Carlisle

2012 Public Interest Law Summer Fellows named

The recipients of the 2012 Degenstein Foundation/Cherie M. Millage Summer Fellowships have been named by Penn State Law. Established by students in 1990, the Public Interest Law Fund’s summer fellowship program enables law students to work in nonpaying areas of public interest law during the summer after their first or second year at Penn State Law.

The Degenstein Foundation/Cherie M. Millage Fellowships fund individual students for 10 weeks of full-time summer work. Fellows may work in government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private firms engaged in public interest practice.

"The fellowships provide not only a lifeline to students who want to obtain public interest expertise but also to the nonprofit organizations that would otherwise not be able to hire summer help," said Kate Cramer Lawrence, who directs public interest programming at the Law School. "This program is key to connecting law students with satisfying, challenging work and professional networking opportunities."

"Every year, the PILF Fellowship Selection Committee is faced with the challenging task of selecting fellowship recipients from a pool of highly qualified and dedicated students. This year was no different, as we received a large number of applications from students with a strong desire to spend the summer working in public interest law,” said Heather Hoechst, 2012 Penn State Law graduate and PILF fellowship chair. “This year's fellows will work in agencies across the United States and throughout the world, providing legal assistance to under-served and vulnerable populations. With the financial assistance the fellowships provide, the students are able to focus their time and energy on this important work."

Fellows named

The recipients for 2012 and the organizations for which they will work are:

-- Scott Engstrom, AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.
-- Jordan Johnston, Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Philadelphia, Pa.
-- Brian Kavjian, Legal Services of Northern Virginia, Manassas, Va.
-- Tiffany Lobello, MidPenn Legal Services, Carlisle, Pa.
-- Katherine Marinari, Legal Aid Society of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.
-- Kristi Martel, Montana Innocence Project, Missoula, Mont.
-- Hayley McElhinney, Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, Dallas, Texas
-- Maren Miller, Transitions Global, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
-- Holly Moncavage, The Workplace Project, Hempstead, N.Y.
-- Geoffrey Trautman, California Rural Legal Assistance, Watsonville, Calif.
-- Bradley Tritsch, The Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention, Intervention and Research, Bronx, N.Y.

For photos of these students, go to http://goo.gl/DFyUU online.

The fellowship program is named in honor of Cherie M. Millage, who served as the director of Career Services at the Law School. Millage was a source of inspiration and encouragement for law students committed to excellence in the public interest sector. Upon Millage's death, PILF named its summer fellowship program in honor of her memory. In addition, the Degenstein Foundation continues to be a generous contributor to the fellowship program.

Tax-deductible donations to the Degenstein/Cherie M. Millage Fellowship Fund may be made online by visiting www.giveto.psu.edu. (Select Dickinson School of Law, PILF).

Last Updated July 22, 2015

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