Rachel Brady is one of 28 recipients of a 2015 Skadden Fellowship, a prestigious public interest law fellowship sponsored by the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. A 2013 graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law, Rachel was a PILI Intern in 2012 at the ACLU of Illinois. Currently, she serves as a staff clerk in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
For her fellowship, Rachel will work at Equip for Equality, a Chicago-based nonprofit that works to advance the human and civil rights of people with disabilities in Illinois. Her project focuses on representing youth with disabilities in, or transitioning out of, Illinois juvenile justice facilities and Chicago’s alternative schools. In a press release from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Rachel explained the need for this type of work:
“Half of incarcerated youth in Illinois have disabilities and do not receive appropriate educational services while they are in prison, and then do not always have access to appropriate services when they transition back into their community schools…. This project has the potential to reach hundreds of at-risk youth, giving them access to the educations they need and deserve.”
Congratulations to Rachel and all of the 2015 Skadden Fellows! We look forward to hearing about the great work you will accomplish, and we thank you for your service to low-income and underrepresented communities in need.
About the Skadden Fellowship Program: The Skadden Fellowship Program, described as “a legal Peace Corps,” was established in 1988 in recognition of the dire need for greater funding for graduating law students who wish to devote their professional lives to providing legal services to the poor (including the working poor), the elderly, the homeless and the disabled, as well as those deprived of their civil or human rights. Fellowships are awarded for two years, with Skadden providing each Fellow a salary and paying all fringe benefits to which an employee of the sponsoring organization would be entitled. The 2015 class of Fellows brings to 733 the number of academically outstanding law school graduates and judicial clerks the firm has funded to work full-time for legal and advocacy organizations. Learn more at www.skaddenfellowships.org.