Class of 2008-09 1156 15th Street, NW, Suite 1001 Washington, DC 20005 Phone: 202.728.5335 Email: ehustings@phrusa.org

Profile:

Erin attended Grinnell College studying English and global development.  After graduation, Erin served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin, teaching junior high school and organizing extracurricular activities for students that included a theater and dance troupe and radio quiz show.  She was active in the Peace Corp’s Women in Development program, raising money for and identifying local recipients of scholarships for girls.  Upon retunring from Africa, she joined the Chicago Foundation for Women as assistant to the Executive Director and Board, where she managed special projects including the establishment of the Chicago Girls’ Coalition and local implementation of the Women’s Lens on Global Issues project sponsored by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.  Erin then attended Georgetown University Law Center’s evening program, while at the same time working in marketing and development at the Global Fund for Children, a public foundation that supports non-traditional education programs around the world.  She also clerked at the DC Public Defender Service and Human Rights First.  She graduated cum laude from Georgetown Law in December 2006, and received the Joyce Chiang Award, the Dean’s Certificate for outstanding service to the Law Center community, and was a Pro Bono Pledge honoree.  Erin served as law clerk to the Hon. Jillyn Schulze in the U.S. District Court, District of Maryland, Southern Division.  She also did interpreting and translating work for French-speaking immigrants in counseling and in the immigration court system, and is a legal observer for the National Lawyer’s Guild.

Erin began her Fellowship with the National Partnership for Women and Families by researching and analyzing the health provider refusal clause regulations published by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in August 2009.  She drafted and submitted NPWF’s official comments on the regulations, and subsequently wrote a memo analyzing HHS’s response to some of NPWF’s concerns.  Erin educated Congressional staff about the importance of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act – which was ultimately enacted and signed into law as President Obama’s first legislation – as well as the Paycheck Fairness Act.  She also drafted a manual highlighting significant concerns with an alternative “fair pay” bill that had been offered by opponents.  Additionally, Erin wrote amicus briefs for NPWF to submit in various lawsuits.  For example, she spearheaded an amicus brief in Harris v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore, a sexual harassment-hostile work environment Title VII case, in which defendants were granted summary judgment by the District Court.  The decision was troubling in a number of aspects, including that it dismissed the notion that use of inherently gendered slurs satisfied the “because of sex” requirement in sexual harassment cases, and set forth a never-before-seen standard, that cases not involving assault or battery might be actionable only where there was “extreme” conduct directed at the plaintiff.  Working with pro bono legal counsel, Erin conducted preliminary legal research, commented on drafts, and drafted the Motion for Leave to File and other technical pieces of the full filing.  Since Erin is admitted in the Fourth Circuit, she was the counsel of record on the brief, along witn the brief submitted by NWLC in Ricci v. DiStefano.  Moreover, Erin worked on several long term research projects, including one identifying best practices by employers for hiring and retaining welfare-to-work recipients.  She examined studies and gathered anecdotal evidence supporting the argument that offering better benefits to lower-income workers helps the employer’s bottom line in conjunction with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR).  Erin also compiled a report on the cases brought by the employment division within the U.S. Department of Justice under both President Bush and President Clinton.  Erin was actively involved in the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) Judicial Nominations Group.  In this capacity, she researched judicial nominees and attended Judiciary Committee meetings.  Following Justice Souter’s announcement of his retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court, Erin conducted extensive research into possible nominees.  Upon President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, Erin drafted materials on behalf of NPWF in support of her nomination.  Erin organized seminars in conjunction with administrative agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and drafted reports of U.S. Supreme Court decisions and upcoming cases to be heard by the Court, which have been distributed to supporters and organizations.  Erin hosted a discussion with a group of college women from the Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN) who were interested in learning more about women’s advocacy work.

Erin is currently an Asylum Advocacy Associate with Physicians for Human Rights and recently provided pro-bono services for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).