2021 Peggy Browning Fellows

2021 Peggy Browning Summer Fellows Enzo Codella JD’23 University of North Carolina School of Law Chapel Hill, NC Equal Justice Center Austin, TX A first-generation Latinx immigrant, Enzo is profoundly inspired by the fight for justice. Their own experiences as a queer immigrant of color and their continuous engagement with diverse peers, drive and inform their desire to work for a sustainable social and economic structure that supports and uplifts all peoples. In 2020, Enzo joined Housing Justice Now to help inform tenants facing eviction of their legal rights and connect them with legal aid resources. In law school, they have worked pro bono for the National Lawyers Guild’s Prisoners Legal Advocacy Network and for the Sustainable Economies Law Center, working alongside jailhouse lawyers seeking to protect prisoners’ rights and Native peoples endeavoring to reclaim their ancestral lands. These experiences motivate Enzo to dedicate themselves to serving those most victimized. Collin Clibon JD’22 Georgetown University Law Center Washington, DC International Union of Painters & Allied Trades (IUPAT) Hanover, MD After graduating summa cum laude from the University of Missouri, Collin served for over seven years in the United States Army as a military intelligence officer. While on active duty, he earned a master’s degree in International Relations and prior to law school, worked at the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Collin has also interned with the Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative within the Justice Department, working on veterans’ employment issues within the Civil Rights Division. Collin’s passion for workers’ rights and organized labor are grounded in his father’s experience, first as a union worker in a feed mill and as a union electrician, reinforcing Collin’s belief that advancing organized labor is essential for working- class Americans to achieve better living conditions and greater opportunities for success. Simon Cao JD’22 Penn State Law University Park, PA American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Washington, DC Simon took his experiences growing up in a union household to New Mexico Highlands University, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology. Before attending law school, Simon worked for a local affiliate of AFT as a staff representative for over five years. There, Simon advocated for members through grievance hearings, arbitration, as a negotiating team member, and in organizing. As a staff representative, Simon won over $1.2 million in back-pay and benefits for members. He also wrote contractual language still in force in Albuquerque. Simon helped members enforce their rights under FMLA, ADA, and civil rights statutes and was a Peggy Browning Summer Fellow last year at AFSCME. Benjamin Christensen JD’22 University of Detroit Mercy School of Law Detroit, MI Sugar Law Center Detroit, MI Ben has been involved with progressive politics and grassroots activists in the Detroit area since 2009. Before law school, he worked as a freelance composer and audio engineer and taught electronic music at Allied Media Projects in Detroit. Ben has worked with water rights activists, We the People of Detroit, to combat water insecurity and inhumane water shutoffs by the city and with the United Community Housing Coalition as a tax foreclosure prevention counselor. Ben is a student member of the National Lawyers Guild and a junior member of the school’s law review, where he is writing his student law review note on the “deliberative process privilege,” a governmental privilege that police departments use to shield them from discovery in civil rights actions.