These young alumni make an impressive crowd.
In 2011, only 29 students across the country were awarded Skadden Fellowships, a prestigious two-year award that gives graduating law students an opportunity to pursue public interest work. In 2010, that number was just 27. Despite their ultra-exclusive nature, three Fordham Law students—Elizabeth Joynes ’10, Dan Hafetz ’10, and Marni von Wilpert ’11—landed the honor in the past two years.
Created in 1988, Skadden Fellowships are awarded annually to provide law school graduates with a salary and fringe benefits as they work on a project they’ve created with a public interest organization. Since the award’s inception, 90 percent of fellowship recipients have gone on to public sector or public interest work.
Last fall, Elizabeth Joynes ’10 began working at LatinoJustice PRLDEF (formerly the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund) developing the Latinas at Work Project. It addresses the exploitation of low-wage Latina immigrant workers on Long Island who are subject to exploitative labor conditions, including long hours, illegally low wages, unsafe working conditions, and sexual harassment.
In her current position, Joynes handles cases for workers and collaborates with Long Island community organizations where immigrant workers go for help. According to Joynes, one key focus is educating low-wage workers about their rights so they may be more willing to speak up in the face of injustice.
“I’m working with a group of Latinas who are vulnerable to labor exploitation,” says Joynes, who had previously interned with her employer during law school.
“They work in low-wage industries—as domestic workers, in factories, and restaurants—and are often unaware that they have the right to earn the minimum wage and overtime pay in a safe workplace and to report sexual harassment regardless of their immigration status. There is a tremendous need for legal assistance, which is not always readily available to them on Long Island.”
In October 2010, Dan Hafetz ’10 began his fellowship with Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, primarily working with Cypress Hill Local Development Corporation on its Cypress Hills Verde initiative in East New York. His project is a twofold effort to create green redevelopment in the neighborhood—such as increasing the number of green buildings and green jobs—and combat sources of poverty, like high unemployment and poor health.
From working on large affordable housing development deals to dealing with youth-led farmers’ markets and policy research on community solar, Hafetz has felt right at home. In fact, after his fellowship, he plans to continue doing transactional work, particularly at the grassroots level.
“I was a teacher in this neighborhood, and I knew that I wanted to work in an area that got me involved in the community again,” says Hafetz, who also served as an intern at Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A after his first year at Fordham Law.
“I’m so glad to be where I am now, to be working on sustainable development in this neighborhood. And as General Counsel to the Cypress Hills Verde initiative, I am getting to work on so many different and novel issues.”
Marni von Wilpert ’11 began her fellowship this fall. She is partnering with the Mississippi Center for Justice in Jackson to provide legal representation for people living with HIV and AIDS in the Delta region. Additionally, she is helping create Mississippi’s first Medical Legal Partnership, uniting doctors and attorneys to identify and solve legal issues affecting those with HIV and AIDS.
Von Wilpert says she became interested in helping people with HIV and AIDS while serving in the Peace Corps between 2006 and 2008 in Botswana, where she worked on an HIV prevention program. When her fellowship ends, von Wilpert intends to continue working in health and public policy because she sees significant need in the United States for protecting and helping those with AIDS—particularly in the poorer areas of the Deep South.
“There is a population of low-income HIV-positive people who get fired if their employer finds out about their diagnosis,” says von Wilpert.
“This is a population of people who won’t even disclose to their attorney that they are HIV-positive. They are just too afraid of what can happen, of being fired and evicted, and having no money to pay for their basic medical expenses. This is why there is a need for a medical-legal partnership, so that the two fields can work together to provide comprehensive services for people living with HIV and AIDS.”