School of Law Students Raise $24,500 to Support Summer Public Interest Work
May 23, 2025
The School of Law’s Association for Public Interest Law (APIL) raised $24,500 this year to fund student stipends for summer public interest work. This is nearly $10,000 more than last year. This milestone reflects APIL’s ongoing commitment to community service, legal equity, and support for underserved populations in New Mexico and beyond.
Each year, APIL organizes fundraising efforts to ensure that law students who have secured summer positions in nonprofit or government roles, many of which offer little to no compensation, can afford to accept them. These stipends help cover students’ living expenses, making it financially possible to pursue summer placements that deliver legal support to communities in need.
Thanks to this year’s increased fundraising, APIL is thrilled to support seven student awardees with larger awards that better account for rising living costs. These students will provide critical capacity to organizations facing budget cuts while gaining meaningful legal experience.
The success of this year’s fundraising campaign was made possible by the increased generosity of longtime donors, the addition of new donors, support from former APIL officers and scholarship recipients, and small-dollar contributions from the community. Additional support came from local businesses, including High and Dry Brewing, New Mexico United, Santa Fe Brewing, and Stone Age Climbing Gym, which contributed raffle items and donated proceeds to boost fundraising efforts.
APIL remains deeply grateful for the continued support that empowers the next generation of public interest lawyers. APIL extends special thanks to Singleton Schreiber, Professor Emeritus Peter Winograd, Feliz Rael, Equal Access to Justice, Smith and Marjanovic, the Soto Law Office, the New Mexico State Bar Public Law Section, Sheila Brown, and the ACLU of New Mexico. Their generous donations make this work possible.
APIL State Bar Liaison and second-year law student Rachel Swanteson-Franz shared, “New Mexicans come together in hard times and double down on the support and the work. APIL, our supporters, and the scholarship recipients illustrate what makes UNM’s School of Law and New Mexico so special—a deep and meaningful connection to community and a commitment to work that gives back. The 2024-2025 APIL board is so grateful for this community support and so proud of the recipients and the work they will do this summer!”
Congratulations to the 2025 awardees.
August Ryan (he/him), Class of 2027
New Mexico Prison and Jail Project
Supported by Smith and Marjanovic, LLC
I am excited and grateful for the opportunity to work with the New Mexico Prison and Jail Project, where I will be working with accomplished civil rights attorneys on behalf of prisoners in New Mexico. Through friends and family, I have seen the vicious impact of the carceral system. I believe that litigation is one aspect of a broad struggle against mass incarceration and a move towards something new. It is also a logical extension of the grassroots prisoner support work I have been a part of in the past. The New Mexico Prison and Jail Project is engaged in the important work of bringing the civil rights suits for mistreatment that so often go un-litigated, and I deeply appreciate the funding that will allow me to take part in that work.
Cassandra Luna (she/her), Class of 2026
State Ethics Commission
Supported by the ACLU of New Mexico and the Public Law Section of the State Bar
My name is Cassandra Luna, I am a 2L at UNM School of Law. I want to be a public defender and eventually a civil rights attorney, specifically in reproductive justice, after law school. The driving force of my interest in public defense is the exorbitant conviction rates of minority groups for minor drug offenses, wrongful convictions due to racial profiling, and the work of overworked and underfunded public defenders across the nation. I have always been a reproductive rights advocate and am the co-founder of the Gender and Reproductive Rights Law Student Society here at UNM Law. This summer I will be working at the State Ethics Commission which I think is a crucial organization, especially concerning the work they do with elections. Campaign Abuse and Election Law are crucial in ensuring that the citizens of New Mexico are being represented by representatives who believe in the letter and spirit of the law. This summer will be my first summer working outside of a firm and instead working for a government agency. I am excited to see how the State Ethics Commission functions, to learn about the work they do with the legislature and see what it means to be a public servant in an enforcement agency. I am excited to expand my experience in the public interest field this summer and the generous funding from the ACLU is making it possible for me to learn this summer without having to be concerned about income this summer. I have been an admirer of the ACLU for as long as I remember and am extremely grateful for their help!
Jimmy Herndon (he/they), Class of 2026
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Supported by Equal Access to Justice
Jimmy Herndon was born in Huntingtown, MD, and raised in Las Cruces, NM. Before deciding to become a lawyer, he had originally wanted either to be a chemistry professor or a fragrance chemist. In pursuit of those goals, he earned a B.S. in Chemistry (minor in Physics) from New Mexico State University and an M.S. in Chemistry (with a concentration in Organic Chemistry) from the University of Oklahoma. In the interim between his science degrees and law school, he found himself studying legal statutory documents (such as constitutions) recreationally and comparing them for fun. Eventually, he concluded that he might enjoy the study of law, so he took the LSAT and applied to law school in his home state of New Mexico. Upon acceptance, he developed a broad range of interests in various fields of law, including (but not limited to) space law, environmental law, admiralty/maritime law, intellectual property law, civil rights law, and employment law.
In his Summer 2025 externship with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, he hopes to gain further insight into civil rights litigation and into the art of crafting carefully reasoned legal arguments to empower historically marginalized groups in the workplace. Ultimately, he aims to use his background in law as well as in science and research—gained through his time as a graduate researcher and teaching assistant—to bring a rigorous, detail-oriented perspective to complex civil rights issues affecting New Mexican communities.
Kaitlyn Urenda Harrison (she/her), Class of 2027
NM Legal Aid Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic
Supported by Singleton, Schreiber LLC & Professor Emeritus Peter Winograd
I’m Kaitlyn Urenda Harrison, a proud first-year law student at the University of New Mexico School of Law, where I serve as the 1L Representative to the Student Bar Association. Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, I bring to law school over a decade of experience in branding and business strategy, including as Vice President of Sales for a manufacturing company. My journey into law has been anything but linear—shaped by early motherhood, survivorship, and years of advocacy, including policy work with RAINN and Marked By COVID.
My public interest commitment is rooted in fighting for economic justice and government accountability, particularly in underserved and immigrant communities. I believe tax law is the nucleus of power in this country, and I’m determined to use it to challenge predatory systems, protect consumers, and support working-class families.
This summer, I’m honored to work at the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic of New Mexico, helping clients secure offers in compromise, amend fraudulently prepared returns, and challenge improper IRS actions. Many of our clients are newly arrived immigrants or wage workers exploited by unethical preparers and bureaucratic neglect. Funding this summer means I can continue this essential work full-time, without sacrificing my role as a mother or my commitment to public service. It’s more than a job—it’s a step toward the kind of lawyer I’m becoming: one who knows how to listen, advocate, and stand with her community.
Cam Rosenberg (they/them), Class of 2026
Federal Defender Office for the District of New Mexico
I am a rising 3L at the University of New Mexico School of Law and will be interning with the Federal Defender Office for the District of New Mexico this summer. My desire to work for the Federal Public Defender office is driven by my employment before law school, where I evaluated jail and prison conditions, diversion programs, and policies that supported rehabilitation. Through that work, I realized my desire to directly work with and serve individuals. During law school, I had the privilege of interning with the New Mexico Prison and Jail Project, where I worked with incarcerated individuals who were bringing Section 1983 claims.
This summer, I chose to pursue an internship at the Federal Public Defender office because I valued my work with individuals impacted by the criminal justice system, and I wanted to explore other areas of law that allow me to serve the same population. I’m excited have the opportunity to expand my understanding of how I can serve individuals impacted by the criminal justice system through criminal defense.
I’m incredibly grateful for the Othmer Award, which has enabled me to pursue this opportunity. This funding not only makes my summer work possible; it also affords me the opportunity to gain experience in advocacy and criminal defense that will enable me to better serve as an advocate in my future career.
Ruben Granados, Class of 2027
New Mexico Legal Aid Low-Income Tax Clinic
Supported by Soto Law Office, LLC and the Association for Public Interest Law.
I want to use my skills and passion for public interest law while learning more about its practicalities during my summer work. I want to work with public-service attorneys and learn how legal strategies can address economic inequality, access to legal services, and how different communities interact with complex legal systems. I want to build on my academic background by learning legal research, client interaction, and trial preparation, as well as thinking critically about how to ethically and effectively address complex legal issues.
Due to my background, life experiences, and desire to help marginalized communities, I am driven to practice public interest law. Growing up in a low-income household, I saw how people are often disenfranchised, ignored, or unable to navigate complex legal systems. Members of my family worked multiple jobs and struggled to make ends meet, and I saw how the lack of legal assistance made their problems worse. These early experiences taught me about society's inequalities and inspired me to fight for the rights of the poor and vulnerable. I now understand how laws and policies disproportionately affect low-income communities, people of color, immigrants, and other marginalized groups thanks to my legal education.
I want to work in public interest law because I care about underrepresented and marginalized communities. My background, personal experiences, and academic interests led me to this path, and I want to contribute to the field by working with justice-minded attorneys. I hope to gain valuable experience, learn from experts, and better understand how legal practice can change the world through my summer work. I believe public interest law is a force for good in our legal system, and I am excited to contribute to this important work.
Julia Valero, Class of 2026 (she/her/ella)
New Mexico Immigrant Law Center
Supported by Feliz Rael
Thank you kindly for the opportunity to work with the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, which provides free legal assistance and resources to immigrants across New Mexico. Thanks to the support of the APIL Fellowship, this summer I will continue working with the Detention & Asylum team, assisting asylum seekers imprisoned in New Mexico's three ICE detention centers as well as immigrant neighbors in our community. NMILC is one of the only organizations providing legal services to asylum seekers and people in detention in New Mexico. People in immigration proceedings have a right to an attorney, but only at their own expense. Every time that someone is detained or deported, a family and/or community is impacted. Through NMILC’s advocacy, I am honored to get to work in solidarity with people affected by detention and deportation to not only provide direct services, but also to push for systemic change.
