Richey Fellows Program

The purpose of the Richey Fellows Program is to bring mid-career public interest lawyers to the GW Law campus as a resource for students considering non-profit or public sector legal careers. The program is named in honor of the Hon. Charles R. Richey of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and its funding has been provided by his law clerks and friends. Each semester, three distinguished attorneys from a broad range of public interest and public sector practice areas will be invited to provide diverse perspectives about their careers for the benefit of GW Law students. Richey Fellows will be selected from a wide variety of practice areas, including criminal and civil direct legal services, law reform litigation, and public and non-profit regulatory and policy practice.

Program Overview

Expectations

Each Richey Fellow spends three days on the GW Law campus. Fellows participate in a large GW Law community event, typically a Fireside Chat, coordinated by the Public Interest and Public Service Law Center. In addition, fellows meet with small groups of students and interested faculty over lunch and dinner. If circumstances allow, there may also be an opportunity for fellows to speak in classes addressing subject areas within their expertise. Each fellow receives a $1,500 stipend in addition to having their travel and related expenses reimbursed.

Selection Criteria

This program selects attorneys with approximately 10-15 years of experience to ensure that they are both well-established in their respective fields and able to relate to law students. We select from a wide range of practice areas, employer types, and career paths to provide a comprehensive overview of careers in the public interest landscape.

Timeline

The Richey Fellows Program application is now available. You may submit an application on your own behalf or nominate a public interest law career professional who meets the above criteria. To nominate someone, please provide their name and email to the Public Interest and Public Service Law Center at publicinterestlaw [dot] gwu [dot] edu.

The application process will close on May 31, 2026. The selection committee, consisting of faculty, senior staff, and three students, will review the applications and make final selections for the entire following academic year by mid-June. The chosen fellows will be notified by the end of June, and the dates of their visits will be determined by mutual agreement.

2026 Application and Selection

Process	Date
Application Opens	Monday, April 13
Application Closes	Sunday, May 31
Application Screening	Monday, June 1 - Friday, June 5
Selection Committee Meets to Review Applications	Monday, June 8 - Friday, June 19 (date TBD based on committee availability)
Final Decision Made By	Friday, June 19
Fellows Notified	Tuesday, June 23
Publicize Fellows (after confirmation)	Monday, July 20
Schedule Posted By	Monday, August 10

Academic Year 2026-27 Fellows

Fall 2026

Phylicia H. Hill

Director of Impact Litigation, Legal Aid DC

Visit: September 14 - 16, 2026
Community Event: Topic TBD | September 14

Schedule a One-on-One Advising Appointment

Phylicia H. Hill is the Director of Impact Litigation at Legal Aid DC, where she spearheads the organization's Impact Litigation, using affirmative litigation to challenge systemic inequities affecting low-income District residents. Before joining Legal Aid DC, she served as Counsel in the Criminal Justice and Economic Justice Projects at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, litigating cases involving employment discrimination, racially biased policing, and conditions of confinement. She also established the Records Assistance Program, providing pro bono legal services to help individuals seal, expunge, or correct criminal records, and coordinated amicus briefs in three landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases.

Previously, Phylicia was a Senior Trial Attorney and Gideon’s Promise Fellow at the Office of the Public Defender in Montgomery, Alabama, where she practiced holistic, client-centered defense. She holds degrees from The George Washington Law School, Auburn University, and Florida A&M University.

Ask Her About:

[List coming soon.]

Bradley Girard

Senior Counsel, Democracy Forward

Visit: October 20 - 22, 2026
Community Event: Topic TBD | October 20

Schedule a One-on-One Advising Appointment

Bradley Girard (Senior Counsel, Democracy Forward) is a public-interest impact litigator who practices in all levels of state and federal courts, with a focus on the federal courts of appeals and Supreme Court. 

After graduating from Georgetown Law, Bradley clerked for the Honorable Neal Kravitz on the D.C. Superior Court and on the Sixth Circuit for the Honorable Martha Craig Daughtrey. Bradley also served for two years as the clinical-teaching fellow at Georgetown’s Appellate Courts Immersion Clinic, teaching students public-interest appellate litigation. Bradley was a constitutional-litigation fellow at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and later returned to litigate cutting-edge First Amendment cases. During law school, Bradley worked at Gupta Wessler, Public Justice, Mehri & Skalet, and the D.C. District Court.

Bradley served as a 2023-24 Georgetown Law Blume Public Interest Leader in Residence and a 2024-25 Harvard Law School Wasserstein Fellow. He is on the Advisory Board of the People’s Parity Project.

Ask Him About:

[List coming soon.]

Joanne Lin

Executive Director, Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs

Visit: November 2 - 4, 2026
Community Event: Topic TBD | November 2

Schedule a One-on-One Advising Appointment

Joanne Lin has served as Executive Director of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs since April 2023. She brings over 25 years of experience in public interest law, national policy advocacy, and nonprofit organizational leadership.

Joanne has deep expertise in immigrant justice, civil rights, women’s rights and human rights. A battle-tested crisis manager, Joanne has successfully led litigators and advocates fighting for economic and racial justice at the local, regional, national and international levels.

Joanne previously directed the Advocacy and Government Affairs program at Amnesty International USA, focusing on refugee protection and human rights. She also spent a decade at the American Civil Liberties Union leading national policy advocacy on immigration and civil rights. Earlier in her career, Joanne specialized in representing survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault — first at legal aid and then at a national women’s rights organization.

Joanne has been consistently recognized for her significant achievements in public interest law. She received a 2025 NYU Law School distinguished alumni award from the Law Alumni of Color Association. In 2021 Joanne received the Women’s Leadership Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. She was also named a top grassroots association lobbyist by The Hill for four consecutive years.

Joanne is a graduate of NYU School of Law (JD), Stanford School of Education (MA), and Stanford University (BA).

Ask Her About:

[List coming soon.]

Spring 2027

Antonio Ingram

Senior Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Visit: February 9 - 11, 2027
Community Event: Topic TBD | February 9

Schedule a One-on-One Advising Appointment

Antonio Lavalle Ingram II serves as Senior Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund where he works on educational equity cases in the south. He is a graduate of Yale College and UC Berkeley School of Law. He worked as a litigation associate at Morrison & Foerster and Boies Schiller Flexner and previously served as a federal judicial law clerk for the honorable Ivan L. Lemelle in the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana and for Chief Judge Roger L. Gregory for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. He also completed a Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship in Malawi where he worked for the Malawian government and served in their Anti-Corruption Bureau.

He has previously served as a Blume Public Interest Leader in Residence and Visiting Lecturer at the Georgetown Law Center and a Racial Justice Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.

Ask Him About:

[List coming soon.]

Suzanne Summerlin

General Counsel, Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Fund

Visit: February 22 - 24, 2027
Community Event: Topic TBD | February 22

Schedule a One-on-One Advising Appointment

Suzanne Summerlin is a labor attorney who represents unions in litigation, at the bargaining table, and in internal governance matters including elections, ethics, and compliance. In 2023, President Biden nominated her to serve as General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

Since 2025, she has also served as General Counsel of Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Network, founded on the recognition that there are not enough expert attorneys available to help federal workers facing unprecedented attacks on the civil service. At Rise Up, she helped develop and launch a training program for a corps of 100 volunteer attorneys to provide free legal help to federal workers.

She maintains a solo law practice, Summerlin Labor Strategies. A 2013 graduate of the University of Florida Levin College of Law, she is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Maryland.

Ask Her About:

[List coming soon.]

William Most

Attorney, Most & Associates

Visit: March 29 - 31, 2027
Community Event: Topic TBD | March 29

Schedule a One-on-One Advising Appointment

Attorney William Most graduated from Harvard College in 2005, began law school at GW Law in 2009, and then transferred and obtained a law degree from the U.C. Berkeley School of Law in 2011.

He practiced at the California law firm of Briscoe Ivester & Bazel LLP before moving to New Orleans in 2014. His firm, Most & Associates, is the largest for-profit civil rights organization in Louisiana, and his practice consists primarily of plaintiff-side police misconduct, employment discrimination, First Amendment, prisoners’ rights, whistleblower, voting rights, environmental, class action, and other litigation.

Mr. Most has testified before the state legislature, made hundreds of media appearances, and frequently presents on a range of civil rights and litigation topics.

Prior to a career in law, Mr. Most was a fisheries biologist.

Ask Him About:

[List coming soon.]

Specifications & Responsibilities

The Richey Fellows Program seeks applicants who are both well-established in their fields and can relate to law students seeking information about career choices.

Application & Instructions

Applications for the Richey Fellows Program are due by May 31, 2026.