Fellowships

Sarah joined Inner City Law Center as a Tenant Defense Fellow in May, 2020. During law school, Sarah represented tenants in the Boston Housing Court as a clinical student with the Harvard Housing Clinic, was part of the Harvard Tenant Advocacy Project, and served as an editor on the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. She spent her 1L and 2L summers advocating for economic justice with the National Consumer Law Center, Health Law Advocates, and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. Sarah has aa Bachelor’s Degree in Politics from Oberlin College and a JD from Harvard Law School.

Scott joined Inner City Law Center as a Tenant Defense Fellow in May, 2020. During law school, Scott worked with New Yorkers experiencing homelessness as a member of REACH (Research, Education, and Advocacy to Combat Homelessness), served as a Research Assistant with the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, and was as an editor on the NYU Review of Law and Social Change. He spent his 1L summer with the Housing Unit of East Bay Community Law Center, and his 2L summer at the Western Center on Law and Poverty. Scott has a Bachelor’s Degree in English from UNC-Chapel Hill and a JD from NYU School of Law.

Born and raised in Washington, DC, Sam first moved to Los Angeles to attend college at UCLA. After graduating, Sam stayed in the city and worked as a Page at NBC Universal and then as a reporter for the Los Angeles bureau of the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper.

After working as a foreign correspondent in his own country for two years, Sam left Los Angeles to attend Harvard Law School. In law school, Sam served as the President of the Student Mental Health Association and represented clients in the housing and criminal defense clinics.

Sam is now working as a legal fellow in the Tenant Defense Project and is very happy to be back in his strange, adoptive city.

Barbara is excited to join the TDP team as a Homelessness Prevention Fellow. A California-native, Barbara grew up in a small town named Ojai (about 80 miles north of LA) and is a proud UCLA Bruin. Inspired to help vulnerable communities, Barbara studied law in Washington DC and dedicated her studies and work experience to public interest law. After graduating in 2019, she completed a clerkship at the D.C. Superior Court, where she managed a misdemeanor criminal calendar for the Senior Judges. Struck by the number of defendants suffering from homelessness, mental health and substance abuse issues who appeared in court on a daily basis, Barbara decided she wanted to advocate to prevent homelessness and keep people housed. Then COVID happened, and now she is even more grateful to be working with Inner City Law Center during such unprecedented and challenging times for tenants. Aside from the law, Barbara’s interests include hiking, anti-racism & social justice, basketball, sea otters and cooking delicious meals.

Ted is a NAPABA Law Foundation Community Law Fellow at Inner City Law Center’s Affirmative Litigation team. Having grown up as a low-income, undocumented youth in Koreatown, Los Angeles, Ted is committed to serving those who are most deeply affected and harmed by racial and economic injustice.

Throughout law school, Ted served the community as a clinical student at East Bay Community Law Center’s Consumer Justice Clinic and Consumer Justice Workshop.

In May 2021, Ted received his J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law, where he won the Pro Bono Champion Award and the Honorable Mention for the Brian M. Sax Award for Excellence in Clinical Advocacy.

Forest joined Inner City Law Center as a Housing Justice Fellow in August, 2021, hoping to do his part in the fight to end homelessness. He attended law school at University of Southern California (USC), where he defended clients from deportation in the USC Immigration Clinic. He also served as a Staff Editor on the USC Review of Law and Social Justice. He spent his 1L summer with Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and 2L year summer with Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC). Forest has a BA from University of San Diego and a JD from University of Southern California. During his free time, Forest is probably riding his bike or digging for the perfect record for his next DJ set.

Elizabeth joined Inner City Law Center in August 2021 as a Tenant Defense Fellow. During law school, Elizabeth interned at Higgs, Fletcher, and Mack; the San Diego District Attorney’s Office; the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program (SDVLP); the State of California, Division of Labor and Standards Enforcement; and the United States District Court for the Southern District. She was also the Appellate Coordinator for Moot Court Honors Board, SDCBA Representative for the Student Bar Association, and a research assistant for a professor.

Elizabeth has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science: Public Law and Ethnic Studies and a J.D. from California Western School of Law.

Cherry received her BA from Pomona College in 2015 and graduated from Harvard Law School in May 2020. She went to law school to build skills that would be useful for communities fighting against poverty, disinvestment, and displacement. During law school, Cherry was part of Harvard Defenders, where she represented individuals in criminal hearings. She also spent two years representing tenants and post-foreclosure homeowners facing eviction at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. Cherry led canvasses with Project No One Leaves, informing tenants of their rights and directing tenants to community-based organizations in Boston. She spent her law school summers interning with Greater Boston Legal Services and TakeRoot Justice in New York City.

Matthew Nussbaum joined Inner City Law Center’s Preventing and Ending Homelessness Project this year after graduating from NYU Law School. During law school, he co-directed the Prison Teaching Project – a program offering classes on legal research methods to prisoners in Rikers, Taconic Correctional Facility, and Bedford Correctional Facility. He also participated in the school’s Immigrant Rights Clinic, where he worked to contest the deportation of a client, and the Racial Justice Clinic, where he prepared a client for their upcoming parole board hearing. During the summers, Matt interned at Staten Island Legal Services’ Housing Unit and the Public Defender’s Office of Alameda County.

Prior to law school, Matt worked as an assistant paralegal for Fragomen, a law firm specializing in business immigration, and was a member of the Glide Harm Reduction Clinic in San Francisco. Matt received his B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University, graduating in 2016.

Haley joined Inner City Law Center as a Housing Justice Fellow on the Tenant Defense Project in August, 2021. While in law school at Southwestern in Los Angeles, Haley was a board member on the homelessness prevention law project student association, which sparked her interest in pursing a legal career defending tenants from eviction. As a student, Haley worked in family law, immigration, and employment law. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Brandman University and a Juris Doctorate from Southwestern, where she focused on public interest law. In her free time, Haley enjoys walking around Los Angeles with her two terrier rescues, Vin Scully and Ruth Barker Ginsburg.

While studying law in

Nashville, Chelsea interned with the Nashville Public Defender’s Office for two years. After witnessing firsthand the effects of poverty in the rural South, as well as the frequent interaction between homelessness and the oppression of the criminal legal system, she was inspired to become an advocate for people facing eviction. She has a BS in Sociology from Middle Tennessee State University and a JD from Belmont University College of Law. In her free time, Chelsea can be found hiking with her dog, Ziggy.

Born and raised in west Los Angeles, Max Spivak is a May 2021 graduate of the University of New Mexico School of Law with a certificate from the Law and Indigenous Peoples Program and coursework in federal Indian law, tribal law, and environmental law. Max previously worked for Native American Rights Fund’s Anchorage office, the Southwest Women’s Law Center in Albuquerque, DNA-People’s Legal Services in Window Rock, Navajo Nation, and the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic in Chicago (n/k/a Ascend Justice). In 2018, Max received a B.A. in International Studies from American University in Washington, D.C. Aside from his work at Inner City Law Center, Max’s interests and experience include environmental and cultural preservation, pro-poor economics and policy, and intersectional reproductive justice.

Ariel is a 2021 graduate of Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, California. She received a Criminal Law Concentration distinction upon graduation in May 2021. She joined Inner City Law Center as a Norton Rose Fulbright Fellow working on the Lawyers Preventing and Ending Homelessness Project. During law school, Ariel worked in various fields of criminal law, including internships at a private criminal defense firm, the LA District Attorney’s office, and the LA Alternate Public Defender’s Office. She volunteered in the Street Law Clinic by teaching underserved high school students about their rights, including housing law and more. Further, Ariel previously interned at a California-based legal non-profit, Root and Rebound, and helped formerly convicted persons overcome barriers to obtaining housing and employment. She hopes to bring a holistically based approach to empower disadvantaged groups in Los Angeles. In 2017, Ariel received her Bachelor of Arts degree from St. John’s University in Queens, New York.

Alex joined Inner City Law Center in May 2020 as a Tenant Defense Fellow. While in law school, Alex interned with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and with the Affirmative Litigation Team at Inner City. She was also a member of National Moot Court and the Criminal Defense Clinic at her law school. Prior to law school, Alex worked as an AmeriCorps member with City Year Los Angeles. Alex received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned her J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School.