Elyssa Caplan ’13, Semuteh Freeman ’13, Diana Newmark ’13, and Scott Welfel ’13 have all been named 2013 Skadden Fellows. Established in 1988 by the firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, the prestigious two-year fellowships support graduating law students who wish to pursue public interest work, providing a salary, fringe benefits and tuition-debt assistance to awardees as they pursue personally conceived projects at their chosen public interest organizations. Twenty-nine graduating law students and judicial clerks are part of the 2013 class of fellows.
Elyssa Caplan will work at The Door, a youth development services organization, providing civil legal services to high-risk immigrant youth, particularly those who identify as LGBT, suffer from mental illness, and are pregnant or raising children. Currently completing a joint J.D./M.S.W. degree, Caplan previously interned for The Door’s Legal Services Center as well as the Legal Aid Society, and was a Teach for America Corps member in the Bronx.
Semuteh Freeman, a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar, will engage in direct representation and policy work at Legal Services for Children in San Francisco, combating barriers to post-secondary education for foster and homeless youth in the Bay Area. She has interned for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrant Rights Project, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, the Law School’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia.
Diana Newmark will pursue work as an education lawyer in the Bronx office of the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Practice as part of the Kathryn A. McDonald Education Advocacy Project, providing direct representation, systemic advocacy, and community education to protect the education and due-process rights of court-involved children who are suspended or arrested in school. Her past internships include work for Legal Aid Society as well as Advocates for Children.
Scott Welfel plans to work at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice in Newark, offering direct representation to veterans and formerly incarcerated individuals to help improve access to employment opportunities, and engaging in law reform efforts to break down barriers to employment. He has interned for Brooklyn Defender Services, Newark Municipal Public Defender, and The Door, and clerked for the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice as well as the Georgia Legal Services Program’s Farmworker Division.
Posted on December 10, 2012