MFIA Clinic Establishes New Ruttenberg Fellowship

Francesca Lina Procaccini has joined the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic (MFIA) at Yale Law School as the new Ruttenberg Fellow, a position that will assist the clinic with a wide-range of important case work over the next several years.

The fellowship is named in recognition of the ongoing support of Hattie Ruttenberg ’91, which has enabled the MFIA clinic to expand the scope of its work.

Procaccini will focus specifically on the clinic’s docket of cases representing investigative reporters who are pursuing legal claims for access to information relating to potential conflicts of interest and other ethical issues in the executive branch of the federal government.

 “We are grateful to Hattie Ruttenberg for all she has been doing to support MFIA in its mission and thrilled that Francesca will be joining the Clinic,” said David Schulz ’78, Floyd Abrams Clinical Lecturer in Law and head of the MFIA clinic. “Francesca is a skilled advocate who will help move forward the clinic’s government accountability docket, including two recently filed lawsuits alleging First Amendment violations by the President and by the CIA. She is going to be a wonderful addition to a truly talented team of fellows at the YLS clinics.”

Procaccini is a 2015 graduate of Harvard Law School, where she received the Ford Foundation Public Interest Fellowship. She served as articles editor for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and executive technical editor for the Harvard Law & Policy Review. Prior to coming to Yale Law School, she served as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division in the Appellate Section. Previously, she was a law clerk for Judge Jerome Farris for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The Ruttenberg family has provided steadfast support to the Law School over the years through many different generous gifts and initiatives.

MFIA is a law school clinic dedicated to increasing government transparency, defending the essential work of news gatherers, and protecting freedom of expression through impact litigation, direct legal services, and policy work. The clinic is a program of the Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression and Information Society Project.