May 21, 2008  Search

N E W S   &   A N N O U N C E M E N T S What's New?   |   Faculty in the News   |    News Archive   |   News Home Two Recent Grads Awarded Skadden Fellowships for Public Interest Law Elissa Berger ’06 Camille L. Zentner ’06 Two recent graduates, Elissa Berger ’06 and Camille L. Zentner ’06, have each been awarded a 2007 Skadden Fellowship, the most prestigious public-interest law award of its kind. The Skadden Fellowship Foundation, described as "a legal Peace Corps" by The Los Angeles Times, was established in 1988 by the firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP. Skadden Fellows receive a salary and benefits for one year, renewable for a second year, to implement projects they have designed in conjunction with organizations serving the poor (including the working poor), the elderly, the homeless and the disabled, or those deprived of their civil or human rights. Berger and Zentner, both former Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Fellows at BLS, will begin their Skadden Fellowships in the fall. Berger’s project involves legal work for a coalition of organizations in Wisconsin that will develop jobs in an extremely depressed area of Milwaukee. At the same time, the project will increase the energy efficiency of the dilapidated housing stock in which the workers live by providing energy retrofits to 500 housing units. Zentner will develop a project in conjunction with The New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) to obtain critical benefits and services for low income New Yorkers with mental illness. “It is a first for Brooklyn Law to have two of our graduates receive Skadden Fellowships in one year,” said Elizabeth Kane, Director of the Public Service Programs Office. Kane worked with the Fellows to help them conceive of their projects, find host organizations, and develop their proposals, and several faculty members participated in mock interview panels with them. Last year, Jason Cade ’05 received a Skadden Fellowship to start a program in the Legal Services of The Door to help immigrant youth. Berger is currently a law clerk for Hon. Michael A. Chagares of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Valedictorian of her BLS class, she was Editor-in-Chief of the Brooklyn Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Honor Society. She interned with the Prisoners’ Rights Project of the Legal Aid Society, the Brennan Center for Justice, the New York Civic Participation Project and participated in the BLS Workers’ Rights Clinic. After receiving a B.A. from Macalester College, she was a civil and family law committee administrator at the Minnesota House of Representatives and worked as a political organizer and director of operations at the Working Families Party for several years. Since graduation, Zentner has been a law clerk for Hon. Michael H. Dolinger, United States Magistrate Judge of the Southern District of New York. At BLS, she was Executive Articles Editor of the Brooklyn Law Review, and interned at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, the Mental Hygiene Legal Service, Advocates for Children, and participated in the BLS Safe Harbor Project. She was also a summer associate at the New York Legal Assistance Group. While obtaining her B.A. from the University of North Carolina, Zentner worked as head varsity coach of a high school softball team and later worked as a member of AmeriCorps, both in North Carolina and in Alaska. Back to top

This page last modified on: July 30, 2007.