STAFF

Lila brings more than two decades of experience as a non-profit leader, attorney, and advocate for gender justice to her role overseeing WLP’s Philadelphia office. In addition to her strategic leadership of WLP’s Philadelphia-based initiatives, Lila leads WLP’s statewide systems reform work on sexual and domestic violence.

Prior to joining WLP, Lila was the Executive Director of Consulting at RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, where she led a multi-disciplinary team that advised corporations, federal agencies, schools and universities, and other institutions on effective, trauma-informed strategies to preventing and responding to sexual misconduct in workplaces, schools, and communities. Lila served as the first Policy Director at WOAR—Philadelphia Center Against Sexual Violence and spent several years representing survivors of sexual violence in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Lila has served on numerous local and national advisory boards and currently serves as a commissioner on the Delaware County Women’s Commission.

Lila received her bachelor’s degree from Brown University with honors and her Juris Doctor magna cum laude from Temple University where she was a Rubin-Presser Public Interest Scholar.

Rhoda is Administrative Operations Associate at Women’s Law Project.

Rhoda works closely with organizational leadership, supports board operations, assists with financial management, improves and streamlines organizational workflows, and oversees special projects as needed. She approaches operational work with an intentional focus on collaboration and careful attention to detail, ensuring WLP’s core values are reflected in every project.

Before joining WLP, Rhoda worked in different roles across industries including education, project management, media, and logistics. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Literatures in English and Creative Writing from Bryn Mawr College and a master’s degree in IT Project Management from Wilmington University.

She is based in the Philadelphia office.

Christine works toward equitable access to sexual and reproductive health care through litigation, legal representation, policy development and advocacy, and institutional reform. Christine provides legal representation and assistance to Pennsylvania abortion providers on a wide range of day-to-day issues including regulatory compliance and defense from anti-abortion violence and harassment and serves as counsel on impact litigation. As the lead on our youth protection work, Christine helps young people navigate Pennsylvania’s parental consent law to access abortion care through direct representation in judicial bypass proceedings, leads WLP’s expanding judicial bypass team, and develops initiatives to increase access and improve the judicial bypass process for young people across the Commonwealth.

In 2021, Christine was awarded the Emerging Activists in Women’s Health Care by the National Women’s Health Network. Christine joined WLP staff in 2017 after initially serving as a joint If/When/How Reproductive Justice State Fellow for WLP and New Voices for Reproductive Justice. During her time at New Voices, Christine worked on state and federal policy advocacy focusing on reproductive health, rights, and justice issues as they affect Black women, femmes, and girls.

Christine earned a degree in Political Science from Temple University and a J.D. from Roger Williams University School of Law. She is based in Philadelphia, PA.

Liliam Clavijo Hernandez is a legal fellow at Women’s Law Project. She is focused on gender-justice lawyering and state-level policymaking and works across a broad range of issues including employment discrimination, judicial bypass, reproductive justice, and LGBTQIA+ equality.

In law school, Liliam was active in the Civil Rights Litigation Initiative, a clinic that represented clients in civil rights litigation matters. She was the co-president of the Michigan Law ACLU, an executive editor for the Michigan Journal of Race and Law, and a pro bono judicial bypass student attorney with If/When/How: Lawyers for Reproductive Justice. She credits working as a Graduate Student Instructor in Gender and Law for two semesters as one of her most formative experiences in law school and wishes to teach in some capacity in the future.

Liliam earned her JD from the University of Michigan Law (go blue!) and her B.S. from the University of Florida. She is based in Philadelphia

Terry has devoted her entire legal career to public interest law. Since joining the WLP in 1994, Terry has brought high-impact litigation and pursued significant policy initiatives at the local, state, and national levels on a wide variety of issues. Terry is currently working on addressing inequities in women’s economic status, improving the criminal justice response to sexual and domestic violence, enforcing legal obligations of educational institutions to address sex discrimination and sexual harassment, and improving Philadelphia’s institutional response to domestic and sexual violence.

Notable achievements include leading a national effort to stop insurance companies from discriminating against victims of domestic violence, participating in a collaboration to implement the Family Violence Option in Pennsylvania, and helping change Pennsylvania law to provide victims of domestic violence a safe and confidential process to change their names.

Terry is a principal author on several WLP publications relating to the elimination of institutional bias, insurance discrimination against victims of domestic violence, and access to justice for pro se litigants in Philadelphia Family Court. Terry earned her law degree from NYU School of Law.

Tyler joined the Western office of the Women’s Law Project in August of 2022, starting as a law clerk and now working as a staff attorney. He is engaged in supporting all of WLP’s legal work, including victim advocacy, impact litigation, legislative issues, and community outreach.

Tyler has a bachelor’s in English from Southern Methodist University, graduate degrees in religious studies from the University of Kansas and Claremont Graduate University, and a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. While in law school Tyler served as an award-winning news writer for JURIST, the world’s only law school-based legal news and commentary service.

Brittany leads WLP’s development team and organizes events, writes grants, and manages volunteers in the Pittsburgh office. Before joining WLP, Brittany worked for Artsmarketing Services, leading telephone fundraising efforts for non-profit organizations across the country. She has also worked with Organizing for America as a field organizer in the 2012 presidential campaign.

Brittany has a bachelor’s degree in communication with a focus on media and music from Heidelberg University.

Symone centers her work in reproductive justice and focuses on connecting young abortion seekers to reliable resources and reducing harm experienced by young people forced to undergo judicial bypass to access essential health care, specifically abortion care. Her work includes training attorneys to represent young abortion seekers in bypass proceedings and advocating to improve the judicial bypass process for young patients across Pennsylvania. 

Elizabeth focuses on access to reproductive healthcare, workplace equity and discrimination, and LGBTQ+ equality. Prior to joining WLP, Lester-Abdalla worked in the Impact Litigation Section of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General where she represented the Commonwealth in affirmative litigation and policy issues of statewide importance including access to contraception, Title IX discrimination, election protection, gun industry liability, and mental health parity. She previously clerked for the Honorable Harvey Bartle III in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Assignment Judge Deborah Silverman Katz in New Jersey Superior Court, Camden County.

Elizabeth earned her J.D. from William & Mary Law School and a B.A. in History and Religious Studies from Duke University. She is based in the Philadelphia office and roots for all things Philly and Philly sports.

Evelyn is dedicated to advancing gender and reproductive justice through legal representation, policy development, and advocacy. During her time in law school, Evelyn served as the Direct Services Co-chair for If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice and she was a board member of the Equal Justice Foundation. Before law school, Evelyn worked at Maternity Care Coalition in Philadelphia. After her first year, she interned at the AIDS Law Project of PA, advocating for individuals living with HIV and AIDS. She then moved to Baltimore to complete her MPH with a focus on Women’s and Reproductive Health. Before her third year of law school, Evelyn was a Summer Associate on the Judicial Strategy team at the Center for Reproductive Rights. During her third year, Evelyn externed at the Women’s Law Project and returned as a legal fellow.

Evelyn earned a JD/MPH dual degree from Penn Carey Law School and Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. At Penn Carey Law, Evelyn was a Toll Public Interest Fellow and an Equity and Inclusion Fellow. Evelyn earned a B.S. in Public Health and Psychology from the University of Miami. Evelyn is based in WLP’s Philadelphia Office.

T Martin is Director of Finance and Administration at Women’s Law Project.

Martin focuses on accounting, audit, human resources, information technology, and risk and compliance matters for the organization. Prior to joining WLP, Martin spent more than 25 years in public and charter education, information technology, communication systems and for-profit and nonprofit accounting.

Martin earned a B.S. in Business Administration from University of the People and is based in WLP’s Philadelphia Office.

Anjali is a key member of the development team and focuses on planning events, grant management, and advancing fundraising initiatives, while helping to develop and implement strategic plans to ensure sustainable growth and operations. Before joining WLP, Anjali raised funds, managed operations, and built an international donor base for an opera house and festival in Parma, Italy. She also enforced collective bargaining agreements and represented directors, unit production managers, and assistant directors at the Directors Guild of America. Anjali earned her bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University and an M.S. in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. She is based in Philadelphia.

Tara tracks policy and develops public interest communications and digital advocacy campaigns related to the law, policy, and impact litigation. She works with media, government officials, and donors; writes op-eds, and manages social media with a focus on constituent education and civic engagement. She brings her experience and skills as an award-winning investigative reporter and writer to her research and advocacy work which includes leading on special projects such as co-authoring the Alliance report Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center Industry in Nine States.

Tara has also written about pop culture for publications including Rolling Stone, Washington Post and New York Times and hosts and moderates on-stage events and interviews. She is the author of critically acclaimed book Ode to Billie Joe, published in the 33 1/3 series by Bloomsbury. She graduated from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, earned a master’s degree in English & Publishing from Rosemont College, and is an Ochberg fellow in the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Jackie provides legal representation and supervision across WLP’s program areas, including reproductive rights, pregnancy/caretaking discrimination, LGBTQIA+ equality, Title IX, athletic equity, and workplace justice.

Before joining the Women’s Law Project, Jackie was a staff attorney at the Community Justice Project where her practice focused on impact litigation, primarily in the areas of education, fair housing, and employment. Jackie worked for the Education Law Center as an Equal Justice Works fellow and Kaufman Legal fellow. During her time at the Education Law Center, Jackie used direct representation, systemic advocacy, and community engagement to improve academic achievement and reduce educational barriers for students across Pennsylvania. Jackie clerked for the Honorable Joy Flowers Conti, Chief United States District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Jackie earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Jackie holds a Master’s in Education from American University and a B.A. from Carleton College. Prior to law school, Jackie worked as a middle school English teacher in Washington, D.C. She is based in WLP’s Pittsburgh office.

Annmarie supports all of WLP’s legal work, with special focus on workplace discrimination and equality and reproductive justice.

Prior to joining the Women’s Law Project, Annmarie spent twenty years as union-side labor and employment attorney with a New Jersey law firm, where she represented labor unions and workers in individual representation, collective bargaining, and labor organizing. She previously clerked for United States Magistrate Judge Lisa Margaret Smith in the Southern District of New York and United State District Judge William J. Martini in the District of New Jersey.

Annmarie received her law degree from Rutgers Law School – Newark, where she was an articles editor for the Rutgers Law Review and a Marsha Wenk Public Interest Fellow. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Detroit, and graduate degrees in English from Bowling Green State University.

Sujaya works to advance gender justice through impact litigation, direct representation, and policy advocacy. Prior to joining the Women’s Law Project, Sujaya clerked for the Honorable Matthew J. Fader, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Maryland. She also published a piece in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review advocating for a holistic approach to transitional justice in the United States. In law school, Sujaya served as president of the law school’s largest student organization, Virginia Law Women. She also served on the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review, was a Fellow in the Program for Law and Public Service, and participated in pro bono and clinical work.

Sujaya earned her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2022. She graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Florida with a B.A. in History in 2019. She is based in WLP’s Philadelphia office.

Davina provides critical support to WLP clients, coordinates resources, and works to strengthen the organization’s connections with the community and advocacy partners.She earned her Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2). During her graduate training, she interned with the Goldring Reentry Initiative as a case manager, supporting formerly incarcerated men in their transition back into the community. In her second year, she served as an intern therapist with Council for Relationships and continues to work part-time as a pre-licensed therapist, specializing in anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and women’s issues.

Davina also holds a B.A. in Political Science from Howard University, where she served as President of Howard’s Youth Justice Advocates, a mentoring program for detained youth. While in Washington, D.C., she furthered her commitment to public service as Operations Manager and Chief of Staff for Advisory Neighborhood Commission 7F, advocating on behalf of residents in Southeast D.C. Her work at WLP aligns with her commitment to community engagement, advocacy, and holistic care.