The UT Law Career Services Office (CSO) has announced the recipients of the 2012 UT Law CSO Study Break Public Service Stipends. They are: Joanne Heisey and Aaron Tucker, Class of 2013; and Ashley Steele, Class of 2014.
For the third consecutive year, the CSO has offered stipends to support unpaid summer internships in the public sector as part of their annual Study Break, which was held on April 17, 2012. Each recipient received a $4,000 stipend to support his or her summer public service work, which is generously donated by sponsors of the Study Break. “During the economic downturn, we thought we would better serve our students by moving away from a prize-oriented Study Break program to a stipend program. Students and sponsors have been very responsive, and we are thankful for our sponsors’ generosity,” said Assistant Dean for Career Services David A. Montoya.
Joanne Heisey, ’13, will be interning with the U.S. Department of Justice, Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C. Prior to law school, Heisey graduated cum laude from Boston University and began her career in human and civil rights by interning with the Human Rights Watch West Africa Regional Office. During her first year at UT Law, she volunteered with the Texas Civil Rights Project, where she also worked last summer. She was a student attorney for the Capital Punishment Clinic, and she is currently a staff member on the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights.
Ashley Steele, ’14, will be interning with the Texas Defender Service in Austin. Steele received her bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her passion for protecting human rights began when she joined Amnesty International while in high school. After this summer, she plans to continue her post-conviction work on death penalty cases by joining the Capital Punishment Clinic at the Law School. She is currently serving as the Treasurer for the Human Rights Law Society.
Aaron Tucker, ’13, will be interning in Washington, D.C., at the Environmental Defense Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. Prior to law school, Tucker graduated from Middlebury College and pursued his interest in environmental issues from various perspectives, including the nonprofit, legislative, and corporate sectors. Tucker is a staff member on both the Texas Environmental Law Journal and the Texas Journal of Oil, Gas, and Energy Law, a member of the Environmental Law Society, and the Event Coordinator for the Public Interest Law Association.
The 2012 CSO Study Break was sponsored by Andrews Kurth LLP; Bracewell & Giuliani; Locke Lord LLP; McKool Smith; Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP; Nix, Patterson & Roach, LLP; U.S. Marine Corps; Weil Gotschal & Manges LLP; Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; Baker Botts L.L.P.; Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft LLP; Cox | Smith; Fulbright and Jaworski L.L.P.; Latham & Watkins LLP; Winston & Strawn LLP; Anadarko; Beck, Redden & Secrest L.L.P.; Husch Blackwell LLP; Jackson Walker L.L.P.; Jones Day; King & Spalding; Looper Reed & McGraw, P.C.; Mayer Brown; Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C.; Nathan Sommers Jacob; and Thompson Knight LLP.
(Photos by Steph Swope)