Pilar’s legal practice focuses on civil and disability rights of people held in carceral settings including jails, immigration detention and mental health facilities. Pilar also has experience in legal advocacy for people with developmental disabilities and special education.
Prior Experience
Disability Rights California, Legal Advocacy Unit
Los Angeles, CA
Supervising Attorney, 2018-2020
Staff Attorney, 2017-2018
Clients’ Rights Advocate, 2015-2017
Arias & Muñoz
San Jose, Costa Rica
Foreign Litigation Associate & Director of the Global Legal Skills Academy, 2010-2014
Provided legal services in Spanish and English, specializing in cross-border civil litigation and the execution of U.S court judgments in Costa Rica.
DLA Piper
Manhattan, N.Y.
Summer Associate, 2009
Kitahama Partners
Osaka, Japan
Legal Intern, 2008
Education
J.D. and LLM, Duke University School of Law, 2010
B.A. University of California, Berkeley, 2006
Languages
Spanish Native Language.
Selected Presentations
Vera Institute of Justice, March 2021; Annual National Lawyers Guild Convention, September 2020. “Creative Ways to Fight for Your Clients: Complaints before the Civil Rights Civil Liberties Office”
UC Berkeley Disability Law Conference, August 2019. “The Abolitionist Struggle: Jail and Immigration Detention Work.”
UC Los Angeles, School of Psychiatry, May 2019. “Policy & Change: The Dangers for People with Mental Illness at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center.”
Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium, March 2019. “Tearing Down “New” Borders: Advocating for the Deinstitutionalization of Immigrant Children and Adults.”
National Disability Rights Network Conference, June 2018. “Weaving Intersectionality into Your Advocacy Practice.”
Selected Publications
“The Detention of Immigrant Children with Disabilities in California: A Snapshot”, Disability Rights California Report, July 2019, Co-author.
“There is No Safety Here: The Dangers for People with Mental Illness and Other Disabilities at Adelanto Detention Center”, Disability Rights California Report, March 2019, Co-author.
State Bar License
California