Three Students, Three Alums Receive 2020 Skadden Fellowships

The Skadden Public Interest Fellowship recipients for 2020 include six members of the Yale Law School community: Esther Araya ’20, Eric Baudry ’19, D’Laney Gielow ’18, Iva Velickovic ’19, Jesse Williams ’20, and Kath Xu ’20.

The fellowships are given by the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom to a group of 28 graduating law students and judicial clerks who are devoting the next two years of their professional careers to public interest work. Launched in 1988 to commemorate the firm’s 40th anniversary, the Skadden Foundation has funded 877 public interest fellowships. For a full list of this year’s fellows, visit the Skadden Foundation website.

Esther Araya ’20, Kids in Need of Defense, Washington, D.C.

Araya will identify, represent, and promote access to support services for unaccompanied children subjected to mistreatment, due process violations, and/or abuse in U.S. custody.

D’Laney Gielow ’18, Legal Aid Chicago, Chicago, IL

Gielow will revitalize the legal requirement that child welfare agencies make “reasonable efforts” to keep families intact.

Kath Xu ’20, American Civil Liberties Union – Women’s Rights Project, New York, NY

Xu will challenge the use of predictive analytics in the child welfare system through impact litigation, community outreach education and policy advocacy.

Jesse Williams ’20, Legal Aid of North Carolina, Greenville, NC

Williams will combat land loss in rural North Carolina by directly representing poor, rural landholders — especially those from minority communities and those affected by hurricanes — in consumer debt and property matters; pursuing impact litigation to expand protections for such individuals; and building lasting networks for legal support.

Iva Velickovic ’19, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, Westminster, CO

Velickovic will provide direct representation to immigrant children who have suffered abuse, neglect, or abandonment to provide stability and fulfill the promise of recently-enacted state legislation.

Eric Baudry ’19, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, Minneapolis, MN

Baudry will provide direct representation through IRS administrative proceedings of misclassified, low-income Minnesota workers, and coalition building to provide both relief from the negative economic consequences of misclassification and also access to the full range of employment benefits and protections.