2021 Peggy Browning Fellows

2021 Peggy Browning Summer Fellows Sommer Omar JD’22 Yale Law School New Haven, CT New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) New York, NY Sommer first gained an interest in defending labor while working at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC after the 2016 election. There, she learned about right-to-work laws, the erosion of wage theft enforcement, and the cascading material and legal consequences of declining union membership. In law school, she volunteered with Local 33 UNITE HERE where she helped facilitate a school-wide comment writing campaign to delay the implementation of the NLRB’s recently announced rule denying graduate students’ right to organize as employees. Last summer, she was a Peggy Browning Fellow with the Hotel Trades Council in New York and, in the midst of the pandemic, witnessed how vital union representation and support was for workers when their livelihoods and health were both at risk.   Abrar Omeish JD’23 Georgetown University Law Center Washington, DC LIUNA MAROC Reston, VA The first Libyan, first Muslim and youngest ever elected in US history, Abrar became a school board member- at-large in Fairfax County earning over 161,000 votes. She co-founded an organization providing thousands of underprivileged youth with free tutoring and mentorship in 20 locations over the past ten years. After serving in several appointed capacities locally and working as a senior organizer at the DNC, Abrar served as a legal fellow at a human rights and immigration law firm in Northern Virginia and has been a spokeswoman for the #NoMuslimBanEver campaign. Most recently, she was a Virginia co-chair for the Bernie Sanders campaign and a Virginia PLEO and Rules Committee member to the Democratic National Convention. She holds a double bachelor’s degree with honors from Yale University and is a current dual MPP/JD student and Blume fellow. Clara Murphy JD’22 University of San Francisco School of Law San Francisco, CA Neyhart, Anderson, Flynn &Grosboll San Francisco, CA Clara is the internal vice president of the Labor and Employment Students Association and is earning a Labor & Employment Law Certificate. She first became interested in labor and employment when she taught middle school English through Teach for America in Kansas City, MO. During her time teaching, Clara saw the disparity in resources, training and support between union represented teachers, and teachers who were not allowed to organize. Clara holds a B.S. in Society & Environment from UC Berkeley and an M.A. in Secondary Education from the University of Missouri. Ayesha Nizhoni JD’22 Wake Forest University School of Law Winston-Salem, NC Spivak Lipton LLP New York, NY The daughter of a proud union member, Ayesha has spent her entire life with workers’ rights at the forefront of her mind. Starting work at fifteen, her eyes were opened to the everyday struggles that affect marginalized and often voiceless working people because, oftentimes, she was one. It was her work in fields such as the food service and cruise line industries that compelled Ayesha to attend law school, due to a new understanding of exploitative employment practices. During law school, Ayesha has embarked on community law initiatives and has expanded her knowledge with experience at a metropolitan Public Defender’s office. She is extremely honored to be a Peggy Browning Fellow for a second time, after having had a 2020 fellowship experience at the National Employment Law Project (NELP).