LLM Public Interest Fellowships

Three LLM graduates of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s Class of 2022 have secured funding through the Law School’s LLM Postgraduate Public Interest Fellowship Program to pursue important and diverse public interest work.

Carolina de Oliveira Haberbeck Brandão LLM’22 will join the Clooney Foundation for Justice and work with The Docket Program, which pursues accountability for individual and corporate perpetrators and enablers of genocide, crimes against humanity, and other international crimes, and supports survivors in their efforts to obtain justice.

The Docket focuses on addressing human rights concerns around the world and as a Fellow, Haberbeck Brandão’s work will support criminal accountability efforts at the national and international level. Having earned an LLB from the Pontifical Catholic University and an LLM from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, both of which are located in São Paulo, she practiced law as an Associate at a local boutique criminal law firm. Along with participating in numerous high-profile white-collar legal actions, she handled many of the firm’s pro bono cases.

An impassioned advocate of prison reform and social equity & inclusion, in 2019 she co-founded an NGO dedicated to helping inmates break the cycle of recidivism inherent to Brazil’s incarceration system. At Penn Carey Law, Haberbeck Brandão was appointed as the Human Rights Scholar and the Potts Scholar, and throughout the year she served as the Director of the LLM Pro Bono Committee and researcher at the International Human Rights Association (IHRA).

María Alejandra Maldonado Ibaceta LLM’22 has joined the District Attorney’s Office of Philadelphia - Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU). CIU is charged with investigating problematic past convictions for credible claims of actual innocence, wrongful conviction, and, where feasible, sentencing inequities. During her time in the District Attorney’s Office, she will also work in the Special Investigations Unit, which is in charge of the prosecution of public corruption and abuse of government power, usually related to wrongful convictions.

Prior to obtaining her LLM from Penn Carey Law with distinction, Ms. Maldonado Ibaceta graduated with the highest honors from the University of Chile and practiced law at the Chilean State Defense Council for four years as a Criminal Law Advisor, Chief of Staff of the Council’s President and Legal Advisor of the Research Department. In those positions, Maldonado Ibaceta has focused her practice on prosecuting crimes committed by public employees and the state’s liability arising from human rights violations. She has spent her entire professional career as a public servant.

Katia Pallares LLM’22 has joined the City of Philadelphia Law Department - Labor and Employment (L&E) Unit. The L&E Unit defends city agencies and employees in civil litigation in federal and state court and before local, state, and federal agencies. Attorneys handle legal issues arising from the following: Title VII, Title I of the ADA, FMLA, FLSA, local Philadelphia ordinances, and related employment law, as well as interest and grievance arbitration matters.

Pallares earned her law degree from Universidad Santa Maria La Antigua in Panama and while earning her degree worked as a Legal Assistant in the Migration and Labor Department at the firm AFRA (Alfaro, Ferrer, & Ramirez). At AFRA, Pallares focused on contracts, employment remuneration, conditions of work, trade unions, bargaining agreements, and industrial relations.

Learn more about the Law School’s renowned LLM program.