������Ƶ

Lifetime channel movies and reruns of “Parking Wars” only went so far in helping Olivia Ortiz 2L unwind from a heavy day.

An intern in the ’s family unit in 2019, Ortiz spent long hours researching cases and working directly with domestic abuse survivors, many of whom are incarcerated. The work, while emotionally challenging, confirmed an indefatigable passion for helping women and girls with few other places to turn.

“Family law is totally different from anything I had learned so far because it’s very high stakes while also highly fact-specific,” Ortiz says. “I had an interest in advocating for incarcerated women and girls before, and this internship really solidified that interest. It’s really complex but also very emotionally fulfilling and rewarding.”

Ortiz is a recipient of a 2019 fellowship. Over the past 25 years, the student-led organization has provided opportunities for students to pursue careers in public interest law through real-world legal work.

For Ortiz, who is no stranger to working on behalf of abuse victims, the internship marked an important evolution of work she began early in her college career at the University of Chicago.

As an undergraduate, Ortiz helped found the , a student organization focused on advocacy efforts around Title IX issues on behalf of sexual and domestic abuse victims. Those experiences sparked an interest in the law that ultimately led her to ������Ƶ.

“When I first came to law school, I wanted to see how I could expand my view of the law and how to help women and girls beyond Title IX work,” Ortiz said. “So, when I saw the Northwest Justice Project had an internship opening for family law, I thought it would be such a cool way to explore that passion and really delve into a different type of law that complements it.”

At NJP, she found just that. Ortiz was charged with working directly with clients to develop statements and petitions, outlining potential outcomes from divorces and custody plans, and identifying avenues for extraction or protection from dangerous domestic situations.

A major part of her work involved visiting women’s prisons across the state to put on family law clinics, supporting incarcerated women working to gain custody and visitation rights, providing legal advice, and helping prepare them for reentry into life outside prison walls.

When you have an experience like that and really share that human connection with a person, it’s just really powerful.

“Advocating for a client is a victory in and of itself,” Ortiz says. “Clients can see that somebody is believing in them and fighting for them — even when the justice system doesn’t satisfy their needs. I can’t tell you how much of an honor it is to be able to interact with these women, hear their stories and empower them in a place where they have very few options.”

The experience made profound impressions on Ortiz. She says it was challenging to decompress from dealing with such painful stories day in and day out given that she was unable to discuss those experiences with friends or family.

Still, she found a strong support network in her colleagues at NJP. This included weekly meetings among the interns and attorneys, who would meet to review cases and share thoughts as part of a safe, open dialogue — a critical aspect of this kind of demanding legal work.

“The summer has really evolved my interests,” she says. “The themes have stayed the same, but I’m now in a much different place where I am more directed and focused in my career.”

Ultimately, the one-on-one moments with clients proved most rewarding, reinforcing her desire to use her legal career to make a difference in the lives of women with nowhere else to turn for help.

One such moment, she says, involved an incarcerated woman who had not seen her daughter in many years. Ortiz and her colleague did some digging, found some photographs online and brought them to the woman, who was moved to tears.

“It was just such an emotional moment when she saw her daughter, who looks just like her, and to experience that with this woman,” Ortiz said. “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go the policy route or work in direct services, but after working with clients during the internship and having that moment like I had with many other women, I really see myself now in a client-centered role.

“It’s hard to put into words, but when you have an experience like that and really share that human connection with a person, it’s just really powerful.”

��