TO RACIAL JUSTICE
SUSTAINING OUR COMMITMENT
“We felt a heightened moral imperative to really be thoughtful about the issue because we've taken an oath as lawyers and we have an ethical obligation to promote justice through the fellowship program.”
Investing in BIPOC Communities
Common Future
Mitch Zuklie
Chairman and CEO, Orrick
Chief Talent Officer, Orrick
Siobhan Handley
“What you say and what you do and how you act matters. And if you say you want to make an impact and you say you want to make change, you have to be willing to do something bold. You have to be willing to do something different.”
CEO, Common Future
Rodney Foxworth
“We're going to be able to begin deploying $800,000 of capital directly into communities because of the work that Walter has been able to do.”
“There's one thing about writing a check, and there's another thing about really creating real change and sustainable change.”
Orrick Associate and 2021 Fellow with NYU Law’s Policing Project
Max Carter-Oberstone
“The opportunity not just to work on a one-off project with the Policing Project, but to actually get to be truly embedded in the organization has been incredibly meaningful to me. I am grateful to be able to devote 100 percent of my time to this important work.”
2021 Orrick Fellow who joined the White House Counsel’s Office in 2022
Tiffany Wright
Orrick Associate and 2021 Fellow with Common Future
Walter Alarkon
“Reducing these inequalities is not just something that we can talk about and end up changing. It’s something we have to work on every day.”
Executive Director, NYU Law School Policing Project
Farhang Heydari
“After it's out of the news and out of the headlines, how do we make sure that
long term we're setting the country up for meaningful change? I think one of the ways to do that is partnerships between non-profits, the private sector and communities.”
THE ORRICK
RACIAL, SOCIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
TO RACIAL JUSTICE
SUSTAINING OUR COMMITMENT
THE ORRICK
RACIAL, SOCIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Helping Mothers and Children Reunite Post-Incarceration
A New Way of Life
Tackling California’s
Affordable Housing Crisis
Law Foundation
of Silicon Valley
Investing in BIPOC
Communities
Common Future
Enhancing Front-End
Accountability
NYU Law's
Policing Project
Challenging Inequities
in the Criminal Justice
System
Lawyers’ Committee
for Civil Rights
Under Law
A New Way of Life – Helping Mothers
and Children Reunite Post-Incarceration
A New Way of Life was founded in Southern California by Susan Burton to help formerly incarcerated women transition successfully into their communities and reunite with their families. The female prison population is disproportionately women of color, with Black women constituting 30 percent of incarcerated women in the United States – more than twice their representation in the general population (ACLU). Two-thirds of incarcerated women are mothers who too often lose custody of and contact with their children – adding to the tragedy.
Orrick Fellow Andi Mazingo is bringing her litigation skills to A New Way of Life. Andi has helped lead the two-fold expansion of the agency’s clinic for family reunification. The program helps clients navigate dependency courts and social services agencies, often beginning their work pre-release. Andi has advised 50 formerly incarcerated mothers in their quest to reunite with their children, developed a legal clinic housed in prison, and also collaborated on proposed federal legislation to correct systemic flaws in child welfare laws nationwide that deprive formerly incarcerated women of opportunities to reunify with their families.
In a region with one of the worst affordable housing problems in the United States, the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley leads a grassroots movement to help low-income individuals and families avoid eviction and understand their rights as tenants. LFSV’s latest study warns of
an “eviction time bomb” putting an estimated 43,000 families at risk of being forced from their homes as a result of the pandemic – with those facing eviction disproportionately likely to be Black and Latinx. A 2020 UC-Berkeley study found that nearly 75 percent of renter households impacted by Covid-related job losses are households of color.
Orrick Fellow Roza Patterson, a litigator, is providing holistic support to low-income families confronting eviction during the pandemic, in many instances helping them avoid homelessness. She has helped shape LFSV’s affirmative litigation strategy for clients on the brink of losing their housing and has advocated for affordable housing policy reforms.
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley – Tackling California’s Affordable Housing Crisis
Common Future works to improve economic equity in BIPOC communities, not only through philanthropy but via innovative forms of impact investing in minority-owned businesses. Black entrepreneurs are nearly three times more likely to be hampered by a lack of financial capital than white entrepreneurs (U.S. Chamber of Commerce).
Orrick Fellow Walter Alarkon has drawn on his experience as a finance lawyer to help Common Future launch an $800,000 Character-Based Lending Fund that provides low-interest loans to underfunded BIPOC-owned businesses across Minnesota, Ohio, New Mexico and Arizona. He has also helped Common Future establish a financial infrastructure to ensure funding for the CBL Fund for years to come.
Common Future – Investing in BIPOC
Communities
The Policing Project at NYU Law takes an innovative approach to policing issues by bringing communities and police together for conversations about the systemic problems affecting the 18,000 police departments across the United States. The mission is to promote public safety through transparency, equity and democratic engagement.
Orrick Fellow Max Carter-Oberstone, an appellate lawyer, is advancing the Policing Project’s initiatives to build front-end accountability through both legislation and litigation. His work has included drafting model legislation to curtail pretextual traffic stops and the decertification of officers who commit misconduct. Max also serves as the architect of a litigation strategy designed to reshape the law of suspicionless searches under the Fourth Amendment.
Policing Project – Enhancing
Front-End Accountability
One of the nation’s leading civil rights organizations, the Lawyers’ Committee fights to fix systemic flaws in the legal system and prisons. Since 2020, it has focused on new challenges posed by the pandemic and the referendum on justice and equity.
Orrick Fellow Rochelle Swartz is bringing her skills to a full docket of national litigation efforts initiated by the Lawyers’ Committee. This has included successful cases in Maryland and elsewhere installing protections for prison inmates against exposure to Covid-19, challenging inadequate indigent defense programs in Louisiana, and developing a potential class action to address a Parole Board’s pattern of denying the release of rehabilitated offenders, including those who committed crimes while juveniles.
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under
Law – Challenging Inequities in the Criminal
Justice System
A NEW APPROACH TO PRIVATE SECTOR IMPACT
“There's one thing about writing
a check, and there's another thing about really creating real change and sustainable change.”
Founder, A New Way
of Life
Susan Burton
“I have found the last year to be extraordinarily meaningful both personally and professionally because it’s exactly what I feel like I need to be doing at this time, and a way to use my talents and my skillset to work on issues that I really, really care about.”
Orrick Associate and Fellow with Howard University School of Law’s Human
and Civil Rights Clinic
Tiffany Wright
“Reducing these inequalities is not just something that we can talk about and end up changing. It's something where we actually need to go and work day by day.”
Orrick Associate and
Fellow with Common
Future
Walter Alarkon
“We're going to be able to begin deploying eight hundred thousand dollars of capital directly into communities because of the work that Walter has been able to do.”
CEO, Common Future
Rodney Foxworth
“After it's out of the news and out of the headlines, how do we make sure that long term we're setting the country up for meaningful change? And I think one of the ways to do that is partnerships between non-profits, the private sector and communities.”
Executive Director,
NYU Law School Policing
Project
Farhang Heydari
“The opportunity not just to work on a one-off project with the policing project, but to actually get to be truly embedded
in the organization has been incredibly meaningful to me to be able to devote
100 percent of my time to this important work.”
Orrick Associate, Fellow
with New York University
Law School Policing Project
Max Carter-Oberstone
“We felt a heightened moral imperative
to really be thoughtful about the issue because we've taken an oath as lawyers and we have an ethical obligation to promote justice through the fellowship program.”
Chairman and CEO,
Orrick
Mitch Zuklie
“What you say and what you do and how you act matters. And if you say you want to make an impact and you say you want to make change, you have to be willing
to do something bold. You have to be willing to do something different.”
Chief Talent Officer,
Orrick
Siobhan Handley
Meet Our 2022 Fellows
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Ben Aiken
NYU Law’s Policing Project
Paul Meyer
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley
Natasha Harper
Common Future
Nathelie Ashby
A New Way of Life
Andrea Mazingo
Ben Aiken
Senior Associate
Supreme Court & Appellate
Washington, D.C.
Ben began his career teaching English at a public high school for three years before moving to education policy advocacy for a Washington, D.C., nonprofit. During law school, he was a fellow in UVA’s Program in Law and Public Service and completed internships with Legal Aid, the Department of Justice and the New Orleans Public Defenders Office. And as an Orrick associate, he has maintained an active pro bono practice while also driving our Washington, D.C., office’s annual Legal Aid fundraiser. Ben will draw on his legal and advocacy work to support the Lawyers’ Committee’s Criminal Justice Project in its mission to challenge racial disparities within the criminal justice system that result from the criminalization of poverty and contribute to mass incarceration.
“I wanted to be an Orrick Fellow because I believe that an equitable justice system is necessary for the rule of law. I'm most excited about working to ensure all people, no matter their race or background, have access to equal justice.”
Paul began his career as a journalist reporting on social justice issues. As an Orrick lawyer, he has an active pro bono practice focused on criminal justice and capital punishment, including litigation in the Supreme Court and courts
of appeals to prevent the further restriction of federal habeas review of convictions and sentences, and ongoing litigation challenging the constitutionality of California’s administration of the death penalty. Paul is working with the Policing Project on impact litigation to make policing more accountable.
“I’ve long witnessed the disconnect between policing and communities – first as a journalist and now as an attorney. It has been inspiring to see how the conversation around police reform has changed in many corners of America in the last two years. At the same time, it has been frustrating to watch the challenges in translating that conversation into meaningful reform.”
Senior Associate
Supreme Court & Appellate
San Francisco
Paul Meyer
Natasha served in the U.S. Marine Corps for seven years, including a deployment to Afghanistan. She became passionate about racial justice while in law school and has continued her commitment to public service through pro bono work and high-impact projects. Natasha is working with the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley on litigation advocacy and representing clients with mental health and physical disabilities in obtaining services and benefits.
“I wanted to be an Orrick Fellow so I could use my skills to help make a difference in a meaningful way toward reducing racial inequality. It’s such an important time in our country to address these issues, and I’m excited to be able to devote 100% of my time toward providing legal services to underrepresented, diverse individuals and families.”
Managing Associate
Employment Law
Los Angeles
Natasha Harper
Andi has long been a passionate advocate for race and gender equity, but she developed a firsthand understanding of these issues during her work as one of Orrick’s inaugural Racial Justice Fellows. Since the beginning of 2021, she has been working with Los Angeles-based nonprofit A New Way of Life to reunite formerly incarcerated mothers with their children. The impact has been so powerful that Andi is extending her fellowship for another year.
“I am committed to working with A New Way of Life Reentry Project to confront systemic biases and help protect the right to family integrity of the justice-involved parents we serve. For many formerly incarcerated women, family separation is the most significant barrier to community reintegration.
It has been an honor to help women overcome this barrier.”
Senior Associate
Securities Litigation, Investigations, White Collar & Compliance
Los Angeles
Andrea Mazingo
2021 IMPACT REPORT
Max Carter-Oberstone
NYU Law's Policing Project
Watch Max’s video
Read Max’s opinion article in Time
Watch Max’s video
Read Max’s opinion article in Time
Watch Rochelle’s video
Watch Rochelle’s video
Lawyers’ Committee for
Civil Rights Under Law
Rochelle Swartz
Read Roza’s opinion article in Newsweek
Read Roza’s opinion article in Newsweek
Watch Roza’s video
Watch Roza’s video
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley
Roza Patterson
Watch Walter’s video
Watch Walter’s video
Common Future
Walter Alarkon
Read Andrea’s opinion article in The Imprint
Read Andrea’s opinion article in The Imprint
Watch Andrea’s video
Watch Andrea’s video
A New Way of Life
Andrea Mazingo
A NEW APPROACH TO PRIVATE SECTOR IMPACT
Economic Equity
Grassroots Impact
Criminal Justice Reform
Common Future works to improve economic equity in BIPOC communities, not only through philanthropy but via innovative forms of impact investing in minority-owned businesses. Black entrepreneurs are nearly three times more likely to be hampered by a lack of financial capital than white entrepreneurs (U.S. Chamber of Commerce).
Orrick Fellow Walter Alarkon drew on his experience as a finance lawyer to help Common Future launch an $800,000 Character-Based Lending Fund that provides low-interest loans to underfunded BIPOC-owned businesses across Minnesota, Ohio, New Mexico and Arizona. He also helped Common Future establish a financial infrastructure to ensure funding for the CBL Fund for years to come.
Common Future – Investing in BIPOC Communities
Helping Mothers and Children
Reunite Post-Incarceration
A New Way of Life
A New Way of Life was founded in Southern California by Susan Burton to
help formerly incarcerated women transition successfully into their communities and reunite with their families. The female prison population
is disproportionately women of color, with Black women constituting 30 percent of incarcerated women in the United States – more than twice their representation in the general population (ACLU). Two-thirds of incarcerated women are mothers who too often lose custody of and contact with their children – adding to the tragedy.
Bringing her litigation skills to A New Way of Life, Orrick Fellow Andi Mazingo has helped lead the two-fold expansion of the agency’s clinic for family reunification. The program helps clients navigate dependency courts and social services agencies, often beginning their work pre-release. Andi has advised 50 formerly incarcerated mothers in their quest to reunite with their children, developed a legal clinic housed in prison, and also collaborated on proposed federal legislation to correct systemic flaws in child welfare laws nationwide that deprive formerly incarcerated women of opportunities to reunify with their families. The impact has been so powerful that Andi is extending her fellowship for another year to continue working with A New
Way of Life and its clients.
A New Way of Life – Helping Mothers and Children
Reunite Post-Incarceration
Tackling California’s Affordable
Housing Crisis
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley
In a region with one of the worst affordable housing problems in the United States, the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley leads a grassroots movement to help low-income individuals and families avoid eviction and understand their rights as tenants. The Foundation’s latest study warns of an “eviction time bomb” putting an estimated 43,000 families at risk of being forced from their homes as a result of the pandemic – with those facing eviction disproportionately likely to be Black and Latinx. A 2020 UC-Berkeley study found that nearly 75 percent of renter households impacted by Covid-related job losses are households of color.
Orrick Fellow Roza Patterson, a litigator, provided holistic support to low-income families confronting eviction during the pandemic, in many instances helping them avoid homelessness. She helped shape the Law Foundation’s affirmative litigation strategy for clients on the brink of losing their housing and has advocated for affordable housing policy reforms.
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley – Tackling California’s Affordable Housing Crisis
Challenging Inequities in the Criminal
Justice System
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law
One of the nation’s leading civil rights organizations, the Lawyers’ Committee fights to fix systemic flaws in the legal system and prisons. Since 2020, it has focused on new challenges posed by the pandemic and the referendum on justice and equity.
Orrick Fellow Rochelle Swartz brought her skills to a full docket of national litigation efforts initiated by the Lawyers’ Committee. This included successful cases in Maryland and elsewhere installing protections for prison inmates against exposure to Covid-19, challenging inadequate indigent defense programs in Louisiana, and developing a potential class action to address a Parole Board’s pattern of denying the release of rehabilitated offenders, including those who committed crimes while juveniles.
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – Challenging Inequities in the Criminal Justice System
The Policing Project at NYU Law takes an innovative approach to policing issues by bringing communities and police together for conversations about the systemic problems affecting the 18,000 police departments across the United States. The mission is to promote public safety through transparency, equity and democratic engagement.
Orrick Fellow Max Carter-Oberstone, an appellate lawyer, helped advance the Policing Project’s initiatives to build front-end accountability through both legislation and litigation. His work included drafting model legislation to curtail pretextual traffic stops and the decertification of officers who commit misconduct. Max also served as the architect of a litigation strategy designed to reshape the law of suspicionless searches under the Fourth Amendment. During his fellowship, Max was appointed to the San Francisco Police Commission as a result of his experience advancing criminal justice reform efforts and community policing.
NYU Law's Policing Project – Enhancing Front-End Accountability
Enhancing Front-End Accountability
NYU Law's Policing Project
In Their Own Words
“The fellowship undoubtedly prepared me for my next role as Associate Counsel to the President of the United States. I am immensely grateful for the opportunity.”
Founder, A New Way of Life
Susan Burton
A NEW APPROACH TO PRIVATE SECTOR IMPACT
Common Future
Nathelie Ashby
Ciarra Carr
Associate
White Collar, Investigations, Securities Litigation & Compliance
New York
With experience both prosecuting and defending criminal cases, Ciarra knows the impact a single person’s actions can have on both sides of the law for generations to come – and the pressing need for policy-driven legislative efforts to address racial and economic injustice administered through the law. She will support the Civil Rights Center’s vital litigation and legislative advocacy efforts relating to police accountability, reparations and mass incarceration.
“The criminal justice system is not broken; it is working exactly as intended. I have witnessed this truth over the last seven years through both personal experiences and pro bono work in the criminal justice sphere. The criticality of federal and local policy-based support cannot be understated.”
A New Way of Life
Andrea Mazingo
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley
Natasha Harper
NYU Law’s
Policing Project
Paul Meyer
As a public finance lawyer, Nathelie represents public institutions in innovative financings for the public good. As an Orrick Fellow, she brings her finance background to support Common Future in its mission to deploy capital to underrepresented social entrepreneurs in underserved communities.
“As I’ve become a more experienced attorney, I look for ways to use my legal expertise and experience to make a meaningful, positive impact in communities of color. Orrick’s strong commitment to pro bono and social justice create the perfect opportunity to help shift the balance of equity and make a real difference.”
Of Counsel
Public Finance
Austin
Nathelie Ashby
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Ben Aiken
Ben began his career teaching English at a public high school for three years before moving to education policy advocacy for a Washington, D.C., nonprofit. During law school, he was a fellow in UVA’s Program in Law and Public Service and completed internships with Legal Aid, the Department of Justice and the New Orleans Public Defenders Office. And as an Orrick associate, he has maintained an active pro bono practice while also driving our Washington, D.C., office’s annual Legal Aid fundraiser. Ben will draw on his legal and advocacy work to support the Lawyers’ Committee’s Criminal Justice Project in its mission to challenge racial disparities within the criminal justice system that result from the criminalization of poverty and contribute to mass incarceration.
“I wanted to be an Orrick Fellow because I believe that an equitable justice system is necessary for the rule of law. I'm most excited about working to ensure all people, no matter their race or background, have access to equal justice.”
Senior Associate
Supreme Court & Appellate
Washington, D.C.
Ben Aiken
Ben began his career teaching English at a public high school for three years before moving to education policy advocacy for a Washington, D.C., nonprofit. During law school, he was a fellow in UVA’s Program in Law and Public Service and completed internships with Legal Aid, the Department of Justice and the New Orleans Public Defenders Office. And as an Orrick associate, he has maintained an active pro bono practice while also driving our Washington, D.C., office’s annual Legal Aid fundraiser. Ben will draw on his legal and advocacy work to support the Lawyers’ Committee’s Criminal Justice Project in its mission to challenge racial disparities within the criminal justice system that result from the criminalization of poverty and contribute to mass incarceration.
“I wanted to be an Orrick Fellow because I believe that an equitable justice system is necessary for the rule of law. I'm most excited about working to ensure all people, no matter their race or background, have access to equal justice.”
Senior Associate
Supreme Court & Appellate
Washington, D.C.
Ben Aiken
Ben began his career teaching English at a public high school for three years before moving to education policy advocacy for a Washington, D.C., nonprofit. During law school, he was a fellow in UVA’s Program in Law and Public Service and completed internships with Legal Aid, the Department of Justice and the New Orleans Public Defenders Office. And as an Orrick associate, he has maintained an active pro bono practice while also driving our Washington, D.C., office’s annual Legal Aid fundraiser. Ben will draw on his legal and advocacy work to support the Lawyers’ Committee’s Criminal Justice Project in its mission to challenge racial disparities within the criminal justice system that result from the criminalization of poverty and contribute to mass incarceration.
“I wanted to be an Orrick Fellow because I believe that an equitable justice system is necessary for the rule of law. I'm most excited about working to ensure all people, no matter their race or background, have access to equal justice.”
Senior Associate
Supreme Court & Appellate
Washington, D.C.
Ben Aiken
Ben began his career teaching English at a public high school for three years before moving to education policy advocacy for a Washington, D.C., nonprofit. During law school, he was a fellow in UVA’s Program in Law and Public Service and completed internships with Legal Aid, the Department of Justice and the New Orleans Public Defenders Office. And as an Orrick associate, he has maintained an active pro bono practice while also driving our Washington, D.C., office’s annual Legal Aid fundraiser. Ben will draw on his legal and advocacy work to support the Lawyers’ Committee’s Criminal Justice Project in its mission to challenge racial disparities within the criminal justice system that result from the criminalization of poverty and contribute to mass incarceration.
“I wanted to be an Orrick Fellow because I believe that an equitable justice system is necessary for the rule of law. I'm most excited about working to ensure all people, no matter their race or background, have access to equal justice.”
Senior Associate
Supreme Court & Appellate
Washington, D.C.
Ben Aiken
Meet Our 2022 Fellows
Read Max’s opinion article in Time
Watch Max’s video
NYU Law's Policing Project
Max Carter-Oberstone
Watch Rochelle’s video
Lawyers’ Committee for
Civil Rights Under Law
Rochelle Swartz
Read Roza’s opinion article in Newsweek
Watch Roza’s video
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley
Roza Patterson
Watch Walter’s video
Common Future
Walter Alarkon
Read Andrea’s opinion article in The Imprint
Watch Andrea’s video
A New Way of Life
Andrea Mazingo
2021 Impact Report
Read Rochelle’s opinion article in Route Fifty
Read Rochelle’s opinion article in Route Fifty
Read Rochelle’s opinion article in Route Fifty
The Orrick Racial Justice Fellowship Program is a four-year commitment to place five experienced Orrick lawyers each year with innovative organizations working on the frontlines to advance a more just and equitable society. The impact has been meaningful – but the work has only begun.
Learn more about our fellows
The Orrick Racial Justice Fellowship Program is a four-year commitment to place five experienced Orrick lawyers each year with innovative organizations working on the frontlines to advance a more just and equitable society. The impact has been meaningful – but the work has only begun.
Meet Our
Fellows
Best Diversity Initiative
The American Lawyer
2022
Our 2022 Racial Justice Fellows share learnings from their work on the frontlines to make our communities more equitable and inclusive.
REPORT FROM THE FIELD
