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Chicago Bar Foundation
Report
For more information about the CBF Sun-Times
Fellowship Program and the 50 recipients, visit
chicagobarfoundation.org/fellowships.By Dina Merrell
CBF Associate Director
Five outstanding legal aid attorneys last
month became the final class of CBF
Sun-Times Public Interest Law Fellows.
This program, in its tenth and final year,
has helped 50 legal aid lawyers to continue
their careers in legal aid in the face of
significant student debt loads. In doing
so, the program has played a key role in
improving access to justice for people in
need and making the legal system more
fair and efficient for everyone.
Through a generous $2 million
cy pres
award from a case involving the Chicago
Sun-Times, the CBF created this 10-year
Fellowship Program in 2006. Over 92%
of the CBF’s Sun-Times Fellows remain
in public service today.
This fellowship addresses a crisis facing
lawyers in our community who are increas-
ingly finding that a career in legal aid and
public service is simply untenable from an eco-
nomic standpoint. Lawyers graduating today
typically have mortgage-sized law school debt
while working for relatively modest salaries at
pro bono and legal aid organizations.
The fellowships are awarded to legal
aid attorneys who demonstrate a commit-
ment to public interest work, academic
achievement in law school, and outstand-
ing character and integrity. The fellowship
recipients provide vital legal services to
low-income and disadvantaged members
of our community.
The 2016 CBF Sun-Times Fellows with Allegra Nethery, CBF Immediate Past President
(second from left); DavidMann, Fellowship Selection Committee Chair (third from left);
and Bob Glaves, CBF Executive Director (right). Lesley A. Arizmendi, Equip for Equality;
Adrian G. Barr, Prairie State Legal Services; GrahamBowman, The LawProject of Chicago
Coalition for the Homeless; Virginia L. Torres, Life Span; and Samoane E. Williams, First
Defense Legal Aid.
Adela Carlin, 2012 Recipient
LAF, Director of Community Engagement Unit
When Adela learned she re-
ceived the Fellowship, she
“cried when I got the call
because up until that mo-
ment, I did not know how I
would ever finish paying my
law school loans. This award
has changed our family and allowed me to think about
thefutureinwaysIcouldn’timaginepossible.”Adelajust
celebratedher16
th
anniversaryatLAF.“Iamabletodoso
becauseofthesupportofpeoplewhobelieveinaccessto
justice.Iamthankfulforthemoralandfinancialsupport
which allows be to be a community lawyer.”
16
NOVEMBER 2016
Tenth and Final Year of CBF Fellowship Program
Five Legal Attorneys Recognized for Their
Service on Behalf of Low Income Clients