Mina Nasseri ’10

As a first-year student participating in the Foundation Year Moot Court, Mina Nasseri ’10 discovered that she loved the challenges and rewards of courtroom advocacy. Nasseri has since worked to hone those skills, most recently as a finalist in the Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court competition. At the final arguments on April 12, she will represent the plaintiff, James Madison, in support of his gender discrimination claim against the Marbury School District.

Nasseri, a California native and Berkeley alumna, has gained valuable hands-on experience from the Law School and its myriad connections with New York City, which she calls “one of the best cities in the world.” In her first year, Nasseri joined the Tenants’ Rights Project, a student organization that provides low-income individuals and tenant groups with free legal counsel and representation in housing court. The following summer, she worked at Brooklyn Legal Services, gaining further experience with community-based public interest law. And during her second year at the Law School, Nasseri served as chair of the Tenants’ Rights Project, where she mentored a team of student advocates who achieved a 100 percent success rate in court that year.

Externships—course offerings that combine an intensive seminar with field work—also endowed Nasseri with practical experience. The Law School’s Federal Court Clerk Externship provided her the chance to serve in the chambers of Judge Robert P. Paterson Jr. in the Southern District of New York. “In addition to working closely with Judge Roberts on drafting opinions, I had the opportunity to observe trials and court proceedings on a regular basis,” she says. “I really got to see what the judicial system is all about.”

Last year, Nasseri spent several months at Latham & Watkins LLP as a summer associate, a position she obtained through Columbia Law School’s Early Interview Program. After graduation, she will return to her home state and begin her legal career as an associate in the San Francisco office of Latham & Watkins.