Jorryn Tovera '25 Helps Immigrant Children and Foster Youth in Summer Internship

Jorryn Tovera is helping young people get access to legal benefits and opportunities in his internship with Legal Services for Children this summer.

UC Law SF student Jorryn Tovera ’25 is spending this summer working with Legal Services for Children (LSC), a San Francisco-based organization that provides free legal and social services to youths with immigration, education, foster care, or guardianship issues.

Tovera, who has been helping young people get access to legal benefits and opportunities, talks more about his experience with LSC.

Q: Talk about the work you’re doing this summer.

A: This summer, I am working under LSC’s guardianship and dependency team. In this role, I help minors petition for a legal guardianship when it is in their best interest. While I primarily work on guardianship cases, I have also worked with youths to help them gain legal status (filing for Special Immigration Juvenile status) and am starting to pick up a couple Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) cases as well. My primary duties for a case from start to finish include client intakes and interviews, filing out petition paperwork, and attending court hearings and settlement meetings. LSC provides direct services to minor youths, so I’ve had the privilege of serving an underrepresented community in the Bay Area primarily consisting of low-income youths of color.

Q: Why is this work important?

A: LSC’s clients range from ages 12 to 21 years old, and we follow a stated-interest model. What this means is that we strive to provide legal representation according to the youths’ desires and wants. Oftentimes, our clients come to us in times of crisis, and many of them have experienced some form of hardship or adversity. At LSC, we practice trauma-informed lawyering and provide legal representation in away a that is culturally/socially competent. 

Many of the young people that we serve have gone through traumatic experiences. From a legal perspective, this work helps children gain access to benefits and opportunities that they were once excluded from. Seeing children getting the help they need and being able to help them gain a sense of stability is the ultimate reward in this line of work.

Q: How will this advance your career goals?

A: I am very interested in non-profit, direct services, public interest work. I am also interested in family law and health law. Next semester I plan to take courses that will allow me to explore more of my interests in the law. I think whatever I end up doing, working at LSC has only affirmed my passion for serving the younger generation and those who are disadvantaged and/or underrepresented. 

More about Tovera

Tovera grew up in the Bay Area city of San Leandro. Before starting law school, he studied psychology and brain sciences at UC Santa Barbara, where he also minored in poverty, inequality, and social justice.

Tovera said he appreciates the diverse communities that make up the San Francisco Bay Area and hopes to stay and work in the region after law school. He is also interested in working on Bay Area housing policy in the future.

Tovera’s internship was funded by a grant from the Hastings Public Interest Law Foundation (HPILF), which awards grants each year to law students who take positions at nonprofit and government agencies that serve the public interest; positions that would otherwise be unpaid. The grants are made possible by money raised by HPILF and funds donated by alumni and allocated by Chancellor & Dean David Faigman.