2021 Peggy Browning Fellows

2021 Peggy Browning Summer Fellows Alexis Boyd JD’23 American University Washington College of Law Washington, DC Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Washington, DC As the child of a teacher who worked multiple jobs, Alexis learned the importance of economic justice and establishing a livable wage. During college, she experienced firsthand the economic disparity within the system of higher education, which led to joining the Student Labor Action Project. There, she organized around raising wages for student workers and holding her college accountable for supporting its low-income students. After working as a paralegal, Alexis then became the first in her family to attend law school and is currently a member of the Labor and Employment Law Society. Her goal is to become a labor attorney with a focus on civil rights protections in the workplace. Alexis is excited to learn even more about labor law this summer at SEIU.  Mackenzie Bouverat JD’22 Harvard Law School Cambridge, MA Cohen, Weiss & Simon LLP New York, NY For Mackenzie, pursuing a career advancing economic justice always felt like an inevitability. As a first- generation student from a family of factory workers, her post-secondary education gravitated naturally to questions of political economy, wealth distribution, and workers’ empowerment. A Southern Ontario native, she spent her college summers working on Ford Motor Company’s automobile assembly line, where her first- hand exposure to unionism deepened her commitment to solidarity and workplace organizing. Mackenzie enrolled in law school to learn to effectively channel her dedication to economic justice into meaningful change for working-class people. Mackenzie spent last summer as a Peggy Browning Fellow at LIUNA in Washington, DC. Jacob Bies JD’22 Penn State Law University Park, PA Northwest Workers’ Justice Project Portland, OR The son of a union educator and hospital lab technician, Jacob was born and raised in Yankton, SD. Although he branched out from the “family trades” of education and healthcare, he undertook the study of law with a similar drive to help people through his practice. Having majored in Spanish and Global Studies, Jacob spent time before law school volunteering and working with immigrant parents and youth in his hometown. He has also done legal work for detained asylum-seekers in Dilley, TX, farmworkers with Legal Aid of Nebraska, and several clients with the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Penn State Law. He hopes to continue working at the intersection of immigration and labor law, in order to ensure that workers receive fair treatment and compensation, regardless of citizenship or status. Zachary Boullt JD’22 Harvard Law School Cambridge, MA Chicago News Guild (School-Year Fellow, 2020-21) Chicago, IL A Louisiana native, Zachary developed an interest in labor and employment law through his work in criminal justice reform. During his experiences at the Justice Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., he learned how important well-compensated and dignified work was for reintegration of formerly incarcerated people. In law school, Zachary has volunteered and organized for the Harvard Graduate Students Union and for the law school’s dining, catering, and custodial workers’ hours and safety. He’s also worked on behalf of employees facing discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Boston. As a former editor-in-chief of his undergraduate editorial, Zachary has enjoyed continuing to advocate for media workers’ rights with the Chicago News Guild.