HLS awards Kaufman public interest fellowships

Harvard Law School has awarded Irving R. Kaufman Public Interest Fellowships to 22 graduating students and recent graduates. These fellowships are awarded in recognition and support of individuals who have shown truly exceptional promise for careers in public interest law. The Kaufman Fellowships are managed by the School’s Office of Public Interest Advising, which is directed by Alexa Shabecoff.

Established in 1990, the Kaufman Fellowship Program honors the late Judge Irving R. Kaufman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd circuit, 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 Honorable Walter H. Annenberg, ambassador to Great Britain from 1968 to 1974 and former president and chairman of Triangle Publications.

The 2000 Kaufman Fellows are as follows:

• Sophie Bryan (HLS ’00) will be a Skadden Fellow at the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center in Jamaica Plain, Boston, where she will design and implement a new General Services Unit. During law school Bryan was involved in a wide range of activities including serving as co-chair of the Student Public Interest Auction and as a research fellow for the Albert Sacks Poverty Research Colloquia. She was also a student lawyer at the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center.
• Craig Buckser (HLS ’97) will be working for a death penalty organization in California. A magna cum laude graduate, Buckser is completing the second of two stints as a death penalty clerk on the Supreme Court of New Jersey. He has also served as a clerk to Judge Max Rosenn on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. During law school he was involved in the Harvard Defenders, the Civil Liberties Union, and the Criminal Justice Institute, and was a teaching fellow for Professor Morton Horwitz.
• Arienne Callender (HLS ’99) plans to work in the New York Attorney General’s Office or in a nonprofit environmental law organization. Callender is currently clerking for Judge Constance Baker Motley of the Southern District of New York. During law school she was involved in the Legal Aid Bureau and the Black Law Students Association.
• Roger Fairfax (HLS ’98) will be working as an Honor Program Attorney in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. A cum laude graduate, he is currently clerking for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. During law school he was Commentaries chair of the Harvard Law Review, was Political Action Committee co-chair of the Black Law Students Association, and was a student attorney in the Criminal Justice Institute.
• Holly Handler (HLS ’99) will be working as an appellate attorney at the New York Capital Defender Office. She is currently serving as a death penalty clerk for Chief Justice Deborah Poritz of the New Jersey Supreme Court. During law school Holly represented indigent adult and juvenile clients through the Criminal Justice Institute.
• Sarah Harrington (HLS ’99) will be working in the Appellate Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Harrington graduated cum laude and is currently clerking for Judge Rosemary Barkett of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. At Harvard Law School, she was executive editor of the Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review and a member of the Champion Team for the Ames Moot Court Competition.
• Catherine Horner (HLS ’99) has accepted a position at the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office in California. She graduated cum laude and is currently clerking on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. During Law School she was involved in the Board of Student Advisers and was a volunteer court appointed special advocate.
• Darin Johnson (HLS ’00) will be working for the General Counsel’s Office in the U.S. Department of the Army. At Harvard Law School he was the executive editor of the Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review, Admissions Committee chairperson for the Black Law Students Association, a student assistant in the Admissions Office, and research assistant for Professor Randall Kennedy. Johnson was also a student attorney for both the Criminal Justice Institute and the Prison Legal Assistance Project.
• Kate Jones (HLS ’99) is seeking work as a public defender or in a public policy job related to criminal justice. Kate graduated cum laude and is currently serving as a clerk to Justice Stephen Glickman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. During law school, Jones held many leadership positions including co-chair of the Student Public Interest Auction, co-chair of the Student Public Interest Network, co-chair of the Student Funded Fellowships, and co-founder of the Summer Associates Initiative for Legal Services. She was also a student attorney in both the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center and the Criminal Justice Institute.
• Lisa Kavanaugh (HLS ’00) will be a teaching fellow and public defender with the Prettyman Fellowship at Georgetown Law Center in Washington, D.C. During law school she worked with the Prison Legal Assistance Project, was a research assistant for Professor Carol Steiker, a student attorney in the Criminal Justice Institute, and an editor on the Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review.
• Peter Keith (HLS ’99) plans to work at the City Attorney’s Office in San Francisco. He graduated cum laude and is currently clerking for Judge Jon Newman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. At Harvard he was Articles and Commentaries chair of the Harvard Law Review, a research assistant for the late Professor David Charny, and co-chair of the Harvard Labor Law Project.
• Arthur Kim (HLS ’00) plans to return to Gonaives, Haiti, to open a center for children’s rights called Many Lawyers and Friends for the Defense of Children’s Rights. During law school, Kim founded a new student organization called Direct Action, which addresses human rights and humanitarian issues. He was also a board member for the Prison Legal Assistance Project and director of the North Korean Famine Relief Project.
• Nicholas Lundgren (HLS ’00) will be serving as a National Association for Public Interest Law Fellow (NAPIL) at the Community Law Office of the Legal Aid Society of New York where he will start a program to provide transactional legal services to local entrepreneurs and community-based organizations. At Harvard he was a co-founder of the Project on Law and Organizing, a teaching fellow at Harvard College, an Albert Sacks Fellow, and a clinical student at the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center.
• Betsy Miller (HLS ’99) will be working either in the Dispute Resolution section of the American Bar Association in Washington, D.C. or as an attorney in the Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser in Washington, D.C. Miller is now clerking for Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. During law school she was technical editor of the Human Rights Journal, a teaching assistant for the Negotiation Workshop, co-chair of the Student Funded Fellowships, co-captain of her soccer team, and actively involved in the Law School Parody.
• Erin Murphy (HLS ’99) hopes to work for the Public Defender Service of Washington, D.C., or another public defender organization. Murphy graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and is currently clerking for Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. During law school she was an oralist for the Champion Team in the Ames Moot Court Competition, notes editor of the Harvard Law Review, and co-chair of both the Student Public Interest Auction and the Student Public Interest Network.
• Alexander Rabb (HLS ’00) is pursuing either children’s advocacy or a legal services position. Rabb is co-editor in chief of the Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review. He has also been a guardian ad litem through Court Appointed Special Advocates, a student attorney at the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center, and a musician for the Law School Parody.
• Marc Steinberg (HLS ’99) will be a Skadden Fellow at the Public Justice Center in Baltimore, MD. He received a masters of public policy degree from the Kennedy School of Government concurrently with his law degree, which he received cum laude. Steinberg is now clerking on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Maryland. During law school he was an executive technical editor for the Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review and was a student attorney in the Medical Legal Services Unit of the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center.
• Kimberly Thomas (HLS ’99) intends to work at a public defense or death penalty organization in Philadelphia or Washington, D.C. Thomas graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and is currently clerking for Judge Guy Cole on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. During law school she was editor in chief of the Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review, an Albert Sacks Fellow, a research assistant for the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law Charles Ogletree, and a student attorney in the Criminal Justice Institute.
• James Walsh (HLS ’99) will be working for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. He is now clerking on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. During law school he was student authors editor of the Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review, a senior defender with the Harvard Defenders, and a student lawyer with the Criminal Justice Institute. He also played intramural flag football and basketball.
• Jason Waanders (HLS ’98) will be working in the Office of the Solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior. He graduated cum laude and is currently clerking for Judge Gary Taylor of the Central District of California following a one-year position as the George W. Foley Fellow in Environmental Law at Harvard Law School. During his student years, he was president of the Environmental Law Society and articles editor of the International Law Journal.
• Michael Zamore (HLS ’99) is looking for work in a nonprofit organization or government agency on poverty or campaign finance issues. Zamore graduated magna cum laude and is currently clerking for Judge Allyne Ross on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. During law school he was president of the Appleseed Center for Electoral Reform, senior editor of the Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review, a student attorney with the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center, and a volunteer for campaign finance reform projects in Maine and Massachusetts.
• Mari Zellner-Sawyer (HLS ’00) has accepted a position with the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis in Minneapolis, Minn. She was president of the Children and Family Rights Project, senior editor of the Blackletter Law Journal, a vocalist and treasurer for the a cappella group the Scales of Justice and a student attorney with the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center.