Skadden Foundation Welcomes 38th Class

In December 2025, the Skadden Fellowship Program introduced its 2026 Skadden Fellows. Hailing from 20 law schools across the country, these 34 individuals will begin their public interest careers by addressing a broad range of civil legal issues affecting people living in poverty throughout the United States. Our new class is listed below.

Zoe Ades
Georgetown Law Center
ACLU Trone Center for Justice and Equality / New York, NY
Challenge local and state laws criminalizing panhandling and homelessness as violations of First Amendment free speech protections.

Carola Aisenberg
Houston Law Center
Anti-Defamation League – Houston / Houston, TX
Combat antisemitism and discrimination in K–12 education by enforcing existing legal protections for low-income Jewish communities in Houston.

Vedan Anthony-North
NYU School of Law
ACLU Foundation / New York, NY
Contest federal grant terminations targeting public-health initiatives designed to address health disparities, and provide representation to providers serving low-income populations that have lost funding.

Jonathan Bertulis-Fernandes
Boston College Law School
ACLU of Massachusetts / Boston, MA
Contest post–Grants Pass criminalization of homelessness and expand statewide capacity to safeguard unhoused people’s rights.

Joelle Besch
NYU School of Law
ACLU Women’s Rights Project / New York, NY
Protect low-wage immigrant women working in New York City hotels from wage theft, trafficking, and harassment by holding hotels accountable for abuses by their subcontractors.

Elizabeth Bird
Colorado Law School
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project / Seattle, WA
Challenge unlawful immigration detention for low-income immigrants by filing individual habeas petitions and expanding habeas advocacy and impact litigation.

David Boord
George Washington Law School
ACLU of Alaska / Anchorage, AK
Secure safe, habitable housing for low-income Alaska Natives and other rural residents by enforcing state constitutional guarantees of health and welfare.

Jayden Boudreau
Indiana - Maurer School of Law
ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project / New York, NY
Protect transgender students in K–12 public schools in rural, low-income regions by challenging the growing wave of laws that restrict their rights.

Paolo Ciancio
Denver University Strum College of Law
Rocky Mountain Veterans Advocacy Project / Denver, CO
Support low-income survivors of Military Sexual Trauma in rural and tribal lands in the Mountain West by providing legal representation in discharge upgrades and VA benefits appeals to ensure access to veterans' and public benefits.

Jessenia Class
Harvard Law School
Rights Behind Bars / San Francisco, CA
Expand access to legal representation for indigent detained immigrants by bringing Petitions for Review and training partners to replicate this model nationwide.

Jasmine Crain
Cornell Law School
National Veterans Legal Services Program / Arlington, VA
Help wounded, ill, and injured service members and veterans obtain disability retirement, combat-related and public benefits by challenging benefit denials.

Bill De La Rosa
Yale Law School
Florence Immigrant Rights and Refugee Project / Tucson, AZ
Provide universal representation for detained immigrants in Eloy and Florence, Arizona, representing primarily indigent clients against deportation and building a coalition to sustain its expansion.

R. Elliott DeRiso
Harvard Law School
ACLU of Southern California / Los Angeles, CA
Protect marginalized immigrants with cognitive and developmental disabilities from unlawful arrest and detention by challenging unconstitutional practices in detention facilities.

Brandon Dodds
Emory School of Law
Pine Tree Legal Assistance / Bangor, ME
Preserve housing stability for low-income mobile home park residents in rural Maine through eviction defense, affirmative habitability litigation, and enforcement of Maine’s right-of-first-refusal law.

Jacalyn Goldzweig Panitz
CUNY School of Law
Legal Aid Society / New York, NY
Enforce sanctuary city laws to protect low-income immigrants from unlawful arrests, detainers, and transfers through impact litigation and rapid-response representation.

Megan Hess
Michigan Law School
Children’s Law Center / Washington, DC
Establish a medical-legal partnership with pediatric clinics to help poor families resolve wrongful public benefits terminations.

Siddharth Jejurikar
Harvard Law School
ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project / New York, NY
Address discriminatory barriers that low-income immigrant and mixed-status families face in the rental housing market through direct representation and strategic litigation.

Eric Johnson
Ohio State Moritz College of Law
Legal Aid Society of Southeast and Central Ohio / Columbus, OH
Represent low-income tenants pursuing rent escrow in urban and rural Ohio, helping tenants enforce their right to a safe and habitable home.

Vatsala Kumar
Chicago Law School
MacArthur Justice Center / Chicago, IL
Enforce Illinois' Pretrial Fairness Act, which eliminated cash bail, to ensure that the public and legal organizations understand the empirical outcomes of the Act for low-income individuals and any disparities in pretrial outcomes.

Evan Lehmann
Stanford Law School
Community Economic Defense Project / Denver, CO
Ensure safe, healthy conditions in rural Colorado mobile home parks by representing low-income homeowners and resident associations in affirmative litigation

Anna Luttrell
Northeastern School of Law
Tennessee Justice Center / Nashville, TN
Expand free legal services and address systemic barriers to improve and increase access to SNAP benefits for the lowest-income Tennesseans.

Mack Makishima
Northeastern School of Law
Greater Boston Legal Services / Boston, MA
Preserve affordable housing among financially distressed, low-income tenants and homeowners at risk of debt-driven eviction or foreclosure.

Rose Mendelsohn
Northeastern School of Law
Justice at Work / Boston, MA
Help low-wage construction and cleaning workers recover stolen wages through direct representation and providing trainings on workplace rights and fair contracting.

Danielle Miles-Langaigne
NYU School of Law
Brooklyn Defender Services / Brooklyn, NY
Provide direct representation to indigent New York City parents excluded from educational decisions for their children placed in the foster system.

Bryce Morales
Yale Law School
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law / Washington, DC
Combat private voter suppression of low-income individuals by challenging schemes using digital disinformation to deceive, defraud, and disenfranchise marginalized communities.

Jennifer Morgan
Columbia Law School
A Better Balance / New York, NY
Ensure access to Temporary Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave benefits for pregnant, postpartum, and caregiving low-wage workers in New York.

Lindsay Nicholas
Loyola Chicago School of Law
Ascend Justice / Chicago, IL
Ensure the safety of low-income children during caregiver arrest, immigration detention, or domestic violence by expanding the use of short-term guardianship agreements.

Susie Powell
Georgetown Law Center
Centro de los Derechos del Migrante / Baltimore, MD
Protect temporary migrant workers from exploitative practices and coercive techniques commonly used by both employers and recruiters.

Lucas Rodriguez
Harvard Law School
ACLU Voting Rights Project / Washington, DC
Represent low-income voters of color and organizations serving their interests to use state voting rights acts to consolidate off-cycle elections with state and federal ones.

Douglas Smits
Case Western Reserve School of Law
Legal Aid Society of Cleveland / Elyria, OH
Deliver legal representation and clinics to low-income veterans seeking discharge upgrades in Northeast Ohio.

Wesley Streicher
Harvard Law School
ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project / New York, NY
Protect low-income children from excessive and illegal police encounters by enforcing children's Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights during interactions with law enforcement.

Ariel Vasser
Virginia School of Law
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law / Washington, DC
Protect low-income people with mental health disabilities from expanded involuntary commitment and other coercive treat.

Jett Watson
Harvard Law School
Legal Aid Chicago / Chicago, IL
Expand a medical-legal partnership to the largest regional VA facility, providing legal representation for low-income veterans with disabilities.

Eve Zelickson
NYU School of Law
Community Service Society of New York / New York, NY
Protect low-income New Yorkers from Medicaid coverage loss and medical debt through legal representation and enforcement of hospital financial-assistance rules.