Equal Justice America has selected five Boston College Law School 1Ls for fellowships this summer. The placements help people every day by putting law students and lawyers to work for legal aid programs across the country.
George Ward (above) will receive $2,000 to serve with New Hampshire Assistance providing civil legal aid. Three others, Scott Etchechury ($5,000), Emma Schlager ($2,500), and Erica Cagliero ($2,500) received placements with Greater Boston Legal Services. Erica Taft ($2,000) will be interning in the Immigration Unit of De Novo for Justice and Healing in Cambridge, MA.
As a fellow, Ward will assist those who may not have the means to get legal assistance otherwise. “The fellowship is especially meaningful to me because I have often second-guessed my choice to pivot from a corporate consulting career to become a public interest lawyer,” said Ward. “Amidst all the law job hype, the opportunity to do what I wholeheartedly believe in is invaluable.”
Ward has been a student of BC Law Professor of the Practice Mary Ann Chirba during his 1L year. In the letter to the EJA recommending him for the fellowship, she described him as smart, hard working, disciplined, and determined. “Both personally and professionally, George Ward is genuinely committed to righting wrongs and lifting up those who have been knocked down,” she wrote. “He is doing it now and, in one way or another, will continue to do so over the course of his career.”
To date, EJA has sponsored over 3,400 fellowships helping to connect more than 5,500 law students to civil legal service organizations nationwide.