AG Honors Program Bios

AG Honors Program Bios

Meet the Current Honors Program Members

Launched in 2018, the NJOAG Honors Program welcomed its first class in 2019. Information about current Honors Program classes is available through the drop-down menu – we encourage interested applicants to learn about each class’ diversity in experience, education, and background.

2023 Honors Program Class

Bios to come.

2022 Honors Program Class

Loren Miller is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Affirmative Civil Rights & Labor Enforcement Section. In 2022, she graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she served as Executive Articles Editor for the Harvard Journal on Legislation. Prior to law school, she worked in communications, with a focus on healthcare and global health. In 2014, she graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania.

Olivia Mendes is spending both years of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Affirmative Civil Rights & Labor Enforcement Section, which investigates civil rights, labor, and workplace violations and brings appropriate actions to combat those violations. In 2022, she graduated cum laude from Seton Hall University School of Law where she served as an editor and published a comment with the Seton Hall Law Review, was president of the Labor and Employment Law Forum student organization, and was a member of the Civil Litigation Clinic. In 2016, she graduated with a B.A. in History from the University of Delaware.

Jacob Goldberg is spending his first year of the Honors Program assigned to Financial and Cyber Crimes Bureau, which prosecutes economic and technology-based crimes in New Jersey. In 2022, he graduated from Harvard Law School, where he held a leadership role in Harvard Negotiators and participated in the Ames Moot Court Competition. In 2019, he graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science.

Marc Peralta is spending his first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Affirmative Civil Rights and Labor Enforcement Unit in the Division of Law, which investigates violations of, and civilly enforces, worker rights and anti-discrimination laws on behalf of the Department of Labor and the Division of Civil Rights.  In 2021, he graduated from Seton Hall Law, cum laude, and served as a Student Bar Association Senator and as a member of Seton Hall’s Legislative Journal, Volume 45, where he published Identifying Joint-Employment Is as Easy as ABC.  He clerked for the Honorable Patrick DeAlmeida of the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, during the 2021-22 term.

Marcus Mitchell is spending his first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Affirmative Civil Rights and Labor Enforcement Section. In 2022, he graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau Wage and Hour Practice and Executive Content Editor of the Journal of Law and Gender. In 2019, he graduated from Rowan University where he majored in Economics with a concentration in Statistics. 

Max G. Lesser is spending his first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, which investigates and prosecutes criminal abuses of the public trust. In 2022, he graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics and as a member of the Trial Advocacy Team and Juvenile Justice Clinic. Max also interned with the DC Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, the U.S. Army JAG Corps, and the Senate Judiciary Committee. In 2014, he graduated from George Washington University summa cum laude, majoring in political science. Prior to law school, Max served as a Teach For America corps member and high school teacher for four years, serving as an instructional specialist in social studies and English and coaching martial arts after school.

Frederick McDonald is spending his first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Criminal Justice, Environmental Crimes Unit, which is responsible for investigating and prosecuting violations of the State’s water pollution, air pollution, hazardous waste, and solid waste laws.  Prior to joining the Honors Program, he clerked for the Honorable Ronald Susswein in the New Jersey Appellate Division.  In 2021, he graduated with distinction from Georgetown University Law Center with a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Environmental and Energy Law.  In 2020, he graduated cum laude from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, where he served as a Productions Editor for the Pace Environmental Law Review, a New York State Pro Bono Scholar, and won the 2019 Professor William R. Ginsburg Memorial Contest organized by the New York State Bar Association’s Environmental & Energy Law Section.  In 2016, he graduated from the College of New Jersey.

Sara Jane Koste is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to Consumer Fraud Prosecution, which conducts civil investigations and prosecution of violations of the NJ Consumer Fraud Act and related statutes, as well as multi-state litigation of consumer protection issues. In 2022, she graduated from Minnesota School of Law, where she served as Student Director of the Consumer Protection Law Clinic and founded Minnesota Law Students for Economic Justice. While in law school, she interned with the US Attorney’s Office for Minnesota, the NY Attorney General’s Office, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Prior to law school, she worked as a legal assistant and in nonprofit administration. In 2013, she graduated from State University of New York at Geneseo.

Sherrod Smith is spending his first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Criminal Justice Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, which is tasked with investigating and prosecuting cases involving public corruption, criminal violations of civil rights laws, and illegal use of force by law enforcement officers. In May 2022, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs, where he participated on the executive boards for the Journal of Constitutional Law and Journal of Public and International Affairs and interned for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals with Judge Restrepo’s Supervision to Aid Reentry (STAR) Reentry Court program. Sherrod graduated from Boston University where he was a member of the BU Men’s Basketball team.

Viviana Hanley is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Office of the State Solicitor, which has a broad appellate portfolio.  Prior to joining the honors program, she served as a judicial law clerk first on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and then on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.  Viviana graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2020, where she represented indigent persons facing criminal charges as a student attorney with Harvard Defenders.  Prior to law school, Viviana taught English in Barranquilla, Colombia and writing in Boston, Massachusetts.  She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2015 with a B.A. in Philosophy.

2021 Honors Program Class

Amy Eng is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Government & Healthcare Fraud Section, which conducts civil investigations and prosecutions related to fraudulent requests for State funds. Prior to joining the Program, she completed a judicial clerkship with the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division. In 2020, she graduated, cum laude, with a health law concentration from Seton Hall University School of Law, where she served as an Articles Editor for and published with the Seton Hall Law Review. In 2017, she graduated, magna cum laude, from Rutgers University, where she majored in Political Science, double-minored in Philosophy and International & Global Studies, and obtained a certificate in American Government & Public Policy from the Eagleton Institute of Politics. 

Melissa Fich is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Office of the State Solicitor, which has a broad appellate portfolio. In 2021, she graduated from Yale Law School, where she was a member of the San Francisco Affirmative Litigation Project clinic and interned for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. In 2015, Melissa graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in Political Science and English Literature.

Chandini Jha is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Special Litigation Section. In 2021, she graduated from Yale Law School, where she was involved in the Veterans Legal Services Clinic and the Challenging Mass Incarceration Clinic. In 2016, she graduated from Georgetown University, where she was granted a Fulbright Scholarship to research violence against women in India. 

Sarah Levine is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Affirmative Civil Rights and Labor Enforcement Section. In 2020, she graduated from Yale Law School, where she was Empirical Scholarship Editor of the Yale Law Journal and was member of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic and the Yale Law Women Executive Board. After Yale, she spent a year as Special Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia in the Workers’ Rights and Antifraud Section, on a year-long fellowship sponsored by Justice Catalyst and the Public Rights Project. She graduated from Barnard College in 2014 and spent time before attending law school as an Empirical Research Fellow at Stanford Law School. 

Nathaniel Levy is spending his first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Office of the State Solicitor, which has a broad appellate portfolio. In 2019, he graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was the Environmental and Energy Law Program student fellow and a managing editor of the Harvard Environmental Law Review. After law school, he clerked for Justice John Englander of the Massachusetts Appeals Court and Judge Ellen Hollander of U.S. District Court in Maryland. Nathaniel graduated from Brown University in 2011.

Rachel Manning is spending both years of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Environmental Enforcement & Environmental Justice Section. In 2019, she graduated from Fordham Law school, where she served as the Senior Notes & Articles Editor of the Environmental Law Review, president of the Environmental Law Advocates student organization, and won the 2018 Professor William R. Ginsberg Memorial Essay Contest organized by the New York Bar Association’s Environmental & Energy Law Section. After graduating, she clerked for the Hon. Stuart Rabner, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and the Hon. Peter Sheridan, U.S.D.J. in the District of New Jersey. In 2014, she graduated from Oberlin College, where she was recognized as a Udall Scholar, Dalai Lama Fellow, and a recipient of the Oberlin Creativity & Leadership Award.

Allora Richey is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, Conviction Review Unit, which reviews claims of actual innocence from inmates across New Jersey. In 2021, she graduated from Rutgers Law-Newark, where she co-founded the Student Mental Health Alliance and served as the Production Editor for the Women’s Rights Law Reporter and Research Assistant under Professor George Thomas. In 2015, she graduated from the University of Kansas, where she dual majored in psychology and human biology and published multiple scientific articles on juvenile aggression. She is always up for conversations about statistics, art, and horror media.

Joana Romero is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to Division of Law, Affirmative Civil Rights & Labor Section, which investigates civil rights, labor and workplace violations and brings appropriate actions to combat those violations. Prior to joining the Honors Program, she clerked for Presiding Judge Carmen Messano in the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division. In 2020, she graduated magna cum laude from Rutgers Law School, where she served as Senior Editor of the Rutgers Law Review and was a member and teaching fellow of the Minority Student Program. In 2012, she graduated magna cum laude from Rutgers University with a M.A. in Criminal Justice. She graduated in 2010 from Rutgers University with a B.S. in Psychology and Criminal Justice.

Sam Rubinstein (he/him) is spending his first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, which investigates official misconduct. In 2021, he graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was a Notes Editor on the Michigan Journal of Law Reform. In 2017, he graduated from Brown University, where he was the recipient of the Noah Krieger prize for excellence in public policy.

2020 Honors Program Class

Shireen Farahani is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Affirmative Civil Rights & Labor Section, which investigates civil rights, labor and workplace violations and brings appropriate actions to combat those violations. In 2020, she graduated from Harvard Law School, where she was on the Harvard Women’s Law Association Executive Board and was a member of the Harvard Law School Immigration Project. In 2014, she graduated summa cum laude with Departmental Honors in Linguistics from the University of Oregon.

Monica Finke is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Consumer Fraud Prosecution Section, which provides legal representation to the Division of Consumer Affairs and Office of Consumer Protection. In 2020, she graduated from New York University School of Law, magna cum laude, where she was a Florence Allen Scholar and served as an Executive Editor of the New York University Law Review. In 2015, she graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Philosophy, Political Science, and International Studies from Loyola University Chicago, where she received the John F. Grant Award for Bioethics.

Deepta Janardhan is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Consumer Fraud Prosecution, which provides legal representation to the Division of Consumer Affairs and Office of Consumer Protection. In 2019, she graduated from Rutgers Law School- Newark, where she served as Co-Editor-in-Chief for Rutgers Race and the Law Review. After graduating law school, she served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Lorraine M. Augostini in the Superior Court, Family Part of Sussex County. In 2014, she graduated with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Rutgers University.

James Matthew Novak is spending his first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Environmental Enforcement & Environmental Justice Sections, which provides representation to the Department of Environmental Protection and administrative litigation to enforce a wide range of federal and State environmental laws. In 2020, he graduated from the New York University School of Law, where he served as an Executive Editor of the Environmental Law Journal and was a McKay Scholar. In 2017 he received a M.A. in Regional Studies from Columbia University. He graduated in 2016 from Haverford College with Departmental High Honors in Political Science.

John-Paul Proctor is spending his first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Affirmative Civil Rights & Labor Section, which investigates civil rights, labor and workplace violations and brings appropriate actions to combat those violations. A 2020 graduate from Howard University School of Law, he interned at the World Bank Group’s Peer Review Services Unit, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Civil Rights. He competed on the Goler Teal Butcher International Moot Court Team during his 2L year and served as a student coach his 3L year. In 2015, he graduated from Howard University with a B.B.A. in Business Management, where he was an Executive Leadership Foundation Scholar.

Noemi Schor is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division on Civil Rights, which is responsible for combatting discrimination in New Jersey. In 2020, she graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where she served on the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law and was a Public Interest Fellow. In 2012, she graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University with a B.A. in American Studies.

Samantha Thoma is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, Conviction Review Unit, which reviews claims of actual innocence from incarcerated people across New Jersey. In 2020, she graduated from UVA School of Law, where she served as the Co-President of the Program in Law & Public Service and interned for Public Defender Offices in Worcester, MA and Alexandria, VA. In 2014, she graduated from Villanova University, where she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English in Turkey.

Micauri Vargas is spending her first year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Affirmative Civil Rights & Labor Section, which investigates civil rights, labor and workplace violations and brings appropriate actions to combat those violations. In 2020, she graduated from Rutgers Law School Newark, where she served as the Business Editor of the Race and the Law Review and was Co-Chair of the American Constitution Society. In 2014, she graduated with a B.A. in Economics from New York University.

2019 Honors Program Class

Adam Gerken is spending his second year of the Honors Program assigned to the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, Public Integrity Bureau, which investigates and prosecutes criminal abuses of the public trust. In 2019, he graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was an Executive Editor for the Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law. In 2016, he graduated from the University of Colorado Denver, where he was on the Dean’s List; University Honors and Leadership Program and Dean’s Student Advisory Council.

Erin Hodge is spending her second year of the Honors Program assigned to Division of Law, Environmental Enforcement & Environmental Justice Sections, which provides representation to the Department of Environmental Protection and administrative litigation to enforce a wide range of federal and State environmental laws. She joined the program after completing a clerkship with the Middlesex County Superior Court Criminal Division. In 2018, she graduated magna cum laude from Vermont Law School, where she served as the Head Notes Editor for the Vermont Law Review. In 2015, she graduated from Boston College, where she received a B.S. in Environmental Geoscience and minored in History and Asian Studies.

Joanna Loomis is spending her second year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Affirmative Civil Rights & Labor Section, which investigates civil rights, labor and workplace violations and brings appropriate actions to combat those violations. In 2019, she graduated from New York University School of Law, where she served as an Executive Editor of the Review of Law & Social Change and was a judicial intern for the Honorable Barbara Moses in the U.S. District Court S.D.N.Y. In 2016, she graduated from the University of Delaware, where she graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sociology, B.A. in Linguistics and a Minor in Spanish.

Domenico Stockton-Rossini is spending his second year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Environmental Enforcement & Environmental Justice Sections, which provides representation to the Department of Environmental Protection and administrative litigation to enforce a wide range of federal and State environmental laws. Prior to joining the Honors Program, Dom was a law clerk for the Honorable Jessica Mayer in the Superior Court, Appellate Division. In 2018, he graduated from Rutgers Law School, Camden, where he was Senior Editor for the Rutgers University Law Review and received the Neil Wise Environmental Law Award. In 2015, he graduated from William Paterson University, where he graduated magna cum laude, awarded Best Senior Thesis and was a NCAA Football Academic All-American.

Emily Wanger is spending her second year of the Honors Program assigned to the Division of Law, Affirmative Civil Rights & Labor Enforcement Section, which investigates civil rights, labor and workplace violations and brings appropriate actions to combat those violations. Prior to joining the Honors Program, she clerked for the Honorable Sidney H. Stein of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. In 2018, she graduated from Yale Law School, where she served as Executive Editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation and was a member of the Housing Clinic, the Rule of Law Clinic, the International Refugee Assistance Program, and the Yale Law Women Executive Board. In 2013, she graduated cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. in Political Science and English.

Translate »