NWJP could not function without our fabulous volunteers and law clerks. Currently, we are grateful to have support from Alec Finnell, Jennifer Reeger, Lola Loustaunau, and Kabita Parajuli. Despite the fact that our office is mostly closed, these folks are still working away with ongoing litigation efforts and have been incredibly helpful. Thanks team!
Alec Finnell was born and raised in Bakersfield, CA, and earned his BA in German Studies and paralegal certificate at UC Irvine (including a formative year abroad at Humboldt University, Berlin). He and his partner moved to Portland in 2016, drawn to its unique political culture and readily available vegetarian cuisine. Alec was drawn to the legal field through his passion for workers rights and labor movements, and works full-time as a Practice Assistant at Stoll Berne.
Jennifer Reeger: I’m currently a 3L at University of Oregon School of Law in the Portland Program. I graduate in less than 75 days, but who’s counting?! I plan to use my degree to serve underprivileged communities in the Pacific Northwest. I came to law school after spending some time volunteering with an anti-trafficking organization in Seattle. Originally hailing from Texas, I sometimes wear cowboy boots, and I’d wage all my money (remember - I’ve been in law school for 3 years, and my experience mostly includes volunteering at non-profits) on the superiority of breakfast tacos over breakfast burritos.
NWJP has been a great opportunity to get out of the classroom and learn about labor and employment law in a more direct manner. The team is supportive and welcoming, and I’m trying to figure out how I can convince them all to stay friends with me when my externship ends. I’ve had a great experience with a variety of work; however, most of the cases I work on are wage claims or workers’ compensation retaliation.
Lola Loustaunau grew up in Argentina and completed her BA in Political Science at the University of Buenos Aires in 2011. She worked for Argentina's federal government as a public policy analyst before moving to the United States in 2015 to pursue a Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Oregon. She worked as a research assistant for the Labor Education and Research Center at UO (2017-2019) and was a VP at Large for AFT-OR (2017-2019). Her current research focuses on working conditions among migrant women workers in the food sector, and their forms of individual and collective organization, particularly through legal claims.