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Meet EJA Veterans’ Rights Fellow Marissa Deall
For Marissa Deall, public-interest law is about making sure people facing complicated legal systems know they have someone in their corner.
A 2026 graduate of Mercer University School of Law, Marissa is Equal Justice America’s Veterans’ Rights Fellow at Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP) in Washington, D.C., serving through a two-year, $150,000 EJA Post-Graduate Fellowship.
And only weeks into her Fellowship, Marissa is already putting that commitment into practice.
Marissa has begun working on two housing cases involving veterans facing eviction. To prepare to represent them, she has participated in trainings on D.C. housing law, observed housing court, consulted with experienced colleagues, and begun preparing for an initial eviction hearing.
Her work at NLSP is also exposing her to the wide range of legal challenges veterans can face, including military discharge upgrades, SSI and SSDI benefits, and housing issues. She has participated in community legal clinics and is pursuing accreditation from the Department of Veterans Affairs so she can assist clients with veteran-specific matters.
Marissa came to the Fellowship with a strong commitment to public service. At Mercer Law, she served as a student practitioner in the school’s Habeas Clinic, assisting with appellate litigation before the Supreme Court of Georgia. She also studied the collateral consequences of felony convictions and incarceration, including barriers to housing, employment, financial stability, and independence. After law school, she clerked in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Those experiences helped draw her to veterans’ advocacy. Veterans may encounter legal problems involving disability benefits, housing, employment, family matters, discharge status, and access to government services, all of which can affect their ability to build stable lives after military service.
As Marissa put it when beginning her Fellowship:
“I want my clients to know that they have someone in their corner who will take their concerns seriously and fight for them.”
That is what EJA’s Post-Graduate Fellowship Program is designed to accomplish: adding legal capacity where it is needed today while giving talented young lawyers the opportunity to build careers serving people who might otherwise face the legal system alone.
We are proud to have Marissa representing EJA and serving veterans in Washington, D.C., and we look forward to following her work over the next two years.
For Marissa Deall, public-interest law is about making sure people facing complicated legal systems know they have someone in their corner.
A 2026 graduate of Mercer University School of Law, Marissa is Equal Justice America’s Veterans’ Rights Fellow at Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP) in Washington, D.C., serving through a two-year, $150,000 EJA Post-Graduate Fellowship.
And only weeks into her Fellowship, Marissa is already putting that commitment into practice.
Marissa has begun working on two housing cases involving veterans facing eviction. To prepare to represent them, she has participated in trainings on D.C. housing law, observed housing court, consulted with experienced colleagues, and begun preparing for an initial eviction hearing.
Her work at NLSP is also exposing her to the wide range of legal challenges veterans can face, including military discharge upgrades, SSI and SSDI benefits, and housing issues. She has participated in community legal clinics and is pursuing accreditation from the Department of Veterans Affairs so she can assist clients with veteran-specific matters.
Marissa came to the Fellowship with a strong commitment to public service. At Mercer Law, she served as a student practitioner in the school’s Habeas Clinic, assisting with appellate litigation before the Supreme Court of Georgia. She also studied the collateral consequences of felony convictions and incarceration, including barriers to housing, employment, financial stability, and independence. After law school, she clerked in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Those experiences helped draw her to veterans’ advocacy. Veterans may encounter legal problems involving disability benefits, housing, employment, family matters, discharge status, and access to government services, all of which can affect their ability to build stable lives after military service.
As Marissa put it when beginning her Fellowship:
“I want my clients to know that they have someone in their corner who will take their concerns seriously and fight for them.”
That is what EJA’s Post-Graduate Fellowship Program is designed to accomplish: adding legal capacity where it is needed today while giving talented young lawyers the opportunity to build careers serving people who might otherwise face the legal system alone.
We are proud to have Marissa representing EJA and serving veterans in Washington, D.C., and we look forward to following her work over the next two years.