Minnesota Law Students Nathanael Ashton-Piper ’27, Yessenia Gutierrez ’26, Noah Madoff ’26, and Cesar Plascencia ’27, Awarded 2025 Peggy Browning Fellowships

Minnesota Law Students Nathanael Ashton-Piper ’27, Yessenia Gutierrez ’26, Noah Madoff ’26, and Cesar Plascencia ’27 have been awarded 2024 Peggy Browning Fellowships in workplace justice advocacy. Over 3,300 law students nationwide applied for the fellowships with 105 students receiving the awards. These fellows are distinguished students who have not only excelled in law school, but who have also demonstrated their commitment to workers’ rights through their previous educational, organizing, work, volunteer, and personal experiences.

Nathanael Ashton-Piper ’27 will be at Make the Road New Jersey in Elizabeth, N.J. Nathanael is a Robina Public Interest Scholar dedicated to advancing workers’ rights and economic justice in the United States through collective action and unions. Nathanael’s passion for labor law is rooted in the values of his grandparents, both of whom were pastors in the Lutheran Church. His grandfather’s first pastoral ministry in England included organizing immigrant steel mill workers, and he later organized with the Ohio AFL- CIO, advocating for the Church’s engagement with the labor movement to promote economic justice for the poor. Nathanael became further interested in the unifying power of labor after watching the 2018 teachers strikes and Gov. Andy Beshear’s election victory in the state of Kentucky. At Minnesota Law, he is actively involved with the National Lawyers Guild, Student Labor and Employment Law Association, and Black Law Students Association. He is also proud to be part of an ongoing unionization effort by Minnesota Law student workers with AFSCME Council 5.

Yessenia Gutierrez ’26 will be at Cummins & Cummins LLP in Minneapolis. Before law school, Yessenia worked as a compliance investigator for the Philadelphia Department of Labor, where she earned a 2023 Integrity Icon award. There, she and her coworkers successfully organized the workplace under AFSCME Local 2187, and increased funding for the department and Philadelphia libraries and recreation centers. Proudly from a Central American working-class family, Yessenia has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in biology, and Latin American and Latino Studies. She has been active in community organizing since college, and previously worked with reproductive justice and immigration nonprofits and as a union organizer. At Minnesota Law, Yessenia is president of the Student Employment and Labor Law Association (SELLA), co-president of the Asylum Law Project, and active in law student union organizing. In the long term, Yessenia hopes to aid workers secure standard-bearing contracts in the Just Transition.

Noah Madoff ’26 will be at Levy Ratner in New York City. Noah is thrilled to be returning for a second Peggy Browning Fellowship. He focuses on labor law because he believes the labor movement is instrumental in creating a more just, sustainable, and democratic future. He is particularly interested in technology at the workplace, algorithmic management, and areas of overlap between labor, antitrust, and consumer protection law. Noah previously worked in journalism and documentary film and holds a degree in literature from Harvard College.

Cesar Plascencia ’27 will be at United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America iin Pittsburgh. Cesar committed himself to the labor movement as an undergraduate after studying the 2012 Chicago Teachers Strike. In 2018, he earned a B.A. in history and political science from San Francisco State University. The following year, he enrolled in the master’s in education policy program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Upon graduation, Cesar taught 11th grade humanities at a public school in Oakland, helping to organize his coworkers during the 2023 Oakland teachers strike. He has also worked as a policy intern at the American Federation of Teachers and an organizer at the California Faculty Association. Cesar is eager to expand his knowledge of unions and labor law outside the field of education.