About the Program
The Program in Law and Public Service is designed to provide a select group of students the opportunity to receive a tailored curriculum and intensive training that will prepare them for public service careers. Fellows are required to spend at least one summer working for a public service employer (a government agency or nonprofit organization). Each year, approximately 35 first-year fellows will be admitted to the program. About five slots will be held open for second-year students. Applications for first-year students are typically due in mid-October.
The program is directed by Professor Annie Kim, who formerly led the Law School’s Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center. Kim also worked for years as a litigator and in-house counsel representing Virginia school districts and local governments, and continues to consult on issues relating to local government law.
The Curriculum
Program fellows will be required to take the course Law and Public Service in the spring of their first year of law school or the second year, if they are entering the program as second-year students. This course provides fellows a broad overview of various public interest careers and paths. Fellows may opt to, but are not required to, take a course on advocacy skills for public interest lawyers during their second or third year of law school. In addition, a one-semester capstone seminar focusing on contemporary issues in public service is offered each spring for interested third-year fellows. Additional course requirements include a clinic or externship and at least 10 additional credits in courses that will assist fellows in their future public service careers. Courses are tailored to each fellow’s individual career goals and interests. Fellows will also complete a substantial research paper or final paper on a public interest topic of their choice.
Mentoring
Students in the program will be paired with a faculty mentor who brings legal expertise in one or more fields of public service. The faculty mentors are available to help fellows map out their courses, serve as sounding boards for summer and permanent employment, and provide guidance on academic development. Fellows are also assigned peer mentors within the program.
Community
The fellows participate in many events designed to build the LPS community, nurture individual professional and academic interests in public service, and introduce fellows to public service practitioners. These include “Serving Justice” dinners with practitioners, book clubs, career-focused workshops, social gatherings, faculty and peer mentorship events, new and graduating fellows’ banquets, and the annual Shaping Justice public service conference.
Faculty Director
Annie Kim
Assistant Professor of Law, General Faculty
Director, Program in Law and Public Service
Resident Faculty
Public service, state and local government law, litigation
- Practiced for 12 years as a litigator and in-house counsel, representing Virginia school districts and local governments
- Her 2012 victory in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the school board in Republic Franklin Ins. Co. v. Albemarle County School Board secured a landmark ruling in the circuit protecting the rights of local governments against insurance companies seeking to avoid coverage under a wrongful act policy
- Practiced extensively in state and federal courts across Virginia, conducting two jury trials and numerous bench trials, arguing motions before trial courts throughout the Commonwealth, serving as counsel of record on appeals to the Virginia Supreme Court and the Fourth Circuit, and filing amicus curiae briefs on behalf of public bodies
Criminal procedure and criminal defense law
- Clerked for Judge Dennis Jacobs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- Practiced criminal defense as an associate for Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason & Silberberg and as staff attorney for the Bronx Defenders
- Scholarship often focuses on fairness for the accused in the legal system (Faculty Q&A)
Criminal law, feminist jurisprudence and women's issues
- Clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. and Judge Jon O. Newman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- Co-authored the casebook "Criminal Law: Cases and Materials"
- In 2012 Coughlin and a group of law students using the moniker "The Molly Pitcher Project" helped file a lawsuit on behalf of military women seeking to overturn the combat exclusion. (Story)
Tax law and policy, behavioral economics
- Ph.D. in economics from University of California, Berkeley; M.Sc. in economics and philosophy from the London School of Economics
- Hayashi's research on "tax salience" — meaning how visible a tax is — showed a correlation between higher salience and a higher number of appeals of property tax assessments
- Serves as a McDonald Distinguished Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University
Juvenile justice, child advocacy, state and local government law
- Director, State and Local Government Policy Clinic
- Former director, Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice (2014-19)
- Former legal director, JustChildren Program of the Legal Aid Justice Center (1998-2010) and director of the Child Advocacy Clinic at UVA Law (2010-14)
Environmental and regulatory law, energy policy, climate change policy
- Directs the Environmental and Regulatory Law Clinic and the Program in Law, Communities and the Environment (PLACE)
- Served as an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, Charlottesville office director
- Part of the SELC team that won a unanimous victory in Environmental Defense v. Duke Energy
- Clerked for Judge Norman K. Moon of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia and Judge Roger L. Gregory of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
International human rights law, Inter-American human rights system, business and human rights, transitional justice
- Director of the International Human Rights Clinic, co-director of the Human Rights Program and director of the Human Rights Study Project
- Worked as research director of the Center for the Study of Law, Justice, and Society (Dejusticia)
- Former associate professor of law at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia
- Served with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Colombian Commission of Jurists
Special education, child advocacy and juvenile justice
- Directs the Holistic Youth Defense Clinic
- Formerly worked as a legal aid attorney representing indigent children and families on special education, juvenile justice and immigration matters
- Is the 2017 co-recipient of the Virginia State Bar's Young Lawyer of the Year Award
Constitutional law, administrative law, election law
- M. Phil. in English studies, University of Oxford (Marshall Scholar)
- Clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. and for then-Judge Stephen G. Breyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
- Argued on behalf of Maetta Vance before the Supreme Court in Vance v. Ball State.
Innocence cases, DNA exoneration, criminal investigation
- Worked as a staff attorney at the Mississippi Capital Defense Resource Center and at the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center, where she represented clients and consulted on cases in all stages of capital litigation, with primary focus on federal and state post-conviction proceedings
- Led UVA Law’s Innocence Project Clinic from its launch in 2008 through July 2021.
- She and her students were featured on the hit podcast "Serial," Episode 7. (Story)
Business law, contract theory, mergers and acquisitions
- Research focuses on problems related to contract theory, business alliances, shareholder litigation and other issues involving the intersection of law and business
- Spent five years as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co., where he served clients on corporate strategy, mergers and marketing; also worked with a New York and a Los Angeles law firmCo-author of a book on business partnership and alliance strategies
- Taught courses as a visiting professor at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India, the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and the University of Trento in Italy
Employment discrimination, civil rights and admiralty, civil procedure and international civil litigation
- Clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices William O. Douglas and John Paul Stevens, and forJudge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Chaired the advisory committee on Fourth Circuit Rules
- Rutherglen's book, "Civil Rights in the Shadow of Slavery," discusses the dynamics of legislative and judicial enforcement over the entire history of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. (Story)
Post-conviction relief, innocence, death-penalty cases
- Worked as an assistant federal defender in the Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- Served as senior staff attorney with the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center, where she represented death-sentenced inmates in state and federal post-conviction proceedings
- Secured clemency for a severely mentally ill client and won a life sentence for an intellectually disabled client, both of whom were sentenced to death in Virginia
Criminal procedure and criminal defense law
- Clerked for Judge Dennis Jacobs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- Practiced criminal defense as an associate for Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason & Silberberg and as staff attorney for the Bronx Defenders
- Scholarship often focuses on fairness for the accused in the legal system (Faculty Q&A)
Civil rights, constitutional law, legal history, law and inequality
- Studies the intersection of law and inequality, with a particular focus on race-based economic inequality
- Before entering academia, Milligan practiced civil rights law at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., where she was a Skadden Fellow, and clerked for Judge A. Wallace Tashima of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Earned a Ph.D. in jurisprudence and social policy from the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on race, politics and legal history
Prisoner decarceration and reentry, civil rights, nonprofit organizations
- Leads the Decarceration and Community Reentry Clinic at UVA Law
- Awarded an Echoing Green Fellowship to help launch The First 72+, a holistic reentry services organization serving formerly incarcerated people in New Orleans, and Rising Foundations, a community development corporation dedicated to helping formerly incarcerated people become business owners and homeowners
- Helped craft policy and impact litigation strategies, including the implementation of the Graham v. Florida decision, which made the practice of sentencing juveniles to life without the possibility of parole unconstitutional in non-homicide cases.
- Scholarship has focused on the collateral consequences of arrests, convictions and incarceration, as well as the history and impact of sentencing reform and prisoner reentry reform
Race and law, constitutional law, employment discrimination
- Clerked for Judge Cornelia G. Kennedy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- Served for seven years as inaugural director of the UVA Center for the Study of Race and Law
- Scholarship focuses on equal protection, especially involving race and sexual orientation (Faculty Q&A)
Education law, Civil rights, Affirmative action, Desegregation and integration, Race, Sexual discrimination and harrassment
- Scholarship proposes novel law and policy solutions that advance educational equity and help to close opportunity and achievement gaps
- Editor of the book “A Federal Right to Education: Fundamental Questions for Our Democracy”
- Co-editor with Charles J. Ogletree Jr. of “The Enduring Legacy of Rodriguez: Creating New Pathways for Equal Educational Opportunity” (Harvard Education Press, 2015)
- Provided legal advice on race, sex and disability discrimination in education as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Education Office of the General Counsel and on school finance litigation as an attorney with Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells)
- Clerked for Judge James R. Browning on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Cybersecurity, foreign relations, international law and national security law
- Clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Sonia Sotomayor and for Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
- Served as a special assistant to the State Department legal adviser and practiced appellate and national security law, including advising on cybersecurity issues, at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C.
- Eichensehr’s recent scholarship focuses on the constitutional powers of the president and Congress in foreign relations law, the role of private actors in cybersecurity, and the development of international law to govern state behavior in cyberspace
Legislation, election law, law and economics, and direct democracy
- Ph.D., Jurisprudence and Social Policy, University of California, Berkeley
- Scholarship applies economic analysis to election law and constitutional design
- Clerked for Judge William A. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- The first law professor to receive the UVA Student Council Distinguished Teaching Award
Environmental law and climate change, administrative law
- Clerked for Judge Harry T. Edwards on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
- Founding executive director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law
- Co-authored "Retaking Rationality: How Cost-Benefit Analysis Can Better Protect the Environment and Our Health." The book became the foundation for a new approach public interest organizations could take in arguing for policies to protect the environment. (Faculty Q&A on related scholarship)
Family law, trusts and estates, feminist jurisprudence, reproductive technology, and aging and the law
- Her books include “Red Families v. Blue Families,” “Homeward Bound” and “Unequal Family Lives,” as well as casebooks in family law and trusts and estates
- Serves as the reporter for the Uniform Law Commission Drafting Committee on Economic Rights of Unmarried Cohabitants, and a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the American Law Institute
- Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and New Yorker, and she has appeared on numerous media outlets, including NPR and MSNBC
- From 2002-04, Cahn was on leave in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and researched gender-based violence
Separation of church and state, property, local government and land use
- M.A. in legal theory, University College London
- Clerked for then-Chief Judge Dolores Sloviter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- Authored articles on the establishment clause and local regulation of religion, the role of cities in a federal system, local recognition of same-sex marriage, takings law and economic development, and the history of the anti-chain store movement. (Faculty Q&A)
Employment law and discrimination, contracts, contract theory, law and economics
- M.Phil. in economics, Yale University
- A pioneer in the use of technology in the classroom, won a $10,000 Hybrid Challenge Grant for Technology-Enhanced Teaching to convert his first-semester Contracts course into flipped classroom model of instruction (Story)
- Author of an open-source Contracts casebook published by the CALI eLangdell Press. (Link)
- Recent scholarship focuses on information-forcing rules in contracts and on vicarious liability for employee torts
- In 2013, began an empirical study of law school teaching practices and how they affect student experiences and outcomes
Civil rights, constitutional history and constitutional law
- Goluboff, the 12th dean at UVA Law, is the first woman to lead the school
- Goluboff, who has a Ph.D. in history from Princeton, also is a history professor at UVA
- Won the 2010 Order of the Coif Biennial Book Award and the 2008 James Willard Hurst Prize for her first book, "The Lost Promise of Civil Rights" (Story)
- Received a 2009 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Constitutional Studies and a 2012 Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies to support her work on the demise of vagrancy laws as part of the social transformations of the 1960s. (Story)
State, international taxation and policy
- National reporter for the United States to the 2008 IFA Congress on tax discrimination and the 2014 European Associate Tax Law Professors Congress on tax information exchange
- Co-editor of Kluwer's "Series on International Taxation" and a member of the editorial board of the World Tax Journal
- Mason's research focuses on comparative taxation, with an emphasis on EU tax law.
- Amicus brief cited by U.S. Supreme Court in Comptroller of the Treasury of Maryland v. Wynne.
- Has a four-part special report on EU state aids forthcoming in Tax Notes
Civil litigation, appellate advocacy, clinical education and community engagement
- Clerked for Frank M. Hull of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- Worked nine years at a litigation boutique in Atlanta on both commercial and public interest cases, including cases involving employment discrimination and consumer class actions, protests, election law, disability rights, prisoner civil rights and tort reform
- Served for eight years as counsel of record for the student-run Emory Law School Supreme Court Advocacy Program, and director of Emory’s externship program
Criminal law, evidence and procedure
- Clerked for then-Chief Judge Dolores K. Sloviter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- Worked as an assistant public defender, a source of inspiration for his later scholarship explaining how criminal law works (Scholarship Profile)
- Has explored over-criminalization in the justice system (Faculty Q&A)
- Author of the book "Free Market Criminal Justice: How Democracy and Laissez Faire Undermine the Rule of Law"
Criminal law, civil rights, race
- Clerked for Judge Diane Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Judge Jack Weinstein of the Eastern District of New York
- Worked as a trial attorney and special litigation attorney for the Orleans Public Defenders
- Recent scholarship has focused on legal history, race and criminal juries
Constitutional law, antitrust and communications regulation, national security
- Clerked for Judge Frank H. Easterbrook of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- Practiced with what is now Mayer Brown in Chicago
- Is a U.S. Army Reserve judge advocate, and was a principal editor and contributor for the first three editions of "The Rule of Law Handbook: A Practitioners’ Guide" (2007-09)
- Before he went to law school, Nachbar spent five years as a systems analyst, working for both Andersen Consulting and Hughes Space and Communications.
Comparative law and human rights
- D.Phil. in socio-legal studies, Oxford University
- Has written on the constitutions of nations, including the declining influence of the U.S. Constitution (Story)
- Named a 2017 Andrew Carnegie Fellow, which provided her with a $200,000 award to expand her research into the world's constitutions to better understand how constitutional rights are enforced in different countries. (More)
- Gained human rights experience working at the U.N. Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute in Turin and at the Southern Africa Litigation Centre in Johannesburg
Advocacy and verbal persuasion, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
- Author of two books on public speaking: "Tongue-Tied America: Reviving the Art of Verbal Persuasion" and "Finding Your Voice in Law School: Mastering Classroom Cold-Calls, Job Interviews, and Other Verbal Challenges"
- Senior Fellow, National Law Security Center; formerly an attorney with U.S. Department of Justice, where she represented the U.S. on terrorism-related matters before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
- Practiced law at Covington & Burling, both in Washington, D.C. and New York
- Has directed theater professionally
Domestic relations and family law
- Ph.D. in philosophy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Recent scholarship has revolved around defining a theory behind marriage, including why the state is involved in licensing marriages at all
- Teaches Family Law and Torts
Administrative law, civil procedure, computer crime, federal courts, national security law
- Served as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice
- Practice appellate litigation privately and for DOJ's National Security Division
- Clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia at the U.S. Supreme Court
Immigration and refugee law, judging, legal ethics, legal history
- Litigated dozens of cases before U.S. federal courts of appeals, U.S. Supreme Court and immigration courts
- Author of the 2021 book “You Are Not American: Citizenship Stripping from Dred Scott to the Dreamers”
- Fellowship from 2019-21 at the Collegium de Lyon in France researching immigration and citizenship laws and policies
- Clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Legal aid, civil rights, impact litigation
- Former legal director of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, the oldest and largest general civil legal services program in the nation’s capital
- Oversaw roughly 60 lawyers and a dozen legal assistants in leading Legal Aid’s individual client representation, systemic appellate and policy advocacy, and impact litigation across all practice areas
- Former director of the division on civil rights in the office of the New Jersey attorney general
- Former assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., where he began his career as a Skadden Fellow after law school
About the Program and Selection Process
LPS was created in 2009 to provide a select group of UVA Law students the curricular foundation, specialized training, and community of faculty and peers that would assist them in pursuing careers in public service. Each year, the program admits approximately 35 first-year students and about five second-year students. Fellows typically plan to enter public service careers immediately after graduation. For more information on program curricular requirements, contact Professor Annie Kim. In addition, all fellows must work at least one full-time summer internship after the first or second year of law school for a public service employer.
Admission decisions will be based on past achievement, dedication to public service, and promise of future success. Brief interviews will be conducted in October and decisions will be made soon thereafter.
We encourage all interested students to apply, including those who may be underrepresented in public service practice, such as students of color, LGBTQ students, first-generation students and students with disabilities.
How to Apply
Submit the following materials in pdf format by Friday, Oct. 13, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. to Professor Annie Kim at @email:
- A resume (does not need to be in UVA Law school format);
- An unofficial copy of your undergraduate transcript (for 1Ls) or your law school transcript (for 2Ls),which will be reviewed for coursework rather than grades;
- A list of 2 references for people who know you well and can speak to your potential as an LPS fellow, including their names, titles, and contact information (i.e. former professor, mentor, coach, supervisor, co-worker);
- Answers to the following questions (maximum of 400 words for each):
- Tell us why you’re passionate about working as a public service attorney after law school. If you already know what kind of public service work you’d like to pursue, describe it. If you don’t know yet, explain your general interests and how you plan to determine your path.
- A number of factors can make it difficult to commit to a public service career, including financial constraints, familial expectations, and cultural norms among law students. What do you think are the most significant factors for you or other UVA Law students? How can we address them?
A decade after the birth of the Program in Law and Public Service at the University of Virginia School of Law, three alums who were there in the beginning share their career stories.
Meet some of the fellows in the Program in Law and Public Service.
Class of 2024
Salwa Ahmad
Hometown: Woodbridge, Virginia
Before UVA Law: Worked at global and public health nonprofits in the Washington, D.C. area, most recently at Population Services International
Public Service Interests: International human rights, global and public health, humanitarian crises, refugee law
Grace Allaman
Hometown: Washington, Illinois
Public Service Interests: Immigration, human rights, voting rights, national security, foreign relations
David Anders
Hometown: Darnestown, Maryland
Before UVA Law: Management consultant for federal agencies
Public Service Interests: National security, federal prosecution
Ben Buell
Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
Before UVA Law: AmeriCorps college counselor in rural Virginia
Public Service Interests: Federal prosecution, national security, criminal appeals, crimes against children
Julia Jean Citron
Hometown: Baltimore
Before UVA Law: Worked on political campaigns at the presidential, congressional and local levels
Public Service Interests: Voting rights, racial justice, civil rights
Lauryn Coleman
Hometown: Philadelphia
Before UVA Law: Paralegal at district attorney’s office looking at potential innocence cases
Public Service Interests: Public defense, innocence, death penalty, federal drug sentence reduction
Daniel Elliott
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Before UVA Law: Legal assistant with the U.S. attorney’s office in Memphis, Tennessee
Public Service Interests: Government work, prosecution, criminal justice reform
Ellen Florek
Hometown: Cleveland
Before UVA Law: Teacher for students with disabilities in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Public Service Interests: Child advocacy, public defense, education
Isabelle Foley
Hometown: Arlington, Virginia
Before UVA Law: AmeriCorps Fellow in Washington, D.C.; program manager at a pro bono international law firm
Public Service Interests: Public defense, juvenile justice, transformative/restorative justice
Rose Genaris
Hometown: Leawood, Kansas
Public Service Interests: Wrongful convictions, civil rights, public defense
Kiera Goddu
Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
Public Service Interests: Health justice, Indigenous justice, civil rights
Julia Goddard
Hometown: Lafayette, California
Before UVA Law: Youth offender parole hearings and other post-conviction work at home county's public defender office
Public Service Interests: Conditions of confinement litigation, parole and resentencing, public defense
Zach Griffith
Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska
Before UVA Law: Financial analyst atAmpliFi Capital, Peace Corps volunteer in Namibia and corporate accounting/,finance and sales at Union Pacific Railroad
Public Service Interests: International law/,human rights
Abigail Hauer
Hometown: Baltimore
Public Service Interests: Gender-based violence, women’s and victims’ rights, progressive prosecution
Nina Herth
Hometown: St. Augustine, Florida
Before UVA Law: Fundraising and communications at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Public Service Interests: Civil rights, public defense, criminal legal system reform
Io Jones
Hometown: New York
Before UVA Law: Paralegal
Public Service Interests: Reproductive justice; civil rights; youth justice
Molly Keck
Hometown: Annandale, Virginia
Before UVA Law: Legal Assistant in Detained Children’s Program at CAIR Coalition
Public Service Interests: Labor, immigrants’ rights, youth advocacy, transitional justice
Malcolm Law
Hometown: Eden, North Carolina
Public Service Interests: Public defense
Lauren Leonard
Hometown: Puyallup, Washington
Before UVA Law: Victim advocate at the King County Prosecutor’s office
Public Service Interests: Military, women’s rights, reproductive justice.
Bryanna Lindberg
Hometown: Galax, Virginia
Before UVA Law: Staff at an anti-human trafficking organization based in Perth, Australia
Public Service Interests: Public defense, human rights, immigration
Sabrina Mato
Hometown: Guines, Cuba, and Naples, Florida
Before UVA Law: Worked as a paralegal specialist at the Department of Justice in the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section
Public Service Interests: Immigration, civil rights, workers’ rights.
Swati Mehrotra
Hometown: Albany, New York
Before UVA Law: Teach for America in Philadelphia
Public Service Interests: civil rights, public defense, policing reform
Lauren McNerney
Hometown: Sykesville, Maryland
Public Service Interests: Civil rights, government advocacy, legal aid, public defense.
Austin Mueller
Hometown: Long Valley, New Jersey
Before UVA Law: Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of North Carolina; assistant English teacher in Mallorca, Spain; fundraising professional at the Center for Responsible Lending in Durham, North Carolina
Public Service Interests: Economic and consumer justice, housing, financial regulation, poverty law
Sheena Patel
Hometown: Westminster, Maryland
Before UVA Law: Nonprofit and federal sector internships during undergraduate career
Public Service Interests: Environmental law
Meg Pritchard
Hometown: Charlottesville
Before UVA Law: Fellow at environmental nonprofits in Alaska, youth backpacking trip planner in Western Mass.
Public Service Interests: Environmental justice, climate change, water law
Riley Ries
Hometown: Vinton, Iowa
Before UVA Law: Legislative correspondent for U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, logistics officer in the U.S. Army Reserve
Public Service Interests: Tax law, white-collar prosecution, civil litigation, military justice
Chris Seiler
Hometown: Midlothian, Virginia
Before UVA Law: Air Force intelligence officer
Public Service Interests: Environmental law, consumer protection, voting rights
Lauralei Singsank
Hometown: Maui, Hawaii
Before UVA Law: AmeriCorps volunteer in Portland, Oregon
Public Service Interests: Government, economic and consumer justice
Keith Stone
Hometown: Los Angeles
Public Service Interests: Prosecution, criminal justice reform
Stephanie Turrentine
Hometown: Huntsville, Alabama
Before UVA Law: Peace Corps volunteer in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, AmeriCorps volunteer in Honolulu
Public Service Interests: Civil rights, housing, economic justice
Sabrina Surgil
Hometown: Pittsburgh
Before UVA Law: French interpreter for asylum seekers in Lesvos, Greece
Public Service Interests: Immigrant rights, removal defense, LGBTQ/trans rights, disability justice, abolition, movement lawyering
Grace Zipperer
Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
Public Service Interests: Refugee/immigration law, international human rights law, abolition
Class of 2023
Shivani Arimilli
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Public Service Interests: Environmental justice, sustainable city planning/strengthening local communities
Sujata Bajracharya
Hometown: Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
Before UVA Law: Diversity and inclusion consultant at a nonprofit
Public Service Interests: Workers’ rights, government service, immigration
Isaac Buckley
Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
Before UVA Law: Farmhand/carpenter, paralegal, middle school English teacher
Public Service Interests: Public defense, prison abolition, drug policy, labor law
Kevin Bui
Hometown: Fairfax, Virginia
Before UVA Law: Research tech for behavioral neuroscience lab
Public Service Interests: Health law, reproductive rights, government, criminal justice reform
Whitney Carter
Hometown: Seattle
Before UVA Law: Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine
Public Service Interests: Public defense
Scott Chamberlain
Hometown: Canton, Massachusetts
Before UVA Law: Project manager and implementation consultant at tech company, nonprofit project manager
Public Service Interests: Policy, politics, legislation
Marissa Coleman
Hometown: Cumming, Georgia
Public Service Interests: Government, prosecution, criminal justice reform
Julia Eger
Hometown: Altoona, Pennsylvania
Before UVA Law: AmeriCorps member at an elementary school in Pittsburgh
Public Service Interests: Civil rights, education, juvenile justice, child welfare
Amalia Garcia-Pretelt
Hometown: Charlottesville
Before UVA Law: Legal assistant at the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center
Public Service Interests: Public defense
Warren Griffiths
Hometown: Monroe, Connecticut, and Colchester, Vermont
Before UVA Law: Worked in residential program for youthful offenders
Public Service Interests: Public defense, prisoners’ rights
Madeleine Hart
Hometown: Long Beach, California
Before UVA Law: English teacher in Long Beach and Germany
Public Service Interests: Public defense
Spencer Haydary
Hometown: Rockford, Illinois
Before UVA Law: Taught K-4 special education in Chicago public schools through Teach For America.
Public Service Interests: Education, civil rights, housing, LGBTQ+ rights
Blair Schaefer
Hometown: Winchester, Virginia
Public Service Interests: Public defense, prison abolition
Alex Schechner
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Before UVA Law: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Yard Signs = Votes
Public Service Interests: Civil rights, criminal justice reform, juvenile Justice
Helen Song
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Before UVA Law: Taught English literature and language, worked in human resources management in Seoul
Public Service Interests: Anti-trafficking, workers’ rights, reentry, immigration, economic justice
Ariana Smith
Hometown: Charlottesville
Before UVA Law: Fourth grade teacher in Greenwood, Mississippi, victim advocate in Charlottesville
Public Service Interests: Education law, disability rights, juvenile justice
Cydney Swain
Hometown: Griffin, Georgia
Before UVA Law: Staff with a campus ministry at New York University
Public Service Interests: Civil rights; immigration; poverty law
Mary Talkington
Hometown: Fayetteville, North Carolina
Public Service Interests: Prosecution
Jordan Woodlief
Hometown: Greensboro, North Carolina
Before UVA Law: Worked as immigration paralegal
Public Service Interests: Immigration, indigent defense, legal aid
Class of 2022
Ida Abhari
Hometown: Irvine, California
Before UVA Law: Taught English in Azerbaijan and monitored humanitarian aid projects in Iraqi Kurdistan
Public Service Interests: Human rights, international law, labor/employment law (and their intersections)
Elizabeth Adler
Hometown: Voorhees, New Jersey
Before UVA Law: Worked on U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill’s reelection campaign in St. Louis, Missouri, and as a speechwriter in Washington, D.C.
Public Service Interests: Reproductive justice, racial equity, criminal justice reform
Abby Burke
Hometown: Chesterton, Indiana
Public Service Interests: Criminal law, environmental law, federal government work
Tyler Demetriou
Hometown: Virginia Beach, Virginia
Before UVA Law: Consulting and business operations
Public Service Interests: Environmental law, environmental justice, civil legal services
Caroline Elvig
Hometown: Louisville, Colorado
Before UVA Law: Worked at the Colorado Office of the Alternate Defense Counsel doing indigent defense work
Public Service Interests: Civil rights, criminal defense
Taylor Fatherree
Hometown: Napa, California
Before UVA Law: Service industry; office work; Fulbright ETA in Colombia
Public Service Interests: Public defense and reform of the criminal legal system
Elizabeth Harris
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Before UVA Law: Legal assistant at a local Texas district attorney’s office working on child protective service (foster care) and mental health cases
Public Service Interests: Child advocacy, with a focus on juvenile justice and foster car
Christina Kelly
Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
Before UVA Law: Consultant for Ernst & Young
Public Service Interests: Racial and economic justice, civil rights, public defense, criminal justice reform, impact litigation
Meredith Kilburn
Hometown: Fort Mill, South Carolina
Before UVA Law: Taught English in Hangzhou, China, and Hualañé, Chile; worked in Chicago as an AmeriCorps volunteer coordinating federal court help desks for pro se litigants
Public Service Interests: Civil rights, impact litigation, racial justice, women’s rights, international law
Demi Kim
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Before UVA Law: Worked as an English teacher in Korea for two years
Public Service Interests: Federal enforcement of employment or labor law
Cait Kutchi
Hometown: Goshen, Kentucky
Before UVA Law: Paralegal on a civil litigation team at a federal law enforcement agency
Public Service Interests: National security law, military justice, prosecution, government
Jordan LaPointe
Hometown: Ashburn, Virginia
Before UVA Law: College admissions counselor
Public Service Interests: Judge advocate generals, state and local government
Robert Mathai
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Before UVA Law: National security
Public Service Interests: National security, government
Duncan Morrow
Hometown: Pleasanton, California
Before UVA Law: Research and organizing for a labor union
Public Service Interests: Indigent defense, labor law
Kathryn Neuhardt
Hometown: Westford, Massachusetts
Before UVA Law: Worked in the video production department of the Boston Red Sox, editing and shooting video and running video boards during games
Public Service Interests: Human rights, international law, criminal defense
Sujaya Rajguru
Hometown: Lakeland, Florida
Public Service Interests: Civil rights, racial justice
Eliza Robertson
Hometown: Norman, Oklahoma
Before UVA Law: Worked in nonprofit development as a member of the Episcopal Service Corps
Public Service Interests: Health equity, mental health law, American Indian law
Eric Seifriz
Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin
Before UVA Law: Substitute teacher PK-12, legislative policy aide, research assistant, camp counselor
Public Service Interests: Education law, public policy, government, environmental law, elections law
Wes Williams
Hometown: Roanoke, Virginia
Before UVA Law: Tech consultant for humanitarian nongovernmental organizations
Public Service Interests: Criminal justice reform, environmental protection, voting rights
Chris Yarrell
Hometown: Acworth, Georgia
Before UVA Law: Worked for five years in local government, most recently serving as policy advisor and director of external affairs at the New York City Mayor’s Office
Public Service Interests: Racial and economic justice, civil rights, public defense, criminal justice reform, impact litigation
Class of 2021
Caroline Bodie
Hometown: Hampton, Virginia
Public Service Interests: Public defense
Ashley Cordero
Hometown: Roanoke, Virginia
Before UVA Law: Paralegal
Public Service Interests: Prosecution, criminal justice reform
Nathan Eagan
Hometown: Fort Collins, Colorado
Before UVA Law: Managed the marketing department at WebstaurantStore, an online retailer
Public Service Interests: Criminal justice reform, restorative/transformative justice, prison and policing alternatives
Jess Feinberg
Hometown: Palo Alto, California
Public Service Interests: Civil rights, government
Dominique Fenton
Hometown: Santa Barbara, California
Before UVA Law: Tribal court judge, criminal defense investigator, high school English teacher
Public Service Interests: Indigent defense, civil rights, Indigenous justice
Cody Fisher
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Before UVA Law: Campus ministry; business analyst at Capital One
Public Service Interests: Public defense
Lindsay Gorman
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina
Before UVA Law: Director’s financial analyst at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, D.C.
Public Service Interests: Government, public policy, public integrity, voting rights
Hayley Hahn
Hometown: Fairfax, Virginia
Before UVA Law: Fulbright student at McGill’s Centre for Research on Children & Families researching social service provisions and legal protections for Indigenous children in Canada and the United States Public Service
Interests: Civil rights, racial justice, Native American rights, reproductive justice, gender justice, impact litigation
Sawyer Hicks
Hometown: Longmeadow, Massachusetts
Before UVA Law: Paralegal at a Baltimore-based nonprofit that provides civil legal assistance to Maryland’s incarcerated population
Public Service Interests: Indigent defense, criminal legal reform
Kristen James
Hometown: Massapequa, New York
Public Service Interests: Environmental justice, land conservation, climate change law and policy
Katharine Janes
Hometown: Mount Pleasant, Michigan
Public Service Interests: Juvenile justice, criminal justice reform, social policy, government
Hannah Keefer
Hometown: Ridgeville, South Carolina
Before UVA Law: Office assistant for the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of South Carolina; museum interpreter and marketing coordinator for The Powder Magazine, a colonial history museum in Charleston, South Carolina
Public Service Interests: National security, human rights, international law, immigration
Jeremy Kemp
Hometown: Sarasota, Florida
Public Service Interests: Environmental law generally, with particular interest in climate justice, public lands, and natural resource issues
Kyle McGoey
Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana
Before UVA Law: Marketing strategist for a tech startup in New York
Public Service Interests: Civil liberties, policing reform, foreign policy and national security
Megan McKinley
Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Public Service Interests: Criminal justice reform, combating human trafficking
Gia Nyhuis
Hometown: Boulder, Colorado
Before UVA Law: Taught English in Quito, Ecuador, through WorldTeach
Public Service Interests: Public defense, immigration
Nooreen Reza
Hometown: Wise, Virginia
Before UVA Law: Paralegal case handler at Legal Aid Society of New York Housing Help Program in Brooklyn
Public Service Interests: Legal aid, community lawyering, housing justice, economic justice, public benefits
Eliza Schultz
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Before UVA Law: Researched disability and anti-poverty policy at the Center for American Progress
Public Service Interests: Workers’ rights, civil rights, economic justice
Perrin Tourangeau
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Before UVA Law: Worked at a hike-in backcountry hotel in Glacier National Park for a summer before working as a paralegal intern and teaching LSAT preparation classes
Public Service Interests: Indigent defense, civil rights
Carly Wasserman
Hometown: Reisterstown, Maryland
Before UVA Law: Taught high school social studies in Baltimore City; worked as an academic coordinator at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Public Service Interests: Child advocacy, education law, juvenile justice, civil rights
Jolena Zabel
Hometown: Hastings, Minnesota
Before UVA Law: Worked at Kakenya’s Dream, a nonprofit organization based in rural Kenya focused on transforming communities through girls’ education and empowerment
Public Service Interests: International human rights
Salwa Ahmad and Molly Keck are this year’s recipients of the Virginia Public Service Scholarship, a full-tuition award given to University of Virginia School of Law students who are pursuing public service careers.
2023-24 Student Board
- Co-Presidents: Ellen Florek and Molly Keck
- Communications Chair: Salwa Ahmad
- Outreach Chairs: Nathaniel Glass and Shelby Wolfe
- Membership Chairs: Anna Harvey and Delaney Tubbs
- Alumni and Networking Chair: Alyssa Marshall
- Shaping Justice Chairs: Noa Jett and Rohini Kurup
- Academics Chair: Simeon Daferede
Kara Hafermalz, a 2023 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law from Dawsonville, Georgia, who volunteered 468 hours over the past three years, received the school’s annual Pro Bono Award at graduation.
Events
NoGI Dinner
Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, 5:30-7:30 p.m., The Park
For 2L and 3L LPS fellows who identify as “NoGI,” come on out to The Park for dinner and reconnecting with your friends!
Program in Law and Public Service Information Session and Cupcake Social
Wednesday, Sept. 13, 1-2 p.m., Purcell Reading Room
Hear about what the LPS program and community have to offer, meet LPS fellows and director Professor Annie Kim, and design your own public service cupcakes.