Paul Weiss Fellow, Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law
Pollack Center for Law & Business Scholarship
What drew you to NYU Law?
It was important for me to go to a school with a strong public interest presence and clinics. Law school is hard and no institution is perfect, but there have definitely been moments in my law school experience that could have been even more challenging in a space that was less welcoming to progressive viewpoints. The Black Allied Law Students Association was also a huge hook for me.
What unique opportunities has your fellowship provided?
Working as a fellow at the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law has really been a highlight of my law school experience! The Center has such a wide range of projects tackling so many issues that there truly is something for everyone. Two of the more unique opportunities I've had were helping to draft a keynote speech that Center leadership delivered to a national conference of employment lawyers and participating in an advocacy day with local legislators to lobby for parole reform.
What has been your favorite law school class so far?
It's a tie! I had a great experience in Jamelia Morgan's Beyond Criminal Justice Reform: Abolition Theory and Praxis. Professor Morgan was incredibly knowledgeable and did a great job of cultivating a sense of community in that class despite the Zoom environment. It was refreshing to be in a setting centering the real-world and cumulative impact of the law rather than a course taking a more theoretical approach to what the impact of the law should be in the abstract. I am also having an amazing experience in my clinic, Racial Equity Strategies, with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. I'm working on a school desegregation case that is currently at trial and I have learned so much.
Do you have a favorite podcast that you’d like to recommend?
I have way too many favorites, but would definitely recommend Gimlet Media's Uncivil, which tells little-known stories from the Civil War that often connect to the state of our nation today. I also think season one of Leon Neyfakh's Slow Burn coupled with Rachel Maddow's Bag Man make for a fascinating look at the Nixon presidency, drawing stark parallels between that era and current politics.
Posted August 19, 2021