Two Seattle University School of Law students have joined the ranks of the Justice John Paul Stevens Foundation Fellowship Program.
Anneliese Seidel ’28 and Annabelle Stefanoff ’28 are among 158 Fellows chosen from 38 law schools across the nation.
Created more than 25 years ago in honor of the late U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, the program provides grants to participating law schools to support students working in unpaid public interest summer internships at nonprofit organizations and government agencies. This is the law school’s fourth year of participation in the program.
“Justice Stevens believed in the power of law to protect, serve, and empower the least advantaged members of our society and helped design a Fellows Program to provide opportunities and resources to young lawyers who shared that belief,” said Professor Andrew Siegel, who clerked for Stevens from 2000 to 2001. “Anneliese and Annabelle have taken advantage of those resources to tackle the most pressing problems of the day with great skill and resolve. The Justice would have been proud.”
Seidel is working this summer at Northwest Immigrant Rights Project’s (NWIRP) Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) unit, where she assists survivors of domestic violence, crimes, and trafficking in navigating the immigration system. Seidel’s daily tasks include preparing filings, interviewing clients, and writing legal memoranda and cover letters in support of applications for relief.
“This work is important to me as someone who grew up in a community of immigrants and has seen the perpetual unjust treatment of immigrants in the legal system,” Seidel said. “At a time where attacks on the immigrant community are particularly acute and without checks, I am honored to be able to work with such an amazing organization as NWIRP, providing direct services to those who otherwise would not receive the help they need.”
Stefanoff is spending her summer as a legal intern with Northwest Justice Project’s Consumer, Housing, Education, and Employment Rights (CHEER) Program, where she supports clients navigating challenges such as consumer and medical debt, housing instability, and special education barriers. This work includes conducting housing and debt clinic client intake calls to assess needs and identify advocacy strategies, writing research memos to inform attorneys about client rights when unique legal questions arise, and drafting pleadings such as complaints and pre-hearing briefs.
“This work is important to me because it allows me to connect with people from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences while reinforcing the importance of holistic, community-based support and advocacy,” Stefanoff said.
In the two years leading up to law school, Stefanoff worked as a housing case manager at Lydia Place in Bellingham, where she referred clients in need to legal aid to Northwest Justice Project.
“Being able to support clients through the same organization now feels meaningful and full-circle,” she said.
The Justice John Paul Stevens Foundation Fellowship Program is just one of several public interest summer programs at Seattle U Law. For more information on this and similar opportunities, visit Seattle U Law’s Access to Justice Institute.