Five Students Awarded Altarescu Public Interest Summer Fellowships 2015
Students will gain public interest experience working on issues related to immigrants’ rights, wrongful convictions, and public defense.
To support the School’s efforts in helping students gain public interest experience, Howard S. Altarescu (’74) pledged $100,000 over five years to establish the Altarescu Public Interest Summer Fellowships in 2011. His generosity has provided funding for up to five students per year, allowing them invaluable hands-on legal experience working at a variety of public interest organizations and agencies.
“We have been asked from time to time to provide financial support for the law school,” Altarescu says. “Dean O’Rourke and the fine law school faculty are certainly worthy of our support as they train the young men and women will constitute the global legal community of the future.”
The 2015 recipients of the Altarescu Public Interest Summer Fellowships and their hosting organizations are:
Eric DuPont (’17)
The Exoneration Initiative (New York City)
The Exoneration Initiative offers free legal assistance to indigent prisoners in New York State who have been wrongfully convicted, focusing primarily on cases lacking DNA evidence. Additionally, the nonprofit conducts impact litigation to advance legal precedent favorable to wrongfully convicted individuals, and provides public education regarding the causes of wrongful convictions and the fallibility of the criminal justice system.
Katherine Fahey (’17)
Immigrant Legal Resource Center (Washington, DC)
“I chose the Immigrant Legal Resource Center because they do amazing work in direct legal services and in training immigrants on their rights. While many organizations do great direct services work, ILRC also advocates for those clients through policy reform, and this seemed like a unique opportunity to get exposure to that process,” says Fahey. “The Altarescu fellowships acknowledge the worth of students dedicating their summer to work unpaid at public interest organizations and recognize the profound and meaningful value 400 hours of work can having towards furthering goals of justice and access for underserved populations.”
Avery Lehr (’16)
The Bronx Defenders (New York City)
“I am pursuing a career as a public defender, which is why I was thrilled at the opportunity to intern at the Bronx Defenders,” says Lehr. “Its innovative, holistic defense model and intensive internship program will allow me to develop substantive skills and a greater awareness of our clients’ needs to represent them. This generous fellowship is providing me with the opportunity to work for this organization and continue building my skills and passion for public defense.”
John Sadek (’16)
The Bronx Defenders (New York City)
The Bronx Defenders is a legal services organization representing over 35,000 indigent residents of the Bronx each year, offering holistic, client-centered criminal defense, family defense, civil legal services, social work support, and advocacy.
Howard S. Altarescu is a partner in the New York office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. BU Law honored Altarescu in 2010 with a Silver Shingle Award for Distinguished Service to the Community in recognition of his work with Renaissance E.M.S. (Education, Music and Sports), a not-for-profit organization in the South Bronx, New York, where he serves as chairman of the board.