PIJD Newsletter

This summer, I had the privilege of serving as a law clerk with Public Counsel's Opportunity Under Law Project in Los Angeles, California where I supported attorneys on impact litigation advancing civil rights for children, immigrants, Indigenous communities, people with disabilities, and low-income Californians. Over the course of the summer, I conducted legal research for federal class actions, reviewed dependency court records to identify potential named plaintiffs, drafted Freedom of Information Act requests, prepared case summaries for oral arguments, cite-checked briefs and presentations, and researched remedial frameworks used in institutional reform litigation. I also had the opportunity to observe proceedings before trial courts, the Ninth Circuit, the California Court of Appeal, and multiple federal judges, giving me a front-row seat to public interest litigation at every stage of the judicial process.

One of the most meaningful parts of my summer was working on L.T. v. ICE, a federal lawsuit challenging unconstitutional conditions at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. Early in the summer, I researched remedial orders from correctional reform cases across the country to help develop proposed injunctive relief requiring adequate medical care, disability accommodations, and independent oversight. Later, I attended the preliminary injunction hearing, where I spent the day supporting two named plaintiffs and their families as they watched the attorneys argue their case. Just days later, the court granted sweeping preliminary relief benefiting more than 1,500 people detained at Adelanto. Seeing legal research contribute to a decision with such immediate and meaningful impact reinforced why I came to law school.

Before law school, I taught eighth-grade English at Title I public middle schools in Los Angeles, where I witnessed how housing instability, immigration status, disability, and educational inequities shaped my students' lives long before they entered my classroom. Public Counsel showed me that while my setting has changed from a classroom to a courtroom, my purpose has remained the same: advocating for communities that are too often overlooked. However, each of these experiences does not even scratch the surface of the formative impact Public Counsel made on me this summer. The mentorship I received this summer strengthened my litigation skills, deepened my commitment to public interest law, and opened doors to exciting upcoming externships I never thought possible. It was through my PIJD Mentor that I found Public Counsel my first week of my 1L year, and I am incredibly grateful to Santa Clara Law's Public Interest JD Program for making experiences like this possible and for preparing students to pursue careers dedicated to advancing justice.

Sofia's opportunity at Public Counsel's Opportunity Under Law Project was made possible by funding from Santa Clara Law's Center for Social Justice's summer stipend grant.