Public Interest Resource Center Staff

Email: [email protected]

As Assistant Dean, Leah leads and coordinates much of the law school's public interest and social justice efforts. Before becoming Assistant Dean, she was the Director of Public Interest Student Engagement in PIRC, working closely with public interest students and student leaders of our pro bono projects. Before coming (back) to Fordham, Leah worked as a public defender at The Bronx Defenders for almost a decade. While at The Bronx Defenders, in addition to zealously representing clients, she created the Client Library to provide books to incarcerated and non-incarcerated clients and started an initiative to address solitary confinement. Leah will always be a public defender at heart. Leah received her law degree from Fordham Law School and her undergraduate degree from Cornell University. During her years at Fordham, Leah was a Stein Scholar and served as the president of two PIRC student organizations.

Leah is admitted to the Bar in New York and Connecticut.

Email: [email protected] 

As the Director of Public Interest Scholars and Fellowships, Angela works closely with student leaders and faculty directors to administer and support all aspects of the Stein Scholars Program. Previously, Angela was Deputy Director in the housing practice at Bronx Legal Services, where she advocated to prevent evictions and secure safe and affordable housing on behalf of low-income New Yorkers. During her time at Bronx Legal Services, she focused much of her litigation on rent overcharges and helped preserve rent stabilization protections for many Bronx tenants. She also regularly engaged with and mentored law students as a co-facilitator of the summer internship program.

Angela received her J.D. from the University of Nebraska College of Law and her B.A. in International Studies from the University of Utah. She is admitted to practice law in New York State and the Southern District of New York.

E-mail: [email protected]

Sofia Linarte is the Director of Engagement and Counseling at Fordham Law. Sofia works closely with law students, faculty, and the broader legal community to identify and support opportunities that connect students with enriching, experiential learning in the service of others. Sofia also provides students with individualized public interest career counseling and supports the exceptional work of PIRC's student-led organizations.

Prior to joining PIRC, Sofia was the Managing Attorney at Catholic Charities NYC’s Unaccompanied Children’s Program (“UCP”) where she led a team of 50 attorneys, case managers, and other legal professionals in annually helping thousands of young immigrants who were facing family separation, federal government detention, and deportation by providing pro bono know-your-rights presentations, legal screenings, and legal representation. Outside the courtroom, UCP welcomed recently-arrived young immigrants with educational and integration opportunities, social services, and community-building experiences. Sofia has practiced across various state and federal settings, and has extensive expertise in non-profit legal program management and in representing survivors of complex trauma.

Sofia earned her B.A. at Rice University and her J.D. at Fordham University School of Law. During law school, Sofia was a Stein Scholar, a Feerick Fellow, a New York Women’s Bar Association Foundation Fellow, served as president of two PIRC student organizations, and earned the Archibald R. Murray Public Service Award summa cum laude. 

Sofia is admitted to practice law in New York State and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 

E-mail: [email protected]

E-mail: [email protected]

Yaa is currently Deputy Counsel at the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals (while working with the Public Interest Resource Center part-time). Yaa was born in Kumasi, Ghana in West Africa and, after immigrating to the United States in grade school, grew up outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Yaa attended Brown University (class of 2010) where she obtained a dual degree in Africana Studies and Latin American Studies, with a focus on Brazil and the Afro-Lusophone world.

In between college and law school, Yaa worked in grade school education in Houston, Texas and served as a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs in St. Louis (2012-13). Yaa graduated from Columbia Law School in 2016, where she participated in and helped facilitate the student administration of the Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) and moot court, Black Law Students Association (BLSA), African Law Students Association, the Journal of Race and Law, and the Midwest Society.  Most notably, Yaa created a pro-bono caravan to Ferguson, Missouri for students to work with the Arch City Defenders during their spring break as part of the Midwest Society which still continues.

While in law school, Yaa interned with the Honorable Judge Robert Patterson (SDNY), the Criminal Division of EDNY's  prosecutorial office, and the honor's program at the Securities and Exchange Commission's NYC regional office. Yaa also served as a research assistant for the American Legal Institute's Family Law Restatement and spent the last semester of law school as an exchange student with La Sapienza in Rome, Italy.

Since embarking on a legal career, Yaa completed a fellowship with Koskoff, Koskoff, & Beider, a plaintiff's side litigation firm in Bridgeport, CT that represents the families of the Sandy Hook and Uvalde shooting victims in their claims against gun manufacturers. After that fellowship, Yaa was a tenants' rights attorney with Brooklyn Legal Service Corporation A and represented low income and rent-stabilized/controlled tenants in their claims against predatory landlords. Yaa has worked with the Board of Standards and Appeals since 2019, first as Assistant Counsel and now as Deputy Counsel. The Board of Standards and Appeals is the oldest land use and zoning board in the United States and sets the interpretative customs for the NYC Zoning Resolution, Multiple Dwelling Law, and NYS General City Law.

E-mail: [email protected]

Martha focuses on advising students on post-graduate fellowship development and applications. She is passionate about thinking creatively to fill unmet legal needs in the community.

Martha is currently an administrative law judge for Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) in the Rochester office (while working part-time with the Public Interest Resource Center). Prior to working in the Public Interest Resource Center, she worked as the Director of the Universal Access to Counsel Housing Unit at Bronx Legal Services. She worked to grow the housing unit as part of the rollout of New York City’s Right to Counsel Law. She also worked in eviction defense at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House in Manhattan and Bread for the City in Washington, D.C. Before that, she worked with law students at Rising for Justice (formerly D.C. Law Students in Court) in Washington D.C.

Martha received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her bachelor’s degree from SUNY Geneseo. She is admitted to the Bar in New York, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. 

Email: [email protected]

Adiaha Foglino is the Office Manager for The Public Interest Resource Center. She will be able to help with any administrative task you may need, such as helping with email accounts, student group space, and listing opportunities in PIRC UP!