Arizona Law Education Advocacy Clinic Names First Two Marshall Fellows
The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law’s Education Advocacy Clinic is expanding its impact for children with disabilities in Southern Arizona through the support of the Marshall Foundation and through the leadership of its first two Marshall Fellows, third-year law student Sarah Alvarez and Master of Legal Studies (MLS) student Emily Villazon.
Emily Villazon
The clinic, which provides no-cost legal services to children in Tucson’s K-12 schools, received a grant from the Marshall Foundation to expand access to justice for students with disabilities. The grant also formalizes and deepens the clinic’s partnership with Disability Rights Arizona (DRAZ), a non-profit law firm that provides no-cost legal representation, protection and advocacy within disability rights.
“The Marshall Fellows are a real connection between the clinic and Disability Rights Arizona, and the fellowship is a meaningful way to provide leadership experience for our students and help build the pipeline of young attorneys and advocates who have the skills to continue this work, if they want to, wherever they go next—whether it is actually practicing in this area full time or something else,” says Professor Diana Newmark, director of the Education Advocacy Clinic.
As the Marshall Fellows, Alvarez and Villazon have played a central role in strengthening that collaboration through casework, trainings and community outreach, serving as key bridges between the clinic, community partners and the families they support.
“I really value the work of the Marshall Fellows to be able to be that community liaison and student leader and to really be part of operationalizing the clinic, and helping support the work of the clinic,” says Newmark.
Their leadership reflects both students’ deep commitment to public service and the personal experiences that drew them to education advocacy.
Alvarez, a Tucson native, had long been interested in the legal field. After majoring in Law as an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, she spent a year working at the Pima County Superior Court Law Library, an experience that solidified her desire to pursue a legal career focused on public service.
“The only thing you do there is help people who are representing themselves,” says Alvarez. “I just wanted to do more for those people. So, that’s the reason I went to law school, to help them maneuver in the legal system.”
Sarah Alvarez
She joined the Education Advocacy Clinic during her second year, after deciding she wanted to focus her career on helping children.
“I decided I wanted to go to law school to help people, and throughout my journey I realized children were specifically who I wanted to focus on,” says Alvarez.
When she learned about the Marshall Fellowship, Alvarez saw it as an opportunity to connect her clinic work with her experience supporting children in dependency cases through her summer position with the Office of Children’s Council.
Villazon, who also majored in Law as an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, says her passion and commitment to special education advocacy stems from watching her family navigate special education rights.
“I grew up watching my parents fight for my brother’s special educational rights no matter how hard it was. Seeing the challenges that students with disabilities face moved me to do what I can to make a difference,” says Villazon.
Newmark says both fellows bring distinctive strengths that enhance the clinic’s ability to serve children and families.
“They are both wonderful,” says Newmark of Alvarez and Villazon. “Sarah’s come to law school with a strong dedication to try to understand all the laws that pertain to children. She really comes to the work of the Education Advocacy Clinic thinking critically about what life is like for the kids who are our clients. She comes in trying to understand, ‘what does the law look like and how does it intersect with this individual kid?’ and she brings that holistic approach to every client and all of her work in the clinic. And Emily has a fantastic background in students with disabilities. Her undergraduate degree really focused on that. She is really good at gathering every source of information to inform her understanding of the client and what they need.”
Together, their experiences, perspectives and leadership have positioned them to play a vital role in advancing the clinic’s mission and expanding its reach in the community.
Expanding Training and Community Impact
Last fall, the Marshall Fellows helped plan and organize trainings on education rights for contractors working with the Arizona Department of Child Safety who support children in foster care. Both students helped coordinate logistics, develop training, and deliver the presentation alongside Professor Newmark and partners at DRAZ.
“It’s really great working with Disability Rights Arizona,” says Alvarez. “We have a lot of knowledge as a clinic, but there are times when something comes up that we’ve never seen before, and being able to consult experts in this area has expanded my knowledge greatly.”
The trainings help frontline professionals recognize educational issues affecting foster youth, provide them with available resources, and address common challenges facing students with disabilities.
This semester, the Marshall Fellows are providing similar training to Juvenile Court judges, further expanding the reach of education advocacy efforts.
The education of children with disabilities is governed by a complex web of law, federal laws and regulations, and various state laws, policies and regulations, and it can get complicated, which is why the Education Advocacy Clinic exists to support families but can also get complicated for people working with children.
“For folks who are working with kids in foster care, education can even get more complicated,” says Newmark. “So, to bring them up to speed on what student education rights are and how to request services that a child might need, is really important. It is also important for judges who oversee dependency or delinquency cases, to support their understanding the special education system and what can be done if education issues arise for the kids who are in their courtrooms.”
Building Professional Skills and Shaping Future Careers
Throughout their fellowship and clinic work, both students have developed a wide range of practical skills all while gaining a deeper understanding of the complex systems affecting children and families.
“There are so many skills that I’ve gained and didn’t expect to develop,” says Alvarez. “I expected client counseling and litigation skills, but I have also gained organizational skills as well as experience in how to interact with opposing counsel and with contractors and big departments, like the department of child safety. I didn’t think I would ever get to interact with them in this capacity.”
“My clinic experience as a whole has greatly improved my legal skills such as reasoning and writing, but I also feel much more comfortable and confident with client interactions,” said Villazon. “I think experience is the best teacher and a way to explore if that is the path you really want to take. It can be hard, but it is so rewarding.”
The experience has not only provided hands-on training for both fellows but provided some clarity on how they hope to use their legal education to advocate for vulnerable children in the future.
“I’m hoping to be a child attorney for children and dependency cases,” says Alvarez. “One thing I’ll keep in mind as their attorney is their education and making that a priority when I represent them.”
“Being able to work in the Education Advocacy Clinic, as well as in the Marshall Fellow position, has further solidified my desire to work in the field of special education advocacy and law,” says Villazon. “It has also exposed me to other education-related challenges, such as those facing foster youth, that I hope to explore further.”
To ensure this work continues year-round, the clinic is currently accepting applications for a Summer Marshall Fellow. The position will allow a student to carry forward casework, community outreach and trainings during the summer months — a period when clinic activities are typically reduced — helping maintain critical support for children with disabilities and the professionals who serve them.