Create Change Winter 2026

Associate Dean's Message

Be the change you wish to see in the world . . . – Gandhi

Anna Wang 3

Dear all,

We know many are feeling overwhelmed by everything happening in our country as well as around the world. We also know current students (especially our 1Ls who recently finished the Online Coordinated Interview program) and alumni (especially those who lost their federal government jobs) are emotionally and physically exhausted. Yet at the same time, we have to process what we are seeing and engage with what’s happening. Even though it’s tempting to burrow deeper into the relative safety of our Stanford bubble, it’s important we stay connected to the causes and communities that spurred us to pursue careers in the law.

Toward that end, the Levin Center is committed to creating space to help our students (as well as the larger SLS community) discuss and analyze troubling current events. We co-sponsored an event featuring seven faculty, Legal Perspectives on the Federal Crackdown in Minnesota, on January 28. SLS Professors Rabia Belt, Evelyn Douek, Lucas Guttentag, Pam Karlan, Fred Smith, Jayashri Srikantiah, and Bob Weisberg answered student questions about immigration, federalism, the First Amendment, and civil and criminal liability. Room 290 was packed and I was heartened to see so many members of our community eager to grapple with these issues. Special thanks to our co-sponsors for their support: Stanford Criminal Justice Center, Neukom Center for the Rule of Law, Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession, Stanford Center for Racial Justice, Office of Student Affairs, Stanford Constitutional Law Center, and Three Strikes Project.

We followed up on this strong interest by organizing a number of small group discussions led by faculty. These are only open to current students but you can view the line-up here. This initiative was spearheaded by our new temporary public interest career counselor, Julia Neusner, JD ’20.

Following the departure of our previous executive director, Shannon Al-Wakeel, in October, we hired Julia to help us counsel law students. She is a 2020 SLS graduate whose work focuses on migration, climate change, and human rights. She founded the nonprofit Human Security Initiative and has worked as an attorney and researcher with the International Refugee Assistance Project, the Stanford Migration and Asylum Lab, and Human Rights. Julia will remain on the team until we are fully staffed. We are so grateful for Julia’s support during this transition.

I am thrilled to announce that we have named our next executive director: Shafaq Khan. Shafaq is a familiar face for current students and recent graduates as she has spent the past 6.5 years with the Levin Center and most recently served as our Director of Public Interest Career Development. She is deeply invested in our students, our Levin Center team culture, and our mission. Read more about Shafaq in the profile below. This also means we will be hiring a new colleague to take Shafaq’s former role. Please spread the news: the job announcement is posted on the Stanford Jobs site. I also wanted to offer special thanks to the faculty, students, and staff that helped me interview our finalists: Professors Tendayi Achiume, Gulika Reddy, Shirin Sinnar, and David Sklansky; Dana Alpert, JD ’26; Dayle Chung, JD ’27; Kaisa Goodman, JD ’26; Isabella Jackson-Saitz, JD ‘27; and Krishna Pathak, JD ’27; Zeenat Basrai (Office of Career Services), Debbie Mukamal (Stanford Criminal Justice Center), and Holly Parrish (Office of Student Affairs).

We also have seen several alumni move into new positions, including into senior leadership roles at nonprofits, partners at private public interest law firms, and law school administration. See more below. Please share your good news so we can highlight you in future issues.

Finally, after sharing offices with our colleagues from Career Services for the past year and a half, we have moved into new space on the first floor of the Law School’s Crown Building. Melanie and I are now in the small suite (Crown 146) near the Registrar’s office and Law Library’s first floor entrance, directly across from the staircase. There’s also a small lounge in that suite with snacks so we encourage you to come visit us. We are still figuring out artwork but have tried to make the space feel warm and welcoming. The other four members of the team will be in offices in the hallway in between Career Services and Student Affairs staff once renovations are done.

I know each of us is struggling in different ways. Please reach out if the Levin Center can provide support with your public interest/public sector job search. For those near campus, we welcome you to drop by for a snack and a friendly conversation.

Sincerely,
Anna

Shafaq Khan Named New Executive Director

After a nationwide search, we have named Shafaq Khan as our new executive director. She first joined the Levin Center team in 2019 to advise law students who are interested in pursuing government and nonprofit work. Shafaq has been a public interest lawyer for over eight years, serving the last two as the Director of the Disability Advocacy Project at Brooklyn Legal Services. Along with the attorneys and paralegals in DAP, she represented low income individuals who had been denied SSI/SSD disability benefits in their administrative hearings and subsequent appeals. Before that, she spent five years as a senior staff attorney at Mobilization for Justice’s Mental Health Law Project. Shafaq represented clients with mental illness in housing court and administrative hearings. While at MFJ, she provided trainings to mental health providers, mental health consumers, court staff, and judges. She established a legal clinic at Harlem Community Justice Center housing court as a community based initiative to provide immediate access to an attorney and also oversaw a pro bono referral program with partner law firms. Earlier in her career, Shafaq served as a Fellow with South Brooklyn Legal Services. Shafaq earned her JD from Cardozo Law School and her BA from Columbia University.

She also recently published her first book, Zeyna Lost and Found. This is a middle grade adventure set in 1970 that follows twelve-year-old Zeyna on the Hippie Trail through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey as she solves a mystery that hits far too close to home. We have a copy in our new office lounge area if students want to borrow it to read.

We asked Shafaq a few questions so alumni who graduated before she arrived can learn more about her. Also, her name is pronounced like Suffolk but with an H, so shuh-fuhk.

What are you most excited to tackle in your new role as executive director?
I am so excited to work with our dedicated Levin Center team to support SLS students in making the choice to become a PI/PS lawyer that much easier, especially in this moment. That is the lens I will bring to everything on my plate. What are the skills we want our students to build so onboarding is easier? What are the trainings or best practices we want attorneys in the field to share with our students so the work is sustainable? How do we deepen employer relationships in smaller markets and support nonprofits? I want to think ambitiously about how to continue the legacy of the Levin Center, which began with a single fellowship almost two decades ago and has expanded to sixteen now. That type of growth comes from thinking big, viewing PI/PS work as essential to strengthening our democracy on every level, and a dogged persistence that our students and alumni can rely on.

How do you want the SLS community and prospective students to view the Levin Center?
I want the SLS community and prospective students to view the Levin Center as a resource for everyone, to instill the values of fairness, and the importance of rule of law however we can. Whether you are someone who knows that they only want to do public defense after graduation, or someone who thinks they might be at a firm for a few years and then transition to impact litigation, or someone who wants to retire as a BigLaw partner, the Levin Center has something to offer you. This broad tent approach is exemplified by our pro bono program that has over 80% participation from our 1L class and gives you a chance to work with clients on their expungement or eviction case or the PI associates program for students who want to learn about the effective transition from firm to PI work. We hope our programs can leave a mark, to broaden your understanding of the possibilities, or to impart a skill or experience that you remember down the road.

What’s one thing you want those you haven’t met yet in the SLS community to know about you?
I am a third-culture kid that was born in Saudi Arabia, even though my parents are Pakistani. This life experience instilled in me the importance of advocating for fairness and equality but also the value of learning from and about other people’s perspectives, life experiences, and backgrounds. I love meeting and hearing from our students and my curiosity stems from a deep-rooted commitment to seeing people as their whole selves. I can’t wait to strengthen existing relationships and build new ones as we continue this important work for Stanford Law School’s community!

Alumni in the News

We are always excited to share news of our SLS Public Interest and Public Service alumni. We regularly review LinkedIn to check for updates on our alumni but please feel free to forward us news to include in future issues as well.

The Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE), a leading ethical leadership program, has named Noah Bookbinder, JD '98, as its Chief Executive Officer. Noah previously led Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) as its President and CEO. Earlier in this career, Noah was Director, Office of Legislative and Public Affairs at the U.S. Sentencing Commission; Chief Counsel for Senator Patrick Leahy on the Senate Judiciary Committee; and a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division, Public Integrity section.

Altshuler Berzon has named Max Carter-Oberstone as a partner. Earlier in his career, Max was at the CA Solicitor General's office and an Orrick Justice Fellow at the Policing Project.

Vanessa Frank, BA '97/JD '03, founded a new nonprofit, MARIPOSA Advocacy and Legal Services, providing low-cost quality immigration legal services and developing the next-generation of legal experts on the Central Coast of California.

Legal Aid at Work has promoted Kevin Clune, JD '06, from Vice President of Strategy to President. Over the past 15 years, he has served as a Workers’ Rights Clinic instructor, full-time volunteer, board member, staff member, and a senior leader within the organization.

Hannah Kieschnick, JD '17, has joined Gupta Wessler as Counsel. Previously, she was a senior staff attorney at Public Justice, staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, and Deputy County Counsel at the Santa Clara County Counsel's office on its Social Justice and Impact Litigation team.

Adanna Love, JD '11, joined Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in January 2026, as Program Counsel for the Education Equity practice area, where she will focus on reducing the exclusionary discipline policies and practices that undermine the rights to students to receive equitable access to a public education. Previously, she worked as Privacy and Product Counsel for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative where she advised the Education Technology and Policy teams on laws and data practices to safeguard student privacy rights.

George Washington University School of Law has named Matt Nosanchuk, BA '87/JD '90, as the Lerner Family Associate Dean for Public Interest Law. He previously served in both the Biden and Obama administrations in the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education.

Matt Platkin, BA '09/JD '14, joined the New York University Law Center for Law and Public Trust as a distinguished scholar. Previously, he served as Attorney General for New Jersey and chief counsel to Gov. Phil Murphy prior to becoming Attorney General in 2022.

Outten and Golden has promoted Mikael Rojas to partner. Mikael served in the Biden administration as senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Julian Simcock, JD '13, has joined Harvard Kennedy School's Future of Diplomacy Project. Previously, he was the Director of Global Criminal Justice and Multilateral Affairs at the White House's National Security Council, Deputy Legal Adviser to the US Mission to the United Nations, and an attorney-adviser at the State Department's Office of the Legal Adviser.

NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund promoted Anuja Thatte, JD '14, from senior counsel to Deputy Director of Litigation, focusing on political participation.

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Lauren Zack, JD '17

Lauren Zack, JD '17, has been selected as an Administrative Law Judge with the California Department of Social Services. Previously, she was a Clinical Supervising Attorney with Stanford Law School's Community Law Clinic and an Equal Justice Works Fellow with Public Counsel.

About Create Change

Create Change is designed and produced quarterly by the staff of the John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law. Unless specifically noted, all articles are written by staff.

Associate Dean for Public Service and Public Interest Law: Anna Wang
Executive Director: Shafaq Khan
Director, Pro Bono and Externship Programs: Mike Winn
Director, International Public Interest Initiatives: Kevin Lo (SLS JD ’11)
Public Interest Career Counselor: Julia Neusner (SLS JD ’20)
Program Manager: Melanie Stone
Research Assistants: Arjun Ayyapan, BA ’26

To be notified when new issues of the newsletter are available, please visit this website.

Create Change is published via email and past issues are available on our website. Articles, letters, and photos are welcome. Please send them to public.interest@law.stanford.edu.

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