Lyla Boyajian, 2023 Rudman-Peterson Fellow
Lyla Boyajian, JD ’25, has been selected for the 2023 Rudman-Peterson Fellowship at the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law.
The Rudman-Peterson Fellowship is awarded each spring to a 1L interested in fiscal policy. The fellowship pays full tuition for its recipient’s 2L and 3L years and offers $4,800 stipends for placements in summer positions involving budgetary and fiscal work.
“We deeply appreciate the Peterson Foundation’s support,” says Professor John Greabe, director of the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership & Public Service. “The Foundation’s generosity makes possible this wonderful opportunity for Lyla.”
Boyajian was chosen by a Rudman-Peterson selection committee that included Professor Greabe; Professor Lucy Hodder, director of the Health Law and Policy Programs for UNH’s College of Health and Human Services, Institute for Health Policy and Practice; and Chase Hagaman, deputy director at the Governor’s Office for Emergency Relief and Recovery.
The Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership & Public Service at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law provides financial, curricular, and experiential support for law students who are interested in public service and public-interest lawyering. The Center also offer events for the community that align with its mission.
Boyajian first delved into fiscal policy two years ago, while working at the New Hampshire Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, where she experienced something of a revelation.
“I was just floored by how deeply tied the work in the tax clinic was to these really intimate details of people’s lives,” she says. “It really opened my eyes to the impact fiscal policy has on individuals in day-to-day life.”
At the clinic, Boyajian helped people obtain stimulus checks provided by the federal government to households impacted by the pandemic. Many needed help filing taxes, a requirement for collecting missing stimulus payments.
“People get really confused or they’re afraid of the IRS,” she explains. “There are resources out there that people don’t know about. I think part of it is connecting them to community resources and then also connecting people as a community.”
As a Rudman-Peterson Fellow, Boyajian plans to focus on seeking solutions to the affordable housing crisis in New Hampshire by analyzing municipal and state tax policy and potential incentives. She hopes to study connections between zoning and tax law as they affect housing availability and affordability and encourage engagement in local politics, particularly among young people.
Boyajian, who grew up in Chichester, was inspired to focus on housing issues in part because so many of her peers have left New Hampshire for other opportunities, including more affordable housing. Just as the state has found ways to help elderly residents — through property-tax relief and special housing developments — she would like to see efforts to help younger residents who are just starting out in their careers.
“I definitely think about systemic change,” she says.
For that reason, Boyajian is pursuing a master’s in public policy, alongside her law degree, a three-and-a-half-year commitment. She will study at UNH’s Carsey School of Public Policy next year and then return to the law school, with plans to graduate with her JD in December 2025.
This summer, Boyajian is slated to work at N.H. Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Services, helping victims of domestic violence who do not speak English as their first language. Boyajian is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Russian and Armenian. Studying languages at Reed College, she says, helped prepare her for the rigors of law school.
“The thing that does tie in really well is textual interpretation,” Boyajian notes, “which is a lot of what we do, interpret texts and try to argue one way or another.” She also sees it as preparation for helping to translate legal language for clients.
Boyajian’s interest in language studies is also a family tradition, which she traces to her great-grandfather who came to the U.S. from what was at the time the Ottoman Empire.
“He was fluent in four languages,” she says. “He told my dad as a kid that, for every language you speak, you’re another person; I think that’s really true. It gives you a new perspective on the world and a new understanding, and I think that’s really helpful.”
