WGS Alumna Receives Prestigious Fellowship

Andrea Reyes '22 Receives Prestigious Skadden Fellowship

The Skadden Foundation has selected Andrea Reyes ’22 as a 2022 Fellow. Skadden Fellowships provide two years of funding to help launch the careers of public interest lawyers.

Reyes is just the third UC Davis Law student to receive this highly competitive fellowship since the program began in 1988. The others are Margaret Miller ’89 and Angela Yahaira Breining ’19.

“Hearing the news I received a Skadden Fellowship overwhelmed me with joy,” Reyes said. “Ever since, I have reflected on the years’ worth of work I have engaged in that has allowed me to commit myself to public service before, during, and now after law school. I feel incredibly proud to share this accomplishment with my community and grateful to the friends, family, professors and mentors who have supported me throughout my legal career.”

Reyes will work for Dolores Street Community Services of San Francisco, providing direct immigration representation of undocumented workers in the informal economy of the greater Bay Area. Reyes will focus on “the immigration legal needs of domestic workers, day laborers, individuals facing housing instability, and potential survivors of labor trafficking,” she said.

Born in El Salvador, Reyes arrived in the United States at age 10 and is a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient. A graduate of San Francisco State University, she spent four years working for Dolores Street -- as a fellow, legal assistant and paralegal -- before law school.

As a DACA recipient, “I have a deep connection to my work,” Reyes said. “It’s one of the reasons I decided to attend law school, and I have since used my time at King Hall to sharpen my legal advocacy skills and better serve the undocumented immigrant community.” 

During law school, Reyes has worked with the Immigration Law Clinic, Center for Workers’ Rights, Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies, and as a research assistant to Dean Kevin R. Johnson. She also served as a Latinx Law Students Association and First Generation Advocates board member.

Recipient of a John Paul Stevens Fellowship Foundation public service fellowship and a Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund law school scholarship, Reyes also is an alumna of the King Hall Outreach Program, which helps undergraduates from underrepresented communities prepare for the law school admissions process.