Greta Wiessner L’19

Greta came to Penn Law to pursue a degree in public interest law, with specific interests in immigration law and criminal justice. After graduating from Boston College in 2013, Greta joined Teach for America and moved to Fort Worth, Texas to teach fifth grade. Working in a low income and predominantly immigrant community exposed Greta to the deep inequities that her students and their families faced in accessing education, affordable housing, healthcare, and more. After three years teaching, Greta was inspired to pursue a law degree and use her legal education to serve marginalized communities. At Penn Law, Greta served as the Client Services Director of the Penn Law Immigrant Rights Project (PLIRP) and was a member of the Penn Law Pardon Project. Greta also represented clients in both the Child Advocacy Clinic and the Transnational Legal Clinic. She was also a Senior Editor on the Law Review, where her student comment on immigration law, Ineffective Assistance of Padilla, was published in 2019. Greta spent her first 1L summer at Community Legal Services in the Employment Unit and her 2L summer at the Hennepin County Public Defenders in her hometown of Minneapolis, MN. Greta graduated summa cum laude in 2019 and received the Benjamin R. Jones award for her contribution to public interest. Greta is currently clerking for the Honorable Theodore McKee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and will clerk for the Honorable Wendy Beetlestone of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2020-2021.