Mitchell Schwartz came to Columbia Law School with a B.A. from Brandeis. He joined a pro bono legal clinic for the homeless during his first month at Columbia University and spent his first summer as a law clerk with Orleans Public Defenders in New Orleans. As a 1L, he helped found the public defense students at Columbia Law School and later served as president. In the fall of 2016, he enrolled at Professor Brett Dignam`s Challenging the Consequences of Mass Incarceration clinic, where he now works as a student supervisor in a lawsuit challenging a client`s solitary confinement. “Brett was nothing short of the best teacher and mentor there could be,” he says. Columbia Law School has announced that the first seven members of the Class of 2018 will receive prestigious graduate scholarships. After graduating this spring, students will work in a variety of organizations, ranging from the internationally oriented Human Rights Watch to Catholic Migration Services, a nonprofit that provides free legal advice to low-income immigrants in Brooklyn and Queens. He will use the Singer Fellowship to work at the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), a legal advocacy group focused on suffrage, criminal justice reform, and economic and racial justice, where he interned last summer. “I will have the opportunity to document the civil rights violations currently taking place along the border and help me make meaningful progress in addressing rights violations resulting from over-enforcement and over-scrutiny of immigration,” he said. But according to Garza, the situation is much worse for those who do not have citizenship or legal status. “In law school, I learned the skills I needed to investigate and intervene for my community through impact litigation and civil rights education and outreach,” says Garza, who attended the law school`s immigrant rights clinic. The Immigrant Justice Corps Fellowship will support Miranda for two years by working full-time at Catholic Migration Services, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to immigrants in Brooklyn and Queens.
He hopes to gain expertise in representing immigrants facing deportation from the United States and organize workshops to strengthen the political power of local immigrants. “I hope that one day I will be able to say that my practice of law has enabled ordinary people to create their own change,” he says. As a Norton Rose Fulbright Scholar at The Door, Riva`s mission is to provide legal services to immigrant youth that open pathways to citizenship and lead them to educational and employment opportunities. “My overall goal is to learn how to creatively advocate for marginalized communities at a time when women`s and LGBT rights are under constant threat and DACA has been repealed,” she says. “I believe that starting my career in these tumultuous times of immigration law will offer me invaluable lessons to take away.” From 2006 to 2015, Mr. Schwartz was Vice President of Government and Public Affairs at Clear Channel Outdoor, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications now known as iHeartMedia. He created a government and public relations department for the New York office, overseeing and managing policy, regulatory and legislative issues affecting the firm`s operations in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Working with the Office of the General Counsel, Mr. Schwartz defined the company`s legal strategy for the metropolitan area, including the spectacular Times Square signage unit, and led the business unit`s external advisory service.
Mr. Schwartz has also been instrumental in the development of the Company`s local business and the growth of the Company`s real estate assets. Ricardo Garza `18Herbert and Nell Singer Social Justice Fellow at the Texas Civil Rights Project Mr. Schwartz worked for several years in New Rochelle, New York, where he lives, as well as on the city planning committee and the boating and marinas committee. He also served on the board of directors of the city`s largest youth organization, Youth Baseball of New Rochelle. Dagne used her summers to explore career opportunities by articling with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. On campus, she has served as an article writer for Columbia Law Review and academic president of the Black Law Students Association. Patricia Okonta`s experiences in a small, predominantly white community allowed her to observe injustices and intolerances related to race. “The constant confrontation with prejudice gave me a place at the forefront of denied justice and cemented my desire to advocate for racial justice from an early age,” she says.
Areas of practice: municipal law; legislation and regulations; outdoor advertising; zoning/land use; Constitution Act and First Amendment. José Giovanny Miranda`s 18Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow at Catholic Migration Services Jose Miranda grew up in New York City as the son of immigrants from Ecuador and developed a deep understanding of the injustices faced by marginalized communities. “Justice is simply not justice if it only works for some,” he says. Miranda came to Columbia Law School to develop the skills, credentials, and authority needed to eliminate structural inequalities.
