MBF Awards $30,000 to Five Law Students Participating in Public Interest Internships
2021 Legal Intern Fellowship Program Recipients
COURTNEY ANDERSON
School: Howard University School of Law
Internship: Harvard Legal Aid Bureau
Supported by: The MBF Fellows Fund
Courtney Anderson is currently a 2L at Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C. She will spend her summer interning at Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB), where she will interact directly with clients, opposing parties, witnesses, and government agencies; engage in extensive factual and legal investigation; hone her research and writing abilities; and develop litigation skills.
In addition to her desire to impact change, Ms. Anderson's experience working as a student attorney for Howard University School of Law's Child Welfare/Family Justice Clinic, as a legal intern at Talented Tenth Law and The Law Offices of Linward Edwards, and as a research and social media intern at the Mississippi Center for Re-Entry has prepared her for her internship at HLAB. Ms. Anderson's recommender commended her for academic excellence, proven leadership capabilities, internship experience, and demonstrated commitment to community service, stating that, "Her character is impeccable and her work ethic is superior."
Ms. Anderson graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Political Science from Spelman College.
SHAHINAZ GENEID
School: Northeastern University School of Law
Internship: Greater Boston Legal Services
Supported by: The MBF Fellows Fund
Shahinaz Geneid will be working in the Employment Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) this summer. She looks forward to providing direct legal aid to clients and translating the lessons learned from GBLS's work to inform policy briefs and larger scale advocacy for workers' rights.
Ms. Geneid hopes that the work she does this summer will build upon her personal trajectory from grassroots advocacy and activism into direct legal aid and ultimately to a career as a policymaker, advocating for the rights of historically marginalized communities. Thus far, her experience in human rights work has spanned a number of issue areas, including women's and LGBTQ+ rights, environmental rights, and migrant, workers', and labor rights. She has been a student victim advocate in NUSL's Legal Assistance to Victims Program since starting law school last fall.
Ms. Geneid graduated cum laude with a BA in Social Research & Public Policy and Art & Art History from New York University Abu Dhabi. She is currently pursuing her JD and PhD in Criminology & Justice Policy concurrently at Northeastern University.
MARCELLA NARVAES
School: Roger Williams University School of Law
Internship: Catholic Social Services of Fall River, Inc.
Supported by: The MBF Fellows Fund
A 2L at Roger Williams University School of Law, Marcella Narvaes is excited to intern at Catholic Social Services of Fall River (CSS), where she previously participated in a week-long alternative spring break program. In their Immigration Law Education & Advocacy program, she will have the opportunity to complete direct legal casework, research, evidence gathering, preparation of forms, affidavits, and testimony, client communication, finalization of applications and pleadings, and community outreach.
Having been born in Brazil and immigrating to the United States five years ago, Ms. Narvaes feels she can "empathize with the struggles one must go through when arriving in a different country." She hopes to become an immigration attorney to assist those navigating through the same process she did. Last summer, Ms. Narvaes gained invaluable experience on the other side of the bench with a Judicial Internship in the U.S. District Court, where she was afforded the opportunity to listen in on compassionate release cases from the Wyatt Detention Center. Ms. Narvaes earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Language Translation and a Bachelor of Education in English & Literature from Universidade Estadual de Maringa in Brazil.
NATALIE ROSSI
School: Suffolk University Law School
Internship: Massachusetts Advocates for Children
Supported by: The Smith Family Fund
A 2L at Suffolk University Law School, Natalie Rossi will join the team at Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC) this summer. During her internship she will handle a wide range of matters, including assisting families with advice and technical assistance through Helpline calls, providing special education advocacy to clients, conducting legal research, drafting pleadings, and participating in systemic advocacy.
Ms. Rossi has been interested in the law since high school when she first interned in the Stoughton District Court. She is confident that her internship in Stoughton and as a judicial intern in the Middlesex Juvenile Court during law school, combined with her experience as an AmeriCorps member, and the legal research and writing experience she gained at the United States Attorney's Office will make her effective at MAC. She hopes to bring the skills learned this summer to the Suffolk Juvenile Defenders Clinic she will participate in next year. Ms. Rossi earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Psychology and Criminal Justice at the University of Scranton, where she was the captain and founder of the University's Mock Trial Team.
Due to her passion for serving children in need, Ms. Rossi was selected as the Smith Family Fund Fellow of the MBF's Legal Intern Fellowship Program.
MOLLY JANE THOMS
School: Boston College Law School
Internship: MetroWest Legal Services
Supported by: The MBF Fellows Fund
A 2L at Boston College Law School, Molly Jane Thoms will be interning MetroWest Legal Services (MWLS), where she will assist in all stages of case preparation and representation, including client interviews and case investigation; legal research; drafting of pleadings, memoranda, and legal briefs; assisting with trial or hearing preparation; and representing clients at administrative or court proceedings under MWLS staff attorney supervision.
In addition to interning at ACLU last summer, Ms. Thoms gained experience this year as an SJC Rule 3:03 certified student attorney in the Juvenile Rights Advocacy Program (JRAP) at BC, where she was able to learn about client-centered advocacy, Permanency Young Adult and Child Requiring Assistance cases, the GAL role, and more. Ms. Thoms' JRAP clinical professor and recommender noted that she "is among the most analytical, conscientious, and capable of all the people I have supervised. She is also deeply committed to doing legal work on behalf of marginalized communities, especially youth, and has a well-developed social justice approach to the work." Ms. Thoms earned her BA summa cum laude in World Literature & Culture Studies as well as a Master of Arts with honors in English Literature, both from Trinity College.
Molly Jane Thoms has been selected as the Steven L. Wollman Memorial Fellow.
