NAPABA and NAPALC Establish Community Law Fellowship
May 10, 2004Washington, D.C.-- The National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium is pleased to announce its partnership with the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Law Foundation in establishing the NAPABA Partners Community Law Fellowship.
The NAPABA Partners Community Law Fellowship Program was established by a generous gift from Paul W. Lee of Goodwin Procter LLP to the NAPABA Law Foundation. The Fellowship was launched to address the shortage of attorneys working on behalf of the Asian Pacific American populations. Recognizing that many obstacles prevent committed attorneys from practicing public interest law, including the shortage of entry-level jobs, the Community Law Fellowship provides an opportunity for a new attorney to gain substantive experience at National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium during the two-year fellowship period. The 2004 – 2006 Community Law Fellow will start in September and will work on language rights/access projects focused on three primary areas: 1) Access to justice and legal services; 2) Ensuring services to limited English proficient individuals, with an emphasis on access to healthcare; 3) advocating against federal, state, and local English only initiatives.
“I am very pleased to work with NAPABA and NAPALC to fund a fellowship for new attorneys to work in public interest and on Asian Pacific American issues,” said Paul W. Lee, partner at Goodwin Procter LLP. “It is a great way for those of us in the private sector—law firm lawyers as well as in-house counsel—to support our public interest colleagues in their very important work for our community.”
“Paul Lee has always been a leader in the Asian Pacific American legal community,” said Parkin Lee, President of the NAPABA Law Foundation. “With his generosity here, he once again leads the way in demonstrating how members of our community can make significant contributions to efforts supporting the civil rights and access to legal services of Asian Pacific Americans.”
“I sincerely thank Paul Lee and the NAPABA Law Foundation in providing the opportunity for NAPALC to host a Community Law Fellow on language rights/access,” said Karen K. Narasaki, President and Executive Director of NAPALC. “The Community Law Fellowship will develop a strong level of expertise for a new attorney on Asian Pacific American issues by working with the limited English proficient community.”
For more details or to apply for the fellowship, please visit www.napalc.org for more information.
