpstart their Legal Advocacy Project. In addition, she provided research assistance to University Distinguished Professor Ruthann Robson. Following law school, she served as a Fellow in the Office of the General Counsel at CUNY, and as a temporary Legislative Fellow at the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Before law school, Laura lived on-site as a caregiver at a residence for women who were homeless and living with AIDS, coordinated a research study for women living with HIV or AIDS at the Whitman-Walker Clinic, and led case management on the National Abortion Federation Hotline, where she coordinated funding for women across the country who could not afford the full cost of abortion care, and handled the more difficult counseling calls. Laura was also one of several activists who led the revival of the D.C. Abortion Fund from dormancy and served on the steering committee of the Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force.

Laura grew up in rural Indiana and is a graduate of Kalamazoo College with an interdisciplinary major in Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology and a concentration in Women’s Studies.

Christine Poquiz graduated from the University of California Davis School of Law. At UC Davis, Christine served as the chair for the LSRJ chapter and the Health Law Association (HLA).  Under HLA, Christine co-founded a Medical-Legal partnership between the UC Davis Law School, UC Davis Medical School, and Legal Services of Northern California, where law students provide legal referrals at the student run medical clinics for underserved communities.

During law school, Christine interned at the LSRJ National Office, where she was awarded the 2011 Sheila Kuehl Award for Outstanding Summer Intern.  She also spent a semester at the Center for Reproductive Rights’ government relations office in Washington D.C.  Christine is a member of the UC Davis team competing in the 2012 Beazley Institute National Health Law Transaction Competition.  Christine is also an active member of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association and the Filipino Law Students Association. Prior to law school, Christine interned in rural Uganda with the Uganda Village Project, a public health non-profit organization where she focused on HIV/Aids, comprehensive sex education, and reproductive health.  Christine later served as a board member for the Uganda Village Project  in 2009.

Christine received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine.

Erin Armstrong graduated from University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Erin served as board member and Past-President of the National LSRJ Board of Directors and also served throughout law school on the board of UC Berkeley’s LSRJ chapter. During law school, Erin was a legal intern at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), a summer RJ Fellow at the SW Women’s Law Center, and a clinical student at the East Bay Community Law Center’s Medical-Legal Partnership.  She also sat on the board of the Pamoja Project and is a former board member of NARAL California’s Privacy PAC.

Before law school, Erin worked as the first Program Coordinator of the Society of Family Planning, a national membership organization that works to advance family planning research and education by providing evidence-based insight and funding to improve clinical care in the areas of contraception and abortion. She also worked in drug policy reform in New Mexico and HIV/AIDS advocacy, both in the US and abroad.

Erin holds a B.S. in Sociology and Social Welfare from the University of New Mexico.

Anjela Jenkins graduated from the University of Texas with a law degree and a Master of Arts in Government. During law school, Anjela was involved with LSRJ, the Chicano/Hispanic Law Students Association, and Women’s Law Caucus. She was a staff member on the Texas Hispanic Journal for Law and Policy and the Texas International Law Journal. She worked in the Human Rights Clinic and provided direct services at organizations including American Gateways and Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid. Anjela also interned in Judicial Chambers at the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, located in Arusha, Tanzania.

In 2008, Anjela was honored by the Texas Young Lawyers Association with its Minority Scholarship and was recognized by the University of Texas School of Law’s William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law as a Public Service Scholar in 2009. Following her fellowship, Anjela worked at the Legal Aid Society of D.C. and as a South Texas Differed Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Attorney at Texas Civil Rights Project.

Born in Germany and raised in Panama and Texas, Anjela did her undergraduate work in International Development, Latin American Studies, and International Relations at Tulane University’s Newcomb College.

Shivana Jorawar graduated from Emory Law School. During law school, Shivana was Co-Chair of the LSRJ chapter, on the executive board of OUTLaw, and led service trips for the Emory Public Interest Committee. She worked as a legal clerk at the New York State Division of Human Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

From 2006 to 2008, Shivana worked with Sakhi for South Asian Women, a non-profit dedicated to ending violence against women of South Asian origin, as an intern and then as a Volunteer Coordinator. In 2007, she cofounded Jahajee Sisters, a New York-based movement-building organization, led by Indo-Caribbean women, that seeks to foster women’s empowerment through dialogue, arts, leadership development and grassroots organizing. Shivana is a member of Sistersong, a women of color reproductive justice collective, and volunteers with the Atlanta-based organization SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW.

Shivana is a classical Indian dancer and a spoken word poet, who seeks to use her art to illuminate women’s trauma and resilience. Shivana holds a B.A. in Political Science from Fordham University.

Lorena Marez graduated from Northeastern University School of Law. During law school, Lorena was on the Executive Board of the Student Bar Association, President of the Latin American Law Students Association, and an member of the Women’s Law Caucus. At the 2011 Uvaldo Herrera National Moot Court Competition, Lorena was a member of the 4^th best overall team.  She completed co-ops with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Greater Boston Legal Services, and MALDEF. In the spring of 2011, Lorena co-op’d with the Brennan Center for Justice, Democracy unit.

Prior to law school, Lorena taught Health and English in rural Dominican Republic with Amigos De Las Americas. She also worked as a Community Organizer in New York City with The Good Old Lower East Side, Inc., and was chosen to participate in the Transformative Organizing Initiative Fellowship Program.

Lorena received her B.A. in Sociology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she served as a Campaign Director for the Colorado Public Interest and Research Group and was a student instructor for the Chancellor’s Leadership and Residential Academic Program.

Keely Monroe is a Program Officer for U.S. Programs at the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, Keely was Democracy Program Manager at Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP) where she was responsible for the strategic implementation and management of FCCP’s Funders Census Initiative and Money in Politics working groups.

As a passionate advocate for reproductive rights, health, and justice (RRHJ) issues, Keely served as an If/When/How Reproductive Justice Fellow at the National Women’s Health Network, Director of Campus and Community Programs at the national offices of If/When/How, and then as Counsel for the Bolder Advocacy Initiative at Alliance for Justice where she consulted with and supported RRHJ nonprofits and foundations on the rules and strategies for legal and effective advocacy. She has previously served on the Advisory Board for Women Engaged and the National Board of Directors for Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). Keely holds a B.A. from Fordham University and a J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Lucy Panza graduated from Georgetown Law Center, where she was awarded a Public Interest Law Scholarship. During law school, Lucy interned at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health; at Ayuda, Inc.; and at the National Partnership for Women and Families, where she researched judicial bypass statutes impeding minors’ access to abortion care. Lucy also interned for two Senate Committees and participated in the Georgetown Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic. Lucy led her LSRJ chapter as Advocacy Chair and as Co-President, helping to launch a campaign to overturn Georgetown’s ban on contraception coverage in student health insurance.

Her article, “The (Un)Holy Trinity: Unconscionable Contracts between Latinas and the Family, Religion, and the State,” was published in the Georgetown Journal of Law & Modern Critical Race Perspectives, where she also served as Managing Editor.

Before law school, Lucy served as the sole paralegal in the Equal Employment Opportunity Project at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs. Lucy earned her B.A. from New York University.

Rebecca Spence graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law, where she was a Leadership Scholar and a Global Health Fellow; she also holds an MPH from the University of Virginia, focused in Law, Policy, and Ethics. During law school Rebecca founded and led the Maryland LSRJ chapter and  worked as a part of the Human Rights and Law team at the United Nations Joint Programme for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Geneva, Switzerland. She served on the Steering Committee of The Big Push for Midwives Campaign, a national effort promoting legalization and licensure of Certified Professional Midwives and has represented the interests of pregnant women recovering from addiction as a student attorney in her law school’s Drug Policy Clinic. After law school, Rebecca served as a law clerk in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Prior to law school, she  worked with HIV positive adolescents in Uganda, conducted policy research for the Virginia Commission on Mental Health Law Reform and was an organizer for a small nonprofit coalition focused on early childhood health and education in central Virginia.

Rebecca earned her undergraduate degree in religion and women’s studies at Vassar College

Marisa (Mimi) Spalding graduated from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. She also hold a M.P.H. in Maternal and Child Health from the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. During law school, Mimi served on the Arizona Law Review and was an active member of the Black Law Students Association and Students of Arizona Health Law Organization. She interned for the Civil Rights Division of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, spent a semester as a Diversity Writing Fellow at Quarles and Brady, clerked for the Honorable Hector Campoy in the Pima County Juvenile Court, and represented low-income clients in family law cases through the Child and Family Law Clinic.

As a graduate student, Mimi was a Maternal and Child Health training fellow under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Title V block grant.  She implemented a research project that assessed the efficacy of a screening instrument to detect students at risk for Usher Syndrome in the deaf and hard-of-hearing population. Marisa contributed to three web-based continuing education courses that focus on alcohol and tobacco cessation during pregnancy and the effects of alcohol and tobacco exposure on infants and children.  She also developed a child-based program to supplement the CenteringPregnancy® program offered through the Mobile Health Program in the College of Medicine.

Mimi received her B.S. in Family Studies and Human Development with a minor in African American Studies from the University of Arizona.

Jaspreet Chowdhary graduated from Seattle University School of Law and holds a MPH in Epidemiology from Tulane University. During law school, Jaspreet was a board member of the LSRJ chapter. She received Public Interest Law Foundation Grants for her summer internships at SPARK Reproductive Justice Now and the Center for Medicare Advocacy. She also interned at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Office of Legal Counsel and Health Care for All and helped coordinate a session on how to be a social justice advocate using techniques of the theatre of the oppressed.

While in graduate school, Jaspreet interned at the Louisiana Department of Public Health and helped input data for a cervical cancer screening study. Subsequently, she worked as an epidemiologist at Duke University, where she conducted research on obesity in post-partum women and genetic causes of cancer.

Jaspreet received her B.A. in English and Women’s Studies from Goucher College, where she received a Marvin Perry Scholarship. In college, she interned at the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press and published an article on Women of Color on Campus and the Struggle for Networking.

Amina Abbas graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law. During law school, Amina served as Co-Coordinator of her LSRJ chapter and President of the University of North Carolina Domestic Violence Action Project. In addition, Amina completed pro bono projects with AEquitas: the Prosecutor’s Resource on Violence Against Women, the American Civil Liberties Union Capital Punishment Project, and the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence. As a third year law student, Amina gained litigation experience in the University of North Carolina Civil Legal Clinic working on various family law matters and served as an appointed member of the Orange County Commission for Women.

Amina holds a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Chemistry from East Carolina University.

Danielle (Dani) Hawkes graduated from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. During law school, she was a staff member of the S.J. Quinney College of Law’s Journal of Law and Family Studies where she published two notes: “Locking up Children: Lessons from the T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center,” and “Elective Surgery: When Parental and Medical Opinion Supersedes a Child’s Right to Choose,” discussing discretionary medical procedures for children including hysterectomies for physically disabled children, cosmetic surgery for children with Down’s syndrome, cochlear implants, reparative therapy, and psycho-altering drugs.

Dani participated in the Pace National Environmental Moot Court Competition, winning two awards for best oralist. Dani completed over 180 hours of pro bono work in law school by working on individual cases, serving as the student coordinator for a low income legal clinic, and co-founding a free legal clinic focusing on LGBT law. Dani also served as the president of the LGBT student group and a member of the legal panel for Equality Utah. She intern at the ACLU of Utah, where she worked on legal protections for transgender prisoners. Upon graduation, Dani received a National Association of Women Lawyers Award and a runner up award from the National LGBT Bar Association.

Before attending law school Dani lived in São Paulo, Brazil for one year as a Rotary exchange student, served as an intern at the Brazilian embassy in Washington, D.C., and worked as a senior business analyst in the insurance industry.

Davida Silverman graduated from the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law. During law school, Davida served as President of Moot Court, co-founded and co-chaired the Organization of Women Law Students and was an active member of the Domestic Violence Coalition and LSRJ. She also co-chaired the CUNY chapter of the Courtroom Advocates Project. During her last two years of law school, she was a leader of a student initiative to establish a family law clinic at her school. Davida interned at the National Center for Youth Law, Georgia Office of the Child Advocate, Honorable Bryanne Hamill in Kings County (Brooklyn) Family Court, and the ACLU of Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Project.

In college, Davida served as Executive Director of the Women’s Center, where she successfully advocated for the inclusion of emergency contraception in the student health center, called attention to fraternity violence against female and LGBT students, investigated students’ missing sexual harassment complaints, and organized educational events to raise awareness of gender equality. She has also worked as a pre-abortion counselor at a feminist-run abortion clinic, and has also worked at a domestic/sexual violence center, where she began as a child advocate but was later promoted to Special Projects Coordinator to develop and manage fundraising efforts.

Davida received her B.S. in Political Science from Florida State University.

Jessi Leigh Swenson graduated from University of California, Hastings College of the Law. During law school, Jessi Leigh served as President of the LSRJ chapter and was active with the Hastings Public Interest Law Foundation. As a student in the Civil Justice Clinic at Hastings, she represented low-income clients in housing and disability cases. Jessi Leigh was Co-Editor-in-Chief of Hastings Women’s Law Journal, where she oversaw a symposium on the challenges of regulating reproductive technologies. Her note, “Realizing Ledbetter’s Dream with DIY Sensibility” was published in Hastings Women’s Law Journal.

Prior to law school, Jessi Leigh was Assistant to the Director at Family Outreach of Amherst, a non-profit in Amherst, MA.

Jessi Leigh received a B.A. in social sciences from Hampshire College, where she completed a thesis on the history of the NAACP’s work against housing discrimination. She also served as Editor-in-Chief of the student newspaper and published in Hampshire’s literary magazine.

Alexandria (Alex) Walden graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law. During law school, she served as Managing Editor of the USF Journal of Law & Social Challenges and published her article examining constitutional challenges to restrictions on abortion for ICE detainees in the USF Law Review. Alex conducted research on facial challenges to abortion regulations for Professor Maya Manian, as well as on the ADA Amendments Act for Professor Michelle Travis.

Alex interned for the U.S. Department of Labor and served as a law clerk for Bay Area Legal Aid. She spent both of her law school summers interning for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights & Liberties. She evaluated discrimination claims and drafted declarations and motions as an intern at the SF Regional Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Alex spent a semester at Georgetown University Law Center and served as a law clerk for the U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary.

Prior to attending law school, Alex worked in the D.C. Office of Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund). She was a co-founder and national board member for the Younger Women’s Task Force, a project of the National Council of Women’s Organizations. Alex received her B.A. in Political Science from American University.