2023–2024 Innovation Grant Recipients
Participant(s): Malik Sammons, Anthony Mejia, Bennett Lunn, J.D. '25
All Deliberate Speed will be held in partnership with Brown's Promise and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board while charting a course forward for the next 70 years of racial equity in education. Our project will convene the voices of students, lawyers, and policy experts to explore Brown's Legacy and collaboratively address the long standing barriers to racial justice that plague America's schools.
Participant(s): Justin Norris, J.D. '24
Justin Norris spearheaded a full day of programming at Columbia Law School centered around drag entertainers. The program included a panel on drag activism and first amendment protections for drag artists featuring David Phillip J.D. '24, Pink Pancake, Julie J, and Marti Gould Cummings; the day ended with a drag show on campus benefiting the ACLU drag defense fund featuring local performers.
Participant(s): Ali Birge, Soni Madnani, Alice Park, Brandon Reid, J.D. '25
The Parole Advocacy Project consists of two parts: (1) The Direct Services Team and (2) The Reentry & Mutual Aid Team. The Direct Services team works with incarcerated individuals in New York State to help them prepare for their Parole Board appearances by providing robust parole advocacy packets and substantive parole interview skills. Born out of the need for holistic representation for clients, the Reentry & Mutual Aid team responds to the immediate needs of our clients who are released on parole, while engaging the greater Columbia Law School community through political education events and fundraisers that elevate the voices of previously incarcerated people and align with abolitionist values.
Participant(s): Rhiannon Adams, Justina Bruera, Josefina Isadora Gutierrez Weil, Karla Aimee Cuevas Ramirez, LL.M. '24
The project aims to ensure that lawyers from Columbia Law School are leaders in trauma-informed lawyering by building a community that allows students to explore and learn skills needed in their everyday practice.