2014 Marutani Fellows

Kimberly Bennett, University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Kimberly Bennett is a fourth year joint-degree student pursuing her Juris Doctrate and Master in International Development, with a focus on Management of Non-Governmental Organizations and a Graduate Certificate in Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. She hopes to use her degrees to obtain work assisting traditionally underserved populations in immigration proceedings, development and community work. With the assistance of the Mauritani Fellowship, Kimberly worked at Community Justice Project in Pittsburgh, PA. There, she was able to help plaintiffs litigate claims against their employers, many of whom had committed wage theft, peonage, debt bondage, and more. Because of Kimberly’s language abilities, she was able to work with mostly Spanish-speaking clients.

Chi-Ser Tran, Temple University Beasley School of Law

Chi-Ser Tran is a 2L at the Temple University Beasley School of Law. Chi-Ser is currently Co-Vice President of Temple’s Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, as well as Co-Chair of the Immigration & Human Rights Committee of Temple’s National Lawyers Guild chapter. Prior to law school, Chi-Ser was the Voting Rights Organizer at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), where she coordinated AALDEF’s multilingual Election Protection project – AALDEF’s and the nation’s biggest project of its kind to-date. In addition, she worked with a wide variety of community leaders and organizations around the country to enforce and implement language access for limited English proficient Asian American voters. In 2012, she also helped revive the NYC chapter of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. Prior to AALDEF, Chi-Ser was the National Programs Fellow at the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy in Washington, DC. Chi-Ser earned her B.A. in Asian/Pacific/American Studies from New York University. This summer, with the support of the Marutani Fellowship, Chi-Ser worked at the Philadelphia Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor.