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Equal Justice Works Across America
A state-by-state, point-and-click roster of Members and Fellows
Current Fellows and Alumni Profiles
Anjali Waikar: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2006
American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts
School: Northeastern University School of Law
Anjali Waikar works with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts in Boston. The civil liberties work of the ACLU of Massachusetts ranges from traditional issues of free speech and association, to broader topics of the death penalty, juvenile justice, immigrant rights, racial justice and opposition to profiling, religious freedom, privacy and a woman's right to choose. Anjali's project addresses the effect and patterns of racial profiling used by local and federal law enforcement.
Margaret Wakelin: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2008
Equip for Equality
School: Northwestern University School of Law
My project addresses the significant need for education advocacy for children with autism in low-income and minority communities in Chicago. The project employs three main strategies: direct representation to ensure children receive high-quality education services and appropriate school settings; education and advocacy to increase early identification; and training to transform parents into strong educational advocates. .
Tracye Walker: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2006
Legal Aid of Arkansas
School: University of Arkansas School of Law - Fayetteville
Tracye Walker works with Legal Aid of Arkansas (LAA) in the impoverished Mississippi River Delta region of Arkansas. Legal Aid of Arkansas is entering its 27th year of operation in Arkansas's poorest counties. Its mission is to provide free legal services to low-income Arkansans in civil matters such as domestic relations, consumer and housing disputes and individual rights cases.
Jack Wallace: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2000
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center
School: University of Miami School of Law
Jack Wallace’s Florida Asylum Relief Project (FARP) provided legal advice and representation to individuals fearing persecution and torture if forced to return to their country of origin. Jack assisted individuals detained by the INS in federal or Florida county jails as well as individuals released from INS custody. Due to the 1996 changes in immigration laws, political asylum seekers often remain in detention during the asylum process.
Sarah Wallerstein Koren: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2005
Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Assocation
School: Nova Southeastern University - Shepard Broad Law Center
Sarah Wallerstein Koren works with the Guardian Ad Litem Program which is administered by the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association. Guardian Ad Litem works to ensure children are safe and provided for by advocating for their best interest in court proceedings. The goals of Sarah’s project are to: encourage interagency cooperation to form better policy and regulation, provide legal advocacy and educate the community to recruit surrogate parents to further represent dependent children in Orange County.
Thomas Walsh: AmeriCorps Attorney, 2007
Volunteer Lawyers Network
School: University of Minnesota Law School
Tom and his Pro Bono Legal Corps (PBLC) collaborator at the Minnesota Justice Foundation, Sara Sommarstrom, partner law students with private pro bono attorneys in order to expand services provided to the disadvantaged throughout the state. Through the pairing of students with attorneys, the program increases the amount of pro bono work performed by attorneys, builds relationships within the community, enhances the quality of services provided to clients and instills a career-long habit of pro bono work in students. Over the past two years the PBLC program has created new legal advice clinics, developed educational programs and established alumni projects at area law schools.
Ariel Wander: AmeriCorps Attorney, 2006
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
School: University at California, Los Angeles School of Law
Ariel is a first year Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Attorney working with Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles's Employment Unit. She develops and coordinates the Know Your Rights Project, which recruits and trains law student volunteers to deliver employment-rights workshops for low-income workers. Ariel also helps staff a self-help legal clinic at the Los Angeles Labor Commissioner's Office, which provides information and assists in filing claims.
Joshua Wease: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2004
Michigan State University College of Law
School: Michigan State University-Detroit College of Law
Joshua Wease is a Fellow at the Michigan State University College of Law Tax Clinic in East Lansing, Michigan. The Tax Clinic provides assistance to low-income taxpayers and to people for whom English is a second language. The Clinic also provides community outreach and education on valuable tax credits, filing compliance, and ever changing tax law.
Leah Weaver: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2005
Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis
School: William Mitchell College of Law
Leah Weaver works on the consumer team at Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis (LASM), which has an 88-year history of providing legal services to low-income residents of Hennepin County. LASM is a member agency of Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance, a nonprofit organization providing legal services to low-income Minnesotans in 20 counties throughout central Minnesota. These services include the following areas of law: housing, public benefits, family, consumer, senior, disability, special education, youth, tax, immigration and employment benefits.
Lea Webb: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2001
Northern Kentucky Legal Aid Society, Inc.
School: University of Cincinnati College of Law
Lea Webb worked with immigrant victims of domestic violence throughout northern, central and eastern Kentucky at the Legal Aid of the Bluegrass. She was based in Covington, which sits on the Ohio River in Northern Kentucky, but traveled frequently to service the large immigrant population that powers the horse racing and tobacco industries of the Bluegrass. Lea provided legal services and information in immigration, family, custody, child support, housing and public benefits law to her clients, as she helped them try to establish lives free from domestic violence.
Benjamin Weber: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2005
Southern Migrant Legal Services, A Project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
School: University of Iowa College of Law
Benjamin Weber is a Fellow at Southern Migrant Legal Services, a project of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, which provides free civil legal assistance to indigent migrant agricultural workers. Benjamin’s project focuses on advocating for the rights of cotton gin workers in the Mississippi Delta to fair working conditions as dictated by federal law. Migrant farmworkers have long been among the lowest paid and most exploited laborers in the United States.
Jake Wedemeyer: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2007
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc.
School: University of Iowa College of Law
My project consists of litigation, outreach and research to advocate for H-2 guestworkers and U. S. migrant and seasonal workers, in both agricultural and nonagricultural occupations.
Lea Weems: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2006
Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago
School: Harvard Law School
Lea works with the Home Ownership Preservation Project at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (LAF). LAF provides free legal aid in a wide range of civil legal services to low-income residents of Cook County. Lea's project focuses on representing indigent homeowners who are victims of "foreclosure rescue fraud," a new predatory industry fueled by rising home values and increases in subprime lending and foreclosures.
Koert Wehberg: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2008
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest
School: Syracuse University College of Law
The project will address physical barriers to accessibility that limit opportunities for thousands of people with disabilities in low-income communities of color. In New York’s low-income neighborhoods, sidewalks are crumbling, entryways to stores and businesses often have one or two steps with no ramp, and there is a total lack of accessible signage. This project will use multiple strategies to increase accessibility, including community outreach; public education; organizing; media work; and advocacy and litigation.
Debra Weinberg: AmeriCorps Legal Fellowships, 2009
Louisiana Bar Foundation
School: University of California at Los Angeles School of Law
As an AmeriCorps Legal Fellow at the Louisiana Bar Foundation, I work in partnership with Advocacy Center on Special Education issues. I represent the interests of students who require additional accommodations to ensure they receive an adequate education. I am also bringing trainings to rural areas to inform parents of children with disabilities about their children’s educational rights.
Alisa Wellek: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2010
Immigrant Defense Project
School: New York University School of Law
My project challenges the jail-detention-deportation pipeline many noncitizens face through a pilot project responding to ICE’s practices at NYC jails. I will document abuse, provide pro se assistance; help contest legal interpretations mandating detention, and coordinate litigation challenging unconstitutional practices. I will create toolkits and trainings from lessons learned.
Kristin Wenstrom: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2008
Innocence Project New Orleans
School: Tulane University School of Law
I will be an advocate for Louisiana’s juveniles serving life without parole by representing the innocent among them. I will secure representation for “over-convicted” juveniles; produce public education materials; and specialize in the social and legal issues that intersect with the issue of juvenile life without parole – especially as it relates to the wrongful and over-conviction of children. Through these activities, my fellowship will fuel the effort to abolish juvenile life without parole in Louisiana and the nation.
Jennifer Werdell: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2002
New York Legal Assistance Group
School: New York University School of Law
Jennifer Werdell advocates for the rights of New York City's low-income population at the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), assisting welfare and workfare participants as they face time limits that have become applicable to federally-funded public assistance programs. Through direct legal representation, community outreach and contributions to NYLAG's impact litigation work, Jennifer is working to enforce the rights of employable public assistance recipients to the services and benefits needed for the transition to work. She has, for instance, conducted trainings at community organizations and developed written materials to increase awareness of greatly underutilized transitional benefits programs.
Beth Werlin: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2001
American Immigration Law Foundation
School: Boston College Law School
Beth Werlin worked on issues surrounding the right to counsel in removal proceedings. Though competent counsel significantly affects the outcome of a noncitizen’s immigration case, the Immigration and Nationality Act states that noncitizens are not entitled to appointed counsel. Many immigrants, however, cannot afford representation, and pro bono attorneys and legal service organizations are unable to meet the overwhelming needs of the unrepresented.
Katina Retzloff Werner: AmeriCorps Legal Fellowships, 2006
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality
School: University of Toledo College of Law
Katina is a life-long resident of Toledo, Ohio who saw the Pro Bono Legal Corps (PBLC) position as an opportunity to improve the quality of services provided to the local low-income population. She also saw it as a chance to utilize her existing contacts and love for networking to forge meaningful and lasting collaborations among community stakeholders.
In addition to working as a PBLC member, Katina sits on the Family Selection Committee of Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity and acts as an on-call responder to victims of domestic violence.
In addition to working as a PBLC member, Katina sits on the Family Selection Committee of Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity and acts as an on-call responder to victims of domestic violence.
Rebecca Westphal: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2002
Farmworker Legal Services
School: University of Michigan Law School
Rebecca Westphal serves women and children, Michigan’s most vulnerable farmworkers, with issues involving educational rights and domestic violence. Her fellowship complements the basic legal services that Farmworker Legal Services, a division of the Legal Services of South Central Michigan, already provides as the law organization of first resort to migrant farmworkers in the state of Michigan. Rebecca’s project has two focuses.
Nancy Wheeler: AmeriCorps Legal Fellowships, 2010
Public Counsel
School:
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Kari White: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2009
The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland
School: Case Western Reserve University Law School
The Immigrant Domestic Violence Project will provide direct representation, community legal education, and referral to support services for immigrant victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking in Northeast Ohio. .
Emily White: AmeriCorps Legal Fellowships, 2010
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality
School:
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Dolores Whiters: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2004
University of Tennessee College of Law
School: University of Illinois College of Law
Dolores Whiters works with the Lawyers Education Advocacy Resource Network (LEARN) of the Children’s Advocacy Network (CAN) at the University of Tennessee College of Law and is an integral member of the CAN-LEARN Project. Dolores works with the Project Director to organize, develop training, and provide litigation and advocacy support for lawyers in Tennessee who represent students in education cases. The Project’s ultimate goal is to become a dynamic back-up center for a network of lawyers who are seeking to reform public education in Tennessee, through individual case representation, systemic challenges and community education.
Charlotte Whitmore: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2010
Pennsylvania Innocence Project
School: University of Pennsylvania Law School
Since the 1980s, over 240 people have been exonerated through DNA testing. These exonerations have shown that the most common factors in wrongful convictions - mistaken eyewitness testimony and false confessions - are not unique to cases involving biological material. My project will address the need to represent incarcerated people in Pennsylvania who have a genuine case for exoneration based on any type of exculpatory evidence and to reform the criminal justice system to reduce the risk of wrongful convictions.
Deborah Widiss: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2000
Lawyers Alliance for New York
School: Yale Law School
Journalists and legislators regularly bemoan the scandalous state of public schools in New York City. The story of the community and neighborhood-based groups that are taking real steps to improve these schools is, however, less well known. Employing a bottoms-up approach to school reform, these organizations empower parents, students and local community leaders to play a substantive role in shaping the priorities and practices of their schools, but they need legal support to achieve their objectives.
Jessa Wilcox: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2007
The Legal Aid Society
School: Northwestern University School of Law
My project addresses the needs of young people who are placed/incarcerated on delinquency charges into the residential custody of the N. Y. Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS).
Christina Wilkes: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2004
Ayuda, Inc.
School: George Washington University Law School
Christina Wilkes works with Ayuda in Washington, DC. As a Fellow, Christina has begun a Children’s Project to provide immigration legal services and advocacy to unaccompanied immigrant children in the region. Prior to this, no local entity or individual provided systematic representation to immigrant children.
Paul Wilkins: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2002
Equal Justice Foundation
School: The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law
Paul Wilkins’ fellowship is hosted at the Equal Justice Foundation, a nonprofit law firm providing class action and impact litigation. His project addresses the problem of predatory lending and serves poor and elderly people throughout Ohio. Predatory lending is a widespread and diverse problem that encompasses the rent-to-own industry, payday lenders, buy-here-pay-here auto dealers and the traditional banking system.
Melissa Will: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2006
Ohio State Legal Services Association
School: The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law
Melissa Will works to bridge the gap between social work and legal aid by creating training programs that legal aid attorneys conduct for employees of social service organizations. The training programs are implemented throughout Ohio and vary based on the needs of different communities. By linking social service organizations with legal services, Melissa hopes to prevent homelessness by addressing the legal issues of persons most at risk of becoming homeless.
Caitlin Williams: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2007
Community Refugee & Immigration Services, Inc.
School: Georgetown University Law Center
I work with Community Refugee and Immigration Services in Columbus, Ohio. My project focuses on providing services for immigrant and refugee women from the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea). I provide direct immigration legal services to this population, while also working with others to help these women gain access to other services such as language and employment training and health care.
Tyra Williams: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2005
Advocates for Justice and Education
School: University of Maryland School of Law
Tyra Williams is a fellow at Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc. (AJE) in the District of Columbia. AJE is dedicated to providing quality advocacy training and direct services to parents of children with special needs or those with suspected disabilities.
Temika Williams: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2001
Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers, Inc.
School: University of Georgia School of Law
Temika Williams empowered imprisoned mothers through legal education seminars on parental rights and provided them with direct legal services pertaining to child custody issues. Her project was directly aligned with the agency's mission: to inspire hope in children of imprisoned mothers by providing programs and services that lessen the impact of the mother's incarceration. AIM serves three generations impacted by a mother's incarceration: children, caregivers and the mothers themselves.
Morgan Williams: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2008
Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center
School: Tulane University School of Law
I am working to enforce the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in the housing sector in the New Orleans redevelopment landscape. In addition to assisting with the enforcement and litigation work of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, my project is designed to target redevelopment in the region to ensure that accessible and affordable housing is created for people with disabilities. Read more
Tammy Wilsker: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2003
University of Miami Children & Youth Law Clinic
School: University of Miami School of Law
Florida ended its longstanding right to continued foster care for over-eighteen-year-olds in 2002, replacing it with a "scholarship" program under which very few youth qualify. In 1999, after studies showed that a large percentage of foster children wound up homeless, in jail or in mental hospitals, Congress passed the Chafee Act directing states to provide independent living skills training. Unfortunately, only 25% of foster children actually receive this state-mandated independent living skills training and are leaving foster care without the basic survival skills most people take for granted.
Montgomery Wilson: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2001
Community Legal Services
School: Temple University, James E. Beasley School of Law
Montgomery Wilson worked in his host organization’s Consumer Law Unit, pursuing a combination of litigation, lobbying and community education efforts to both assist current victims of predatory lenders and to educate the Philadelphia community as to how to protect itself against these types of lenders in the future. Much of Monty’s time was spent advocating on behalf of individuals and in litigation. The work included defending mortgage foreclosures, filing bankruptcies and rescinding or modifying predatory home loans.
Karen Winston: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2010
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid
School: Florida Coastal School of Law
Sponsors: The Florida Bar, The Florida Bar Foundation
The purpose of my project is to provide legal outreach, advocacy, and representation to immigrant detainees at the Baker County Detention Center. Immigrant detainees do not have a right to free legal counsel, and are often unable to hire a private attorney. Through this project, I will interview immigrants held at Baker and determine whether they may be eligible for VAWA, U-visa, asylum, or other forms relief.
Lisa Winters: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2000
Center for Disability Advocacy Rights, Inc.
School: City University of New York School of Law at Queens College
Lisa Winters, a native New Yorker, brought twelve years of social work experience to the practice of public interest law. She has been a long-time activist around women’s health, AIDS and lesbian and gay issues. She also served on several boards of directors, funding panels and advisory boards.
Colleen Wisdom: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2008
Advocacy, Inc.
School: Texas Tech University School of Law
I will be providing direct assistance to court-involved juveniles with special educational needs. In addition to direct assistance, my project will also work with the law enforcement and legal communities including the local mediation center, defense attorneys and judges on ways to incorporate appropriate educational needs and goals in arrests, agreements, defenses and sentences. .
Sara Wood: Equal Justice Works Fellowships, 2010
MFY Legal Services, Inc.
School: University of Virginia School of Law
The majority of the 300,000 children in New York City who are in the care of relatives live in poverty. My project will increase the free legal services available to these families in New York City and New York State by: (1) augmenting the services offered by MFY to include assistance on public benefits issues (while continuing to provide assistance on custody, guardianship and adoption matters); and (2) providing technical assistance to organizations outside of New York City interested in starting pro bono networks to assist kinship caregivers. .
Jeff Woodworth: AmeriCorps Legal Fellowships, 2010
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality
School:
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Jeff Woodworth: AmeriCorps Legal Fellowships, 2010
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality
School:
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Susan Wright: Equal Justice Works Fellow, 2003
Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis
School: Vanderbilt University Law School
Minnesota has the worst record among the 50 states when it comes to racial disparity in out-of-home placement of children, reports Susan Wright. In 2000, approximately five percent of the children in Minnesota were African American, yet they made up over 19 percent of children placed in substitute care through the child protection process. African American and American Indian Children were represented in out-of-home care at a rate of more than five times their representation in the state population.
Nancy Wright: AmeriCorps Attorney, 2006
Three Rivers Legal Services
School: Florida State University College of Law
Nancy and her fellow Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Attorney, Debra Rosenbluth, work closely with the University of Florida Levin College of Law to provide student volunteers with a wide assortment of opportunities for public interest work year-round. Ongoing programs include housing (interviewing clients with real [estate?] property concerns such as landlord/tenant or mortgage issues and drafting advice letters), family law (assisting clients with their pro se dissolution forms), elder law (educating groups of elderly persons about topics ranging from advance directives to social security) and job corps (assisting students with a variety of legal concerns affecting their employment). Nancy has also recruited students on new programs designed to give better access to legal services for the homeless and for low-income Spanish-speaking communities in the area.