Public Interest Law Center

Current Scholars

Class of 2023

Eliza Ezrapour

Eliza Ezrapour is a third-year student at NYU Law and a Master of Urban Planning candidate at NYU Wagner. Eliza spent her 1L summer as a legal intern at the Department of Housing, Preservation, and Development and worked as a research assistant at the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. She is currently co-chair of Research, Education, and Advocacy to Combat Homelessness (REACH), staff editor of the Journal of Law and Business, and a board member of the Real Estate and Urban Policy Forum. Prior to law school, Eliza worked as a treasury analyst for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Eliza has a B.A. in Geography from Dartmouth College and wrote her undergraduate thesis on affordable housing finance in New York City.

Alex Jonlin

Alex Jonlin is a third-year law student at NYU. He grew up in Seattle and attended UC Berkeley, where he majored in Urban Studies. After undergrad, he stayed in the Bay Area and worked as a transportation planner for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency for about five years, focusing on regulation of private transportation services. He spent his 1L summer as a legal intern at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. After law school, he hopes to pursue a career on the legal side of local government regulation, particularly on issues of land use/zoning and the intersection between land use and transportation.

Rachel Lee is a third-year student at NYU Law. She is from Houston, Texas and went to Rice University for her undergraduate degree in History and Political Science. Prior to law school, she worked at the National Homelessness Law Center in Washington, D.C., where she helped advocate for the construction of more affordable housing and against the criminalization of homelessness. Rachel spent her 1L summer at the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal's Tenant Protection Unit. She is currently co-chair of NYU's South Asian Law Student Association, co-chair of Research, Education, and Advocacy to Combat Homelessness (REACH), and a staff editor for the Review of Law and Social Change.

 

Class of 2024

Hacibey

Hacibey Catalbasogluis a second-year student at NYU Law. He is from New Haven, CT. Over the years, Hacibey has interned in the Connecticut Attorney General’s Office, Connecticut Lieutenant Governor’s Office, and United States Senator Chris Murphy’s Office. In college, he served as the Alderman for Ward 1 on New Haven's Board of Aldermen. He spent his 1L summer working in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Constitutional and Administrative Law Division, helping defend state agencies' regulations in court. Hacibey holds a B.A. from Yale College. Between college and law school, Hacibey worked as a cook at a New Haven pizza restaurant. He is the first person in his family to go to college. 

Caleb Hersh is a second-year student at NYU Law. Originally from Ossining, New York, he received his undergraduate degree in Political Science, and his Master of Public Affairs, from Brown University. Prior to law school, Caleb worked as a legislative aide to Westchester County Legislator Catherine Borgia. He is currently a Board Member At-Large of NYU Law’s chapter of the American Constitution Society, and an executive editor of the Law Review. Caleb spent his 1L summer at the Office of Policy and Strategy of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Alec Nadeau is a second-year JD candidate at NYU School of Law. He is a Moelis Fellow in Urban Law and Public Affairs, a 2022-2023 Student Scholar at the Reiss Center on Law and Security, and a student editor of the blog, Just Security. Alec is a board member of the Law and Government Society and the National Security Law Society. He is a member of OUTLaw and the Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Society. Prior to law school, Alec spent four years advising the Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on critical infrastructure development, transportation security, sustainability, and digital innovation. Prior to that he served as a research associate at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. Alec holds a B.A. in Political Science and a Master of Public Administration, both from the George Washington University. During his 1L summer, he will work in the legal department of the New York City Housing Authority.

Class of 2025

Dijia Chen is a first-year JD candidate at NYU School of Law. Prior to law school, Dijia worked for a private urban planning and real estate consulting firm with clients throughout the tri-state area, advising municipalities and federal agencies in zoning, master planning, redevelopment, andaffordable housing matters, as well as assisting private and non-profit developers in development review processes to bring numerous residential, commercial, industrial, and mixed-use projects to life. She holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from Bryn Mawr College and a Masters in Urban & Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Grace Getman is a first-year law student at NYU. She grew up in Syracuse, NY and attended Fordham University (Lincoln Center), majoring in Urban and Environmental Studies. Her undergraduate thesis was on the implementation of infrastructure and environmental policy in upstate New York. She is currently a board member of the Real Estate and Urban Policy Forum.

 

Will Gomberg is a first-year student at NYU Law. He is from Chicago, Illinois. Prior to law school, he worked at the Illinois Department of Employment Security, focusing on unemployment insurance and workforce development during the Covid-19 pandemic. He attended Brown University, where he studied Political Science and led a student organization focused on housing justice. He intends to pursue a career focused on economic justice, urban policy, and the law.