Click on the profile of any staff member below for more information. All career counseling appointments with PI/PS Office advisers can made through Symplicity or email. Please email general inquiries.
Areas of expertise: Head of PI/PS Office, strategic planning, gender justice, and public interest
Erica Smock (she/her) has been the dean for the Office of Public Interest/Public Service Law and Careers at Columbia Law School since 2017. In that capacity, she leads efforts to build career pathways, public interest/advocacy initiatives, programming, community and support for justice-oriented students and alumni. She oversees key programs and works closely with faculty, practitioners, students and other stakeholders on social justice issues.
Prior to joining Columbia, Dean Smock had a distinguished public interest career focused primarily on gender justice and reproductive rights advocacy. Most recently, she served as the senior director for judicial strategy at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York City, where she led strategic campaigns and amicus brief strategy around the center’s domestic litigation, including the successful U.S. Supreme Court case Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt (2016).
After graduating from Columbia Law School in 1995, Dean Smock clerked for the Hon. Anita B. Brody, U.S. District Court, E.D. PA, and Hon. Leonard I. Garth, U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. After spending one year as an associate at O’Melveny & Myers, where she engaged in pro bono work on domestic violence advocacy, she worked as a staff attorney at Legal Aid Services of Oregon and as a regional staff attorney at the Northwest Women's Law Center (now Legal Voice) in Seattle. Dean Smock then became legislative counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, where she directed the national state legislative program and engaged in advocacy on reproductive health issues. After working at the PI/PS Office for a number of years, she returned to the Center for Reproductive Rights in 2014 to its newly formed judicial strategy team.
In addition, Dean Smock has spent time as a short-term volunteer attorney focusing on human rights and gender justice in Kenya and South Africa and with the Pascua Yaqui people in Arizona. She has served as a consultant to the Arnold Ventures Foundation on access to justice issues, as a vice chair of the American Bar Association's Rights of Women Committee in the Civil Rights and Social Justice Section, and as a member of the Center for Reproductive Rights Lawyers Network Advisory Committee. Presently, Dean Smock is a member of the Social Justice Legal Foundation's advisory board and a member of the board of directors of the ACLU of Connecticut. In 2024, the U.N. Committee of the New York City Bar recognized Dean Smock for her exceptional commitment to bettering society and improving the lives of women and children through the law.
Dean Smock graduated from Brown University with a bachelor's degree with honors in political science. At Columbia Law School, Dean Smock was a member of the Columbia Law Review, Human Rights Internship Program, Columbia Law Women’s Association, and Family Advocacy Clinic.
Office Location: William and June Warren 801
Areas of expertise: General operations, office logistics, and funding
Prior to joining the PI/PS Office in 2024, Nicolle Salazar (she/her) served as program administrator of TRIALS, the Training and Recruitment Initiative for Admission to Leading Law Schools. TRIALS is a partnership between the AT Foundation, Harvard Law School, and NYU School of Law. In this role, Nicolle worked to support the personal, academic, and professional growth of pre-law students of underrepresented backgrounds and modest means.
Nicolle graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in anthropology modified with Latin American and Caribbean studies. She also completed a double minor in Spanish and Italian. Nicolle pursued her passion for sociolinguistic study throughout college, gaining fluency in Italian and competency in Brazilian Portuguese. She then went on to pursue an M.A. in anthropology and education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her areas of research include decolonization, transnational identity politics, and educational and legal self-determination, particularly in the geographical context of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Office Location: William and June Warren 807.1
Area of counseling expertise: Berger Fellows Program
Jean Fischman (she/her) is the associate director of the Max Berger ’71 Public Interest/Public Service Fellows Program. Before joining the PI/PS Office, Jean worked at Bronx Legal Services, where she supervised attorneys and paralegals fighting to preserve affordable housing in the Bronx. As supervising attorney, Jean worked closely with organizing partners to litigate discrimination and harassment cases against corporate bad-actor landlords. Jean began her legal career as a fellow at Legal Services Corporation in the Office of General Counsel, where she drafted advisory opinions, assisted in notice and comment rulemaking, and reviewed the corporation’s contracts. Prior to entering law school, Jean served as chief of staff for a New York State Assembly member, where she managed the assembly member’s Albany and district offices.
Jean received a J.D. from CUNY Law School in 2015 and B.A. from Hunter College, where she served as a Public Service Scholar. She is admitted to practice in New York.
Office Location: William and June Warren 805
Areas of counseling expertise: public interest and 1L advising
Molly Griffard (they/she) advises students interested in public interest lawyering. Molly is available to meet with all CLS students, and their expertise includes civil rights, impact litigation, and movement lawyering.
Molly began their legal career litigating police misconduct cases and supporting movement groups on police accountability advocacy as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Legal Aid Society's Criminal Defense Practice. As a staff attorney in Legal Aid's Law Reform and Special Litigation Unit, they litigated a class action challenging the NYPD's use of "digital stop and frisk" (Belle v. City of New York, 19-cv-2673 (S.D.N.Y.)), a case challenging the NYPD's practice of using excessive force, including the continued use of banned chokeholds and taser abuse (Medina v. City of New York, 19-cv-9412 (S.D.N.Y.)), and a case challenging the Port Authority Police Department's practice of targeting men perceived to be gay or gender-nonconforming for false public lewdness arrests (Holden v. Port Auth. of NY & NJ, 17-cv-2192 (S.D.N.Y.)). Molly also served as plaintiffs' counsel in the Davis v. City of New York remedial process, which is under the direction of a federal monitor to reform the NYPD's discriminatory policing practices.
Prior to law school, Molly worked as a campaign strategist at the ACLU's Out for Freedom campaign to win marriage equality and nondiscrimination protections and to fight back against discriminatory state legislation across the country.
Currently, Molly teaches Lawyering at NYU School of Law and volunteers with the National Lawyers Guild.
Molly received a B.A. with honors from Macalester College and a J.D. from NYU School of Law, where they were a Root Tilden Kern Public Interest Scholar, a founding member of NYU's Identity Documents Project, and editor-in-chief of the Review of Law and Social Change. Molly is admitted to practice in New York.
Office Location: William and June Warren 805
Area of counseling expertise: postgraduate fellowships, public defense, direct services, and public interest
Emily Harris (she/her) advises students interested in public interest lawyering careers and internships, as well as domestic postgraduate fellowships. Emily is available to meet with all CLS students, and her expertise includes public defense and direct services roles. She also oversees the Columbia Public Interest Community (CPIC) programming and is happy to speak with student group leaders and members about partnerships on programs.
Emily is a former public defender who defended young people and adults in Bergen County Criminal Courts with the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender and represented clients in housing court with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem's housing defense team.
Emily was a Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest Scholar at New York University Law School and graduated cum laude in 2019. In law school, she was co-president of the Washington Square Legal Services Bail Fund and a staff editor of the Review of Law and Social Change. Through her clinical experiences and summer internships, Emily has represented adults and young people in criminal, housing, family, and immigration court.
Prior to law school, Emily worked with community groups seeking to end gun violence as a paralegal in the Community Justice Unit of the Legal Aid Society of New York. She has also served as a policy analyst for the Council of State Governments Justice Center, where she worked with courts and judges to improve mental health courts and pretrial policies nationwide. Harris also worked to advance holistic defense with public defender offices across the country through the Community-Oriented Defender Network at the Brennan Center for Justice and with the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.
She holds an undergraduate degree from New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, focused on welfare state politics.
Emily is admitted to practice in New York, and retired from practice in New Jersey.
Office Location: William and June Warren 805
Area of counseling expertise: government
Before joining the PI/PS Office, Alex Hogan (he/him) worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, practicing civil litigation focused on both affirmative and defensive matters, including investigating government fraud, affirmative civil rights enforcement, and defending Freedom of Information Act suits. In that role, Alex developed comprehensive litigation skills by independently managing a docket from case inception through appeal.
Prior to his position at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Alex clerked for the Hon. Nina Gershon in the Eastern District of New York and the Hon. James L. Cott in the Southern District of New York. Prior to clerking, Alex was a litigation associate at a large law firm in New York City.
Alex received his B.A. from New York University and his J.D. from Columbia Law School. He is admitted to practice in New York.
Office Location: William and June Warren 807
Area of counseling expertise: CLS Pro Bono Program and pro bono
Estelle Mitchell (she/her) is an attorney with policy and legislative affairs expertise. Prior to joining the PI/PS Office, Estelle worked at the Women’s Sports Foundation, leading their federal government affairs and amicus brief work.
Estelle spent the beginning of her career in the District of Columbia, working both in the nonprofit and government sectors of public interest law. First working on child care policy and tax and economic policy at the National Women’s Law Center, and then later as a legislative counsel for a DC council member, focusing on criminal justice reform, election law, and other district agency matters.
Estelle earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where she began her public interest career as a student advocate in the Federal Legislation Clinic and twice as a law clerk on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Estelle received her B.A. from James Madison University. She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.
Office Location: William and June Warren 809
Area of counseling expertise: public interest, public defense
Murphy Mitchell (he/him) is the associate director of public interest career advising. He joins the PI/PS Office after serving as the associate director of professional development at the University of Tulsa College of Law, where he advised students at all stages throughout law school. Prior to his position advising law students, Murphy was an assistant federal public defender in the Northern and Eastern Districts of Oklahoma, handling a wide array of various federal criminal prosecutions. Before becoming an assistant federal public defender, he served as a staff attorney at New York County Defender Services, representing clients charged in criminal cases.
Murphy is a graduate of the University of Tulsa College of Law, where he earned the Dean’s Award for Community Service and assisted the Bronx Defenders in establishing Still She Rises, the nation’s first public defender office dedicated exclusively to representing mothers targeted by the criminal justice system. He is admitted to practice in New York.
Office Location: 804
Areas of counseling expertise: public interest, civil rights
Malcolm Peyton-Cook (he/him) advises CLS students interested in public interest lawyering, especially those seeking a career in civil rights law.
Malcolm is the associate director for affirmative enforcement at the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. In that role, he leads the agency’s affirmative litigation and enforcement strategies. His unit conducts complex investigations into systemic pattern and practice complaints of discrimination and bias-based harassment.
Before working at the Division on Civil Rights, Malcolm was senior counsel in the Fair Housing and Community Development Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, DC. He was also an adjunct law professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where he served as director of the Fair Housing Clinic. Prior to joining the Lawyers’ Committee, Malcolm worked as a tenants’ rights attorney at Legal Services of NYC and TakeRoot Justice, both in New York City. His other previous work experience includes positions at the Fair Housing Justice Center in New York, NY, and Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc. in Baltimore, MD.
He earned a B.A. in political science from Amherst College, a J.D. from Washington University School of Law, and an L.L.M. in law and government from American University’s Washington College of Law.
Office Location: William and June Warren 807
Areas of counseling expertise: public interest, employment and housing, civil rights, nonprofit management, and mediation
Grace Shim '06 (she/her) advises students about public interest summer jobs and careers, as well as LRAP. Grace works mainly with 1Ls although she is also happy to meet with 2Ls, 3Ls, and alumni.
Grace is a former civil rights litigator with nearly two decades of experience in employment and housing law. Grace began her legal career prosecuting child abuse and neglect cases in the Bronx Family Court. Grace then served as a staff attorney at the MinKwon Center for Community Action, a Flushing-based nonprofit organization. After representing clients in landlord-tenant disputes in Queens Housing Court, unemployment insurance hearings at the New York State Department of Labor, and wage and hour lawsuits in the Southern and Eastern District Federal Courts, Grace served as the organization's deputy director and eventual executive director. Upon moving to the west coast, Grace worked at the California Civil Rights Department, where she litigated employment and housing discrimination matters, including systemic and high-impact cases. She then transitioned to a senior attorney mediator role at the department, before returning to New York City as a public interest adviser at Columbia Law School.
Grace previously taught mediation and lawyering skills at the UC Davis Law School and currently teaches mediation at CUNY Law School. She also serves as a volunteer mediator for the EEOC.
Grace received her B.A. with honors from UC Berkeley and her J.D. from Columbia Law School. Grace is admitted to the bars of both California state (inactive) and New York state.
Office Location: William and June Warren 804
Areas of expertise: Human rights, international law, HRIP
Kristi Ueda (she/her) advises students interested in human rights and public international law.
Kristi began her legal career as a Promise Institute for Human Rights Fellow in Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division, where she addressed xenophobic violence in South Africa. She went on to serve as a staff attorney in the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles’s right to counsel workgroup, providing direct representation in unlawful detainer cases. She then became the Donald M. and Susan N. Wilson Fellow on the international advocacy and litigation team at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, where she worked with local partners and civil society across sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia to support human rights defenders, protect civic space, and advance accountability for human rights abuses and corruption through the use of regional courts and international mechanisms. Following this role, she joined Public Counsel's Consumer Rights and Economic Justice Project as a staff attorney, focusing on impact litigation. Most recently, she served as program manager of transitional justice initiatives at the Center for Justice and Accountability, where she oversaw both rapid response and long-term efforts to pursue justice and truth for victims and survivors of human rights abuses across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.
As a firm believer in grounding students' legal education in the realities of practice, Kristi serves as a judge and tutor for law student teams around the world in public international law simulation-based competitions, including the Jean Pictet Competition and Clara Barton International Humanitarian Law Competition. She also encourages students to explore frameworks such as critical race studies and Third World approaches to international law to cultivate deeper understandings of global justice.
Kristi holds a J.D. from UCLA School of Law with specializations in critical race studies, public interest law and policy, and international and comparative law. She also earned a B.A. from UCLA in history and political science with a concentration in international relations.
She is admitted to practice in California.
Office Location: William and June Warren 809
Area of expertise: Berger Fellows Program
Corinne Badini (she/her) joined the PI/PS Office in 2021 as the coordinator for the Max Berger ’71 Public Interest/Public Service Fellows Program. Prior to joining Columbia Law School, Corinne was an admissions counselor in the Hudson Valley, working closely with undergraduate students through their college search. She has a B.A. in digital media management from SUNY New Paltz and is working towards her M.S.Ed. in school counseling.
Office Location: William and June Warren 800
Areas of expertise: Columbia postgraduate fellowships, on-campus interview programs, and all office communications
Rebecca Hinde (she/her) joined the PI/PS Office in 2016. Prior to Columbia, she worked for the Copyright Society of the USA, the Disabilities Network of New York City, and other nonprofits. She also did development work for small arts and social justice organizations. She holds an M.F.A. in writing from Columbia University.
Office Location: William and June Warren 800
Areas of expertise: HRIP and CLS Pro Bono Program
Renny Jiang (she/her) is a recent alumna of Brown University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in English and gender and sexuality studies. Prior to joining the PI/PS Office, Renny worked on nonprofit and pro bono initiatives as an intern with the Center for Law and Education and Kirkland & Ellis, respectively.
Additionally, Renny has acted as an educator at schools across the nation, developing curricula for gender-focused literary classes and improving the English skills of hundreds of students. As part of her commitment to using education as a form of empowerment for student voices and experiences, Renny has led multiple debate programs for students across middle and high school.
Office Location: William and June Warren 806.1
Areas of expertise: PI/PS Office events and the Columbia Public Interest Community
Email: [email protected]
Office Location: William and June Warren 800