BU Law Awards Public Service Fellowships to Eleven Class of 2016 Graduates
Recent graduates will use their fellowships to support their work on issues ranging from disability to criminal law.
Eleven members of the Class of 2016 have received BU Law Public Service Fellowships to support their work on diverse issues, from disability, consumer, and immigration law to criminal law and legal services for disadvantaged communities.
Boston University School of Law began awarding its Public Service Fellowships in 2010. Awarded each year to members of the graduating class who have demonstrated a commitment to public service, these year-long fellowships support our graduates’ work at under-resourced public interest organizations across the US and abroad.
In spring 2015, BU President Robert Brown issued a $1 million matching challenge to alumni and friends in support of the Public Service Fellowships. Alumni donors responded with an incredible outpouring of support, exceeding the goal and securing the dollar-for-dollar match from the University. To recognize the most generous gifts, ten of the fellowships were named for alumni donors or their matching firms. The law school initiated the N. Neal Pike Disability Rights Fellowship in 2012 to support a graduate working on disability rights issues.
This year’s recipients, their fellowships, and their host organizations are:
Lauren Bentlage, N. Neal Pike Fellowship
Health Law Advocates (Boston, Mass.)
>> Read more about Lauren’s fellowship
Christian Berchild, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP Fellow
Chicago Legal Clinic, Immigration Unit (Chicago, Ill.)
>> Read more about Christian’s fellowship
Jade Brown, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP Fellow
Greater Boston Legal Services, Consumer Law Unit (Boston, Mass.)
>> Read more about Jade’s fellowship
Jessica Burnett, Yanan and Dan Schwartz Fellow
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (Westminster, Colo.)
>> Read more about Jessica’s fellowship
Ting Yan Chiu, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP Fellow
Greater Boston Legal Services, Asian Outreach Unit (Boston, Mass.)
>> Read more about Ting’s fellowship
Michael Gregory, Richard M. Belanger Fellowship
Capital Appeals Project (New Orleans, La.)
>> Read more about Michael’s fellowship
Violeta Haralampieva, William and Patricia Kleh Fellow
Refugee Solidarity Network (New York, N.Y.) and Center for Legal Aid – Voice in Bulgaria (Sofia, Bulgaria)
>> Read more about Violeta’s fellowship
Brittany Kerr, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP Fellow
Greater Boston Legal Services, Criminal Offender Record Information Unit (Boston, Mass.)
>> Read more about Brittany’s fellowship
Chloe Noonan, Gerard H. Cohen Fellow
Lawyers Committee for Better Housing (Chicago, Ill.)
>> Read more about Chloe’s fellowship
Alexandra Tucker, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP Fellow
Center for Family Representation (New York, N.Y.)
>> Read more about Alexandra’s fellowship
Sara White, Lisa G. Beckerman Fellow
Start Small Think Big (New York, N.Y.)
>> Read more about Sara’s fellowship
For more information about the Boston University School of Law Public Service Fellowships program, please contact Carolyn Goodwin, director for public service & pro bono. To make a gift, please contact lawalum@bu.edu, or make a donation online.
About the Class of 2016 BU Law Public Service Fellows
Lauren Bentlage, N. Neal Pike Fellowship
Health Law Advocates (Boston, Mass.)
Lauren Bentlage (’16) will work with the Mental Health and Addiction Parity Initiative at Health Law Advocates (HLA). “My work at HLA will largely consist of representing low-income consumers that have been denied coverage for treatment in legal actions against insurers, advocating for action by state and federal agencies, and providing community education and outreach programs,” she says.
Before she came to law school, Bentlage worked as a mental health counselor. While studying for her master’s degree in counseling psychology at Boston College, she learned about the field of health law.
“As a mental health counselor, I worked with so many clients who had been impacted by the legal system, both positively and negatively,” she says. “I wanted to take a more proactive role in society by ensuring that the legal system works to help, not hurt people. I chose BU Law because of its world-class health law program and because of the high caliber of faculty who are committed to academic scholarship and social justice.”
During her time at BU Law, she became president of the Health Law Association and worked as articles editor for the American Journal of Law and Medicine. “Both of these experiences gave me excellent exposure to the diverse facets of the health law field and provided me with countless opportunities to meet and learn from health lawyers throughout Boston,” Bentlage says. She also completed a health law externship in the Office of General Counsel at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
BU Law established the N. Neal Pike Disability Rights Fellowship in 2012 to sponsor a graduate each year who will focus their fellowship on disability rights. After her fellowship is over, Bentlage wants to continue working in health law: “My primary focus will be to raise awareness of the importance of mental health to our society and the need to implement and guarantee true parity between mental health and physical health services.”
Christian Berchild, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP Fellow
Immigration Unit, Chicago Legal Clinic (Chicago, Ill.)
The Chicago Legal Clinic provides pro bono and low-cost legal services to working poor and disadvantaged clients. Lawyers provide legal counsel, representation, and free educational seminars offered at accessible neighborhood offices. The Immigration Unit, based out of the majority Latino Pilsen neighborhood on Chicago’s Lower West Side, served more than 1,233 clients last year.
Jade Brown, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP Fellow
Consumer Law Unit, Greater Boston Legal Services (Boston, Mass.)
Before attending BU Law, Jade Brown (’16) completed her undergraduate degree in journalism at the University of Florida, and worked for a year as a research analyst for an independent foreclosure review project at JPMorgan Chase in Brooklyn, NY. “I always knew I wanted to attend law school,” she says, “but taking this time off from school allowed me to gain a better understanding of the professional world, and seeing some the legal atrocities that had taken place in the foreclosure market further cemented my decision to attend law school.”
As a staff attorney in the Consumer Rights Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services, Brown will represent clients primarily in debt collection, fraud, and bankruptcy matters. Her tasks at GBLS will include filing litigation documents, representing clients in legal proceedings, providing client-counseling services, and spearheading a community outreach program related to challenging unfair debt collection practices, disputing creditor report errors, and providing information about filing for bankruptcy. “This fellowship will be a continuation of the work I did as a summer intern at GBLS, helping to organize a one-day Errors in Credit Reporting clinic open to the community,” Brown says.
As research assistant with the Civil Litigation Program during her 3L year, Brown gained first-hand experience prepping for litigation in a complex employment discrimination case. She also participated in the School’s pro bono spring break trip to Baltimore, Maryland and worked with the Public Justice Center (PJC) to assist low-income tenants in housing court. “We represented tenants facing evictions, informed them about their legal rights and conducted preliminary interviews,” she says, explaining how many tenants did not want to raise health code violations, because they feared retaliation by their landlord. This assistance “gives tenants a fair chance against landlords who don’t follow the law themselves, but then try to wield the law against indigent tenants.”
The fellowship with the GBLS Consumer Rights Unit is the perfect first step for Brown. “This opportunity will allow me to begin my career serving those to whom I hope to dedicate my career: consumers who fall victim to unfair and deceptive business practices,” she says. “In a society, where a good credit score is such an integral part of wealth accumulation, from the type of housing one can qualify for to the type of employment one can acquire, I think such a program would serve a critical need.”
Jessica Burnett, Yanan and Dan Schwartz Fellow
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (Westminster, Colo.)
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) is a nonprofit organization that seeks justice for immigrant adults and children subjected to unlawful detention, discrimination, abuse, or neglect. As a fellow, Jessica Burnett (’16) will represent indigent clients in immigration detention. “The large majority of detainees are low-income individuals forced to represent themselves in immigration court,” Burnett says. “I will provide direct representation to them, help with know-your-rights presentations at the detention facility, conduct pro se workshops, and intake interviews.”
Originally from Amarillo, Texas, Burnett completed her undergraduate degree at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She then interned at Human Rights Initiative (HRI), an immigration nonprofit that provides legal representation and support services for refugees, asylum seekers, and other victims of violence and human rights abuses. “Working at HRI piqued my interest in immigration issues and showed me the difficulties many immigrants face,” she says. “Seeing how the attorneys at HRI made such a difference in their clients’ lives inspired me to pursue law.”
Burnett took advantage of the many opportunities to work in immigration law available to BU Law students, including the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic. In her 3L year, she interned at the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project, working with asylum seekers and detained immigrants from around the world. “The experiences, strength, and resilience of my clients in the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic and at PAIR are a great source of inspiration for me,” she says.
“Working at an organization like RMIAN right out of law school will provide me with meaningful experience as I develop my career as an immigration attorney,” Burnett says. “I hope to serve disadvantaged communities in Colorado and learn from the passionate and award-winning attorneys at RMIAN.”
Ting Yan Chiu, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP Fellow
Asian Outreach Unit, Greater Boston Legal Services (Boston, Mass.)
A fluent Cantonese speaker, Ting Yan Chiu (’16) will work with a division of Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) that assists clients who speak little-to-no English. Chiu says her work will focus on employment issues for low-wage workers, revolving around benefits, wage theft, minimum wage and overtime pay, and employees misclassified as contractors.
After graduating from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, Chiu spent two years working for a major clothing corporation, administering the company’s employment benefits. This inspired her to find new ways to advocate for workers: “My time working with corporate employee benefits made me realize that I could combine my interest in employment issues with public interest work by getting a law degree and using it to help workers secure their rights in the workplace,” Chiu says.
At BU Law, Chiu had a chance to address some of these issues directly when she worked with the Housing, Employment, Family & Disability (HEFD) Clinic, part of BU Law’s Civil Litigation Program. “My time with HEFD allowed me to strengthen my client-relations skills as well as practical lawyering abilities,” Chiu says. She also had a chance to get to know GBLS and their work through the clinic.
“I worked mostly on unemployment cases and was also exposed to workplace discrimination issues,” Chiu says. “I really benefited from having [Clinical Associate Professor] Mary Connaughton as my supervisor because she was such an incredible resource when I needed it and she also gave me ample opportunity to learn by doing. The HEFD experience went a long way to teach me about client relations, lessons that I will be taking with me to the Public Service Fellowship and afterward.”
Long-term, she wants to remain in this field: “I would like to continue working for the public interest, and am open to both legal aid and government work.”
Michael Gregory, Richard M. Belanger Fellowship
Capital Appeals Project (New Orleans, La.)
At the Capital Appeals Project (CAP), Michael Gregory (’16) will take on one of the tasks he cares most about: assisting inmates on death row. Part of the New Orleans-based Justice Center, CAP represents all indigent defendants with death sentences in the state of Louisiana. Gregory’s fellowship work will mostly involve research, writing, and investigation. He will also work with the Promise of Justice Initiative, which advocates and litigates for criminal justice reform.
Born and raised in Columbia, Maryland, he developed an interest in criminal justice, and later criminal defense, after studying statistics for death penalty cases. “I started doing research about the death penalty and the fact that there have been more than 100 exonerations—people who are sentenced to die who were totally innocent,” he says. He also saw racial disparities: “People who are guilty, their punishment is considered by class and skin color.” In college, he led a group that worked on the campaign that successfully ended capital punishment in the state of Maryland.
Even before graduating from BU Law, Gregory had already won a criminal case at trial. He spent three semesters working in the Criminal Law Clinical Program, which gives BU Law students a chance to work on actual cases in the district courts of Boston and Quincy. In a rare moment for a law student, Gregory represented one defendant all the way to the courtroom. He was a nice, sympathetic father and working professional who always maintained his innocence,” Gregory says, “and at trial the evidence clearly showed that he was.” During the two-day trial, he persuaded the jury to find his client not guilty of assault and battery: “Right when the jury was deliberating was the most nervous I’ve ever been.”
Gregory’s interest in criminal defense attracted the notice of the Capital Appeals Project. He spent last summer working with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, conducting investigations and writing letters to help people enter drug treatment programs. His time in New York cemented his desire to work in criminal defense. He also served as managing editor of BU Law’s Public Interest Law Journal, and secretary of the Public Interest Project.
Gregory believes that working with CAP at the appellate level complement his previous trial experience. His work with the Capital Appeals Project encompasses “a lot of what I want to do.” Going forward, he hopes to work as a public defender at the trial or appellate level. “I’m taking the Louisiana bar this summer,” he says, but “geography doesn’t matter. The work is more important than where I end up.”
Violeta Haralampieva, William and Patricia Kleh Fellow
Refugee Solidarity Network (New York, N.Y.) and Center for Legal Aid – Voice in Bulgaria (Sofia, Bulgaria)
Violeta Haralampieva’s (’16) fellowship with the Refugee Solidarity Network and the Center for Legal Aid – Voice in Bulgaria is a joint arrangement that requires her to spend five months in Sofia, Bulgaria with the Center for Legal Aid – Voice in Bulgaria, where she will offer legal aid to migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. She will then return to the US and dedicate the remaining seven months of her fellowship to policy development and advocacy on behalf of refugees, working with the Refugee Solidarity Network in New York City.
Originally from Bulgaria, Haralampieva spent her childhood in the Czech Republic before moving to Norwood, Massachusetts in 2005. An undergraduate course at the University of Massachusetts, Boston introduced her to the issues faced by many immigrants, especially people from Latin America, and helped her realize that she wanted to work with those communities. “I came to appreciate the enormous importance of the law as an enabler and influencer of societal change,” she says.
She was drawn to BU Law for its Immigrants’ Rights and International Human Rights Clinics as well as its experienced faculty and diverse student body. “The University’s internship and externship programs challenged my thinking, both inside and outside the classroom,” she says. “During the yearlong International Human Rights Clinic, I learned to apply available legal tools to real world problems in creative ways.” As part of the clinic, Haralampieva traveled to India to interview Tibetan refugees and assess India’s treatment of its Tibetan population under international human rights law. The trip, she notes, helped solidify her decision to pursue international work immediately after graduation to gain experience in the area.
“The Public Service Fellowship from BU Law offers international exposure combining direct client interaction, research, and policy development,” she says. “I hope to gain a balanced experience in all the areas of refugee and immigration law that interest me.”
Brittany Kerr, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP Fellow
Criminal Offender Record Information Unit, Greater Boston Legal Services (Boston, Mass.)
As a fellow with Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), which maintains a repository of every criminal court appearance in the state courts, Brittany Kerr (’16) will work with the CORI and Re-entry Project to represent defendants in court and advocate for the judge to seal certain records so her clients can have better access to housing, education, and employment.
Kerr has always had an interest in social justice and the law. She received her undergraduate degree in human rights and history from the University of Connecticut. She chose to apply to BU Law after learning about its clinical opportunities, including the International Human Rights Clinic. She credits Professor of Law Khiara Bridges with helping to shape her passion for public service. “I was challenged to think about criminal issues from a societal perspective—how different laws benefit society or take away people’s rights,” she says.
While in law school, Kerr worked with the Office of the Solicitor at the Department of Labor and evaluated the fairness of working conditions. She also received a fellowship to work with the NAACP during her 2L summer. “It was a great experience,” she says. “It broadened my understanding of what I could do as a lawyer in the area of social justice.” Working in the Employment Rights Clinic the following year, she got direct client exposure and focused on issues such as employment discrimination and fair working conditions.
Kerr was drawn to the GBLS project by the opportunity to focus on the effects of mass incarceration. “It struck a cord with me because so many members of my community have been affected by it,” she explains. Working with the project will be a first step in her career in civil rights or employment discrimination law. “I plan to pursue a clerkship after this year.”
Chloe Noonan, Gerard H. Cohen Fellow
Lawyers Committee for Better Housing (Chicago, Ill.)
For her fellowship, Chloe Noonan (’16) will work at the Lawyers’ Committee For Better Housing (LCBH), expanding and developing their new medical-legal partnership in order to serve the housing-related legal needs of low-income renters in the Chicago area.
Noonan already worked for one medical-legal partnership between college and law school, at the New York Legal Assistance Group’s LegalHealth Unit—an experience that will help inform her work as she begins her fellowship in Chicago. The purpose of the LCBH medical-legal partnership, now in its first year, is to address serious housing issues that negatively impact patient health by providing direct legal assistance, community education, and a strong network of referrals and pro bono attorneys to indigent renters.
Noonan will work to expand the partnership to other community hospital locations, helping lawyers, doctors, social workers, and other care providers collaborate and work jointly on behalf of clients who lack housing stability and face living conditions that threaten their health. “Bringing legal services to the communities where patients live is an important piece of the delivery service model,” Noonan explains. “It improves access to legal aid for people who may otherwise struggle to find the help of an attorney.”
The offer of a Public Interest Scholarship helped draw Noonan to BU Law. While here, she served as an article editor of the Public Interest Law Journal and public service chair of the Public Interest Project. She also participated in the American Legislative Practice Clinic. As an extern in the office of Massachusetts State Senator William N. Brownsberger, she had the opportunity to conduct legislative research that addressed a variety of criminal and civil justice issues.
“One of the other reasons I was drawn to BU Law was the availability of courses that would help develop my knowledge about the social issues that come into play with public interest legal work,” she notes. She highlights especially Professor Khiara Bridges’ critical race theory class, courses on affordable housing and environmental justice, and classes with Professor Katharine Silbaugh on family law and education law and policy.
“I came to BU Law committed to pursuing a legal career in public service, and my experiences throughout law school have solidified that goal,” Noonan says. “More specifically, my time in law school confirmed that I want my work as an attorney to focus on meeting the legal needs of people who are living in poverty in the United States.”
Alexandra Tucker, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP Fellow
Center for Family Representation (New York, N.Y.)
At the Center for Family Representation (CFR), Alexandra Tucker (’16) will serve as a direct legal representative for families facing the possibility of separation through foster care. CFR’s mission is to keep their clients’ families intact and to limit or eliminate the amount of time children need to spend in the foster care system.
“Every client has an attorney and an assigned social worker, as well as a parent advocate—a parent who’s professionally trained and has been through the child welfare system themselves and has been reunited with his/her family,” Tucker says. Tucker came to school wanting to pursue a career in public defense, with a particular interest in representing juvenile clients.
In her job at CFR, Tucker will represent parents. In law school, she did pro bono work for parents, represented children in a summer position with the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Practice, and worked for the Youth Advocacy Division at the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Somerville, Massachusetts. With juvenile law practice, “there is a constant overlap between kids and parents in family law and criminal matters, but there is not always an overlap in representation, even when children want to be reunited with families or families make kids more successful; it was good to see a different side from what I’ll be doing at CFR,” she says.
While at BU Law, Tucker also served as co-president of the Public Interest Project and worked as a defender in BU Law’s Criminal Law Clinical Program. “The Criminal Clinic as a whole was one of my most influential and strongest experiences at BU Law,” Tucker said. “The hands-on exposure and opportunity to constantly learn from my peers and professors, particularly Professors Wendy Kaplan and David Rossman, was unparalleled to anything else. The way it prepared me for my internships and jobs and eventually practicing law, I don’t think you can get that alone in a classroom.”
Tucker says that law school taught her about the overlap between criminal and delinquency and child welfare matters, and the impact these court proceedings have on individuals and their families far beyond the courtroom. She wants to use her time with CFR to understand how she can focus her work in the world of family and juvenile law. “I feel like my experiences in law school prepared me to be ready to practice,” she says.
Sara White, Lisa G. Beckerman Fellow
Start Small Think Big (New York, N.Y.)
As a transactional legal fellow with Start Small Think Big in the South Bronx, New York, Sara White (’16) will help low-to-moderate income individuals build and sustain businesses. The organization’s mission is to stimulate economic activity and offer personal financial security, especially for those who are traditionally marginalized. White will help with corporate entity formation and selection, corporate risk assessment, online business advice, employment law and intellectual property issues, as well as financial management and bookkeeping.
Originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, White studied marketing and media communications at Florida State University. She took a business law course and the professor, an attorney, introduced her to the way compliance with the law can drive a successful business. “I grew up wanting to make a difference in communities big and small,” she says, “In law school, I came to understand how corporate and transactional law can benefit not only large corporations and financial institutions, but start-ups and small-business owners, particularly in underserved communities.”
While at BU Law, White was active in the Student Government Association (SGA), serving as president in her 3L year, and the Black Law Students Association. She took advantage of the School’s strong intellectual property offerings with courses like Economics of Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Entertainment Law. In the summer after her 1L year, she interned with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, in Washington, DC, a nonprofit that provides scholarships, programming, and support to historically black colleges and universities. Wanting to understand the workings of the institutions that support and partner with nonprofits, she went on to work for investment management firm Eaton Vance in her 2L summer, and State Street Global Advisors during her 3L year.
White credits her experiences in SGA with preparing her for the collaborative work she will do as a fellow. “Working with the other officers and all the student organizations on campus demanded management and communication skills,” she says. “I think I’ll be well-prepared to work with clients and to coordinate with the 40 or 50 law firms throughout New York that offer pro bono services and limited-scope representation through Start Small Think Big.”
In the future, White hopes this fellowship gives her the experience she needs to help small business owners. “I’d like to continue to cater to new business needs,” she says. “I like maintaining client relationships and being part of the growth of an organization.”
Reported by Trevor Persaud (STH’18) and Indira Priyadarshini (COM’16).