Three attorneys working in different public-sector legal positions will begin hosting mentoring workshops in December through the Cooperating Public Interest Advisor Program, a new initiative coordinated by the Public Interest Office.
Cooperating advisors will serve two-year terms. The first Cooperating Advisor Workshops will be hosted virtually in December after final exams.
Inaugural advisors include Sasha Beatty, who currently serves as deputy general counsel for the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, a nonprofit based in Washington D.C.; Daniel Metzger, an associate attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Tennessee; and Marian Mikhail, a public defender in Orange County, California, where she represents indigent clients facing criminal charges.
Beatty, Metzger and Mikhail all graduated from Vanderbilt Law School in 2017.
Beatty was an associate district attorney in Nashville before joining the legal staff of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. She joined the Metro Nashville District Attorney’s office immediately after graduating from law school.
Metzger’s practice at the Southern Environmental Law Center includes litigation and administrative proceedings addressing the transition to clean energy, environmental justice and climate change. Before joining the SELC’s legal staff, Metzger was a fellow at the Savin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School. After law school, he clerked for Judge Steven M. Gold of the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of New York and practiced at Selendy & Gay before his fellowship at Columbia.
Mikhail worked at the Bronx Defenders in New York for four years before joining the public defender’s office in Orange County. She was a George Barrett Social Justice Fellow in 2017-18.
“I’m excited about the potential impact of our new Cooperating Public Interest Advisor Program, which will engage public sector attorneys to provide specialized resources and support for students interested in particular public sector career paths,” said Spring Miller, Assistant Dean and Martha Craig Daughtrey Director for Public Interest. “Advisors will host two workshops each year to nuts-and-bolts advice for students in their job searches.”
The Public Interest Office at Vanderbilt Law School offers expert advice and targeted support to students seeking public interest careers in government service, indigent defense, legal aid offices, advocacy organizations or as social justice entrepreneurs.
