Office of Public Interest Counseling
Nurturing a lasting commitment to public service.
UCLA Law, one of the nation’s premier public law schools, has a proud tradition of public service. Through our rich and innovative academic and pro bono programs, our vibrant public interest community of faculty, administrators, students and alumni, our intellectual and programmatic ties to one of the foremost universities in the country, and our location in one of the most diverse and exciting cities in the world, we are committed to preparing the public interest lawyers and advocates of the future and nurturing in all of our students a public service ethic.
The Office of Public Interest Counseling offers career counseling and academic advising to students considering public interest careers. OPIC is available to work with any student or alum at UCLA Law, whether they are focusing on summer or other short-term opportunities or seeking advice on developing a long-term public interest careers. OPIC’s public interest career counselors have decades of experience in a wide range of public interest practice areas.
As part of UCLA Law’s Public Interest Law Programs, OPIC works closely with the Epstein Specialization Program in Public Interest Law and Policy to provide support to Epstein students and with the Judge Rand Schrader Pro Bono Program to foster a pro bono and public service ethos throughout UCLA Law’s community. OPIC also coordinates closely with the Office of Career Services, working together to support students and alumni in the many paths their careers may take.
OPIC activities include:
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Providing public interest career counseling, including support for resumes, cover letters, and other application materials, for students interested in public interest internships and/or postgraduate public interest employment;
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Providing academic advising for students interested in public interest careers;
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Hosting and sponsoring public interest career-related events and educational programs, including the Annual Southern California Public Interest/Public Sector Career Day in collaboration with a consortium of southern California law schools.
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Administering the Summer Public Interest Fellowship Program and sharing other resources on public interest financial support;
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Providing support for students applying to external post-grad fellowships, such as Skadden and Equal Justice Works;
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Administering UCLA Law’s post-grad fellowship program, in collaboration with partner organizations and UCLA Law’s centers and institutes;
Professional Staff
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Assistant Dean of Public Interest Law
Executive Director, David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and PolicyGrace Sung Ehn Meng is the Associate Dean of Public Interest Law and Executive Director of the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy, a unique specialization at UCLA Law that trains and mentors the next generation of public interest advocates. Before joining UCLA School of Law, Meng was at Human Rights Watch for over a decade as an associate director, researcher, and advocate in the U.S. Program. Her work at Human Rights Watch focused on immigrants’ rights and human rights in the U.S. broadly. Before Human Rights Watch, she was an associate attorney in the Law Offices of Claudia Slovinsky in New York, representing individuals in a wide range of immigration matters, and a Liman Fellow at Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, advocating for the rights of immigrant garment workers. Meng earned her B.A. in English from Yale College and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
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Associate Director, Office of Public Interest Counseling
Amaris Montes is the Associate Director of Public Interest Counseling. Prior to joining UCLA School of Law, Amaris spent five years doing trial and appellate litigation on behalf of incarcerated people in prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers. She most recently worked at the ACLU SoCal’s Criminal Justice and Police Practices team, doing litigation and advocacy on criminal justice issues in Southern California, including challenging police misconduct, misdemeanor plea mill systems, and assisting with local advocacy campaigns against police surveillance and sheriff oversight. Before her time at the ACLU SoCal, she worked at Rights Behind Bars, first as a Skadden Fellow and then as the Director of West Coast Litigation, where she led trial and appellate work in prisoner civil rights cases challenging conditions of confinement and abuse by prison officials. Amaris is also a Lecturer in Law and teaches the Prisoners’ Rights Clinic at UCLA School of Law with Professor Aaron Littman. Amaris received her B.A. in Anthropology and Rhetoric from UC Berkeley and her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where she held specializations in the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy and Critical Race Studies.
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Manager of Operations and Events
Jamie joined the Office of Public Interest Programs and David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy in August 2018 and has been with the UCLA School of Law since August 2016. In their current role, Jamie supports our mission of nurturing a public service ethic in our community through managing various events, initiatives, and programs. Jamie started their career with the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania after receiving their B.A. in Criminal Justice with minors in Spanish and Forensic Studies from LaSalle University in Philadelphia.
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Program and Communications Coordinator
Katerin Rosales is Program & Communication Coordinator for the Office of Public Interest Programs and David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy. She is a UCLA graduate who received her B. A. in Psychology and Chicano/a Studies and Central American Studies. She has background working at UCLA and volunteering with various public interest organizations. Previously, she was Project Manager for the UCLA Social Psychology Culture and Contact Lab. During her time as an undergraduate, she also served as an interpreter for the UCLA Law Immigrant Family Legal Clinic.
