Emily Berger: Equal Justice Works Fellowship Recipient, Rutgers School of Law-Newark, Newark, NJ
By Rebecca Unzicker
A stint during college as co-host of a sexuality talk radio show was the beginning of a journey for Emily Berger that led her to law school and to being awarded an Equal Justice Works Fellowship in January. Called Sex Positions, the show explored platforms on issues including sexuality and gender.
"I spoke to sex educators who had been crippled by the government's abstinence-only policy and realized that for me to do the work I needed to do, I needed to work within law and policy rather than merely be at its mercy," Berger said.
Determined to become a reproductive-rights attorney, Berger enrolled at Rutgers-Newark because of its commitment to public interest, strong clinical program, and affordable tuition. She founded the Rutgers-Newark Law Students for Choice chapter during her first year. After completing an internship with National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Berger expanded her areas of interest to include issues surrounding poverty and race. Rooted in a passion to help the underrepresented in society, Berger's project will combine legal representation, advocacy, and community education for children leaving the foster care system due to age.
Having a history of advocating for the reproductive rights of women, Berger now wants to provide a full range of legal and social services to teens transitioning out of foster care to help them lead empowered lives.
"I interned with Lynn Paltrow at National Advocates for Pregnant Women my first summer," Berger said, "and became more knowledgeable about issues surrounding poverty and race, as well as expanded my understanding of what 'reproductive rights' really means."
"The next year, I began working with teen moms in foster care for my social work internship, and the shift in my focus from reproductive rights to foster care policy and advocacy evolved really naturally. Now, with my Equal Justice Fellowship, I will provide a full range of legal and social services to teens transitioning out of foster care to help them lead more empowered lives, which is what advocating for reproductive rights always meant to me in the first place."
Having grown up in a privileged home in West Los Angeles, Berger is an unlikely candidate to identify with the underdog. Her earliest awareness of social injustice developed when she was somewhat ostracized by her exclusive private school classmates because her family did not own a plethora of cell phones and did not even have a home computer.
"I think that being made to feel as though I was less than, even though I was still in a privileged position within the larger society, helped develop my social consciousness," Berger said.
The Equal Justice Works Fellowship program, the nation's largest postgraduate legal fellowship program, places new lawyers from law schools across the country in two-year assignments at public-interest organizations. In September, Berger will implement her project as a fellow of the Alliance for Children's Rights in Los Angeles.
What Berger enjoys most about the study of law is studying how the law has changed over the years.
"It was not so long ago that interracial marriages were illegal, that women did not have the right to choose their reproductive futures, and that one could break the law purely because of his or her sexuality," Berger said.
"We still have a long way to go before everyone is treated equally under the law, but studying how legal activists enacted change is both inspiring and educational."
Q.
What do you do for fun?
A.
For fun, I spend time with my friends, my fiancé, Franklin, and my cat, Captain Salvatore Valentine. I go to music shows. I'm going to sound like a big dork, but Franklin and I have been playing a lot of Scrabble recently. (I think he's won once.) One of my friends and I are currently working on a nonfiction book about the commercialization of the wedding industry, which is lots of fun!
Q.
What is your family like?
A.
I won the lottery when I got my family. We are all very close, and my family is the number-one reason why I am moving back to L.A. after a 10-year hiatus. My sister, Sara, just had a baby, Emma, who is the most beautiful, most intelligent baby ever born. And my parents are both incredibly supportive—and always have been—of my activism. My parents are also very open-minded. When I met them, they were pro-death penalty and anti-affirmative action, but after talking to me for the last 10 years, both have since seen the light.
Q.
What is in your CD player right now?
A.
The music in heaviest rotation right now is Neko Case, The Shins, Johnny Cash, a mix that Franklin made me, and a CD of my friend Dave Richman's country band, Lincoln's Bedroom.
Q.
What is the last movie you saw?
A.
The last movie I saw was Pan's Labyrinth. I thought it should have been nominated for every possible Oscar imaginable.
Q.
What is your favorite movie? Why?
A.
My favorite movie is Defending Your Life. It's an older Albert Brooks movie about defending your life after you've died. If you can show that you led a worthwhile, courageous life, you progress to the next stage of existence, but if you can't—if instead you lived your life in fear of failure and rejection—you get sent back to earth to do it all over again. I saw this movie when I was in grade school, and it affected me in a very profound way. Maybe it was just the stage of life I was going through when I saw it, but it just made so much sense to me. I really do strive to live my life as if I'll have to defend my choices at the end of the day.
Q.
What do you do to relax?
A.
I sleep! And I read voraciously. There are few things I find as relaxing as reading a book with a purring cat next to me.
Q.
If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why?
A.
I've been dying to go to Thailand and India. I have only traveled in Western Europe and would like to see more of the world. I have heard wonderful things about both Thailand and India and think that I'll have a really fantastic adventure once I get to both places.
Q.
What is your favorite law school memory?
A.
My favorite law school memory is when five Rutgers faculty members took an hour out of their day to grill me in a simulation of what an Equal Justice interview would look like. It was even scarier than my real interviews because I knew I'd have to see them again, but it absolutely improved my interviewing skills. I cannot thank Rutgers Law School enough for providing me with such amazing opportunities to succeed in my chosen career. At every turn, I have felt supported by the law school faculty and administration.
Berger and her family
After law school, Berger would like to establish a comprehensive community organization that provides a full range of services for youth between the ages of 12 and 21. She is also interested in working at the government level to improve foster care policy.
"An enormous percentage of homeless youth in America are former foster youth, and I believe this is a tremendous waste," Berger said. "These youth have so much potential but are given less than a decent chance to survive and thrive."
Berger, who holds a B.A. from Barnard College, will receive a J.D. and an M.S.W. from Rutgers in May. She is an editor of the Rutgers Race and the Law Review. In addition to keeping up with her studies and projects, Berger mentors adolescent girls through Girls Write Now, a nonprofit group that pairs adult women writers with teen girls in New York City public high schools who are interested in writing.
"High school is a difficult time for many girls, and Girls Write Now provides both a safe haven and a support network," Berger said. "We help these girls find their voices, express themselves through writing, and create strong communities of women at a time when many of them are questioning their capabilities."
I found a job through your site! With all the jobs posted on the site, it'd be hard not to! Erin
Facts
LawCrossing Fact #205: Our map search option allows users to examine all of the jobs currently available in a particular state.
Enjoyed reading this article? Click here to sign up for News Wire, our weekly newsletter, and you'll receive articles just like this right in your inbox.
Enter your email address and start getting breaking law firm and legal news right now!
Description:
Chicago office seeks associate with 5+ years of experience to join the General Litigation practice group. "This is a large, prestigious full service firm based in Chicago, with offices in two of the major cities in the East Coast and the Midwest. Its strong suit is handling corporate and finance, litigation, intellectual property, trusts & estates, product liability, real estate, environmental, tax, labor and employment and construction matters. The firm has an interesting ...
Why Try LawCrossing Now?
