Five students at the University of Texas School of Law have been awarded University Co-op Public Interest Awards in honor of their extraordinary commitment to public service.
These annual awards honor graduating law students for work in nonprofit, government, or legislative sectors and for pro bono work and community service. Each student will receive a $4,000 award made possible by a grant from the University Co-op and administered by the Law School’s William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law.
The students will be recognized at the University Co-op Awards for Excellence in Graduate Education banquet on Wednesday, May 19, 2010. The award winners were also introduced to the Law School on Thursday, April 15, at the conclusion of an afternoon event honoring Judge Justice in the Eidman Courtroom.
“We are delighted to honor these outstanding student leaders and to recognize their many contributions to the Law School and the community,” said Professor Eden Harrington, director of the Justice Center.
The following students received University Co-op Public Interest Awards for 2010:
Kaitlin Farrell worked as an advanced student in the Domestic Violence Clinic, participated in the 2008 and 2009 UT Law winter break pro bono trips to Gulfport, Mississippi, and was editor in chief of the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights. She spent her law school summers interning with U.S District Judge Sam Sparks and working for a law firm in New York. This spring she clerked for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas in Austin. Farrell, a graduate of the College of William & Mary, will work next year as a post-graduate fellow with the Domestic Violence Clinic. Her long-term career goal is to run a nonprofit that assists victims of domestic violence.
Kristina Glithero participated in the Criminal Defense Clinic and the Transnational Worker Rights Clinic, was editor in chief of the American Journal of Criminal Law, and worked as a research assistant for UT Law professors Lynn Blais, Susan Klein, and Gerald Torres. She spent her law school summers working for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and interning in Texas with U.S. District Court Judges Vanessa Gilmore and Xavier Rodriguez. Following graduation, Glithero, a graduate of Purdue University, plans to clerk for U.S. District Judge Larry J. McKinney of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and then hopes to work as a public defender.
Stephanie Kolmar worked as an advanced student in the Immigration Clinic, participated in the Criminal Defense Clinic and the Transnational Worker Rights Clinic, and was co-president of the Public Interest Law Association and a Public Service Scholar with the Justice Center. During her law school summers she worked in Boston with the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild and for the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project in Harlingen. Kolmar, a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Texas at Brownsville, has been awarded the UT Law Justice Corps Julius Glickman Fellowship in Public Interest Law to work for two years with American Gateways in Austin to address the consequences of criminal convictions in the immigration context.
Kyle Marie Stock participated in the Immigration Clinic and the Capital Punishment Clinic, founded the University of Texas Chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice, was a member of the Justice Center’s student advisory board, and worked as a research assistant for the Law School’s Center for Women in Law. During her law school summers she worked for the Texas Advocacy Project in Austin and the Texas Civil Rights Project in San Juan. Stock, a graduate of the University of Michigan, has been awarded the two-year UT Law Justice Corps George M. Fleming Fellowship in Health Law. She will work with the Southwest Women’s Law Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to increase access for women to public benefits programs and to ensure that health-care reform adequately addresses comprehensive women’s health services.
Adrian Shelley participated in the Environmental Clinic, was president of the Environmental Law Society and notes editor of the Texas Environmental Law Journal, and participated in Street Law and the 2008 UT Law winter break pro bono trip to Gulfport, Mississippi. During his law school summers he interned with the Save Our Springs Alliance in Austin and with the Law and Policy Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Shelley, a cum laude graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio, plans to work next year for the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention.
About the University Co-op:
The University Co-op is a not-for-profit corporation owned by the students, faculty, and staff of the University of Texas at Austin. Since 2000, the Co-op has given over $28 million to the University in the form of gifts, grants, and rebates.
Related Links:
University Co-op Public Interest Awards for Graduating Law Students
William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law
Contacts: Mary Crouter, Assistant Director of the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law, UT Law, 512-232-7855, mcrouter@law.utexas.edu