Past Clerkship Recipients
2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004
2009
- Courtney Ellis Dinnel
Courtney will be splitting her summer between two internships. The first internship is in conjunction with the European Roma Refugee Center (ERRC). The EERC is currently advocating for ethnic minority Romani people throughout Europe. During the 1999 Kosovo war, 180 Roma families were removed to refugee camps. The camps are located in close proximity to toxic lead tailings and the Romas have been subjected to lethal lead poisoning for the past ten years. About 80 Roma have died from the poisoning, numerous children have been born deformed or miscarried. Despite awareness of the situation, the international community has failed to take the matter seriously. One man (with others remotely weighing in) is currently working directly with this Roma group, and Courtney will be joining his work this summer. Courtney will help develop a plan to (1) evacuate Roma from the perilous camps; (2) get immediate medical treatment to help save their lives; and (3) research legal remedies for the victims.
For the second internship, Courtney will be working with Public Defenders office in Denver to help create immigration/criminal law policy. The intersection between criminal law and immigration law has grown significantly in recent years and embodies an area of specialization that is increasingly important for attorneys who plan to practice either criminal defense or immigration law. The Colorado Public Defender’s Office represents more than 100,000 indigent people a year with between 10,000 and 15,000 of those with immigration issues as well. Courtney’s internship will focus on research and analysis of the collateral immigration consequences that may flow from contact with the criminal justice system, as well as the development of specific materials to assist criminal defense lawyers in fulfilling their burden to advise noncitizen clients of such consequences.
- Petula Fernandes
Petula will be working on two different projects while she is at Rocky Mountain Survivor Center. The first project is to assist in the representation of an asylum applicant in immigration court with the goal of gaining legal status in the United States. Her other project is to create a community outreach program to educate people on the do’s and don’ts of the legal system, including the dangers of having a notario or other non-attorney fill out the immigration paperwork for asylum seekers. Petula will also be educating the community on the dangers of manipulating the system so that asylum seekers can get food stamps or welfare benefits improperly. Improper immigration advice has become a huge problem in our communities as many people are denied asylum because of simple mistakes on their application. They then have to go through an appeals process that requires more time and effort on their part as well as a delay in receiving benefits, such as work authorization. This adds unnecessary stress to their already stressful lives.
Sometimes this ill advice comes from notarios, or people who represent themselves as lawyers while having no legal degree. Other times, this advice comes from community members who want to help the asylum petitioner, but do not realize how precise and accurate the information they provide must be. Her main responsibility will be to outreach to different ethnic groups and mutual assistance associations so that she can give presentations to those who are most closely associated with people who may be seeking asylum. Her goal is to have an independent group composed of former clients and members of the ethnic communities set up by the end of the summer to go out to the community and give regular presentations on the dangers of notario fraud. She hopes to create greater awareness about the immigration system in the United States and greater awareness about the dangers of notarios and incomplete information on asylum forms so as to reduce the number of people who are denied asylum in the United States because of a simple mistake on their forms.
Petula is interested in working with international and human rights issues. Petula sees public interest law as a way to help bring social change whether in the legal community or in educating the public about the injustices in our country and world. By working at RMSC Petula will have the ability to serve a population who desperately need our help, while continuing to explore whether immigration law or community outreach on legal rights is more what she would like to do. The PILG clerkship will help her to start that process now by working with Regina to help someone gain asylum in the United States and help the community not be cheated or taken advantage of by people who claim to know the law
- Ann Houston
Ann will be working for the Alaska Legal Services Corporation (ALSC) in Anchorage, Alaska. ALSC provides free legal assistance to low-income populations in civil proceedings. The typical clientele are low-income Alaska citizens (annual income under $16,250 for family of one) who need legal representation but cannot afford it. The mission of ALSC is to “reduce the legal consequences of poverty while promoting family, social, and economic stability by upholding the rule of law.”
Ann will spend the majority of her time working with cases related to domestic violence. Alaska has the highest rates of domestic violence in the United States and there is a pressing need for legal assistance for victims of these crimes. Her responsibilities will include client intake, community outreach events, and writing legal documents including memoranda, letters, and pleadings. Her goal is to expand the amount of clients that ALSC will be able to serve through the provision of an extra set of hands, and the ability to streamline intake and community outreach processes. She is excited about the opportunity to advance my non-profit legal experience while simultaneously serving a population that desperately needs assistance.
- Josh Kappel
Ira Glasser, the former Executive Director of the ACLU, recently wrote that drug prohibition is the last instance of legalized racial discrimination in America. However, despite the institutionalized injustice of the war on drugs, no major political party will voluntarily touch the issue. The fearful disregard of this injustice has left a giant legal need in the realm of drug policy reform.
Josh Kappel, under the supervision of Brian Vicente and Sensible Colorado, has the unique opportunity of being a campaign manager for a local drug policy reform initiative campaign in the summer of 2009. He will be involved in every aspect of running a successful initiative campaign including researching local election and criminal law, writing legislation, fundraising, lobbying, volunteer management, press outreach, and other campaign duties. This experience will empower him to enact local change at the community level throughout his career.
- Lisi Owen
Lisi will be working at the Prisoners’ Rights Project of Legal Aid of New York this summer. The Prisoners’ Rights Project has advocated for over thirty years for humane and constitutional conditions in New York City jails and New York state prisons. Through federal civil rights litigation, the PRP addresses a number of issues that inmates face, including correctional officer brutality, sexual abuse of women prisoners, adequacy of medical care, denial of education services, and others. The incarcerated community is one that faces substantial challenges in accessing the justice system and the PRP seeks to
2008
- Amy Bruins
Amy worked for the International Commission of Missing Persons (ICMP) in the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This nationally based commission just received new DNA technology. She worked on the exhumation of the mass gravesites – documenting and collecting evidence, and used that evidence in collaboration with witness testimony to make cases against people suspected of committing genocide. Additionally, she worked with ICMP to further develop policy in their war crimes tribunal unit. - Julia Scott
Julia clerked for Magistrate K.J. Moore and Judge Brian Boatright in the Juvenile division of Jefferson County District Court. She worked on two programs: Model Family Court and Mental Health Court. Model Family Court is a brand new program that began during Julia’s clerkship and deals solely with dependency and neglect cases where drugs are involved. This program hopes to remedy some of the problems that are inherent in the standard process for dependency and neglect cases. The overall goal of the program is to keep the children involved in these cases with their families and out of foster care. Julia’s primary responsibility with the Model Family Court was assisting Magistrate Moore by conducting legal research, meeting with the various agencies involved, monitoring court proceedings, researching other similar programs in the State, and meeting with the attorneys, case workers and probation officers involved.
The second program that Julia worked on, the Mental Health Court, deals with all of the juvenile cases that involve mental health issues. The Mental Health Court has been successful, but those involved are trying to find ways to improve what they are doing. Therefore, Julia was responsible for evaluating the program through interviews with the families, children, and providers involved. She also spent time observing the Court to help evaluate this program’s effectiveness. - Heather Skrypek
Heather worked with the People’s Law Project. The PLP is a collective of activists, lawyers, and students who worked to protect the First Amendment from potential violations during the 2008 Democratic National Convention (DNC) held in Denver, Colorado. She assisted with the launch and incorporation of this new non-profit. Heather was responsible for drafting grant proposals and “Know Your Rights” pamphlets; she also composed briefs based on her research of First and Fourth Amendment issues. She interviewed clients and prepared witnesses for trial as well as attended criminal trials and prepared pre-trial motions. As the student intern liaison, Heather aided the transition of new interns into the PLP intern program. This gave her the opportunity to teach others the skills she acquired by working at the PLP during the spring. - Kate Williams
Center for Native Ecosystems is a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to conserving and recovering endangered species and ecosystems in the Greater Southern Rockies and Plains. CNE values the clean water, fresh air, sources of food and medicine, and recreational opportunities provided by native biological diversity. In furtherance of these values, CNE uses the best available science to forward this mission through participation in policy, administrative processes, legal action, public outreach and education. Because CNE does not have any lawyers on staff, Kate provided research and analysis on a variety of legal issues to coincide with CNE campaigns. Specifically, one project was to evaluate the legal aspect of the campaign to protect habitat for sensitive wildlife from oil and gas drilling impacts in the West.
2007
- Megan Berry
Megan worked at the Women’s Legal Center in Cape Town, South Africa. The Women’s Legal Center conducts litigation and advocacy, free of charge, to promote and strengthen women’s rights in South Africa. The WLC focuses primarily on assisting low-income, black African women in the areas of health care, education, family law, property and housing, reproductive rights, domestic violence and employment. The work in which the WLC is engaged is crucial to establishing and developing precedent case law and legislation based on the new, post-apartheid system of government. Because this system is just over ten years old, the legal foundational framework for true gender equality is still being set; it is important that those whose voices have historically gone unheard get heard now in the early stages of development. Megan assisted WLC staff attorneys by researching national and international law, drafting memos and reports, and participating in workshops and trainings for other organizations and activists engaged in similar endeavors.
Where are they now?
Megan is currently a DU law student.
- Bryony Heise
Bryony worked with the legal director for the Center for Indigenous Rights in Oaxaca, Mexico. The mission of the organization is to promote and defend the exercise of human rights among the Indigenous people of Oaxaca through education, filing formal complaints with the government, providing legal assistance in cases of human rights violations, and focusing public attention on the injustices endured by the people of Oaxaca. Bryony also be implemented a self-designed presentation geared towards Central American immigrants coming up through Oaxaca City on their way to the United States, as well as for the indigenous people in the surrounding communities of Oaxaca who plan to migrate. The presentations contained instructional information on the laws of the United States, including immigration law, criminal law, housing law, and employment law and benefits.
Where are they now?
Bryony just completed her M.A. in International Human Rights at the Graduate School of International Studies and will graduate from the Sturm College of Law in May. She plans to take the CO bar and work in the area of immigration law, protecting the rights of immigrants and/or in the field of international human rights.
- Kristin Knudson
Kristin worked with SafeHouse Denver, a non-profit organization that provides support and assistance to victims of domestic abuse. SafeHouse Denver already has an active legal program that aids victims in resolving immigration issues to help them become independent and secure. Kristin worked to expand the legal program to include assistance to victims with family and criminal law issues. Resolving these issues is essential to victims’ ability to take control of their lives. Kristin underwent research to determine which services are necessary and feasible to include in the expanded legal program, and best practices to implement and provide those services. SafeHouse now coordinates with other organizations and firms to provide pro bono legal assistance.
Where are they now?
Kristin is currently a DU law student.
- Katharine Speer
Katharine worked at the Rocky Mountain Survivors Center, which was founded in 1996 as a service center for refugees, asylum seekers and their families. The clients of RMSC have suffered torture in their home countries and cannot return for fear of further persecution. Because RMSC believes that it takes a community to heal the trauma of torture, clients receive a combination of legal, social and medical services according to their needs. Clients are also encouraged act as mentors, helping new arrivals adjust to life in Denver. As a member of the legal team, Katharine assisted individual victims of torture and persecution as they traverse the difficult and confusing process of applying for asylum.
Where are they now?
Katharine is currently a DU law student.
- Lucia Williams
Lucia conducted her clerkship at Socorro: Legal Services for Immigrant Women and Children. Socorro is a Colorado non-profit that assists immigrant-victims of human trafficking, domestic abuse, abandonment, and persecution by providing legal assistance, and increasing public awareness through education, outreach and research. Lucia prepared affirmative applications to be filed with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, attended all removal hearings with the managing attorney, and assisted with legal research on issues involving immigration law, criminal law, family law, and any other areas in which the client needed assistance. She also conducted client interviews and correspondence.
Where are they now?
Lucia is currently a DU law student.
2006
- Kate Black
Kate worked at the Gulf Region Advocacy Center (GRACE), a non-profit law office dedicated to serving indigent clients in Texas and Louisiana who face capital murder charges. Based in Houston, Kate conducted research and investigation in preparation for two capital trials. Kate’s legal work included drafting pretrial motions, preparing witnesses for trial, collecting documents and drafting appeals during the direct appeals process. The opportunity reaffirmed Kate’s commitment to serving indigent clients charged with capital crimes.
Where are they now?
Kate will soon complete her law degree and return to Texas to continue her work against the death penalty. As a 2008-2009 Reprieve Fellow with the Texas Defender Service, she will litigate death penalty cases, both pre-trial and post-conviction in Harris County, Texas.
- Brea Burgie
Brea worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Washington, D.C., at its regional office for the United States and the Caribbean. UNHCR works to protect the rights of refugees, monitoring each nation’s compliance with its treaty obligations to refugees. It does so by working with government officials in each nation to pass legislation and implement existing laws for the benefit of refugees, as well as provide resources and legal assistance to refugees, asylum-seekers, and their attorneys. During her time at UNHCR, Brea answered hotline calls from asylum-seekers and refugees, providing resources and confirming overseas refugee status determinations. She researched the legality of prosecuting asylum-seekers in the United States, while networking with federal public defenders nation-wide to investigate occurrences of such prosecutions. Brea also conducted a study on stateless individuals in detention in the United States to be used for further advocacy on that population’s behalf.
Where are they now?
Brea is now serving as a judicial clerk in Arizona.
- Jennifer Eyl
Jennifer worked at the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA), CCASA is an umbrella organization that is the collective voice for sexual assault survivors and their supporters. At CCASA, Jennifer was the chair of the organization’s Public Policy Committee and completed nationwide research on public policy issues including statutory rape, statutes of limitations for sexual abuse of children, and the Prisoner Rape Elimination Act. As a result, during the 2007 state legislative session CCASA advocated to extend Colorado’s civil statute of limitations for sexual abuse of a child and to codify prisoner rape protections in the Colorado Revised Statutes.
Where are they now?
Jennifer will graduate from DU in May 2008 and plans to continue her work with victims of crime.
- Kristin Krietemeyer
Kristin worked for attorney Michael Wulfsohn, a Court-Appointed Guardian ad litem in Arapahoe County District Court. Guardian ad litem attorneys work to represent the best interests of children in the court system. They represent children both in juvenile delinquency cases as well as dependency and neglect cases. The work involves getting to know the child and the child’s situation, developing a successful treatment plan for the child, and ultimately recommending to the court what is best for the child. Kristin assisted in making such recommendations by interviewing children and families, attending court appearances and meetings with other service providers, researching, and drafting reports and motions. The experience was a great opportunity to observe all of the interacting roles that affect children’s cases, and it reinforced Kristin’s passion to advocate for children in the legal system.
Where are they now?
Kristin is pursuing a joint JD/MSW degree and hopes to pursue a career in child advocacy. She has one year of the MSW program left and continues to focus on issues of child protection.
- Stephanie Suzanne
Stephanie worked with several Women’s Health Clinics in Guatemala City, Guatemala to help establish a legal component for victims of violence. Stephanie created a legal process manual and a resource bank so that these clinics could provide their clients with a smooth, uninhibited process from the first medical exam to the judge’s sentencing of a penalty on the abusing party. Guatemalan law requires a victim of violence to pass through several steps before being able to exact justice. These steps were being carried out in isolation from one another, making the road to justice a disjointed and very ineffective one. Stephanie was able to assist the legal needs of the victims through helping establish collaboration between the clinics.
Where are they now?
Stephanie is finishing up her third year at DU Law. She will intern at Marval O’Farrell and Mairal in Argentina over the summer, before returning to DU for her last semester.
2005
- Nicole M. Dennis
Nicole worked at the Denver and Aurora branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The organization represents the legal and political rights of minority and los-income people throughout metro Denver and its surrounding areas. Current issues that the Denver and Aurora chapters have been working on include combating housing discrimination, employment discrimination, and legislation that promotes inequality.
Nicole assisted the legal redress committee in the investigation of civil rights and discrimination complaints, coordinated and conducted client interviews, and researched various legal issues pertinent to clients’ cases. Nicole also prepared memoranda and recommendations that were reviewed by the National Legal Affairs department of the NAACP headquarters in Washington, D.C.
- Aaron Einhorn
Aaron worked in Costa Rica for an organization called The Latin American Institute of the United Nations on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Delinquents (ILANUD). ILANUD is charged with training judges, high-ranking government officials, law professors, and NGOs on the rights of women in Latin American and Caribbean countries. The organization hopes that this training will secure rights that women are guaranteed on paper through domestic legislation and international treaties, but that are not protected in practice.
Aaron translated a manual on domestic violence from Spanish into English for use by countries such as Belize and Jamaica. This manual is to be used by judges, government officials, lawyers, and NGOs in order to understand the scope of women’s rights and to advocate for enforcement of those rights. Aaron also researched and wrote a report on gender inequality in Latin America that NGOs and lawyers can use to promote women’s rights.
- Missy Fiebelkorn
Missy, a former DNA analyst, worked at the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The ICMP is an independent organization that was created in 1996 following the G-7 summit to facilitate post-conflict resolution. The ICMP’s responsibilities include the exhumation, identification, notification and burial of persons missing as a result of genocide and crimes against humanity. The existence of large numbers of missing persons is often an impediment to post-conflict peace and resolution, and this type of work helps prevent retaliation and aids in the healing process.
- Michelle Petrotta
Michelle collaborated with the Center for Legal Action for Human rights, an organization that promotes and defends the civil, political, economic, cultural, social and environmental rights in the construction of peace and democracy in Guatemala. Her work included the observation of human rights in the maquilas and the organization of the data observed to be used in policy advocacy and judicial proceedings, as well as client intake dealing with labor rights violations, and the production of documents to be used in legal trainings provided to the maquila workers.
- Katie Potter
Katie worked at the Community Mediation Center of Southeastern Virginia, which provides general and family mediation services in its offices, as well as in local courts. The Center also specializes in violence prevention, conflict resolution, and mediation training, and it offers much of this training in local school, shelters, and community centers.
Katie received mediation training, served as a court liaison and co-mediator, researched restorative justice programs throughout the country, and, based upon her research, created a manual and documents for use by practitioners and courts that are engaged in new Victim/Offender Mediation Programs (VORP). She also helped to organize a coalition of lawyers and mediators who will go on to receive training in Collaborative Lawyering, and she facilitated a community dialogue on waste water treatment options for the Eastern shore.
- Matt Slaby
Matt worked at el Centro Humanitario, which offers a safe, indoor place where workers can gather each day while they seek work. The staff identifies workers’ unique skills, enters their information into a database, and advertises the availability of day laborers throughout the community. Employers hire workers for temporary, daily , and full-time employment. El Centro’s staff helps employers identify dependable workers, assists in resolving difficulties between employer and employee, and insures that all workers receive fair and agreed upon wages with no fees to employers. El Centro’s primary clients are immigrant workers from Mexico, Central and South America; however, the services are available to any worker seeking day labor.
El Centro challenges misconceptions about immigrants by empowering workers. From a basic human rights position, El Centro advocates that immigrant laborers should be protected as workers regardless of their documentation status. The center organizes for fair wages and basic right protections and has also established several programs aimed at educating workers, promoting progressive legislation, offering recourse for labor disputes (which come primarily in the form of wage claims), and offering specialized classes for women.
2004
- Billie Baysore
Billie worked for the Association for the Defense and Development of Women in El Salvador. The women she worked with were training other women on ways to confront, end, or escape from the violence in their lives (whether domestic or the continuing effects of the civil war that ended in 1991). This work included providing trainings and workshops in rural areas, accompanying women to domestic violence related hearings with the prosecutor, and planning for a national conference to discuss the concerns of women in El Salvador.
- Colleen Breslin
Colleen worked with Bluefields Indian and Caribbean University (BICU) in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. With PILG’s financial support and the technical support of DU’s Human Rights Advocacy Center, Colleen traveled to Nicaragua and worked with BICU’s underdeveloped but growing legal clinic. She assisted students in client representation around issues of child support, domestic violence, and criminal law. Additionally, Colleen worked with BICU’s administration and community leaders to explore the possibility of expanding the clinic’s capacity to include representation around indigenous land rights issues.
- Antoinette Gifford
Antoinette worked for the Color of Justice, Inc. (COJ), a legal advocacy nonprofit organization that works with communities of color toward social justice. The new organization’s mission is to work in collaboration with individuals and organizations to ensure the fair and equitable participation of communities of color in the judicial and political process through education, public policy advocacy, and legal representation. Antoinette participated in all aspects of the organization; she wrote national and local grant proposals to obtain funding and organized a community town hall meeting to address the Mayor, Denver Manager of Safety, and the Denver Police Department regarding the Frank Labato shooting in July 2004. Antoinette also had the opportunity to write and edit a Community Police Oversight Recommendation proposal to distribute to the Denver City council board members advocating for communities of color.
- Angela Hunt
Angela worked for the Pro Bono Immigration Project at SafeHouse Denver as an advocate for survivors of domestic violence. She worked in cooperation with community immigration attorneys in order to gain legal status for survivors through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), “U” Visas, or I-751’s. She also worked to expand the immigration project by encouraging additional law students and community attorneys to volunteer their time.
- Bridget McCann
Bridget worked at The Center’s Legal Initiatives Project (CLIP), a program of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Colorado. CLIP brings impact litigation to advance and protect GLBT rights in Colorado and promotes GLBT-friendly public policies. Bridget’s primary task as a PILG clerk was to conduct legal outreach to the GLBT and legal communities in Colorado. Bridget made presentations focusing on GLBT rights to GLBT community members, PFLAG (Parents, Family and friends of Lesbians and Gays) members, religious leaders and attorneys in towns throughout Colorado. She wrote and published articles highlighting CLIP’s work in many local bar association newsletters, bringing the legal needs of Colorado’s GLBT citizens to the attention of hundreds of Colorado lawyers. Bridget also helped staff CLIP’s legal hotline, referring callers to GLBT-friendly attorneys and screening cases for possible direct representation by CLIP.
- Mary Walsh
Mary worked at the Legal Center in the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) program. PAIMI is a program designed to protect individuals with mental illness in various facilities against abuse, neglect and other rights violations. Mary’s work in the program included traveling across Colorado to provide educational outreach to staff at hospitals, jails, and community centers about the rights of individuals with mental illness, researching issues centered on the rights of individuals with mental illness in the criminal justice system and advocating on behalf of individuals with mental illness.
- Rachel Witman
Rachel worked at the Legal Center for People with Disabilities on the HIB/AIDS Legal Project. Rachel created and HIV/AIDS Legal handbook for HIV positive Colorado citizens. This handbook involved areas of law including confidentiality, housing, employment, insurance, bankruptcy, family law, immigration, public benefits and wills. In addition, a resource section includes HIV testing sites throughout Colorado, legal services available throughout the state, and national organizations. This handbook will be translated into Spanish and distributed throughout Colorado, free of charge to those in need. With the legal information given in the handbook, many HIV positive Colorado citizens without any legal resources will now know their legal rights and what steps to take when those rights are violated. Rachel also worked with two attorneys on legal cases in housing and employment discrimination. In addition, Rachel helped to organize a team for the annual Denver AIDS walk and helped raise donations for the walk.