Goodwin Procter, a national Am Law 50 law firm, today announced the recipients of its 2012 Public Interest Fellowships for Students of Color. The fellowships support first-year students from law schools across the country who spend the summer working in community service legal positions. The 2012 fellows are: Magdey Abdallah of Boston University School of Law; Easha Anand of Berkeley School of Law; Sabrina Forte of Stanford Law School; Jo-Ann Karhson of Harvard Law School; and Judith Kim of Boston University School of Law.
The students will focus on an array of issues including children’s advocacy, affirmative action, criminal defense and prosecution. Abdallah will spend the summer at the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office in the Affirmative Civil Enforcement practice group. Anand will work on the American Civil Liberties Union’s Criminal Law Reform Project. Forte will work with Legal Advocates for Children and Youth in San Jose, Calif., while Karhson will work with the Public Defender’s Office for the City of Alexandria. Kim will be at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston as the recipient of the MassMutual/Goodwin Procter Public Interest Fellowship award, which Goodwin supports in collaboration with client MassMutual Life Insurance Co.
"It’s great to see such excellent students with a passion for public service begin their legal careers working on these rewarding projects,” said Regina M. Pisa, chairman of Goodwin Procter. “These fellowships help Goodwin Procter give back to our communities while giving these young law students real-world experience that will serve them well in the future.”
Goodwin Procter created the fellowship program in 2005 to encourage diversity in the legal profession by covering students’ expenses while they work in a public interest law position during the summer following their first year of law school. Students are selected based on academic achievement, leadership, commitment to community service and interest in the private practice of law.