Just about as far south as a person can go in Texas, there’s a border town called Elsa. About 6,000 people live there. It’s the kind of town that doesn’t come up much in conversations about the expansion of Google Fiber or other high-tech telecommunications innovations.
Elsa-native Edyael Casaperalta hopes to change that, thanks in part to her soon-to-be awarded Colorado Law degree.
Casaperalta worked in federal telecommunications policy before coming to law school. She knew she wanted a school where she could help marginalized communities navigate the complex waters of technology law.
“My colleagues spoke very highly of Colorado Law and its Tech Policy Clinic,” Casaperalta said. “When I learned that our school also offered clinics in American Indian Law and Criminal Immigration Law, and met the incredible professors running those clinics, I knew I had to come to school here.”
Colorado Law helped Casaperalta get a head start on her mission.
“Thanks to the incredible faculty and amazing classes at our school, I was able to write academic papers about the immigration policies affecting foreign tech-workers in the United States, the use and ownership of radio spectrum in Native American reservations and how data privacy laws affect poor and immigrant communities,” she said.
Graduating law school is a big accomplishment, but it’s the culmination of years of hard work.
“I see so many events and moments during my time at Colorado Law as big victories,” Casaperalta said. In her time here, Casaperalta spread her passion to others, helping host the Social Justice and Technology Symposium this spring, which featured 15 experts on internet access, surveillance, internet infrastructure deployment and freedom of expression online.
In addition to interning at the Federal Communications Commission, Casaperalta was a student representative for the LGBTQ Bar Association and helped launch Colorado Law’s Immigration Law and Policy Program with Professor Ming Chen.
“The creative and innovative legal thinking of professors at Colorado Law—on complex legal issues in Colorado, our nation and internationally—inspired me to be daring and more imaginative in the theory and practice of law,” Casaperalta said.
Even for someone who jumped into law school so thoroughly, law school has its challenges. From a heavy exam load to the intricacies of journal writing, Casaperalta thinks the challenges she’s overcome in law school will set her up for success.
“Professor Amy Griffin was critical in helping me understand legal analysis and how to write better for exams,” she said. “The rigor of law classes helped me improve my time-management skills and prioritize activities that matter to me, which will translate to my career and help me be more effective as an attorney.”
