Elisa Park (JD 2026) has been named the sole recipient of the Foundation for Advocacy, Inclusion and Resources’ 2026–2028 FAIR Fellowship, the first awardee from USC Gould School of Law. Current 3L Brinda Kalita has received a 2026 Employee Justice Fellowship, one of 11 law students selected for the 10-week summer program.
Both programs are administered by FAIR in collaboration with the California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA) and are intended to support law students who plan to represent employees.
“Worker justice can serve as a unifying force of solidarity among disparate communities,” Park said in FAIR’s announcement. “I believe that pursuing a career in plaintiff-side employment law will only deepen my commitment to advancing workers’ rights and broader social justice movements.”
Park’s postgraduate fellowship will fund her salary and benefits for 12 months at Legal Aid at Work. She then will spend six months at a CELA-affiliated law practice, which will provide her salary and benefits during that period. Her work may include direct legal services, litigation, public education and outreach, legal research and writing, and community service.
As a student, Park interned with the National Labor Relations Board’s Region 21 office, conducting unfair labor practice investigations and assisting with union election matters. She was a law clerk at Employee Justice Legal Group PC, where she worked on complaints, discovery and procedural motions involving discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and wage-and-hour claims.
As a law student representative with the USC Immigration Clinic, Park screened people held in detention for potential legal relief, represented a Venezuelan family of five in an asylum hearing and drafted habeas petitions that secured the release of two mothers from the Adelanto Detention Center. Her honors include the Hale Moot Court Brief Writing Champion Award, the Anthony and Susan Taylor Written Advocacy Award, a USC Merit Scholarship, a Barbara F. Bice-Public Interest Law Foundation Grant and the Korean American Bar Association Gene Ryu Employment Law Scholarship. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from UCLA in 2020, graduating summa cum laude.
Kalita was one of 11 law students selected for FAIR’s 2026 Employee Justice Fellowships. She was hired by Alexander Morrison + Fehr LLP for the 10-week summer program.
“I am so grateful to have received an Employee Justice Program fellowship for my work this past summer,” Kalita said. “The fellowship program, both through the application process and through workshops and bonding activities throughout the summer, allowed me to meet and learn from so many amazing and inspiring attorneys in the Plaintiff’s side employment bar. As a first-generation law student, I am grateful that organizations like FAIR exist as they made finding connections and careers in a field I wanted to work in a whole lot easier.”
Kalita said her summer at Alexander Morrison + Fehr LLP provided experience in litigation and negotiation strategy, legal writing and worker advocacy, while reinforcing her plans to pursue plaintiff-side employment law after graduation.
Each Employee Justice Fellow received $5,818 from FAIR in addition to compensation from the fellow’s hiring firm. FAIR awarded $64,000 through the program in 2026.
The Employee Justice Fellowship is designed for law students who have demonstrated an interest in employment law and social justice. Candidates are interviewed by members of the California Employment Lawyers Association’s Diversity Outreach Committee and become eligible for FAIR funding after being hired by a member law firm.
FAIR is a nonprofit organization focused on diversity, workers’ rights and support for aspiring lawyers from diverse backgrounds. The California Employment Lawyers Association is a statewide organization of more than 1,200 attorneys who represent California workers.
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