Lambda Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
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2014-2015 Board


Liz Weissert, Class of 2016
President

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Hometown: Narberth, Pennsylvania
Undergrad Institution: Smith College
Legal Interests: Litigation, Constitutional Law
Hobbies: Biking, Reading for fun
Favorite Philly Hangout: The Art Museum Steps and Logan Circle
Best Philly Food: Pizza at Mama Palma's
1L Summer: Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia
Email: weissert@law.upenn.edu

Liz grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs. She went to undergrad at Smith College where she studied Women's History and English literature. She was involved in the ultimate team and the wind ensemble. After college in Massachusetts, she decided to return home to Philly for Law School. She loved her first year of Penn Law. In addition to serving on Lambda Board, she participated in the Williams Institute Moot Court Competition. This summer she is staying in town to work at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia. She enjoys going for bike rides on the Schuykill River trail, cooking new recipes, and reading in her spare time. Liz is an associate editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. 


Matt Vitorla, Class of 2016
Vice President

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Hometowns: Smithtown, NY & Long Valley, NJ
Undergrad Institution: Brown University
Legal Interests: Project Finance & Cross-border Corporate Law
Best Philly Food: Sabrina's
Hobbies: Baking, running, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Sondheim et al.
1L Summer: International Summer Human Rights Fellow at the LGBT Social & Legal Services Program, Madrid, Spain
Email: 
mvitorla@law.upenn.edu
 
Matt grew up in the suburbs of New York before heading up to New England for college. At Brown he studied economics and linguistics and spent a semester in Barcelona. After graduating, Matt resumed his tour of the Northeast working at a translation company in New York and a law firm in D.C. before coming to Philadelphia. Besides working with Lambda, Matt has been involved with Penn's Leaders in Education Advocacy and Reform Network and the Health Law & Policy Project and is an Associate Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.

Caleb Wimble, Class of 2016
Vice President

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Hometowns: Philly, PA, and Hua Hin, Thailand
Undergrad Institution: Arcadia University
Legal Interests: Litigation, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law
Favorite Philly Hangouts: Tria, Washington Square, the Schuylkill River Trail
Best Philly Food: Zahav, Amada, Yogorino
Hobbies: Theatre, film, Thai cooking
1L Summer: Judicial Intern, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware
Email: wimble@law.upenn.edu

Caleb spent most of his childhood in Thailand before returning to the U.S. and his home town of Philadelphia. He studied philosophy and English at Arcadia University and University College London before joining an intelligence analytics startup to spearhead a new department here in Philly. Here at Penn Law, in addition to the Lambda board Caleb serves as a case manager for the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project, Communications Chair for ACS, co-director for the Light Opera Company, and student mentor for the Penn LGBT Center. He is an associate editor of the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law. 

Doug Helman, Class of 2016
Academic Director

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Hometown: Martinsville, NJ
Undergrad Institution: Tufts University
Legal Interests: Litigation, Administrative Law, Insurance
Favorite Philly Hangouts: Tippling Place, Joe, Frankford Hall
Best Philly Food: Bagels and Lox from Fourth Street Deli, Federal Donuts
Hobbies: Classical Opera/Musical Theater, Traveling to all 50 states, EGOTing
1L Summer Job: Research Assistant for the ALI, Intern at the US Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey
 
Doug is a proud New Jersey native, just like his two idols: William Brennan and Meryl Streep. While at Tufts he studied abroad in Egypt and Italy, and then spent two years in DC paralegaling at a firm specializing in insurance recovery. He is most proud of working on two amicus briefs for the Supreme Court and killing it at the firm's yearly karaoke party. At Penn, Doug is on Law Review, a board member with ACS and Lambda, and appeared in the Law School Light Opera Company's production of Rent.

Sean Hinton, Class of 2016
Director of Admissions, Membership, and Alumni Outreach

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Hometown: Gulfport, MS
Undergrad Institution: Penn
Legal Interests: Bankruptcy, Business Restructuring and Reorganization
Favorite Philly Hangout: Passyunk Square, Tria, Davis Student Union
Hobbies: Exploring parts of Philly that still make him nervous, long bike rides, coordinating dinner parties, paddle boarding
1L Summer: Law Clerk at the US Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida, Asset Forfeiture Section

A southerner at heart, Sean has spent the past ten years sampling what the world has to offer. High school and college took him to New Hampshire and Philadelphia, work wound up leading to San Francisco, South Korea, and Miami, and he's studied in both Mexico and Spain (which makes for a rather interesting accent.) Freshly back from a summer at a federal prosecutor's office in Miami, Sean is excited to work with the rest of the board during what will undoubtedly be Lambda's best year yet. In addition to Lambda, Sean volunteers with the Penn Law Immigrant Rights Project to provide free, bilingual tax preparation services for Philly's Latin community and is a member of LALSA, the Latino Law Students Association.

Russell Hoffman, Class of 2016 
Director of Networking and Outreach

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Hometown: Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Undergrad Institution: Denison University
Legal Interests: Litigation, Civil Procedure
Favorite Philly Hangout: Mad Mex, Knock
Best Most Philly Food: Minar Palace, a byo Indian buffet 
Hobbies: exploring, Penn Law Bowling League
1L Summer: Biddle Research Fellow
Email: russh@law.upenn.edu 

Raised in the Midbest, Russell shares his hometown with Rush Limbaugh, Reverend Terry Jones, and one of the coaches from Toddlers & Tiaras. For undergrad, he attended Denison University where he studied rhetoric and queer studies. Upon graduating, he contemplated spending a gap year in the “real world” and then promptly booked a one-way flight to Phnom Penh, spending his year traveling throughout Southeast Asia. At the Law School, Russell serves on Lambda Board as well as the board of Penn Law Students for Reproductive Justice, a pro bono group through which he also engages in direct service.

Tony Keffler, Class of 2016
Political Director

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Hometown: Amarillo, TX
Undergrad Institution: University of Texas at Austin
Legal Interests: International Law, Immigration Law
Favorite Philly Hangout: Ultimo Coffee, Frankford Hall
Best Philly Food: The mind-blowing pizza/ice cream combo of Pizza Brain and its next-door neighbor Little Baby’s ice cream
Hobbies: Crossfit, biking, roasting vegetables
1L Summer: Lauder Institute in Peru and Colombia
Email: tony.keffler@gmail.com

Tony grew up in Amarillo, TX. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he savored the alternative music scene and legendary tacos while taking breaks from his studies in Latin American History and Literature. After graduation, he spent two years in Mexico City working for a Quaker Center for Peace and International Understanding. In Mexico, he began to develop an expertise in a region he is intellectually and professionally passionate about. At Penn, he is pursuing an M.A. in International Studies in the Lauder Institute at the Wharton School and participates in the Penn Law Immigrant Rights Project (PLIRP) as Casework Coordinator and the Fiber Arts Club as Co-President.

Peter Jackson, Class of 2016
Political Director    

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Hometown: ​Los Angeles, CA
Undergrad Institution: ​Northwestern University
Legal Interests: ​Intellectual property, international arbitration
Best Philly Food: ​Vernick 
Hobbies:  ​Travel, cooking
Email: ​peterkjackson@gmail.com
 
Prior to attending Penn Law, Peter Jackson went to Northwestern, managed a band, and sold iPods and tequila.  He's pretty sure the legal world has it backward when it calls a B.A. an A.B., but got a B.S. in Journalism anyhow.  At Penn, he serves as the Penn Intellectual Property Group Symposium Chair and as an associate editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.  He argued (and lost!) the final round of the 2014 Williams Institute Moot Court at UCLA with former Lambda board member Jessa DeGroote.  

Drew Dean, Class of 2016
Symposium Director    

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Hometown: Milwaukee, WI
Undergrad Institution: Yale
Legal Interests: Corporate/Transactional, Environmental Law, IP
Favorite Philly Hangout: Rittenhouse Square
Best Philly Food:  The Dandelion
Hobbies: Smitten Kitchen, scifi/fantasy in all media, the occasional run
1L Summer Job: Judicial Intern, U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota

Drew was born and raised in Milwaukee and remains a Midwesterner at heart. He double majored in Poli Sci and International Studies at Yale, where he was involved with the ACLU and Model UN. After graduation he worked for a law firm in London for three years, doing a mix of American and English legal work. He was lured back stateside by the prospect of three wonderful years at Penn Law and hasn’t been disappointed. At Penn, Drew participates in the Environmental Law Project and serves as Resources Director and a Shift Manager for the Custody and Support Assistance Clinic. He is an associate editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.



Blair Bowie, Class of 2017
1L Representative

Harrison Haas, Class of 2017
1L Representative

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Blair Bowie, 1L Rep.
Hometown: Washington, DC
Undergrad Institution: Middlebury College
Hobbies: Biking, ice hockey, soccer, tennis, playing with her dog
Favorite Philly Hangout: Liberty Lanes on Wednesday nights
Favorite Philly Food: Publicly: Baby Blues BBQ; Actually: WaWa
Email: BBowie@law.upenn.edu

Blair grew up in Washington, D.C. She graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont, where she studied Philosophy and Italian and was a co-captain of the Varsity Lacrosse team. After college, she spent two years with Green Corps, the Field School for Environmental Organizing. She lived in seven cities across the country creating volunteer based campaigns on a range of issues, from sustainable fishing methods to divesting from coal power. This experience gave her a first-hand perspective on the effects of big money in politics and drove her to move back to D.C. where she spent the next three years lobbying on campaign finance reform as the Democracy Advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. She is spending her 1L year... well, reading mostly, but also serving as a 1L Rep for the Environmental Law Project, playing any and all sports, and over-enthusiastically participating in the Penn Law Bowling League. She looks forward to participating in the Williams Institute Moot Court Competition this winter.

Chet Eckman, Class of 2017
1L Representative

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Hometown: Ephrata, PA 
Undergrad Institution: Northeastern University
Legal Interests: Transactional Law, Securities Law, Tax Law 
Best Philly Food: Audrey Claire (Runner-up: Insomnia Cookies)
Favorite Philly Hangout: Schuylkill River Trail

Hobbies: Tennis, Penn Law Bowling League, Running, Juggling
Email: chet.eckman@law.upenn.edu
 
After growing up in less-than-urban Lancaster County, Chet has been city hopping for the past 6 years, spending his undergraduate career in Boston including a 6 month stint in London. Following graduation, he moved to NYC to work in risk management for a large investment bank and then a law firm specializing in capital markets transactions. Now closer to home, Chet looks forward to getting more involved with the larger Penn and Philadelphia communities through Lambda, the Financial Literacy Project, the Wharton Certificate in Management, and various other organizations over the next few years.



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Hometown: Ojai, CA
Undergrad Institution: Haverford College
Legal Interests: Intellectual Property, Constitutional Law
Favorite Philly Hangout: The Athenaeum, Free Library of Philadelphia
Best Philly Food: Reading Terminal
Hobbies: Bicycling, Exploring Philadelphia’s architectural history

Harrison grew up in small town Southern California before leaving for the Main Line for college.  He studied History and East Asian Studies at Haverford College. After graduation he worked as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Philadelphia, and in the city’s tech scene. At Penn he is also involved with Penn Law and the Arts. Outside of Penn he volunteers regularly at the William Way LGBT Center and serves on the board of the Young Friends of the Preservation Alliance.

Sylvia Kim, Class of 2017
1L Representative

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Hometowns: Los Angeles & Orange County
Undergrad Institution: University of Southern California
Legal Interests: Intellectual Property  
Best Philly Food: Fat Ham Oyster Sliders
Hobbies: Watching & critiquing tv/film, Dancing, Traveling, Attending conventions
Email: sylviakim@law.upenn.edu
 
Sylvia has lived in Southern California essentially her entire life before coming to Penn. She attended USC, where she majored in Cinematic Arts Critical Studies and spent a semester abroad in London. During and after college, she worked at a studio as an film/tv editor and visual effects coordinator; her credited works include films both famous (The Fighter) and infamous (Twilight). Sylvia is also involved with Asian Pacific American Law Student Association and Penn Intellectual Property Group.

Hayley Winograd, Class of 2017
1L Representative

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Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona
Undergrad Institution: New York University
Legal Interests: Civil Rights 
Hobbies: Guitar, Documentaries, Learning how to Cook
Favorite Philly Hangout: Dirty Frank’s
Best Philly Food: Cuban at Alma de Cuba
Email: hwino@laww.upenn.edu

Hayley grew up in Phoenix, AZ. At age 18, she left the desert for New York to attend NYU. While in college, she studied sociology, concentrating on gender issues. Her best memories of college are when she studied abroad in Tel Aviv, and when she made two short films. She hopes to pursue a legal career in civil rights, and also to make documentary films as a lawyer.


Former Boards:

2013-2014 Board
2012-2013 Board
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