Stanford Law School Graduates and Recent Alums Embark on Public Interest Fellowships and Other Government and Nonprofit Positions

Stanford Law School (SLS) has recognized 48 SLS recent SLS graduates who received postgraduate fellowships, government honors positions, and offers of employment in public interest settings, including civil rights, criminal justice, environmental law and civil governmental agencies. Paid postgraduate fellowships allow law school graduates to work full time for at least one year (some organizations provide more years of funding) on projects and programs designed to further the public interest.

SLS Support of Public Interest Work

Offered by the John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law, this year’s 17 SLS-funded fellowships are part of SLS’s broader efforts to support the pursuit of careers in public interest. Stanford Law School, through the Levin Center, provides more than $6 million every year to directly support students pursuing public interest jobs over the summer and after graduation.

The Levin Center also helps graduates secure externally funded fellowships, government honors positions and other entry-level public interest positions. SLS provides its students with a number of opportunities to learn about public interest law through its pro bono program, externships, mentorships, career services, speaker series, and financial assistance.

SLS-Funded Fellowships

Helena Abbott, JD ’24

Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Durham, North Carolina

Helena plans to protect the rights of people incarcerated in North Carolina to vote and to be represented in our democracy by building voting infrastructure in jails and fighting “prison gerrymandering.”

Sebastian Alarcon, JD ’24

Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Washington, D.C.

Sebastian will work with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) to increase the volume of novel 42 U.S.C. § 1981 alienage discrimination claims filed against businesses who bar noncitizen and non-Lawful Permanent Resident Latinos from seeking home, auto, and other lines of credit.

Emily Bruell, JD ’24

Legal Services of South Central Michigan, Ypsilanti, MI

Emily will join Legal Services of South Central Michigan to provide holistic representation to tenants facing housing instability, focusing primarily on eviction defense. 

Bella Cooper, JD ’24

Office of the CA State Public Defender, Oakland, CA

Bella will serve as a fellow at the Office of the State Public Defender, where she will represent people incarcerated on California’s death row. She will primarily work on capital appeals and Racial Justice Act matters in a variety of procedural postures.

Mark Goldstein, JD ’24

SF Public Defenders, San Francisco, CA

Mark will join the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office to represent indigent San Franciscans in criminal court, with a caseload of up to 30 misdemeanor cases. He will also serve as a second chair in felony trials.

Jamie Halper, JD ’24

Federal Defender, NDCA, San Francisco, CA

Jamie will work as a trial attorney at the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of California, representing indigent clients in federal criminal proceedings.

Madison Irene, JD ’24

Exoneration Project, Chicago, IL

Madison will join The Exoneration Project (EP), where she will work with indigent clients on their post-conviction claims, specifically focusing on wrongful conviction cases in both state and federal court.

Emma Leeds Armstrong, JD ’24

Electronic Frontier Foundation, San Francisco, CA

Emma will work with the Electronic Frontier Foundation to achieve First and Fourth Amendment rights-protective precedent through impact litigation and amicus work.

Sally Marsh, JD ’24

States United Democracy Center, Washington, DC

Sally will join States United Democracy Center’s efforts to protect free and fair elections, with a focus on supporting state and local election officials around the country in the 2024 election cycle.

William Moss, JD ’24

Federal Defenders of NY, NY

William will join the Federal Defenders of New York to represent clients in their direct and collateral appeals. As a member of the appellate unit, he will also assist trial attorneys with legal questions requiring additional research and analysis.

Brett Parker, JD ’22

Federal Defenders of New York, NY, NY

Brett will work with the Federal Defenders of New York to defend those accused of federal crimes who cannot afford an attorney. This includes representing clients during pretrial proceedings, plea negotiations, trial, and sentencing.

SLS International Fellowships

Olamide Abiose, JD ’23

International Rights Advocate, Washington, DC

Olamide will work with International Rights Advocates and use her neuroscience expertise to incorporate research around child brain development into lawsuits brought by West African children working in hazardous conditions along the cocoa supply chain.

Ana Cutts Dougherty, JD ’24

Redress, Hague, Netherlands

Ana will serve as a fellow at REDRESS, where she’ll work on strategic litigation and policy advocacy in partnership with local NGOs to deliver justice and reparation for torture survivors across several countries including Nepal, Kenya, and South Africa.

SLS Criminal Defense Fellowship

This year’s Criminal Defense Fellow was funded by gifts made in honor and memory of Barbara Allen Babcock, whose teaching career at SLS spanned more than four decades. Professor Babcock, who passed away in 2020, was an expert in criminal and civil procedure and an award-winning teacher. She was the first director of Washington DC’s newly-named Public Defender Service.

Lauren Courtney, JD ’24

Appellate Advocates, NY, NY

Lauren will join Appellate Advocates where she will represent indigent survivors of domestic violence seeking resentencing for crimes they committed as result of their victimization under New York’s innovative Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act.

SLS Deane F. Johnson Fellowships

Charlotte Finegold, JD ’24

Human Rights Watch

Charlotte will work in Human Rights Watch’s Environment & Human Rights Division, where she’ll help expand legal protections for communities forced by climate hazards to relocate, so that communities can instead migrate on their own terms.

Alisa Hoban, JD ’24

Juvenile Law Center, Philadelphia, PA

Alisa will join the Juvenile Law Center to prevent the over-policing and over-incarceration of Black and Brown low-income youth through impact litigation, policy advocacy, and community organizing.

SLS Civitas Fellowship

Ana Carell, JD ’23

Federal Defender, NDCA, San Francisco, CA

Anais will participate in all aspects of indigent criminal defense and represent clients at various stages of their cases as a Trial Attorney Fellow with the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of California.

Equal Justice Works Fellowships

Ben Clark, JD ’24

Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

David Cremins, JD ’24

California Rural Legal Assistance, Fresno, CA

Larkin Levine, JD ’24

Land of Lincoln Legal Aid, St. Louis, MO

Steven Ortega, JD ’24

Northwest Justice Project, Seattle, WA

Mide Odunsi, JD ’23

NAACP LDF

Immigration Legal Services Fellowship

Rosie La Puma Lebel, JD & MA ’24

Law Office of Helen Lawrence, Oakland, CA

Skadden Foundation Fellowship

Luke Norquist, JD ’24

Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Saint Paul, MN

Altshuler Berzon Fellowship

Aaron Schaffer-Neitz, JD ’24

Altshuler Berzon, San Francisco, CA

Caroline Hunsicker, JD ’24

Altshuler Berzon, San Francisco, CA

Shute Mihaly Weinberger Fellowship

Josh Kirmsse, JD ‘23

Shute Mihaly Weinberger, San Francisco, CA

Federal and State Government Honors Programs

Elena Goldstein, JD ’21

U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (U.S. DOJ Honors Program)

Haley Amster, JD ’21

California Solicitor General, San Francisco, CA (Geoffrey Wright Fellowship)

Other Government Positions

Whit Froehlich, JD ’24

U.S. Senator Pete Welch’s office

Sophie Allen, JD ’22

Solano County Public Defender

Daniel Kim, JD ’24

Mississippi Solicitor General, Jackson, MS

Angela Liu, JD ’24

King County Public Defender, Seattle, WA

Tessa Silverman, JD ’24

Orleans Public Defender

Nonprofit, Private Public Interest Law Firms, and Other Entry-Level Positions

Shir (Sam) Becker, JD ’23

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project

Anna Bostwick, JD ’24

Habeas Corpus Resource Center, San Francisco, CA

Trevor Byrne, JD ’23

Lichten & Liss-Riordan

Andrew Hiyama, JD ’24

Legal Aid Society, Juvenile Rights Practice, New York, NY

Asher Morse, JD ’24

National Institute for Workers’ Rights, Concord, CA

Jordan Payne, JD ’24

Legal Aid Society, Criminal Division, New York, NY

Hannah Schwarz, JD ’21

FarmSTAND, Washington, DC

Elliot Stahr, JD ’24

Avloni Law, San Francisco, CA

Anya Weinstock, JD ’24

Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, NY, NY

Remeny White, JD ’24

Legal Aid Society of New York, NY, NY

Daniel Zahn, JD ’23

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Philadelphia, PA

Kelsey Dunn, JD ’24

Crag Law Center

Sarah Corning, JD ’24

American Civil Liberties Union of Texas