Zoraima Pelaez

Student, The University of Texas School of Law

Zoraima Pelaez is a class of 2022 law student at the The University of Texas School of Law. Pelaez currently serves on the student advisory board and is the managing editor of the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights. She is chief of staff of the Texas Law chapter of the American Constitution Society (ACS) and an ACS Next Generation Leader. As a 2L, she served as president of the ACS chapter, co-president of the Texas Law chapter of If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, and a board member of the Public Interest Law Association.

Zoraima has volunteered for several pro bono projects, including Pro Bono in January, the Women in Immigration Detention Assistance Project, and the Parole Project. She launched and manages a reproductive rights pro bono project that assists Jane’s Due Process with legal, policy, and educational research initiatives. She has participated in the Civil Rights Clinic and the Supreme Court Clinic.

The summer after her 1L year, Zoraima worked with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project in New York City providing litigation support. The summer after her 2L year, she will work with the ACLU of Texas focusing on voting rights and reproductive rights impact litigation. Before coming to law school, she was the outreach and advocacy manager for the Texas Freedom Network, where she managed community advocacy and grassroots lobbying efforts at the Texas Legislature and State Board of Education.