Meet the Current Human Rights Clinic Student Interns
Lissie Albornoz is a 2L at the University of Miami School of Law, pursuing a JD/LL.M. in U.S. and Transnational Law. Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, she dedicated nearly 15 years to protecting children's rights in the Venezuelan legal system. Her commitment to human rights deepened through work with the ACLU's Florida Immigration Detention Program, documenting rights violations. Lissie has also advocated for the Venezuelan Adjustment Act (VAA) alongside community organizations. Her experience in first-party insurance defense and personal injury law in Florida has built a strong foundation in litigation and research. In the Human Rights Clinic, she focuses on advancing the Right to Food. Lissie is working on the Isaías case, advocating for land and food security for peasant communities in Ecuador, and on the Red de Mujeres Rurales y Agrotoxicos project, addressing the health impacts of toxic agricultural chemicals on rural women.
Victor Alvarado is a 2L born in Maracay, Venezuela, and raised in Miami, Florida. Prior to law school, he was actively involved in social advocacy, including his significant efforts with Equality Florida to challenge discriminatory legislation and support the Equality Act. He is a Miami Public Interest Scholar and currently serves as the Public Relations Director for the Disability Law Students Association at the University of Miami School of Law.
Victor's professional interests include advancing LGBTQIA+ rights, protecting refugees, and fighting against gender-based violence and its underlying causes. Last summer, he was a Law Fellow with the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute, where he honed his legal, policy, and research skills with Ferox Strategies in Washington, D.C. Before law school, Victor worked as a College Success Coach at Miami Dade College, where he supported immigrant students in navigating the college process and provided essential resources to improve their academic performance.
Sharif Amastha is a 2L student born and raised in Miami, Florida. His passion for human rights and international law stems from his Colombian-Lebanese heritage and his family’s experience immigrating to the United States under asylum protections. Before law school, Sharif began working as a law clerk for a boutique law firm specialized in family law and criminal law. His work with survivors of domestic violence provided him with a new perspective on the intersection of human rights with other branches of the legal system. As a clinic intern, Sharif is active in two projects focused on combatting gender-based violence. He is researching laws and policies in impede or strengthen gender equality and their impact on gender-based violence. His research will lead into several policy briefs that will support the clinic’s partner organizations in their advocacy campaigns.
Clare Atkinson is a 2L originally from Upstate New York. She developed a passion for human rights while working in Geneva, Switzerland studying diplomacy and international studies. During this time, she published a study on how gender plays a role in media coverage of politicians and discourages marginalized populations from running for office, which has inspired her to work in politics and advocate for equality. Before coming to law school, she worked for two members of Congress, and now on campus is a part of the First-Generation Law Society and Miami Law Women in addition to being part of the Clinic. She also is a law clerk at a boutique family law firm where she assists in complex marriage dissolutions and custody cases, helping to find equitable solutions to complicated family issues. In the Clinic, Clare is working with the Gender Justice and Health, which involves work with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to fight against forced sterilization.
Katirina Alexandra Delviscio is a 2L J.D./LL.M. Honors candidate in Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law from Montreal, Canada. Her cultural background as well as her grandfather’s work as a UN Ambassador in Africa inspired her decision to join the Human Rights Clinic. This summer, she split her time supporting creatives under Tyler Chou at Law for Creators while participating in the Judicial Internship Academy organized by US District Judge Beth Bloom. She has previously volunteered with Kids in Distress, a local non-profit, working alongside a multidisciplinary team to not only advocate for but also supervise children in the foster care system. As a member of the Clinic’s Housing & Homelessness team, her work focuses on the criminalization of homelessness locally, nationally, and internationally. She is particularly excited to fuse her passion for the arts by developing workshops with the Red Line Service, an artist organization led by people experiencing homelessness.
Wilmy Dessalines is a 2L student in the Joint Degree JD/LL.M. program in Transnational Law at the University of Miami School of Law. As a lawyer in France, he served as a Litigation In-house Lawyer at Société Générale Bank in Paris, managing high-value cases and advising on legal and reputational risks. He also founded Bluesky, a startup providing funding solutions to corporations for their litigation costs. Moreover, he gained substantial experience as a Legal Auditor and Litigation In-house Lawyer at other renowned listed financial institutions. Most recently, he completed an internship at Shutts & Bowen LLP in Miami, assisting attorneys in arbitration and litigation cases. He is now interning at the Human Rights Clinic, where he actively contributes to the Housing and Homelessness team’s efforts to address housing challenges impacting the U.S. and the Caribbean.
David Gonzalez is a 2L born in Havana, Cuba and raised in Miami. His Cuban heritage has inspired an interest in safeguarding human rights at the international level, and he was able to put this into practice while studying in France at Sciences Po Reims. This past summer, David interned at the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office and helped represent indigent defendants in the criminal justice system. As a Clinic intern on the Gender Justice and Health team, David is helping an expert witness provide testimony to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on a case about the forced sterilization of Indigenous women.
Vincent Fan is a 3L student participating in the Human Rights Clinic. He previously worked for Legal Services of Greater Miami, inc., where he had the chance helping low-income tenants with eviction defense and low-income taxpayers with tax disputes and collection issues. On campus, he serves as an Articles and Comments editor at the Race and Social Justice Law Review. He also served as a research assistant for a renowned professor, researching policy and cases regarding homelessness and encampment. At the Clinic, Vincent is actively contributing to the COURAGE team and focuses on researching and developing a feasible plan to end gender-based violence in Miami, FL.
Cassandra Hacker is a 3L born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. This past summer, Cassandra had the opportunity to work as a prosecutorial intern at the Fayette County Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney in Lexington, Kentucky working primarily on cases involving crimes against children, sex crimes, and domestic violence. 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 last year. Cassandra continues her work in the Clinic from this year as a fellow on advancing Gender Justice and Workers’ Rights in the Miami-Dade area and abroad.
Estefanía Hernández is a 3L originally from Bogotá, Colombia, and raised in South Florida, who began her career as a high school English teacher and mentor. This past summer, she served as a Squire Patton Boggs Racial Justice Sustained Impact Fellow, contributing to the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C. Estefanía is a member of the Hispanic Bar Association, Colombian Bar Association, First Generation Law Student Association, and serves as the president of the Christian Legal Society. She is also the Co-chair of UM's Public Interest Leadership Board and a clinic fellow at the UM's Human Rights Clinic, where she mentors students and leads two teams focused on projects that explore the intersection of sports, masculinities, and ending gender-based violence. Estefanía’s areas of interest include human rights, international arbitration, and civil litigation.
Natalie Hollander is a 2L from Broward County, Florida. Before entering law school, Natalie was a STEM Teacher where she developed and implemented various educational programs to empower over 22,000 students to increase their involvement within STEM-based education, with a specific focus on underprivileged youth. She most recently interned at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office in their Domestic Violence Felonies Unit. She is a Miami Public Interest Scholar and currently serves as a Junior Staff Editor for the University of Miami Business Law Review. As a member of the Sports, Masculinities, and Ending Gender-Based Violence Team with the Human Rights Clinic, she is currently working with the Centre for Sport and Human Rights to improve child safeguarding and gender-based violence prevention within sports nationwide.
Emily Johnson is a 2L student from Miami, Florida. Before law school, she worked as a mentor at the SPARK Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching a mental health curriculum designed to reduce recidivism and substance use within the criminal justice system. She also co-founded Advocates for LGBTQ Equality, a platform that amplifies resources and voices within the LGBTQ community. During her 1L summer, Emily served as a HOPE Summer Public Interest Fellow and interned at the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office in the Children’s Defense Division. She is currently a Junior Editor for the Race & Social Justice Law Review, and her work in the Clinic focuses on advancing gender justice both locally and globally.
Natalie Kemper is a 2L from St. Louis, Missouri, who majored in Criminal Justice at Saint Louis University. This past summer, she had the opportunity to work as a law clerk for Victor A. Ruiz, P.A. in Miami, where she worked on numerous civil rights cases, and plans to continue working there during her 2L year. In addition to that, Natalie is currently a junior editor for the Race and Social Justice Law Review. Within the Clinic, Natalie is a member of the Gender Justice team, focusing on advancing Gender Justice abroad and in Florida.
Ricky J. Marc is a Ph.D./LL.M. student based in Boca Raton, Florida, and Paris, France. Before joining the University of Miami, he served in the Obama Administration's White House Office of Public Engagement in 2016, was a Legislative Aide in the Florida Legislature from 2010 to 2018, and worked as an Immigration Affairs Associate from 2004 to 2011. Ricky earned a Master's degree in International Relations from The American University of Paris and holds dual degrees in Law (J.D.) and Sports Administration (M.S.) from St. Thomas University, where he was recognized for his academic leadership, receiving the CALI Award in Sports Law (2014) and the Senator of the Year award (2015).
Maria Celeste Martino is an LLM student in International Law originally from Rosario, Argentina. With a specialization in Criminal Law and Magistrature, she also worked at the public university as a teaching assistant in the Substantive Criminal Law department. For ten years, she dedicated her career to working in the criminal justice system as a law clerk, assisting in the analysis and resolution of criminal cases related to various social challenges such as gender-based violence, drug trafficking, and insecurity in Argentina. Currently, she serves as an intern at the Human Rights Clinics at the University of Miami, where she collaborates on the Courage project, focused on preventing and combating gender-based violence and discrimination in MDC.
Juliana Monroy is a 2L from San Juan, Puerto Rico. On campus, she is the President of the Mental Health Collective and the Secretary of the UM Federal Bar Association. During her 1L summer, she completed a HOPE Summer Public Interest Fellowship and interned with the Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence Unit at the State Attorney’s Office. These experiences, along with her Latin heritage, have inspired her interest in human rights. She is currently interning at the Human Rights Clinic, where she contributes to the Sports, Masculinity, and Gender Based Violence group. The clinic focuses on advocating for child safety at major sporting events by reviewing the policies of major organizations through a human rights lens.”
Tiana Rose Montague is a 3L student at the University of Miami School of Law from Toronto, Canada. After her first year of law school, she earned a Master’s in International Business from the Miami Herbert Business School, demonstrating her commitment to furthering her expertise in intercultural communication. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in International Affairs from Florida State University. Tiana is working with the Human Rights Clinic’s Housing & Homelessness Team, advocating for stronger policies to address homelessness in Miami-Dade County. Her interests lie at the intersection of artificial intelligence, human rights, and ethics. She is an active member of the Technology Law Society, the First Generation Law Student Association, and the Caribbean Law Student Association.
Angela Rose Myers is a 2L who graduated from Barnard College in 2018. In 2019, Angela Rose became the 2nd Vice-president of the Minneapolis NAACP and elected as president in 2020. In 2023, Angela Rose graduated from the University of Minnesota with a master’s degree in human rights. Throughout 2022 and 2023, Angela Rose and a team of researchers at the University of Minnesota notified the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights about the human rights abuses perpetrated by the police in Minnesota, utilizing testimony from impacted individuals. Now, Angela Rose attends the University of Miami Law. In the summer of 2024, she worked as a Summer Law Clerk for the Office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, where she aided the state’s Cannabis Expungement Board.
Nick Tricarico is a 3L student from East Lyme, Connecticut. During his time in law school, Nick has worked as a law clerk at the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office and as a legal intern at the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. On campus, he conducted independent research on Florida’s judicial election and appointment systems guided by Professor Meryl Chertoff, and he has served as a 1L mentor for the Public Interest Leadership Board. Nick is a member of the Human Rights Clinic’s Housing & Homelessness team. His work focuses on the intersections between mental health, physical disabilities, and homelessness, as well as the right to housing and racial justice.
Shantanice Vaxter is a 3L student at Stetson University College of Law and a visiting student at the University of Miami School of Law. Before law school, Shantanice worked as a federal special agent with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, investigating complex criminal activities, including money laundering and tax evasion. She has also clerked in environmental law and public policy and worked as a summer associate at Adams & Reese, LLP, gaining experience in litigation and legal research. With a background as a real estate broker, financial advisor, and law clerk, Shantanice brings a wealth of practical experience and dedication to addressing legal and social challenges.
Abigail Wettstein is a 3L 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 Vice President of the International Moot Court Program E-Board. As a fellow in the Human Rights Clinic, Abby supports the Housing and Homelessness team on a variety of projects and is working on a memorandum on the intersection between the criminalization of homelessness and mental health disabilities.
Laura Zarama Buitrago is an LL.M./J.D. student born and raised in Colombia. She earned her law degree from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, with a concentration in Human Rights and Social Justice. Laura's professional experience includes a summer internship with the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, where she assisted in investigations, coordinated training programs, and gained insights into administrative law and local government operations. During her law school years in Colombia, she interned at La Modelo Prison in Bogotá, where she helped prisoners prepare legal documents aimed at replacing restrictive sentences with more favorable alternatives, furthering the humanization of penal law. Laura is also a member of the Colombian Bar Association and is passionate about using the law to advance social justice and equity.
See former student interns
