Liman Center Announces Inaugural Malone-Liman Fellowship

The Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law⁴ is delighted to inaugurate the Malone-Liman Fellowship, newly created to support law school graduates enabling individuals to have better access to legal remedies. This fellowship comes because of the generosity of Patrick Malone ’84 and his spouse, Vicki Neighbors Malone. Patrick Malone heads the D.C. law firm Patrick Malone and Associates, which represents people who have serious injuries due to medical malpractice, product defects, or other negligence. Vicki Malone is an artist and teacher.

The first Malone-Liman Fellow is Caroline Parker ’23. She will join Towards Justice in Denver, Colorado, a nonprofit that represents workers. Parker will assist low-wage clients facing challenges related to their housing. She will investigate tenants’ living conditions and the management practices of landlords and study problems of workers living in employer-controlled housing in remote areas. Parker will also help coordinate Denver-area organizers working to sustain tenants’ collective bargaining.

Parker decided to attend law school after working in the Office of Colorado’s Child Protection Ombudsman, a state agency tasked with overseeing the operation of Colorado’s child welfare system. Parker investigated complaints from citizens and families. She was the policy liaison to the state legislature, where she represented the agency's views. Parker's experience spurred her interest in studying the economic factors that contribute to family precarity.

“In Colorado, more than three-quarters of child maltreatment cases concern ‘neglect,’ defined as parental failure to provide for a child’s basic material needs,” Parker said. “Yet in the dozens of stakeholder meetings, we never discussed soaring housing costs or wage stagnation as factors that impact child welfare referral rates.”

While at law school, Parker was in the Community and Economic Development Clinic, served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal, and was the co-president of the Law and Political Economy student group. Parker received a B.A. from the University of Virginia.

Before Patrick Malone came to Yale Law School, he was a journalist for nine years, first for United Press International in Kansas City and then as a medical writer and investigative reporter for the Miami Herald, where he won several awards and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for a co-authored series on “dangerous doctors.” Malone’s books on trial advocacy include the recently published “The Fearless Cross-Examiner: Win the Witness, Win the Case. ” In 2018-2019, Malone was the president of what is now called the National Civil Justice Institute, which promotes the civil justice system and trial by jury. Malone is currently the president of the Belli Society, an organization of trial lawyers dedicated to excellence in advocacy for injured people. Malone is also a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates, a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and a member of the American Law Institute. In his spare time, Malone is a passionate photographer. His website of photos of our nation’s capital is monumental-DC.com⁵.

Vicki Neighbors Malone’s art is inspired by her love for nature. Malone’s work has been shown at the Corcoran Museum of Art, Monticello Library, United States Botanic Garden, Delaware Art Museum, and galleries in the Washington, D.C., area. Her book, “Can We Save Them? An Alphabet of Species in Danger,” was published in 2022. She is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists, the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, and the Botanical Art Society of the National Capital Region. Her website is vickimaloneartist.com⁶.

“The Malones’ gift is an honor and an opportunity; it comes at a time of acute needs,” said Judith Resnik, Founding Director and Arthur Liman Professor of Law. “Patrick and Vicki Malone’s extraordinary generosity means that Caroline Parker will be able both to support individuals and work on structural changes to make housing more available. Given the debates about housing insecurity and encampments, the inaugural Malone-Liman Fellow’s focus — generating affordable and habitable housing — is one of the country’s top priorities.”  

Patrick Malone said: “We’re thrilled that Caroline Parker is the first recipient of our fellowship. Her work is a perfect match for our vision of supporting lawyers who plan to, as the saying goes, ‘comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.’”