Allie Vance Rejoins Firm as Inaugural Nigel Shelby Civil Rights Litigation Fellow
Wardenski P.C. is delighted to announce that Alexandra (Allie) Vance has rejoined the firm as our inaugural Nigel Shelby Civil Rights Litigation Fellow. Allie was previously a part-time law clerk at Wardenski P.C. during the Spring 2023 semester. During her one-year fellowship, Allie will support the firm’s civil rights litigation work, with a particular focus on our work advocating for students’ rights and LGBTQ+ equality.
Allie received her J.D. from the New York University School of Law in May 2023. She devoted law school to civil rights advocacy. At NYU, she was a student in both the Education Advocacy Clinic and the Brennan Center Public Policy Advocacy Clinic, co-chaired the Education Law and Policy Society, taught criminal law to high school students through the High School Law Institute, and was an Executive Editor of the NYU Review of Law and Social Change. She completed summer legal internships at Alabama Appleseed and the Georgia Resource Center, where she assisted in the post-conviction representation of life- and death-sentenced individuals in both criminal and civil rights cases.
Allie graduated magna cum laude from The University of Alabama in 2020, where she earned a dual degree in Management Information Systems and Spanish. Allie grew up in Alabama and currently lives in Queens.
Wardenski P.C. established the Shelby Fellowship to honor the memory of Nigel Shelby, a Huntsville, Alabama teenager who lost his life to suicide in 2019 when he was just 15 years old. Nigel, who was Black and gay, experienced severe anti-gay harassment and racially discriminatory treatment as a freshman at Huntsville High School. Wardenski P.C., together with our co-counsel at Public Justice’s Students’ Civil Rights Project and the Huntsville law firm Conchin, Cole, Jordan & Sherrod, represented Nigel’s parents in their federal civil rights lawsuit against the Huntsville City Board of Education and a former school administrator. The case resulted in a significant settlement, announced in March 2023, which requires the school board to implement critical district-wide measures to prevent and appropriately respond to the harassment of LGBTQ+ students. The Shelby Fellowship was made possible by attorneys’ fees received by Wardenski P.C. as part of that settlement.
“I’m thrilled to be the first Nigel Shelby Civil Rights Litigation Fellow at Wardenski P.C.,” said Allie Vance. “This fellowship gives me an opportunity to litigate at the forefront of these civil rights issues during a time when the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, especially LGBTQ+ students, are under unprecedented attack. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and having grown up in Alabama, I am proud to be able to start my legal career in a role where I can honor Nigel’s legacy by fighting for the rights of students to learn in safe, supportive school environments.”
“I founded Wardenski P.C. two years ago as a civil rights law firm focused squarely on combating rampant discrimination against students for who they are, and challenging the myriad ways that members of the LGBTQ+ community face discrimination, harassment, and stigma in their daily lives,” said Joseph Wardenski, Founder & Principal Attorney of Wardenski P.C. “Through the Shelby Fellowship, I am proud that we can double our efforts to bring cases seeking justice for victims of discrimination. I am excited that Allie has rejoined our firm and look forward to her contributions to our clients and community in the year ahead.”
Wardenski P.C. is a civil rights law firm based in New York City that represents clients across the country in civil rights cases challenging discrimination, harassment, and segregation in schools, housing, health care, public accommodations, employment, and voting. Please visit our Jobs page for information on future fellowship, internship, and employment opportunities at the firm.
