The OPIA Blog

Last summer, Melanie Botho Emmen worked at the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) in Rome. IDLO is an intergovernmental organization with a mandate to promote the rule of law around the world and expand access to justice to the most vulnerable.

Mary Bonauto Director of the Civil Rights Project for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, and a 2004-2005 Wasserstein Fellow, and Jonathan Rapping, President and Founder of Gideon's Promise, a 2009-2010 Wasserstein Fellow have become MacArthur Fellows!

Aminta Ossom ’09 is the Crowley Fellow in International Human Rights at the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School.

Working as the General Counsel to the Minority Staff of the House Select Committee on Intelligence gives Michael Bahar ’02 the opportunity to contribute to our country’s national security mission on a daily basis. As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, Bahar knew he wanted to pursue a career in public service from an early age.

Allison Elgart ’05 currently serves as the Legal Director of Equal Justice Society (EJS), a nonprofit focused on establishing more safeguards and legal protections against racial discrimination.

Last summer, Caroline Sacerdote worked for the Legal Resources Centre (“LRC”) in South Africa. Most of her time was spent working on domestic impact litigation, but she also had the opportunity to work in international human rights. Caroline’s summer at the LRC showed her how the law can be used as a tool to solve social problems.

Meg Holden, a 3L, is deeply interested in environmental law, which she hopes to build into a career in environmental litigation and policy work. Prior to attending law school, Meg worked for two years for an environmental NGO in New Delhi, India. She came to law school in large part to prepare for a career focused on protecting the environment, both at home and abroad.

Steven Choi '04, Executive Director for the New York Immigration Coalition, was honored at the 2013 Felix A. Fisherman Awards Luncheon on Nov. 21.

Last summer, 2L Steven Green worked at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. In this role, Steven worked on a variety of projects, ranging from legal research and writing to working on search warrant affidavits and other trial-related documents. He also had the opportunity to work on international legal assistance requests regarding investigation materials.

Until recently Emma Fenelon was a Legal Project Manager at the AIRE Centre (Centre for Advice on Individual Rights in Europe). She hails from Ireland and earned her undergraduate law degree at Trinity College Dublin. As a teenager Fenelon was drawn to Law because she enjoyed debate and had read about the efforts of figures such as former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson and Senator David Norris, and how they had used law as a tool for progressive social change.

Current 3L Abbey Marr spent her summer working at the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NWDA) in Oakland, CA. The NDWA and its 45 affiliate organizations advocate for “respect, recognition and inclusion in labor protections for domestic workers.”

Alison Tong, now a 2L, spent last summer at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). She worked in Malden, MA at the Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

If someone had told me at age 24 that I would become a lawyer, I would have told them they were crazy. I had majored in geology as an undergraduate, spent a couple of summers at Woods Hole, and entered a Ph.D. program with the idea of becoming a marine geologist. After deciding that path was not for me, I had an M.S. in geology and no career aspirations. I considered a number of options, ranging from scientific journalism to carpentry.

Current 3L Jessica Frisina spent last summer in New Orleans as an intern at the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights (formerly known as Juvenile Regional Services).

A career in public interest law was always on the agenda for Suzette Smikle ’02, who currently serves as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Northern District of Georgia. Smikle was born in a poor neighborhood of Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in New York City, where she attended public schools.

Renika Moore, HLS class of 2003, is currently the director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Economic Justice Group. The purpose of this division is to address racially driven obstacles to economic equality, as well as discrimination in employment and housing.

“I thought my career was ruined,” recalled Ms. Elizabeth Westfall of the moment that she found out she did not receive a Skadden Fellowship. It…

Since graduating from HLS in 2004, Michael Camilleri has worked across Latin America and in Washington D.C. with civil society and grassroots organizations, intergovernmental organizations, and government agencies on addressing issues of human rights in the Latin American region.

As Executive Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Jennifer Cannistra heads the policy development and regulations office and plays a role…

Adam Szubin (HLS ’99) is the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He has served…

“The future of America as a major world power and as a decent place to live hinges on a strong middle class,” says Lela Klein, speaking about the stakes of her job as in-house counsel for a union. “And the future of the middle class in America hinges in no small part on the future of the labor movement.”