Two Boston College Law School Public Service Scholars have won the Massachusetts Bar Foundation’s prestigious Legal Intern Fellowship. Mariatu Okonofua ’23 and Dhairya Bhatia ’23 will each receive funding for their upcoming internships at Boston area legal offices. They are two of six law students across Massachusetts to receive the fellowship.
Okonofua will work for Boston’s Youth Advocacy Foundation in the organization’s EdLaw Project. “I’m really excited to interact with and collaborate with clients again to figure out how to best advocate for the educational services that they deserve,” she said.
Bhatia will work for Greater Boston Legal Services in their Consumer Rights Unit. “I came to law school because I wanted to help people,” Bhatia said. “I’m excited to work with people who need guidance related to their consumer issues.”
Okonofua is vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion in BC Law’s Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) and is a dual JD/MEd candidate in Educational Leadership at Boston College Law School and the Lynch School of Education. She was an SJC Rule 3:03 student attorney in BC Law’s Juvenile Rights Advocacy Program and served as summer retreat outreach coordinator for BC Law’s LAHANAS program. She graduated magna cum laude from Elon University with a bachelor’s in Policy Studies and Sociology.
In 2021, Bhatia worked in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts as a Boston Bar Association Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Summer Fellow. He is stipends director PILF and an SJC Rule 3:03 student attorney in BC Law’s Civil Rights Clinic. He is also a BC Law public interest graduate assistant for the Career Services Office. Prior to arriving at BC Law, he served at Legal Services of New Jersey. He graduated magna cum laude from Rutgers University with a bachelor’s in Political Science.