HIV Law Project provides innovative legal services and advocacy programs for underserved, low-income people living with HIV/AIDS, particularly women and their families; people of color;
undocumented immigrants, members of the LGBT community; and the homeless.

Meet Our Interns

We’re very excited about this year’s crop of interns. Here’s a little bit about our new additions:

Fall 2009

Alla Lefkowitz, Duke University School of Law

Summer 2009

Richard Saenz, Fordham School of Law
Richard Saenz is a 3L Stein Scholar for Public Interest at Fordham School of Law. Richard has worked for over ten years on issues related to the impact of HIV/AIDS on communities of color and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. As a community outreach and education trainer, Richard presented at national and regional conferences on the relationship between HIV and Catholicism. While a Help Desk specialist at Lambda Legal, Richard worked on issues related to employment discrimination, asylum, and privacy rights. Richard has been a student organizing trainer with Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) for three years focusing on campus sexual assault and rape policy reform. Recently, Richard has been awarded funding from MALDEF, the New York City Women’s Bar Association Foundation and AmeriCorps/ Equal Justice Works Summer Corps program.

Alicia Armstrong, CUNY School of Law
Alicia Armstrong is a student at CUNY School of Law in Queens, NY, going into her second academic year this fall. She studied abroad in Madrid, Spain for an academic year from 2003-2004, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in December 2004 with a B.A. in Spanish Literature. Alicia worked as an Immigration Paralegal for over three years, first with a solo practitioner in Madison, WI and later at a small firm in New York, NY. Prior to law school while living in New York, Alicia volunteer taught U.S. Civics Class to citizenship applicants at the Centro de Educacion de Trabajadores in Manhattan. As a student at CUNY, she is involved with the Organization of Women Law Students and Public Interest Law association.

Michelle Chan, Seton Hall Law School
Michelle is a first year law student at Seton Hall University School of law. Prior to law school, Michelle was involved in scientific research studies on end of life care and the prevention of disease in prenatal intestine. It was her interest in medical ethics and her discovery of the great impact the law and legal interpretation has on the functioning of our society that inspired her to attend law school. Upon graduation, she desires to utilize her legal education to advocate for underserved populations, particularly within the field of health care law.

Danta Costa, Cardozo School of Law
Dante is a rising 2L at Cardozo School of Law where she is co-founder and co-coordinator of Cardozo Law Students for Reproductive Justice. She graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in international relations in 2006. Her background includes research and activism at Amnesty International and Equality Now; advocating for political asylum seekers; writing grants for a domestic violence shelter, and helping low-income women locate emergency funding for reproductive health care. She is also involved in maternal healthcare advocacy projects in India and at home in New York City.

Spring 2009

Maria McGinley, NY Law School
Please read under Fall 2008

Bernadette O’Donnell, CUNY School of Law
Please read under Fall 2008

Bobby Link, CUNY School of Law

Era, Cardozo School of Law

Fall 2008

Vadim Serebro, Cardozo Law School
Vadim Serebro, a naturalized immigrant from the former Soviet Union, graduated cum laude from the University at Albany, SUNY, with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Russian. He has worked in the Immigration Department of the office of US Senator Chuck Schumer, as well as for NY State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer as a Legislative Aide. He is currently a student at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City where he is a Research Assistant for Dean David Rudenstine, Dean of the law school and Sheldon H. Solow Professor of Law. At the law school, Vadim participated in the Law & Business Seminar in China, and is currently a member of the Student Bar Association's Legislative & Procedural Review Committee.

Maria McGinley, New York Law School
Maria C. McGinley is a law student intern for the HIV Law Project. Maria’s passion for social activism began at New York University, where she graduated with a BA in Politics. She next went on to earn her Masters in Teaching through the New York City Teaching Fellows Program at Fordham University. During that time, she became involved in special education, at first teaching preschool age special needs children in the Bronx, followed by high school special education at Harry S. Truman High School in Co-Op City. Her firsthand exposure to the challenges of urban social justice inspired her to pursue a career in law. Maria is currently a JD candidate at New York Law School, with an anticipated completion in 2010. Her work experience with our project is preceded by her internship with the director of the Philadelphia AIDS law Project.

Eddie Baker, Brooklyn Law School

Bernadette O’Donnell, CUNY School of Law
Bernadette O'Donnell is a second year law student at the City University of New York School of Law. She is excited about using the law as a means to advocate for others, particularly the poor and the disadvantaged, and looks forward to starting her internship with the HIV Law Project to put these ideals into action. After graduating from the University of Maine, Bernadette spent time volunteering in Tacoma, Washington and Hunan Province, China. When not studying for her next exam, she enjoys hiking, running, reading, and exploring new neighborhoods in NYC.

Summer 2008

Josie Colomar, Brooklyn Law School

Jessica Serrano, Cardozo Law School

Peter Beauchamp, New York Law School
Peter Beauchamp just completed his first year of law school at New York Law School, where he is a pre-affiliated member of the John Marshall Harlan Honors Program. Peter is looking forward to joining the New York Law School Law Review and the Justice Action Center, through which he intends to concentrate his studies on civil liberties and international human rights law. Before law school, Peter attended Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire, where he studied English and Political Science. After college, Peter served for a year with AmeriCorps as a member of the Massachusetts Legal Assistance for Self-Sufficiency Program in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he worked on government benefits, housing, family law, and elder law public interest cases.

Mukai Shumba, Syracuse Law School
Mukai Shumba is a rising second year student at the Syracuse University College of Law. She attended the University of Pittsburgh and received her B.A. in English Writing with a concentration in fiction. She also earned an M.A. in magazine, newspaper, and online journalism from Syracuse University. Her hometown is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mukai is interested in health law and estate planning law.

Get Involved

"My first day of work at HIV Law Project, I spoke to clients and received an authentic taste of working as a non-profit attorney. In the first months of working, I was trusted with a high level of responsibility in both researching and writing in a wide variety of areas of law. While the learning curve has been high, I cannot think of a better way to gain genuine legal experience during my deferral year.

The staff at HIV Law project is very friendly, professional, respectful, compassionate and highly impressive. Each employee at HIV Law Project works diligently and tirelessly to help our clients. Moreover, the staff chose to integrate me, to treat me as an associate very early on and to respect my autonomy while providing me with invaluable guidance and continuous hands-on training on matters from housing law, to immigration law, to public benefits. I am very fortunate to be working for such an amazing organization and I look forward to the remainder of my deferral year."

Nicole Lonsway, Attorney,
White & Case, Fellow at HIV Law Project

"As a deferred associate, I could not have imagined a more fulfilling way to spend my time off. I was immediately welcomed by the entire staff and given the responsibilities of a new staff attorney. From day one, I have been in contact with clients and advocating on their behalf. I have a caseload of approximately 10-15 cases with issues that range from housing and welfare to immigration and domestic violence.

Aside from providing direct legal assistance to our clients, I have also been given the opportunity to work with the women in our Center for Women and HIV Advocacy and conducted training on domestic violence. I also have been following and researching legislation before the New York State Senate which would allow HIV-positive individuals to donate their organs to HIV-positive recipients. It has been an experience unlike anything I was exposed to in law school, and the hands-on, general practice of the HIV Law Project has prepared me to hit the ground running when I start at my firm."

Kelly Karneeb, Attorney,
Fried Frank, Fellow at HIV Law Project

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Meet Our Interns