Leading by Example: The 2022–2023 Davis Polk Leadership Fellows

Faculty Mentor: Colleen F. Shanahan, Clinical Professor of Law

The goal: Build an outreach organization that serves our unhoused neighbors in Morningside Heights and Harlem and connects them with legal resources.

The inspiration: Luke Cronin ’24 discovered the power of direct service work while serving in the Peace Corps and as a Fulbright Scholar and while working as an outreach counselor at the Pine Street Inn in Boston. He also learned that many people who are experiencing homelessness have a fear of the judicial system, which leads to a hesitancy to seek legal help. In addition to providing direct services, Cronin believes there is an opportunity to connect people with resources and to local advocacy organizations. He also hopes to use the fellowship to explore whether helping unhoused people seek legal resources is a tenable career path toward becoming a clinical professor. 

The project: Cronin plans to establish the Columbia Law School Legal Outreach Team (LOT) and work in conjunction with local community partners to support people experiencing homelessness. Volunteers will canvas Morningside Heights and Harlem offering material necessities and building rapport with the unhoused community in the area. Cronin’s long-term goal for LOT is to connect any unhoused individual experiencing legal issues with legal service providers. Having experienced housing insecurity himself, Cronin hopes to build a bridge between his peers at Columbia and unhoused people in the community. “I believe that by canvassing the neighborhood and drawing upon the institutional resources which Columbia offers, we can begin to make a meaningful impact on how our unhoused neighbors obtain justice,” he says.

Faculty Mentor: Conrad Johnson, Edward Ross Aranow Clinical Professor of Law

The goal: With Tobin Kassa ’25 (below)—develop programs to foster networking opportunities for lawyers from the Caribbean and Africa. 

The inspiration: As a first-generation immigrant from Jamaica, Dawchelle “Shelly” Hamilton ’25 has experience navigating the complexities and nuances of the American legal system. “Individuals identifying as African or Caribbean face compounded adversity when climbing career ladders, as they often neither check the box of being American nor being white,” says Hamilton. “This chasm is only exacerbated in law school, where this community is disproportionately underrepresented and their experiences are overlooked,” adds Kassa. To address this problem, Hamilton and Kassa hope to connect Caribbean and African lawyers in New York to “bridge gaps in the community, affirm their presence, and maintain traditions.”

The project: Hamilton and Kassa will host an event that connects Caribbean and African lawyers in New York and covers legal issues that Black-majority countries face. Topics may include the overrepresentation of Black migrants in deportation proceedings, the successful development of technological advances, and the consequential climate policy issues that impact the regions. They plan to invite law school students, Big Law attorneys, and public interest attorneys. Their ultimate goal is to create a sustainable space for African and Caribbean Black lawyers that will transcend their years with the fellowship and at Columbia Law School.

Faculty Mentor: Conrad Johnson, Edward Ross Aranow Clinical Professor of Law

The goal: With Dawchelle “Shelly” Hamilton ’25 (above)—develop programs to foster networking opportunities for lawyers from the Caribbean and Africa. 

The inspiration: As a first-generation immigrant from Ethiopia, Tobin Kassa ’25 has experience navigating the complexities and nuances of the American legal system. “Individuals identifying as African or Caribbean face compounded adversity when climbing career ladders, as they often neither check the box of being American nor being white,” says Hamilton. “This chasm is only exacerbated in law school, where this community is disproportionately underrepresented and their experiences are overlooked,” adds Kassa. To address this problem, Hamilton and Kassa hope to connect Caribbean and African lawyers in New York to “bridge gaps in the community, affirm their presence, and maintain traditions.”

The project: Hamilton and Kassa will host an event that connects Caribbean and African lawyers in New York and covers legal issues that Black-majority countries face. Topics may include the overrepresentation of Black migrants in deportation proceedings, the successful development of technological advances, and the consequential climate policy issues that impact the regions. They plan to invite law school students, Big Law attorneys, and public interest attorneys. Their ultimate goal is to create a sustainable space for African and Caribbean Black lawyers that will transcend their years with the fellowship and at Columbia Law School.

Faculty Mentor: Sarah M. Knuckey, Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann and Bernstein Clinical Professor of Human Rights

The goal: Create a digital platform of resources on the Yazidi genocide.

The inspiration: Yazidi lawyer Natia Navrouzov ’23 LL.M. worked in Iraq for four years as the first legal advocacy director of the NGO Yazda, which took ISIS militants to court who committed crimes of genocide against the Yazidi community. She also worked closely on transitional justice issues in Iraq with the Yazidi Survivors Network and the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL. Through this work, Navrouzov realized that the Yazidi community, especially survivors, did not receive accurate and timely information on transitional processes and initiatives in Iraq and globally. “Because of this lack of information, they are not able to fully participate in discussions about them and their community, and important decisions are made without them,” she says. 

The project: Navrouzov aims to create a platform that provides resources on the Yazidi genocide to remedy this issue and ensure that Yazidi survivors are fully empowered. This platform will be designed and implemented with the help of survivors and will serve as a tool for them to use to obtain the information they need to advocate for their community. The platform will also be a resource for Columbia Law students to learn more about the Yazidi genocide and how they can work on related issues. She aims to launch the first version of the platform this year and to organize a conference to raise further awareness on the Yazidi genocide in the Law School community.

Faculty Mentor: Ronald Mann, Albert E. Cinelli Enterprise Professor of Law

The goal: Establish the Columbia Law Blockchain Club and create governance standards for blockchain-based organizations.

The inspiration: As a researcher in the areas of fintech and crypto regulation and as an attorney working in data protection, crypto, and cybersecurity, Ido Sadeh ’23 LL.M. identified that one of the most undertheorized and understudied areas in the crypto industry is blockchain governance. “Blockchain-based organizations are evolving at an extraordinary pace and are gradually capturing a sizable market share in our financial markets,” he says. “Yet we know very little about their underlying governance mechanisms.” This lack of understanding has given rise to significant governance failures, Sadeh says, which resulted in substantial losses for investors. 

The project: Sadeh founded the Columbia Law Blockchain Club with the goal of educating Law School students about blockchain and cryptocurrencies and their interactions with the law. The club hosts events involving practitioners, academics, and lawyers to discuss legal challenges relating to crypto activities. In addition, he is working in partnership with nonprofit organizations on the creation of governance standards for blockchain-based organizations.

Faculty Mentor: Jane M. Spinak, Edward Ross Aranow Clinical Professor Emerita of Law

The goal: Partner with Artists Reaching Out (ARO) to send Law School students to develop and teach a holistic arts curriculum at a Harlem community center and host a recital at the end of the program. 

The inspiration: Growing up, Amanda Wang ’25 learned how to express herself through the arts—ballet, piano, creative writing classes. Later, she realized what a privilege that was and how many children are deprived of the same opportunity. “I hope to provide the children in our classroom an initial curiosity and exposure to the arts, revealing how such creative expression can be implemented in their daily lives to celebrate the highs, cope with the lows, and find joy in the company of themselves,” she says. Wang also sees an opportunity to allow Columbia Law students to give back to the community and remind themselves of the importance of their own creative expression that has shaped who they are today.

The project: Wang’s project—inspired by the weekly dance class she taught at the Boys and Girls Club throughout high school—features a partnership with ARO, which brings students from across Columbia to local community centers. Columbia students will develop and teach an arts curriculum to students in grades six through eight each week, including sessions in dance, theater, improvisation, and poetry. Wang hopes this collaboration with ARO will continue in subsequent years.