We are thrilled to welcome six new board members to our Board of Directors. We look forward to their insights and perspectives on our mission.

Andy Budzinski

Andy Budzinski is an Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Director of the General Practice Clinic at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law. Through the clinic, he empowers students to grow as lawyers and advocates and to promote access to justice for litigants who would otherwise lack counsel.

Prior to joining the faculty at UDC, Andy focused on representing survivors of domestic violence in family law cases. He spent two years teaching in George Washington University School of Law’s Family Justice Litigation Clinic, where his students represented survivors in divorce, custody, child support, and civil protection order cases. Andy also taught in Georgetown University Law Center’s Domestic Violence Clinic, where he represented survivors in civil protection order cases and supervised students litigating the same. Previously, he worked as a staff attorney at Washington & Lee University Law School’s Community Legal Practice Center representing low-income clients in cases involving domestic violence, custody, divorce, and end-of-life planning. He served as a law clerk to Judge Roy W. McLeese III on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Fun Facts: I sang in an a cappella group for 5 years before the pandemic and compose music primarily for voice (I majored in Music Composition in college).

A.J. Dhaliwal

A.J. Dhaliwal is special counsel in the Finance and Bankruptcy Practice Group of Sheppard Mullin’s Washington, D.C. office. A.J. has over a decade of experience helping banks, non-bank financial institutions, and other companies providing financial products and services in a wide range of matters including government enforcement actions, civil litigation, regulatory examinations, and internal investigations.

A.J. is active in the District of Columbia Bar, where he serves on the Board of Governors. He is a past president of the Washington D.C. chapter of the South Asian Bar Association of North America (SABA) and has been recognized as a Rising Star by SABA.

Serafina Lobsenz

Serafina Lobsenz is the lead attorney for the Department of Homeland Security Headquarters and across all of the DHS components for Freedom of Information Act litigation and associated matters. Serafina has over 25 years of experience as an attorney with the federal government, including with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6. Serafina has been a government attorney her entire career and has a keen interest in government pro bono.

Jennifer Miller

Jennifer L. Miller, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force Director of Staff, Headquarters Department of the Air Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. In this capacity, she provides advice and assistance directly to the Secretary, Under Secretary, and Department of the Air Force Secretariat while managing the day-to-day administration and integration of the Department of the Air Force.

Prior to assuming her current position, Ms. Miller served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment, and Energy, Headquarters Air Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. She was responsible for the formulation, review, and execution of plans, policies, programs, and budgets to meet Air Force installations, energy, environment, safety, and occupational health objectives. She also previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Installations, Environment and Energy, and Deputy General Counsel, Installations, Environment and Energy Division, Office of the Air Force General Counsel.

Prior to becoming a member of the Senior Executive Service, Ms. Miller spent several years supporting the Air Force’s real property and housing privatization programs. Before that, she was a real estate attorney at a Seattle law firm. She is also a retired Army Reserve Judge Advocate. In 2013 and 2014, she deployed with a special operations joint task force in Afghanistan, in 2018 and 2019, she mobilized as the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for United States European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, and most recently she supported United States Indo-Pacific Command exercises as an Operational Law Reserve Attorney.

Fun Facts:  I’m a trail runner so you can find me up in the mountains running or hiking (or skiing in the summer) most weekends. – I retired after 24 years in the Army Reserves – and jumped out of perfectly good airplanes. I also played the French horn through college.

Ella Russell

Ella Russell is a recent graduate of Antonin Scalia Law School where her focus on serving the underserved was recognized at graduation with the Law School’s Pro-Bono Award. Ella immigrated to the United States from Gracanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is fluent in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian and proficient in Spanish.

During her law school career, Ella gained a variety of exposure to private law practice and public interest law. Most notably, she provided direct immigration services through her law school’s Immigration Litigation Clinic as well as through a local non-profit,  Just Neighbors. Simultaneously, Ella worked for a solo practitioner serving veterans who needed help accessing benefits, sometimes waiting for decades. Moreover, a highlight of Ella’s public interest law career during law school was the Equal Justice Works Rural Summer Legal Corps fellowship at Legal Services of Greater Miami, where she worked closely with immigrants in the tenants’ rights unit. Ella is a Co-Chair of the Equal Justice Works National Advisory Committee.

Fun Fact: I enjoy sharing the simplicity of farm life with my spouse and stepdaughter.

You can meet our new board members at the 2022 Fall Kickoff on September 21 at 6:30 pm at Goodwin Procter.