WASHINGTON – Aug. 27, 2015 – The international law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP is supporting the Holly Skolnick Fellowship Foundation Class of 2015 by sponsoring seven public interest fellows in partnership with Equal Justice Works, a nonprofit organization that provides fellowships to aspiring public service lawyers. The fellows will begin in September 2015 and will serve a two-year term.
Since 1999, the firm has invested more than $8 million to support over 100 Equal Justice Works Fellows. The partnership has resulted in the sponsorship of 134 Equal Justice Works Fellows from more than 40 cities across the United States.
In total, Equal Justice Works has 63 Fellows in the 2015 Fellowship class, an increase from 61 last year. The 2015 Equal Justice Works fellowship competition attracted 443 applicants from law schools across the country.
View a complete list of the 2015 Equal Justice Works Fellows, their projects and their sponsors.
The following are the 2015 Greenberg Traurig Holly Skolnick Fellows:
California
Christina Campbell, a graduate of Loyola Law School Los Angeles, will work for the Center for Educational Excellence in Alternative Settings, to protect the education rights of youth in the juvenile justice system, both nationally and in Los Angeles County, through direct representation, policy advocacy, and generating awareness. The organization helps alternative schools implement transformational, student-focused practices, designed to significantly improve the life chances of the students they serve.
Florida
Antoinette “Toni” Pollard, a graduate of Nova Southeastern – Shepard Broad Law Center, will work at the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, Inc. The organization’s mission is to provide the disadvantaged living in Palm Beach County with equal access to the judicial system. Pollard will provide direct representation and systematic legal advocacy to ensure foster children obtain the necessary health care within rapidly changing, complex Medicaid programs. Pollard’s fellowship is co-sponsored by The Florida Bar Foundation.
New York
Kwame Akosah, a graduate of Fordham University School of Law, will work for The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law, to restore the right to vote for Americans with criminal convictions that have been denied this right despite laws to the contrary. The Brennan Center for Justice is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that seeks to improve our systems of democracy and justice. Akosah’s fellowship is co-sponsored by The Ottinger Foundation.
Laura Ferro, a graduate of New York University School of Law, will work with The Bronx Defenders’ Family Defense Practice to defend Bronx parents against the painful and unnecessary removal of their children and the potential dissolution of their families. The organization provides innovative, holistic, and client-centered criminal defense, family defense, civil legal services, social work support, and advocacy to indigent people of the Bronx.
Pennsylvania
Mary Kate Kalinich, a graduate of Temple University Beasley School of Law, will work with the organization Women Against Abuse to improve outcomes for victims of domestic violence through Department of Human Services training and policy review and legal representation for victims in custody and protection from abuse cases where domestic violence and child abuse co-occur. The mission of Women Against Abuse is to provide quality, compassionate, and nonjudgmental services in a manner that fosters self-respect and independence in persons experiencing intimate partner violence and to lead the struggle to end domestic violence through advocacy and community education.
Texas
Tovah Pentelovitch, a graduate of The University of Texas School of Law, will work at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to low-income residents in 68 counties of Southwest Texas. Pentelovitch will curb problematic use of Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs in Austin and underserved regions through outreach and representation of most at-risk students in school disciplinary settings. Pentelovitch’s fellowship is co-sponsored by the Texas Access to Justice Foundation.
Washington, D.C.
Max Tipping, a graduate of George Washington University School of Law, will work at Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless in Washington, D.C., to help families in D.C.’s rapid re-housing program remain in housing. The organization’s mission is to use the law to make justice a reality for those in the D.C. area who struggle with homelessness and poverty. Tipping’s fellowship is co-sponsored by Steptoe & Johnson, LLP.