Student Advisory Board
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Diego Alcala
Diego Alcalá Laboy graduated from the Inter-American University School of Law in 2005. After passing the bar exam, he was recruited to work for the largest Public Defender's Office in Puerto Rico. As a P.D. he has represented over 250 clients at trial level. Diego was also an Adjunct Professor at the Inter-American University's Criminal Law Clinic, supervising students and representing indigent clients in criminal cases. In this capacity, he assisted students in developing effective cross-examination techniques and discussed trial strategy. Diego serves as a volunteer at the Puerto Rican Coalition Against the Death Penalty, an organization that advocates the abolition of the death penalty. He has advocated against the Department of Justice's policy of requesting the death penalty in Puerto Rico, a punishment banned by the PR Constitution. He recently received his LL.M. with a specialization in Human Rights, while interning at the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. His legal interests include detentions, prisoner rights, and due process rights in criminal cases.
Eric Leveridge
Eric Leveridge is a second-year J.D. student. He received a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. As an undergraduate he worked as a peer facilitator for PAVE (Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment), a sexual assault awareness and prevention group. At WCL, he has served as Co-Chair of the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, Co-Founder of Student Activists for Katrina/Rita Survivors, and an at-large SBA Senator. He has also served as a Dean’s Fellow at the War Crimes Research Office and the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, and participated in the Pace Law School International Criminal Court Moot Competition. The summer after his 1L year he studied abroad in The Hague and was a summer associate at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, where he did research in the field of international criminal law.
Erica Lounsberry
Erica Lounsberry is a second year student and Mussey-Gillett Fellow at American University Washington College of Law. During her time at WCL, Erica has gotten involved as vice-chair of the Immigrants' Rights Coalition's Trafficking and Labor Committee, a member of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Student Advisory Board, and a cast remember of the 2009 Law Revue. She has also worked as an intern at the Tahirih Justice Center, helping immigrant women and girls fleeing violence; a Dean's Fellow for Professor Jamie Abrams; a Legal Rhetoric Classroom Dean's Fellow; and a legal intern at the Department of Justice, Criminal Division, in the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training (OPDAT). Prior to law school, Erica graduated summa cum laude from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2004 with a B.S. in Intercultural Studies. After completing her undergraduate studies, Erica spent one year teaching English in Vietnam, one year teaching middle school in Wisconsin, and one year working against the commercial sexual exploitation of children with the International Justice Mission in Cambodia.
Sarah Melikian
After graduating from Georgetown with degrees in Art History and French, Sarah founded a volunteer teaching program in Mauritius for Learning Enterprises, a DC-based nonprofit.While there, she met the displaced people of Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago, which led to work producing a documentary film.She has since consulted at Stop Trafficking of People in New York, as well as worked in public affairs and as a film consultant for Population Services International (PSI), a social marketing and health communication nonprofit.At WCL, Sarah is a student attorney with the UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic, on the staff of American University Law Review, a Dean's Fellow for Professor Rick Wilson, and a member of the Public Interest Student Coalition. During her 1L year, she participated in Alternative Winter Break in New Orleans, and is currently interning at Human Rights Watch.
Allison Sherrier
Allison Sherrier graduated from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville where she studied English and Biology. After graduating in 2004, she moved to Washington, DC and explored a career in human resources for three years. During this time, she began volunteering at the Calvary Women's Shelter in DC and became acutely interested in working in women's rights. She chose American University for its strong International Law and Gender Law programs. In Fall 2007, she worked with the Center to organize an Experiential Learning Project on Homelessness and the Law. In her first year, she is volunteered with Women Empowered against Violence (WEAVE) and attended the Summer in the Hague Program. In addition, at WCL Allison is on the boardof the Women's Law Association and is a member of the American University International Law Review.
Madhuri (Madhu) Singh
Madhuri (Madhu) Singh received her BBA in 2006 from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, and minored in Political Science. While an undergraduate, she co-founded the South Asian Progressive Alliance, which focused on a campaign to raise awareness about domestic violence in the South Asian community. She was heavily involved in corporate social responsibility/labor rights, civil rights, and issues related to race and ethnicity, through her work as a Minority Peer Advisor in the residence halls, and with student organizations that included the Students of Color Coalition and the South Asian Awareness Network. Prior to starting law school, she was an intern for Senator Evan Bayh and Congressman Joe Crowley, worked as a consultant for a Detroit non-profit, and traveled to India to study the impact of globalization on local artisans and later to raise awareness about tobacco use. After graduating from Michigan, she worked with Campus Progress, the youth organizing division of the Center for American Progress. She also spent her 1L year working with Campus Progress as a Civil Rights Organizer. At WCL, she is involved with Moot Court, Law Review, and the South Asian Law Students' Association. Madhu worked as a legal intern for the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section and is an intern for Judge Emmet Sullivan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.