After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, Valerie Snow (L’20) will spend two years at Philadelphia’s SeniorLAW Center advocating for the rights of low-income seniors, especially regarding guardianship, thanks to an Independence Foundation Public Interest Law Fellowship.

Ms. Snow’s fellowship project will address the legal needs of seniors facing guardianship abuse, neglect, exploitation and other issues of access to justice. The project will focus on fundamental issues of self-determination and cutting-edge issues of law, health and due process. In addition to directly advocating for the least restrictive alternative to guardianship appropriate for each client in court, Ms. Snow will also conduct outreach to seniors, caregivers, aging networks and medical and legal communities and advocate for systemic reforms such as the right to counsel in guardianship proceedings. 

Ms. Snow is a Toll Public Interest Fellow and the production editor for the Journal of Law and Social Change, and she has participated in both the Civil Practice Clinic and the Interdisciplinary Child Advocacy Clinic. During law school summers, Ms. Snow focused on SSI work at Community Legal Services (CLS) and employment discrimination matters at the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.