U students in their second or third year of law school have the opportunity to obtain one of several fellowships that will help them get summer jobs with nonprofit or environmental organizations.
The Frankel Fellowship, renamed in 2002 in honor of deceased professor Lionel Frankel, provides scholarships from $500 to $2500 each summer for two to four students with little to no income.
“The goal and mission of the Frankel Fellowship is to help foster and support students who want to make that choice (of working in the public interest sector),” said Ben Machlis, a second-year law student and president of the Public Interest Law Organization, the group in charge of fundraising for the Frankel Fellowship.
Professor Jensie Anderson, a clinical professor of law and faculty advisor to PILO, said “public interest law gives access to justice to those who otherwise would not have the access to the justice system.”
These fellowships are important to help and to encourage students to take that path to help the community, Anderson said.
Funds for the fellowship come from fundraising events and donations. This year, sales made at Lito’s Coffee Shop, a coffee cart in the Law School main lobby, will benefit the group.
“It’s really exciting because it’s a continuing thing that could give more resources to the fellowship,” Anderson said.
Lito’s is being advertised as the “Campus Coffee Garden” because students there are selling coffee and snacks identical to those at Coffee Garden, a popular coffee shop located at 900 East and 900 South. Wendy Amendolito, the owner of Lito’s, was the Coffee Garden manager for 12 years. Amendolito said Lito’s is a “loose franchise” of Coffee Garden.
“All the products I use are identical to those of Coffee Garden, including the cups,” she said.
Amendolito is donating 5 percent of all the sales to the Frankel Fellowship. Past fundraising events have included a Battle of the Bands event and a golf tournament. Each spring, there is a one-week push to fundraise with various activities such as competitions between faculty and students and selling donated bagels.