Third-year CUNY School of Law students Annemarie Caruso and Maggie Gribben have been awarded Skadden Fellowships for 2017.
The Skadden Fellowships, founded in 1988 by the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in honor of the firm’s 40th anniversary, are intended to fund 30 new graduates nationally in full-time work for legal and other advocacy organizations, and encourage them to build public service careers. Described as “a legal Peace Corps” Skadden Fellowships are awarded for two years to law students committed to public interest work, as they embark upon specific projects at sponsoring organizations.
Annemarie Caruso (’17) and Maggie Gribben (’17)
Gribben will be representing low wage workers at Justice at Work in Boston, MA. She will implement a new model called “wage court” to help workers go after stolen wages more effectively. Caruso has been placed at Main Street Legal Services at CUNY School of Law where she will advocate for students living in public housing in western Queens who face educational obstacles such as classroom removal, grade retention, in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, and unmet special education needs.
“I am honored to become a Skadden Fellow and challenge instances of educational disruption that students face,” said Caruso.
Since the program’s inception, 12 CUNY Law graduates have served as Skadden Fellows. This time two graduates from the same class have been selected, in a single year.
“I am so proud of Annemarie and Maggie. They each came to law school with advanced degrees and a record of advocacy in the area they will work in. This enabled them to focus on these issues here and to design sophisticated proposals, jumpstarting their careers,” said CUNY Law Dean Mary Lu Bilek. “I am so grateful to the Skadden Fellowship Program for funding their work and am looking forward to the impact they will have on the lives of their clients.”