Austin Edwards (Class of 2024) graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University in May 2018 with a B.A. in Philosophy and a concentration in Feminist Philosophy. After graduating, he moved to Nashville, TN and began work on Presidential, Senate, and Mayoral campaigns for Democratic candidates. At Miami Law, he participates in HOPE’s Public Interest Network (PIN) as a PIN Pal, providing advice to students about public interest opportunities. During his 1L summer, Austin served as a HOPE Fellow with the Capital Habeas Unit of the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa.
Lucia Golletti (Class of 2023) graduated from the University of Florida in 2019 with a B.S. in Business, majoring in Marketing and minoring in Sociology. Prior to law school, she worked in a high-volume general litigation firm in Coral Gables, FL, working primarily on refugee and asylum cases before the Miami (Krome) Immigration Court. Lucia also interned with the Office of the Public Defender for the 8th Judicial Circuit in the Felony Division. As a 1L at Miami Law, Lucia worked with a solo immigration practitioner on business immigration visas and temporary protected status (TPS) applications for Venezuelans. As a 2L, she participated in the Children & Youth Law Clinic and the Litigation Skills Program, and worked as a Law Clerk at a firm that handles mass toxic tort claims. During her 2L summer, Lucia served as a HOPE Fellow with the Military Commissions Defense Organization at the Department of Defense, handling matters concerning Guantanamo Detainees.
Meryl Roux Jimenez (Class of 2024) graduated from Manhattanville College in New York in 2014 with a B.A. in International Studies and Political Science and a minor in Spanish. After graduation, she worked for the International Rescue Committee, an organization that assists refugees and people affected by humanitarian crises. Her role as a Corporate Alliances Associate allowed her to bridge the private and public sectors by developing meaningful and strategic partnerships with for-profit companies to raise funds for IRC's domestic and international programs. In 2015, Meryl moved to Miami and integrated the South Floridian tech industry. For the next six years, she worked for Uber, Lyft, and TripAdvisor, in different capacities, from Marketing to Operations. During her 1L summer at Miami Law, she served as a HOPE Fellow with the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, focusing on Major Crimes in the Criminal Division.
Stevi Jo Leavitt (Class of 2023) graduated from Manhattanville College with a B.A. in Psychology and Political Science. As a 1L at Miami Law, Stevi volunteered with the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health (CEEJH) Laboratory, where she analyzed all environmental justice (EJ) and cumulative impact bills across several states and drafted a comprehensive EJ policy brief to establish state-level EJ legislation in Maryland. She also created educational materials for the local community regarding lead contaminated soil in the vulnerable community of Uniontown, Alabama. During her 1L summer, Stevi served as a HOPE Fellow with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As a 2L, Stevi served as an intern with the Environmental Justice Clinic where she created Know Your Rights materials for the community regarding Title VI disparate impact complaints and provided litigation support on a state class action toxic torts lawsuit. During her 2L summer, she served as a HOPE Fellow with the Monterey Waterkeeper, where she fought for swimmable, fishable, and drinkable water for all Californians through both administrative and litigation procedures.
Jordan Maun (Class of 2023) graduated cum laude from the University of Florida in May of 2020 with a B.S. in Marine Science; minors in International Studies and Studio Art; and a Peace Corps Prep Member Certificate. Throughout her time at UF, she volunteered in the Patrick Baker Lab, analyzing the potential biological disturbances of offshore dredging off of Cape Canaveral for sand used in beach restoration. After taking a course on Marine Protected Areas, she realized that she would like to advocate for marine life through policy work. She has interned at boutique law firms in New York City, Miami, and Key West. Jordan is a Dean’s Merit Scholar working towards both her J.D. and M.P.S. degrees simultaneously. As a 2L, she served as a student advocate for the Children and Youth Law Clinic and has been elected Admiral of the Maritime Law Society, Vice President of the Environmental Law Society, and Treasurer of the Child Advocacy and Family Law Society for her 3L year. During her 2L summer, she served as a HOPE Fellow with Florida Sea Grant, helping to draft policies and ordinances to assist the City of Satellite Beach in building resiliency against climate change.
Kelsey McGonigle (Class of 2024) graduated from the University of Kansas in 2014 with B.A. in Psychology and Linguistics. After graduation, she worked in procurement for a desalination plant in Santiago, Chile from 2014-2018. In 2018, she returned to Kansas City and began working with an international sponsorship non-profit, coordinating with local projects in Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Honduras. As a 1L at Miami Law, she volunteered with the ACLU of Florida on the Florida Detention Database project, compiling complaints from individuals detained in Florida in order to raise awareness and support efforts to shut down immigration detention centers in the state. During the summer of 2022, she served as a HOPE Fellow with Oasis Legal Services in Berkeley, California, working on asylum applications for LGBTQIA+ immigrants.
Taylor Moore (Class of 2023) graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2019 with a B.A. in Communications and a specialization in Human Rights. While attending UConn, Taylor volunteered with Read for America and Global Brigades, where she taught English as a second language to elementary students and worked alongside pro bono Honduran attorneys supporting women and children in rural communities. Prior to law school, she worked as a legal assistant in South Miami. During her 1L summer at Miami Law, Taylor worked as a legal intern in the felony unit for the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office. As a 2L, she served as a legal intern in the Human Rights Clinic, where she focused on research and advocacy surrounding the right to adequate housing in the United States and abroad. During her 2L summer, Taylor served as a HOPE Fellow in the Trial Unit of the Office of the Public Defender for San Diego County, California.
Alyssa Morris (Class of 2023) graduated from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2020 with a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. During her 1L summer at Miami Law, she served as a HOPE Summer Public Interest Fellow at Dade Legal Aid in the Child Advocacy and Guardianship Divisions. At Dade Legal Aid, she assisted with cases in Unified Children’s Court covering topics such as involuntary termination of parental rights, incapacity, and permanency plans. During her 2L summer, she served as a HOPE Fellow with the Colorado Office of the Child’s Representative in Denver, Colorado, assisting attorneys with legal representation of children involved in the Colorado court system.
Jessica Palma (Class of 2023) graduated magna cum laude from the University of Miami in 2020 with a B.A. in Criminology and Philosophy. As an undergrad, Jessica worked as a restaurant manager, mentor and tutor, and a research assistant on several projects regarding crime and criminal justice. She was also on the executive board of UM’s Criminology Club and a member of Alpha Phi Sigma, Criminal Justice Honor Society. As a 1L at Miami Law, Jessica joined the Public Interest Leadership Board and was elected social advocacy co-chair of Miami Law’s Cannabis Law League. She also interned with a private criminal defense firm, focusing on pretrial motions and general trial advocacy respectively. During the summer of 2021, Jessica served as a HOPE Summer Public Interest Fellow with the Office of the Miami-Dade County Public Defender. As a 2L, she was selected to join the Charles C. Papy Moot Court Board, served as a Carlton Fields Scholar with the HOPE Office, and worked for a private capital defense litigation firm. During her 2L summer, Jessica served as a HOPE Fellow in the Capital Habeas Unit of the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee.
Gabriela Rivero (Class of 2024) graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a B.A. in Sociology, a minor in Latinx Studies, and certificates in Spanish and Latin American Studies. She was a recipient of the John Harvard Scholarship and studied abroad in Havana, Cuba. She interned with the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic, the Office of Delaware governor John Carney, and the Centro de Estudios de Conflicto y Cohesion Social in Santiago, Chile, where she researched Venezuelan migration. At Miami Law, Gabriela is a Miami Public Interest Scholar. As a 1L, she was one of eight recipients of the Innovative Service in the Public Interest award for her role as a founding member of the Florida Detention Database team, which worked with the ACLU of Florida to track complaints about the state’s immigration detention centers and was instrumental in the pause of the Glades County Detention Center’s contract. She also worked on an asylum case with the Immigration Clinic, where she will be a full-time clinical student during her 2L year. Gabriela is a research assistant for Professor Pablo Rueda-Saiz on two projects about indigenous rights and legal mobilization in Latin America, as well as the incoming secretary for the Immigration Students Law Association and the Miami Law chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. During her 1L summer, Gabriela served as HOPE Fellow with The Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at UC Hastings in San Francisco.
David Scollan (Class of 2023) graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in May of 2017 with a B.A. in African Studies and Political Science and a minor in International Development. He earned an M.S. in International Relations from the London School of Economics in December of 2018. While an undergraduate, he served as president of the Sphinx Senior Society, in Penn Student Government, and founded the Penn African Studies Undergraduate Advisory Board. David received the Sandra Barnes Award for Outstanding African Studies Student and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Memorial Prize for advanced social sciences research in African studies. He spent his summers as an intern in the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, and Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. He completed his master’s dissertation on the effectiveness of United Nations humanitarian reporting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As a 2L at Miami Law, David participated the International Moot Court Program, leading his team as semi-final and final rounds oralist to finishing as the second-ranked International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition team in the Western Hemisphere. Additionally, David serves as Managing Editor for the Inter-American Law Review. He received IALR’s 2022 Grey Quill Award for outstanding legal research and writing for his case note on state-sanctioned violence in Colombia and Chile. During his 1L summer, he served as an intern with the U.S. Department of Justice in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas, USVI. During his 2L summer, he returned to the Department of Justice as a HOPE Fellow with the Office of Violence Against Women, working with Senior Advisor on Gender and Equity, Professor Caroline Bettinger-Lopez of Miami Law.
Francesca Shultz (Class of 2023) graduated magna cum laude from the Honors College at Boise State University in 2019 with a B.S. in Psychology. She was a member of the Pre-Law Society and volunteered at the Meridian Canine Shelter in Idaho, helping animals find homes while fostering and caring for them. She also served as an intern at a law firm in New York City. As a 2L at Miami Law, she served as a Dean’s Fellow for Professor Hill’s Constitutional Law class, assisting 1Ls with understanding course material. During her 2L summer, Francesca served as a HOPE Fellow with the Ada County Public Defender’s Office in Boise, Idaho.
Victoria Touzinsky (Class of 2023) graduated from the University of Missouri in 2019 with a B.A. in Political Science and in Women and Gender Studies. At Miami Law, Victoria is a Miami Public Interest Scholar. During her 1L summer, she worked as a legal policy intern at the Center for Popular Democracy in the Transformative Justice campaign. There, she advocated for divestments from policing and carceral systems and investments in education and social services. As a 2L, she participated in the Miami Law Innocence Clinic. During her 2L summer, she served as a HOPE Fellow with the Office of the Miami-Dade Public Defender.
Taylor Weathers (Class of 2023) graduated from Florida State University in 2020 with a major in Economics and International Affairs and a concentration in Public Administration. She served as an intern with the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, where she provided services and advocacy for refugees, asylees, and survivors of human trafficking. As a 1L at Miami Law, she translated documents for Spanish-speaking clients for the law school's Immigration Clinic. During her 1L summer, Taylor served as a HOPE Fellow with Al Otro Lado, where she assisted detainees at the US/Mexico border with their asylum claims and family reunification. As a 2L at Miami Law, she served as a legal intern for the ACLU of Florida, where she worked with immigrants in local detention centers to collect complaints about conditions and due process violations. Taylor and a team of students helped create the Florida Detention Database which collects, monitors, and investigates these violations. The team was recognized with an Innovative Service Award. During her 2L summer, Taylor served as a HOPE fellow with the ACLU of Florida, expanding on the work of the Florida Detention Database program.
Squire Patton Boggs Foundation Summer Fellows 2022
The Squire Patton Boggs Foundation Fellowship Program awards fellowships to exceptional first- and second-year law students who demonstrate a steadfast commitment to public service and a developed interest in public policy. Each year, SPBF sponsors a student who commits their summer to advancing public policy issues through non-profit institutions, government agencies and domestic or international organizations. In addition, Miami Law students are able to apply for Sustained Impact Fellowships, in areas including: Post-Disaster Relief, Racial Justice and Veterans' Advocacy.
Bailey Beauchamp (Class of 2023) graduated from Florida State University in 2020 with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a minor in Spanish. At Miami Law, she has served as Co-Chair of the Public Interest Network, President of the Charles C. Papy Moot Court Board, and Vice President of Miami Law Women. As a 2L, she served as an intern with the Child and Youth Advocacy Policy Clinic and volunteered with organizations including Southern Legal Counsel and the Disability Independence Group. During her 2L summer, Bailey served as a Squire Patton Boggs Foundation Public Policy Fellow with The U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women, focusing on policy implementation related to the country’s National Action Plan to address violence against women.
Abigail Young (Class of 2023) graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017 with a B.A. in International Studies, Political Science, and Latin American & Iberian Studies and a certificate in African Studies. During the two years prior to law school, Abigail worked for Family Health International (FHI 360) as a Business Development Officer, where she managed the proposal development process for globally-implemented projects. Prior to FHI, she served as a Public Partnership Intern for UNICEF and a Congressional Intern for Representative Keith Ellison in the US House of Representatives. At Miami Law, Abigail is a Miami Public Interest Scholar, a Charles C. Papy Jr. Moot Court Board Member, a Junior Editor on the Race and Social Justice Law Review, and a participant in the Innocence Clinic. She has served as Co-Chair for the Public Interest Board, a member of the Society of Bar and Gavel, Director of Recruiting for the American Constitution Society, and has held leadership positions with ACLU-UM and the Criminal Law Society. She is also a research assistant for Professor Alfieri. During her 1L summer, she worked as Summer Counsel in the housing practice of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. In this role she represented fourteen individuals in their eviction cases during the pandemic. During her 2L summer, Abigail served as a Squire Patton Boggs Racial Justice Fellow in the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law.
