Our Small But Mighty Team is Growing

So far in 2023, Sur Legal Collaborative has welcomed four new team members, and our small but mighty women of color-led and -run organization is now a team of nine staff and two externs! Hiring more specialized staff allows us to further refine our roles, focus on each of our unique strengths, and deepen our collective impact. Thanks to your generous financial support in 2022, we can pay our legal externs a living wage and provide real-world, hands-on legal experience to first-generation college students and budding legal professionals who come from the communities we serve. 

Please join us in welcoming Rachel Johnson as our new Operations Manager, Elizabeth Zambrana as our new Legal Director, and Sofía and Bethany as our 2023 Spring Externs. Learn more about each of these incredible individuals below.

Elizabeth Zambrana

Legal Director

Elizabeth is the daughter of Nicaraguan and Mexican immigrants and a passionate and dedicated advocate for immigrant rights. Prior to her current role at Sur Legal, Elizabeth served as Community Counsel at the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, a community based organization focused on developing grassroots leadership in the Latine immigrant community of Georgia. Elizabeth also served as a Staff Attorney with the Tahirih Justice Center and Attorney Advisor with the Executive Office of Immigration Review. She was the recipient of an Equal Justice Works-Emerson Collective Legal Fellowship and served her fellowship term with the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network. Elizabeth obtained her J.D. from Rutgers School of Law and her B.A. from Florida International University.

Outside of her legal work, Elizabeth loves to spend time with her husband and three rambunctious pups. She has a growing collection of rare houseplants and cacti and is an avid listener of nerdy legal podcasts.

Rachel Johnson

Operations Manager

Rachel Johnson comes from a background of HR Office Management. She has spent the last 7 years working for social justice organizations behind the scenes to strengthen internal controls and make the business run as a smooth, well-oiled machine. 

Rachel enjoys building processes from the ground up. She is a big advocate for employee engagement and recognition along with building a culture of inclusiveness and combating burnout/mental health issues.  

Rachel enjoys camping with her husband and three children and kickboxing with FightCamp. She is a graduate of Elizabeth City State University, born in NY and raised in VA/NC. 

Sofía

Legal Extern

Sofía is a Venezuelan immigrant and a third-year law student at the University of North Carolina. While in law school, they have joined the UNC chapter of the National Lawyers Guild to help foster a culture of student organizing and the UNC Pro Bono Board to coordinate clinics serving marginalized communities statewide. Sofía’s own struggles with migrating away from their homeland, alongside their experiences in interning with Project South and the Equal Justice Center, compels them to grow as a movement lawyer in support of domestic and international communities asserting their sovereignty against Western imperialism. In their free time, Sofía loves to read political theory and play Pokémon ROM hacks.

Bethany

Legal Extern

Bethany returns to Sur as she wraps up her third year at Georgia State University College of Law. While she was away, Bethany interned at the Atlanta Regional Solicitor’s Office at the U.S. Department of Labor, where she was exposed to the magnitude of OSHA, MSHA, and WHD violations. She also externed at the Southern Center for Human Rights, where she advocated for the granting of her client’s parole and won. Both of these incredible experiences confirmed Bethany’s passion for employment law, leading her to rejoin the Sur team in our efforts to provide legal support to immigrants and workers in the Deep South. Bethany is excited to continue supporting Sur and ensure companies and employers are held accountable!

Learn more about Sur Legal Collaborative’s staff and Board of Directors on the Sur Legal Collaborative website here.