University of Michigan News Service – UM News

Fellowships fulfill two law students’ dreams

ANN ARBOR—She dreamed of helping abused and neglected children. He dreamed of providing a service to local communities that would help the poor make a living wage. Both of these University of Michigan Law School students had dreams. As winners of two of this year’s generous Skadden Fellowships, Elisabeth Calcaterra and Matthew Meyer are dreamers whose dreams are coming true.

Calcaterra, a student in the Law School’s Child Advocacy Clinic, plans to begin her fellowship by providing direct representation to hundreds of abused and neglected children. The fellowship will allow Calcaterra to provide legal representation to medically needy foster care children at KidsVoice in Pittsburgh. She hopes to collaborate with doctors from area hospitals, juvenile court employees, and other legal professionals to identify specific welfare and medical needs of children in the welfare system. Through this collaboration, she plans to design a multi-disciplinary curriculum for legal and medical providers that will improve the advocacy and delivery of services to these children.

Meyer believes that individuals and community groups with entrepreneurial ideas need legal advice in order to grow effectively. With the fellowship, he plans to create the Legal Assistance for Entrepreneurs Unit in Wilmington, Del., to provide quality legal assistance to entrepreneurs who otherwise would not have access to legal counsel. He hopes that through the creation of this unit, an increased number of poor individuals will be able to make a living wage, and a greater number of community groups will be able to better serve their neighborhoods. Meyer is also the founder and director of Ecosandals.com, a nonprofit business that distributes sandals produced in the Korogocho, Kenya shantytowns. The Kenyan project he started in 1995 is considered one of the fastest growing business enterprises in Africa. Prior to law school, he taught elementary school in the Washington, D.C., public schools.

“Since 1995, 12 U-M Law School graduates have become Skadden Fellows,” says Rob Precht, director, Law School Public Service. “Fellows comprise a public interest law firm ‘without walls’ that our entire community can be proud of.”

Calcaterra and Meyer are two of 25 law students across the country to be awarded Skadden Fellowships this year. Fellows provide legal services to the poor, homeless, elderly, and those deprived of human or civil rights.

Each year, the Skadden Fellowship Foundation awards fellowships to law school graduates throughout the country who are committed to furthering law in the public interest. Applicants create their own projects before they apply, and awardees receive an annual salary, fringe benefits, and student loan repayment assistance for the duration of the fellowship. According to the Skadden Fellowship Foundation, 90 percent of the fellows have remained in public interest or public sector work after completing their fellowship terms.

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