Students Spend Spring Break in the Navajo Nation
March 27, 2018
Six American University Washington College of Law students spent a week in Window Rock, Arizona, the capital of the Navajo Nation, on an Alternative Spring Break trip organized by the law school's student organization Action for Human Rights. The students completed weeklong internships at government and non-government organizations, giving them the opportunity to learn about the legal issues facing the Navajo population and research Navajo jurisprudence and legislation.
3L Karina Wegman, along with 2Ls Dalya Kefi and Audrey Mulholland were placed at the Navajo Nation Supreme Court, where they wrote bench memoranda for Chief Justice JoAnn Jayne. 2L Chelsea Lalancette was placed at the Navajo Nation Department of Justice, where she wrote legal memoranda to support community economic development projects and ongoing litigation for Attorney General Ethel Branch. 3Ls Kaori Flores and Bridget Lynn were placed at DNA Legal Services, where they served clients seeking civil legal services.
This is the ninth year that AUWCL has sent students to the Navajo Nation for Alternative Spring Break. Past participants include Adjua Adjei-Danso ’16 and Lillian Schwales ’16, who now both work as Economic and Community Development Attorneys at Navajo Nation Department of Justice, and Mariah McKay ’16, whose first job on the reservation was with DNA-Peoples Legal Services and who now is an Assistant District Attorney in Farmington, New Mexico.
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