 Nicholas Allen (2L)
New York Lawyers for Public Interest
New York, NY
Nicholas Allen will be working for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI). NYLPI is a non-profit civil rights firm that strives for social justice. In partnership with other law firms and organizations, NYLPI provides legal services to underrepresented people and communities. Nick will work in three of NYLPI's project areas: 1) The Disability Law Center, which is New York States' Protection and Advocacy agency for people with disabilities; 2) The Health Justice Program, which works to ensure access to quality health care for people in medically underserved neighborhoods, as well as those who face barriers due racial and ethnic discrimination; and 3) The Environmental Justice Program, which provides community organizing and legal assistance to low-income neighborhoods and communities of color that are unfairly burdened by environmental threats.
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 K.J. Bagchi (1L)
American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada
Reno, NV
K.J. Bagchi will be interning this summer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada. The ACLU's overall goal is to work to preserve First Amendment rights, equal protection rights, due process rights, and privacy rights. The ACLU of Nevada has worked to educate immigrant communities about their rights regarding employment and has also worked to organize community meetings to gather complaints and learn about patterns of treatment. The internship will include work with these communities in a similar capacity. The internship will also include a project involving an overview of the treatment of HIV+ prisoners in the Nevada system and a determination of whether inmates with this condition are receiving adequate treatment..
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 Maria Bocanegra (1L)
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP)
Seattle, WA
Maria Bocanegra will be working at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP). NWIRP is a legal services organization that promotes justice for low-income immigrants pursuing and defending their legal status. As an intern in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) unit, she will focus on representing survivors of domestic violence and other crimes in a variety of legal matters. She will assist unrepresented immigrants, conduct individual intakes, meet with clients, conduct legal research on areas of immigration law, and determine whether clients qualify for certain forms of relief. She will also participate in community outreach efforts. Being a summer intern at NWIRP will prove to be an invaluable experience. Throughout the summer, she will be afforded the opportunity to learn from esteemed attorneys, enhance her research, writing, oral communication, and interpersonal skills. Additionally, since NWIRP views many of the issues they work on as International Human Rights issues, she hopes that her summer internship will provide her with a glimpse into this sphere of the law.
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 Christopher Choe (2L)
Futurewise
Seattle, WA
Christopher Choe will be working for Futurewise, a Washington public interest group working to promote healthy communities and cities while protecting farmland, forests, and shorelines today and for future generations. The focus of the work will relate to Washington's Growth Management Act, which provides for effective city and county planning for a better future. Futurewise's legal department takes necessary action when it believes that local governments fail to plan growth wisely, such as a lack of low-income housing or protecting wetlands. Chris will be conducting legal research and writing and may argue before the Growth Management Hearing Board.
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 William Chu (2L)
The Defender Association
Seattle, WA
William Chu will spend this summer a Rule 9 intern for The Defender Association (TDA). TDA is a non-profit law firm providing public defense services to King County and the City of Seattle in felony, misdemeanor, juvenile, family advocacy, and civil commitment cases, as well as a number of appeals at all levels of the state courts. He gained valuable legal experience last summer while interning for Disability Rights Washington (DRW). In addition, William attended Seattle University's Summer Legal Study in his home country of Brazil during his first and second year of law school. William is currently the Student Bar Association's Vice President and is passionate about pursuing a career in international law or government. He graduated from the University of Washington in 2007 with a degree in politics and economics.
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 Sylvia Eskander (2L)
Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons
Seattle, WA
Sylvia Eskander is a summer intern at the Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons. Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons is a private, non-profit public defense law firm with offices in Seattle and Kent, Washington. Society of Counsel's mission is to provide quality legal representation and to address each client's broader problems and to avoid future entanglements with the system. To help further that part of their mission, Society of Counsel is involved in a unique partnership with local human service agencies and neighborhood groups to provide mentoring and legal representation to youth of color who are at risk of detention and in high need of social service intervention. Through the ROYAL program (Raising Our Youth As Leaders) Society of Counsel works with representatives from Central Youth and Family Services, Youth Care, and Vision Youth to attempt to address the issue of disproportionate involvement of African-American and other youth of color in the juvenile justice system. Sylvia will be working in the dependency unit, representing children and parents in truancy and dependency hearings. Sylvia is particularly excited about working with children and educating them about the legal process and progress of each of their cases.
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 Jessie Forsythe
Columbia Legal Services
Seattle, WA
Jessie Forsythe will be interning at Columbia Legal Services this summer. CLS protects the rights of low-income people in Washington and is involved in both litigation and policy change. Along with a University of Washington student, she will be focused on youth-related issues and system reform, with much energy directed towards the foster care system. For instance, she will be doing work around the Braam foster care case which ended in a settlement diretced at reforming Washington State's foster care system. Foster youth are marginalized in many ways and I am looking forward to being part of work aimed at securing a better quality of life for them.
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 Jennifer Garber (2L)
Center for Children & Youth Justice
Seattle, WA
Jennifer Garber is an intern at the Center for Children and Youth Justice in the Lawyers Fostering Independence Program (LFI) in Seattle, Washington. A pilot project of the American Bar Association and its Bar-Youth Empowerment Project, LFI recruits and trains attorneys to provide pro bono civil legal assistance to youth involved in or aging out of the child welfare system. While at LFI, Jennifer will work with clients through the Seattle clinic, conducting intake and handling her own cases. Ms. Garber will also travel through Washington, working with youth, service providers, and pro bono attorneys to expand LFI to other regions within the state.
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 Megan Giske (2L)
Northwest Justice Project
Seattle, WA
Megan Giske will be working at Northwest Justice Project, a non-profit organization that promotes access to the justice system for indigent clients who could otherwise be denied a fair opportunity to exercise their rights. As an intern, Meg will be part of the team that provides direct representation in public benefits cases for clients who are facing denial, reductions, and terminations of TANF, Basic Food, Medicaid, and Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) benefits. Additionally, she will be involved in community outreach projects targeted at homeless and at-risk youth, and she will also write, research, and edit self-help advocacy publications that will be used statewide by legal advocates, social services providers, and pro se litigants.
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 Amber Greaves (1L)
Disability Rights Washington
Seattle, WA
Amber Greaves grew up in Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in Sociology. As a first year law student, Amber has served as the fundraising chair for Student Hurricane Network and was recently elected as the Black Law Student Association's Community Services Director. Amber is interested in the field of health and disability law and will be interning at Disability Rights Washington this summer.
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 Eric Holte (1L)
Northwest Federation of Community Organizations
Seattle, WA
Eric Holte will be working for the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations (NWFCO). NWFCO provides support via research and training regarding public policy matters to grassroots community organizations in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Colorado. NWFCO's mission is to bring about greater social and economic justice by increasing the participation of diverse groups of citizens in economic and political decision-making by combining efforts with other progressive community organizations. Eric's research this summer will focus on strategies for expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). He will examine the authority of state agencies to implement changes expanding SCHIP, and if necessary, he will explore what legislative action would be required if agencies are currently not able to expand SCHIP. Based on this research, NWFCO will advise community organizations and aid them in advocating for improved children's health coverage.
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 Anupa Iyer (1L)
Disability Rights Washington
Seattle, WA
Anupa Iyer is excited to be working for Disability Rights Washington this summer. Prior to entering law school, she spent five years working as a union organizer for the Service Employees International Union. Disability Rights Washington advocates for the rights of people with disabilities statewide. While working at DRW, she will have the opportunity to interact with clients as well as work on policy issues affecting the population. Anupa is passionate about mental health law and is interested in learning about ways to implement systematic change around treatment of the mentally ill.
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 Andra Kranzler (1L)
Solid Ground
Seattle, WA
Andra Kranzler is working at Solid Ground with the Family Assistance Program. This program provides free legal representation to clients of Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). The clients accessing legal aid are recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or General Assistance for the Unemployable (GAU) and their benefits have been denied, sanctioned, or terminated. DSHS benefits are a vital component for those trying to regain self-sufficiency. Solid Ground utilizes several types of recourse to resolve client issues including mediation, negotiation, and legal representation at administrative hearings. As a legal intern, she will have her own client case load, draft memos and briefs, conduct investigations, and research the Washington Administrative Code to help restore client benefits.
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 Angeline Overturf (1L)
Northwest Federation of Community Organizations
Seattle, WA
Angeline Overturf is interning with the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations in Seattle. She will be focusing on legislative and legal advocacy options for addressing racial disparities in health care. These disparities result from a range of barriers, such as lack of adequate interpretation in the medical setting, insufficient funding for community clinics and Indian Health Services, immigration related eligibility barriers to public health coverage, and environmental and socioeconomic factors. Her research will help groups engage in public education around federal and state legislative opportunities and advocate for implementation that best serves the needs of communities of color in states the that NWFCO serves. In fact, the US Congress is not contemplating legislation that would promote health equity. This little discussed bill, if adopted could provide numerous opportunities for grassroots organizations to improve the health of people of color in their communities. She hopes to gain valuable experience at both the legislative and grassroots level in advocating for health equity among underserved communities.
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 Katherine Price (1L)
TeamChild
Seattle, wA
Katherine Price will be working with Team Child in collaboration with two other law students and three Seattle high school students to analyze the potential causes of and solutions to the "School to Prison Pipeline," the system via which youth with non-criminally related issues swiftly go from students to prisoners. By the end of the summer, the group will produce a final product that furthers the organization's goals by educating the public about the challenges faced by those youth.
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 Arthur Simpson (1L)
Disability Rights Washington
Seattle, WA
Arthur Simpson just finished his first year of law school at Seattle University School of Law. He graduated from Temple University in 2006 with a B.A. in English. He will be spending the summer interning with Disability Rights Washington. Disability Rights Washington (DRW) is a private non-profit organization that protects the rights of people with mental illnesses, developmental disabilities, and other disabilities throughout the state of Washington. Its mission is to "advance the dignity, equality, and self-determination of people with disabilities." Its focus on self-determination is best encapsulated by its motto "Nothing About Us Without Us."
Arthur spent six years working with the developmentally disabled in his hometown of Philadelphia. He was involved with the Special Olympics as well as a private company that worked with the developmentally disabled. He is excited to spend his first summer as a law student serving the disabled community in his capacity as an intern.
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 Micol Sirkin (2L)
Northwest Defenders Association
Seattle, WA
Micol Sirkin is interning with the Northwest Defenders Association (NDA) in Seattle. NDA is one of four public defender agencies serving King County. It provides free legal representation to indigent clients in criminal cases, specifically felonies, misdemeanors, contempt of court, and dependency cases. As a Rule 9 intern, Micol will represent clients charged with misdemeanors in Seattle District Court. She will meet with the client to discuss possible defenses to their case, direct investigation of the case, and appear at all court appearances on behalf of the client. She will also assist attorneys in the felony unit with legal research and writing.
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 Naomi Strand (2L)
Public Interest Law Project
Oakland, CA
Naomi Strand is interning with the Public Interest Law Project (PILP) in Oakland, CA. PILP is a non-profit corporation that provides technical assistance, training, research and litigation support to public interest law programs and community based organizations on issues related to housing and community development, public benefits, health, education, welfare, and civil, consumer and economic rights. Naomi will primarily assist the public benefits unit in their ongoing litigation and training activities. She will be conducting client interviews, attending court hearings, and drafting documents such as legal memoranda, client declarations, factual summaries and training materials. She looks forward to this opportunity to continue working to help low-income and vulnerable individuals access the legal system to assert their rights.
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 Nathan Sugg (1L)
Unemployment Law Project
Seattle, WA
Nathan Sugg is working with Unemployment Law Project, a donation-funded organization that provides free legal assistance to people who have had their unemployment benefits challenged or denied. ULP provides free information and assistance to individuals in the unemployment process. At ULP, Nathan will work closely with clients, performing client intake and directly representing individuals in administrative hearings. Cases might confront employment issues such as sexual harassment, disability accommodation, and "good cause" quits. He looks forward to face-to-face interaction with clients, preparing for hearings, and exploring how unemployment law is evolving as our state's social safety net becomes as important as ever.
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 Rachel Wilhoit (2L)
Northwest Justice Project
Seattle, WA
Rachel Wilhoit is working with the Family Law lawyers at Northwest Justice Project (NJP) in Seattle. NJP is a not-for-profit statewide organization that provides free civil legal aid services to low-income people, with the mission to secure justice in a democratic society by working for equal access to the legal system by empowering low-income persons and communities through education about their legal rights and obligations, and by promoting respect for human dignity through legal advocacy.
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