Meet Our 2018 Summer Interns

Our legal interns and PILI Fellows have arrive and are now hard at work assisting our program staff in areas related to justice reform, housing, and early childhood education. We’re thrilled to have them on board!

Ariel Hairston: PILI Fellow

Hometown Naperville, IL.

Education: Chicago-Kent College of Law, Class of 2018. BA in Political Science and Government from Valparaiso University.

Favorite class from law school: Comparative Constitutional Law.

Why BPI? I was interested in learning how lawyers can use their skills to effect policy change. BPI’s focus on policy work affords me this opportunity. Furthermore, I’ve been passionate about the issues BPI’s focuses on, particularly criminal justice reform, for many years.

Career goals: In October, I will be starting as an Associate at Schiff Hardin LLP. My next goal is to find a practice area that interests and challenges me.

Book on your nightstand: Hunger, by Roxane Gay.

Hobbies: Yoga.

Fun fact: The Hairstons, by Henry Wiencek, is a book published about my family’s history in the U.S.

William Soule: PILI Fellow

Hometown: Santiago, Minnesota.

Education: BA in Math and Finance from Bethany Lutheran College, JD from the University of Chicago Law School.

Favorite class from law school: Land Use and Social Policy.

Why BPI? As you might be able to tell from the answer directly above this one, I love studying public and affordable housing. If cities are going to be the future drivers of economic growth, it is important that society considers how to involve everyone in that transformation, including those who struggle financially. I wanted to work with BPI because they are in the trenches of that fight in Chicago, working to better public housing and provide just solutions to past discrimination

Career goals: I’m not quite sure where life will take me yet, but I start working at Sidley Austin in September in the Investment Funds, Advisers, and Derivatives practice group. I suppose my career goals are to make a difference, whether that is through better investment fund regulations or improved affordable housing policy.

Book on his nightstand: Grant by Ron Chernow.

Hobbies: I have an awful obsession with watching soccer. As a better hobby, my wife and I like to cook new international recipes when we find the time.

Fun fact: I was an Art History minor in college, studying Italian Baroque painting, especially Caravaggio

Hillary Chutter-Ames: Legal Intern

Hometown: South Hero, Vermont.

Education: Northwestern Pritzker School of Law 2019, BA Russian and Political Science, Middlebury College.

Favorite class from law school: It’s too hard to choose between Law & Social Change, Appellate Advocacy, and Administrative Law. But our housing clinic takes the cake.

Why BPI? After working in civil legal aid last summer, I wanted to explore the policy side of the community issues my clients were facing. BPI’s projects explore the different issues that intersect to challenge communities in Chicago—how housing affordability and residential segregation connect with educational access and the need for police accountability and criminal justice reform. (And after a few weeks here, I can say BPI has not only an inspiring mission, but also a brilliant group of people working to effect change!)

Career goals: I’ll find ways to use my legal skills to work in solidarity with communities to advocate for social change, hopefully through a combination of policy work and direct service, and hopefully in Chicago!

Book on your nightstand: I just finished Teju Cole’s Known and Strange Things, so now it’s on to Eula Biss’s Notes from No Man’s Land and Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing. (And then on to the ten other books stacked by my bed.)

Hobbies: When I’m not at BPI, you’ll find me puzzling through a crossword, getting creative in the kitchen, or training for the Chicago Marathon.

Fun fact: I spent my first year and a half of law school without internet at my apartment – a holdover from my blissfully tech-free Peace Corps service in Togo, in West Africa. (As of January, I have WiFi and even occasionally watch Netflix. Dear White People, anyone?)

Armando Fernandez: Legal Intern

Hometown: Blue Island, Illinois.

Education: BA in Philosophy (with a non-trivial amount of coursework in music) from The University of Chicago. JD from Stanford Law School expected 2020.

Favorite class from law school: Contracts. My professor was very theatrical. He’d often jump on our desks (straight from the ground) to emphasize a point, and he’d unironically reenact scenes from The Paper Chase.

Why BPI? BPI was one of the first organizations mentioned by my law school’s office of career services, and a place I visited back in college on a legal career tour. I was also invested in learning more about policy work—particularly the work done in Chicago, which has directly impacted my own family and friends.

Career goals: I’m interested in public interest, but still figuring out my path (maybe public office).

Book on your nightstand: I don’t often read for pleasure, but keep a copy of Book VII of Plato’s Republic … in my mind.

Hobbies: Record and compose music (mostly of a late 80’s now-dead genre of Indie rock called Shoegaze); above average doodler.

Fun fact: My mom’s second cousin is Lupe Pintor, a former world champion boxer.

Adam Smith: Legal Intern

Hometown: Park Ridge, IL.

Education: Harvard Law School, Class of 2020. B.A., Political Science & Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Favorite class from law school: Local Government Law, in which I studied urban planning (and read Robert Caro!) under the guise of a law school course.

Why BPI? BPI’s deep involvement in the two policy issues that I’m most interested in criminal justice reform and housing policy—spurred my interest. That its focus is on my own backyard, where change in those areas is so desperately needed, made coming home to join BPI for the summer a no-brainer.

Career goals: I’d eventually like to have some impact on policy and/or government in Chicago, though in the shorter term I’m looking to become a prosecutor or a civil litigator.

Book on your nightstand: John le Carré’s A Legacy of Spies and Matthew Desmond’s Evicted.

Hobbies: Cooking, going to jazz clubs (the Green Mill in Uptown, especially), writing short stories, golfing, searching for the best hot dog in Chicago.

Fun fact: I’ve auditioned for Jeopardy! twice, but sadly to no avail.

Ayomikun Idowu: Undergraduate Intern

Hometown: Chicago, Illinois.

Education: BA in Public Policy and Geography from The University of Chicago, Class of 2020.

Favorite class: Geography of Circulation and Exchange.

Why BPI? Right now I am trying to intern at as many diverse places as possible so I can gain insight into what I want to do later in life. This summer, I aimed to work more directly in policy and discover how advocacy works on such a large urban scale. I chose to apply to BPI because it would offer me that experience as well as allowing me to focus on the social justice issues about which I am most passionate.

Career goals: Right now I am not sure what I want to do. I am interested in either practicing law or getting a PhD and becoming a professor. In whatever I do, I hope to be a force for positive change.

Book on your nightstand: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

Hobbies: I love dancing and am currently taking a tap and hip-hop class.

Fun fact: I am going to Paris in the fall for study abroad! I will be learning about African history and diaspora.

Simone Browne: Undergraduate Intern

Hometown: Tucson, Arizona.

Education: Sociology & Public Policy at the University of Chicago, Class of 2019.

Favorite class from college: Youth Law and Policy: Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare in the U.S.

Why BPI? I worked in a Public Defender’s office last summer, and wanted to use this summer to explore the complementary policy side of criminal justice and policing reform. BPI does fantastic work in these areas, and I am excited to see and work behind the curtain of Chicago’s justice reform community.

Career goals: I would like to go into criminal justice law or policy, perhaps starting out as a public defender and later moving into nonprofit legal policy work.

Book on your nightstand: The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway.

Hobbies: Cello, Pilates, and carillon (bell tower bells).

Fun fact: I love traveling, and one of my (slightly unrealistic) goals is to visit every country—14 down, 182 to go!