Our Team

Serena Bernal is a Paralegal at Student Defense. In her last role, Serena was a Senior Legal Assistant at a plaintiff-side civil rights firm. There, she supported practice groups focused on criminal sexual violence, whistleblower and qui tam, discrimination and harassment, and public interest litigation matters. Serena also interned for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 and 2022. 

Serena earned her B.A. with distinction from the University of Michigan, double majoring in History and Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. During her time at Michigan, Serena advocated for immigrant defense as a legal research assistant and acted both as President and Attorney for the University of the Michigan Mock Trial team. 

Passionate about the intersection of public policy and the law, Serena plans to attend law school in the future to continue advocating for underrepresented communities.