Four Alums, Two Students Receive 2017 Skadden Fellowships

The Skadden Public Interest Fellowship recipients for 2017 include six members of the Yale Law School community: Will Bloom ’17, Brian Highsmith ’17, Cara McClellen ’15, Julia Solorzano ’16, Dorothy Tegeler ’16, and Julie Veroff ’15. The fellowships are given to 28 graduating law students and judicial clerks who will devote the next two years of their professional careers to public interest work. Skadden Fellows are provided with a salary and fringe benefits for a two-year period.

Will Bloom ’17, Community Activism Law Alliance (CALA), Chicago, IL
Bloom will advocate through direct representation and impact litigation on behalf of low-wage immigrant workers combining organizing and the settlement process to ensure lasting workplace protections and organizing rights for those workers.

Brian Highsmith ’17, National Consumer Law Center, Boston, MA
Highsmith will apply existing consumer law protections to prevent abusive and unlawful collections of criminal justice debts. Using direct representation and legal education, he will help low-income families vindicate their rights and strengthen protections against harmful collection practices through policy advocacy and impact-focused litigation.

Cara McClellan ’15, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., New York, NY
McClellan will pursue impact litigation on behalf of black girls in Baltimore excluded from school because of disabilities. She will seek to reform discipline practices and support the girls in advocating for themselves.

Julia Solorzano ’16, Southern Poverty Law Center, Atlanta, GA
Solorzano will advocate for worker safety and health in poultry processing plants in the southeastern United States, in particular ergonomic and medical mismanagement issues and the denial of bathroom breaks, through strategic OSHA complaints and impact litigation.

Dorothy Tegeler ’16, Urban Justice Center, Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, New York, NY
Tegeler will provide legal services to Central American refugee families in New York City and surrounding areas, including Long Island and Westchester County. She will support refugees nationwide through popular education and social media.

Julie Veroff ’15, American Civil Liberties Union—Immigrants’ Rights Project, San Francisco, CA
Veroff will use direct representation, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and community education to challenge and dismantle barriers to equitable public education for immigrant youth and their parents in California's Central Valley and Bay Area.

The Skadden Fellowship program began in 1989 by the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in honor of the firm’s 40th anniversary and in recognition of the dire need for greater funding for graduating law students and judicial clerks who are dedicating their careers to providing legal services to underserved members of society. For a full list of this year’s fellows, visit the Skadden Foundation website.