2016 Marutani Fellows

Courtney Chlebina, Temple Law

Courtney, a third year at Temple Law, has a passion for criminal defense and completed a summer internship at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. She first discovered her interest during her time as a paralegal at Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C., a plaintiff-side law firm where she worked alongside former public defenders. Courtney spent last summer as an intern in the capital habeas unit of the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and she continued to work there during the school year. Courtney is also active at Temple, serving as president of APALSA and outreach co-chair of the School Discipline Advocacy Service. Courtney, a staff editor for the Temple Law Review, also wrote a student comment arguing for the abolition of the death penalty. After law school, Courtney plans to build a career in criminal defense.

Angela Ruan, Drexel Law

Angela is a third year student at Drexel Law and spent her summer at the Mazzoni Center serving Philadelphia’s LGBT community on poverty law issues. She confirmed her interest in legal aid work last summer in the Consumer Housing Unit at Philadelphia Legal Assistance. There, Angela worked with clients on various issues including mortgage and tax foreclosures, bankruptcies, trusts and estates. Last fall, Angela volunteered with the SeniorLAW Center by conducting telephonic intake and helping to identify legal issues for callers. She was a co-op intern at the City of Philadelphia Law Department where she learned more about administrative and governmental work. In her last year, Angela is again working at Philadelphia Legal Assistance in conjunction with Drexel’s Civil Litigation Field Clinic. As a certified legal intern, she will be representing low income Philadelphians in their custody and Protection from Abuse hearings in Family Court. Angela has also been an active member of Drexel’s fledgling APALSA, previously serving as secretary and now serving as president. Angela hopes to continue her pursuit of public interest law with a fellowship after graduation.

Renu Sagreiya, Drexel Law

Renu, now a third year student at the Drexel Law, interned this summer at the Mazzoni Center where she worked on issues spanning different types of poverty law. Renu has a strong background in working with trauma survivors, which forms the basis of her interest in public interest law. At Drexel, for example, Renu is president of the Domestic Violence Law Society and has logged over 1000 hours in pro bono work. Renu was a co-op intern at HIAS Pennsylvania where she advocated for non-citizens seeking humanitarian forms of relief. Her 2015 summer experience was with the Homeless Advocacy Project where, among other things, she worked with homeless veterans to obtain service-connected benefits. Renu spent the previous summer with Philadelphia Legal Assistance managing her own caseload of family law cases dealing with issues of child custody, divorce, and protection from abuse matters. Before starting law school, Renu was a City Year Americorps member where she worked with at-risk teenagers in educational settings, planned community service programs, and launched an after-school nutrition education curriculum. After law school, Renu plans to be a judicial clerk and a public interest fellow.

Carrie Xu, University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Carrie, now a second year student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, was a judicial intern this summer with the Honorable Cathy Bissoon of the Western District of Pennsylvania. Prior to law school, Carrie worked in the finance industry and in web development, but she decided to change career paths to better advocate for those in need. Most notably, in her first year of law school, Carrie helped to launch the Pittsburgh Youth Police Advisory Committee in partnership with the Pittsburgh Police Department, which hosts community councils and outreach programs. She has conducted community meetings to encourage discussion on preventative policing and she hopes to help implement new policies informed by these discussions. She has worked with police and youths to establish meaningful partnerships and, though the program is still young, Carrie is hopeful that it will spark change in the community.