Tessa Pulaski, JD ’21, was named as a legal fellow with Farmworker Justice, a national nonprofit focused on empowering migrant and seasonal farmworkers.
Farmworker Justice partners with farmworkers and farmworker organizations to provide legal advocacy, policy analysis, training, and technical assistance to farm labor unions, farmworker organizations, and related organizations. Farmworker Justice envisions ending labor discrimination against farmworkers and improving enforcement of workplace laws to create safer working conditions.
The organization’s priorities also include promoting higher wages and increasing access to high- quality health and job safety information, as well as advocating for comprehensive immigration reform.
As a legal fellow, Ms. Pulaski looks forward to engaging in work that combines her skills and passion. “I hope to work at the intersection of climate change, food systems, and migration through research, policy advocacy, and direct representation of clients,” Ms. Pulaski said.
“Serving as a legal fellow at Farmworker Justice, the national leader in farmworker rights, I hope to bring my research experience with policy protections for farmworkers from heat exposure and pesticide exposure to bolster the organization's critical work. Just this past month, a farmworker died during the heatwave in Oregon,” she said.
Ms. Pulaski brings a rich array of prior professional experience to her role. At GW Law, Ms. Pulaski served as a student attorney in the GW Law Immigration Clinic and externed at Human Rights First in the Refugee Representation program. During her 1L summer, she interned at Jesuit Refugee Services’ International Office in Rome, Italy, and participated in the GW-Oxford program in International Human Rights Law in Oxford, England.
Before attending law school, Ms. Pulaski graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where she studied Science, Technology and International Affairs. She previously worked with Catholic Relief Services’ Advocacy Team, focusing primarily on food security and migration issues.
She also worked for Vermont Law School’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems and contributed to a report on state policy protections for farmworkers from pesticide exposure and heat exposure.