Meet the Current Human Rights Clinic Student Interns
Lily Arslanian is a 2L from Boston, Massachusetts. Her Armenian roots and cultural background inspire her passion for global justice and collective advocacy. She most recently interned at the United States Institute of Peace, where she led comprehensive research on the security and political ramifications surrounding Africa's mineral supply chain shifts and the global green energy transition. This opportunity allowed her to fuse her passion for environmental justice and global security to address the accessibility gaps in volatile regions concerning life-sustaining resources, and her work will be submitted to Congress this Spring. Before attending law school, she supported marketing and business communications for Armenian International Women's Association (AIWA), a global non-profit dedicated to advancing gender equality and women's health. At UM Law, she is a Junior Editor for the Race & Social Justice Law Review, the President of the Alliance Against Human Trafficking student organization, and competes with the International Moot Court Program on the International Criminal Court team. Her work in the clinic focuses on advancing the Right to Food through research and activism demanding state accountability and change for discriminatory local policies that criminalize poverty and disproportionately impact people of color in Miami-Dade.
Nicole Azarian is a 2L student born originally from Boston, Massachusetts. Her Armenian-Iraqi heritage has fostered her passion for human rights and humanitarian law. Before law school, Nicole worked as a Paralegal helping obtain compensatory justice for victims of childhood sexual abuse. Currently, she interns at the Office for Victims of Crime at the U.S. Department of Justice, is competing on Miami Law's International Moot Court's International Criminal Court team and is on Miami Law's Trial Team. Her work in the clinic is focused on Corporate Accountability, including assisting EarthRights International with their upcoming trial against Chiquita Brands International and strategizing broader initiatives surrounding the work of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.
Kristina Bergman (she/her) is a 2L from Palm Beach County, FL, who transitioned to law school from working as a Licensed Registered Dietitian. Kristina serves as the OUTLaw Activism Chair, is a Junior Editor for the Race & Social Justice Law Review, and is a HOPE Fellow. This past summer, Kristina interned at the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County supporting immigrant communities affected by SB1718. During last winter break, Kristina interned with Chainless Change creating materials to empower community members to challenge injustices in the criminal legal system. As a clinic intern, Kristina is researching laws and policies that hinder or support realization of the human right to adequate food.
Lindsey Graham is a 2L from Kansas City, Missouri. Prior to law school, she worked with indigenous midwives in the Ecuadorian Rainforest to improve access to culturally adequate, safe maternal-infant health care and to amplify platforms for indigenous women’s rights. She is a Miami Public Interest Scholar and current serves as the Co-Executive Chair on the Miami Law Chapter of If/When/How, Lawyering for Reproductive Justice. Additionally, Lindsey will compete in the MootMadrid competition as a member of the International Moot Court Program. Outside of the classroom, Lindsey works as a law clerk for Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton where she supports the firm’s work in commercial complex litigation. As a Corporate Accountability intern of the Human Rights Clinic, Lindsey conducts legal research and drafts pleadings to support the clinic’s partner organization with its class action lawsuit against Chiquita Brands International.
Juliana Greene is a 2L from Cleveland, Ohio. On campus, Juliana is a member of Miami Law Women and was recently elected to serve as Community Outreach on the 2024-2025 E-Board of the Human Rights Society. During her 1L summer, Juliana served as a HOPE Summer Public Interest Fellow and interned at the Office of Criminal Conflict Regional Counsel. In her undergraduate career, Juliana volunteered at Alvis House as a reentry services intern, where she aided previously incarcerated persons with their transitions back into the community. Juliana is a member of the Housing & Homelessness Team within the Clinic and focuses on finding multifaceted approaches to effectively break the viscous cycle of housing insecurities.
Kasra Greiner, a 2L intern with the Human Rights Clinic, serves as President of the South/West Asian and North African Law Students Association. As a first-year student, he was a research intern at the Miami Law Center for Ethics and Public Service (CEPS), with a focus on housing and community equity. He is also a member of the Miami Law trial team and Litigation Skills Program, and has previously volunteered at Guardian ad Litem, working with a multidisciplinary team to advocate for the best interests of children in the foster care system. Currently, he is interning at the Human Rights Clinic, actively contributing to the Housing and Homelessness team's efforts to tackle housing inequities in Miami-Dade County and Nationally.
Ashton Greusel is a 3L from Marco Island, Florida. She currently serves as the President of the Disability Law Students Association, Co-Chair of the Public Interest Leadership Board, and Vice President of the Mental Health Collective in addition to being an Intern in the Human Rights Clinic this year. Ashton’s work in the clinic centers around Gender Justice, involving research to illuminate Women’s rights coverage under existing human rights systems.
Cassandra Hacker is a 2L born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. This past summer, Cassandra had the opportunity to work as one of the inaugural Manne Homeless Prevention Foundation Fellows at the Legal Aid Services of Broward County where she helped families in Broward County on the brink of homelessness. On campus, Cassandra is a member of organizations including First Generation Law Student Association and the Disability Law Student Association, in addition to being an intern with the Human Rights Clinic this year. Cassandra's work in the clinic focuses on advancing Gender Justice in the Miami-Dade area and abroad.
Zoe Henderson is a 3L student from Miami, Florida. While attending law school, she worked at Goldberg and Rosen where she learned the value of empathy and storytelling as powerful tools for advocacy. She is currently working at Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc., where she has the privilege of serving those who have historically been left behind. It has further deepened her commitment to upholding human rights values and ensuring access to equitable justice for all. Her work within the clinic focuses on the Right to Food where she and her esteemed colleagues, Lily Arslanian and Kristina Bergman, are developing tools that will empower communities to transform their advocacy into successful policy.
Estefanía Hernández is a 2L student born in Bogotá. Colombia and raised in South Florida. Before entering law school, Estefanía worked as a high school English teacher and mentor. Over the summer, she worked as a law clerk at Diaz Reus & Targ, LLP, an international law firm focused on national and international parallel proceedings and business transactions in all areas of the law. Estefanía is a member of the Hispanic Bar Association, Colombian Bar Association, First Generation Law Student Association, and former intern at the Center for Ethics and Public Service. Currently, she serves as the Advocacy Co-chair of UM’s Public Interest Leadership board and is a clinic intern at UM's Human Rights Clinic, specifically focusing on corporate accountability. Estefanía’s areas of interest include civil rights, commercial law, and civil litigation. She aims to use the law to further research and refine systems of justice to provide accessible and sustainable paths of equity for historically marginalized communities.
Photini Kamvisseli Suarez is a 3L Clinic Fellow at the Human Rights Clinic, and the Harley and Sheryl Tropin Summer 2022 Kozyak Minority Mentoring Foundation Fellow. During her 2L year, Photini worked as a student intern at the Human Rights Clinic, serving on the Right to Food Team. In this role, Photini worked to support a growing national human right to food movement, with a focus on Maine which recently enshrined the first ever right to food amendment in its constitution. Photini was awarded the CALI Award and the HOPE Exemplary Service Award for her work with the Clinic. This past summer, Photini worked as a Law Clerk at Earthjustice's Florida Office. As a 3L, Photini has returned to the Clinic as a fellow to continue working towards achieving food justice and social equity using a human right to food framework. She is also working as a Research Assistant to Professor Abigail Fleming, Associate Director of the Environmental Justice Clinic.
Clayton Oates is a 3L student from New Jersey. Clayton is a member of the International Moot Court Program and the Vice President of the Miami Law Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. During his 2L year, Clayton worked on the Human Rights Clinic's immigrants' rights project to advocate for the end of all U.S. deportations to Haiti. This work led Clayton and his teammates to Los Angeles, California in March 2023 to participate in a thematic hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Since then, Clayton has continued his work with the Human Rights Clinic as a fellow. In this role, Clayton has traveled to Geneva, Switzerland with the Clinic to participate in the U.N. review of the United States under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Clayton also works with a team of Clinic students on their project to address issues related to corporate accountability for human rights abuses. After graduation, Clayton hopes to find a career in human rights advocacy.
Brianna Sanchez is a 2L student born and raised in Queens, New York. This past summer, Brianna served as a law clerk at the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida as a HOPE Fellow. On campus, Brianna is a Junior Staff Editor for the University of Miami Law Review and a member of several organizations, including the Miami Law Trial Team, First Generation Law Student Association, Health Law Association, and Hispanic Law Student Association. Currently, she’s contributing to the Human Rights Clinic by developing a report for a Litigation Institute taking place in Africa. Her work is centered around the analysis and research of International Human Rights Standards, with a focus on sexual harassment in the workplace and the challenges faced by women in low-paying informal economies.
Lakshmi Sanmuganathan is a 2L student from St. Petersburg, Florida. Before joining the Human Rights Clinic, she worked for the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, the largest pan-Asian policy advocacy coalition in New York. Last summer, she interned for Judge Beth Bloom in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and worked as a Law Clerk at Ayala Law PA. Next summer, she will be joining Kelley Drye & Warren LLP as a Summer Associate. Lakshmi serves as Vice-President of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association and as a Junior Staff Editor on the International and Comparative Law Review. As a Clinic Intern, Lakshmi is dedicated to advancing Gender Justice by developing a curriculum for an upcoming Litigation Institute on women and economic justice.
Nic Stelter is a 3L from Orlando, Florida, who was a Theatre major at the University of Central Florida. Nic’s area of focus since joining the clinic has been on the Right to Health, specifically in the context of LGBTQ+ healthcare. Nic is also the Vice President of the Student Bar Association, and they have interned with various organizations such as Southern Legal Counsel, the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office, and the Federal Public Defender of North Florida in their Capital Habeas Unit. As a part of their clinical work, Nic traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, to speak with the United Nations Human Rights Committee about human rights violations against the LGBTQ+ community in the United States.
Gabrielle Thomas is a 3L born and raised in Jamaica, Miami Public Interest Scholar, and Soia Mentschikoff Scholar at University of Miami School of Law. She currently serves as the President of Caribbean Law Students Association and Vice President of the Human Rights Society. Over the summer, Gabrielle worked as a research assistant for Professor Alfieri and Marcia Weldon working on civil rights litigation, artificial intelligence, compliance, and human rights. She also worked at Damian|Valori|Culmo doing complex business and personal injury litigation. Gabrielle’s work in the Human Rights Clinic included organizing a thematic hearing at the 186th Period of Sessions with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights; conducting international law research for Lancet Commission report concerning tech-facilitated and corporate-facilitated gender-based violence; managing a group of students to collect data assessing food insecurity of Miami’s Black community for the U.N Permanent Forum on People of African Descent; and authoring two public facing articles for the Miami Herald and HumanRightsatHomeBlog.
Clara Tomé is a 2L student from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Over the summer, Clara worked as a law clerk at McAlpin Tanner Marcotte, a boutique maritime litigation firm in Miami. Currently, she is the 2L Representative of the Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division and a member of the Charles C. Papy, Jr. Moot Court board. Clara’s work in the clinic includes drafting research memoranda and summaries under Rule 1006 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and creating social media posts and multidimensional advocacy strategies. As a member of the Corporate Accountability Team, Clara supports EarthRights International in ongoing litigation regarding human rights abuses committed by large corporations.
Sarah Walters is a 3L Clinic Fellow from Maryland. Over the summer, Sarah worked as a law clerk in the Orlando office of Kaufman Dolowich LLP, a national litigation firm. During her 2L year, she worked on the housing and homelessness project with the Human Rights Clinic, advocating for the right to housing and promoting justice for people experiencing homelessness. Through the Clinic, Sarah traveled to Washington D.C. to speak about the international right to housing at the Right to Housing Forum. Additionally, she has co-authored multiple published works discussing homelessness, including an article in the Miami Herald and the Human Right to Housing Report Card 2023. Sarah has accepted a full time position with Kaufman Dolowich after graduating in December 2023.
Abigail Wettstein is a 2L from Rochester, Minnesota. Prior to law school, she worked as part of the communications team for Government Accountability Project in Washington, D.C., a whistleblower protection and advocacy organization. While at GAP, Abby’s work focused on medical professionals who blew the whistle on forced sterilization of immigrant women in detention centers in Georgia, as well communications strategies for a Netflix documentary featuring a former client from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant disaster. She is a Miami Dean’s Merit Scholar and a member of the International Moot Court Program. As an intern of the Housing and Homeless team in the Human Rights Clinic, Abby had the opportunity to travel to Geneva, Switzerland to participate in the review of the United States by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, raising the committee’s awareness of the criminalization of homelessness in the United States. Currently, Abby’s work includes developing a complaint for the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing regarding laws criminalizing homelessness in Miami Beach, as well as a memorandum on the intersection between the criminalization of homelessness and mental health disabilities.
