The University of Texas School of Law is proud to announce that graduating student Becky Walker ’19, has been selected to receive the inaugural Mike A. Myers Fellowship in Public Interest Law. Mike A. Myers ’63, provided a generous gift to the School of Law to create this new endowed fellowship designed to increase access to justice for underserved individuals and communities. The University of Texas System recently bestowed its highest honor, the Santa Rita Award, on Mr. Myers in recognition of his outstanding public-spirited service, expertise and philanthropy to UT institutions.
The one-year fellowship provides a salary of $50,000 to a graduating student or current judicial clerk to work for a public interest legal organization providing legal services to victims of domestic violence or sexual assault. Walker will work with the Texas Advocacy Project in Austin, focused on combating domestic violence and sexual assault in the LGBTQIA+ community through direct legal services and community outreach. She will be supervised by TAP legal director Bronwyn Blake ’05, who began her work there as a postgraduate fellow funded by the Texas Law faculty.
At Texas Law, Walker participated in the Domestic Violence Clinic, served as president of OUTLaw, and volunteered for many Mithoff Pro Bono Program projects, including the Trans Name and Gender Marker Project, Expunction Clinics, and the winter break trip to South Texas. Last summer, Walker worked on a variety of criminal matters, including domestic violence and sexual assault cases, at the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan. She spent the summer after her first year at the Alaska Department of Law in Anchorage working on issues Alaskan children face in foster care.
“Becky Walker has done outstanding work as a student , and we are confident her work at the Texas Advocacy Project will have a powerful impact,” said Eden Harrington, director of the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law, which administers the fellowship program. “The Law School and our students are deeply grateful to Mr. Myers for creating this new endowed fellowship and for his commitment to helping those in need of assistance.”