Public Interest Week 2023 engages national and international experts, including Agnieszka Fryszman, the 2023 Honorary Fellow and chair of the Human Rights practice at Cohen Milstein.
An aspiring public servant, Laura Hannon L’24, SP2’24 split her summer between government service and legal aid.
The Journal pays tribute to Robert “Bob” Toll L’66 and his tremendous impact at Penn Carey Law and the legal profession.
George Kunkel SP2’23, L’25 is working toward a career in holistic public defense alongside seasoned trial attorneys at the Orleans Public Defenders.
Penn Carey Law recognizes and applauds the Class of 2023’s pro bono efforts.
The Honorable Benjamin Lerner L’65 is the recipient of the Toll Public Interest Center’s 2023 Alumni Impact Award.
Penn Carey Law has a long history of teaching students how to incorporate service into legal work.
United by an ethos of service, Penn Carey Law’s public interest community cuts across sectors and legal specialties to effect positive change.
Margaret A. “Peggy” Browning L’78 dedicated her career to fighting for the rights of America’s workers.
Devontae Torriente L’24 sees potential for growth, progress, and optimism amidst a significant departure from established constitutional precedent.
Jessica Feierman L’00, Deuel Ross L’09, and Kristen Dama L’07 were recently honored at the Toll Public Interest Center’s Alumni Impact Awards dinner.
For Michelle Banker L’10, Director of Reproductive Rights and Health Litigation at the National Women’s Law Center, “reproductive healthcare is healthcare.”
The Bar Council of the Maldives visited the Law School to assist its efforts in regulating legal education and the legal profession in the Republic of Maldives.
Valerie Baron L’12, LPS’13 works alongside communities most affected by the agriculture industry, helping to protect and preserve their rights.
From pathbreaking coursework to pro bono advocacy, students at the Law School engage meaningfully in the fight to advance women’s rights, both locally and around the world.
“The Power of Penn Law” campaign is the Law School’s most successful fundraising and engagement effort to date.
The awards recognize alumni who have demonstrated a passionate commitment to public service throughout their career.
Jesse McGleughlin L’20 is the recipient of Toll Public Interest Fellowship and works at the Southern Center for Human Rights.
In the voting rights sphere, the Law School offers several public interest law and pro bono opportunities as well as thematic, timely courses and a voting rights fellowship.
This year’s Public Interest Week events will explore the complex roles that lawyers play as society’s economic inequities continue to deepen.
The lecture by Professor Guy-Uriel Charles of Harvard Law is part of Public Interest Week, the Race and Regulation Lecture Series, and the “Advancing Racial Justice” colloquium.
The award is given annually by Philadelphia VIP, the City’s leading pro bono organization.
This year, the majority of the incoming class of 2024 participated in Pro Bono Orientation Day, embodying Penn Law’s commitment to and enthusiasm for public interest service.
For Rekha Nair L’12, standing alongside a person as they navigate the American immigration system offers something powerful: unity in a world of separation.
The fellows’ work will be supported by several organizations including Equal Justice Works; Independence Foundation; Langer, Grogan, and Diver Foundation in Social Justice; Skadden Foundation; Toll Foundation; and the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.
Through the Toll Public Interest Center, Law School students work with Troutman Pepper’s Pepper Center for Public Service on pro bono immigration cases.
Omar Gonzalez-Pagan L’10 celebrated a victory with his team of LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights advocates when a federal court enjoined a Trump Administration rule seeking to overhaul U.S. asylum processes.
The Law School’s annual Public Interest Week will be held from February 1 to February 5 with all virtual events.
Student-led groups within the Toll Public Interest Center are collaborating with local legal aid advocates to provide relief to those who have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020 National Celebration of Pro Bono, led by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, takes places from October 25 – 31, 2020. Join the conversation and celebration with the Toll Public Interest Center.
Robert and Jane Toll Foundation makes $50 million gift to expand Toll Public Interest Scholars and Fellows Program launching hundreds of students into public interest legal careers
As a Catalyst Fellow, Sabrina Ruchelli L’19 is working as a Law and Policy Analyst with the Policy Surveillance Program at Center for Public Health Law Research, which is based at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law.
The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition (CTIC) has awarded the CTIC Summer Public Interest Fellowships to students Gerald Adams L’22 and Joshua Burd L’22.
On Wednesday, July 8, 2020, the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School held the second event in its summer series, A Path for Change: Policing in America. The series is part of a yearlong colloquium, Achieving Racial Justice, as one of many initiatives Penn Law will be implementing in the coming months “to work internally and externally against anti-Black violence and racism and to promote meaningful change toward a more just reality.”
Walcott, a JD/MSEd candidate, has spent the summer as an intern at the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
On Wednesday June 24, 2020, the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School held the first event in its summer series, A Path for Change: Policing in America. The series is part of a yearlong colloquium, Achieving Racial Justice.
A historic number of University of Pennsylvania Carey Law school JD and LLM grads to launch public interest careers to serve communities in need.
Giwa-Ojuri was selected as a recipient of the EJW Fellowship from a pool of over 430 applicants.
The Skadden Foundation recently announced that University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School 3L Mariel Mussack has secured one of its coveted fellowships.
The dinner, co-sponsored by the Leo Model Foundation for Government Service and Public Affairs, brought together more than 50 Penn Law students, alumni, and staff for a celebration of service.
The bill, which is currently working its way through City Council and may soon come up for a vote, would protect tenants by preventing landlords from terminating tenants’ leases without just cause.
Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, spoke at Penn Law on October 4th about the modern Supreme Court nomination process.
The panel presentation, part of Public Interest Week programming, explored how the policy emerged over time and connects to longstanding inequalities in the family immigration system.
The 11th Annual Public Interest Week brings together students, noted public interest lawyers, policymakers, and scholars for events addressing the theme of “Justice for All.”
Members of Penn Law’s public interest community gathered together in an annual celebration of public service and exemplary achievements in pro bono.
Rodney Holcombe L’17 works as a legal fellow at the Drug Policy Alliance in Oakland, California.
Carl Snodgrass L’17 has joined the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program as the Debtors’ Prisons Fellow with the support of a postgraduate fellowship from Penn Law.
Honorary Fellow-in-Residence Juan Cartagena and guest speaker Cecilia Wang discuss strategies for successful advocacy during TPIC’s 10th annual public interest week.
The EJF is a student-run organization that funds Penn Law students pursuing public interest work and serving communities whose legal needs may otherwise go unmet. All proceeds from the auction are given as grants to students.
Gift from Robert Toll L’66 and Jane Toll GSE’66 further increases access for Penn Law students to pursue impactful public service careers
Penn Law’s 10th annual Public Interest Week runs until February 23, bringing noted bringing noted public interest lawyers, including this year’s Public Interest Week Honorary Fellow-in-Residence Juan Cartagena, to the Law School for a variety of panels and discussions.
Penn Law students from the Environmental Law Project (ELP) argue that the proposed repeal is not supported by scientific evidence, and that the agency’s change in course is not supported by a valid justification.
Two Penn Law students, Albert Pak L’18 and Jayme Wiebold L’18, have been awarded Skadden Fellowships to pursue work in the public interest. These highly competitive postgraduate fellowships fund two years of work providing legal services to the poor, the elderly, the homeless, the disabled, and those deprived of their civil or human rights.
Shira Perlmutter L ’83 visited Penn Law this fall semester as part of the Leo Model Foundation fellows program.
Nancy Nord’s visit to Penn law with The Leo Model Foundation as the Fall 2017 Distinguished Policy Fellow.
As part of the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative, in partnership with the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights, Penn Law’s Emily Sutcliffe traveled to Malaysia to conduct a week-long training for human rights attorneys and activists.
Helen Eisner L’12 explains the investigative work done by the Office of Congressional Ethics.
David Washington L’15 has been named the Penn Law Civil Rights Fellow, a new, two-year, post-graduate fellowship created by Penn Law and the Southern Poverty Law Center for graduating public interest students and recent alumni.
With the support of a postgraduate fellowship from Penn Law, Isabel Abreu L’16 is working in the legal services department of HIAS Pennsylvania, where she provides immigration assistance to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault who live in counties outside of Philadelphia.
Seven Penn Law graduates and alumni were awarded fellowships to launch their public interest careers.
With the support of an Equal Justice Works Fellowship, Penn Law graduate Frank White L’16 is fighting these predatory lending in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.
Sheerine Alemzadeh L’11 has co-founded a new nonprofit in Chicago called Healing to Action, whose mission is to advance a worker-led movement to end gender violence.
Penn Law and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) have created a new, two-year, post-graduate fellowship for a new or recent graduate to work with the SPLC’s Special Litigation Practice Group.
On February 24, Penn Law, as a part of Public Interest Week, hosted a panel titled “Making an Impact as a Government Lawyer,” where Marsha Chien L’10 and Omar Gonzalez-Pagan L’10 answered law students’ questions about working in state government.
On February 22, as a part of Penn Law’s ninth annual Public Interest Week, the Law School hosted “A Life Unraveled: How Criminal Records Destabilize the Lives of Low-Income Individuals.” The program simulated the struggles facing individuals with criminal backgrounds such as custody issues, access to housing, and financial stability.
On February 20, as a part of Penn Law’s Ninth Annual Public Interest Week, the Law School held an panel discussion titled “Voting Rights in Philadelphia: The 2016 Election from a Community Perspective.”
The 9th Annual Public Interest Week will take place from February 20-24. Make sure to check in at each event you attend for a chance to win a super prize at the end of week BASH.
Rick Mula L’15, an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, promotes equal rights for LGBT youth through his public interest work.
Four Penn Law students and alumni have been awarded sought-after post-graduate fellowships to begin their public interest legal careers.
Six Penn Law graduates and alumni are hitting the ground running in their public interest careers with the help of postgraduate fellowships from Penn Law.
Pro bono service is one of the hallmarks of a Penn Law legal education. In this video feature, three students discuss their individual pro bono experiences and how those experiences influenced their thinking about the law.
Three Penn Law graduates, Elizabeth Frawley L’15, Daniel Lambright L’15, and Katharine Schulman L’15, began their careers in the public sector this year with the support of Penn Law’s Catalyst Fellowships.
The Toll Public Interest Center at Penn Law has launched Perspectives on Public Interest, a new podcast examining the causes and impacts of inequity, and avenues of positive change.
With the support of a postgraduate fellowship from Penn Law, Rob Zielinski L’15 is working as a staff attorney for the child representative program at Chicago Volunteer Legal Services.
Jack Regenbogen L’15 has launched the Second Chance Project, an initiative working toward passing a private sector “ban the box” law in Colorado.
Penn Law hosted a discussion on problems facing veterans as part of the Law School’s Eighth Annual Public Interest Week.
Public Interest Week Honorary Fellow Benjamin Crump gave a presentation titled “We Can’t Breathe: The Struggle to Resuscitate Due Process in Civil Rights § 1983 Police Brutality Cases.”
At an event titled “Challenging Muslim Profiling in Post 9/11 Era,” Baher Azmy, Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a constitutional law professor at Seton Hall University, addressed the unconstitutionality of religious profiling that has been “embraced” in the post-9/11 era.
On February 22, the start of Public Interest Week, former SEC commissioner Troy Paredes spoke about the SECs new crowdfunding rules, which could change the way that small businesses grow.
Benjamin Crump, counsel for Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice, is this year’s Honorary Fellow in Residence at Public Interest Week.
As the University of Pennsylvania Law Review Public Interest Fellow, Ben Wiener L’14 is providing public defense for indigent clients who have pleaded guilty through the Center for Appellate Litigation in New York City.
Sparer Symposium keynote speaker Brenda Wright discussed the ever-increasing roll of money in politics and how this money creates political inequality.
Three recent Penn Law graduates have been awarded 2015–2016 postgraduate fellowships from Penn Law and are currently working with public interest organizations across the country to serve underrepresented communities.
Robert Toll L’66 and Jane Toll GSE’66 have given a $2.5 million gift, which will further support the Toll Public Interest Center (TPIC) and public interest programming at the Law School.
Valerie Baron L’12 and Rick Mula L’15 were awarded Equal Justice Works Fellowships to fund their work on innovative projects for communities in need of legal assistance.
Reed Brody, the Honorary Fellow-in-Residence for this year’s Public Interest Week, discussed working high profile cases against dictators such as Augusto Pinochet, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, and Hissène Habré.
Whitney Viets L’15 has been awarded the 2014–15 ACE Rule of Law Fellowship, given annually to a Penn Law student or recent graduate pursuing an international public-interest law career.
Two Penn Law students and one recent graduate were recently awarded prestigious Skadden Fellowships, and a Penn Law student was also selected for the highly coveted Marvin M. Karpatkin Fellowship from the American Civil Liberties Union in New York.
The Public Service Program is, today, one of the Law School’s glories, and Howard Lesnick was the inspiration and force behind its creation.
On November 14, Mark O’Brien spoke on the value of technology to at-risk communities. O’ Brien was keynote speaker for the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s 34th Annual Edward V. Sparer Symposium, titled “Law 2.0: Progress and Challenges for Justice in the Digital Age.”
Penn Law and the University of Pennsylvania will be hosting a series of events highlighting the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Penn Law’s first class of Catalyst Grant recipients have begun their work in the public sector, working on everything from prosecuting criminals to determining the legal status of shipwrecks. The Catalyst Grant program provides a year of support for Penn Law graduates who serve in government or conduct human rights work.
Marking a major milestone in legal education and emblematic of the service ethic at the core of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, this academic year Penn Law will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of its public interest program, featuring a year-long series of lectures, workshops, conferences focusing on the power and impacts of public service lawyering.
University of Pennsylvania Law School Dean Michael A. Fitts has been honored with the Law School’s 2014 Beacon Award, which recognizes faculty members’ contributions to pro bono and public interest service.
Liz Booth discusses her work with Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, working to expand awareness of local protections for tenants who have experienced domestic violence and sexual violence.
Jesse Krohn L’11, a staff attorney at Philadelphia Legal Assistance, discusses her work in the family law unit providing direct representation to indigent teen parents on matters of child support and custody, protection from abuse, and access to public benefits.
On Friday, February 21, Penn Law hosted its 33rd annual Edward Sparer Symposium titled “Gender and Social Inequalities: Why Women’s Rights Still Matter.” Presenters discussed a range of topics, including domestic violence, sexism, women in immigration, and trafficking women.
Penn Law’s Sixth Annual Pubic Interest Week, which celebrates the public interest work of students, alumni, and community partners, begins Feb. 17.
“Catalyst Grants” will double Law School’s postgraduate public service fellowships.
Joline Price L’12 is ensuring that the chaotic rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) doesn’t harm low-income Pennsylvanians.
In a video feature, Sarah Alba L’11 highlights Penn Law’s clinics and pro bono opportunities, as well as her postgraduate work at Manhattan Legal Services.
Chao Pan L’10 talks about how Penn Law’s Toll Loan Repayment Assistance Program (TolLRAP) allows him to pursue his public service career.
Marsha Chien L’10 is a Skadden Fellow at the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center (LAS-ELC) in the National Origin, Immigration and Language Rights program.
As part of its expanding commitment to supporting public interest legal careers, the University of Pennsylvania Law School has awarded five postgraduate fellowships for the coming year.
Penn Law has formally announced the revamping of its already generous loan repayment program to ensure that its graduates pursuing careers in public interest and public service can have significant student loan burdens eliminated.
A symposium on immigration advocacy and reform featuring a keynote presentation by Jose Antonio Vargas, a former Washington Post journalist who revealed his undocumented status in a widely discussed essay in The New York Times Magazine in 2011, will be the capstone event of Penn Law’s fifth annual Public Interest Week programming, March 11-15.
Catherine C. Carr L’79, a Penn Law lecturer and Executive Director of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, has received the Andrew Hamilton Award. Marisa Gold L’13 was also honored by the Public Interest Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association.
Mary Catherine Roper L’93, recipient of the 2012 Philadelphia Bar Foundation Award, speaks to Penn Law about her public interest career.
Penn Law is establishing the ACE Rule of Law Fellowship with the generous support of both the ACE Charitable Foundation and ACE Limited General Counsel Robert Cusumano L’80. Human Rights First, a preeminent legal advocacy organization, will partner with Penn Law to enable graduates to work on cutting-edge projects in rule of law and global human rights.
Joanna Visser L’10, joined the Toll Public Interest Center and Juvenile Law Center as the 2011 Toll Public Interest Center Philadelphia Fellow, where she supports efforts to end the practice of sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole, and counsels Penn Law students on local pro bono and public interest opportunities.
As part of its commitment to supporting public interest legal careers, the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s Toll Public Interest Center (TPIC) has named 2012 Postgraduate Fellowship Award recipients.