The Justice & Diversity Center is excited to welcome our summer 2022 AT&T Legal Services Fellow, J.D. Candidate at Berkeley School of Law, Cecilia Almaraz. Almaraz is a member of La Alianza Law Students of Latin Descent and the Women of Color Collective, the La Raza Law Journal, and served as a member of the Youth Advocacy Project, a project committed to providing support to youths subject to the juvenile justice system.

Almaraz’s desire to work with the Justice and Diversity Center is rooted in the Center’s dedication to providing legal access to low-income communities. Reflecting on her upbringing in East Oakland, Almaraz wrote via email that their “lived experiences illustrated how the lack of accessibility to legal representation can have deleterious effects on marginalized communities. The inability to afford competent and culturally aware legal representation can result in crucial information being lost in translation and gaps in communication between clients and attorneys.” Almaraz’s belief in accessible legal aid aligns with JDC’s mission statement, and makes her a great addition to the Pro Bono Legal Services team. 

Almaraz will officially start on May 31st, and will be working directly with the supervising attorneys of JDC’s Family Law project, Tenant Advocacy Project, and The Community Representation Opportunity Project. She looks forward to engaging, empowering, and guiding clients, as well as working on their oral advocacy, legal research, and writing skills.

The AT&T Legal Services Summer Fellowship

The purpose of the AT&T Fellowship is to increase services to low-income San Franciscans, create opportunities for law students who would otherwise not be able to take internships, and encourage law students to seek jobs in the public interest. We would like to thank AT&T for providing the funds that made this position possible, and we look forward to seeing everything that Almaraz accomplishes during their time with JDC!