Sophia Villarreal / Cochran Fellow

Sophia joined NSBHF as a Cochran Fellow in 2022.

Prior to joining NSBHF, Sophia spent two years clerking in the federal courts. She first clerked for the Hon. Lawrence J. Vilardo of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York and then for the Hon. Mary H. Murguia of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

During law school, Sophia served as a student attorney in Stanford’s Criminal Defense Clinic, a full-time clinic where she represented clients charged with misdemeanors in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. She also externed at the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of California where she worked on issues before the district and appellate courts. Among other activities, Sophia served on the boards of OutLaw, the Stanford Latinx Law Student Association, and the Marion Rice Kirkwood Memorial Competition. She also competed in the Marion Rice Kirkwood Memorial Competition, where she was a quarterfinalist, and the National Native American Law Student Association Moot Court. Finally, Sophia volunteered with the Immigrants’ Rights Pro Bono Project and StreetLaw, a student-led pro bono project working with incarcerated youth.

Before entering law school, Sophia spent a year as a JusticeCorps Fellow providing legal information to self-represented litigants as part of San Francisco Superior Court’s ACCESS Center.