School of Law Student Selected as 2025 Peggy Browning Fellow
May 30, 2025
The Peggy Browning Fund helps law students gain experience with workplace justice advocacy by providing fellows with stipends for ten weeks of employment with labor-related mentor organizations. Purcell is one of 105 law students from around the country selected from a pool of nearly 3,500 applicants for this year’s program.
The Peggy Browning Fund selects fellows who have demonstrated both academic excellence and a strong commitment to workers’ rights. Each year, the Fund supports law students who bring a passion for labor justice and have shown dedication to the movement through their education, organizing efforts, work experience, volunteer service, or personal background. These fellowships aim to cultivate the next generation of lawyers advocating for workers and labor rights.
Purcell earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Latin American Studies at Wellesley College and a master’s degree in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin. She has a deep, personal understanding of the importance of workers’ rights advocacy in New Mexico. As a teenager working in the service industry, she was a victim of wage theft. Although she was fortunate to receive legal assistance, she was struck by the injustice that many of her undocumented co-workers did not have access to the same support. Elena is inspired by the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty’s efforts to protect low-wage and vulnerable workers, and she is excited to join their team this summer as a Peggy Browning Fellow.
