Myles Crandall graduated cum laude from Claremont McKenna College in California in May 2010 with a B.A. with Honors in History and Government. He earned an M.A. with Honors in Curriculum & Instruction: Pedagogy in Urban Education from the University of Colorado Denver in August 2014. While an undergraduate, he was a member of the CMS Men's Tennis Team, studied abroad in France, and completed an honors thesis. During summers, Myles taught in Ghana, and with Breakthrough Collaborative in Denver and Hong Kong. Following graduation, he taught in France and worked with the International Rescue Committee in Salt Lake City, where he assisted refugees finding their first job in America. In 2012, Myles joined Teach for America in Denver, where he taught US History, drafted curricula, led summer/after-school STEM programs, and coached girls’ basketball. In 2015, he began working as a social studies teacher at the Salt Lake Center for Science Education, a diverse Title I school. He also served as a college advisor for first-generation students and organized LGBTQIA+ student club meetings. He partnered with organizations to enrich the student experience through exposure to restorative justice, gender studies, and immigrant perspectives. As a 1L at Miami Law, Myles completed pro bono projects to restore returning citizens’ voting rights, challenge discriminatory evictions, track COVID-19 cases in prisons, and understand Florida courts’ fines and fees system. During his 1L summer, Myles interned at the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of Florida in the Capital Habeas Unit, participating in research and writing for client appeals. As a 2L, he participated in the Innocence Clinic and served as President of the ACLU at Miami Law. During his 2L summer, Myles interned with the Sixth Amendment Center, drafting reports about the right to counsel and indigent defense systems in several jurisdictions across the country. As a 3L, Myles is a Certified Legal Intern at the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office and a Fellow with the Innocence Clinic.
Alexandria Cinney graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University in May 2018 with a B.A. in Child Study and Human Development. She was a member of the Dean’s List and participated in the Child Development Diversity Program at the Danish Institute of Study Abroad. She worked with the Adoption and Development Project and interned in the Intensive Foster Care Unit at the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. She then served as a Child Advocate Manager for the Guardian ad Litem Program in Miami, where she managed a caseload of up to forty dependent children, including visitation and information-gathering, and advocated for their best interests at judicial hearings alongside the GAL attorneys. She continues to volunteer with GAL as a Miami Law student. As a 1L, Alex participated in a Legal Services of Greater Miami (LSGMI) volunteer service trip to the Florida Keys. During her 1L summer, she worked as a law clerk in LSGMI’s Health and Income Maintenance Unit, focusing on reemployment assistance in light of COVID-19. She also worked as a research assistant for Professor Scott Rogers in the area of mindfulness. As a 2L, Alex served as a Legal Writing Dean’s Fellow, president of the Child Advocacy and Family Law Society, and a legal intern for the Children & Youth Law Clinic. During her 2L summer, she served as a HOPE Fellow with the ABA Center on Children and the Law’s Parent Representation Project and as a research assistant for HOPE’s Family Law & Animals Pro Bono Project.
Bianca Ferreira graduated magna cum laude from the University of Florida in May 2019 with a B.A. in History and Political Science and a minor in Florida Teaching. She conducted research for the university on behalf of the Department of History and was accepted to the History Department’s Honors Program. She was one of a small group of students selected to write and publish an undergraduate thesis in Medieval History. In the spring of 2018, Bianca was a classroom assistant at a middle school in Gainesville, where she tutored students in civics and history. The following summer, she interned for a law firm in Fort Lauderdale. As a 1L at Miami Law, she was a member of the Immigration Students Law Association and the Alternative Spring Break Trip Planning Committee and participated in the Wage Theft Advocacy Project. During her 1L summer, she engaged in immigration advocacy with Catholic Legal Services, was a Dean’s Fellow for the Miami Law Summer Legal Academy, and a research assistant to faculty. During her 2L summer, she served as a HOPE Fellow at Legal Services of Greater Miami in the Tenants' Rights Unit.
Luciana Jhon Urrunaga graduated from Florida International University in May 2017 with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in International Relations. During college, she served as an immigration legal assistant and as a research assistant, spearheading policy roundtables among US Southern Command officials and academics and conducting research on the consequences of PetroCaribe's potential failure on the Latin American and Caribbean economies. In 2016, she interned with the Office of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz through the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. Following graduation, she worked as a legal assistant in Washington, DC. She also served as a volunteer with the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition and the Central American Resource Center. As a 1L at Miami Law, Luciana participated in the legal writing program at Dade Correctional Institution. During her 1L summer, she worked at the Legal Aid Society's Criminal Defense Practice in Queens, NY. As a 2L, she served as secretary of the Criminal Law Society and participated in the Innocence Clinic. During her 2L summer, she worked at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, a communications law firm in Washington, DC. As a 3L, Luciana is serving as a Writing Dean's Fellow, president of the Criminal Law Society, and a research assistant for Professor Corbin. She is also taking part in the ABA's Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice (COREJ), serving as a research assistant on their school-to-prison pipeline project and creating tools for advocates seeking to end the referral of students from the classroom to prison.
Chelsea Johnson graduated from Princeton University in May 2018 with a B.A. in Politics with a concentration in American Politics and a certificate in African American Studies. She was a member of the varsity women’s water polo team, served as a SIFP Head Fellow (providing support to low-income/first-generation students), and volunteered with One Heartland Camp in Minnesota and the SEED School of Miami. During the summer of 2017, Chelsea served as a judicial intern in the Criminal Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami, where she monitored court proceedings and documents and analyzed data on the effectiveness of court rehabilitation programs. In 2017, along with her sister, Chelsea founded the Johnson Swim School, working with underserved communities to promote water safety and teach children how to swim. As a 1L at Miami Law, Chelsea was a member of the Criminal Law Society and the Miami Law chapter of the ACLU. During her 1L summer, she served as a legal intern with the Children & Youth Law Clinic. During her 2L year, Chelsea was a Fellow with the Children & Youth Law Clinic. She also interned with AMD Law Group in Atlanta, where she focused on Patent and Trademark law. During her 2L summer, she worked with Art Care and tracked 40 formerly-incarcerated youth who were in the foster care system. She also continued her work with AMD Law Group and the Johnson Swim School.
Tyler Koteskey graduated summa cum laude from Taylor University in December 2017 with B.A. degrees in International Studies and Political Science. He was a Cross Country/Track and Field athlete and worked at the Student Activities Center. He studied abroad in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. During the summer of 2017, Tyler served as an Immigration and Citizenship Intern for World Relief Chicago, a non-profit refugee resettlement organization, where he worked in the Immigration Legal Services Department, assisting attorneys with family law cases for immigrants and refugees. Following graduation, Tyler was promoted to a paralegal position at World Relief Chicago, allowing him to directly handle client interviews, case management, preparation of immigration applications, and supervision of interns. He received training on removal defense and was accredited by the Department of Justice to represent clients before the Department of Homeland Security. As a 1L at Miami Law, Tyler was a member of the Immigration Students Law Association and volunteered at Catholic Charities Legal Services (CCLS). During his 1L summer, he served as a legal intern at CCLS, continuing his commitment to immigration advocacy. As a 2L, he served as treasurer of the Christian Legal Society and participated in the Immigration Clinic, where he represented a client before the Immigration Court who was granted asylum. During his 2L summer, he worked as an immigration law clerk at Ainsworth & Clancy, PLLC.
Estefania Lalinde graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Health Science in May 2015 and an M.S. in Family, Youth, and Community Sciences with a concentration in Nonprofit Organizational Leadership and a Certificate in Fundraising Management in August 2017. She was president of the Venezuelan Student Association and served as a tutor. During the summer of 2016, she worked as an intern with Community Care Plan and became the Human Resources Coordinator in December 2017. She also volunteered with Mision Manos Hermanas, aiding orphanages, medical centers, and religious parishes in Villa El Salvador. Prior to law school, Estefania held four positions with Teach For America: Development Intern, Campus Campaign Coordinator, Networking Outreach Temp, and Recruitment Associate. As a 1L at Miami Law, she participated in the Catholic Charities Legal Services Alternative Winter Break and worked with the Community Equity, Innovation, and Resource Lab. During her 1L summer, she served as a Policy Law Clerk with the Children's Law Center, based in Washington, DC, and worked as a research assistant for Professor Stephen Schnably. As a 2L, she served as an intern with the Children & Youth Law Clinic, participated in an International Moot Court Competition in Spanish, and worked as a law clerk for Vasquez de Lara Law Group. During her 2L summer, Estefania worked as a summer associate with Baker McKenzie and as a legal intern with the MacArthur Foundation.
Emma McEvoy graduated with a B.S. in Political Science & Sociology from the University of Leuven in Belgium in 2014 and received an Erasmus Exchange B.A. in International Relations from Sciences Po in Paris in 2013. She served as a Political and Economic Section Trainee with the Belgian Embassy to the US. She received an M.S. in Refugee Studies from London South Bank University in 2016, and worked as a Program Trainee for the Belgian Development Agency. She then served as a Cabinet of the President Trainee for the European Committee of the Regions. From 2016-2018, she served in the Peace Corps as a Community Services Advisor in Lesotho, Africa, where she assisted Paray Mission Hospital in the remote town of Thaba-Tseka, focusing on the prevention and mitigation of HIV/AIDS among youth through the strengthening of youth-friendly health services at the hospital, and the provision of health education and services to harder-to-reach mountain communities. At Miami Law, Emma has volunteered with the Guardian Ad Litem Program, the Wage Theft Advocacy Project, and the Community Justice Project. She worked with the Fines and Fees Justice Center, the Miami-Dade Public Defender Voter Rights Restoration, and the Alternative Spring Break Planning Committee. During her 1L summer, Emma worked with the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, serving clients as a Student Attorney in the Family Law department. As a 2L, Emma was an intern with the Innocence Clinic, took part in a pro bono project that researched community response alternatives to mental health interventions by police, and served as the president of the Miami Law chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. During her 2L summer, she served as a HOPE Fellow with the Public Defender Agency in Kenai, Alaska.
Ashley Meyer graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in May 2017 with a BFA in Drama/Theater Arts. After graduation, Ashley worked with women in the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Unit of Rikers Island Correctional Facility to create performances demonstrating the lack of available mental health, addiction, and post-release reintegration resources. During her 1L summer at Miami Law, she worked as a research assistant for Professor Martha Mahoney, assisting in editing work and research regarding Florida drug-possession statutes and critically analyzing affirmative defenses. That summer, she joined the Innocence Project of Florida as a legal intern, where she has continued to work, advocating for wrongfully-convicted individuals through post-conviction litigation. As a 2L, Ashley served as an intern with the Innocence Clinic, where she furthered her work advocating for wrongfully convicted individuals, and as a research assistant for the Director of the Litigation Skills Program, Professor Tamara Lave. She also served as captain of the law school’s Trial Team. During her 2L summer, Ashley worked as a Certified Legal Intern with the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender.
Catherine Perez graduated cum laude from The George Washington University in May 2017 with a B.A. in International Affairs and a minor in Art History. She was a member of the Dean’s List, studied abroad in Paris, and received Presidential Service Awards for her dedication to community service. She worked with For the Love of Children, a non-profit organization serving local low-income students, and interned with an immigration law firm, where she worked on asylum cases and applications to USCIS. Following graduation, Catherine worked as an immigration paralegal, managing an extensive caseload, conducting legal research, and interacting with clients from around the world. She also served as a volunteer translator with Catholic Charities. As a 1L at Miami Law, Catherine participated in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, The Fines and Fees Justice Center Alternative Fall Break, and the Catholic Charities Alternative Winter Break. During her 1L summer, she served as a legal intern with the Office of the General Counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, working to preserve properties and landmarks that are of cultural and historic significance. She also worked a research assistant for Professor Stephen Urice in the area of Art Law. As a 2L, Catherine participated in the Tenants' Rights Clinic and the International Moot Court Program as the Public Relations E-board member. During her 2L summer, Catherine interned for the Office of the General Counsel for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Catherine is pursuing a joint JD/LLM in Entertainment, Arts, and Sport Law in the Art Law track.
David Petrantoni graduated from Florida State University in May 2013 with a B.S. in Political Science & Greco-Roman Classics, followed by an M.S. in Applied American Politics & Public Policy in May 2015. He worked as a legal intern with the Innocence Project, where he managed case reviews and forensic evidence in order to exonerate the wrongly accused. After completing his graduate degree, David served as a Military Veteran Service Specialist for AmeriCorps VISTA, working to improve services to veterans in Miami-Dade. He also crafted a development plan for the creation of Veteran Outreach Centers on each of Miami-Dade College’s eight campuses. David has worked as a community organizer and regional director for a variety of initiatives including ending cash bail, immigrant and refugee advocacy and the protection of minority voting rights. As a 1L at Miami Law, David participated in the Wage Theft Advocacy Project and took part in the Florida Bar Foundation Law School Pro Bono Challenge. During his 1L summer, he interned with the ACLU and participated in the Systemic Lawyering Corps COVID-19 Rapid Response Program. As a 2L, David volunteered with the Promise of Justice Initiative and the Dade Correctional Institution legal writing program, worked as a research assistant, and interned with the ACLU. He also took part in the Innocence Clinic, served as a Liaison Co-Chair for the Public Interest Leadership Board and was elected as the Submissions Editor for the Race and Social Justice Law Review. During his 2L summer, David interned with the Federal Public Defender’s Capital Habeas Unit in Tampa.
Tori Simkovic graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in June 2014 with a B.S. in Journalism and a minor in Political Science. From 2013 to 2015, she was an investigative reporter for the Medill Justice Project at Northwestern, where she investigated potentially wrongful convictions and uncovered evidence that led to exonerations. She received the Mark of Excellence Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, as well as the Peter Lisagor Award. From 2015 to 2018, she worked in Savannah, Georgia, as a reporter for WJCL News, focusing on local government and law enforcement. Prior to entering law school, she worked as a reporter for WPBF News in West Palm Beach, Florida, reporting on the Parkland school shooting, the toxic algae crisis and the FIU bridge collapse. As a 1L at Miami Law, Tori participated in an Alternative Fall Break project with the Fines and Fees Justice Center and volunteered for the Legal Writing Program at Dade Correctional Institution. During her 1L summer, she served as a legal intern for the Promise of Justice Initiative, based in New Orleans. As a 2L, Tori was a Staff Editor for the University of Miami Law Review and took part in the Innocence Clinic. She was elected Executive Vice President of the Charles C. Papy Jr. Moot Court Board and won Best Overall Oralist at the Herbert Wechsler National Criminal Moot Court Competition. Tori founded the AEDPA-Reform Project and hopes to raise awareness about restrictions for criminal defendants seeking federal habeas corpus relief. During her 2L summer, she worked with DLA Piper.
Dimitri Syros graduated from New York University in May 2015 with a B.S. in Applied Psychology and a B.A. in Politics. He was a member of the Dean’s List, studied abroad in Prague and Buenos Aires, and mentored high school students in the Upward Bound Program. From 2013-2015, he served as a Consumer Fraud Department Mediator for the New York State Attorney General. Following graduation, he joined Teach for America, serving in Houston and Miami from 2015 to 2018. He was named Rookie of the Year in 2016. During that time, he received an M.S. in Education Studies from Johns Hopkins University Graduate School of Education. During the summer of 2016, he traveled to South Africa with the One Heart Source and was awarded the One Heart Fellowship for his outstanding achievement while working with local youth. Beginning in the spring of 2018, he served as an education consultant, working in collaboration with incubator and accelerator programs to promote education technology start-up companies in South Florida. During his 1L summer at Miami Law, Dimitri served as a judicial intern with Judge William Jung of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. As a 2L, he took part in the Environmental Justice Clinic, leading its Housing Justice Team. He also participated in the Miami STREET Law program. During his 2L summer, Dimitri interned with Miami Homes for All, conducting research, drafting memoranda, and supporting litigation around the issue of homelessness.
Ashley Vazquez graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California in May 2018 with a B.A. in Print and Digital Journalism and a minor in International Relations. She worked as a freelance journalist, writing about immigration, criminal justice reform, LGBTQ issues, homelessness, and religion. She interned for Rep. James Himes of Connecticut and Rep. Karen Bass of California and worked with the School of Public Policy to document California’s pollution cleanup efforts. Ashley also worked with the Inner City Law Center’s HIV/AIDS and Homeless Veterans Projects in Los Angeles. She then served as an executive assistant for a STEM Preparatory School. Following graduation, Ashley worked with the Sea Change Leadership PAC. As a 1L at Miami Law, Ashley volunteered with the ACLU, where she processed intake, including letters from prisoners seeking legal assistance. During her 1L summer, she served as an intern with the Everglades Law Center in Miami. As a 2L, she interned in the Environmental Justice Clinic and founded a new student organization called the Environmental Justice Network, expanding opportunities for law students to work hand-in-hand with students in other disciplines to address the critical needs of communities subject to environmental racism. She also served as a mentor for the PIN Pal Program and the First Generation Law Students Association and volunteered with Florida Rights Restoration Coalition’s Fines and Fees Project. During her 2L summer, she served as a HOPE Fellow/Honors Intern with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of General Counsel in the Civil Rights and Finance Law Office. During her 3L year, she is serving as president of the Environmental Justice Network, social media chair for the South/West Asian and North African Law Students Association, a member of the Public Interest Leadership Board, and a fellow in the Environmental Justice Clinic.
Maxwell Zoberman graduated from Emory University in May 2017 with a Bachelor of Political Science and Spanish, with concentrations in Law and Political Theory and Spanish Linguistics. He was a member of various honor societies and studied abroad in Spain. He was president and vice president of the Emory Student Government Association and a leader on the Mock Trial team. He worked on the Michelle Nunn for Senate and Jason Carter for Governor Campaigns and served as a trial investigative intern with the Public Defender’s Office in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he conducted research for trial preparation, assisted with client interviews, and acted as a translator. Beginning in December 2016, Maxwell served in the Teach for America Corps, teaching Spanish in the fifth largest school district in the state of Georgia. At Miami Law, Maxwell worked as a research assistant to Dean Varona, holds a leadership position with the Military Law Society, and participated in the Florida Bar Foundation’s Pro Bono Law School Challenge. During his 1L summer, he served as a student-attorney with the Veterans Justice Project at the Wilmer-Hale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, where he represented clients in appeals for discharge status upgrades and increased access to VA benefits. As a 2L, he served as a Dean’s Fellow, participated in the Human Rights Clinic, for which he earned the CALI Award for Excellence, and competed as a member of the Miami Law Trial Team, for which he was a semi-finalist at the annual Chester Bedell Mock Trial Competition. Maxwell is also an Officer Candidate in the US Marine Corps and spent his 2L summer attending Officer Candidate School, graduating as a commissioned second lieutenant in the fall of 2021.
Isabelle Carbajales graduated magna cum laude from Florida State University in December 2019 with a B.S. in Political Science and Sociology and earned a certification in US Intelligence Studies. She served as a Student Representative for the Florida State Honor Council, was a member of Phi Alpha Delta International, and was on the Dean’s and President’s Lists. In the fall of 2017, she served as a copy editor for the Diverse World Fashion Magazine, and the following spring she was an intern and tutor for the Dare to Dream Young Girls Network. During her senior year, Isabelle served as a Communications Intern for the Innocence Project of Florida, where she redesigned the quarterly newsletter and wrote articles and social media content to tell the stories of wrongfully incarcerated individuals who have been exonerated by the efforts of the Innocence Network. Prior to law school, she worked as a legal assistant for a law firm, where she assisted with immigration cases for clients wishing to obtain visas, establish permanent residency, and attain US citizenship. As a 1L at Miami Law, Isabelle served as a Miami Law Ambassador. During her 1L summer, she was a judicial intern with the Honorable Jacqueline Becerra of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. As a 2L, Isabelle served as an extern at UHealth, where she worked on regulatory compliance issues and with the Honorable Judge Jose Martinez in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She was a Junior Staff Editor on the University of Miami Law Review, where she was awarded the Soia Mentschikoff Award for Excellence in Scholarly Writing for her student note selected for publication. She was also elected to the University of Miami Honor Council. During her 2L summer, Isabelle worked as a litigation summer associate in Holland & Knight’s Miami office. As a 3L, she is a legal intern with the Innocence Clinic and the Senior Articles Editor of the University of Miami Law Review.
Reunie Faustin 
Cosimo Gaudio graduated from the University of Miami in May 2020 with a B.A. in Economics and History. He served as a student assistant for the Butler Center for Service and Leadership, where he coordinated programs and helped students seeking volunteer opportunities. Through the Butler Center, Cosimo also participated as a Service Day volunteer, where he took part in various annual service events in South Florida. In 2018, he worked as an ambassador for Get Out the Vote. During his junior year, he served as a Children’s Branch Volunteer for Coconut Grove Cares, where he helped with an after-school program for children in the Coconut Grove community. In the spring of 2019, he volunteered with and conducted research at the University of Miami European Union Center. That summer, Cosimo interned for Northwest Workers’ Justice Project in Portland, OR, where he created damages calculations spreadsheets for attorneys and managed client files. Prior to entering law school, he served as a volunteer intern for Florida Justice Institute (FJI), where he read and summarized intake letters from inmates across the state. During his 1L year at Miami Law, Cosimo continued working with FJI, performing document review during discovery for a class action lawsuit. He also served as a research assistant for Professor Alfieri. During his 1L summer, Cosimo served as a legal intern with People’s Law Project in Portland, OR. As a 2L, he participated in the Children & Youth Law Clinic and served as an extern with FJI. During his 2L summer, Cosimo returned to the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project as a legal intern. As a 3L, he is serving as a certified legal intern in the Tenants’ Rights Division of Legal Services of Greater Miami, a fellow for the Children & Youth Law Clinic, and a research assistant to Professor Elmore.
Evan Gilbert graduated from Vanderbilt University in May 2015 with a B.A. in History. He was a member of the Dean’s List and studied abroad in France. Following graduation, he was selected to participate as an Americorps Fellow with Avodah, a Jewish social justice organization dedicated to fighting poverty and creating lasting social change. During his time in Avodah, Evan learned how to better engage with his Jewish values to advocate for racial and economic justice, and worked as an Entrepreneurship Coordinator with BUILD, a Washington, DC non-profit that teaches critical life skills to high school students in low-income communities through the process of starting a business. Following Avodah, Evan joined the Democratic Staff of the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, where, as the Press Assistant and then Deputy Press Secretary, he served as a spokesperson and developed and led press strategy on various pieces of legislation, including bills to save net neutrality and combat dangerous robocall scams. During his 1L summer at Miami Law, Evan served as a judicial intern with the Honorable Kathleen M. Williams of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. During his 2L summer, he served as an intern with the Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Florida. Evan has also participated in the Innocence Clinic and is a member of the University of Miami Law Review and Charles C. Papy, Jr. Moot Court Board.
Rachel Gopichand graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology. She was a member of the Dean’s List and the UNC Undergraduate Honor Court. She volunteered in the areas of sexual assault awareness/ prevention and childhood literacy. Rachel also volunteered for the Make-a-Wish Foundation in Raleigh, NC, where she met with children with life-threatening illnesses and their families to ensure that their greatest wishes were granted. During the summer of 2019, she interned for the Office of the District Attorney in Jacksonville, NC, where she managed District and Superior Court case files and drafted legal memoranda, motions, and Superior Court indictments, and assisted attorneys with research and witness preparation. During her 1L year at Miami Law, Rachel was sworn in as a Guardian ad Litem, where she advocates on behalf of children in the dependency system throughout their court proceedings. Rachel also became a Miami Law Ambassador and a member of the Children and Family Law Society. During her 1L summer, Rachel continued her passion for family law and child advocacy as a law clerk at a family law firm in Coral Gables, FL. During her 2L summer, Rachel followed her passion for civil rights work through her law clerk position at a Federal Civil Rights litigation law firm in Miami. As a 3L, Rachel continues serving as a Miami Law Ambassador and as a Guardian ad Litem for the State of Florida, which she describes as her most rewarding experience during law school.
2015 with a B.A. in Spanish and Political Science. After graduation, she worked at UNC-Charlotte in International Programs and New Student Services while also completing graduate courses in the Department of Philosophy & Applied Ethics and volunteering for the Southern Regional Model United Nations Atlanta conference. From 2017-2019, Megan worked at the Prescott College Kino Bay Center for Cultural and Ecological Studies in Sonora, Mexico in fundraising and communications. As a 1L at Miami Law, she was an active member in the National Lawyers Guild and OUTLaw. During her 1L summer, she served as an intern with the legal clinic at Bread For The City, a holistic direct services organization in Washington, DC. As a 2L, Megan served as a Housing Intern in the Environmental Justice Clinic, the founding president of the Mental Health Collective, the Secretary of Miami Law's National Lawyers Guild chapter, and a Dean’s Fellow for U.S. Constitutional Law I. During the spring of 2021, she became a Research Fellow for the Climate & Equity Mapping Platform in UM’s Office of Civic & Community Engagement, creating a policy toolkit for local approaches to intersecting issues of extreme heat and affordable housing. During her 2L summer, Megan returned to her home state of North Carolina to intern with the Southern Environmental Law Center where she worked on utility regulation, decarbonization, and other administrative law issues. As a 3L, Megan is serving as an intern with the ACLU of Florida, serving as a co-Chair of the Struggle for Miami’s Sustainable & Affordable Housing (SMASH) Policy Committee, and continuing as President of the Mental Health Collective. Megan has earned CALI Awards in U.S. Constitutional Law I and The Criminalization of Homelessness: Causes, Policy, and Practical Lawyering Seminar. After graduation, she is planning to return home to North Carolina to work on environmental and civil rights issues while supporting grassroots movements for racial and economic justice in the South.
Olivia Johnson graduated cum laude from the University of Florida in May 2019 with a Bachelor’s Degree in History and a minor in Sociology. She was a Gator Nation Scholar, as well as a member of the President’s List and the Dean’s List. She served as a volunteer mentor in several capacities, including for children with disabilities and at-risk young women. She also worked with Children Beyond Our Borders, assisting first-generation college applicants in the Alachua County School System with test preparation and life skills. During the summer of 2018, Olivia served as an Education Intern with the Tennessee Department of Education, where she drafted projects and grant proposals. Her research helped secure funding for apprenticeship programs in Nashville public schools. Upon graduation, she worked as an English teacher at Georgia Jones Ayers Middle School, a Title I school in Miami, where she was named Rookie Teacher of the Year. At Miami Law, Olivia is a member of the University of Miami Law Review and the 2022-2023 UMLR symposium co-director. During her 1L summer, she served as an intern with the Everglades Law Center in Miami. As a 2L, Olivia participated in the Environmental Justice Clinic and served as a Dean's Fellow for Torts. During her 2L summer, she was a Summer Associate at McDermott Will & Emery, where she worked on healthcare matters and renewable energy project finance. During her 3L year, she is working as a law clerk for Legal Services of Greater Miami in the Community Economic Development unit.
Kendrick Meek Jr. graduated cum laude from the University of Florida with a B.A. in Political Science and a focus in public policy. In 2015, Kendrick served as an intern to the Committee on US House Administration, supporting the committee’s oversight of federal elections, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution. In 2016, Kendrick interned with the Democratic National Convention Committee, working with disability rights advocates to bring the convention complex into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In 2017, Kendrick received a research assistantship with the UF Department of Political Science to study absentee ballot rejections and their disproportionate impact on communities of color and aging populations. After graduating from college, Kendrick joined the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, DC as a legal assistant, advocating for dignity and equal rights for LGBTQ Americans. During his 1L summer at Miami Law, he served as an intern with the US House of Representative’s Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee for Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. During his 2L summer, Kendrick served as an intern at the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President in Washington, DC.
Lauren O’Neil graduated cum laude from the University of Georgia Honors Program in May 2020 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance & International Business. She was selected to participate in several fellows and scholars programs based on her leadership and academic skills. She received a research assistantship for her work with the UGA Finance Department pertaining to antitrust law. During her final year in college, Lauren worked with the Business Law Clinic at the University of Georgia School of Law, assisting a group of 3Ls with drafting memos and performing research for local entrepreneurs. She founded the student organization Women in Law, was the President of the Phi Alpha Delta pre-law fraternity, studied abroad in Spain, and served as a volunteer tutor for Spanish-speaking high school students. During the summer of 2018, Lauren was an undergraduate intern with the US Attorney’s Office in Savannah, taking part in the introduction of the DOJ Project Safe Neighborhood Initiative. Throughout her time at Miami Law, Lauren has served as a Guardian ad Litem volunteer and a member of the Public Interest Leadership Board (PILB). During her 1L summer, she worked as an intern at the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. As a 2L, Lauren participated in the Miami Law Innocence Clinic, served on the executive boards for the Society of Bar & Gavel and Miami Law Women, and externed for a district judge and a white-collar litigation firm. During her 2L year, she and her partner won the school-wide John T. Gaubatz Moot Court Competition. She also participated in an alternative winter break with the National Association of Counsel for Children. During her 2L summer, she worked as a litigation summer associate for DLA Piper. As a 3L, Lauren serves on the executive board of the University of Miami Law Review and the Charles C. Papy Moot Court Board. She also volunteers for the National Center for Youth Law and continues her work with the Innocence Clinic as a Fellow.
Daria Pietropaolo graduated from the University of Miami in 2020 with degrees in Political Science and Restorative Justice. She was a member of the President’s & Provost’s Honor Rolls and Dean’s List, the ACC Academic Honor Roll, the Foote Fellows Honors Program, and the 3+3 Joint Degree Program in Law. Daria participated as an Associate Justice of the Student Government Supreme Court and interned at the European Union Center. She also served as a research assistant for the Political Science Department, Religious Studies Department, and the School of Law, all while competing as a Division I student-athlete on the Cross Country and Track & Field teams. During her freshman summer, she participated in the Summer Scholars Program, assisting professors teaching Global Business and Introduction to International Relations, and served as a judicial intern at the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court in Miami, reviewing court documents and sentencing orders. She also worked with the US Court of International Trade. During the summers of 2019 and 2020, she was a member of the Forest Foundation Summer Internship Program as an intern for Adolescent Consultation Services/Middlesex County Juvenile Court Clinic, where she developed a comprehensive proposal for the clinic to expand their capacity to serve as a referral agency for diversion cases and participated in grant writing and development. As a 1L at Miami Law, Daria worked as a research assistant in the area of international trade law for Professor Kathleen Claussen. During her 1L summer, she served as a legal intern with the International Trade Field Office within the US Department of Justice. During her 2L summer, she was a summer associate at Shook, Hardy, and Bacon, L.L.P. Daria is a candidate to receive her JD and LL.M. in International Arbitration.
Kate Ruston graduated with honors from Claremont McKenna College in California in May 2016 with a B.A. in Middle East Studies. She received the Kravis Leadership Institute and Community Service Internship Awards and founded Project Nur, a social justice initiative advocating acceptance and mutual respect between Muslim and non-Muslim communities. She spent her junior year studying abroad in Amman, Jordan, where she worked with the Danish Refugee Council and the Collateral Repair Project. During the summer of 2014, Kate served as an intern with Development Transformations in Washington, DC, supporting USAID programs in Yemen and Afghanistan. The next summer, she returned to Washington as a Food Security Policy & Global Health Policy Intern with Save the Children. Following graduation, she moved to Cairo, Egypt, first working as a development officer for aid programs in Zambia, Somalia, South Sudan, and Mozambique, and then teaching at the British International Modern School there. From 2017-2019, Kate served as Head of Global Perspectives for the Egypt British International School. She most recently served as a Volunteer Legal Advisor for St. Andrew’s Refugee Services in Cairo, assisting clients throughout the resettlement process. She has engaged in many community service efforts, including with Mercy Corps in Jordan, Share a Smile in Egypt, and the Interfaith Hospitality Network which services the homeless in Athens, Georgia. During her 1L summer at Miami Law, Kate served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Lisette M. Reid in the Southern District of Florida and the Honorable Adalberto Jordan in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. As a 2L, she served as president of the Human Rights Society and co-chair of the Public Interest Leadership Board and volunteered with the Guardian ad Litem program. During her 2L summer, Kate worked on immigration matters as a summer associate with Fragomen.
David Scollan 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.Sc. in International Relations from the London School of Economics in December of 2018. He spent his summers as an intern in the US House of Representatives, Senate, and Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. During the fall of his junior year, he studied abroad in Tanzania, where he conducted field research on land inheritance legal processes, and served as a field assistant for the Clinton Foundation, assisting with workshops on sustainable farming. He completed his master’s dissertation on the effectiveness of U.N. humanitarian reporting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During his 1L summer at Miami Law, David interned with the US Department of Justice in the Office of the US Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas, V.I. There, he worked on weapons trafficking, human trafficking, and white-collar criminal tax cases. He also assisted US Attorney Gretchen Shappert in researching, editing, and drafting a Journal of Federal Law and Practice article on prosecuting multi-jurisdiction environmental crimes. As a 2L, David led Miami Law's International Moot Court Program's International Criminal Court Moot Court team in its year-long effort to clinch the title of Best Regional Team for the Americas and Oceania. At the international rounds in The Hague, the Netherlands, David won world-wide Best Oralist, Best Defense Counsel, and First Runner-Up for Best Defense Counsel Memorial, defending his fictional client on allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. During his 2L summer, David returned to the Department of Justice in the Office on Violence Against Women, where he assisted in drafting the first-ever US National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.
Daniela Torres graduated summa cum laude from the University of South Florida in May 2019 with a B.A. in Political Science and minors in Leadership Studies and General Business Administration. She was a National Hispanic Scholar and a USF Presidential Scholarship Recipient. She served as a junior board member with the Migrants Rights Foundation, a volunteer with the Venezuela Awareness Project, and a cultural ambassador with Tampa Hispanic Heritage. She traveled to Colombia to assist with the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis and mentored youth from diverse backgrounds as part of Community Tampa Bay, an organization whose mission is to address discrimination in the Tampa area. From 2017-2018, Daniela worked as an intern with a law firm in St. Petersburg, assisting with depositions, hearings, and file management. In 2019, she joined Migrants Foundation, Inc., an immigration advocacy organization in Tampa. As Program Development Manager, she assisted with case management and participated in the creation of new programming. During her 1L summer at Miami Law, she was selected as a Hurricane Maria Disaster Relief Sustained Impact Fellow by the Squire Patton Boggs Foundation, working on post-Hurricane Maria recovery issues with Centro Para Puerto Rico. As a 2L, she participated in the Immigration Clinic. During her 2L summer, Daniela returned to Migrants Foundation as a Nonprofit Management Intern and developed employee workshops, updated the organization’s data management strategy, and worked on TPS applications following the extension of protected status for Venezuelan nationals. 
Victoria Touzinsky graduated from the University of Missouri in December 2019 with B.A. degrees in Political Science and Women’s & Gender Studies. She served as president of Stronger Together Against Relationship and Sexual Violence and advocated for structural change regarding access and quality of service for survivors, organizing events to increase awareness and working one-on-one with fellow students. She also served as a Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Peer Coordinator, facilitating conversations regarding sexual violence prevention. During her 1L summer at Miami Law, Victoria served as an intern with the Center For Popular Democracy, working on racial and economic justice policy initiatives. As a 2L, she participated in the Innocence Clinic which helped shaped her passion for criminal defense work. During her 2L summer, she interned with the Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office and is continuing her work there as a Certified Legal Intern during the fall of her 3L year.
Abigail Young 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. She worked as a Communication and Translation Intern for the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, served as a State Senate Intern for Wisconsin Senator Mark Miller, worked as a research assistant for UW-Madison’s Department of Political Science, and studied abroad in Toledo and Barcelona, Spain. While in Toledo, Abigail worked at the provincial courts of Castilla La Mancha. During her semester in Barcelona, she worked in the International Department at the Barcelona Bar Association and was selected to participate in a European Union Activism Seminar in Brussels, Belgium. After graduating, Abigail worked as a Congressional Intern for Rep, Keith Ellison in the US House of Representatives and served as a Public Partnership Intern for UNICEF. 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. During her 1L summer at Miami Law, Abigail worked as Summer Counsel in the housing practice of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau and continued her position as a research assistant to Professor Alfieri. As a 2L, she worked in the Innocence Clinic and served as co-chair of the Public Interest Leadership Board. During her 2L summer, Abigail was a Squire Patton Boggs Racial Justice Fellow working in the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. During the fall of her 3L year, she is working as a Certified Legal Intern for the Domestic Representation Unit of the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office. Abigail is also on the Race and Social Justice Law Review, President of the Criminal Law Society, and a member of the Moot Court Board.
Alexander Bruno graduated magna cum laude from the University of Richmond in May 2020 with a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy, Economics, and Law and a concentration in Philosophy. He was a member of the Dean’s List, and studied abroad in Verona, Italy. A member and team captain of the University of Richmond Mock Trial Team, Alexander competed in tournaments and received the Wake Forest 2019 Invitational Outstanding Attorney Award. During the summer of 2017, he served as an intern with the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office, where he assisted with document preparation and observed grand jury proceedings. During his 1L summer at Miami Law, he served as an intern with the Misdemeanor Unit of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, where he observed many court proceedings, wrote motion responses and legal memos, prepared information forms and court calendars, and researched legal issues for the Assistant State Attorneys. During the fall of his 2L year, Alexander is interning with the Career Criminals and Robberies Unit of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office while competing on the University of Miami School of Law Trial Team.
Danielle Bukacheski graduated from the University of Michigan in May 2019 with a B.A. in Women’s Studies with a focus on Gender and Health. She earned her M.S.in Urban Education at the University of Pennsylvania in May 2021, submitting a thesis entitled The Impact of a Parent's Criminal Record on Parental Involvement in Educational Spaces. During undergraduate, Danielle served as an editor for the Undergraduate Journal of Public Health and a staff facilitator for the University of Michigan Program on Intergroup Relations, where she facilitated workshops to increase awareness about social identities, privilege, and oppression. During her senior year, she served as vice president for the Prison Birth Project, where she organized speaking panels and symposium events with prison reform activists, correctional officers, and policy professionals. While pursuing her master’s degree, she worked as an interviewer for the Entry Rate and Disproportionality Study, focusing on the overrepresentation of families of color in Philadelphia's child welfare system. Prior to law school, Danielle volunteered as a Pardon Coach for Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity, assisting and coaching clients with submitting pardon applications and preparing for interviews with the Board of Probation and Parole. As a 1L at Miami Law, Danielle volunteered with the ACLU of FL Immigrant Detention Tracking Pro Bono Project and was a research assistant for Professor Alfieri through the Center for Ethics and Public Service. Danielle spent her 1L summer as a legal intern at the Federal Defender of the Western District of Missouri in Kansas City, MO, in the trial and appellate units. As a 2L, Danielle is participating in the Innocence Clinic.
Ben Butin graduated from the University of Georgia in December 2019 with a B.A. in Political Science. He was a member of the Dean’s List, studied abroad in Verona, Italy, and wrote for the Georgia Political Review. Throughout college, Ben served as a co- president of Breaking the Shackles, a non-profit created to equip college students with the tools to fight modern-day slavery and human trafficking. He led courses, managed volunteers, established community partnerships, and assisted with a 300-person conference on Human Rights and Sex Trafficking. During the fall of 2017, Ben interned for the Athens Clarke County Public Defender’s Office, where he assisted attorneys by visiting incarcerated clients and conveying plea negotiations. He also transcribed and summarized evidence, including police interviews and body camera/surveillance videos. In 2018, Ben performed research which analyzed the legislative history of Georgia Crime Bill 1176 and its effects on Georgia criminal policy, as well as the desegregation of the Glynn County School System. During the summer of 2019, he served as an intern in Georgia’s State Court DUI/Drug Accountability Program, where he assisted judges, analyzed data, and tracked demographics for the Athens DUI Drug Court to ensure equivalent access and prevent disparate outcomes for participants in the program. As a 1L at Miami Law, Ben was a member of the Dean's List. During his 1L summer, he served as a judicial intern to the Honorable Darrin P. Gayles of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. As a 2L, he is participating in the Innocence Clinic.
Laura Curry graduated from West Virginia University in May 2021 with a B.A. in History. While in college Laura volunteered with the Appalachian Prison Book Project (APBP) and organized the first Walk for Justice to support APBP's mission of providing educational opportunities to incarcerated individuals. In 2019, she was awarded a Boren Scholarship, one of 23 in the country, to complete a long-term immersion and language acquisition study in Tanzania. Prior to entering law school, Laura volunteered with Catholic Charities in Cleveland, Ohio, where she supported Swahili-speaking immigrants and refugees by providing interpretation and serving as an intern refugee case manager. As a 1L at Miami Law, Laura worked with the Court Data Project to identify errors that prevented cases from closing and submitted data which will be used to develop new training materials to reduce the number of cases erroneously left open on Florida state court dockets. During her 1L summer, Laura served as a law clerk with the Orleans Public Defenders in New Orleans, LA.
Elizabeth Hansel graduated cum laude from Occidental College in May 2019 with a B.A. in Diplomacy and World Affairs and a minor in Chinese Studies. She earned a distinction for her senior thesis which explored local NGO approaches to transitional justice and reconciliation in Cambodia. She traveled to Cambodia in January 2019 to interview leaders of civil society on their approaches to and views on transitional justice. She also studied abroad in Taipei, Taiwan. Throughout her senior year, she worked as a JusticeCorps Minimum Time Member for the Pasadena Superior Courthouse, where she assisted self-represented litigants in the civil court self-help center and developed Mandarin language workshops for simple dissolution cases. As a 2019-2020 Fulbright Grant recipient, Elizabeth spent eight months as an English Teaching Assistant in Changhua County, Taiwan. As a 1L at Miami Law, Elizabeth was a member of the National Lawyers Guild, a Student Ambassador with the Admissions office, and a 1L Intern with Housing and Community Economic Development Project with the Center for Ethics and Public Service. During her 1L summer, Elizabeth served as an intern with The Legal Aid Society of New York City’s Health Law Unit. As a 2L, she serves as co-chair of the Public Interest Leadership Board, is a program assistant with the Environmental Law Program, and interns with Dade Legal Aid’s Domestic Violence Program.
Sandra Lackmann graduated magna cum laude from the Ohio State University in December 2018 with a B.A. in International Studies and Spanish and a minor in Human Rights. She was a member of the Dean’s List, a National Buckeye Scholar, and a member of Sigma Iota Rho. She also served as a student assistant with The Ohio State Center for Latin American Studies. Sandra studied abroad in San José, Costa Rica, for which she received a merit-based grant. In 2017, she served as an Immigration Legal Intern with the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a non-profit immigration and refugee agency in Raleigh, NC. In 2018, she interned with Ayuda, an immigration and refugee agency in Fairfax, VA, and defended her honors thesis on asylum-seeking women and US immigration law. Following graduation, she worked as a paralegal for an immigration law firm in Worthington, OH, and then served as operations coordinator and later senior legal assistant for another immigration firm in Columbus, OH, focusing on complex removal defense, consular processing, and waivers. During her 1L summer at Miami Law, Sandra clerked at Catholic Charities Legal Services, working on deportation defense and asylum cases of unaccompanied refugee minors. During the fall of her 2L year, Sandra is working as a law clerk at Nero Immigration Law, PLLC in Coral Gables, FL and participating in the Miami Law Immigration Clinic.
Paula Manrique graduated from Emory University in May 2020 with a B.A. in Environmental Science and a minor in Sustainability Sciences. She received numerous scholarships, was a member of the Pre-Law Society and the First-Generation Low-Income Partnership, and a volunteer with LifeLine Animal Rescue. She twice traveled to Matagalpa, Nicaragua as a Brigade Leader for Global Brigades Public Health, where she worked as part of a holistic health and economic program, specializing in public health infrastructure by building sanitation stations, concrete floors, and eco-stoves to prevent spread of water-borne disease. During the summer of 2018, Paula interned for the Environmental Learning Center in Vero Beach, FL, where she conducted ecological field research on wading birds and led nature-based educational camps for children. During the spring of 2020, she served as a Region 4 Tribal Compliance Intern for the Environmental Protection Agency in Atlanta, GA, where she developed training documents to be used by tribal nations during pre-construction meetings and worked on Clean Water Act issues. In 2021, she took part in a Fulbright España English Teaching Assistantship in the Canary Islands and volunteered with Limpiaventura, a beach clean-up organization. During her 1L year at Miami Law, Paula performed pro bono legal research with the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and served as an intern at the Everglades Law Center during her 1L summer. As a 2L, Paula is externing at the Southern Poverty Law Center, and serves on the executive board for the Miami Law Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.
Timothy Mondloch graduated from the University of New Mexico in May 2021 with majors in Africana Studies, Psychology, and Sociology. He received the Regents Scholarship, was a member of the Black Student Association and Black Student Union, was a founder and tutor for the Governor Bent Elementary School Tutoring Program, and held a leadership role with Brothers Leading and Cultivating Knowledge. In 2017, Timothy was elected vice president of the University of New Mexico’s chapter of The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he served for two years. In 2019, he began serving as a senator for Associated Students of the University of New Mexico, working closely with colleagues to propose and debate legislation to benefit the student body. At Miami Law, Timothy is a member of the First-Generation Law Students Association, Black Law Students Association, Human Rights Society, and Southwest Asian and North African Law Students Association. He was elected Vice President of the Society of Bar and Gavel, National Lawyers Guild, and the Mental Health Collective. He is a Junior Editor for the University of Miami’s Race and Social Justice Law Review, a member of the University of Miami School of Law Trial Team, a Dean’s Fellow, and a student ambassador. During his 1L summer, Timothy worked at Bread for the City, a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC that provides free legal, medical, and social services to individuals facing poverty. During his 2L summer, Timothy will be working as a summer associate at McDermott, Will, & Emery in Miami.
Gabriela Rivero graduated from Harvard University in May 2021 with a B.A. in Sociology, a secondary in Latinx Studies, a certificate in Latin American Studies, and a Spanish language certification. She was a John Harvard Scholarship recipient, studied abroad in Havana, Cuba, and completed her senior thesis entitled ¿Quiénes Somos? Who Are We? The Role of the Iberian in Latinx Identity Conceptualization and Construction. Throughout college, Gabriela volunteered with Harvard Law School’s Immigration and Refugee Clinic and also conducted research on various aspects of immigration in Canada, the United States, and Latin America as a research assistant in the Harvard Sociology Department and the Centro de Estudios de Conflicto y Cohesión Social in Chile. In 2019, Gabriela interned with Delaware Governor John Carney, and was a legal intern with the Latin American Community Center in Wilmington, DE, prior to that. At Miami Law, Gabriela is the secretary of the National Lawyers Guild and the Immigration Law Students Association and is a member of the Hispanic Law Students Association and the Cuban-American Bar Association. Gabriela was one of the 2022 recipients of the Innovative Service in the Public Interest Award for her work as part of the UM Law-ACLU of Florida Detention Database team, which tracks complaints about the state’s various immigration detention centers. During her 1L summer, she served as a Summer Law Clerk with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, where she conducted legal research, helped draft a practice advisory on the state of domestic violence claims in asylum law, conducted outreach, and provided interpretive assistance.
Sofia Smith graduated from the University of Michigan in April 2020 with a B.A. in International Studies and Spanish. She studied abroad in Madrid, earned University Honors Designation, and received the Romance Language and Literatures Student Achievement Award. During the summer of 2016, Sofia founded Fund the Future, an organization that works closely with elementary students to promote positive relationship-building techniques and raises money through grassroots fundraising to donate to schools in La Cruz, Costa Rica. During her junior year, she volunteered with the Monroe Youth Center, where she worked with long-term incarcerated juveniles who were suffering from trauma as a result of sexual and physical assault. She also worked as a legal intern with a private firm, assisting practitioners with hearings and trials in criminal defense matters and civil litigation. Prior to entering law school, Sofia worked as an Americorps Member through City Year, serving as a co-teacher and mentor to 10th grade students at an under-resourced school in a low-income suburb of Chicago. During her 1L summer at Miami Law, Sophia served as an intern in the Felonies Division of the Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office, where she assisted attorneys during court proceedings, wrote motions and memoranda, and engaged in client interviews in the jail. She is continuing to work with the Public Defender’s Office during the fall semester of her 2L year.
Gabrielle Thomas graduated from Davidson College in May 2021 with a B.A. in Africana Studies with a concentration in Political Economy and Political Science. She immersed herself in an interdisciplinary and international learning experience with a focus on African and African diaspora studies and issues. As a freshman, she interned at Public Advocates Law Firm in San Francisco, working with lawyers on issues such as housing, education, climate justice, and transit. That summer, Gabrielle also created the first undergraduate Africana Studies publication, The Sankofa Journal, to publish essays and articles researching Black Liberation and the African Diaspora. Gabrielle later served as a legal intern in the Bank of Jamaica’s Legal Department in her hometown of Kingston, where she furthered her knowledge and insight in international economic policies and procedures. She also attended The School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London for a semester, where she studied economic development, political economy, and international law with a focus on Asian and African countries. At Davidson, she received the Wangari Maathai Award, given to a senior whose undergraduate experience reflects outstanding leadership, involvement, and improvement of the campus climate for underrepresented and historically marginalized students. At Miami Law, she is a research assistant for the Center of Ethics and Public Service, an intern for the Human Rights Clinic, Vice President of the Human Rights Society, Critical Legal Librarian for the National Lawyers Guild, and Community Outreach Chair for the Mental Health Collective. During her 1L summer, Gabrielle served as a legal intern with the Tenants’ Rights Unit at Legal Services of Greater Miami.
Sean Werkheiser graduated from Emerson College in 2012 with a B.S. in Political Communication: Politics, Leadership and Social Advocacy. He earned an M.S. in Education: Bilingual Childhood Education from Hunter College, where he graduated magna cum laude in 2016. While an undergraduate, Sean volunteered as a classroom instructor and tutor with Peace First, working with underperforming schools and high-risk students in the Boston Area. Following graduation, he served as an AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator for the San Francisco Education Fund, where he recruited and trained over 350 volunteers. He then served as a Corps Member with City Year in New York, where he served as a tutor and mentor for under-served youth in a bilingual classroom setting. While pursuing his master’s degree, Sean taught full time in a high-needs school as part of the NYC Teaching Fellows Program and also taught at a dual language school for international students in Brooklyn. A Fulbright Grant recipient, he taught English to university students in Bogotá, Colombia from August 2016 to December 2018. In January 2019, he began working as an immigration paralegal for a firm in San Francisco, where he prepared filings, conducted legal research, and provided translations and interpretations. As a 1L at Miami Law, Sean completed pro bono projects to restore returning citizens’ voting rights and track reports of abuse in ICE detention centers throughout Florida. He also participated in an Alternative Fall Break project assisting recent immigrants applying for political asylum. During his 1L summer, Sean interned at the National Lawyers Guild as part of the Civil Litigation Taskforce, conducting research, writing, and depositions for class action civil rights lawsuits against the NYPD. As a 2L, he is serving as President of the Miami Law National Lawyers Guild and is a member of the ACLU of Florida’s Immigrant Detention Tracking Project.
