PUBLIC RIGHTS PROJECT ANNOUNCES ITS LARGEST, MOST DIVERSE COHORT OF ATTORNEYS FOR NATIONAL EARLY-CAREER FELLOWSHIPS
Ten Lawyers & Law Graduates Selected to Participate in 2020 Public Rights Project Fellowship and Justice Catalyst/Public Rights Project Joint-Fellowship
OAKLAND, CALIF. (October 8, 2020) — Today, Public Rights Project announced the third cohort of its flagship Public Rights Project Fellowship along with its Fellowship in partnership with Justice Catalyst, an organization which supports early-stage projects that combat systems of injustice and builds upon or expands protections for oppressed communities. With growing interest in its programs and expanding state and local efforts to engage in equitable enforcement, Public Rights Project’s cohort is now more than double the size of previous fellowship groups.
Following a nationwide search, Public Rights Project selected a talented and diverse group of fellows to be placed in host state, local, and tribal government offices. The full list of 2020 Fellows is below.
Five Fellows from this cohort of ten will serve for two years in the Public Rights Project Fellowship which places skilled, public interest-minded fellows into a state or city law office such as City Attorney, District Attorney, or Attorney General offices. The remaining five Fellows will undertake year-long fellowships, with a possibility of renewal for a second year thanks to the generosity of Justice Catalyst. The Justice Catalyst Fellows are selected to serve in government offices based on projects proposed by the Fellows.
The 2020 Fellows began their programs with a four-day virtual convening and training September 14-17, 2020, which featured sessions around equity and inclusion, leadership, affirmative litigation, and community-based enforcement.
Public Rights Project’s mission is to ensure that laws written to protect the most vulnerable among us are faithfully and equitably enforced. While most state and local government offices have the power to enforce laws that protect individuals’ abilities to maintain housing, gain equal access to a job, and work in safe conditions, many of these offices do not invest resources in these opportunities or take advantage of this authority. These fellowship placements are designed to enhance the work ongoing in offices around the country.
Fellows will have the opportunity to work on a range of civil rights, economic justice, public health, and environmental justice issues that directly impact vulnerable populations locally and across the country. Fellows will work collaboratively alongside colleagues in their government offices on affirmative impact litigation, coalition-building and community engagement, policy research, and other enforcement projects developed with their placement offices. They will help develop new cases and generate new ideas for their office to expand public rights enforcement.
“We’re excited to welcome one of our most diverse cohorts in the history of our program. They are immensely talented attorneys with a passion for community-building and a proven commitment to public service,” said PRP Director of Fellowships Kesia Brown. “Our vision is to empower early-career attorneys to make a social impact through government enforcement. At a time when we need community-minded leaders the most, we are thrilled to partner with these fellows and their host offices.”
In their roles, fellows will gain hands-on experience aimed at strengthening and applying skills in impact litigation, coalition-building, community engagement, doing racial justice work, and public leadership. They will hone tools and strategies to work on a range of civil rights, economic justice, and environmental protection issues that directly impact vulnerable populations in their communities and across the country. This support will enable fellows to initiate, expand, or deepen the impact of their office’s equitable enforcement efforts.
The 2020 Public Rights Project and 2020 Justice Catalyst/Public Rights Project fellows and their host offices are as follows:
Abigail Burman, a graduate of the University of California Berkeley School of Law, grew up in Maryland and was selected by the Public Rights Project and Justice Catalyst to combat the increasing criminalization of self-managed abortion by developing an abortion sanctuary city policy. Abigail has a strong background in women’s rights starting with her involvement in activism while she was in high school and continuing into the beginning of her legal career.
Alex Cárdenas, a graduate of Fordham University School of Law, is joining the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office as a Public Rights Project Fellow after working as a law clerk in the Eastern District of New York and in the District of Vermont. As a Public Rights Project Fellow, his work will focus on consumer, fair housing, and workers rights initiatives in Boulder, Colorado.
Derrick De Vera, a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law, will be joining the Seattle City Attorney’s Office as a Public Rights Project Fellow. He is originally from Seattle and has lived there his entire life. As a Public Rights Project Fellow he will use the litigation tools that he honed as an attorney in private practice to advance justice for members of his Seattle community.
Ifrah Esse, a graduate of the University of North Dakota Law School, will be working at the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office in St. Paul, Minnesota as a Public Rights Project Fellow. Originally from Somalia, she grew up in Minneapolis and worked as a social worker for several years before entering law school. Ifrah will focus her efforts on the protection of workers’ rights in the AG Office’s Wage Theft Unit.
Kimberly Fayette, a graduate of the New York University School of Law where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest Scholar, will serve as a Public Rights Project and Justice Catalyst fellow working with the New York City Commission on Human Rights. Her project centers on the enforcement of administrative guidance barring workplace discrimination based on hairstyle and hair texture. Additionally, Kimberly will work to address other forms of anti-Blackness as well as access to justice issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Deepa Goraya, a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, will be working at the Delaware Attorney General’s Office in Wilmington, Delaware as a Public Rights Project Fellow. Deepa is an active leader and member of the National Federation of the Blind and is currently a Board Member of both the Disability Rights Bar Association and National Association of Blind Lawyers. Her work as a Public Rights Project Fellow will continue her work in using her litigation skills to protect and enforce the civil rights of Delaware residents.
Sarah Levine, a graduate of Yale Law School, will be joining the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia through the Public Rights Project and Justice Catalyst Fellowship. Her project will center on working to create a coordinated enforcement effort using antitrust, consumer protection, and wage and hour laws in order to protect low-wage workers in the District of Columbia.
Melodie Meyer graduated from UCLA Law School specializing in Environmental Law and Critical Race Studies.Through her selection for the Public Rights Project and Justice Catalyst Fellowship, Melodie will work with the Yurok Tribe’s Office of the Tribal Attorney. Her project involves providing legal services to the Yurok Tribe to combat the climate crisis negatively impacting their cultural and natural resources and health.
Rajiv Narayan, a graduate of Harvard Law School, is originally from the East Bay area and will be returning to work in the Oakland City Attorney’s Office. Through the Public Rights Project and Justice Catalyst Fellowship, Rajiv will utilize some of his public health experience to connect existing needs to local enforcement, particularly in the area of tenants rights.
Ying Wang is a graduate of the New England School of Law, who brings significant professional experience to the Fellowship program. As a Public Rights Project Fellow, Ying will work in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in Boston, Massachusetts to help advance the criminal justice reform efforts of the District Attorney Ying also serves as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) Officer in the United States Army Reserve.
Public Rights Project is a project of the Tides Center, a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan nonprofit organization.
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About the Public Rights Project
Public Rights Project is a national non-profit, based in Oakland, that builds state and local governments’ capacity to enforce their residents’ rights. Their mission is to close the gap between the promise of our laws and the lived reality of our most vulnerable communities. They work to achieve this mission by training attorney fellows to catalyze the proactive work of government law offices; providing strategic support in legal strategy, research, partnerships and data analytics to help offices develop high-impact legal cases; and designing and spreading community outreach and organizing approaches that empower community residents and advocates to be active partners in an enforcement agenda rooted in equity.
For more information:
Web: https://www.publicrightsproject.org/
Twitter: @public_rights
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Instagram: #publicrightsproject
Media Contact:
Madison Jacobs, madison@publicrightsproject.org
