Tackling the Eviction Crisis: Equal Justice Works Welcomes a New Cohort of Fellows to the Housing Justice Program

Laura Roach, the senior manager of Fellowship implementation at Equal Justice Works, recently shared the work, success stories, and the new class of Fellows in the Housing Justice Program.  

The Equal Justice Works Housing Justice Program mobilizes lawyers, law students, and community organizers. Fellows serve two years at legal services organizations, where they provide direct legal services, conduct education and outreach, and advocate to advance the rights of renters. As a cohort, they tackle the eviction crisis in a community-responsive manner. 

Each year approximately 3.6 million eviction actions are filed against tenants in the United States. But an eviction filing is merely an allegation of a lease violation, and tenants have a right to due process under the law. The stakes in eviction cases are especially high for tenants, as their homes are jeopardized, and attorneys can assert their rights and legal defenses, including habitability complaints. While landlords are frequently represented by legal counsel, more than 90 percent of tenants appear without representation, often because they are unable to afford an attorney. For many tenants, having legal representation can be life-changing; tenants who are represented by attorneys are more than 4.4 times more likely to remain in their homes than those without. 

That includes one client, Antonia* in South Carolina, who feared she and her family would be ordered out of their home. In Antonia’s situation, the landlord refused to accept her rent payments and berated her and her family with racial slurs. He then filed an eviction action, falsely claiming that Antonia failed to pay rent. With the support of her attorney, an Equal Justice Works Housing Justice Fellow, Antonia was able to secure an on the record admission from the landlord she had not violated the lease. Thanks to the Fellow’s zealous advocacy, the Magistrate Court dismissed the baseless eviction, and Antonia was able to remain in her home. 

The clear disadvantage tenants face in eviction proceedings undermines trust in the American legal system’s ability to fairly adjudicate landlord-tenant disputes. Without counsel, tenants are forced to navigate unfamiliar and complex legal procedures alone. This is a structural flaw in the civil legal system – one that allows low-income tenants to risk losing their homes simply because they cannot afford an attorney.  

That’s why Equal Justice Works is proud to announce the new cohort of 2024-2026 Housing Justice Program Fellows. These fourteen Fellows will serve at eight legal aid organizations across Maryland and South Carolina, states with two of the highest eviction filing rates in the country. To date, Fellows have collaboratively prevented more than 9,700 evictions and secured over $4.2 million in economic benefits for their clients. Fellows have also trained more than 16,000 low-income tenants on their legal rights and helped community leaders organize and reclaim community power typically denied to them. 

The new cohort of 2024-2026 Fellows in the Housing Justice Program will amplify the impact of individual attorney and community organizer Fellows by leveraging a network of local organizations and national experts across multiple states. In addition to providing direct representation, Fellows will collaborate to strengthen legal protections for renters and shift narratives in the courtroom – helping to humanize tenants in the eyes of judges and promote fairer outcomes for renters across the country.  

The Housing Justice Program includes Fellows hosted across Maryland and South Carolina. To learn more about Fellows in the Housing Justice Program, click here. The Housing Justice Program is made possible thanks to the generosity of Freedom Together Foundation, Maryland Legal Services Corporation, the South Carolina Bar Foundation, and Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina.  

Equal Justice Works is now accepting applications for its 2025 Regional Public Interest Awards.  

Each year, our National Advisory Committee presents eight law students throughout the country with a Regional Public Interest Award. Recipients are chosen for their innovation, impact, and commitment to public interest law, including their extraordinary service through clinics, volunteer work, internships, and more. All Regional Public Interest Award recipients receive a $250 cash prize and commemorative plaque.  

Learn more about last year’s winners here.  

To apply for a Regional Public Interest Award, please complete this application by April 14th. As a part of your application, you’ll be asked to provide a personal statement describing your commitment to public interest law. Recipients of this year’s award will be notified on May 14th. 

If you have any questions about the Regional Public Interest Awards, or if you would like to nominate an extraordinary public interest law student for the award in your region, please email our team at [email protected]. 

Equal Justice Works is currently conducting a needs assessment to understand the legal needs of low-income communities affected by the opioid and overdose crisis. Click here to complete the survey for your organization by April 11, 2025.

This assessment aims to collect information from legal aid providers across the country on their current needs and capacity to provide opioid and overdose crisis legal assistance, and to understand whether and how Equal Justice Works may help support the response through its Opioids Crisis Response Program. Once this assessment is closed, Equal Justice Works will analyze the data and determine what program strategy will be most effective and responsive to the needs identified.  

We encourage you to forward this survey to colleagues outside of your organization who may be interested in hosting an Equal Justice Works Opioids Crisis Response Fellow in the future and can provide additional insight for our consideration. 

This survey will close on April 11, 2025 

Questions? Please reach out to [email protected].  

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 23, 2025— Equal Justice Works, the nation’s largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law, today announced that Ramiah C. Johnson, a third-year law student at the University of Mississippi School of Law in Oxford, Mississippi, has joined the Board of Directors as the law student representative. Additionally, Frank Jimenez, Group Vice President and General Counsel of GE Healthcare, was named as Board Chair succeeding Kathryn Fritz of Fenwick West. 

The Equal Justice Works Board of Directors is composed of national leaders from every corner of the legal profession including judges, corporate counsel, law firm partners, law students, Fellow Alumni, academics, and public interest law leaders and advocates. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Ramiah to the Board of Directors,” said Verna Williams, CEO of Equal Justice Works. “We look forward to having her distinct and valuable perspective as a student Fellow alumnus at the table as we lay the groundwork for our upcoming 40th anniversary.” 

Ramiah is a third-year law student whose commitment to public interest is apparent in her several on-campus extracurriculars and in her track record of summer involvements. During her first-year summer, she interned for the Honorable Judge James E. Graves Jr. at the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where she honed her skills in legal research, drafting memoranda, and interpreting complex legal issues. In her second-year summer, she was a Rural Summer Legal Corps Fellow through Equal Justice Works at North Mississippi Rural Legal Services’ Low-Income Legal Tax Clinic, where she assisted clients with intricate tax challenges and ensured that their rights were upheld.

“I am thrilled to join such an inspiring group of individuals to collaborate on innovative ways to expand access to legal assistance for underserved communities,” said Ramiah. “This opportunity is truly invaluable, and I am excited to see the impact we can make together over the next three years!” 

In 2021, Ramiah graduated from Mississippi College with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. She remains driven to apply her education and experience to uplift and advocate for those in need, with a goal of showing that justice is accessible and equitable for all.  

Nominations for the law student board member are accepted each year from the Equal Justice Works community before being presented to the board of directors for final selection. 

Read more about the Equal Justice Works Board of Directors, including all active members, here. Read more about the current members of the Board of Counselors here. 

With 2024 soon in the rearview mirror, I’m proud of the remarkable milestones Equal Justice Works has achieved this year. Working with our vast and varied partners we’ve done more than just mobilize hundreds of Fellows. We’ve made strides to advance a legal system that is fair, just, and available to anyone, no matter their ability to pay. 

Our Fellows provided much-needed assistance to communities in need

Working on projects across the country, Fellows made their impact felt on such matters as voting rights, tenant protections, advocacy for victims of crime, and disaster response and preparedness. Because of the many who supported our Fellows and programs, we: 

• Mobilized 238 new Fellows in 33 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, DC across programs.
• Supported the Housing Justice Fellow Class of 2022 who completed their Fellowship this year and successfully prevented or delayed 7,518 evictions and secured over $4.2 million in benefits for families at risk of being displaced.
• Dispatched 50 Rural Summer Legal Corps Student Fellows who, over the course of their program, collectively contributed 15,000 hours to help rural communities.

We grew our nationwide movement for equal access to justice

Advancing our mission of equal justice requires partnerships, and I’m proud to say collaboration is deep in our DNA. We work with public and private sectors, serve urban and rural communities, and engage public servants at all levels of government. This year was no different, as we:   

• Partnered with the Law School Survey of Student Engagement to determine how law students learn about public interest careers. We shared our results in a briefing report and at a webinar for over 100 law school professionals. 
• Hosted the nation’s largest public interest career fair—with over 3,800 law students and 250 employers. 
• Established a new alumni-Fellow mentorship program led by the Alumni Advisory Council.  

We celebrated exemplary efforts in public interest at our annual gala  

• Honored two rock stars: Susan Alexander, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Biogen and Fellow alumni Ahilan Arulanantham of UCLA Law at the 2024 Scales of Justice event.

Our staff made waves in their own communities

We are exceptionally proud of the community work our team does in and out of the office. For example, our colleague Richard Luong, Director of Institutional Advancement, joined the newest class of National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Leadership Advancement Program fellows. Linda Anderson Stanley, Director of Fellowships, was named a Business of Pride Honoree for her advocacy on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Portfolio Manager Natanya Pope-Sohel became a board member for the Black Women’s Law Association of Greater Chicago.  

Editor’s note: She does not like to toot her own horn, but Verna received the Kate Stoneman Award for her “outstanding contributions to ensuring equity and fairness in the legal profession for women of all races, ages, and regions.” In addition, check out Verna’s thought leadership in publications like Law360, Inside Philanthropy, The Wall Street Journal, and Nonprofit Quarterly just to name a few. 

We are filled with gratitude for the year ahead

As we approach the new year, I am filled with hope for the future and grateful for this holiday period of rest since 2025 promises to be one of our busiest years yet: we’re hiring six Fellows for the inaugural class of the Opioid Crisis Response Program and jumpstarting a partnership with the Texas Immigration Law Council to narrow legal service gaps for immigrants in Texas – and that’s only Q1!  

To our exceptional team members: your talent and dedication form the cornerstone of our achievements. To our Fellows, alumni, and trusted partners: your confidence in Equal Justice Works motivates us to continually innovate and improve. To our supporters: your guidance and trust drive the success and growth of our organization. Together, we will create even more memorable experiences and achieve great heights in the year ahead. 

Thank you for being an integral part of the Equal Justice Works family and for contributing to our remarkable journey. 

With health and happiness in the new year,  

Verna Williams 

CEO, Equal Justice Works 

Equal Justice Works is partnering with Texas Immigration Law Council (TxILC) to support the Economic Justice Initiative (EJI)—an innovative program designed to narrow legal service gaps for immigrants across Texas, including in rural areas. TxILC is seeking three Equal Justice Works Fellows to help launch and support the initiative.  

EJI will mobilize a legal field team of 30 attorneys and non-attorneys to legal service organizations throughout Texas working in two-year fellowship projects. Equal Justice Works will help recruit three talented Fellows to support project implementation and help build the knowledge base around effective interventions that bring community justice workers and attorneys together. EJI’s model goes beyond traditional direct representation as one of the first initiatives to implement Texas’s forthcoming licensed legal paraprofessional program. Through a combination of direct representation, new service delivery models, and technological solutions, Fellows will help close the access to justice gap for noncitizens in Texas.   

The Economic Justice Initiative is currently recruiting for three Equal Justice Works Fellows to serve at Texas Immigration Law Council starting between January 1 and April 1, 2025. The positions are remote and can be performed from anywhere in Texas. Travel within Texas is required. The Equal Justice Works Fellowships available are:  

• Community Justice Worker Coordinator: Community Justice Workers (CJWs) are non-attorney legal advocates, some of whom will become licensed under forthcoming Supreme Court of Texas rules. The Fellow will coordinate EJI’s non-attorney field team, consisting of 15 CJWs placed at partner nonprofits throughout Texas, and will assist community organizations to adopt the CJW model.   

• Partnership & Education Coordinator: This position will focus on building and sustaining partnerships with community-based organizations across Texas to expand the reach and impact of the CJW model in civil legal services. The Fellow will work closely with the EJI legal field team and host organizations to identify partnership opportunities, develop CJW programs within community organizations, develop shareable materials, and advance efforts to strengthen the role of legal paraprofessionals in addressing access to justice challenges.  

• Technology Innovation Specialist: This Fellow will collaborate with the EJI legal team, 8-10 legal service providers, and community-based organizations. This Fellow will identify, implement, and evaluate digital tools that enhance language justice, streamline information exchange, implement guided intake questionnaires, and facilitate document automation. This Fellow will train and support the EJI team as they utilize tech-based solutions. 

Interested candidates must apply directly to Texas Immigration Law Council by following the instructions in each job description.  

If you have any questions about the application process or program, please reach out to [email protected].

In 2019, the Equal Justice Works Housing Justice Program began with eight Fellows serving in Richmond, Virginia with the goal to make housing justice more accessible for the community. Since then, the program has expanded throughout Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia to provide services for communities facing housing inequity. From 2022-2024, the Housing Justice Program mobilized 23 Attorney Fellows and 9 Organizer Fellows and bolstered the bandwidth of host organizations in their states. 

“Fellows in the Housing Justice Program are filling a vital service gap in the communities they serve,” said Laura Roach, senior program manager for the Housing Justice Program. “In most states, renters don’t have the right to an attorney when they are at risk of losing their homes to eviction even though the stakes are so high. The Fellows are really passionate about their clients and have helped thousands of families who would have otherwise faced housing court alone. Partner organizations even estimate the Housing Justice Program has doubled eviction representation in South Carolina.” 

This cohort of Housing Justice Program Fellows helped 7,518 households avoid or delay evictions through direct legal services, provided one-on-one resident services to 5,722 households, trained 8,868 community members about tenants’ rights, and conducted outreach to 29,482 households. Attorney Fellows played a critical role in helping families retain their homes—through brief service, legal advice, and extended representation. They secured over $4.2 million in economic benefits for households at risk of displacement.  

For example, Fellow Jamesa Parker helped a single mother avoid wrongful eviction due to incorrect and fraudulent paperwork filed by the children’s father. Additionally, due to Jamesa’s zealous advocacy, the client was reimbursed for mischarged rent, allowing her family economic relief. 

Organizer Fellows also made key contributions by connecting residents with legal services, sharing valuable resources, building trust in the community, and mobilizing tenant households to support systemic change. During the grant period, organizer Fellows recruited 369 community leaders and supported 176 large tenant gatherings to discuss resident challenges and mitigation. They also facilitated 61 political education sessions with 570 tenants and secured 302 media placements to raise public awareness.   

One tenant shared their experience working with Organizer Fellow Marianela Funes hosted by Tenants and Workers United. “There are a lot of organizations that don’t actually listen to us or help us. But thanks to [Tenants and Workers United (TWU)], they have elevated our voices and stories,” said a community member of a Fairfax County tenant association. “TWU’s programs bring a lot of benefits, but most importantly we gain knowledge and awareness of what goes on in our community and how we can come together. I have learned more about my rights to be able to protect myself. Through our efforts, I hope to find effective ways of getting our local leaders to listen to us and our perspective as immigrants.” 

Collectively, Fellows also influenced many policies and court practices related to rent stabilization, rental licensing requirements, increases to eviction filing fees, eviction expungement, record sealing, and improved living conditions for tenants. The impact of these successes will continue to benefit communities even after the Fellowship period. For example, after years of advocacy by tenants, legal services organizations, and Fellows, the city of Richmond, VA allocated $500,000 in its FY2025 budget to pilot a right-to-counsel in evictions program, which will provide a lawyer for a tenant facing eviction if they cannot afford one.    

One of the primary goals of the Housing Justice Program upon its inception was to increase the capacity of legal aid organizations by infusing the profession with a cohort of dedicated housing advocates who would continue their work throughout their careers. This is largely proving to be a success with each cohort, as 85% of the 2022-2024 class plans to continue working in a housing-related role. Further, 64% of Fellows reported that they are staying on at their host organizations as staff, and three of those Fellows will supervise the new class of Equal Justice Works Fellows at their organization. 

When asked about the Housing Justice Program’s ability to set Fellows up for success, one Fellow said: “I felt extremely supported by Equal Justice Works staff and really relished my connections with other Fellows. I felt professionally supported through the trainings, conferences, and Fellow calls made available in the program and would definitely recommend other young lawyers and recent grads to pursue [this opportunity].” 

Moving forward, Equal Justice Works is thrilled to continue supporting the impact of the Housing Justice Program by strengthening our presence in Maryland and South Carolina. With investments from Maryland Legal Services Corporation, the South Carolina Bar Foundation, and several other private foundations, 15 Fellows will begin their projects at host organizations in Maryland and South Carolina in 2025. 

Visit here to read more stories about the work of our Housing Justice Program Fellows and how they are advocating for policies and practices that protect the rights of all tenants. 

The Housing Justice Program includes Fellows hosted across Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia. The Housing Justice Program is made possible thanks to the generosity of The JPB Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Abell Foundation, Community Foundation for a greater Richmond, Maryland Legal Services Corporation, and Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina. 

Each fall, Equal Justice Works hosts the largest national public interest legal career fair, which brings together hundreds of law students and public interest employers for interviews, employer table talks, and networking opportunities. The 2024 Career Fair remained virtual for the fifth year in a row to ensure continued accessibility and inclusivity for all attendees and was held on October 9-11, 2024. 

The three-day event provided attendees the opportunity to network and interview for full-time positions and internships. This year, the Equal Justice Works Career Fair was the largest in Equal Justice Works’ history with more than 3,840 law student registrants. Event attendees participated in over 3,542 prescheduled interviews and 2,093 table talk sessions. Law students were able to connect with organizations they were interested in working with to lay the foundation for the next step in their career. 

Equal Justice Works also welcomed the largest number of employers to date, with over 260 public interest organizations represented. At the event, employers interviewed for over 395 internship and postgraduate positions. The virtual nature of the career fair allowed these employers to reach an even larger large pool of law students at law schools across the country who are passionate about their work. 

“The increased need for public interest lawyers to address a growing access to justice crisis is clear based on the record number of employers at this year’s career fair,” said Aoife Delargy Lowe, the vice president of law school engagement & advocacy at Equal Justice Works. “We are honored to play a part in launching a new generation of leaders into the field to tackle the most pressing legal issues facing our nation.” 

A special thanks to the Practising Law Institute (PLI) and the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) for their sponsorship of the career fair, public interest employers, and attendees for making the 2024 Career Fair a success.  

Missed this year? Please join us for the next Equal Justice Works Career Fair in October 2025! Additional information will be shared on our website in early spring. 

Equal Justice Works, the nation’s largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law, today announced the expansion of the Alumni Advisory Council (AAC) with the addition of 11 new members.  

The AAC is a non-fiduciary advisory board comprised of 21 Equal Justice Works alumni who provide counsel in support of the organization’s alumni engagement initiatives. AAC members work in partnership with the director of alumni relations to build lifelong relationships between Equal Justice Works, current Fellows, and alumni through programming, communication, and volunteerism. Members are reflective of the diverse strengths, Fellowship programs, geographic distribution, professional accomplishments, and public interest disciplines of the Equal Justice Works alumni community.  

“On behalf of the Alumni Advisory Council, I’m excited to welcome our new members,” said Claire Johnson Raba, the Chair of the Alumni Advisory Council. “We are delighted to expand the Alumni Advisory Council to 21 members this year, and we look forward to strengthening connections within the Equal Justice Works alumni and fellow community through outreach, programming, and the launch of a new mentorship program.” 

“We are thrilled to welcome our newest members to the AAC as we work to more efficiently advance the goals and activities of the AAC and Equal Justice Works’ strategic vision,” said Lynbea Toombs, the Director of Alumni Relations at Equal Justice Works. “This group brings with them valuable expertise, perspective, and knowledge that will be pivotal to the enrichment of our alumni programming and to the expansion of our professional development opportunities for current Fellows.” 

The new members of the Alumni Advisory Council are: 

Kevin De Liban, 2011 Fellow 

During his Equal Justice Works Fellowship, Kevin created and maintained medical-legal partnerships with community health clinics in these rural areas, in order to develop a holistic approach to helping clients improve their lives. After the Fellowship, Kevin worked for 12 years at Legal Aid of Arkansas—most recently as its Director of Advocacy–where he represented over 1,800 low-income people in matters involving health care, workers’ rights, public benefits, special education, and domestic violence. He is now the Founder of TechTonic Justice, a newly launched nonprofit to fight alongside low-income people harmed by artificial intelligence (AI).  

Eliana Green, 2019 Fellow 

Eliana worked to protect and restore the rights of survivors of the War on Drugs and mass incarceration through legal clinics, public education, corporate partnerships, and policy advocacy led by impacted people. After Eliana’s Fellowship, she continued her advocacy as the Director of Policy and Reentry Legal Services at The Hood Incubator. Eliana also served as a Senior Policy Advisor at The Minority Cannabis Business Association, where she coauthored the National Cannabis Equity Report and the Model Municipal Ordinance—a set of model policy recommendations for lawmakers and cannabis regulators. She then pivoted to Civil Rights litigation and currently serves as a Movement Lawyer within Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic. Eliana is a proud Delegate member of Supernova Women and serves as a Board member of Because Black is Still Beautiful as well as Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD). 

Shannon LeVar Mills, 2017 Fellow 

Shannon’s project ensured that low-income households were afforded access to justice when they encountered legal issues related to their housing stability. After Shannon’s Fellowship ended, he remained with Georgia Legal Services Program as a Staff Attorney and then joined their Eviction Prevention Project. Shannon was then promoted to being a Supervising Attorney in the Macon Regional Office. Shannon is now a Director of Attorney Recruitment, Diversity, and Retention on the Senior Leadership Team of Georgia Legal Services Program. 

Mai Nguyen, 2016 Fellow 

During her fellowship, Mai worked with legal service providers and community-based organizations to identify legal needs in rural communities and build a support system for low-income Californians in need. After her Fellowship, Mai worked at Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles as a Staff Attorney for nearly five years providing free assistance and legal representation to low-income individuals at risk of losing their home or facing legal barriers to secure housing. She now works at the Los Angeles Superior Court as a Self-Help Attorney, where she provides legal information and guidance to litigants on matters related to family law. 

Leeja Patel, 2011 Fellow 

Leeja’s project combatted domestic violence, trafficking, and gender-based violence in immigrant communities. After her fellowship ended, Leeja continued working at her host organization as a staff attorney as well as the Interim Development Director.  She then moved into higher education, returning to UC Law SF as the college’s first Director of Student Life and first Associate Director for Student Leadership and Community Development. She currently works at the University of Michigan Law School, where she focuses on leadership development, belonging, first-year mentorship, and other programs that enhance student life as the school’s first Assistant Director for Campus Life and Engagement. 

Monica Porter Gilbert, 2016 Fellow 

During the Equal Justice Works fellowship, Monica ensured that people with disabilities received reasonable accommodation and protection from discrimination. Once her two-year Fellowship was complete, Monica joined Homebase: The Center for Common Concerns, to work with communities to increase capacity to end homelessness, including responding to COVID-19, increasing Census 2020 participation, and building cross-sector work through the Criminal Legal System Initiative. 

Christine M. Scartz, 1995 Fellow 

Christine’s project created a legal clinic and resource center for indigent victims of intimate partner violence and stalking in rural judicial circuits. After Professor Scartz’s Fellowship ended, her project was absorbed by the University of Georgia School of Law into their developing Civil Clinics program. After some time in private practice, Professor Scartz returned to the Law School in 2015 to teach and to transform her Equal Justice Works project, which had remained in continuous operation since 1995 when her fellowship began, into an independent teaching clinic and experiential learning program. Professor Scartz is a Clinical Associate Professor and Director of the Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic. She teaches Family Law, Advanced Family Law, a Clinic seminar on intimate partner violence, and an undergraduate class, Law and Social Justice. 

Carlos F. Ramos-Hernández, 2021 Fellow 

Carlos empowered citizens to demand public accountability by strengthening Puerto Rico’s constitutional rights to access government information, promote transparency, and engage in participatory democracy. Carlos is currently pursuing an LL.M. degree at Harvard Law School to continue his path in legal academia. He has taught courses on Media Law and free speech issues for journalists and law students. Carlos also continues to work at Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) as the Transparency Program’s Staff Attorney, where he serves as the organization’s in-house counsel and further participates in CPI’s strategic access to information litigation efforts. 

Clara Spera, 2010 Fellow 

Clara worked to protect and expand access to reproductive care, particularly for low-income women who live far away from the nearest reproductive health clinic, using a variety of innovative legal and advocacy rights, at a critical time when the Supreme Court was likely to decimate the right to an abortion. Clara now serves as Senior Counsel to the Abortion Access Legal Defense Fund at the National Women’s Law Center. In her role at the National Women’s Law Center, Clara also engages in strategic advising on reproductive rights and health issues as the Law Center’s representative to the Abortion Defense Network and she litigates reproductive rights cases. Clara is also a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, where she teaches a seminar course on reproductive rights after Dobbs. 

Barbara Stalder, 2003 Fellow 

Barbara’s project provided support for at-risk youth in abuse neglect family court cases. In 2006, Barbara became a staff attorney for Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (AVDA) where she provided direct representation in family violence cases. In 2008 Barbara left AVDA to become a clinical professor and supervising attorney at the UH Law Center Civil Legal Clinic where she taught family law, probate, and guardianship. After eight years with UH Law Center, Barbara went into private practice, where she became a successful mediator, mediating high conflict and domestic violence cases. She also provided direct representation to clients in family law matters and conducted appeals for families in child protection cases. In 2018 Barbara was elected to the 280th Judicial District Court where she served as Judge until 2022. During her term as judge, Barbara served on the Covid 19 Judicial Task force and assisted in setting up remote Zoom access in local libraries for self-represented litigants. After leaving the bench, Barbara returned to AVDA, where she currently serves as the managing attorney for AVDA’s Houston office. 

Alexandra Enriquez St. Pierre, 2013 Fellow 

Alex’s project provided direct representation and systemic legal advocacy to youths as they aged out of the foster care system and transitioned to early adulthood. After her Fellowship ended, Alex stayed at Legal Aid and advocated on behalf of parents of children with disabilities to obtain appropriate services in public schools. She then clerked for the Honorable Marcia G. Cooke of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida in Miami, Florida, and later for the Honorable James E. Graves, Jr. of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Jackson, Mississippi. After she finished her clerkships, she moved to Boston to work at the Conservation Law Foundation, Inc. (CLF). She spent four years litigating in federal court against large oil companies and is now Director of Communities & Toxics in CLF’s Environmental Justice program. She oversees CLF’s work with New England communities opposing waste infrastructure expansion and fighting toxic pollutants. 

To learn more about the Alumni Advisory Council, visit here.

On October 15, 2024, Equal Justice Works gathered hundreds of members of the legal community for the annual Scales of Justice Event. This year’s event gathered our community of Fellows, Alumni, and supporters in Washington, D.C., to support our mission and to honor Susan Alexander, the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Biogen. We also honored one of our very own accomplished alumni, Ahilan Arulanantham, Professor from Practice and Co-Director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law, with the Distinguished Alumni Award. 

Thanks to generous event sponsors and donors, we raised $3.2 million to support our efforts to support Equal Justice Works in mobilizing a community of lawyers committed to public service and equal justice!  

Frank Jimenez, Group Vice President and General Counsel of GE Healthcare and Vice Chair of the Equal Justice Works Board of Directors, opened the show for the evening along with Board Chair Kate Fritz, Partner in the Litigation and Intellectual Property Groups of Fenwick & West LLP. They applauded our community for their support in making this year’s event possible and introduced the 2024 Text-to-Give Fellow Malcolm Lloyd. Malcolm shared the inspiration behind his project at the ACLU of Louisiana advocating for youth harmed by discriminatory practices and policies in New Orleans. 

“I am incredibly grateful to be able to do this work thanks to the support of all of you in this room – current and past fellows, advocates, and supporters who’ve dedicated so much to help those in desperate need of equal treatment under the law,” Malcolm said. “This Fellowship enables me to confront the school-to-prison pipeline by bringing civil rights cases on behalf of low-income children… brutalized by school resource officers, police, and prison guards across all of Louisiana.”  

In response, attendees texted in donations totaling more than $75,000 to fund a 2025 Equal Justice Works Fellow who, like Malcolm, will pursue their passion to help individuals and communities in need. 

Verna Williams, CEO of Equal Justice Works, then took to the stage to share her reflections about the growth of the organization and what’s to come: “This community, the multiple partners it takes to make a fellowship real – that’s the secret sauce behind the impact of Equal Justice Works. In almost 40 years, Equal Justice Works has expanded in ways our founders likely couldn’t have dreamed. And of course, we’re not done yet. We’re enhancing our Fellowship programs, targeting new schools, providing new opportunities for Fellows to learn and network, and developing projects to promote economic empowerment in communities of color.” 

The evening’s program also featured 2020 Fellow Valencia Richardson, who spoke about her Fellowship at the Campaign Legal Center and her continued work challenging discriminatory voting practices. Watch Valencia’s video below to learn more: 

After dinner, 2012 Fellow Carmen Iguina Gonzalez presented Ahilan T. Arulanantham with the Distinguished Alumni Award in recognition of his extensive career advocating for immigrants’ rights and working to educate the next generation of public interest leaders.  

“I am deeply honored to receive this award from Equal Justice Works. What this organization has done to advance social justice by seeding generations of public interest lawyers has been remarkable,” Ahilan shared. “I benefited immensely from the training and opportunities EJW gave me—both directly, through its own programs at fellows’ conferences, and through the education I received from my host organization—the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, where I had the chance to learn from some of the best litigators in the country. That time really launched my career as an immigrants’ rights lawyer.” 

The evening concluded with our 2024 Scales of Justice Honoree, Susan H. Alexander, who was introduced by Caroline Dorsa, Chair of the Board of Directors at Biogen. Throughout her career, Susan has played a pivotal role in advancing the cause of public interest law. She is a longstanding member of both the Equal Justice Works Scales of Justice Steering Committee and is a charter member of the Board of Counselors, and her support of Biogen’s Fellows is an example of her dedication to fostering a new generation of passionate public service leaders.  

Susan shared what inspires her to do this work, her hopes for the future, and the role our Fellows play in reaching the vision of equal justice for all.  

“If we are to again endure, to move forward, and to prosper, in today’s polarized and frightened world, our commitment to equal justice and the Rule of Law must be unwavering,” Susan said. “Justice must be available and delivered equally to all, without exception. This is at the very heart of the mission and commitment of Equal Justice Works. In these times, the work done by Equal Justice Works and its amazing Fellows, which so profoundly benefits us all, is more critical and more urgent than ever.”  

Huge thanks to everyone who made this program possible: Champion of Justice sponsors Biogen; Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP; and Greenberg Traurig, LLP, as well as our other event sponsors, the 2024 Steering Committee, our staff, and all who attended and supported the Scales of Justice!