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SKILL SHARPENER
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham Fellowship Benefits Law Students and Nonprofits Alike [by Erica Winter] On its 50th anniversary in 1996, the law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham pledged $250,000 to the Pittsburgh Foundation, creating a fund for a new fellowship allowing law students to work at one of four area nonprofits. With gifts of $50,000 a year for five years, the U.S. K&LNG Public Interest Fellowship became active in the summer of 2000.
Since then, two or three law students have
60. The group has had a K&LNG fellow ever
each received the $1,000 per week stipend
since the start of the program, says Hol-
ship and a summer-associate position
to do a four-week public interest summer
lander.
with K&LNG, they are not assessed by the
internship. Two law students received the fel-
If law students apply for both the fellow-
same people. The K&LNG hiring commit-
lowship this year, says Roslyn Pitts, Firmwide
Hollander, who was on the Advisory Commit-
tee chooses summer associates. There is a
Director of Recruitment and Legal Personnel
tee this year, helping to select the K&LNG
separate Advisory Committee that chooses
for K&LNG. The large corporate firm started
fellows, says he is pleased to see an increase
the K&LNG fellows. The Advisory Commit-
in Pittsburgh, and the fellowship is based
in the number of highly qualified applicants,
tee is comprised of one K&LNG partner, a
there.
as well as an increasing interest overall in
director from one of the benefiting nonprofits,
public service legal work.
and an in-house attorney from a business in
K&LNG does not require that law students—
Pittsburgh. Each of the committee positions
most of whom are rising third-years—work
As for the other groups included in the fel-
rotates, so the committee is not the same
as summer associates at the firm for the
lowship, the Neighborhood Legal Services
group from year to year.
reminder of the summer, says Pitts. Some do
Association provides pro bono legal services
apply and get both a summer-associate posi-
to low-income people involved in financial,
The fellowship is “a completely separate
tion and the fellowship, and some only apply
housing, or family legal issues. The Allegh-
program” from the firm’s summer-associate
for the fellowship, preferring to split their
eny Conference on Community Development
program, says Pitts; the fellowship is meant
summers between doing public interest work
seeks to improve the economy and quality of
to “benefit the community and not the firm.”
and working at other law firms.
life in the region through research, planning, and policy proposals. The Education Law
And it is not just the nonprofits that benefit
Another opportunity opened up by the fel-
Center provides legal assistance and infor-
from law students’ doing public interest legal
lowship is that it allows some law students
mation on issues in public education.
work, says Hollander. Interns at KidsVoice, including K&LNG fellows, get the chance to
to stretch out the stipend and devote their
stand in front of a judge and make an argu-
whole summers to doing public interest work,
There are “thousands of organizations out
says Scott Hollander, Executive Director of
there,” says Pitts. The firm chose these four
ment, which is not something many summer
KidsVoice, one of the four groups designated
on the recommendation of a committee of
associates have the opportunity to do.
by K&LNG for the fellowship. The other
K&LNG partners set up to select public inter-
designated organizations are Neighborhood
est groups to include in the fellowship; the
Above and beyond the practical experience,
Legal Services Association, the Allegheny
groups were also approved by the Pittsburgh
law students get “an understanding of how
Conference on Community Development, and
Foundation.
difficult this work can be emotionally,” says
the Education Law Center.
Hollander. They learn to respect the power When granted a fellowship, each law student
and impact that one simple recommendation
KidsVoice, formerly Legal Aid for Children,
may choose a group from among the four.
may have in the life of a child, and they also
provides representation for children who
The law student works out with the group
see that these cases are not necessarily cut
are caught up in abuse and neglect cases in
when to spend his/her four weeks there; if
and dried. Another important thing that Kids-
Allegheny County, which includes the city of
the student fellow is also a K&LNG summer
Voice interns learn is that “this work is not
Pittsburgh. The group represents all ages of
associate, the “students may also choose
for everybody,” he says. Doing pubic interest
kids, aiding 5,000 individual children in the
when to work with the organization” and
law for abused kids, says Hollander, “takes
last year. KidsVoice has grown over the past
when to work with the firm, says Pitts.
passion, dedication, and humility.”
five years, going from a staff of 10 to a staff of
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