Public Interest Scholars - Juris Doctor (JD)

Undergraduate: University of California, Los Angeles

Rebekah grew up in Southern California and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a BA in English and a minor in public affairs. After graduation she worked in nonprofit development while also serving as the policy research lead for an anti-trafficking organization focused on legislative solutions and grassroots advocacy.

Throughout her first year at USC, Rebekah was active in the Public Interest Law Foundation and the USC chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. During her 1L summer she clerked at the Children's Law Center of California and was selected as a 2020 Bergstrom Child Welfare Law Fellow.

As a dual JD/MSW student, Rebekah spent 2020–2021 as a clinical intern at a Los Angeles-based shelter that supports youth experiencing homelessness. She also served as a student representative for the Asian Pacific Islander Social Work Caucus, treasurer for the Unchained Scholars Social Work Caucus, and liaison to the USC Dworak-Peck School of Social Work for the USC chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. Rebekah has been selected as a 2021–2022 Saks Student Scholar and is grateful for the opportunity to continue building an interdisciplinary, trauma-informed approach to her advocacy work.

Undergraduate: Brown University

Chris Barwick grew up in Southern California and graduated from Brown University in 2016 with a BA in political science. As an undergraduate, he interned for multiple members of Congress in their Washington, D.C., and California offices. These experiences inspired Chris to pursue a full-time job in Congress.

After he graduated, Chris worked for U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein as a field representative. In this role, he worked with senior staff on solutions to some of California's most pressing issues, conducted local oversight, and served as a liaison to the Southern California community. After his first year of law school, Chris was a Pro Bono Scholar at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. As part of this program, Chris worked at both Akin Gump as well as at Public Counsel's Center for Veterans' Advancement. After his second year of law school, Chris returned to Akin Gump as a summer associate.

Chris is very excited for his third year at the USC Gould School of Law and is honored to be a part of the Barbara F. Bice Public Interest Scholars program.

Undergraduate: Boston University

Samuel grew up in Oakland, California, and earned a BA from Boston University. At BU, he double majored in political science and international relations and minored in Spanish. During his time as an undergraduate, Sam interned for the minister of justice and civil liberties in the British House of Commons and for an education think tank in Madrid. He also volunteered as an after-school tutor for English language learner students in Boston and as an education tutor at the Framingham Women's Prison.

After college, Sam joined the Peace Corps. For two years, he lived and worked in an Emberá village in the Darién jungle of Panama. Living in the jungle, Sam cut his lawn with a machete, learned how to build a dugout canoe, and overcame his fear of snakes very quickly. The Emberá people work hard to preserve their indigenous culture and Sam considers it a great privilege to have lived in that village. During his service, he and his community members designed a solar energy project and won a grant to fund the majority of their proposal. The primary beneficiaries were women who used the solar lights to weave baskets and plates to sell in the city, and children who had previously done their homework by flashlight.

During his 1L summer he worked for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. During his 2L summer, he worked for the Federal Public Defender's Office for the Central District of California, and during the school year, he has joined USC's Post-Conviction Justice Project.

Sam is looking forward to his last year of law school and excited to begin his career as an attorney.

Undergraduate: University of California, Santa Barbara

Alaina grew up in Riverside, California, before attending the University of California, Santa Barbara, for her undergraduate studies. She graduated in 2018 with honors and distinction in environmental studies and sociology. During this time, Alaina was highly involved in numerous student organizations. She interned with the university's Alcohol and Drug Program, was a course grader for the sociology department, and worked for the university's Disabled Students Program. She also served as the president of her sorority (Tri Delta), was a member of the UCSB dance team, studied European Union law abroad in the Netherlands, and participated in research for both of her majors.

Alaina first developed a passion for public interest and nonprofit work during her time at UCSB. For four years, Alaina helped her sorority raise money for their philanthropy, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. She organized events and held fundraisers for children with life-threatening diseases. She also served her community through her internship with the Alcohol and Drug Program where her goal was to lower the rates of alcohol- and drug-related incidents through peer education and community outreach.

Alaina fostered her interest in pursuing a law degree through her major's coursework on environmental law and animal welfare law. She wrote a thesis on the intersectionality of environmental and animal welfare legislation and the effects on the agricultural system in the United States. After graduation, Alaina moved to Washington, D.C., to intern with the Humane Society Legislative Fund, a nonprofit affiliate of the Humane Society of the United States. There, she focused on advancing pro-animal welfare legislation through community activism and lobbying Congress.

During Alaina's time at USC, she has served as the vice president of both the Latinx Law Students Association and the Criminal Law Society. Alaina is also a JD legal writing fellow and a topic editor for the Hale Moot Court Honors Program. She is also a teaching assistant for Introduction to Criminal Law. During her 1L summer, Alaina externed at the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. During her 2L summer, Alaina was a summer associate at O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Century City and Downtown Los Angeles. After graduation, Alaina will be returning to O'Melveny Century City as an associate to pursue a career in white-collar criminal defense and entertainment litigation. She also hopes to take on criminal defense matters pro bono while at her firm. Alaina is looking forward to further pursuing her passions for public interest and the criminal justice system through the many opportunities to come.

Undergraduate: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Nancy is from Reidsville, North Carolina, and earned her bachelor's degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She graduated in 2018 as a public policy major, and with minors in sustainability studies and politics, philosophy and economics. In her final semester as an undergraduate, she took an environmental law course taught by Professor Donald Hornstein and decided to conduct research for him following graduation. This experience catalyzed her pursuit of an environmental law career.

During her gap year before law school, Nancy worked for Environment Ohio on climate solutions, PennEnvironment on their clean air campaign, and the Florida House of Representatives during their legislative session. She also made her way back home to North Carolina for the summer before law school by interning for the Bald Head Island Conservancy, which focuses on sea turtle conservation.

As a Public Interest Scholar, Nancy continues to center her legal career around environmental law. This past summer, she served as a law clerk with the U.S. Department of Justice in their Environmental Enforcement Section. During her 1L summer, she served as a law clerk for the California Department of Justice in their Land Law Section. She is excited to learn what new opportunities and challenges will be offered to her after graduation. With the support and guidance of the Barbara F. Bice Public Interest Scholars program, she is also excited to take them on.

Undergraduate: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Linzie Hoffman was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She graduated summa cum laude in 2012 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a double major in sociology and African American studies. After graduation, she moved to Los Angeles and began working for a small real estate company where she helped low-income families navigate the process of securing affordable, subsidized housing. Linzie simultaneously explored her love of music and acting and their intersection with social justice. She played a lead role in the Second City Hollywood musical Afros and Ass Whoopins, a political satire about police brutality in America. After each show, the cast led the audience in open discussions in hopes of creating a community space where people of color felt safe to discuss their experiences with racist policing practices.

Before coming to Gould, Linzie worked for St. Joseph Center, a non-profit in Los Angeles, California, that provides a multitude of services and resources to Angelenos experiencing homelessness. The summer following her 1L year, she worked with the ACLU of Southern California on the Jails Project to help monitor the conditions of confinement and medical services within all Los Angeles County jail facilities. She believes the law to be the best avenue for her to create the kind of change she wants to see with respect to criminal justice reform and police accountability.

The history of USC's Barbara F. Bice Public Interest Law Foundation is what made Linzie fall in love with Gould. She was inspired to learn that PILF was birthed thanks to dedicated students who saw a need and decided to meet that need with action. She is honored to have the opportunity to be a part of that legacy as she continues her career in public interest.

Undergraduate: Georgetown University

Matt Palmquist was born and raised amongst the apple-speckled farmlands of Washington State. His experience growing up in a rural small town as the loud, gay son of a Korean immigrant, as well as his undocumented friends' struggles with the immigration system, inspired him to attend law school and fight for immigrants' rights.

Matt graduated from Georgetown University in 2017 with a BA in Spanish and sociology. He was then selected as a Fulbright fellow to Mexico, where he taught English at a polytechnic institute and worked at an NGO that provided legal assistance to asylum seekers and returned Mexican citizens. When his fellowship concluded in summer 2018, Matt returned to the Pacific Northwest to work at a Seattle-based legal tech company that made software to guide green card applicants through the immigration process.

Matt spent his 1L summer at the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, helping survivors of human trafficking apply for T and U visas, and his 2L summer at the ACLU of Texas, working with attorneys at the Border Rights Center in El Paso with impact litigation affecting immigrants' rights. During his 2L year, he participated in USC's Immigrant Detention & Appellate Clinic, where he authored and submitted a brief to the Ninth Circuit appealing a detained asylum seekers adverse immigration decision. He also helped organize events for the American Constitution Society and OUTLaw, which included a gay dance party in protest of a homophobic guest speaker and a panel on LGBTQ equality and religious freedom with a Washington State Supreme Court Justice. He was also one of three students nationwide selected to receive the American Bar Association's LGBT Public Interest Scholarship in June 2021.

Undergraduate: New York University

MMaura grew up outside of Reading, Pennsylvania, and graduated from New York University in 2017 with a double major in Spanish and global liberal studies and a concentration in politics, rights and development. While studying in Buenos Aires for two semesters, she interned at Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia. She helped with Spanish-to-English translation and researched inclusive education in the city, which led her to think critically about public education in the U.S.

As she became increasingly interested in improving education for young migrants, Maura wrote her undergraduate thesis about the difficulties unaccompanied Latinx minors face in U.S. public schools. She conducted related research in Guatemala, a children's shelter in Brownsville, Texas, and at a high school in Los Angeles known as a refuge for migrant children. Additionally, she worked as a translator and interpreter at NYU Law's Immigrant Rights Clinic, helping 3Ls communicate with Spanish-speakers in removal proceedings.

After graduating, Maura worked at a business immigration law firm as a paralegal for one year, after which she returned to Reading and worked at Community Justice Project helping clients file for DACA renewal, naturalization, U visas and VAWA. For six months, she lived in Mexico City and served as the volunteer coordinator at Instituto para las Mujeres en la Migración where she gave presentations on U.S. asylum to Central American migrants.

After her first year of law school, Maura worked at the Legal Aid Society in New York. She worked on the Youth Project helping minors and adults with children apply for Special Immigrant Juvenile status and asylum. Additionally, she researched country conditions for Garifuna in Honduras to help strengthen their asylum claims.

During her second year of law school, Maura worked as a student attorney at USC's International Human Rights Clinic. She wrote a report analyzing U.S. law enforcement anti-sex-trafficking efforts. The report was based on over 40 interviews with sex trafficking victims, federal and local law enforcement, prosecutors, victim advocates and academics.

After her second year of law school, Maura worked as a summer associate at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. She worked on Latin America and pro bono matters.