2018-2019 Liman Fellows Announced

The Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law announced the selection of ten Fellows for 2018-2019. Since its inception as the Liman Program in 1997 and including the incoming Fellows and the new Resnik-Curtis Fellowship, the Liman Center has provided fellowships to 132 Yale Law School graduates.

New Fellows

Skylar Albertson ’18 will spend his fellowship year working at The Bail Project, the first nationwide community bail fund, where he will facilitate the Project’s expansion to new jurisdictions, work with individual clients to post bail, and pursue litigation related to the bail system. Skylar has participated in the Criminal Justice Clinic, the Liman Project, and the Initiative for Public Interest Law. Prior to law school, Skylar worked as the Assistant to the Executive Director at the Bronx Defenders. He graduated from Brown University in 2013.

Benjamin Alter ’18 will work at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he will focus on defending the fairness and accuracy of the 2020 Census. Ben, who graduated from Yale College in 2011 and is a member of the Yale Law School class of 2018, has participated in the Rule of Law Clinic and the Appellate Litigation Project. He previously worked as an editor at Foreign Affairs and as a policy advisor at the U.S. Treasury Department.

Olevia Boykin ’17 will spend her fellowship year with Civil Rights Corps. Her focus will be on how North Carolina programs diverting individuals from the criminal justice system are financed and the ways in which they affect those with limited incomes. Olevia, who graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2014 and Yale Law School in 2017, is currently clerking for the Honorable Myron H. Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. At the Law School, Olevia served as the director of the Re-entry Clinic at New Haven Legal Assistance and participated in the Criminal Justice Clinic, the Capital Punishment Clinic, and the Liman Project. She also designed and led Know-Your-Rights programs at schools and community centers throughout the greater New Haven area.

Natalia Friedlander ’18 will be working at the Rhode Island Center for Justice, where she will focus on the needs of prisoners with serious and persistent mental illness. Natalia graduated from Brown University in 2011. At Yale Law School, Natalia participated in the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic, the Criminal Justice Clinic, the Advanced Sentencing Clinic, and the Re-entry Clinic, and was president of the American Constitution Society at YLS. Given her fellowship’s focus, Natalia will be the inaugural Resnik-Curtis Fellow. Prior to law school, Natalia worked on domestic and international healthcare issues.

Joanne Lee ’18 will join Gulfcoast Legal Services in Tampa Bay, Florida, where she will work with indigent immigrants who have experienced domestic violence. She will provide direct representation and also join local and national organizations to create an infrastructure of assistance for immigrant survivors of domestic violence. Joanne graduated in 2015 from Oberlin College and is a member of the Yale Law School class of 2018. Joanne directed the Rebellious Lawyering Conference in 2017 and participated in the Immigration Legal Services Clinic, the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, and the Temporary Restraining Order Project.

Maya Menlo ’18 will be working at the Washtenaw County Office of the Public Defender, where she will help improve the indigent defense system in Michigan by focusing on providing counsel at arraignments. Born and raised in Michigan, she was a 2015 graduate of the University of Michigan. At Yale Law School, Maya has participated in the Re-entry Clinic, the Criminal Justice Clinic, the Advanced Sentencing Clinic, and the Challenging Mass Incarceration Clinic. Maya has also been involved in New Haven’s Sex Workers and Allies Network since its formation in October 2016 and is currently serving as a Senior Global Health and Justice Project Fellow.

Elizabeth Pierson ’18 will join Legal Action of Wisconsin in her hometown of Milwaukee. She will work to improve housing conditions for low-income renters through eviction defense, affirmative litigation targeting exploitative landlords, and renter education. Elizabeth, who graduated in 2012 from Haverford College, has been active in the Mortgage Foreclosure Litigation Clinic, and has volunteered with the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project and the Temporary Restraining Order Project. She served on the 2016-17 Executive Board of Yale Law Women.

Yusuf Saei ’18 will join Muslim Advocates in Washington, D.C., where he will focus on the religious free exercise rights of prisoners. Yusuf graduated from the College of Charleston in 2010 and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco. At Yale Law School, he was a member of the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic and the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic. In 2015-2016, he was a Yale Fox Fellow at Sciences Po Law School in Paris.

Theo Torres ’18 will be spending his fellowship year at the Federal Defender Program for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. His focus will be on understanding the effects of policing by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the new Chicago Gun Strike Force. Theo graduated from the University of Texas in Dallas in 2015 and is a member of the Yale Law School Class of 2018. Theo participated in the Criminal Justice Clinic, the Advanced Sentencing Clinic, and the Capital Punishment Clinic, and he directed the Green Haven Prison Project.

Henry Weaver ’18 will join Earthjustice's Coal Program in Chicago to build partnerships with low-income communities affected by hazardous coal ash disposal sites. He will focus on communities in southern Indiana, where a concentration of coal-fired power plants has left behind unlined and structurally unsound coal ash impoundments. Henry, who graduated from Amherst College in 2013, will graduate from Yale Law School in 2018. He participated in the Environmental Justice and Mortgage Foreclosure clinics and served as an Articles Editor for the Yale Law Journal.