Law School Dean Robert Clark announced the awarding of the 1997 Irving R. Kaufman Fellowships to 32 recent graduates "who have shown truly exceptional promise for careers in public interest law."

Established in 1990, the Kaufman Fellowship Program honors the late Judge Irving R. Kaufman of the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals for his distinguished public service career, which included 40 years on the federal bench. Judge Kaufman wrote more than 2,500 opinions, with many serving as landmarks in First Amendment, desegregation, and antitrust law.

The program receives support from a $1 million gift from the Annenberg Foundation, chaired by the Hon. Walter H. Annenberg, ambassador to Great Britain from 1968 to 1974 and former president and chairman of Triangle Publications.

The Kaufman Fellowship Program is administered by the School's Office of Public Interest Adviser (OPIA). Established in 1990, OPIA assists students who are interested in careers with government and public interest organizations.

New Kaufman Fellows

The new Kaufman Fellows are as follows:

Muneer Ahmad '96 has a clerkship with Judge William K. Sessions III, U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vt. He will work this coming year as a staff attorney at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) in Los Angeles, providing legal representation to low-income workers and other individuals affected by the recent welfare reform bill.

Matthew Bodie '96 has a clerkship with Judge Blane Michael of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He will work this coming year as a field attorney in the Manhattan Regional Office of the National Labor Relations Board investigating complaints of unfair labor practices brought by both workers and employers.

Nina Dastur '97 will be working at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia.

Traci Douglas '97 has been awarded a Soros Justice Fellowship and will be doing juvenile justice work at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem.

Heather Friedman '97 is looking for work in human rights,

environmental/development issues, and refugee and immigrant rights organizations.

Maria Green '97 hopes to start a human rights and poverty program in conjunction with the Center for Economic and Social Rights, based in New York.

Carla Halpern '97 is looking for work in District Attorneys' and Attorneys' General offices, as well as rural legal service centers.

Alex Hanafi '97 has been awarded a Luce Fellowship to work in Southeast Asia on the legal aspects of sustainable development in developing countries.

Louise Hayes '96 has been awarded an Independence Foundation Fellowship to work in the employment and public benefits units of Philadelphia's Community Legal Services.

Maria Henderson '97 will be working as an Assistant District Attorney at the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.

Mark Hickernell '97 is looking for work in the area of poverty law within the legal services sector.

Philip Hwang '96 has a clerkship with Judge Susan Illston at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco and is seeking employment in the Bay Area as an AIDS advocate.

John Kroger '96 will work as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York.

Jamie Metzl '97 will be working as a Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.

Jane Muigai '96 is staff attorney fellow with the national office of the ACLU in New York.

Suzanne Nossel '96 will work as a Skadden Fellow at Children's Rights, a public interest advocacy organization in New York City.

Kimberly Parker '96 is clerking with Judge Alfred Goodwin for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California and has applied for fellowships in reproductive rights work.

Cathleen Price '96 has a clerkship with Justice Fred L. Banks Jr. of the Mississippi Supreme Court and is looking for death penalty defense work in the South.

Kevin Reuther '96 is clerking with Judge Harriet Lansing of the Minnesota Court of Appeals and will be working as a NAPIL Fellow at the Minneapolis Legal Aid Society.

Mary Beth Schultz '96 is clerking with Judge John R. Gibson on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and will be a Fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala.

Brad Sears '95 will be starting a new legal services program in Los Angeles County for persons living with HIV.

Hannah Stires '97 will work at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Office of the General Counsel.

Susan Vickers '97 is pursuing grants that will enable her to continue her work in women's rights at the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.

Paul Weinberger '97 is looking for legislative policy work on Capitol Hill.

Joan Weiner '96 is clerking with Magistrate Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, and is looking for work in women's rights law.

Renewed Kaufman Fellows

Jayne Bigelson '96 works with immigrant victims of domestic violence at the New York Association for New Americans (NYANA).

Hilary Cohen '95 is employed as an assistant public defender at the Philadelphia Defender Association.

Peter Eliasberg '96 works as an attorney at the ACLU of Southern California on current litigation involving the constitutionality of voter initiatives in California.

David Gordon '97 works on the staff of the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).

Judith Lurie '96 is staff attorney at the Northwest Justice Project, a statewide, federally funded, civil legal services program in Wenatchee, Wash.

Ngai Pindell '96 works at the Empowerment Legal Services Program, which provides legal assistance to small businesses within Baltimore's Empowerment Zone and represents nonprofit, neighborhood-based Village Centers.

Jenny Semmel '96 is staff attorney at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, a community-based public defender's office in New York City.