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Karla Talley L’23

Karla is passionate about using legal advocacy to amplify the voices of racial and ethnic minorities, low-income individuals, and those who have historically been underserved. She was born and raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and is the first person in her family to pursue a law degree.

Karla graduated from Lafayette College in 2018 as a Posse Foundation Scholar with a double major in Government & Law and English. While at Lafayette, she engaged in advocacy efforts to help address issues faced by marginalized students on her campus, including serving on various equity-focused committees and serving as a board member for the Association of Black Collegians. In addition, Karla led a service project focused on Sex Trafficking awareness, and also mentored students in Madagascar who were applying to colleges in the United States.

After college, Karla worked as a Legal Assistant in the Housing Law unit at the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. For two years, she worked directly with clients dealing with civil legal matters and supported attorneys in their efforts of preventing low-income tenants from being evicted. In addition, during her time at Legal Aid, Karla was a member of the Racial Justice Working Group where she helped with office-wide racial justice programming. Observing the systemic barriers that clients faced and the lack of legal representation for low-income individuals strengthened Karla’s commitment to provide direct legal services and the legal support needed for collective action in communities.

When Karla has free time, she enjoys creative writing, reading novels, and Zumba workouts.