Grant program sends UC Law SF students into public service roles

  • Nearly 100 UC Law SF students served in public-interest roles across California and the nation this summer, funded by donor-supported grants.
  • Students built practical skills while helping to represent immigrants held in detention and tenants facing eviction, among other public-interest work.
  • Students received up to $5,000 each from UC Law SF’s Summer Public-Interest Grant Program, allowing them to spend eight to 12 weeks working in positions that would otherwise be unpaid.

 

This summer, UC Law San Francisco students traveled across California and the nation to put their legal education into action — supporting public defenders’ and district attorneys’ offices, providing legal aid to detained immigrants and representing tenants at risk of losing their housing, among other work. From municipal agencies to nationally recognized nonprofit organizations, 99 grant-supported students took on legal challenges in public service roles — experiences made possible through UC Law SF’s Public-Interest Grant Program, funded by generous donors and championed by Chancellor & Dean David Faigman and UC Law SF’s Office of Advancement. Each student received up to $5,000 in grant funding, enabling them to spend at least eight weeks working in public-interest positions that would otherwise be unpaid. 

Here are a few highlights from their summer internships:  

A headshot of UC Law SF student Jeremy Costello.

Jeremy Costello spent his summer assisting asylum seekers and immigration clients as a law clerk at the East Bay Community Law Center.

2L Jeremy Costello 

Jeremy Costello served as a summer law clerk working on immigration matters at the East Bay Community Law Center in Berkeley, Calif. He assisted clients seeking asylum and other forms of immigration relief. He conducted client interviews, prepared court filings and helped draft immigration applications. A rising second-year from San Luis Obispo, Calif., Costello said he was able to apply in his clerkship the focus and research skills he developed in law school.

“Through client work and exposure to the immigration system, I am exploring what future role I might play as an attorney working at individual and systemic levels,” he said. “This grant allowed me to pursue my interests in the law by easing some of the financial pressures inherent in a public interest career.”

Headshot of UC Law SF student Aryam Jaimes.

2L Aryam Jaimes helped represent immigrants facing deportation at the National Immigrant Justice Center through research, client communication and brief drafting.

2L Aryam Jaimes

Originally from Chicago, Aryam Jaimes interned with the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and helped represent immigrants facing deportation. She communicated directly with clients and their families, obtaining information important for their cases. She learned about litigation strategy, researched issues unique to each case and drafted briefs and other documents. She said she gained experience that she calls essential to her goal of handling impact litigation in immigration law.   

“When choosing where to spend my summer, I wanted to prioritize the option that was best aligned with my long-term career goals, social justice work and experience in court,” she said. “With the public interest grant, I didn’t have to compromise the opportunity to work at NIJC for an offer from an organization that was not aligned with my interests or long-term career goals.” 

A headshot of UC Law SF student Max Giella.

Working on the San Francisco International Airport team at the City Attorney’s Office, 2L Max Giella tackled legal research on issues ranging from First Amendment questions to autonomous vehicle permitting at SFO.

2L Max Giella 

Rising second-year law student Max Giella spent his summer interning with the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office on the San Francisco International Airport team. Originally from the Boston area, and now a longtime Bay Area resident, Giella focused on legal research and supported attorneys on a range of issues tied to airport management, operations and regulatory matters. 

His work focused on First Amendment forum questions, vehicle code enforcement, federal aviation requirements, airport permitting for autonomous vehicles and contracting and procurement issues, among others. 

 “I valued the chance to take what I learned during my 1L year and actually apply it, especially when it came to legal research and writing,” he said. “This experience gave me a lot more confidence, exposed me to real world problem solving and helped me better understand the legal complexities behind operating a place like SFO. It has been one of the most rewarding parts of my law school journey because it showed me how meaningful it is to contribute to work that affects the public directly.” 

A headshot of UC Law SF student Rachel Park.

Now in her second year at UC Law SF, Rachel Park provided direct legal assistance to tenants facing eviction through the East Bay Community Law Center’s Housing Unit.

2L Rachel Park 

Rachel Park interned in the Housing Unit at the East Bay Community Law Center. A rising second-year law student who grew up near Chicago, Park provided one-on-one assistance to pro per defendants preparing responses to unlawful detainer, or eviction, lawsuits brought by landlords. She also advised tenants through weekly Tenant Rights Workshops and helped negotiate settlements for unrepresented tenants with pending eviction cases at the courthouse. She said these experiences strengthened her confidence in working with clients and taught her valuable lessons about humility and competence in client-centered advocacy. 

“My role was not to decide what outcome was best for the client, but to explain their options and help them pursue their own goals,” she said. “Through this work, I became more comfortable identifying potential affirmative defenses and explaining complicated legal concepts in accessible language.”