Five Harvard Law School students and recent graduates have been awarded Skadden Fellowships to support their work in public service. The fellowships were established in 1988 by the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in recognition of the need for greater funding for graduating law students who want to devote their professional lives to helping poor, elderly, homeless and disabled people, as well as those deprived of their civil or human rights. The fellowships are awarded for two years to fund projects created by applicants at public interest organizations. To date, the firm has funded 761 fellows, of whom 90 percent remain in public interest.

All five students have participated in more than one clinic (including the Child Advocacy Clinic, Education Law Clinic, Family and Domestic Violence Law Clinic, Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, Judicial Process in Trial Court Clinic,  Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Transactional Law Clinics), and student practice organizations, (including Harvard Defenders, Harvard Mediation Program, Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project, Mississippi Delta Project, Tenant Advocacy Project,  and Project No One Leaves).

Harvard Law School 2016 Skadden Fellows and their projects

Maya Brodziak

Lawyers for Children | New York, NY
Direct representation of youth in foster care to protect their educational rights by reducing the disproportionate use of suspension and expulsion. Will represent these clients in family court and school discipline hearings and will create a framework for sustainable reform.

Cassie Chambers

Louisville Legal Aid Society | Louisville, KY
Direct representation of low-income women who are victims of domestic violence in rural Kentucky. Will build an infrastructure to deliver pro se assistance to women in 14 rural Kentucky counties.

Elizabeth Hadaway

Public Counsel | Los Angeles, CA
Advocacy for California children denied the necessary instruction to achieve basic literacy, through community-led impact litigation. Also, direct representation of children in their schools and outreach to share the litigation model.

Donna Harati

Homeboy Industries | Los Angeles, CA
Provision of direct re-entry legal services to formerly incarcerated persons in Los Angeles. Will produce record expungements, provide consumer debt counseling, and mitigate criminal justice debt and traffic fines.

Steven Salcedo

Western New York Law Center | Buffalo, NY
Provision of transactional legal services to low-income entrepreneurs. The goal is to generate jobs, goods and services in under-resourced neighborhoods.

The full list of 2016 fellows is available on the Skadden Fellowships website.

Filed in: Clinical Announcements

Tags: Skadden Fellowship, SPO

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