The Social Justice Legal Foundation is proud to announce the inaugural class of fellows from each of the five collaborating schools – Columbia, Northwestern, Stanford, UCLA and Yale law schools. Each of the incoming fellows is a scholar who has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to public interest legal work.
“We are excited at the prospect of mentoring this new generation of leaders in public service as they work on the front lines in support of social justice and equity,” said John Hueston president of the Board of Directors.
The fellows will spend two-year terms as Hueston Hennigan Fellows.
Emily Barber, Columbia Law School
Ms. Barber is a 2021 J.D. candidate at Columbia Law School. During law school, she worked for the Squire Patton Boggs Public Service Initiative and the Capital Post-Conviction Practicum for Columbia Law School, among other organizations. Ms. Barber has also served as a criminal defense practice intern at the Legal Aid Society in New York City and as an extern with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem. She is the articles editor for the Human Rights Law Review and served as the 1L staffer for the Journal of Gender and Law. Ms. Barber has been named a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar for superior academic achievement and has authored Navigating Miller v. Alabama with COMPAS: How Risk Assessment Instruments Square with a Meaningful Opportunity for Release, 77 National Lawyers Guild Review 1 (2020). She earned her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Arkansas in 2017.
Alyssa Martinez, Stanford Law School
Ms. Martinez is a 2021 J.D./M.A. candidate at Stanford Law School. From researching human rights violations committed in Venezuela under the Maduro regime at The Clooney Foundation for Justice, to drafting reports on human rights issues in Latin America for The Center for Justice and International Law, she has focused her work on public interest issues. While in law school, she has served as the project lead for the International Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic, Researcher for the Immigration Tracker Project, and Senior Case Manager and Intake Program Coordinator for the International Refugee Assistant Project, to name a few. She is the co-author of the Rwanda Textbook Project and also served as the lead article editor for the Stanford Journal of International Law. She earned her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from New York University in 2017.
Emily Olivencia-Audet, UCLA School of Law
Ms. Olivencia-Audet is a 2021 J.D. candidate at the UCLA School of Law. During law school, she served as a Civil Rights Graduate Fellow for the CA Department of Fair Employment and Housing where she investigated employment discrimination complaints under the Fair Employment and Housing Act. Ms. Olivencia-Audet has also worked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where she supported litigation related to Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act. She is a Law Achievement Fellow for the Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy and an Executive Board member for the International Refugee Assistant Project. Ms. Olivencia-Audet has also conducted research into issues relating to the UN Prohibition on the use of force as a Research Assistant for Professor Asli Bali. She earned her undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College in 2018.
Amelia Piazza, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Ms. Piazza is a 2021 J.D. candidate at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. She is currently serving as a student-attorney for the MacArthur Justice Center where she is a junior co-counsel in cases raising constitutional and ADA claims against prison officials and in litigation promoting pretrial detention and parole reform. Ms. Piazza previously interned with the Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender and the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. She is the recipient of the Dawn Clark Netsch Public Interest Scholarship, a three-year scholarship awarded to a student who demonstrates a strong commitment to public service. During law school, she served as the Executive Articles Editor for the Northwestern Journal of law and Social Policy. She earned her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Carleton College in 2014.
Hannah Schoen, Yale Law School
Ms. Schoen earned her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2019, where she participated in the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, International Refugee Assistance Project and the Capital Assistant Project. She also served on the articles committee for the Yale Law Journal. She is currently clerking for the Hon. Lucy H. Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and last year she clerked for the Hon. Robert E. Bacharach of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Ms. Schoen has interned for a number of social justice organizations including Bronx Defenders’ Immigration Practice, Lawyers for Children, Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Division, and Immigration Rights Clinic, to name a few. She is admitted to practice in California. She earned her undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Princeton University in 2016.
