Nastia Gorodilova L’23

Nastia is a queer first-generation immigrant whose work in the sexual harm field before law school spurred them to pursue a legal career in public defense. They saw carceral responses to harm repeatedly and systematically destroy communities while also failing to offer healing or restoration. Nastia’s work after graduating from Brown University in 2016 focused on bringing anti-oppressive prevention education to New York communities and trauma-informed services to sexual harm survivors, with a focus on LGBTQIA+ survivors. They quickly became interested in anti-carceral organizing and restorative justice spaces, which turned their interest to public defense.

During their time in law school, Nastia has interned with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem’s Criminal Defense Practice, the Center for Appellate Litigation, the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Practice, and the Trial Unit of the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. They also have worked as a Research Assistant for Professor Dorothy Roberts, served as Lambda’s Advocacy Chair, and been an Associate Editor for the Journal of Law and Social Change. In their final year, Nastia is continuing to work with the Youth Advocacy Project, which they joined at the start of 1L, now serving as one of the project’s Co-Directors. They also work for Penn’s Restorative Justice Office, facilitating restorative justice conferences for conflict and harm cases and conducting community-building circles.

In their free time, Nastia enjoys conversations about movement-building over a meal they cooked for friends, often a dish from Russia, their home country.