Sylvie Lydon (she/her), Legal Fellow, holds a J.D. from UCLA School of
Law, where she specialized in Critical Race Studies and Prison Law and
Policy. As a law student, Sylvie clerked at UnCommon Law, the Transgender
Law Center, and the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Central
District of California. She was also heavily involved in the UCLA Prisoners’
Rights Clinic, where she helped represent incarcerated people raising
conditions of confinement and related civil rights claims in federal courts of
appeal. In that capacity, she had the opportunity to argue in front of the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, successfully overturning the dismissal of a
client’s medical deliberate indifference claim. Prior to law school, Sylvie
spent eight years as a doctoral student at the University of Southern
California, teaching undergraduate humanities courses and researching the
history and politics of prison abolition and reform.

Sylvie returns to UnCommon Law as an Equal Justice Works Legal Fellow,
sponsored by Ropes & Gray LLP. During her fellowship, Sylvie will provide
tailored parole preparation and representation services to trans and gender
non-conforming people navigating California’s discretionary parole system.
Inspired by her own transition and recovery journeys, Sylvie views parole
representation as an opportunity to use her skills and lived experiences to
facilitate other people’s healing and combat the culture of disposability that
says some people will never change.