Equal Justice Works recently announced that 3L Miami Public Interest Scholar Christina Velazquez will serve on their 2024-2026 National Advisory Committee. EJW, the largest nonprofit organization in the nation working to facilitate and support public interest engagement among law students and lawyers through an annual career fair and conference, postgraduate fellowships, and other programming, utilizes the committee to have an even greater reach. NAC members support the agency's mission by serving as ambassadors on their law school campuses and within their communities and providing feedback and support to EJW.
Velazquez is thrilled to be appointed to the NAC and has the opportunity to bring her ideas and enthusiasm around pro bono engagement to a national scale.
"Through my involvement with various programs through the HOPE Public Interest Resource Center such as Miami Scholars, the Legal Advocacy Alternative Break Planning Committee, and the Public Interest Leadership Board, I found a passion for creating public interest opportunities and promoting pro bono engagement that led me to apply to join the NAC," she said. "Representing Miami Law and other law schools in the Gulf Region, I am excited to collaborate with committee members to continue supporting and spearheading public interest and pro bono initiatives across our law school campuses."
Velazquez dove into pro bono and public service engagement early on during her 1L year at Miami Law, and her engagement has deepened each year. Currently, she is the president of the Child Advocacy Family Law Society, the executive co-chair of the If/When/How Miami Law Chapter, a member of the Public Interest Leadership Board, an active member of the Legal Advocacy Alternative Spring Break Planning Committee during her 1L and 2L years, a Miami Law Ambassador, and a Themis Student Representative. At Miami Law, she has served as an intern or extern with Legal Services of Greater Miami, Dade Legal Aid, and Coast to Coast Legal Aid while participating in several other pro bono initiatives on and off campus.
Velazquez is joining the National Committee just as Marni Lennon, assistant dean of Public Interest and Pro Bono and founder of the HOPE Public Interest Resource Center, is transitioning off the committee.
“After serving for the last two years on the NAC," Lennon said, "it has been fulfilling to serve on the NAC, once again. Equal Justice Works introduced me, as a law student, to a community of lawyers dedicated to supporting the next generation of public interest lawyers, and it is always a privilege to support their work. Christina will continue the tradition and be an excellent leader and asset to the NAC."
Miami Law has a strong history of working with EJW. Miami Law students engage in EJW's Conference and Career Fair each October, the country's largest public interest career fair. They participate in interviews for summer internships and postgraduate positions and attend the programming portion of the conference. In addition, each year, Miami Law students submit applications for EJW's prestigious postgraduate fellowship program. Alex Cinney, J.D. '22, is the most recent EJW Fellow from Miami Law. She has just completed her two-year fellowship with Miami Law's Children and Youth Law Clinic.
"My EJW fellowship allowed me to create a project that provides civil legal services to parents and families in Miami who are facing unnecessary investigations by the Department of Children and Families," Cinney said. "The project fills a gap in Miami for families who are otherwise left to navigate a deliberately confusing and intrusive system that often removes children from their families for hardships that can be addressed by legal advocacy. The most rewarding aspect of the fellowship has been my collaboration with parent-led advocacy groups in South Florida to build knowledge and power in the communities most affected by the family policing system."
Sara Baez, associate director of the HOPE Public Interest Resource Center, assists students applying for postgraduate fellowships each year and helps them prepare to participate in the annual Career Fair. As a former EJW Fellow, she is very familiar with the process and benefits of serving as an EJW Fellow and working with the agency.
"Equal Justice Works is an incredible organization working to increase public interest opportunities for law students and young attorneys,” said Baez. “I benefited from working with them as a law student and as an EJW Fellow and it is rewarding to continue to support students to engage with all of their programs as they begin their careers in public interest."
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