Bickel & Brewer Scholars Fritzsche '09 and Navarro '09 featured in National and New York Law Journals

Thomas Fritzsche ’09 and Melissa Navarro ’09, the first students to complete the Bickel & Brewer Latino Institute for Human Rights Scholarship, a full-tuition scholarship which requires a commitment from those selected to work for at least two years in jobs that benefit the Latino community, were featured in the National Law Journal and New York Law Journal. Said Bickel & Brewer partner William A. Brewer III (LL.M. '78), who founded the program: "The idea is, you give us five years, we'll get you a great law school education and the financial backing to take a job after graduation in the community and work on an issue that's important to you. Be an important change agent."

Both Fritzche and Navarro are well on their way to being change agents. Fritzsche will begin work at the Southern Poverty Law Center's Immigrant Justice Project in September. Earlier this year, he won a prestigious Skadden Fellowship as well as the annual Pro Bono Publico Award from the Public Service Law Network for his role in co-founding an organization that advocates for farmworker's rights and champions organic and local farming. Navarro will be one of handful of Spanish-speaking attorneys at the Clark County public defender's office in Las Vegas, a district where about a quarter of the population speaks Spanish. "As a public defender, you have a real impact on a person's life," she told NLJ and NYLJ. "I don't have to go to a law firm and spend five years doing something I don't want to do to pay for law school. I really wouldn't have been able to go into public interest without this scholarship."