In this episode, I speak with Aliza Shatzman, President and Founder of the Legal Accountability Project. Aliza shares her experiences, her work with the Legal Accountability Project and insights about ensuring a positive clerkship experience.
About Our Guest:
Aliza Shatzman, the President and Founder of the Legal Accountability Project is an attorney and advocate based in Washington, DC, who writes and speaks about judicial accountability, clerkships, and diversity in the courts. Aliza earned her BA from Williams College in Williamstown, MA, in 2013 and her JD from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (WashU Law) in St. Louis, MO in 2019. At WashU Law, Aliza was an Associate Editor for the Journal of Law & Policy. Throughout law school, Aliza interned at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Office of Vaccine Litigation; the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Counterterrorism Section of the National Security Division. Following law school, Aliza clerked in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia (D.C. Superior Court) during the 2019-2020 term.
In March 2022, Aliza submitted written testimony for a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing about the lack of workplace protections for judiciary employees, detailing her personal experience with harassment and retaliation by a former DC Superior Court judge. The intent of Aliza’s testimony was to advocate for legislation that would extend workplace anti-discrimination protections to judiciary employees.
Aliza’s writing on the subject of judicial ethics has previously appeared in, among other publications, the Columbia Law Review, Harvard Journal on Legislation, Yale Law & Policy Review, UCLA Journal of Gender & Law, Administrative Law Review, NYU Journal of Legislation & Public Policy, Law360, Bloomberg Law, Above the Law, Slate, Ms. Magazine, and Balls and Strikes.
Former clerks are encouraged to share their experiences in the post-clerk survey.