Meet Our New Teammates!

August 28, 2018

With everything that has happened this summer, we haven’t had a chance to introduce four new members to the OneJustice team! Each of our four new teammates comes to OneJustice with diverse backgrounds and skill-sets and will all be vital to shaping a legal system that brings justice to all. As we do with all new folks, we asked them to answer these four questions:

  •  What drew you to OneJustice’s vision, mission, and strategies?
  •  Tell us a bit about your position at OneJustice and what you hope to achieve?
  •  What was your path in coming to OneJustice?
  •  And please tell us something about yourself that not everyone might know.

With that, please welcome Gracia Berrios, Deisy Amezcua, Ana Urgiles and Fredrick Ghai!

Gracia Berrios:

I love being part of a team where our number one goal is bridging the gap between underserved communities with providing free legal aid. Whether it is acknowledging the importance and necessity of Pro Bono work to our volunteers or being on the Justice Bus and seeing first-hand how critical our work is. I’m excited to be part of the Pro Bono Justice Clinics team!

Prior to joining the OneJustice team, I had the opportunity to work in D.C. for 6 months. I interned on Capitol Hill for Congresswoman Nanette Barragan (CA 44th) and I was part of the legislative team. During the fall, I was the communications intern for Millennial Action Project; they emphasize the importance of civic engagement to millennials.

I really love Krung Thai (restaurant in San Jose) – they have the best yellow curry and Pollo a la Brasa. Sonoma County and all the beautiful nature it has to offer. Moscow Mules, goldendoodles, and guinea pigs.

Deisy Amezcua

I was placed at OneJustice through my DreamSF Fellowship with the City of San Francisco’s Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA). OneJustice’s Justice Bus Program intrigued me from the start because I wanted to continue working with immigrant communities in rural areas of California. As an immigrant myself, now a permanent resident, I grew up in a primarily Latinx and agricultural town where I could see that a majority of the population would benefit from the free legal help that organizations like OneJustice provide. Not only does OneJustice provide essential legal aid to underrepresented communities, the staff itself incorporate passion and inclusion into their work.

As the DreamSF Fellow, I am in charge of some of the same tasks assigned to the Program Associates in the Pro Bono Justice team. Through outreach, client scheduling, and preparing client folders, I am part of a team that prepares for the Justice Bus and RJC legal clinics. Through my position at OneJustice, I want to gain more knowledge about both criminal and immigration law, and about the different paths I could take with a law degree.

I am currently a junior at UC Berkeley double majoring in Political Science and Chicanx/Latinx Studies. At Cal, I was the Director of External Affairs for the Latinx Pre-Law Society where I organized a trip to visit the Ivy League Law schools. Previously, I worked for an immigration and employment attorney as a Legal Assistant in both high school and college. I have recently volunteered at East Bay Sanctuary Covenant where I assisted attorneys and paralegals with the preparation of many adjustment of status cases, DACA renewals, and other immigration applications.

I love journaling, reading romance novels (hopeless romantic here), and going on adventures constantly. In terms of food, I can eat Thai food, shrimp, and french fries any day. I love singing to myself, just in case you hear me humming and singing to myself. I also love babies, they are super cute and make my day 10X better!

Ana Urgiles:

I work at OneJustice because of my belief that access to legal aid can be life changing, as it was in my family’s experience as first-generation immigrants. I am proud to be part of a team that empowers individuals and communities by promoting justice for all.

Before joining OneJustice, I was a research assistant at the Freeman Spogli Institute where I focused on researching immigration policies and other issues concerning politics and democracies. During this time, my interest in public interest law also developed through my involvement at Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto where I helped document the experiences of survivors of violent crimes seeking asylum. Afterwards, I was a litigation paralegal in a Washington D.C. law firm representing sovereign states in human rights, commercial arbitration, and dispute resolution cases.

At OneJustice, I am a Data Program Associate for the Pro Bono Justice Clinics. I received my B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University.

I love dancing to Latin American music, exploring restaurants in Chicago, listening to rap, learning French, and backpacking in California.

Fredrick Ghai:

I was drawn to OneJustice’s commitment to equity and justice for all people as a human right, irrespective of their background or socio-economic status. As the child of two immigrants and growing up in the Bay Area, this is not just something I am passionate about, it’s personal. In the words of our founding fathers, “all men are created equally” and should be treated as thus under the eye of the law – something we have lost sight of in recent years. OneJustice is working to reverse this trend, and I am excited to be a part of this change.

In my role as Communications Associate, I will be creating and sharing OneJustice’s story and collective voice through both traditional and digital media. In addition to this, I am looking forward to effectively and concisely articulating all of the wonderful work that my colleagues at OneJustice are doing in order to both maximize their impact, and expand OneJustice’s presence within the civil legal aid community!

Prior to joining the OneJustice team, I served on the communications team of the national anti-poverty policy and advocacy organization RESULTS. At RESULTS, I worked closely with both their global and domestic policy teams helping place media throughout the country, designing graphics and reports, and managing coast-to-coast advocacy/media tours. It was here that my passion for communications was fostered, and I found the power of both effective communications and advocacy. I have also volunteered running an after-school youth program for at risk kids in the East Bay for the past 2 years. I graduated from UC Davis with a B.A. in Economics.

I really love creating things – everything from music, to furniture, to even a car.