2013 Summer Grant Recipients

The QLaw Foundation awarded two grants for the Summer of 2013: Jennifer Goldstein and Kelsey Ryland.

Jennifer Goldstein spent the summer of 2013 workingith L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center (LAGLC). Jen worked with four of the Center's main programs: a legal clinic for LGBT clients; the Domestic Violence Legal Advocacy Project; the Anti-Violence Project; and the Transgender Economic Empowerment Project

The Center runs a daily walk-in legal clinic. Clients tell there stories and the clinic works to connect clients with attorneys. Jen performed intake and assisted attorneys during their consultations with the clients. The opportunity to be involved with the consultations gave Jen insight into working with indigent members of the community and the unique and similar issues impacting low-income and indigent members of the LGBTQ community. Jen also had her own clients whom she accompanied to court during their domestic violence restraining order hearings after working with them to prepare their declaration and documents.

Jen also worked with with name and gender changes cases, helping clients overcome the challenges of making sure that their legal documentation matches their gender identity.

Jen describes the summer and opportunity, as "an unforgettable summer at the LAGLC and it would not have been possible without the support of the Q Law Foundation. Thank you all so so much!"

Jen was a student at the University of Washington. She is now a 2L at Georgetown University Law Center after spending my first year at the University of Washington. She hopes to use her law degree to make social change for the LGBT community, women, and communities of color. Before coming to law school, she spent five years in Washington, D.C. earning my B.A. in Women's Studies and her M.P.S. in Legislative Affairs.

Kelsey Ryland spent the summer of 2013 working with Legal Voice. Her time this summer was spent researching issues that are on the cutting edge of the law in order to identify areas where the women’s rights group Legal Voice could advocate for change, either through impact litigation or legislation. The challenge and joy of researching for impact cases is that the law is not always clear.

Kelsey appreciated that this challenged her to use the law in creative ways, to see areas where change can be made. One of the most rewarding projects she was able to work on this summer was a draft for the Washington judges’ manual that included information on the LGBTQ community and domestic violence.

As a former domestic violence advocate it was an honor for her to participate in a project that will help protect all people, gay or straight, who come before the courts seeking the resources to live free from violence in his or her intimate partnership.

In addition to her work on the judges’ manual and other projects that included research on the intersections of women’s rights and LGBTQ rights,

Kelsey Ryland is a rising 3L at Seattle University School of Law.

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