Introducing our
2024 Skadden Fellows
These 28 Fellows come from 15 law schools and will address a wide variety of civil legal needs for people living in poverty across the U.S. The Skadden Foundation has funded 990 public interest fellowships since the program's founding 35 years ago.
2024
ACLU, Disability Rights Program, Washington, DC
Jacob Abudaram
Jacob will use strategic impact litigation under the Americans with Disabilities Act to push government agencies to be more disability-inclusive in disaster planning and in navigating emergencies.
I chose my project because in an increasingly disaster-prone world, disabled people are two to four times more likely to die or be injured in climate emergencies. Solutions exist — and my project will push state and local government agencies to implement these inclusive disaster-planning strategies.
2024
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC
Catherine Blalock
Catherine plans to challenge systemic barriers to higher education impeding low-income students, first-generation students and students of color — namely legacy admissions and rigid standardized test score requirements.
I picked my project because I am committed to eradicating system barriers to access in higher education. I am excited to work with clients to fight back against entrenched university admissions policies that disproportionately favor wealthy students at the exclusion of underrepresented student groups.
2024
ACLU, Immigrants' Rights Project, New York, NY
Grace Choi
Grace will implement a multi-pronged legal project to mitigate systemic barriers and hostile federal policy that currently narrow access to asylum.
While serving newly-arrived asylum seekers in New York City, I witnessed them being denied the protection they deserve — by a draconian federal policy, faulty hearing notices, lack of information, and instability. My project seeks to prevent asylum seekers from being wrongfully returned to persecution.
2024
Family Justice Law Center, New York, NY
Anna Belle Newport
Anna Belle will utilize affirmative litigation and strategic appeals to challenge illegal family separations and surveillance conducted by the Administration for Children’s Services in New York City. She will also conduct outreach and training with local community networks of impacted families.
While I was working as a crisis counselor and advocate for survivors of domestic violence prior to law school, my clients quickly educated me on the harm they experienced at the hands of the family regulation system. My decision to pursue a legal career stemmed from a vision of child protection that does not police poverty and surveil communities, but instead invests in creating what Dorothy Roberts calls ‘radically different ways of meeting families’ needs.