Rochelle Ballantyne
Rochelle Ballantyne is a third year law student from Brooklyn, NY. She is interested in children’s rights, racial justice and police abolition. Her work is informed by her experiences growing up in New York, in a family impacted by poverty, the criminal legal system, and an inequitable education system. She graduated from Stanford University with a BA in African and African-American Studies and a BA in Political Science. Following two years in the corporate sector working as a paralegal, Rochelle returned to graduate school to get her Masters in Education Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University.
During her time there, her research focused on the ways bias informs punishment in schools and specifically the ways these disciplinary practices push Black girls out of schools and into prisons. At NYU Law, in addition to being a Hays Fellow, Rochelle is an AnBryce Scholar, a Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Fellow, a member of Black Allied Law Students Association, Ending the Prison Industrial Complex, Women of Color Collective, a staff editor for the Review of Law and Social Change and co-director of the Suspension Representation Project. Outside of school, Rochelle enjoys reading, kickboxing, scouring all the streaming services for new shows and movies, and traveling.
Claire Bartholomew
Claire Bartholomew (she/her/hers) is a third-year law student who is committed to working at the intersection of reproductive and racial justice. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2016, where she majored in English Literature and Psychology. Prior to law school, Claire was a third-grade teacher and then worked in Minneapolis as a development and communications coordinator at ACES (Athletes Committed to Educating Students), an education nonprofit committed to improving the academic opportunity gap. She was responsible for designing the organization’s fundraising and communications strategy, executing fundraising campaigns, and maintaining collaborative relationships with donors and partners. She spent her 1L summer interning at the Pace Women’s Justice Center and her 2L summer at Planned Parenthood’s Public Policy Litigation & Law Department. In addition to her role as a Hays Fellow, Claire has been a student advocate in the Reproductive Justice Clinic, a staff editor on the NYU Moot Court Board, and a board member of the NYU chapters of the Latinx Law Students Association, If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, and the Public Interest Law Students Association.
Michelle Fleurantin
Michelle Fleurantin is passionate about environmental justice, democracy and voting rights. She graduated from Cornell University in 2017 with majors in American Studies and Sociology and minors in Inequality Studies and Law and Society. Prior to law school, Michelle worked as a litigation paralegal at Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Perkins Coie in New York. At NYU, Michelle co-founded and coordinated NYU’s Parole Advocacy Project with four other law students and continues to serve as a parole advocate. Michelle also worked as a Lawyering teaching assistant and participated in the Environmental Law Clinic, through which she worked with the Natural Resource Defense Fund on environmental justice issues. Michelle spent her 1L summer at the Brennan Center for Justice's Democracy Program, and her 2L summer at the ACLU Voting Rights Project. Michelle is currently a Derrick Bell Scholar and the diversity editor for the Environmental Law Journal. After law school, Michelle hopes to build a career in movement lawyering at the intersection of environmental justice, democracy, and access rights.
Ben Healy
Ben Healy is a third-year law student committed to work that challenges the power of the US carceral system. He grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, and he graduated from Yale University with a degree in history. Following graduation, he served as a Yale-China English Teaching Fellow for two years in Xiuning County, Anhui Province, China. He then spent two years facilitating mediations with young people who had come in contact with the legal system in Nashville, Tennessee. At NYU, Ben was a student advocate in the Criminal Defense and Reentry Clinic. He has served as research assistant to Dean Rachel Barkow and Professor Noah Rosenblum and teaching assistant to Professor Emma Kaufman. He is a notes editor on the NYU Law Review, and he has worked on the Prison Teaching Project and the Suspension Representation Project. Ben spent his 1L summer with the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Practice and his 2L summer with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program. Outside of school, he enjoys long-distance running and is a fan of Arsenal FC and the University of Kentucky basketball team.
Devin McCowan
Devin McCowan is a third-year law student who broadly wants to find ways to disrupt systems of oppression to bring power back to communities, particularly in the area of racial justice. He graduated from Marquette University in 2020 with majors in French, Economics, and Gender & Sexualities Studies. At NYU, Devin has tried to involve himself in public interest and affinity communities wherever possible. Devin was the co-chair of OUTLaw, public interest chair of the Black Allied Law Student Association, a working group member of the Public Interest Law Student Association, a BIPOC working group member of the Defender Collective, and diversity & membership editor of Law Review. Devin has also had a variety of practical legal experiences at NYU, including a 1L summer internship with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a term-time internship with the Federal Defenders of New York, a 2L summer internship with the Federal Defenders of San Diego, and participating as a student advocate in the Civil Rights and Juvenile Defender clinics. As a research assistant for Vice Dean Rachel Barkow, Devin conducted research for an upcoming article on Supreme Court decisions that have lessened the moral and legal legitimacy of the judiciary. For his directed research with Professor Emma Kaufman, he drafted a student note about the potential usefulness of police consent decrees as a tool of abolition. Devin hopes to be a clerk, a public defender, a civil rights lawyer, and maybe one day a judge to support his guiding principle of creating a more just society.
Mac McMechan
Mac McMechan graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2010 with a major in Educational Studies and minors in Latin American Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. After graduation, they moved to New Orleans where they taught middle school science. At NYU Law, they are involved in student advocacy with the Disability Allied Law Students Association and Law Students for Economic Justice.
Nicole Mo
Nicole Mo is a third-year law student committed to an abolitionist framework for technology law and anti-surveillance advocacy. Originally from New Jersey, she graduated from Yale with a BA in Math & Philosophy. Before law school, Nicole spent a year as an editorial fellow in The Atlantic’s live journalism department. At NYU, Nicole has served as the vice president of Rights over Tech and the outreach co-chair of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association. Nicole was also a Fellow at NYU’s Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, where she focused on the intersection of race, technology, and the criminal legal system. She spent her 1L summer interning at the Electronic Privacy Information Center and her 2L summer in the Legal Aid Society’s Digital Forensics Unit. Nicole was previously a Student Advocate in the Technology Law and Policy Clinic, working under the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. She is also an articles editor on the NYU Law Review and a Furman Scholar.
Tanya Raja
Tanya Raja (she/her) is an immigrant and third-year law student who was born in India and mostly grew up in the Bay Area, California. She is passionate about advancing economic justice, immigrant rights, and racial justice. Tanya spent her 1L summer working at the New York Civil Liberties Union and interned at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice during her 2L summer. At NYU, she advocated for low-income tenants in New York City through the Legal Aid Society’s Housing Clinic. She is also a public interest co-chair of the South Asian Law Student Association, along with a board member of Law Students for Economic Justice and the Coalition for Law & Representation. Tanya is an editor for the NYU Law Review, a Dean’s Scholar, and a member of the Rose Sheinberg Committee. She enjoys going to concerts and watching movies with low Rotten Tomatoes scores.