BU Law Announces Matching Challenge to Support Graduates Working in Public Interest
Gifts from early donors help the School approach its $1 million goal for Public Service Fellowships.
In a demonstration of Boston University’s commitment to public service, BU President Robert Brown has issued a $1 million matching challenge for Post-Graduate Public Service Fellowships at the School of Law. All gifts and pledges made through June 30, 2015 will benefit from a dollar-for-dollar match up to $200,000 annually for five years. Thanks to the generosity of early donors, in particular Mr. Herbert Washer (’91) and his firm, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, and Mr. Gerard Cohen (CAS ’60, LAW ’62), BU Law is proud to announce it is already more than halfway to its goal.
“BU Law’s alumni have long been committed to working in the public interest,” President Brown says. “I am challenging them to help us provide support to current students interested in public service. The University will contribute $1 million over the next five years to support 10 year-long post-graduate Public Service Fellowships annually if BU Law alumni match our commitment.”
Established by BU Law Dean Maureen O’Rourke in 2010, at a time when public service attorney positions decreased due to dramatic losses of funding, Public Service Fellowships help graduates launch their desired careers while supporting struggling courts, organizations, and agencies. The first fellowships were used to support clerkships in the Massachusetts Trial Court, which had not been able to hire law clerks for a number of years. The following year the fellowships expanded to include more employers, and in 2012, the law school initiated the N. Neal Pike Disability Rights Fellowship for a graduate who will be working on disability rights issues.
With President Brown’s support, BU Law now has the opportunity to provide for the growing number of students interested in public service careers by making the Public Service Fellowships permanent.
Recent grads are provided with practical legal expertise and a portal to employment in a wide range of settings. BU Law’s Public Service Fellowships provide salary and benefits for 12 months of work in under-resourced public service organizations throughout the United States and abroad. In many cases, fellows go on to accept permanent positions with their host, while others parlay their experience into employment opportunities in other settings.
Eligible placements include state or local government agencies and nonprofit organizations in the US or abroad. Fellowships are awarded to recent graduates like Elena Noureddine (’14), whose decision to attend BU Law was fueled by her undergraduate service trip working with detained, noncitizen clients. “I saw for the first time the law’s ability to effect real social change for some of the most vulnerable and marginalized noncitizens,” she says. “And I became committed to using my legal education to support those who need it most.” With her post-graduate funding, Elena now advocates for abandoned and neglected immigrant teens with the Political Immigration/Asylum Representation Project (PAIR) in Boston.
Other Public Service Fellowship placements have included, among many others, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, the Legal Aid Foundation of Chicago, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco, CA, the Office of the State of Florida Public Defender, and at Asylum Access Ecuador.
“Many BU Law students and recent grads are passionate about public service,” says Dean O’Rourke. “And there are an endless number of nonprofits, non-governmental organizations, and public sector agencies that desperately need high-quality legal talent but don’t have the capacity to fund such positions. With the support of our generous alumni, combined with President Brown’s generous match, the School can help its recent alumni make remarkable achievements in public interest law.”
Click here to donate and be matched by President Brown!
For more information about the Boston University School of Law Public Service Fellowships Program, or to make a gift, please contact lawalum@bu.edu.
