CBA Record

Chicago Bar Foundation Report

Tenth and Final Year of CBF Fellowship Program Five Legal Attorneys Recognized for Their Service on Behalf of Low Income Clients

By Dina Merrell CBF Associate Director

Five outstanding legal aid attorneys last month became the final class of CBF Sun-Times Public Interest Law Fellows. This program, in its tenth and final year, has helped 50 legal aid lawyers to continue their careers in legal aid in the face of significant student debt loads. In doing so, the program has played a key role in improving access to justice for people in need and making the legal system more fair and efficient for everyone. Through a generous $2 million cy pres award from a case involving the Chicago Sun-Times, the CBF created this 10-year Fellowship Program in 2006. Over 92% of the CBF’s Sun-Times Fellows remain in public service today. This fellowship addresses a crisis facing lawyers in our community who are increas- ingly finding that a career in legal aid and public service is simply untenable from an eco- nomic standpoint. Lawyers graduating today

The 2016 CBF Sun-Times Fellows with Allegra Nethery, CBF Immediate Past President (second from left); DavidMann, Fellowship Selection Committee Chair (third from left); and Bob Glaves, CBF Executive Director (right). Lesley A. Arizmendi, Equip for Equality; Adrian G. Barr, Prairie State Legal Services; GrahamBowman, The LawProject of Chicago Coalition for the Homeless; Virginia L. Torres, Life Span; and Samoane E. Williams, First Defense Legal Aid.

typically have mortgage-sized law school debt while working for relatively modest salaries at pro bono and legal aid organizations. The fellowships are awarded to legal aid attorneys who demonstrate a commit- ment to public interest work, academic achievement in law school, and outstand- ing character and integrity. The fellowship recipients provide vital legal services to low-income and disadvantaged members of our community.

Adela Carlin, 2012 Recipient LAF, Director of Community Engagement Unit

When Adela learned she re- ceived the Fellowship, she “cried when I got the call because up until that mo- ment, I did not know how I would ever finish paying my law school loans. This award

has changed our family and allowed me to think about thefutureinwaysIcouldn’timaginepossible.”Adelajust celebratedher16 th anniversaryatLAF.“Iamabletodoso becauseofthesupportofpeoplewhobelieveinaccessto justice.Iamthankfulforthemoralandfinancialsupport which allows be to be a community lawyer.”

For more information about the CBF Sun-Times Fellowship Program and the 50 recipients, visit chicagobarfoundation.org/fellowships.

16 NOVEMBER 2016