November 2, 2018
With everything that has been coming out of the White House this past week, OneJustice refuses to amplify the vitriolic and xenophobic rhetoric coming from this administration. OneJustice’s position can be summed up in 3 simple statements:
Regardless of your political affiliation, we implore you to vote. The most important thing that you can do right now is to fully participate in the democratic process, and that starts with voting.
October 31, 2018
At OneJustice, there’s no holiday we get more serious about than Halloween! In light of the past few weeks — and years — we really wanted to take time out of our chaotic days and come together as a family. We cooked up a storm, ate the food closest to our hearts, and shared many laughs. In hard times it’s all too easy to forget to notice and appreciate the little things. We want to dedicate this Halloween to the OneJustice network and all the little things you do to make our world a better place!
And of course, would it really be Halloween without a OneJustice Halloween costume contest?! The OneJustice team really outdid themselves this year. From Mister Rodgers to a fortune teller it was the hardest year yet to pick winners from each office!
October 25, 2018 [Content Warning: Immigration]
The Trump administration has put forth another anti-immigrant proposal that serves as an attack on the health and well-being of families and communities across the country. Building on the restrictions on immigration inherent to the Muslim ban and the punitive approach in the efforts to end the DACA program, the Administration now proposes to prevent immigrant families from seeking a permanent, secure future in the United States and to scare them away from seeking access to essential safety net programs that provide access to health care, nutrition, and housing.
OneJustice vehemently opposes the Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security’s unconscionable proposed rule change to “public charge.” We also call on everyone in the OneJustice network to take action. It’s easy to get involved through the three simple options listed below.
On September 22, 2018, the Trump administration announced a proposed rule to make changes to “public charge” policies that govern how the use of public benefits may affect individuals’ ability to enter the U.S. or adjust to legal permanent resident (LPR) status (i.e., obtain a “green card”). These proposed changes are a blatant attack on immigrant families, and function as an attempt to shutter family reunification through legal immigration. Under the proposed changes to “public charge”, many U.S. citizens would no longer be able to welcome their own parents, or spouse, into the U.S. because the rule arbitrarily considers age and income – which strongly disfavor elderly and low-income adults. This reunification and strengthening of families and our communities greatly contributes to our national economy.
Furthermore, these changes would also make the use of many public benefits, from health care to nutrition support to housing, a disqualifier for green-card eligibility. Such lose-lose choices betray one of our nation’s core values of welcoming immigrants and fostering strong, and thriving, families.
These United States were founded on principles of liberty and justice for all, and these proposed changes make it abundantly clear that under Trump’s administration, these principles only hold true for the wealthy, educated and white. It is unconscionable to make a person choose between reuniting with their parents, their children, their families or them receiving essential public services.
Luckily, we are not silenced in this fight; there is something that we can do. Under federal law, the Trump administration is required to read and respond to every unique comment before it can finalize its harmful proposed regulations. Together, we can stop this.
Raise your voice and fight back on the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant proposal.
Here are three easy ways to get involved:
#1: Submit comments opposing the proposed rule changes during the 60-day comment period. It’s easy to do so at www.protectingimmigrantfamilies.org/#take-action, by the national Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF) Campaign. You can use their prepared statement or write your own personal statement.
#2. Share this post on your social media and to your networks to get more people to also submit comments.
#3. Share personal stories with OneJustice’s Communications Associate, Fredrick Ghai (fghai@one-justice.org) about the detrimental impact this proposal would have for your family or how public assistance programs help your community thrive and excel. Only with your consent, OneJustice will use these stories for media and other advocacy efforts.
For more information about public charge and resources from the PIF Campaign that is mobilizing against the proposed rule, visit www.protectingimmigrantfamilies.org. To read the Kaiser Family Foundation’s overview of the proposed rule changes and their likely impact on health, visit https://www.kff.org/disparities-policy/fact-sheet/proposed-changes-to-public-charge-policies-for-immigrants-implications-for-health-coverage/.
If you have questions about how these changes might impact your family, or are having any other immigration issues, please seek advice from an accredited immigration legal service provider. Here is a group of nonprofit organizations funded by the California Department of Social Services to provide immigration assistance throughout the state.
October 24, 2018
With everything that has happened this summer, we haven’t had a chance to introduce a new member of the OneJustice team – Lydia Sinkus, a new Equal Justice Works Fellow working on a two-year project jointly sponsored by PayPal and Orrick! As we do with all new team members, we asked her to answer these four questions:
With that, please welcome Lydia Sinkus!
Lydia Sinkus, Equal Justice Works Fellow:
I was drawn to OneJustice’s vision of access to justice for all and of a legal system where lawyers help break down barriers to justice and inclusion. I appreciate the organization’s willingness to tackle hard problems with a focus on innovation, human centered design, and community network building. As a team member at OneJustice I am excited to help expand access to legal resources and to provide lawyers and non-lawyers the opportunity to engage in meaningful pro bono work.
I am an Equal Justice Works Legal Fellow with the Pro Bono Justice Clinics team. My position is generously sponsored by our partners PayPal and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. In this role, I hope to expand access to life-changing legal services for non-citizen immigrants with criminal records. Post-conviction relief services tailored to non-citizens can open up pathways to naturalization, legal status, jobs, housing, and education, and keep families in our communities together. I am working to design a mobile “clinic plus” model that will engage pro bono attorneys and volunteers in the Bay Area to help provide these services in in isolated and resource-scarce areas of Northern California. I also aim to help local community organizations build capacity to provide these services themselves.
I am passionate about increasing access to justice, information, and resources for under-served communities. As a student at Berkeley Law, I focused on international human rights, and I bring this lens to my current domestic work at the cross-section of immigration and criminal justice. I have interned at the Center for Justice and Accountability and the RFK Center for Human Rights, which litigate domestic and international human rights cases. During law school, I also engaged in immigration work with the East Bay Community Law Center’s Immigration Practice and the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, primarily assisting clients with domestic violence-based asylum claims.
Prior to taking the plunge into law school, I worked as a paralegal for the Department of Justice, where I enjoyed engaging in diverse types of pro bono work, and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala, where I worked on development and delivery of health education and sanitation infrastructure in schools and community network building.
I received by JD from the UC Berkeley School of Law and clerked for the District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle.
I grew up in North Central Florida, so in California I miss thunderstorms and hot nights. I’m a twin. I like to sail other people’s boats, and I have a life goal of learning to balance a bike on my chin.
September 25, 2018
September 25, 2018
[Content Warning: Child Abuse; Immigration]
On September 7, 2018, the administration revealed proposed rules that would dismantle existing protections for children in immigration jails, opening the door for the indefinite incarceration of children. The proposal would specifically alter the terms of the 1997 Flores Settlement, which requires migrant children to be released “without unnecessary delay” to licensed facilities for a maximum of 20 days during an emergency or influx. Children that are subjected to detention suffer measurable physical and psychological damage — damage that can be nearly impossible to recover from. Child welfare laws, such as the 1997 Flores Settlement, have been specifically designed to provide basic protections for immigrant children in detention and reduce and mitigate harm.
OneJustice firmly opposes any attempt to circumvent child welfare laws like the Flores Settlement.
What would this rule change mean in practice?
Even with the current protections mandated by the Flores settlement, immigration detention centers have been cited for horrendous human rights abuses, “including physical abuse, sexual abuse, blatant medical neglect, the forcible injection of antipsychotic medications, the unlawful restraint of children in distress and harsh rules that prohibit even siblings from hugging one another” according to the New York Times. The elimination of existing protections will certainly make things worse.
In addition to perpetuating and worsening the atrocious detention of children and their families, these changes to the Flores Agreement pave the way for over a 5x increase in families jailed at the US border with Mexico, reports the New York Times. Replacing the existing requirements that family detention centers be licensed by state and federal regulations with internal DHS regulations will result in an untenable situation where these jails will not be required to meet rudimentary humanitarian standards. Oversight of these facilities will be dramatically weakened. The proposed rules to override the Flores Settlement are a violation of the fundamental human rights of children and will increase the inhumane conditions that immigrant children and families are forced to experience while incarcerated.
You can take meaningful action
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:
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.
August 17, 2018
By Roel Mangiliman, Senior Manager of Innovation and Learning
On June 7th, 2018, Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs illuminated the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco by asking legal aid lawyers, activists, and their supporters, “What are you prepared to do today so 50 years from now access to justice is not based on access to capital?” It was an electrifying, progressive question – one calling the room to remember the long game, where we win only when we have shifted the underlying and societal conditions our clients grapple with on a daily basis.
As a legal aid support center, OneJustice believes empowering nonprofits is an important step to changing the civil legal aid system. We believe there are certain ingredients to a healthy nonprofit: strong staff, committed leaders, data collection, a culture of equity and inclusion, and a process for innovation and collaboration. These capabilities are crucial to running a nonprofit, but not often taught in law school.
OneJustice offers well-rounded opportunities for legal aid groups to advance how their staff and organizations work. Adding to our menu of support services that already includes the Executive Fellowship program, strategic planning facilitation, equity and inclusion consulting, and board governance training courses, we are excited to launch two new programs starting in October:
With the Mayor’s words in mind, we see these programs as one route among many to advancing the potential of civil justice organizations. We hope you join us in these opportunities. For more information see onejustice.org/oca and onejustice.org/academy, or contact Rmangiliman@one-justice.org
August 2, 2018
by Jess Temple, Staff Attorney for Northern California Justice Bus, and Pete James, Senior Manager of Research & Evaluation
July 22, 2018
Like many nonprofits and legal aid organizations, OneJustice is exploring how we can use data to improve our programs and services. That sure sounds great – but what does this actually look like in practice? Can data really provide meaningful insight to the complex, evolving and collaborative process of program delivery? And most importantly, can these insights actually lead to changes in how programs work on a day-to-day level?
To shed some light on this process, we’re going to describe an ongoing project to evaluate the Northern California Justice Bus project. Launched over a decade ago in 2007, the Justice Bus project takes teams of attorney and law student volunteers from urban areas to set up free legal clinics for low-income Californians living in rural and geographically isolated communities. The theory behind this project is that transferring resources in this way can help to reduce the “justice gap” that has been documented in rural areas of our state.
To begin evaluating Justice Bus, we started with a basic but important question: what types of communities does the Justice Bus actually serve, and to what extent is this consistent with the goals of the program? As is often the case in program evaluation, we had to find precise measures for concepts that we often use in more intuitive ways on a day-to-day basis. For example, do we define the community served by the physical location of the clinic or the surrounding populations from which the clients were drawn? Should we use a binary distinction between urban-rural places, consistent with the Census, or a more continuous measure that distinguishes large metropolitan cores from suburbs and small towns? As you can imagine, a host of thorny problems quickly emerged and we will be employing a diverse range of methods to understand the full picture.
For the purpose of this post, we’ll just share some analysis that provides one perspective on the geographic reach of the Justice Bus in Northern California over the last year. In this analysis, we summarize clinic locations by county and categorize counties using the CDC’s urban-rural classification scheme. In the map below, counties with a darker shade of green are progressively less urbanized, and the number of Justice Bus clinics in each county is superimposed in white. Hover over the each county to see more details.
Using this kind of map enables a form of comparison that is central to evaluative thinking. Rather than just telling the story of the counties that we did serve, it prompts us to consider why we served some counties and not others. Looking at the map in this way is revealing. The Justice Bus most frequently operates in “medium metro” counties, typified by San Joaquin County. While these counties have large urban areas, such as Stockton, they are distinct from the large metropolitan core of the Bay Area. The Justice Bus also reaches a range of counties with populations clustered in small towns, such as Humboldt and Mendocino, but Glenn is the only county served that falls into the most rural category.
So what does this data mean, in light of Justice Bus’ aim to serve “rural and isolated” communities? This was the question that Pete, as internal evaluator, posed to Jess and her team who run the Northern California Justice Bus. This led to a useful discussion about the logic and logistics that go into planning the Justice Bus. Jess shared that she sees the primary role of Justice Bus as amplifying the work of organizations that already provide services to low-income Californians. Because we partner with local community and legal services organizations to deliver legal clinics, this means that the program is often most successful in areas that already have some of these organizations that can identify local needs that may be well-served through a clinical model. It is therefore challenging to put together a successful mobile legal clinic in some of the most rural regions where there are fewer organizations to act as partners. In practice, it is also difficult to recruit pro bono volunteers to travel to regions that are located beyond a two-hour drive from the Bay Area; commitments at work and at home mean that there is only so far that volunteers can go on a given day. Putting these two factors together helps explain some of the patterns displayed in the map of clinic locations above.
This process illustrates important points about the relationship between internal evaluation and program planning. Using data to reflect on a program can help surface tensions between theory and practice that might otherwise be downplayed as simply the day-to-day challenges of running a program. As we have seen, Justice Bus has focused its efforts on the most achievable objectives; this is pragmatic, but it also means that its geographic reach is more limited than we might hope. A recognition of these limitations is prompting us to focus planning activity within acknowledged constraints and to more directly recognize the importance of non-geographic factors, such as cultivating strong relationships with community partners. It also helps identify opportunities for complementary solutions, for example supporting more regional volunteering networks rather than attempting to provide pro bono services from a distance.
We believe that shifting strategies surrounding our mobile legal service delivery from the intuitive to the data-driven, and uncovering the ways in which the impacts of our programs diverge from our aspirations, are essential to iterating a successful pro bono program at OneJustice. In doing so, we feel it’s important to share our learning early and often: improving access to justice in our state is a collective enterprise, and to make progress we need to communicate not only about our successes but also our challenges.
To subscribe to OneJustice’s quarterly research newsletter, please email research@one-justice.org
Edwin Carmona-Cruz speaks outside ICE Headquarters at a protest in San Francisco
July 18, 2018
In early July, in response to family separation and the administration’s "zero tolerance" policy, Bay Area communities joined in the nationwide movement to speak out. Many legal professionals joined in the rallies and protests, and some were invited to be speakers. We interviewed two such speakers from Pangea Legal Services to hear their perspective on the movement to stem attacks on immigrants and refugees.
Juan Camilo Mendez Guzman - Immigration Attorney and Director of General Litigation at Pangea Legal Services
What was your initial reaction after speaking at the Families Belong Together Rally in Berkeley?
There was a great turn-out. The organizers did a great job and there were a lot of people, a lot of allies. It’s was pretty encouraging to see. Let’s hope we can turn that into action.
What motivated you as a speaker? What inspired your speech?
Our clients. During the speech, I talked about two current clients of ours still in detention. I talked about Sonia, who won her case, but is still being detained because the government appealed. I talked about David, who was issued a $20,000 bond for his freedom even though he is not a flight risk or a danger. We recently negotiated his bond down dramatically so that his family will be able to pay. Our clients are what motivates all of us here. They are the ones who are really suffering.
As an attorney, how do you see the role of other attorneys and legal professionals at such a tumultuous time in light of this administration and its policies and attitude towards immigrants?
In this climate, attorneys need to be willing to step outside their comfort zone because this administration is changing or breaking the rules all the time. We have to think of creative ways to fight back. And that involves strategies beyond what we've traditionally done. It requires working with the community and taking different approaches — new, original approaches.
Edwin Carmona-Cruz - Paralegal at Pangea Legal Services (and OneJustice Executive Fellow Alumnus)
What was your initial reaction after speaking at the Families Belong Together - Block ICE protest in San Francisco?
There is so much enthusiasm and support to Abolish ICE but the fight does not end at Abolishing ICE. We must work to release and reunite all of the families impacted by this deportation machine and continue to advocate for a pathway towards citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country, with no criminal carve outs. We must sustain this movement and put our "Like and Shares" into concrete actions. All in all, it has been very moving seeing newly engaged folks out on the streets supporting these direct actions.
What motivated you as a speaker during the families belong together rally? What inspired your speech?
I am a child of immigrant parents from México. It is our social responsibility to advocate for our communities and support the Right to Move for all. My inspiration comes from the resilience, strength and love our communities have despite all of the forces against their existence in this country. Our families need us to act now!
With your role in legal services, how do you see the role of legal professionals at such a tumultuous time in light of this administration and its policies and attitude towards immigrants?
I strongly believe that those in the legal field must use their privilege and access to higher education to stand up and fight back against this administration and their xenophobic policies. Legal service providers, including myself, must support impacted communities so we can achieve real solutions that come from grassroots organizing. The fight for justice does not end in 2020, we must maintain the energy and revolutionary thinking through and through. ¡Sí se puede!
Interested in providing legal help for immigrants and refugees? Sign up for the Immigration Pro Bono Network!
Check out more images from the rallies:
July 13, 2018
As summer gets into full swing, we would like to introduce our summer student interns in our San Francisco office. This year, we are fortunate to have a Development and Communications intern and two summer law clerks, who will assist with a variety of pro bono projects as well as with the Justice Bus.
Join us in welcoming Clare, Kimy and Swaaliha to the OneJustice team!
Welcome Clare! What drew you to the work of OneJustice and what will you be working on this summer?
OneJustice’s commitment to helping any person who needs legal aid regardless of circumstance or location really resonated with me. Since I was little, I have been volunteering with the homeless in Los Angeles, and I have noticed their lack of access to justice. The United States’ convoluted justice system makes it impossible for anyone except lawyers to understand its procedure. Furthermore, OneJustice helps more than just people with immediate needs. It focuses on trying to fix the source of injustice.
Clare Burgess, Development & Communications Intern
This summer, I am working as OneJustice’s Development and Communications intern. So, I will be assisting the DevComm team with any projects regarding development or OneJustice’s social media presence, such as writing this blog post.
What were you up to before coming to OneJustice?
I am a rising junior at Claremont McKenna College majoring in Government. At CMC, I write for the Claremont Journal of Law and Public Policy; I recently wrote an article comparing nonprofit laws in the United States and in the United Kingdom. Also, this past semester I studied theology and philosophy at King’s College London. And last summer, I had an internship with the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
What’s something quirky about you?
I have a twin sister who looks nothing like me.
Thanks Clare! Now, we welcome Swaaliha! Why did you choose OneJustice for your summer clerkship and what will you be doing this summer?
I was first introduced to OneJustice during the SFO protest regarding the Muslim Ban that OneJustice played a huge role in organizing. I had never been apart of a protest of that scale, so watching the information move through the hundreds and hundreds of people that showed up was awe-inspiring. OneJustice also came to Hastings during my first year of law school and did PI/PS Day. So, I interviewed with them.
So, I am on the Pro Bono Justice Clinics team. Since being on the team, I have been to a couple of the clinics through the Justice Bus program. At the clinics, I am responsible for the organizational aspect of the clinics (signing in clients, etc.). I have also been able to help consult and sit down with clients. I assisted with filling out their paperwork, while simultaneously doing the support staff work.
What were you up to before coming to OneJustice?
Kimy Cabrera (left) and Swaaliha Abdul-Rahman (right) – Pro Bono Justice Summer Law Clerks
As a 1L at Hastings, I participated in a few of the volunteer clinics. The best times I have had in law school have been while doing the volunteer clinics. One particular clinic I have enjoyed was LARC that was held at Hastings. So, basically one Saturday each month people from the Tenderloin and all over come to Hastings. We (the law students) do their intake, and then they are referred to legal volunteers for their free legal consultation. I am also participating in the Homeless Legal Services Program, where law students go to homeless shelters and help with their intake. These programs are extremely grounding and helped me connect with people.
What’s something quirky about you?
I was born two months premature, and I am a huge Harry Potter fan. So, one time when I had to write a paper, I titled it “The Girl Who Lived.”
Finally, we welcome Kimy! What drew you to the work of OneJustice, and what will you be responsible for this summer?
In law school, I learned that I really wanted to work in human rights or international human rights because I would be able to make an impact and I would be passionate about it. When I was looking through different summer opportunities, I realized that I wanted to be California specific because I am so grateful, as an immigrant, to be in a state that has been so welcoming. I first heard about OneJustice when Mai, from the L.A. team, came to talk about the Justice Bus at USC. I had been to some of the counties that she talked about, and I realized their limitations of access. I went to the career center to discuss human rights summer opportunities, and they gave me this list from public interest career day with many different organizations. I recognized OneJustice’s logo. I decided to apply because OneJustice seems really in tune with the legal atmosphere and the the needs of the Californian population. I looked online and saw their vast amount of programs throughout California. What really sold the deal for me, though, was their question on the application for clerkships. It was all about cultural sensitivity and equity, which I have come to value a lot in my own life.
At OneJustice, I am on the Pro Bono Justice Team on the consulting side. I am responsible for helping to gather data and outreach towards Pro Bono Managers and Coordinators from different Legal Service Organizations. I have also been working with the Immigration Pro Bono Network on their newsletters, events, website. Mainly assisting with their organizational needs. With that, I’ve also been conducting a lot of case study interviews.
What were you up to before coming to San Francisco for your clerkship?
I do a lot with the International Law and Relations clubs at USC. This last year, I worked as an interpreter for the International Human Rights Clinic. I worked on a human trafficking case with them, which reminded me of all the good I could do as a lawyer. I thought that that was an awesome experience. I also did Street Law, which was a program where we taught high school students about law. I was a high school teacher for a year in the Philippines before law school, so it was cool to revisit that.
Lastly, what’s something quirky about you?
I have very strange hobbies. I like to kayak in a lake near a decommissioned power plant because I love kayaking. But it also makes me feel like I am in a Marvel movie. I also have recently gotten into wood burning, which is like pyrography.
We’re so grateful to have such amazing & talented students joining us to bring legal help to those in need!
