Rachel Neckes L’21

Rachel (she/her) is from Needham, Massachusetts and graduated from Bates College. While at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, Rachel interned for the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project, the Center for Appellate Litigation, and the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project. She represented young people in custody and dependency hearings through the Interdisciplinary Child Advocacy Clinic and assisted federal habeas petitioners with their cases as an intern for the Federal Community Defender’s Capital Habeas Unit in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Rachel also served as a Littleton Fellow and as a board member for the Criminal Record Expungement Project, the Penn Carey Law Immigrant Rights Project, and the Prison Legal Education Project.

After graduating, Rachel worked as a legal fellow in the Appellate Section of New Jersey’s Office of the Public Defender (OPD), representing indigent clients on their direct appeals from convictions in New Jersey. She is currently clerking for the Honorable Gerald A. McHugh on the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Following her clerkship, she is excited to return to OPD’s Appellate Section as an Assistant Deputy Public Defender.