Columbia Law School Names Lowenstein and Berger Fellows

May 28, 2008 (NEW YORK) -- The Law School has announced the winners of the prestigious Lowenstein and Berger fellowships.

Lowenstein Fellowships, established by Professor Emeritus Lou and Helen Lowenstein, are awarded to Columbia students who show exceptional dedication and potential for making a substantial contribution to public interest law. Prof. Lowenstein is a member of the Class of 1953. This year’s winners are listed below.

Theodore Roethke ’08, for the next two years, will be the Equal Justice Works Fellow at the International Institute of the Bay Area, where he will represent asylum seekers and other non-citizens charged with, among other things, overreaching national security-related reasons for removability; 

Naureen Shah ’07 currently is a clerk in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, Staff Attorney’s office, and she will be the Sandler Fellow at Human Rights Watch next year;

Sydney Tarzwell ’07 is clerking for the Hon. Sidney R. Thomas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Starting this fall, she will use her Skadden Fellowship at the Peter Cicchino Youth Project of the Urban Justice Center. She will focus on the safety and security of transgender young people in state custody and on the enforcement of New York City’s gender identity-inclusive anti-discrimination law; and

Alison Wright ’08 will be an assistant counsel in the U.S. Senate Office of Legislative Counsel.

The Berger Fellowship is new this year. Established by Max and Dale Berger, it is awarded to Columbia students who show exceptional dedication and potential for making a substantial contribution to public interest law and whose career will be substantially devoted to using the law to fight racial, gender and/or other discrimination. Max Berger is a member of the Class of 1971.

The inaugural Berger Fellow is Suzannah Phillips ’08, who will use her Columbia Law School Henkin-Stoeffel Fellowship to research discrimination against women living with HIV/AIDS in accessing reproductive health care.

This year’s selection committee consisted of Professor Olati Johnson; current Lowenstein Fellow Alex Karam ’04; Harlene Katzman, the dean of the Center for Public Interest Law; and Ellen Chapnick, dean for Social Justice Initiatives.

Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, stands at the forefront of legal education and of the law in a global society. Columbia Law School joins traditional strengths in international and comparative law, constitutional law, administrative law, business law and human rights law with pioneering work in the areas of intellectual property, digital technology, sexuality and gender, and criminal law.