Skadden Fellows share the impact of the program after 30 years.

The Skadden Fellowship Foundation launched in 1988 to commemorate Skadden's 40th anniversary and has since become the largest public interest law firm in the United States. The program provides two-year Fellowships to talented young lawyers to pursue the practice of public interest law on a full-time basis.

Our guiding principle is to improve legal services for the poor and encourage economic independence. To date, the Foundation has funded over 800 fellowships. Ninety percent of former Fellows remain in public service, and almost all of them continue working on the same issues they addressed in their original Fellowship projects. 

 Fellows Statistics

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Fellowship Spotlight

Skadden Fellow: Rebecca Heller "Providing Refuge"

Skadden Fellow: Rebecca Heller "Providing Refuge"

After beginning an internship at an Israeli human rights NGO, Rebecca Heller quickly discovered the organization had very little work for her.  After reading up on the plight of refugees who had fled the war in Iraq, she sought to make her summer productive, and traveled to Jordan, where she arranged visits with six Iraqi refugee families.  Now Becca leads the International Refugee Assistance Project. 
Skadden Fellow: Emily Friedman, "Funding Big Ideas That Make a Difference"

Skadden Fellow: Emily Friedman, "Funding Big Ideas That Make a Difference"

An associate general counsel at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Emily Friedman helps staff from across the foundation navigate issues relating to tax-exempt law and is the dedicated internal legal adviser for three programs: Criminal Justice, Nuclear Challenges and Chicago Commitment, which is dedicated to supporting the city through grants and investments.
Skadden Fellow: Sarah Cleveland, "Human Rights Law, in Practice and in Theory"

Skadden Fellow: Sarah Cleveland, "Human Rights Law, in Practice and in Theory"

As the Louis Henkin Professor of Human and Constitutional Rights at Columbia Law School and co-director of the school’s Human Rights Institute (HRI), Sarah Cleveland has shifted her focus from immigration, labor rights, racial justice and civil rights to human right issues, overseeing a significant expansion of the scope of HRI’s work.
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Contact Information

For more information, please contact:

Susan Butler Plum / 212.735.2956 / Director, Skadden Foundation

Kathy Quijije / 212.735.5176 / Project Coordinator 

Lauren Aguiar / 212.735.2235 / President, Skadden Foundation 

 

Fellowship Application

The 2019 application deadline is September 17, 2018.

View The Application Details