Joy Ziegeweid ’12, Kate Stinson ’10 Awarded 2012 Skadden Public Interest Fellowship

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New York, Dec. 19, 2011— Columbia Law School student Joy Ziegeweid ’12 and recent graduate Kate Stinson ’10 have been awarded prestigious Skadden Fellowships to further their public-service law careers.

Ziegeweid (below left) will use the fellowship to work at Sanctuary for Families’ Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services, where she will represent Russian immigrants who have been victims of domestic violence or sex trafficking. As part of her fellowship, Ziegeweid plans to advocate for her Russian-speaking clients in family court, and on immigration matters and referrals to providers of medical, psychiatric, and social services.

Stinson (above, right), who is currently clerking for Judge Deborah A. Batts in the Southern District of New York, will do her fellowship work at African Services Committee, representing French-speaking Africans who are victims of human trafficking. The committee is a nonprofit organization that works to improve the health and self-sufficiency of the African community in New York City and beyond. Prior to joining African Services, Stinson was an intern with the American Civil Liberties Union, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the AIRE Center. She earned a Kirkland & Ellis NYC Fellowship in 2010 and holds a master’s degree in international relations from Oxford University.

“Their Skadden Fellowships will enable Joy and Kate to use the education and opportunities that Columbia Law School gave them on behalf of people who otherwise would go unrepresented,” said Ellen Chapnick, Dean for Social Justice Initiatives. “I am sure that these very talented women will make important contributions to social justice law now and into the future.”

Ziegeweid and Stinson are among 28 graduating law students and judicial clerks awarded the highly sought-after two-year fellowships. The Skadden Fellowship provides recipients a salary and pays all fringe benefits to which an employee of the sponsoring organization would be entitled. In addition, Skadden Fellows also benefit from a supportive community of past recipients, a group that includes some of the most accomplished social justice lawyers in the country.

The Skadden Fellowship Foundation was established in 1988 by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, in honor of the law firm’s 40th anniversary. The fellowship program,  described by The Los Angeles Times as “a legal Peace Corps,” supports recent law school graduates who wish to provide legal services to the poor (including the working poor), the elderly, the homeless, and the disabled, as well as those deprived of their civil or human rights.

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