Twelve graduates of the Texas Law Class of 2018 have received prestigious postgraduate public service fellowships from Equal Justice Works, Gideon’s Promise, If/When/How, the Georgetown University Law Center, the Gallogly Family Foundation, as well as the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law and Institute for Transnational Law at the law school.
“The Law School is delighted to be able to help launch the careers of these outstanding new lawyers,” said Eden Harrington, director of the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law. “We thank the generous donors who are joining with us to support public service and increase the capacity of organizations assisting the underserved.”
Hudson Kyle ’18, has been named an Equal Justice Works Fellowship. He will work with the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) in San Antonio, sponsored by the Texas Access to Justice Foundation. Kyle plans to address the lack of representation of noncitizens with prior removal orders at the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, Texas. At Texas Law, Kyle served as a Mithoff Pro Bono Scholar, focusing on providing assistance to asylum seekers at the Karnes Family Detention Center. He participated in the Immigration Clinic, the Criminal Defense Clinic, and the Civil Rights Clinic; and interned with RAICES in San Antonio and Colectivo Vida Digna in Guatemala.
Reema Ali ’18, has been named an Equal Justice Works Fellowship. She will work with the Equal Justice Center in Dallas, sponsored by the Texas Access to Justice Foundation. Ali will work to integrate employment and immigration services for vulnerable immigrant working families. At Texas Law, she served on the leadership team of the Pro Bono in January Trip and the Public Interest Law Association. Ali participated in the Transnational Workers Rights Clinic, the Immigration Clinic, and the Civil Rights Clinic. She interned with Disability Rights Texas in Austin, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Austin, and the Southern Poverty Law Center in Atlanta.
Eva Sikes ’18, has been named an Equal Justice Works Fellows. She work with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Brownsville, sponsored by the Texas Access to Justice Foundation. Sikes will work to combat displacement and housing instability of low-income homeowners in the Rio Grande Valley. At Texas Law, Sikes served as a Staff Editor on the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights and on the Board of Directors of the Getting Radical in the South (GRITS) Conference. She participated in the Transnational Workers Rights Clinic and the Civil Rights Clinic, and interned with SafePlace Shelter & Resource Center and Texas Appleseed in Austin, and Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Edinburg, Texas.
Sarah Mae Jennings ’18, will work for Orleans Public Defenders through Texas Law Gideon’s Promise Fellowship. At Texas Law, Jennings was a Mithoff Pro Bono Scholar, co-leading the Expunction Project as a 2L and developing a new Driver’s License Reclamation Project as a 3L. She participated in the Capital Punishment Clinic, the Criminal Defense Clinic, the Civil Rights Clinic and the Immigration Clinic, and interned with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia and Orleans Public Defenders.
Rosann Mariappuram ’18, has received an If/When/How Reproductive Justice Fellowship to work with Legal Voice and SURGE in Seattle, Washington. At Texas Law, Mariappuram served as an Associate Editor the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights and had leadership roles in the American Constitution Society, the GRITS Conference, and If/When/How. She participated in the Immigration Clinic, the Legislative Lawyering Clinic, and the Civil Rights Clinic, and interned with Jane’s Due Process in Austin and the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York.
Kendall Williams ’18, has received a Georgetown University Law Center Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship to work at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs in Washington, D.C. At Texas Law, Williams served as a Staff Editor on the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights and had leadership roles in the American Constitution Society and the Thurgood Marshall Legal Society. She participated in the Entrepreneur & Community Development Clinic and interned with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee and the Brennan Center for Justice in New York.
Mario Castillón ’18, received the 2018 MD Anderson Postgraduate Fellowship in Transnational Law, presented by the Institute for Transnational Law and funded by generous support from the MD Anderson Foundation. Castillón will work for a year at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington, D.C. At Texas Law, he served on the Texas Hispanic Journal of Law & Policy and participated in the Immigration Clinic.
Marissa Latta, ’18, has received a Gallogly Family Foundation Public Interest Law Fellowship, which is a new fellowship presented to Texas Law graduates. Latta will work at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Austin to increase housing access and reduce homelessness for individuals with criminal histories. At Texas Law, she helped organize and develop disability-related projects as a Mithoff Pro Bono Scholar, and participated in the Housing Clinic, Civil Rights Clinic, Mental Health Clinic, and Transnational Worker Rights Clinic. Latta was Editor in Chief of the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights and a Teaching Quizmaster as both a 2L and 3L. Latta worked for Texas Appleseed and Disability Rights Texas.
Kelsey Chapple ’16, has received a Gallogly Family Foundation Public Interest Law Fellowship. Chapple will work at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in Los Angeles representing undocumented female workers experiencing employment-related abuses such as harassment, discrimination, wage theft, and retaliation. At Texas Law, she was on the editorial board of the Texas Law Review, a research assistant to Professor Cary Franklin, a Teaching Quizmaster, and served as the president of Law Students for Reproductive Justice. She participated in the Civil Rights Clinic, the Domestic Violence Clinic, and the Mithoff Pro Bono Program’s 2014 winter break trip to the Texas Rio Grande Valley. Chapple interned with Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the American Civil Liberties Union Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief in Washington, D.C. She is currently clerking for Judge Randolph Moss of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. and previously clerked for Judge Theodore McKee, Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia.
In addition, the Justice Center has selected four graduates to receive law school-funded Justice Corps fellowships with nonprofit organizations. The fellows were chosen by a faculty committee through a competitive process.
Wesley Hartman ’18, has received the Julius Glickman Fellowship in Public Interest Law, funded by generous support from Julius Glickman ’66, to work for Texas Legal Services Center’s People’s Community Clinic Medical-Legal Partnership in Austin. Hartman’s project will focus on addressing the health-related legal needs of the LGBTQ community. At Texas Law, Hartman served as a Mithoff Pro Bono Scholar, leading the Expunction Project as a 2L and the disability law INCLUDE Project as a 3L; participated in the Civil Rights Clinic and the Mental Health Clinic; and interned with Disability Rights Texas in Austin and Whitman-Walker Health Legal Services in Washington, D.C.
Loraine Hoane ’18, has received the G. Rollie White Trust Fellowship in Public Interest Law, funded by generous support from the G. Rollie White Trust, to work with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Austin. Her project will focus on ensuring that low-income Texans have access to clean, safe drinking water under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. At Texas Law, Hoane was a member of the Environmental Law Society and participated in the Environmental Clinic. She interned with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Austin and Earthjustice in Denver.
Two graduates will receive Justice Center Fellowships in Public Interest Law:
Jessica Cisneros ’18, has received a Justice Center Fellowship in Public Interest Law to work with Brooklyn Defender Services’ New York Immigrant Family Unity Project team. In addition to representing clients in removal defense cases, she will assist clients facing deportation orders. At Texas Law, Cisneros served as a Mithoff Pro Bono Scholar, focusing on immigration related projects, and participated in the Immigration Clinic and the Criminal Defense Clinic. She interned with the Equal Justice Center in Austin; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in San Antonio; and the Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School, where she handled immigration cases.
Elizabeth Schmelzel ’18, has received a Justice Center Fellowship in Public Interest Law to work with Ayuda in Washington, D.C., on a project to address fraud by “notario publicos” through education and direct representation. At Texas Law, Schmelzel served as a Rapoport Human Rights Scholar and a Mithoff Pro Bono Scholar on the Expunction Project. She participated in the Immigration Clinic, the Capital Punishment Clinic, and the Juvenile Justice Clinic. She interned with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, American Gateways in Austin, and Bail for Immigration Detainees in London.