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    Fearless Children's Lawyer of the Month

    Every day, lawyers across the United States represent children in a variety of legal matters including education, child welfare, juvenile justice, and immigration cases. This representation is exceedingly challenging and mostly goes unrecognized. This series will celebrate work from advocacy that results in a system wide change to advocacy that improved the life of one child client. To nominate a lawyer for this series, please contact [email protected].

    Past Recipients
    2024
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    Emily Marrer

    November

    Emily Marrer is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and as a lawyer for children and youth, she brings an incredibly unique perspective as a person with learning disabilities and with a complex family and cultural history.

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    Susanna Chilnick

    October

    After graduating, Susanna Chilnick didn’t even know if she wanted to practice law. But when a judge encouraged her to try criminal defense work, she learned she loved representing clients in juvenile court and found her place in the legal world.

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    Rachel Antonuccio

    September

    Rachel Antonuccio always knew she wanted to be a public defender, but a stint in juvenile court early in her career showed her youth advocacy was her calling. She found that the opportunity for redemption is “built in” to juvenile court and it presents the opportunity for creative problem solving and advocacy.

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    Samantha Marrone

    July

    Samantha Marrone is a staff attorney at the Lousisana Center for Children’s Rights, a nonprofit law office that serves as the juvenile public defender for Orleans Parish. Every day, she fights for kids who otherwise would not have a voice in a system where the odds are stacked against them.

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    Bethany Munson

    June

    Working at a group home for girls and at a program for teens where management aggressively suspended kids for behavioral issues motivated Bethany Munson, now a staff attorney at the Pima County Office of Children’s Counsel in Tucson, Arizona.

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    Ivana Berlin

    May

    As a staff attorney at Disability Rights New York, Ivana Berlin says the common thread in all her work is the tremendous power in listening to her young clients and making sure their voices are fully heard and uplifted.

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    Neha Desai

    April

    Even before applying to law school, Neha Desai knew she wanted to work at the intersection of children’s rights and immigration. Now, as the senior director at the National Center for Youth Law she advocates for and works to shift the narrative around children in immigration custody.

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    Sara Zier

    March

    For Sara Zier, director of Legal Services at TeamChild, being a children’s lawyer means creating pathways and opportunities for young people to succeed as they define it. It means listening to and demanding that authorities listen to young people as they voice their needs and goals.

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    Sarah Worthington

    February

    Sarah Worthington may have come to the child welfare space from a non-traditional background, but her passion and willingness to serve others has always proven to be an asset to her community and clients.

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    Caren Cloud

    January

    When it comes to advocating for children, Caren Cloud has done it all. In her current role as legal and policy director at Georgia Appleseed, she uses her over 18 years of experience to advocate for systemic policy changes for children across the state.

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    Fearless Children's Lawyer of the Month

    Three Years of Fearless Children’s Lawyers

    The Fearless Children's Lawyer of the Month series was launched in March 2020 to highlight and celebrate legal advocacy for children and youth in various legal areas. Some reflections on what our series and the zealous advocates highlighted in it have taught us as we approach our third anniversary.

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