CSJ Expands Projects and Clinics

The Center for Social Justice (CSJ) is excited to announce the expansion of programs and the hiring of new faculty, practitioners, and staff.

Beginning this fall, the CSJ has a new Transactional Legal Clinic offered as part of the weekend program. The clinic will fill gaps in access to legal resources for individuals, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations in Newark and the surrounding communities. This hands-on, experiential learning opportunity is available due to the support of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation.

The CSJ also launched the Criminal Legal Education, Advocacy, and Reform/Reentry Assistance Project to expand the work of the criminal legal assistance project funded by the federal government. The Project will assist residents of Newark and other towns in Essex County in addressing legal issues related to the criminal legal system that impact their ability to secure a job, health care, housing and other essential aspects of life. In addition, the Project will offer community education and outreach on topics such as expungement and clemency.

The CSJ is excited to expand these projects and to welcome the following new team members:

Brenda N. Araniva joined the CSJ as a paralegal for the Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative. Ms. Araniva was born in El Salvador and immigrated to the United States at an early age along with her family. She started working in small law offices as a file clerk and became interested in immigration law. While she completed her bachelor's degree at New Jersey City University, she worked for various law firms specializing in immigration law and developed substantial skills to support immigration law practice.

Andrew Darcy is an Associate Clinical Professor who directs the Health Justice Clinic, which provides direct legal services to individuals in a variety of housing and other civil legal matters addressing the social determinants of health as part of the Housing Justice Project funded by the State of New Jersey. Professor Darcy's scholarship and practice focus on the intersection of housing law and civil rights, with a particular concentration on the Fair Housing Act. Darcy previously co-taught the Civil Litigation and Practice Clinic and Residential Landlord-Tenant Law at Seton Hall Law School.

Prior to joining the Seton Hall faculty, Darcy was a Supervising Attorney at Mobilization for Justice, Inc. (MFJ) in New York City. There, he defended low-income New Yorkers at risk of eviction through all stages of litigation-from pleadings through appeal. He also helped manage MFJ's participation in the nation's first right-to-counsel program for people facing eviction. At MFJ, Darcy founded and supervised a Fair Housing Project that provides representation to people experiencing housing discrimination, as well as community outreach and education. Before working at MFJ, Darcy was an Associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where he handled complex civil litigation, government-enforcement matters, and international arbitration.

Professor Darcy graduated from Seton Hall Law School and Fordham University. He clerked for the Hon. Katharine S. Hayden in the United States District Court, District of New Jersey.

Lissette Diaz is an Associate Clinical Professor who directs the Family Law Clinic. Professor Diaz's background is in family law, particularly the representation of domestic violence survivors, and landlord-tenant law.

Diaz previously served as Legal Director of The Waterfront Project in Jersey City, New Jersey. She also served as Supervising Attorney at Urban Justice Center, Senior Staff Attorney at Northeast New Jersey Legal Services, Tenant Advocate for Union City, NJ, and owned her own law firm for several years. Diaz has represented domestic violence survivors, clients in family law cases, including divorce, custody, and Division of Child Protection and Permanency hearings, tenants facing eviction and homelessness, families fighting school districts in education law cases, clients facing the termination of public benefits, petitioners in workers' compensation proceedings, and defendants in criminal proceedings.

Professor Diaz sits on the Board of Directors of Shelterforce, the Advisory Committee on Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement for Hudson County, the Hudson County Domestic Violence Working Group, and participates in the Hispanic Bar Association's Pipeline Mentorship Program.

Professor Diaz received her Juris Doctor from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2007. She was honored to be a Distinguished Public Interest Scholar at SHU Law, as well as a Public Interest Fellow during her time at the law school. Diaz's areas of professional interest focus on the rights of domestic violence and sexual assault survivors with particular focus on the effect domestic violence and sexual assault has on survivors within marginalized, underrepresented, and underrecognized groups.

JoEllyn L. Jones is a Practitioner in Residence with the Criminal Legal Education, Advocacy, and Reform/Reentry Assistance Project. Ms. Jones is a graduate of Rowan University and Widener Law School. She recently received her Master's in Restorative Justice from Vermont Law and Graduate School. Jones has worked with the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender in the Cumberland Trial Region, as well as in private practice. In addition to her position at the CSJ, she maintains her own law office in South Jersey where her primary focus is conflict work for the Office of the Public Defender. In June 2024, Governor Murphy appointed Jones to the Clemency Advisory Board.

Ms. Jones is the Vice-President of the Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey and a Trustee and Co-Chair of the DEI Committee for the Cumberland County Bar Association. She is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers where she is on the Board of Directors, the Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee, and serves on several other committees. In addition, she is a member of the National Association of Public Defenders and Black Public Defender's Association. Jones is a 2019 graduate of the National Criminal Defense College where she was awarded the Deryl Dantzler Scholarship. She returned to NCDC this year as Visiting Faculty.
Alexandra E. Kilduff is an Adjunct Professor who directs the Transactional Legal Clinic. Professor Kilduff is currently a Staff Attorney at Pro Bono Partnership, where she handles client matters and educational outreach for the New Jersey program. Prior to joining Pro Bono Partnership, Kilduff was in private practice specializing in commercial and construction litigation and corporate governance. She also has professional experience as a development specialist and fundraiser and continues to be involved as a board member and volunteer with several charitable organizations in the tri-state area. Professor Kilduff is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association Pro Bono Committee and a representative member of Exponentum℠, a national network of pro bono business law providers. Kilduff is admitted to the bar in New Jersey and is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and Seton Hall University School of Law.

Paulina Leyva Hernandez is the Detention Fellow with the Detention & Deportation Defense Initiative. A recent graduate of CUNY School of Law's evening program, Ms. Leyva Hernandez is originally from Mexico but has lived in the U.S. for the past 15 years. Her passion for defending the human rights of asylum seekers and migrants was inspired by her own family's experience. Leyva Hernandez has dedicated her career to social justice and immigrant rights advocacy. Prior to joining the CSJ, she worked with the Federal Defenders of New York, assisting in criminal defense cases in the Southern District. Leyva Hernandez worked as an intern with the International Refugee Assistance Project, the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, and the Immigrant Defense Project. She is especially interested in leveraging her combined background in both the criminal and immigration context to provide holistic and effective advocacy for clients navigating these complex systems.

Dr. Glykeria Teji is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Immigrants' Rights/International Human Rights Clinic. She co-teaches the clinic seminar alongside Professor Lori Nessel.

Dr. Teji specializes in detained removal defense, with expertise at the intersection of criminal and immigration law. As the Managing Attorney of the Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative at the CSJ, she led initiatives that safeguard the rights of noncitizens in immigration detention for over three years.

Previously, Dr. Teji served as a Senior Staff Attorney at Make the Road New York (MRNY), advocating for non-citizens in removal proceedings and advancing the rights of Long Island residents. She also held a prestigious fellowship at Justice in Motion, where she developed innovative strategies to secure the release of migrant children from U.S. detention through cross-border collaborations. From 2012 to 2017, Teji worked at Brooklyn Defender Services, first as a DOJ Accredited Representative, and then as a law graduate/attorney. She was the first Board of Immigration Appeals Accredited Representative in the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP), the first nationwide immigration removal defense program that followed a model of universal representation.

Dr. Teji holds a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) from Widener University, Delaware Law School, where her research focused on mentally ill noncitizens in removal proceedings and the comparative legal frameworks of U.S. immigration and criminal justice systems. She earned her Master's in Law (LL.M.) from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, engaging deeply with immigration law through the Immigration Justice Clinic. At Cardozo, Dr. Teji was awarded a scholarship to travel to Ecuador and work with Colombian women refugees. She was also a recipient of the Dean's Merit Scholarship for the duration of her studies. Teji graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), School of Law.

Dr. Teji received a teaching fellowship at Delaware Law's Dignity Rights Practicum. She is admitted to practice in New York and remains committed to advancing justice and dignity for all noncitizens through her practice and scholarship.

For more information, please contact:
Kayla Strube, Housing Justice Project Coordinator
973-642-8700
[email protected]

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