Two Boston College Law School students are among this year’s recipients of the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy’s summer fellowships. BC Law’s Julia Brandenstein ’26 and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Evanko ’26 share the honor with ten other law students.
“The 2024 Rappaport Fellows in Law and Public Policy have been announced, and once again, they are a cohort of twelve passionate, smart, and engaging law students who care about making a difference in the world,” said Elisabeth “Lissy” J. Medvedow, executive director of the Rappaport Center. “The future lawyers, who represent seven of the Greater Boston area law schools, will be spending their Rappaport summer gaining invaluable experience working in state and local government.”
Here are the biographies of all twelve recipients.
George Barker is a 1L at Boston University School of Law and a graduate of Northeastern University where he completed a BS, magna cum laude, in computer science and journalism with a minor in economics. While at Northeastern, Barker worked for the Harvard Business Review as a data analyst, wrote as a climate reporter for Callaway Climate Insights, and served the City of Somerville as a program compliance officer, each full time for a semester. After his work with Somerville concluded, Barker continued working in grant compliance and contracting for the City of Cambridge. Working as a climate journalist confirmed a desire to dedicate his career to fighting climate change and environmental injustice, and after constantly interviewing environmental lawyers, Barker realized he wanted to become one. Focusing on COVID relief grant programs and compliance within two different cities showed him how critical local governments can be in improving the lives of their residents, and it became clear that working within a city for its residents was incredibly motivating work. He hopes to be able to work for a city again to aid in efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change at the local level. As a 2024 Rappaport Fellow, Barker will serve as an intern at the City of Somerville Legal Department.
Julia Brandenstein is a 1L at Boston College Law School. She holds a BS and BA, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and an MA in Public Policy from Stony Brook University. In addition, she earned a certificate in Leadership Principles from Harvard Business School. During her time at Stony Brook, she worked as the student coordinator for the Center for Civic Justice where she registered thousands of college students to vote and became the 2022 national winner of the Up to Us Campus Competition. Brandenstein’s thesis research on the automation of the federal redistricting process was presented and received several awards at the International Forum for Research Excellence and the Northeastern Political Science Association Conferences. As a graduate student, she was a Public Policy Research Fellow for the Alliance for Citizen Engagement and a Civic Engagement Fellow for Up to Us. Brandenstein is honored to have been selected as a Rappaport Fellow in Law and Public Policy. She will spend her Rappaport summer as an intern at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Evanko is a 1L at Boston College Law School. She received her bachelor’s degree in Economics from Princeton University, magna cum laude, and she earned certificates in Cognitive Science and the History and Practice of Diplomacy. While at Princeton, she wrote two theses, one researching the effects of the 2014 Medicaid expansion on adolescent ADHD diagnosis and medication rates, and another exploring the effects of “ban-the-box” policies on formerly incarcerated persons’ rehabilitation measures. Before pursuing law, Evanko worked in the US Department of Justice on counterterrorism and counterintelligence matters. She also worked at MCIC Vermont, a leading medical malpractice insurance company, where she evaluated the sexual harassment and abuse policies of the company’s major hospital clients. Evanko has a passion for children’s rights advocacy and domestic violence work; she was a volunteer childcare provider at Hope’s Door, a domestic violence shelter, and a volunteer camp counselor and teacher’s assistant at Neighbor’s Link, an organization that works towards the healthy integration of immigrants. As a 2024 Rappaport Fellow, Evanko will intern at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in the Child Protection Unit.
Mitchell “Mitch” Fallon is a 2L at Suffolk University Law School. Fallon received his Master of Public Administration from Suffolk University and holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and finance from Salem State University. While pursuing his MPA, Fallon was selected as a Joseph Moakley Fellow to work with Senator Ed Markey’s Washington, DC, office. There, he aided staff in relation to legislation focused on curbing the opioid epidemic. Fallon is most passionate about advocating for workers’ rights through a holistic lens to foster a more equitable economy. He had the privilege of supporting baristas across Boston while organizing the first independent coffee shop unions in Massachusetts. He also partnered with the Massachusetts AFL-CIO in support of state-level wage theft legislation. Fallon has gained valuable legal experience as a judicial intern in Massachusetts’ Superior Courts and as a law clerk to the state legislature’s Judiciary Committee. Fallon has served as President of the American Constitution Society at Suffolk Law during the past year. He is also a member of Suffolk Law’s Moot Court Honor Board Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy where he wrote about the need to apply due process protections under strict scrutiny to Massachusetts’ pretrial detention laws. Fallon will spend his Rappaport summer at the Governor’s Office of Cabinet Affairs and Strategic Planning.
Cole Garvey is a 2L at Northeastern University School of Law. Before law school, he worked in policy research for three years as a program associate at Mathematica. There, he helped manage and conduct research for numerous projects that studied or sought to improve education and human services programs for federal, state, and foundation clients. Following his 1L year, Garvey served as a judicial intern in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. As a lifelong resident of Boston, he is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he earned his BA in Political Science, Phi Beta Kappa. As a 2024 Rappaport Fellow, Garvey will intern at the Executive Office for Administration and Finance.
Solomon Hayes is a 1L at Boston University School of Law. Born in Tokyo, Japan, Hayes spent most of his life in Mississippi. He received his BA in English at Vanderbilt University, Phi Beta Kappa, while writing a thesis on the presence of the prison industrial complex in literature. Hayes then spent three years as a paralegal at the Legal Aid Society in Nashville, Tennessee, helping tenants facing eviction in the Housing division, as well as survivors of domestic violence in the Family Law division. His time at the Legal Aid Society engendered a passion for public interest and social justice in order to serve vulnerable, marginalized communities. Hayes received BU’s ASPIRE (Antiracist Scholars for Progress, Innovation, and Racial Equity) Scholarship and will be the Co-President of BU’s Public Interest Law Society in the 2024-2025 academic year. This summer, Hayes will be working at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination in the Investigations Unit.
Noah Kopf is a 1L at Harvard Law School and a graduate of Yale University, Phi Beta Kappa, where he receied a degree in Ethics, Politics, and Economics (EP&E). Prior to law school, he worked in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in the Consumer Protection Division on cases related to mortgage servicing, debt collection, consumer lending technologies, and the youth vaping epidemic. He also worked on data science projects at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Census Bureau. This summer, Kopf will intern at the City of Boston Law Department
Logan Malik is a 1L at Harvard Law School. He received a BS in Chemistry from the George Washington University, magna cum laude, in 2018, and an MPhil in Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge in 2019. Prior to law school, Malik spent four years working in various roles in climate advocacy and political organizing. Most recently, he served as the Interim Executive Director of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network, a statewide environmental nonprofit with a mission to accelerate equitable decarbonization by empowering local advocates to take action in their communities. Malik is passionate about advancing bold, creative, and community-centered policies that accelerate the transition to a clean and just energy future in Massachusetts. As a 2024 Rappaport Fellow, he will intern at the Massachusetts Governor’s Office of Legal Counsel.
Nicholas “Nick” Martin is a 2L at Northeastern University School of Law. A nontraditional student, Martin dropped out of a Vermont State College when he was nineteen to travel the country, working service jobs to pay his way. At a law firm in Los Angeles, Martin rose from the mailroom to a paralegal position, learning litigation and developing a passion for courtroom advocacy. Martin witnessed government lawyers seek accountability on behalf of the public and resolved to join them. He left the firm, earned his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from the Harvard University Extension School, and gained admission to Northeastern University School of Law. In law school, Martin’s internships with the Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the Massachusetts Supreme Court refined his passion for public interest law into a focus on criminal justice. Martin’s diverse life experiences drove him to the ideals of progressive prosecution: that intentionally wielding prosecutorial discretion strengthens a more fair and equitable conception of public safety. Martin is interested in diversion programs, conviction integrity units, and the prosecution of serious crimes. This summer, Martin will serve as an intern with the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.
Emily Mooers is a 1L at New England Law | Boston and a graduate of The George Washington University, where she studied International Affairs. Following graduation, she spent time in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she taught English while also honing her Portuguese language skills. Most recently, Mooers worked at MetroWest Legal Services in Framingham, MA, on the COVID Eviction Legal Help Project where she assisted low-income tenants to stay housed or transition to more suitable housing throughout the height of the pandemic. Since beginning law school, Mooers has continued to work alongside the Access to Counsel Coalition to increase awareness surrounding the detrimental impacts of eviction and the barriers low-income tenants face in accessing the justice system. She will serve as an intern this summer at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
Arianna Unger is a 1L at Northeastern University School of Law. Her specific interests lie within the fields of behavioral health policy and health systems financing. Before attending Northeastern, Unger worked as a Global Epidemiology Fellow with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Mozambique. She also worked in neurosurgery trauma research for the three years prior. Unger earned her Bachelor of Neuroscience from Brandeis University, magna cum laude, and her Master of Public Health from the University of Pennsylvania. Unger will spend her Rappaport summer at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services in the Behavior Health and Pharmacy and Provider Programs divisions.
Rebecca Wood is a 1L Public Interest Law Fellow at the University of Massachusetts School of Law. Wood graduated with a BSW from James Madison University. Her plans for graduate school were put on hold indefinitely when her daughter, Charlie, was delivered ten hours into her twenty-sixth week of gestation. Wood’s first time on Capitol Hill and her active policy engagement began in January 2017, when she joined the fight to save the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. Since then, she has worked with numerous organizations and offices on Capitol Hill and Beacon Hill. Most notably, she told her and Charlie’s story at the introduction of Senator Sanders’ Medicare For All Act of 2017 and testified before the US House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee hearing on Pathways to Universal Coverage in June 2019. Wood and her daughter moved to Massachusetts in 2019. Experiences with public education and food insecurity motivated her to work in those areas as well, including the push for universal school meals in Massachusetts. Wood was recognized for her effective advocacy and service in 2017 by The ARC of Virginia as a Catalyst For Change and was the 2019 R. Ann Meyers Distinguished Social Work Alumni Award recipient. Wood will spend her Rappaport summer as an intern at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.