Serena Bernal, Legal Assistant

Serena Bernal

Senior Legal Assistant

Serena Bernal is a Senior Legal Assistant in the Washington, DC office of Sanford Heisler Sharp, a national law firm with offices in the District of Columbia, New York, California, Tennessee, and Maryland. She received her B.A., with distinction from the University of Michigan, where she double majored in History and Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience.

While at the University of Michigan, Serena worked in the Immigrant Justice Lab as a legal research assistant to draft briefs and state-wide reviews, which helped grant minors asylum in the United States. Serena was also the President and an Attorney for the University of Michigan Mock Trial team. In this role, she led the undergraduate program in the development of legal argument for national mock criminal and civil trials.

During her summers, Serena was a director for an international non-profit organization which highlighted intersectional global mental health conversations from various expert perspectives. In 2021 and 2022, she also interned for the U.S. House of Representatives, where she developed policy recommendations to support women’s workplace protections.

With a strong passion for public policy and the law, Serena plans to pursue law school in the future.

Education

  • B.A., University of Michigan, with distinction