Casie McGee
Casie became involved with several student groups focused on political advocacy while earning degrees in English and mathematics at Marshall University. She helped re-establish the Lambda Society, Marshall’s LGBT student group, and served as president for two years. She was the first president and co-creator of the Marshall University Civil Liberties Union. Casie also held positions as Marshall University’s LGBT Outreach Office Co-Coordinator and Co-Chair of the LGBT Affairs Subcommittee of the Marshall University Commission on Multiculturalism. She served on the board of directors for the ACLU of West Virginia and interned with them on their Legislative and Freedom of Speech Projects. Off campus, she organized lobbying efforts to block anti-gay Huntington City Council initiatives.
Upon coming to the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, Casie ran for and was elected as 1L Representative for the Student Bar Association. She worked to coordinate the efforts of the three LGBT groups on campus, allowing the groups to work more efficiently and cooperatively. In her effort to bring the groups together, she started a Pride Week, which she hopes will continue to be a Hofstra tradition. She also served as president of People Responding to the Issues of Sexual Minorities (PRISM). Casie joined the LGBT Legal Association of Greater New York (LeGaL) and served on their board of directors.
After her first year of law school, Casie interned with Rainbow Pride of West Virginia. She spent part of her second summer in Washington DC, interning for the Liberty Education Forum, an LGBT political activism think tank. Then, she went to Amsterdam for a study abroad program on LGBT legal issues from an international perspective.
Joseph Passoni
Joseph graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in Political Science in 2000. During college, Joseph volunteered with LGBT rights groups both on and off campus. After graduating he continued volunteering at the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgendered Community Center in New York City, the largest such center in the country. He worked with both the public policy and promote the vote committees.
At Hofstra Law, Joseph was involved with PRISM and interned at Masliah & Soloway, where he worked on political asylum cases on behalf of individuals who were persecuted in their native countries because of their status as Transgendered, Homosexual and Lesbian individuals. Joseph was also a member of the Hofstra Law Review.
Ernst Hunter
Ernst attended Rutgers University, where he majored in Political Science. While completing his undergraduate degree, Ernst interned with Immigration Equality in Manhattan, an organization that represents LGBT immigrants seeking political asylum.
Ernst has focused much of his advocacy work on LGBT youth and indigent LGBT people. During his second year at Hofstra Law, Ernst volunteered weekly at the Ali Forney Center, a Manhattan-based social service organization that works with homeless LGBT youth and at the Peter Cicchino Youth Project in Manhattan, an organization providing legal services to homeless LGBT youth.
Based on his work with LGBT youth and his own research, Ernst wrote a note for the Family Court Review suggesting policies to improve the treatment of LGBT youth in the homeless youth system. His note was published in the July 2008 issue. As a result of his research, Ernst worked with the American Bar Association's Youth at Risk Commission to draft a report and policy resolution urging changes to the foster care and homeless youth systems to make them better serve LGBT youth. This policy resolution was unanimously ratified by the American Bar Association's House of Delegates in August of 2007.
Frank Salamone
Frank has long been a staunch advocate for the rights of sexual minorities. While at Hofstra Law, Frank captained the school's team in the Williams Institute Moot Court Competition on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law. In the summer of 2006, he interned at Equality California in San Francisco, where he assisted in lobbying efforts to pass legislation that resulted in significant gains for LGBT Californians, including the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act, the Fair Employment and Housing Act, the State Income Tax Equity Act, the Equality in Prevention and Services for Domestic Abuse Act, and the Civil Rights Housing Act of 2006. In 2007, he was a Summer Associate at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP, where he assisted on political asylum cases involving LGBT and HIV-positive clients.
Frank was a finalist in the 2007 Dukeminier Awards Writing Competition, which honors the finest legal scholarship on LGBT issues, for his paper, "Looking to the Northern Lights: Lessons from Norway in Overcoming Evangelical Opposition to Same-Sex Partnerships." He presented the paper at a conference at Hofstra University in October 2007.
Frank received his Bachelor of Science degree from Georgetown University, where he double majored in Government and German. While at Georgetown, Frank was twice elected President of Georgetown Pride, the undergraduate LGBT student organization. During this period, Frank was active in advocating for protections and services for LGBTQ youth. He sat on the Board of Directors of Youth Pride Alliance, and served as co-chair of Youth Pride Day 2001.
Upon graduation, Frank clerked for the Honorable Nancy B. Firestone of the Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. He joined the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in August 2010.
Drew Gulley
A Midwesterner at heart, Drew lived in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois before completing his B.A. in English, cum laude with University Honors, at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. At Drake, Drew served as Student Body President, his fraternity's Vice President, and President of the Rainbow Union. He also led the drafting and adoption of a Bias-Motivated Incident Statement after a campus hate crime and his senior thesis was selected for publication in the Drake University Undergraduate Social Sciences Journal. After graduation, Drew taught in Chongqing, China as an English instructor for college and high school students.
While a student at Hofstra Law, Drew was the Editor-in-Chief of the Hofstra Law Review and his note, The Enhanced Arbitration Appeal Amendment: A Proposal to Save American Jurisprudence from Arbitration, Modeled on the English Arbitration Act of 1996, was published in Volume 36. For the best published student note, he received the Hofstra Law Review Alumni Award. During his time at Hofstra Law, Drew was also a member of the Moot Court Association and the International Moot Arbitration Team and was the winner of the 2008 James E. Beckley Writing Competition sponsored by the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association.
Drew graduated summa cum laude and second in his class from Hofstra Law in 2009. At graduation, he received a Citation of Excellence in Procedural Law. After graduation, Drew clerked for the Honorable Edward Prado of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Antonio, Texas. Following his clerkship, Drew joined the law firm of Latham & Watkins, LLP.
Heather Sarver
Heather graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a B.A. in Political Science (cum laude) and a minor in Russian language. Heather has her certification in Russian translation and has used her language skills to volunteer with Russian refugees.
Heather served in the active duty Air Force as a Russian Linguist. She was honorably discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." After her military separation, Heather traveled around the country sharing her experience with others and gathering support for the repeal of the policy. Her work as an activist is featured in the documentary "Ask Not..." As a law student, Heather continued her work in this important area, spending s summer interning with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and attending SLDN’s Lobby Day in 2008.
In addition to being an LGBT Rights Fellow and a student ambassador at Hofstra, Heather served as President of Hofstra OutLaw - the gay straight alliance at the law school. Heather competed in the Williams Institute Moot Court Competition on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and spent a summer interning with the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco.
Jen Wilson
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Jen earned her B.A. in Gender Studies from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. While an undergraduate student, Jen studied gender, civil society and development in the former Yugoslavia and conducted an independent study project, utilizing participatory research that examined the intersection of orthodoxy, nationalism and homosexuality in Serbia. Jen was also actively involved in the Seattle LGBT community, volunteering with queer advocacy organizations that promote visibility. In 2004, Jen presented a paper on queer space at the University of British Columbia’s Sexual and Gender Diversity Conference. She also presented at the National Women’s Studies Association Conference on a panel for globalizing gender studies, where she spoke on gay and lesbian scholarship in study-abroad curriculum.
As a law student, Jen spent her first summer interning with openly gay and lesbian judges in New York courts through a judicial internship program with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Law Association of Greater New York (LeGal). Her second summer was spent interning with Lambda Legal. Jen also volunteered at the LGBT Center’s walk-in legal clinic in Manhattan, was elected to the Board of Directors of LeGal, and served as the Vice-President of OutLaw, Hofstra’s LGBT law student group.
Meredith Palmer
Born and raised in the South, Meredith received a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Clemson University and a Master of Public Health from the University of South Carolina (USC). A loyal advocate of LGBTQ health, Meredith devoted her graduate research specifically to improving the quality of health for sexual minority populations. She proudly founded the University of South Carolina Sexual Minority Women’s Health Initiative, the first program of its kind to meet the unmet health service needs of sexual minority women at USC. As part of the Women’s Health Initiative, Meredith developed a number of health education workshops for lesbian and bisexual students and conducted a professional training to improve the cultural competency among health providers.
While a graduate student, Meredith also reconstructed the Youth Empowered Against HIV (YEAH!) curriculum for a local youth organization and contributed to research presented at the South Carolina HIV/STD Conference entitled 'STDs Among Sexual Minority Women.' She also worked on a nutrition-based project that has since been published in the Family and Community Health Journal. Meredith’s accomplishments were recognized last year by the Delta Omega Honors Society, the prestigious National Honorary Public Health Society for Health Professionals.
In addition to her Public Health endeavors, Meredith has also been a dedicated advocate for sexual minority youth. As a volunteer for OutSmart in the Midlands – a youth advocacy organization for LGBTQ youth in South Carolina – Meredith facilitated weekly group meetings and contributed to the production of Columbia, South Carolina’s First Gay Prom.
While a student at Hofstra Law, Meredith interned with the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.
Patrick Paschall
Patrick attended Texas A&M University and received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in History and a Certificate in European Union Politics. While an undergraduate student, Patrick served on the executive committee for the campus safe-zone program, Aggie ALLIES, and was one of the primary facilitators for safe-zone trainings and "Guess Who's Gay" panels.
After graduating from Texas A&M Patrick spent the summer as a legislative intern at the National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington, D.C. He had the opportunity to assist the Executive Director with lobby visits, organize grassroots-congressional contacts on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and track federal and state legislation impacting transgender people.
Patrick was selected as a 2008 Holley Law Fellow at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C. and spent the summer as an intern with the organization. He worked to draft local non-discrimination ordinances for two cities, update the Task Force’s model non-discrimination ordinance, and write policy recommendations for federal LGBT aging policy. During that summer, Patrick also attended the only LGBT-based study abroad program for law students which took place in Amsterdam. While there he studied Transgender & Intersex Law, Race and Sexual Orientation, and Same-Sex Relationship Recognition.
Derek Tripp
Derek attended the University of California at Davis, receiving a B.A. in both English and Political Science. During his senior year, Derek interned with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C. After completing his undergraduate education, Derek spent a year in Sacramento working on a local campaign and with an environmental lobbyist.
Since starting at Hofstra Law, Derek has interned with Global Rights on their LGBTI Initiative focusing on, among other things, violations against LGBTI people under international human rights law.
Eric Lesh
Originally from Largo, Florida, Eric graduated from The Boston Conservatory of Music with a B.F.A in Musical Theater. He has appeared in plays across the country, including the original workshop of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical Spring Awakening. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, Eric relocated to New Orleans where he worked as a director for a non-profit group that teaches violence prevention to students in the city’s public schools.
At Hofstra Law, Eric was a recipient of the LGBT Rights Fellowship, a member of the Vis International Arbitration Moot Team, a researcher for Hofstra’s Law, Logic & Technology Lab and the Managing Editor of Notes and Comments for the Family Court Review. Eric spent the summer of 2009 working for the International Lesbian and Gay Association in Brussels. He is interested in politics and the legislative process and has interned with a Member of the New York State Assembly and spent the past summer in the Office of U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand working on LGBT outreach.
Kelly McNamee
Kelly graduated from the University of Rochester with a major in Philosophy. During her junior year, she was named Director of The Pride Network, the University of Rochester’s LGBT advocacy group. Kelly lead the group in an effort to encourage the campus community that it was necessary to add the phrase “gender expression and identity” to the University’s Student Organization Constitution: Section on Discrimination. While at the University of Rochester, Kelly also sat on the board of the Diversity Roundtable.
Kelly was selected as a 2009 Dr. M.L. “Hank” Henry Judicial Intern. The Dr. M.L. “Hank” Henry internship was created by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Law Association Foundation of Greater New York ("LeGaL Foundation") in memory of Dr. Henry, whose ground breaking work encouraged openly lesbian and gay lawyers to seek and achieve judicial office in New York City. During the ten week program, Kelly was given the opportunity to assist five openly gay or gay friendly judges and gained exposure to a variety of courts and tribunals.
Kelly worked as a summer associate for Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson LLP in 2010 and joined the firm upon graduation. As a summer associate, Kelly was able to work on ground breaking LGBT litigation and hopes to continue to do so through the firm’s pro bono department.
