“Before law school, I spent five years working at Ashoka, a global nonprofit organization that supports social entrepreneurship. My job took me across the world and put me into close contact with leading human rights advocates in Latin America, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa–most of whom were lawyers by training. Their commitment to equality and justice, and the innovative ways they endeavored to equip ordinary people with tools to promote and protect human rights in their own communities, inspired me to go to law school so I could do the same. I decided to attend the best public interest-focused law school I could find: right here at Berkeley Law!
Having come to law school expressly to do public interest work, I knew that my education outside of the classroom was just as important, if not more so, than what I learned in my doctrinal classes (and would be more fun!). I also speak fluent Spanish and spent a lot of time in Latin America, so I wanted to put my language skills to good use. As a 1L, I did two semesters with the La Raza (now La Alianza Workers’ and Tenants’ Rights Clinic) SLPS at Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland working primarily with low-wage immigrant workers. I found that I liked doing employment law, but I didn’t want to focus on only one specific area of law, so I continued to sample different areas of public interest and civil rights advocacy. I interned/externed at Legal Aid at Work in their Gender Equity and LGBTQ+ practice; California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.; EBCLC’s Health and Welfare Clinic, and the International Human Rights Law Clinic, as well as served as a judicial extern for Judge Breyer in the Northern District of California. I really enjoyed the exposure to different areas of law and the mix of direct client services and impact litigation that I was able to do.
After I graduated from Berkeley Law in 2018, I served as a Justice Catalyst Fellow at the Impact Fund for three years, where I later became a staff attorney. My law school experiences at Legal Aid at Work, CRLA and EBCLC drove me into civil rights and anti-discrimination law, particularly for LGBTQ+ communities. At the Impact Fund, I launched a project focused on expanding access to justice for low-wage LGBTQ+ workers. I trained lawyers and workers through a CLE course, “Recent Developments in LGBTQ Anti-Discrimination Law,” represented transgender clients in gender identity-based harassment suits, and worked on amicus briefs on LGBTQ issues, including a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case that held that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act applied to LGBTQ+ people. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, I found this advocacy compelling and motivating on a personal level too. Yet my time at the Impact Fund was not limited to just anti-discrimination issues; I also worked on litigation against the Trump Administration for denying emergency COVID-19 related nutrition assistance to low-income Californians and against a large corporate landlord for charging illegal junk fees to Section 8 Housing voucher tenants. After three years at the Impact Fund, I knew I wanted to gain some nuts and bolts litigation training, so I clerked for a year for Judge Donna M. Ryu of the Northern District of California. That position led me straight to my job at Berkeley Law now.
The Berkeley Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice is the country’s leading law school research and advocacy center focused on consumer protection law. We seek to build the next generation of advocates for consumers everywhere. We draft amicus briefs – ten in the past year alone! – on critical issues of consumer law and access to justice, from defending landmark regulations protecting student loan borrowers and small entrepreneurs to challenging onerous, one-sided terms and conditions like arbitration and forum selection clauses in consumer contracts. We also file public comments in important rulemakings and conduct policy research on cutting-edge issues for consumers with partner nonprofits and agencies.
While the Center is not a legal clinic, I like to say we have a “clinic mindset”: we involve law students from all academic years in nearly everything we do, from working on discrete research questions to helping draft entire briefs. And not just law students from Berkeley Law! I also oversee the Consumer Law Advocates, Scholars & Students (CLASS) Network, a nationwide initiative supported by the Center that brings together law students from over 15 law schools to gain exposure to our field and connect them with practical and experiential legal projects. C-3Po and other pro bono students from Berkeley Law and CLASS-affiliated schools have worked with me on everything from U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs to comments in FTC and CFPB rulemakings (including comments that the agencies have explicitly relied on to craft their final regulations) to policy papers on debt collection laws and immigration consultant fraud and civil rights for student loan borrowers.”
What drew you to supervise C-3PO, a Student-Initiated Legal Service Project (SLPS)? “When I was in law school, I most valued the practical skills training I had in my externships/internships, clinics, and pro bono projects. Those experiences prepared me for my work ‘in the real world’ and made my time at Berkeley Law more meaningful–and so I am trying to offer the same and better opportunities for the current generation of law students. Plus, especially for law students who are aiming for a public interest-oriented career, exposure to the vast community of lawyers and advocates in this field is incredibly important.
Also, I love the universality of consumer law’s mission. We are all consumers, and the overarching mandate of our field is to promote fairness, tackle corporate greed, and make the economy more equitable for everyone. A large part of what drives me in my work as a C-3PO supervisor is to introduce this field and the wide-ranging types of advocacy one can do as a consumer lawyer to our students (plus, I always learn new things as a supervisor!). Finally, we at the Center do not ‘make work’; every project we do is real and is aimed to have a palpable impact in courts, administrative agencies, or policymaking institutions. I am committed to ensuring that the students we work with can experience that impact and the real world consequences of their advocacy.”
Is there anyone who has made a significant contribution to your legal career and as a supervising attorney? “I’d particularly name two: Lindsay Nako, the now Executive Director of the Impact Fund and my first mentor and supervisor as a lawyer, and Ted Mermin, the Executive Director of the Center and co-founder of C-3PO, among many other initiatives. Beyond having taught me everything I’ve learned so far as a lawyer – such as how to draft a compelling appellate brief – Lindsay and Ted taught (and continue to teach!) important pedagogical skills I use daily on how to supervise and mentor young attorneys. I also owe a debt of gratitude to my C-3PO students, the C-3PO leaders and our 3L Center Fellows for their superb work and dedication to our advocacy, and for teaching me something new every day.”
The Consumer Protection Public Policy Order (C3PO) is one of 41 active SLPS projects. Click to read more about Berkeley Law’s Student-Initiated Legal Services Project, and other enriching pro bono opportunities.
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