CUNY Law 3L Jennifer Acevedo was awarded The 2020 Nixon Peabody Summer Civil Rights Fellowship. This fellowship identifies one Latinx law student each year to participate in LatinoJustice’s ten-week summer program — a full-time legal internship that provides valuable experience working on civil rights cases involving the Latinx community.
“I’m honored to be in a space full of lawyers who share the same passion as me. I’m excited to be at a civil rights organization that is in the courts litigating the constant attacks against our communities — a task LatinoJustice takes on daily. Through litigation, LatinoJustice has been a force in the courts to protect important voter rights in time for the 2020 presidential election.”
Jennifer is an alum of LatinoJustice’s LawBound® pre-law pipeline program for college students. She had the privilege to be a part of LawBound in 2016 and highly recommends the program to any student who is thinking about law school.
“We learned skills needed to succeed in law school through critical reading and writing activities. I was able to meet other students who were passionate about going to law school, who were also inspired by the work of civil rights attorneys at LatinoJustice.”
Jennifer is also a recipient of the 2019 Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice Fellowship and worked at the Safe Passage Project, a nonprofit organization that provides free lawyers to refugee and immigrant children in the NYC area who face deportation.
Jennifer is currently working on FOIA litigation and hopes to continue working with the passionate attorneys at LatinoJustice on issues of education, housing, employment, voting rights, immigrant rights, and criminal justice to make sure all people are treated equally and justly.
As an aspiring lawyer and the daughter of Colombian and Dominican immigrants, Jennifer feels a sense of responsibility to get the best education possible to make her family proud. She was born and raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, which is among the most diverse neighborhoods in New York City.
Her first experience with the law was volunteering at Make the Road New York, where she advocated for education and LGBTQI immigrant rights. She led the Deferred Action workshops and assisted lawyers in screening clients eligible for Deferred Action. When the program became challenged by the Trump administration, Jennifer realized she was ready to take the next steps to assist in expanding immigration relief. Her experience with Make the Road New York led her to her passion of applying to law school, with a focus on immigration.
“I belonged at CUNY Law. I knew I could learn about the law while challenging the oppressive systems that built the country we live in today. Here I’m learning the legal tools to answer future clients’ questions and solving complex legal issues. I am being trained to become a social justice lawyer and fight the law that doesn’t always serve people who look like me.”
Jennifer will be working in the Immigrant & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic this upcoming year, and is excited to learn the litigation and advocacy skills needed to represent her clients, who have been criminalized and marginalized in an immigration system that is in need of reform now more than ever.
She hopes to continue learning about the legal strategies used to dismantle oppressive legal systems through creative legal research and advocacy.
Follow Jennifer’s work and advocacy via email, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram @Jen.Acevedo