Equal Justice Works Welcomes New 2024 Members to Alumni Advisory Council

Equal Justice Works, the nation’s largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law, today announced the expansion of the Alumni Advisory Council (AAC) with the addition of 11 new members.  

The AAC is a non-fiduciary advisory board comprised of 21 Equal Justice Works alumni who provide counsel in support of the organization’s alumni engagement initiatives. AAC members work in partnership with the director of alumni relations to build lifelong relationships between Equal Justice Works, current Fellows, and alumni through programming, communication, and volunteerism. Members are reflective of the diverse strengths, Fellowship programs, geographic distribution, professional accomplishments, and public interest disciplines of the Equal Justice Works alumni community.  

“On behalf of the Alumni Advisory Council, I’m excited to welcome our new members,” said Claire Johnson Raba, the Chair of the Alumni Advisory Council. “We are delighted to expand the Alumni Advisory Council to 21 members this year, and we look forward to strengthening connections within the Equal Justice Works alumni and fellow community through outreach, programming, and the launch of a new mentorship program.” 

“We are thrilled to welcome our newest members to the AAC as we work to more efficiently advance the goals and activities of the AAC and Equal Justice Works’ strategic vision,” said Lynbea Toombs, the Director of Alumni Relations at Equal Justice Works. “This group brings with them valuable expertise, perspective, and knowledge that will be pivotal to the enrichment of our alumni programming and to the expansion of our professional development opportunities for current Fellows.” 

The new members of the Alumni Advisory Council are: 

Kevin De Liban, 2011 Fellow 

During his Equal Justice Works Fellowship, Kevin created and maintained medical-legal partnerships with community health clinics in these rural areas, in order to develop a holistic approach to helping clients improve their lives. After the Fellowship, Kevin worked for 12 years at Legal Aid of Arkansas—most recently as its Director of Advocacy–where he represented over 1,800 low-income people in matters involving health care, workers’ rights, public benefits, special education, and domestic violence. He is now the Founder of TechTonic Justice, a newly launched nonprofit to fight alongside low-income people harmed by artificial intelligence (AI).  

Eliana Green, 2019 Fellow 

Eliana worked to protect and restore the rights of survivors of the War on Drugs and mass incarceration through legal clinics, public education, corporate partnerships, and policy advocacy led by impacted people. After Eliana’s Fellowship, she continued her advocacy as the Director of Policy and Reentry Legal Services at The Hood Incubator. Eliana also served as a Senior Policy Advisor at The Minority Cannabis Business Association, where she coauthored the National Cannabis Equity Report and the Model Municipal Ordinance—a set of model policy recommendations for lawmakers and cannabis regulators. She then pivoted to Civil Rights litigation and currently serves as a Movement Lawyer within Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic. Eliana is a proud Delegate member of Supernova Women and serves as a Board member of Because Black is Still Beautiful as well as Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD). 

Shannon LeVar Mills, 2017 Fellow 

Shannon’s project ensured that low-income households were afforded access to justice when they encountered legal issues related to their housing stability. After Shannon’s Fellowship ended, he remained with Georgia Legal Services Program as a Staff Attorney and then joined their Eviction Prevention Project. Shannon was then promoted to being a Supervising Attorney in the Macon Regional Office. Shannon is now a Director of Attorney Recruitment, Diversity, and Retention on the Senior Leadership Team of Georgia Legal Services Program. 

Mai Nguyen, 2016 Fellow 

During her fellowship, Mai worked with legal service providers and community-based organizations to identify legal needs in rural communities and build a support system for low-income Californians in need. After her Fellowship, Mai worked at Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles as a Staff Attorney for nearly five years providing free assistance and legal representation to low-income individuals at risk of losing their home or facing legal barriers to secure housing. She now works at the Los Angeles Superior Court as a Self-Help Attorney, where she provides legal information and guidance to litigants on matters related to family law. 

Leeja Patel, 2011 Fellow 

Leeja’s project combatted domestic violence, trafficking, and gender-based violence in immigrant communities. After her fellowship ended, Leeja continued working at her host organization as a staff attorney as well as the Interim Development Director.  She then moved into higher education, returning to UC Law SF as the college’s first Director of Student Life and first Associate Director for Student Leadership and Community Development. She currently works at the University of Michigan Law School, where she focuses on leadership development, belonging, first-year mentorship, and other programs that enhance student life as the school’s first Assistant Director for Campus Life and Engagement. 

Monica Porter Gilbert, 2016 Fellow 

During the Equal Justice Works fellowship, Monica ensured that people with disabilities received reasonable accommodation and protection from discrimination. Once her two-year Fellowship was complete, Monica joined Homebase: The Center for Common Concerns, to work with communities to increase capacity to end homelessness, including responding to COVID-19, increasing Census 2020 participation, and building cross-sector work through the Criminal Legal System Initiative. 

Christine M. Scartz, 1995 Fellow 

Christine’s project created a legal clinic and resource center for indigent victims of intimate partner violence and stalking in rural judicial circuits. After Professor Scartz’s Fellowship ended, her project was absorbed by the University of Georgia School of Law into their developing Civil Clinics program. After some time in private practice, Professor Scartz returned to the Law School in 2015 to teach and to transform her Equal Justice Works project, which had remained in continuous operation since 1995 when her fellowship began, into an independent teaching clinic and experiential learning program. Professor Scartz is a Clinical Associate Professor and Director of the Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic. She teaches Family Law, Advanced Family Law, a Clinic seminar on intimate partner violence, and an undergraduate class, Law and Social Justice. 

Carlos F. Ramos-Hernández, 2021 Fellow 

Carlos empowered citizens to demand public accountability by strengthening Puerto Rico’s constitutional rights to access government information, promote transparency, and engage in participatory democracy. Carlos is currently pursuing an LL.M. degree at Harvard Law School to continue his path in legal academia. He has taught courses on Media Law and free speech issues for journalists and law students. Carlos also continues to work at Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) as the Transparency Program’s Staff Attorney, where he serves as the organization’s in-house counsel and further participates in CPI’s strategic access to information litigation efforts. 

Clara Spera, 2010 Fellow 

Clara worked to protect and expand access to reproductive care, particularly for low-income women who live far away from the nearest reproductive health clinic, using a variety of innovative legal and advocacy rights, at a critical time when the Supreme Court was likely to decimate the right to an abortion. Clara now serves as Senior Counsel to the Abortion Access Legal Defense Fund at the National Women’s Law Center. In her role at the National Women’s Law Center, Clara also engages in strategic advising on reproductive rights and health issues as the Law Center’s representative to the Abortion Defense Network and she litigates reproductive rights cases. Clara is also a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, where she teaches a seminar course on reproductive rights after Dobbs. 

Barbara Stalder, 2003 Fellow 

Barbara’s project provided support for at-risk youth in abuse neglect family court cases. In 2006, Barbara became a staff attorney for Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (AVDA) where she provided direct representation in family violence cases. In 2008 Barbara left AVDA to become a clinical professor and supervising attorney at the UH Law Center Civil Legal Clinic where she taught family law, probate, and guardianship. After eight years with UH Law Center, Barbara went into private practice, where she became a successful mediator, mediating high conflict and domestic violence cases. She also provided direct representation to clients in family law matters and conducted appeals for families in child protection cases. In 2018 Barbara was elected to the 280th Judicial District Court where she served as Judge until 2022. During her term as judge, Barbara served on the Covid 19 Judicial Task force and assisted in setting up remote Zoom access in local libraries for self-represented litigants. After leaving the bench, Barbara returned to AVDA, where she currently serves as the managing attorney for AVDA’s Houston office. 

Alexandra Enriquez St. Pierre, 2013 Fellow 

Alex’s project provided direct representation and systemic legal advocacy to youths as they aged out of the foster care system and transitioned to early adulthood. After her Fellowship ended, Alex stayed at Legal Aid and advocated on behalf of parents of children with disabilities to obtain appropriate services in public schools. She then clerked for the Honorable Marcia G. Cooke of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida in Miami, Florida, and later for the Honorable James E. Graves, Jr. of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Jackson, Mississippi. After she finished her clerkships, she moved to Boston to work at the Conservation Law Foundation, Inc. (CLF). She spent four years litigating in federal court against large oil companies and is now Director of Communities & Toxics in CLF’s Environmental Justice program. She oversees CLF’s work with New England communities opposing waste infrastructure expansion and fighting toxic pollutants. 

To learn more about the Alumni Advisory Council, visit here.