The Fellowship is open to any graduate of the Law School regardless of graduation date, and the average annual stipend is $42,000. When possible, host organizations cover the cost of health benefits for the Fellow during the fellowship year. Applicants must supply a complete a full application packet, including a proposed project plan. More about applying …
2008-2009 Fellows
Justin Cox graduated summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis in 2004 and is a member of the Yale Law School class of 2008. Justin will spend his Liman Fellowship year at CASA de Maryland, where he will work on issues relating to immigration. Justin will help localities develop immigration policies and will assist documented and undocumented individuals responding to local, state, and national immigration laws and practices.
Zahra Hayat will graduate from the LL.M. program at Yale Law School in 2008. She received her first law degree from the University of Oxford, where, as a Rhodes Scholar, she read for the BA (Honors) in Jurisprudence. Zahra received her undergraduate degree in Computer Science from the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan. Zahra will spend her fellowship year at the National Center for Youth Law in Oakland, California. There, she will help children in foster care gain access to mental health services. Zahra plans to combine legislative and litigation-based strategies to aid in reforming California’s county-based system of mental health care for foster children.
Stacie Jonas is a 2007 graduate of Yale Law School. She also holds a B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Keith P. Ellison of the District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Stacie will spend her Liman Fellowship year at Southern Migrant Legal Services (a project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid) in Nashville, Tennessee. Her project seeks to improve wages and working conditions for migrant farmworkers in six southern states. She will work to increase the availability and quality of legal representation and to foster collective, community-based action by strengthening a network of workers' centers and advocates.
Allegra McLeod graduated from Yale Law School in 2006 and then clerked for the Honorable M. Margaret McKeown of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Allegra received her M.A. from Stanford University, a B.A., magna cum laude, from Scripps College of the Claremont Consortium, and will complete her Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature at Stanford in 2008. For her fellowship, Allegra will work with the Immigration Justice Project and the ACLU in San Diego, California to address problems confronting immigrants with criminal convictions. She will provide direct representation, develop model materials for use by pro se immigrants as well as other lawyers, and work on litigation aiming to respond to systemic violations. In addition, Allegra will, in cooperation with the Georgetown Institute for the Study of International Migration, contribute to policy-related research.
Deborah Marcuse will graduate in 2008 from Yale Law School. She also holds a Ph.D. in Religion from Duke University and a BA, cum laude, from Yale College. As a Liman Fellow, Deborah will work with the City of New Haven’s Community Services Administration on a comprehensive initiative to assist former inmates in successfully reintegrating into the community upon release from prison. Deborah seeks to expand, create, and promote effective pre- and post-release reentry programs. Her work will address employment, housing, health care, education, loss of parental rights, and loss of voting rights.
Marisol Orihuela graduated magna cum laude from Boston College in 2003 and will graduate from Yale Law School in 2008. From 2003-2005, she worked as a paralegal and outreach worker for the Farmworker Unit of Georgia Legal Services. For her fellowship year, Marisol will join the ACLU of Southern California, where she will focus on problems that detained immigrants face. She will develop litigation and an administrative and media advocacy campaign to address barriers to adequate legal representation, access to the courts, and medical care.
Michael Tan is a member of the Yale Law School class of 2008. He graduated magna cum laude with highest honors from Harvard College in 2001 and also received an M.A. in Comparative Literature from New York University in 2006. As a Liman Fellow, Michael will work with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project in New York to respond to the problem of prolonged and unnecessary detention of immigrants during the pendency of their removal proceedings. His multi-pronged advocacy strategy will include litigation, public education, and legislative support. When Michael was an undergraduate at Harvard College, he received a Summer Liman Fellowship, which supported his work at the Asian American Resource Workshop in Boston, Massachusetts.
Tianna Terry is a 2004 graduate of Stanford University and is a member of the Yale Law School class of 2008. Before law school, she worked on affordable housing policy issues at the Fannie Mae Foundation. She will spend her Liman Fellowship year at the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. Her project will focus on reform of the DC child support system. Tianna will engage in community outreach and education, casework, community organizing, and advocacy to ensure that DC children receive the parental support that they need and deserve.