Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowship in Nonprofit Law

What is the Fellowship?

         The Fellowship, funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, permits one Fellow each year to spend one year in residence at the Vera Institute of Justice in New York City, working closely with Vera's General Counsel and Special Counsel on legal issues faced by Vera. In addition, the Fellow will be deployed to Vera's various projects and programs to address the legal, business, and organizational issues confronted by these programs and projects.

         A Fellowship at Vera will provide a law school graduate with exposure to an unusually wide variety of legal and organizational issues encountered by nonprofit organizations. It also will provide the opportunity to identify an emerging or changing area of law with particular significance for nonprofits, and to explore that area in depth, examining it in the real-life context of a complex, legally-sophisticated organization.

Who can be a Fellow?

          Each year, one Fellowship is awarded to a U.S. law school graduate.  Fellows are selected for their scholarship, leadership, and commitment to practicing in the field of nonprofit law. Fellows will be selected without regard to the applicant's race, color, religion, gender, political beliefs, national origin, disability, age, or sexual orientation.

National Center on Philanthropy and the Law

          The National Center on Philanthropy and the Law was established at New York University School of Law in 1988 to explore a broad range of legal issues affecting the nation's nonprofit sector, the largest voluntary sector in the world. Participating in this program are legal scholars, practicing attorneys, judges, law students, executives, and other professionals engaged in this field.

          The Center promotes free intellectual inquiry that concentrates on the legal aspects of the organization and operation of charitable and social welfare entities. Conferences, research projects, a growing library, and the creation of a bibliography on nonprofit law, as well as law school courses, all are being used by the Center to produce and disseminate scholarship and to educate the legal and charitable communities about the many important issues of law affecting this large and vital sector.

Vera Institute of Justice

          The Vera Institute of Justice is a private nonprofit organization dedicated to making government policies and practices more fair, humane, and efficient for all people. Working in collaboration with government and local communities, Vera designs and implements innovative programs that encourage just practices in public services and improve the quality of urban life.

          Vera operates the programs it designs only during their demonstration stage. When they succeed, these demonstrations lead to the creation of new government programs, the reform of old ones, or the establishment of new nonprofit organizations to carry on Vera's innovations. For over 40 years, Vera's pioneering projects and research in criminal justice and social reform have provided practical solutions to urgent problems in cities throughout the country and around the world.

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

          The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is a private, philanthropic foundation created in 1940 as a vehicle through which the five sons and daughter of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. could share a source of advice and research on charitable activities and combine some of their philanthropies to better effect. Since then, its grantmaking programs have been shaped by the involvement of three generations of Rockefeller family members and by the traditions of the Charles E. Culpeper Foundation, which merged with the Fund in 1999.

          The Fund's major objective is to improve the well-being of all people through support of efforts in the United States and abroad that contribute ideas, develop leaders, and encourage institutions in the transition to global interdependence.

1997 Fellow

         The first RBF Fellowship was awarded to Lisa Kung, who graduated from NYU School of Law. At NYU she was editor-in-chief of the Review of Law & Social Change and a recipient of the Vanderbilt Medal for public service. Prior to law school, she graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and attended St. Andrews University in Scotland. While at law school, she worked at the Task Force for the Homeless in Atlanta, as well as the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund and the N.O.W. Legal Defense & Education Fund in New York. After completing her RBF Fellowship, Lisa returned to Atlanta to work as a Soros Fellow at the Georgia Law Center where she ran a Community Counsel project that offered legal services to nonprofit housing organizations. Lisa currently works for the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta.

1998 Fellow

         The second RBF Fellowship was awarded to Andrea Zeuschner, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1998. While at Harvard, she was a senior editor for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, and worked for the Hale & Dorr Legal Services Center and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to law school, Andrea graduated from Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and attended the Institut für Europäische Studien in Vienna, Austria. She also worked for several years as a health policy consultant in Washington, D.C. Andrea is currently working in the healthcare segment of the nonprofit sector, at Medscape, an online resource that aims to improve the practice of medicine by providing the latest clinical information to practitioners.

1999 Fellow

         The third RBF Fellowship was awarded to Katchen Locke, who graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1999. While at law school, Katchen worked at the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, where she did research on housing rights. She also has worked as a volunteer instructor for Chicago Legal Aid for Incarcerated Mothers, as a summer intern for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, and as co-chair of the Workers Rights Committee of Jobs with Justice in Chicago. Prior to law school, Katchen received a B.A. in Religion and the Humanities from the University of Chicago where she was awarded an academic scholarship and was on the Dean's List. Katchen currently serves as Associate General Counsel for Local 32B-32J, Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC.

2000 Fellow

        The fourth RBF Fellowship was awarded to Laura Auwers Leonhardt, who graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. At Georgetown, she was awarded The Order of the Coif and was Senior Notes and Comments Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. Prior to law school, Laura worked at a health policy consulting firm where she collected data and helped design evaluations for government programs aimed at improving children's health. In addition, while an undergraduate at Yale University, Laura conducted a research project on community versus institutional living for the mentally ill and volunteered at Ben Haven, a local home for autistic children and adults. Laura also clerked for Judge Deborah Chasanow of the United States District Court in Maryland. Laura currently works at the Office of General Counsel of Yale University.

2001 Fellow

        The fifth RBF Fellowship has been awarded to Jessica Peña, a graduate of New York University School of Law. While at NYU, Jessica was an editor for the Review of Law and Social Change and an NCPL Research Fellow in Philanthropy and the Law. As an NCPL Research Fellow, Jessica co-authored with Alexander Reid an article entitled: A Call for Reform of the Operational Test for Unrelated Commercial Activity in Charities, which was published in the NYU Law Review in 2001 and will be published as an NCPL monograph in 2002. Jessica also worked for the Legal Aid Society's Prisoners' Rights Project, and as a summer associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. Prior to entering law school, Jessica was as an advocate for the Urban Justice Center's Homelessness Outreach and Prevention Project where she worked to secure benefits for New York City's homeless. Jessica also spent a year in Mayor Giuliani's Office of Health Services as an Urban Fellow. Jessica received her BA with Honors in Third World Studies from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.

2002 Fellow

         The sixth RBF Fellowship went to Kevin M. Keenan, a 2002 graduate of Yale Law School. While at law school, Kevin was co-editor-in-chief of the Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal and worked in the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and at Simpson, Thacher, & Bartlett and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. Prior to law school, Kevin served as the interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey and reorganized the ACLU of Nevada. He spent six months volunteering at the Committee on the Administration of Justice in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He also has monitored elections for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia. Kevin graduated from Swarthmore College in 1995 with a double major in French and Political Science.

2003 Fellow

         The seventh RBF Fellowship was awarded to Beverly J. Jones, a 2002 graduate of Yale Law School. After graduating from Law School, Beverly served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz of the New Jersey Supreme Court. While at Yale, Beverly was a Student Director of the Advocacy for Parents and Children Clinic, editor of the Yale Law and Policy Review, and Executive Producer of the Court Jesters, the Law School's own theatre troupe. In addition, Beverly worked for the Center for Voting and Democracy, an organization dedicated to electoral reform, and as a summer associate for Preston Gates & Ellis L.L.P. in Seattle. Prior to law school, Beverly worked in both the executive and grassroots field departments of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian and gay political organization. Beverly graduated with honors from Smith College in 1997 with a major in government.

2004 Fellow

         The eighth RBF Fellowship was awarded to Anna Pomykala, a 2003 graduate of New York University School of Law. After graduating from law school, Anna was a Law Fellow in the Health Law Unit of the Legal Aid Society in New York City, and a consultant for Doctors of the World, USA. During law school, Anna was a summer associate with Hogan & Hartson, LLP, in Washington, DC, performed legal and field research on housing rights for the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, and interned with the Secretariat for the United Nations Division of Legal Affairs, Codification Division. At NYU School of Law she co-chaired the Health Law Society and was a staff editor on the Journal of International Law and Politics. Anna researched and wrote a report for the Council of Europe on Access to Public Health Care for Roma Women which was published in September of 2003. In 2000, Anna was part of the winning team of the Concours Jean Pictet - pleadings in international humanitarian law sponsored by the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Anna completed an M.A. in Humanities at the University of Chicago and received her B.A. in Humanities with Distinction from Yale University.

2005 Fellow

        The ninth RBF Fellowship was awarded to Jessie Beller, a 2005 graduate of New York University School of Law. At NYU, Jessie served as an Executive Articles Editor of the NYU Annual Survey of American Law, and received the Philip Cohen Award in recognition of her work on the journal. During law school, Jessie worked for the Honorable Richard Berman, S.D.N.Y., and Lawyers Alliance for New York, the leading provider of transactional legal services for nonprofits within New York City. Prior to law school, Jessie worked for Computers for Youth, a New York City-based nonprofit organization that provides inner-city middle school students and their teachers with computers and the training to use them, where she worked on program growth and development. Jessie graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2000 with a B.A. in History.

2006 Fellow

        The tenth RBF Fellowship was awarded to Shannon Kahle, a 2006 graduate of New York University School of Law and a recipient of the Root-Tilden-Kern Lindemann Family Public Service Scholarship. During law school, Shannon interned at the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, working to improve conditions for incarcerated youth housed in juvenile facilities; at the Legal Action Center, a non-profit law and policy organization dedicated to fighting discrimination against people with histories of addiction, HIV/AIDS, or criminal records; and at the Gender Equity Project of the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center in San Francisco, focusing on eradicating unlawful barriers to employment on the basis of gender. Shannon also served as an Article and Note Editor of the NYU Journal of Legislation and Public Policy and worked with the Juvenile Rights and Criminal Defense Divisions of the Legal Aid Society as part of NYU's Juvenile/Criminal Defense Clinic. Prior to law school, Shannon worked for the Cascade AIDS Project in Portland, Oregon, providing direct service to clients with HIV/AIDS confronting housing and other financial difficulties. Shannon graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University in 2002 with a B.A. in Psychology.

2007 Fellow

        The eleventh RBF Fellowship was awarded to Chloe Cockburn, a 2007 graduate of Harvard Law School. During law school, Chloe was on the Executive Board of the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and Co-President of the Criminal Justice Working Group. She was a recipient of the James Vorenberg Equal Justice Summer Fellowship in 2005, where she worked at the Law Offices of Robert McDuff in Jackson, Mississippi. During her second summer, she worked at the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C., where she assisted three senior trial attorneys in defending first degree felony cases. At Harvard, she was research assistant, a teaching fellow, a Presidential Instructional Technology Fellow, and a member of the Harvard Defenders. She was also a recipient of a Harvard Law School summer writing fellowship for the summer of 2007. Chloe graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2001 with a B.A. Joint degree in Ancient Greek and Studio Art. In 2008, she will serve as law clerk to the Honorable Charles P. Sifton of the Eastern District of New York.

Term and Salary

        The term of the Fellowship is one year. The 2009 Fellow will receive a salary of $47,000 plus benefits.

Selection Process

         The selection process consists of a written application and interview. The timetable is as follows:

To Apply:

         A completed application consists of the following items:

• Fellowship Application
• Official Law School Transcript
• Resume
• Two Letters of Recommendation from any of:
  • Law School Advisor
  • Law School Professor, or
  • Former Employer

          You may download the application in PDF format. Or you may apply online. For more information, please contact:

Erin V. Ortiz
Program Coordinator
National Center on Philanthropy and the Law
New York University School of Law
110 W. Third Street, Room 205
New York, New York 10012
(212) 998-6168
(212) 995-3149 Fax
ncpl.info@nyu.edu

          All application materials must be received by 1:00 p.m. on December 5, 2008. Please send to:

Professor Jill S. Manny
Executive Director
National Center on Philanthropy and the Law
New York University School of Law
110 W. Third Street, Room 206B
New York, NY 10012   

Other Fellowship Opportunities

         To learn about additional fellowship programs in the nonprofit sector, please consult the NYU Law School Public Interest Law Center.