AALS Section on Pro Bono and Public Service - 2009 Rhode and Drinan Awards

Loyola Clinical Professor and Director of the Public Interest Law Department, Sande Buhai, has announced:

The 2009 Deborah L. Rhode Award goes to Katherine “Shelley” Broderick of the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC-DCSL), in honor of her 10 years as Dean and 30 years of service to building the country’s quintessential public interest law school. Beginning as a junior clinical faculty member in 1979 at Antioch School of Law and working her way up through the full range of faculty and administrative positions at its daughter law schools, Dean Broderick has fought tirelessly for an institution that integrates theory and practice, mind and soul, nurturing the public spirit of all her students. UDC-DCSL is founded on the principle that all students benefit from providing substantial hands-on public service; each student provides a minimum of 740 clinical and public service hours – and quite often much more. Dean Broderick’s success in saving, protecting, improving and expanding the service opportunities of UDC-DCSL has resulted in literally hundreds of thousands of hours of student public service – 85,000 this year alone. All of her many nominators spoke of her “visionary leadership and unwavering commitment” in keeping her public interest law school alive during multiple times of crisis. Moreover, through her example, leadership, and scholarship, she has been a powerful proponent of a new model for American legal education in the 21st century. In the greater community, Dean Broderick has been the initiator and the catalyst for a mesmerizing number of public interest law achievements in every imaginable arena, several of which have significantly increased financial support for public service lawyering in the District. She has done all this while taking a keen interest in mentoring her own students, devoting countless hours to counseling and working with them as individuals.

The 2009 Father Robert Drinan Award goes to Eve Biskind Klothen, Assistant Dean for Pro Bono and Public Interest Programs at Rutgers School of Law – Camden. Eve’s distinguished and visionary career has included service as a legal services lawyer in Georgia, director of the Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program, and director of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation. In al these roles Eve has created programs; mentored students, public interest professionals, and lawyers; and served the public with dedication. In her tenure at Rutgers, Eve has both dramatically expanded opportunities for students to engage in an array of pro bono activities and has been instrumental in building a broad Law School culture that values and rewards public service and makes it possible for more students to pursue careers in public service. Her efforts have resulted in numerous new and expanded programs, such as the Pro Bono Research Project, new pro bono projects in specialized areas such as tax assistance and immigration, and annual leadership training for student leaders at nearby law schools. In her work at Rutgers and throughout her career, Eve has always been guided by the dual goals of inculcating the pro bono ethic into the next generation of lawyers and serving more low income clients in South Jersey and Philadelphia. Now, at the Law School and indeed at all of the area law schools, she nurtures the next generation of public interest attorneys. The many people who supported Eve’s nomination noted that the central theme of her work at Rutgers and throughout her professional career is one of building partnerships. Eve’s unique contribution lies in how she promotes cooperation and collaboration to multiply the efforts of students, faculty, administration and community partners; she puts her own ego aside and shows various constituencies how they can work together.

The awards will be presented during the AALS meeting in San Diego on Thursday, January 8, 2009, immediately following the 4:00 p.m. program, Opportunities for Collaboration and Interdisciplinary Learning: Medical-Legal Partnerships. -jl