Skadden Fellowships for 2011 were awarded to two Stanford Law School alumni and one current student to support their work in the public interest:

Larisa Bowman ’09 will work at the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County in California providing direct representation to low-income, limited-English-proficient tenants facing eviction, particularly due to foreclosure.

Alvaro Huerta ’10 will work at the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles, California providing direct representation, impact litigation and community education to ensure that children of immigrants and their low-income families are not wrongly denied access to quality health care, as states and municipalities implement federal health care reform.

Stephanie Rudolph ‘11 will work at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest in New York, New York providing direct representation, impact litigation and tenant outreach to advance the health and housing rights of low-income children suffering from chronic illnesses triggered by substandard housing conditions.

About the Skadden Fellowship Foundation:

The Skadden Fellowship Foundation, described as “a legal Peace Corps” by The Los Angeles Times, was established in 1988 to commemorate the firm’s 40th anniversary, in recognition of the dire need for greater funding for graduating law students who wish to devote their professional lives to providing legal services to the poor (including the working poor), the elderly, the homeless and the disabled, as well as those deprived of their civil or human rights. The aim of the foundation is to give Fellows the freedom to pursue public interest work; thus, the Fellows create their own projects at public interest organizations with at least two lawyers on staff before they apply.

Fellowships are awarded for two years. Skadden provides each Fellow with a salary and pays all fringe benefits to which an employee of the sponsoring organization would be entitled. For those Fellows not covered by a law school low income protection plan, the firm will pay a Fellow’s law school debt service for the tuition part of the loan for the duration of the fellowship. The 2011 class of Fellows brings to 620 the number of academically outstanding law school graduates and judicial clerks the firm has funded to work full-time for legal and advocacy organizations.

In its 2010 “U.S. Innovative Lawyers” report, the Financial Times ranked Skadden in the top tier in the Responsible Business category in connection with the foundation, noting that it “ensures some of the brightest legal talent goes into public life.”