LSJLC supports LLS graduates by hosting postgraduate public interest fellowships
The Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic is fortunate to have four post-graduate fellows working in our clinics for the 2022-23 year. Post-graduate fellowships allow our recent clinic graduates to launch their public interest legal careers while expanding our work in the communities we serve.
Heidi Gonzalez ’21 is an Equal Justice Works Fellow hosted by the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic (“LIJC”), where she spent two years as a student during law school. In LIJC, Heidi advocates for the advancement of the rights of the immigrant population through direct legal services, education, and community empowerment while teaching law students effective immigrants’ rights lawyering skills in a real-world setting. Heidi tailored her fellowship project to assist immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children, often unaccompanied. Heidi shared that she was inspired to pursue this project due to her background as a first-generation Latina, raised by parents who immigrated to the US from Mexico. She is inspired everyday by her parents’ resilience in this country and aims to provide legal and emotional support to clients pursuing humanitarian immigration relief and encourage law students to pursue a career in immigration after graduation. Heidi’s fellowship is co-sponsored by the Microsoft Corporation and Reed Smith LLP.
Lena Kerouani, LLM ’22 is a Loyola Post Graduate Fellow hosted by Loyola Project for the Innocent (LPI). Her fellowship project focuses on the legal needs of wrongfully convicted Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) through screening, evaluating, and assisting in cases where BIPOC have been judged by an all-White jury, and particularly by launching LPI’s Executive Clemency Project to enable LPI to work for the release of a greater number of BIPOC clients. In describing her work during the first half of her fellowship year, Lena says “I love that LPI’s work encompasses so many diverse aspects of criminal defense: from field investigations to evidentiary hearings, and from drafting complex petitions to clemency work. It is truly multi-dimensional and allows us to work creatively to better serve the needs of our clients. Acting as the policy representative for LPI, I also get to work at the root issues of the many injustices our clients go through. There are no words to describe the feeling of seeing someone walk out of prison after several decades and I feel immensely privileged to have witnessed this during my fellowship thanks to the dedication and tenacity of LPI’s team.”
Stacy Nuñez ’22 is an Equal Justice Works Fellow hosted by the Youth Justice Education Clinic (YJEC). Her fellowship is focused on advocating for the educational needs of Secure Track youth in Los Angeles County. Secure Track youth are young people who will be detained in county juvenile facilities for anywhere from one year to seven years. Because they are detained for a much longer period of time, young people with special education needs within this population may be less likely to receive the appropriate supports and services they require to access their education.
Stacy’s goal is to emphasize the importance of education in supporting young people to live a fulfilled life once they are released. She plans to continue her work with other LA County stakeholders to ensure young people actually receive the robust educational programming and appropriate services they are entitled to under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and California Education Code.
Stacy, who was a student in YJEC for two years before graduation, says “I absolutely loved the work I did as a clinic student and working with our clients is what kept me motivated through the end of law school. I still represent the clients I worked with as a student, but now I can officially say I am their lawyer!” Stacy’s EJW Fellowship is sponsored by Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
Annabelle Ostin ’22 is a Loyola Post Graduate Fellow hosted by the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic (LIJC). Annabelle’s fellowship project aims to integrate social service staff into the LIJC legal team, to create an interdisciplinary team that will expand LIJC’s capacity to offer clients wrap-around services while continuing to provide high-quality legal services in the East Side of Los Angeles.
In addition to representing clients in immigration matters, Annabelle is creating and implementing an internship program that will integrate students enrolled in Master of Social Work (MSW) programs at local colleges and universities into the clinic. The MSW intern will be part of the legal team and will work under the direction of an attorney. As a team, the Attorney and MSW will work with clients to resolve their immigration legal issues while also addressing non-legal needs so that the client can be successful in their immigration matters.
This interdisciplinary program will enable LIJC to holistically represent clients by providing them with wrap-around services, multiply our legal representative power, and provide immigration advocacy to a more significant portion of the immigrant community in the East Side of Los Angeles.