Introducing Northwestern Pritzker Law’s 2024 Post-Graduate Fellows

Five recent Northwestern Pritzker School of Law graduates received Northwestern Law post-graduate fellowships this year to support their work addressing issues such as economic justice, education equity, voting rights, gender-based violence, and prisoners’ rights.

The Law School awards fellows $50,000, plus medical insurance coverage, to support one year of full-time service as lawyers at a nonprofit or government agency to facilitate the start of their public interest careers. Post-graduate fellows have gone on to work for public defenders, legal aid clinics, district attorneys’ offices, and nonprofit organizations like the ACLU and the Environmental Law and Policy Center.

“We are thrilled to support this incredible group of fellows who are committed to improving access to justice and making our legal system fairer,” says Leah Gould, Assistant Dean of Public Interest and Director of the Public Interest Center at Northwestern Pritzker Law. “These dedicated graduates are bringing a tremendous amount of talent and passion to serve their communities as public interest attorneys. I am confident that, with the skills they have honed throughout law school, they will be gifted advocates and advance the missions of their respective organizations.”

Nia Crosley (Ascend Justice)

Nia Crosley (JD’ 24) attended law school after teaching 8th-grade US history for six years in Houston, Texas. During her 1L summer, Nia worked in civil rights litigation and became interested in women’s experiences with state violence. Nia volunteered with the Women’s Justice Institute (WJI) and Ascend Justice in her 2L year. She continued to work with the criminalized survivor network throughout her time at Northwestern Pritzker Law. Nia interned at Chicago’s Domestic Violence Court during her 2L summer. She worked with the Bluhm Legal Clinic on investor protection cases, including an ongoing issue involving annuities twisting. Nia was also the Managing Online Editor of Northwestern’s Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, for which she solicited several pieces written by Black practitioners in the field of criminal law, as well as a currently incarcerated criminalized survivor (publication forthcoming). As a fellow, Nia will be working with Ascend Justice’s Economic Justice Project, assisting criminalized survivors with a range of economic issues, including identity theft, tax fraud, and employment claims.

Christian Flowers (https://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/)

Christian Flowers (JD ’24) has been committed to public interest work since before his admission to Northwestern Law. Between college and law school, Christian regularly volunteered with the City Rescue Mission in Jacksonville, Florida, an organization dedicated to rehabilitating people experiencing homelessness in Jacksonville. During his 2L year, Christian enrolled with Bluhm Legal Clinic’s MacArthur Justice Center, working substantially in prisoners’ rights litigation. During his 3L year, he further enrolled in the Complex Litigation Clinic, through which he defended an indigent client at trial who faced litigation from a major credit card company. As a fellow, Christian will be joining the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, applying those litigation skills to serve the people of Illinois.

Rachel Ensign Habliston (Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law)

Rachel Ensign Habliston (JD ’24) has dedicated her legal career to public interest law, working with institutions such as the MacArthur Justice Center, Ascend Justice, Legal Aid Chicago, the Children and Family Justice Center, and the James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy. Her experience includes legal research, client communication, and drafting documents to support low-income clients facing severe legal challenges. She has also volunteered extensively with the Northwestern Prison Education Program and the International Refugee Assistance Program. Recognized by the David S. Ruder Prize and the ABA Pro Bono Honor Roll, Rachel has served on the Public Interest Law Group boards and the Student Effort to Rejuvenate Volunteering and contributed to the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. She will begin a fellowship with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, focusing on education equity, community development, and voting rights.

Amira Guy (Center for Justice and Accountability)

Before law school, Amira Guy (JD ’24) worked with advocates seeking to eradicate commercial sexual exploitation, which ignited her passion for human rights litigation. During her 2L fall semester, she worked full time with the Department of Justice Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section. At Northwestern, Amira served as the editor-in-chief for the Journal of Human Rights and worked with the Clinic of International Human Rights Advocacy Clinic. A After graduation, she will be working with the Center for Justice Accountability as a fellow, focusing on human rights prosecution and documenting atrocity crimes, including acts of genocide, war crimes, and sexual and gender-based violence. Overall, she seeks to hold human rights abusers accountable for their crimes while prioritizing trauma-informed care and transitional justice.

Marcus Owens (Uptown People’s Law Center)

As an undergraduate, Marcus Owens (JD ’24) discovered a passion for social justice and public interest law, pivoting from an economics focus to social sciences, political science, and legal studies. Intrigued by the history, strategy, and the logistics of social justice work and public interest law, he pursued a JD at Northwestern. As part of the Public Interest Law Group and Northwestern Prison Education Program, Owens helped organize community events, held space with fellow classmates and volunteers, and served on a student hiring committee. He gained hands-on experience through internships at the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee and the Uptown People’s Law Center (UPLC), focusing on housing rights, community engagement, large-impact prisoners’ litigation, and civil rights cases. His participation in the Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic deepened his commitment to community lawyering and prisoner’s rights. Owens aims to empower marginalized communities through legal aid and mutual aid organizing and will join UPLC as a staff attorney, focusing on incarcerated and previously incarcerated individuals through the Social Security In-Reach project and ongoing prisoners’ rights litigation.