2019-20 IILPP Student Fellows
Andria Bibiloni is a Conwell Scholar, Law & Public Policy Scholar, and International Institute of Law and Public Policy Fellow at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law. Andria’s policy research is focused on Congress’ plenary power over Puerto Rico and its impact on both U.S. citizens on the island and members of the diaspora living in the states. Andria has worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of General Counsel, Department of Legislation and Regulations and at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Chambers of Michael M. Baylson. Andria also works locally with Ceiba, a coalition of Philadelphia Latino nonprofits, on issues of vacant property use, low income taxpayer advocacy, and citizen representation.
Andria is an accomplished visual artist with works in special collections at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New York Public Library, and Yale University Library, among others. She graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MFA from Temple University Tyler School of Art. Awards and residencies include: Knight Foundation Grant with Taller Puertorriqueño (2017), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Residency (2013-14), NYU Steinhardt School Visiting Scholar (2013-14), and Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant (2008). Andria is an alumni of the Art & Law Program, and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the von Rydingsvard and Greengard Foundation in New York.
Reena Naik is a Conwell Scholar, Rubin-Presser Fellow, Law & Public Policy Scholar, and Institute for International Law and Public Policy Fellow at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law. She also serves as the President of the South Asian Law Students Association and Co-Chair of the Immigration Committee. She interned at the Newark Immigration Court during her first summer of law school.
Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Reena graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2016. As part of the Global Studies program, she studied abroad at the Andes and Amazon Field School in Napo, Ecuador and obtained a concentration in Latin American Studies. Reena then served as a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She managed the Youth Partnership, a collaborative of 20+ organizations dedicated to the well-being of youth and families in the Sto-Rox area.
Reena is interested in immigration law, the intersection of immigration and international relations, and U.S. visa policy and regulation.
Farai Shawa is a second-year law student at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law. He is a Conwell Scholar, Cozen O’Connor Trial Advocacy Scholar and Institute of Law and Public Policy Fellow. Farai currently participates as a member of the International Criminal Court Moot Court Team and the Temple Mock Trial Team. He also serves as the President of the International Law Society and Recording Secretary of the Black Law Students Association. Following his first year of law school, he interned in the legal department of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles and is planning to work in the Wilmington Delaware office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom following his second year.
A native of Winnipeg Manitoba, Farai graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Linguistics. Prior to Law School, Farai worked as an assistant English teacher and Education Consultant in Japan’s Nagano prefecture.
Farai is interested in International Commercial Transactions, International Criminal Law and International Arbitration. Farai is proficient in both English and Japanese.
Kathleen Killian is a second-year law student at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law. She is currently serving as a Staff Editor for the Temple International and Comparative Law Journal and as a Rubin-Presser Social Justice Fellow. She is also on the executive board of two student organizations: International Law Society and National Lawyers Guild. During the summer after her first year of law school, she interned at the Montgomery County Public Defender’s office and worked as a Research Assistant for Professor Margaret deGuzman, assisting with her forthcoming book. This upcoming summer Ms. Killian will be a Law and Public Policy Scholar in Washington, D.C.
Prior to entering law school, Ms. Killian served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana for 27 months. She also earned a Master’s degree in mental health counseling at Suffolk University and worked as a methadone clinician for two and a half years, providing individual counseling to opioid addicted individuals.
Ms. Killian is interested in humanitarian and international criminal law. She is specifically interested in responses to armed conflict and methods of support provided to communities in the aftermath. She hopes improve practices of seeking justice for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. She is fluent in French and proficient in Fante.
2018-19 IILPP Student Fellows
Carla Cortavarría was an IILPP student fellow in 2018-2019 during her 3L year at Temple Law. She is passionate about international human rights, specifically in the region of Latin America, as well as immigration/refugee law and worker’s rights.
During her 2L summer, Carla interned for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in their Caribbean Protection Unit where she drafted Refugee Status Determination reports for refugees seeking asylum in the Caribbean. During her last semester in law school, Carla interned at the Due Process of Law Foundation in DC, a human rights organization that promotes the rule of law in Latin America. Carla also interned at the ACLU-PA, HIAS-PA, Justice at Work, and the International Association of Women Judges.
At Temple, Carla was Vice President for both the International Law Society and the Latin American Law Students Association. She also served as a Staff Editor and Lead Research Editor for the Temple International and Comparative Law Journal (TICLJ) and focused her legal comment on crimes against humanity in Venezuela.
Carla is excited to start her legal career as a Judicial Law Clerk at the Newark Immigration Court through the DOJ Honors Program in September. However, her long-term career goal is to work for an international organization that advances human rights. Carla is originally from Lima, Peru, but grew up in the DC Metro area. She speaks fluent Spanish, advanced-level French, and some Portuguese.
Jordan Schneider graduated from Temple Law in 2019. While at Temple, he interned for the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. There he drafted decisions and memoranda on eligibility for immigration relief ranging from asylum, cancellation of removal, and issues at the intersection of immigration and criminal law, including motions to suppress and motions to terminate removal proceedings. As a staff editor for Temple Law Review, he wrote his comment, under the supervision of Professor Peter Spiro, on the proposed expansion of expedited removal in immigration proceedings. After his first year of law school, he studied abroad in Rome as part of Temple’s Global Scholars Program. While in Rome, he interned for an Italian law firm, Portolano Cavallo.
Mr. Schneider is currently clerking in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division—the state’s intermediate appellate court. He will then go on to a two-year clerkship at the Immigration Court in New York City.
Mr. Schneider graduated from California Polytechnic State University with a B.A. in Political Science. After college, he volunteered helping teach English as a Second Language in the Sacramento area.
2017-18 IILPP Student Fellows
The fellows work with affiliated faculty to develop the Institute’s programs, including special events and alumni outreach.
Elizabeth Casey ’18 is a third-year student at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law. After her first year in law school, Ms. Casey was a Law and Public Policy Scholar, working as an Honors Law Clerk at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. While in D.C., Ms. Casey researched the intersection of international investment arbitration and sustainable development. After her second year of law school, Ms. Casey worked as a summer associate in the Philadelphia office of Drinker, Biddle & Reath LLP. Upon graduation, Ms. Casey will complete a one-year clerkship on the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and then return to Drinker Biddle.
Ms. Casey graduated from Swarthmore College in 2014 with degrees in Chinese and Political Science. While at Swarthmore, she conducted environmental policy research in Beijing, China. Working with various universities and NGOs in Beijing, she examined how these environmental policies contributed to Chinese rule of law and an emerging Chinese civil society. At Temple Law School, Ms. Casey served as a staff editor on the Temple Law Review. She is a member of the International Law Society and was the Co-President of the Temple Environmental Law Society.
Danielle DerOhannesian ’18 is a third-year law student at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, where she is a Beasley Scholar and served as a Staff-Editor for the Temple Law Review (Volume 89). During the summer after her first year in law school, Ms. DerOhannesian interned in the Executive Office of the United States Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium. After her second year, Ms. DerOhannesian interned with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, where she litigated felony preliminary hearings and misdemeanor trials in the Philadelphia Municipal Court.
Prior to entering law school, Ms. DerOhannesian interned in the military and foreign affairs office of Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand [D-NY]. Ms. DerOhannesian was previously the Libya Correspondent with the Media Monitoring Project for the Montréal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. She also performed research for the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center in Ramallah, Palestine. Ms. DerOhannesian received her B.A. from McGill University in Montréal, Québec, in Political Science with minors in Anthropology and Arabic. She speaks French and Arabic.
Osazenoriuwa Ebose ’18 is a third-year student at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law. She is a Conwell Merit Scholar and a recipient of the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia Scholarship and National Bar Association Women Lawyers Division Sadie T.M. Alexander Book Scholarship. After her first year in law school, Ms. Ebose was a legal intern at the Nationalities Service Center. While at NSC, Ms. Ebose worked with a wide swathe of Philadelphia immigrants and refugees securing stay documents. After her second year of law school, Ms. Ebose worked as a summer associate in the Philadelphia office of Schnader Harrison Segal and Lewis and will return there upon graduation.
Ms. Ebose graduated from Swarthmore College in 2015 with degrees in Sociology/Anthropology and Peace and Conflict Studies. While at Swarthmore, Ms. Ebose studied abroad in Rome, Italy with Temple University. While in Rome, she volunteered teaching English to Roman public high school students. Ms. Ebose also conducted an anthropologic study on the culture of piazzas in Rome. At Temple Law School, Ms. Ebose served as a staff editor on the Temple International and Comparative Law Journal. Her article Breaking the Binary: Queering Asylum Law Approaches is scheduled to be published in the upcoming Fall 2017 volume of the Journal. Ms. Ebose is also a member of the Moot Court Honor Society, the National Trial Team and the International Criminal Court Moot Court. She was Vice President of Academic Affairs for the International Law Society, Fundraising Chair for the Black Law Students Association, and remains a member of both.
Ashley Rotchford ’18 is a third-year student at Temple University James Beasley School of Law. Following her first year in law school, Ms. Rotchford was a Law and Public Policy Scholar, working as a Policy and Advocacy Intern at the National Immigration Forum in Washington, D.C. While in D.C., Ms. Rotchford wrote a white paper on the constitutionality of a presidential proclamation under the Immigration and Nationality Act to ban all Muslims. She presented this paper, A Presidential Proclamation to Ban All Muslims: The Importance of the Establishment Clause, at the Intersection of Law and Public Policy 2017 Update and the 2017 International Meeting on Law and Society. After her second year of law school, Ms. Rotchford worked as a summer associate at Heckscher, Teillon, Terrill & Sager, a boutique trust and estates firm in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Upon graduation, Ms. Rotchford will complete a one-year clerkship with the Superior Court of New Jersey, Camden County.
Ms. Rotchford graduated from Gettysburg College in 2013 with a degree in Religious Studies with honors, and a minor in Anthropology. While at Gettysburg, she spent a semester abroad in Cairo, Egypt studying Islam and Egyptology. From her time abroad, Ms. Rotchford focused her senior thesis on the tensions between the Muslim Brotherhood and Coptic Christians in post-Colonial Egypt. At Temple Law School, Ms. Rotchford served as a staff editor, and then articles editor, on the Temple Law Review. She was the co-President of the Temple Law National Lawyers Guild, co-chair of the Immigration and Human Rights Committee, and member of the Student Public Interest Network.
2016-17 IILPP Student Fellows
Miriam Abaya ’17 was a fellow during her third-year at Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she was a Law & Public Policy Scholar. She is interested in international human rights law, particularly in the West African region. During her 1L summer, Ms. Abaya worked at the Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation. She also wrote a paper on U.S. policy towards Boko Haram, which she has presented at the Mid-Atlantic and National Law & Society Conferences. Most recently, Ms. Abaya worked for the Coalition for the International Criminal Court as the legal intern for the United Nations and the African Union, researching UN and AU policy towards the ICC and drafting policy briefs in support of the ICC. She was also a lead research editor for the Temple International and Comparative Law Journal. Ms. Abaya graduated from Haverford College with a B.A. in Music in 2014.
Sela Cowger ’17 was a fellow during her second and third years at Temple University Beasley School of Law where she was a Beasley Scholar, a Rubin-Presser Public Interest Scholar, and a Law & Public Policy Scholar. Her academic background and interests include asylum adjudication and international and comparative migration law. She also served as the Executive Articles Editor for the Temple International and Comparative Law Journal. Throughout law school, she explored her interests by interning with various organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the National Immigration Forum’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, and the Philadelphia Immigration Court (DOJ-EOIR).
Prior to law school, Ms. Cowger worked as an English language instructor in Fukushima, Japan with the Japan Education Teaching Program (JET). She earned her B.A. with departmental distinction and University honors from the University of Chicago with a major in political science.
Anika Forrest ’17 was a Law & Public Policy Scholar at Temple University Beasley School of Law. Ms. Forrest is passionate about foreign policy, international development, and international human rights law. As a 2015 Philadelphia Diversity Law Group Fellow, Ms. Forrest was a legal intern at FMC Corporation, a global chemical and manufacturing company. Her work at FMC included international data privacy, international trademark, and business law. During her 2L summer, Ms. Forrest interned with the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, a conflict transformation and diplomacy organization, as a student legal advisor and a lead program officer for a peacebuilding partnership in Kenya. Ms. Forrest also interned with the Embassy of Jamaica in D.C.
Ms. Forrest graduated from Davidson College with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. As a Bonner Scholar at Davidson, she partnered on educational accessibility projects for under-served communities and volunteered with children in the refugee community. Additionally, during her undergraduate years, Ms. Forrest participated in a domestic exchange at Howard University and studied abroad at the John Felice Rome Center in Rome, Italy. After undergrad, Ms. Forrest joined the Office of Admission at Haverford College as an Admission Counselor and Co-Coordinator of Multicultural Recruitment.