BC Law alumni Avika Dhillon ’25 and Samantha Perlman ’24 have received fellowships in Washington, DC, this year, Dhillon working on policy and Perlman on campaign law.
The Women’s Congressional Policy Institute (WPCI) placed Dhillon with the US Senate Special Committee on Aging where she works under ranking member Kirsten Gillibrand. Dhillon was selected through a nationally competitive, nonpartisan leadership program that places professionals in congressional offices as full-time legislative staff. The position builds on Dhillon’s long-term interest in disability policy and education with its focus on women’s representation, governance, and public service.
At BC Law, Dhillon served as co-president of the Disabled Law Students Association and wrote for BC Law’s Impact blog about her connection to the cause. “With a legal education,” Dhillon wrote, “I will help others pursue health, liberty, and happiness without living in jeopardy.” As a student, she gained legal experience interning with the Massachusetts Division of Administrative Law Appeals, Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, Human Rights First, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, and Kramer, deBoer, & Keane, LLP.
For her part, Perlman is a fellow at the Campaign Legal Center, focusing on voting rights, redistricting, ethics, and campaign finance litigation. The center, which is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to solving the wide range of challenges facing American democracy, works primarily with Americans who have faced political barriers because of race, ethnicity, or economic status.
A 2022 Public Service Scholar and former Rappaport Fellow, Perlman has a long history working with public policy and rights, helping to secure passage of the 2018 Massachusetts civic education law as an FAO Schwarz Fellow at Generation Citizen. Prior to her current fellowship, she served as a presidential appointee in the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Transportation under Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and then as a legal fellow at Public Rights Project, a California-based nonprofit.
Perlman is not new to the political arena. In 2020, she was named one of IGNITE National’s 30 under 30 to watch in politics. She also served two terms as city counselor at-large in Marlborough, Massachusetts, becoming the youngest woman elected citywide, and the youngest person to launch a mayoral campaign in the city in 2023. As well as getting her JD from BC Law, Perlman earned a MA in urban and environmental policy and planning from Tufts University, underscoring her legal focus in environmental law and voting rights.
Dhillon will serve in her position until July, while Perlman’s will finish hers in September.