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Summer Public Interest Funding Growing at Vanderbilt

published July 25, 2005

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( 15 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
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The "Dean"/student, who enlisted his friends' aid to up the ante and win the bidding for the popular offer, was not, in fact, allowed to cancel exams this year, explains Amanda Schlager, who will be a third-year in the fall, and led the auction effort. The student did get to park in the Dean's parking space, and have a meeting with the law school's board of directors, she says.

Other items up for bid included donations from professors, such as home-cooked meals, or tickets to professional football games, as well as gifts from local businesses, such as nights in hotels or tickets to performances at Opryland (which, like the law school, is in Nashville). Local restaurants donated food, and two popular professors emceed the evening. The event was "really boisterous," says Schlager.

The organization of all this was time-consuming; "everything was done by students," says Schlager. The outcome was well worth it. The auction for this year's summer stipends raised over $17,000.00 for the fund.

The fund "involves the whole law school community," says Susan Kay, Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at Vanderbilt Law, and advisor to the Legal Aid Society. The auction itself, from donations to bidders, "brings the law school together," she adds.

The Legal Aid Society has been around for at least 35 years, says Kay. It raises money for the stipend fund, and also organizes volunteer opportunities for law students during the academic year, such as doing pro bono legal work, and also volunteering with groups like Habitat for Humanity. The society has been running the public interest stipend fund for about 15 years, says Kay.

The purpose of the stipend fund, says Schlager, who will be heading up the student-run Legal Aid Society next year, is so a student does not have to leave behind a public interest opportunity for financial reasons. And, it's "the law school's way of showing how great these jobs are," she says.

The auction is just one part of the fundraising effort on campus, an effort which is growing in leaps and bounds this year. Law students, in addition to bidding on big and smaller-ticket items at the auction, can make individual donations through the "Donate a Day" program. Students who are earning high salaries as summer associates in law firms can give one day's worth of pay to the stipend fund.

The "Donate a Day" fundraising effort benefits the next year's summer stipends, since most of these donors make their gifts at the end of their summer jobs. This summer's pledges, to be used for next year's summer stipends, exceed $20,000.00 says Kay.

For those who choose to go into public interest jobs for their legal careers after graduation, Vanderbilt's Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) helps them with 50% loan forgiveness for those who have jobs and income levels that qualify.

While other law schools have public interest auctions, "donate a day" programs, loan forgiveness funds, Vanderbilt Law's are notable due to their recent dramatic growth.

In past years, for example, the auction fundraising total ended after the tables cleared and guests departed from the party. This year, following the auction, Professor Kay received an email with surprising and unexpected news. Vanderbilt Law's new Dean, Edward Rubin, told Kay he would match the money raised at the auction, doubling it to $34,000.00 right on the spot.

The cash infusion allowed the stipend fund to give money to more students, bringing the total number of beneficiaries up from nine to 20 students who received whole or half stipends this summer. A whole stipend came to $5,000 this summer, requiring 10 weeks of work with an organization; a half stipend requires at least five weeks of work.

Currently, the stipend recipient area selected by the Legal Aid Society's board, exempting any board member who is applying, says Schlager. Most applicants for the stipends are finishing up their first years of law school. Some applicants and recipients are finishing up their second years of law school, and are intending to make working in the public interest arena their careers. Even with the influx of money this year, not all applicants were given stipends.

Before applying for the stipend students must secure jobs, which do not have to be in the Nashville area. Groups students work with run the gamut; "we have everything," says Schlager. One person went to the Philippines to work with an aid organization there, another works with an organization for the homeless in Washington, D.C., another student is with a group that represents whistleblowers at nuclear facilities.

Doing this work over the summers is beneficial to any law student, says Kay. And for those who want to go into public interest work for a career, spending the summer working with public interest organizations "indicates your commitment" to the field.

published July 25, 2005

( 15 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
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