Adelaida Caballero, Office Administrator
Adelaida has led initiatives to expand environmental and social justice through community-based organizations, including Impact Justice, The Greenlining Institute, and Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ) in Oakland. In 2021, she helped changemakers worldwide write 1,000 letters to incarcerated people through the Soapbox Project. Her work creating justice is a model for how business leaders can build empathy and take meaningful action through employee engagement initiatives. She is a founding member at Soapbox Project, serves on the advisory board, and is an intern for Green Life through Earth Island Institute and a restorative justice practitioner.
Grace Thieme, Office Administrator
An Oregon native, Grace is an alumna of Scripps College, where she received a B.A. in Spanish language and literature. She has work experience in immigration law, K-12 education, and higher education, most recently supporting faculty and academic centers at UC College of the Law, San Francisco. Grace is an avid reader and writer and is particularly interested in rural and agricultural policy and politics.
Laura Riley, Director
Laura is an academic administrator and social justice attorney with experience in veterans law, disability, and women’s rights. Prior to joining the Clinical Program, she was associate professor of lawyering skills and assistant director of academic success at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. There she developed and co-taught a Veterans Legal Practicum and co-chaired the DEI Faculty Committee. She has a book, Homeless Advocacy, forthcoming in 2023 from Carolina Academic Press. She has also worked as managing attorney for the Los Angeles County Bar Association, project director of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, staff attorney for California Women’s Law Center, staff attorney for Disability Rights Legal Center, and a clerk for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Laura earned her B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University and her J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
Lauren Havey, Paralegal
Lauren was born and raised in the Bay Area and is an alumna of Mills College, where she received a bachelor of arts in U.S. History. She began her career as an intern, and later contract paralegal, for the San Francisco Office of the Federal Public Defender. Prior to joining Berkeley Law, she worked as a senior paralegal with the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, providing legal support to those incarcerated on California’s death row.
Olivia Layug Balbarin, Director of Administration
Olivia earned her BA in Interdisciplinary Field Studies at UC Berkeley and her law degree from Santa Clara University. Olivia has volunteered at immigration community clinics and received the East Bay Community Law Center’s Community Volunteer of the Year Award in 2013.
Sarah Weld, Communications and Development Officer
Sarah is an experienced editor, writer and reporter and has worked in higher education communications for nine years. She has worked as the lead editor and writer on the communications team at Saint Mary’s College of California, and as the communications manager for enrollment services at Cal State East Bay. Prior to working in higher education, Sarah worked for many years as a journalist. She spent six years as editor and co-editor of the East Bay Monthly, and has worked as a daily newspaper reporter, magazine editor, and freelance writer, frequently focusing on stories about education.