Mona Patel
Record Cleaning Staff Attorney
Oakland, California
Email Mona
Mona Patel received a B.A. in 2004 from the University of Michigan, and her J.D. in 2010 from the City University of New York (CUNY), School of Law.
Before joining Root & Rebound, Mona worked in the Clean Slate Program at the Alameda County Public Defender’s office, where she provided legal representation in record clearing cases to formerly incarcerated people and people with arrest and conviction histories to help alleviate barriers to stable employment, housing, and occupational licensing.
Mona previously also advocated for the right to visit incarcerated loved ones and eliminate high phone costs in detention facilities across California as a volunteer with the Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC). She also volunteered with the Prisoner Advocacy Network (PAN), where she connected individuals inside California prisons with resources to help them advocate for themselves and others in prison facing resentencing issues, poor prison conditions, and other challenges.
While at CUNY School of Law, Mona learned community lawyering skills that centered her legal practice in the service of human needs. After law school, she worked as a human rights attorney to promote corporate accountability and civil and political rights internationally. In this role she reported on the 2014 war in Gaza and the grave violations faced by Palestinian children living under military occupation.
She then worked as a Senior Staff Attorney with the Tenant Rights Coalition (TRC) at Brooklyn Legal Services, where she worked to empower tenants to work collaboratively to protect affordable housing and fight against inequity and displacement in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Mona represented clients in individual eviction defense cases and affirmative group cases before state courts and agencies, protecting tenants’ rights and holding
landlords accountable.
During this time, Mona had the fortune to volunteer with Books Through Bars, where she sent free books to incarcerated people across the country, and with the Parole Preparation Project, where she helped incarcerated individuals prepare for their upcoming parole board hearings and later navigate the perils of reentry upon their release from NY state prison.
Mona is licensed to practice law in New York and California.
Mona Patel
Record Cleaning Staff Attorney
Oakland, California
Email Mona
Mona Patel received a B.A. in 2004 from the University of Michigan, and her J.D. in 2010 from the City University of New York (CUNY), School of Law.
Before joining Root & Rebound, Mona worked in the Clean Slate Program at the Alameda County Public Defender’s office, where she provided legal representation in record clearing cases to formerly incarcerated people and people with arrest and conviction histories to help alleviate barriers to stable employment, housing, and occupational licensing.
Mona previously also advocated for the right to visit incarcerated loved ones and eliminate high phone costs in detention facilities across California as a volunteer with the Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC). She also volunteered with the Prisoner Advocacy Network (PAN), where she connected individuals inside California prisons with resources to help them advocate for themselves and others in prison facing resentencing issues, poor prison conditions, and other challenges.
While at CUNY School of Law, Mona learned community lawyering skills that centered her legal practice in the service of human needs. After law school, she worked as a human rights attorney to promote corporate accountability and civil and political rights internationally. In this role she reported on the 2014 war in Gaza and the grave violations faced by Palestinian children living under military occupation.
She then worked as a Senior Staff Attorney with the Tenant Rights Coalition (TRC) at Brooklyn Legal Services, where she worked to empower tenants to work collaboratively to protect affordable housing and fight against inequity and displacement in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Mona represented clients in individual eviction defense cases and affirmative group cases before state courts and agencies, protecting tenants’ rights and holding
landlords accountable.
During this time, Mona had the fortune to volunteer with Books Through Bars, where she sent free books to incarcerated people across the country, and with the Parole Preparation Project, where she helped incarcerated individuals prepare for their upcoming parole board hearings and later navigate the perils of reentry upon their release from NY state prison.
Mona is licensed to practice law in New York and California.
Why do you come to work at Root & Rebound every day?
Our mass incarceration and criminal legal system are some of the greatest injustices our society has created. I come to work at Root & Rebound every day to bear witness to these injustices and support individuals impacted by these punitive systems as they reclaim their lives and overcome barriers to reentry.
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