Maritza Perez is a Research Assistant at the Haas Institute and is in her final semester at Berkeley Law. Her background as a first-generation American and college graduate fueled her desire to become involved in progressive politics from an early age in order to dismantle inequitable treatment of underrepresented groups. She joined Teach For America (TFA) after college to foster academic growth in New Orleans public schools. Her experience as a teacher prepared her to take her passion for social justice from the classroom to the courtroom, where systemic issues could be litigated. In law school, she has continued working on behalf of disenfranchised communities. For example, she joined the Death Penalty Clinic at Berkeley Law to contribute to a mitigation investigation aimed at overturning a capital punishment conviction and most recently served as a law clerk at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Washington, DC, working on criminal justice and education equity issues.
