Maria Bee, a NCYL law clerk in the 1990s, is now Chief of Victim Services in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, providing support and advocacy to victims and witnesses of crime. She joined the San Francisco DA’s office in 1996.

Former NCYL law clerks Brian Blalock and Lauren Brady were married over Labor Day weekend in Boston, MA. Brian, a summer law clerk in 2006, is now a Skadden Fellow at Bay Area Legal Aid in Oakland, CA. Lauren, who clerked for NCYL in fall 2005, is a staff attorney at Legal Services for Children in San Francisco, CA. After their wedding, the pair attended two Red Sox games at Fenway Park, and the Red Sox won both games!

Former NCYL law clerk Nancy Doig has joined Greenberg Traurig as an associate in the litigation practice, moving from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan.  Nancy’s business litigation practice focuses on writs and appeals and representing clients in civil litigation, employment law actions, trade secrets, probate, and energy law issues.  

Former NCYL law clerk Johanna Hartwig has left her job at Morrison & Forester  to accept a clerkship with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.  Johanna will be clerking for at least two years for Judge M. Margaret McKeown in San Diego.  

Tia Martinez is now working at The Bridgespan Group in San Francisco.  Tia worked as a research assistant with Abigail English and Catherine Teare in the early1990’s.  After leaving NCYL and finishing her undergraduate degree at Harvard, Tia went to law school at Stanford and got a masters in public policy from the Goldman School at UC Berkeley.  She worked at the Hewlett Foundation and for Mayor Willie Brown in San Francisco. Bridgespan is currently helping the National Center for Youth Law with strategic planning, and Tia is participating in Bridgespan’s efforts on NCYL’s behalf.
 
Clifford Rechtschaffen, a NCYL law clerk in 1998-99, is serving as special assistant to California Attorney General Jerry Brown. Rechtschaffen has taken a leave from his job as a professor at Golden Gate University School of Law, where he teaches environmental law and policy.

Oren Sellstrom, a NCYL law clerk in 1991, is currently serving as interim Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR) of the San Francisco Bay Area. He has been the organization’s Associate Director since 2005.  Sellstrom, who joined LCCR as a staff attorney in 1997, recently received the Eviction Defense Collaborative’s 2008 Advocate Award. He also received the 2008 Champions of Justice Award from Central California Legal Services, along with the rest of the team working on Kincaid v. Fresno, a class action to stop Fresno’s practice of seizing and destroying the property of homeless men and women. The team recently settled the case for $2.3 millon and court-monitored injunctive relief. Sellstrom litigates poverty and race cases, and provides legal counsel to community groups advocating for social justice. He and his partner are the proud parents of a 2-year-old boy, Elder.

Catherine Teare and long-time partner, Chris Lahey, were married on October 8 at San Francisco City Hall. Their two daughters, Frannie and Sadie, served as flower girls and ring bearers. After the ceremony, they all “headed off to see the penguins and alligators at the fabulous new Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, where we can also recommend the pho.” Catherine writes: “After twelve years, four dogs, three houses, two children, a remodel ... after all the joys, losses, arguments, promises, hospital visits, leaps of faith, travel, and did I mention the remodel? ... saying marriage vows before the state seems almost silly. And yet I am deeply glad and grateful that we have the opportunity to marry, which is as it should be.” The couple ask that in lieu of gifts, contributions be made to the campaign against Proposition 8, which would undo the California Supreme Court's May decision, amending the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage. 

Trina Thompson, a NCYL law clerk in the 1980s, is a now a Superior Court Judge in Alameda County. Trina presides over felony and misdemeanor jury trials, and civil case management and settlement conferences. Trina was the first African-American woman elected to the Superior Court in Alameda County.  She was sworn in January 2003. Trina is also training to resume her illustrious career as a track star.

Former NCYL intern Janae Torrez is a public defender in Compton, CA, working on felonies.

Sarah Woodward, a former Skadden fellow at NCYL, recently began a one-year clerkship with Judge Helene White, who is newly confirmed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Detroit, Michigan.