Atlanta, GA – April 4, 2022 – Gideon’s Promise, a public defender organization whose goal is to transform the criminal justice legal system by improving the quality of legal representation for low-income individuals is thrilled to announce the 2022 Law School Partnership Project (LSPP) Fellows. LSPP is a partnership program that places recent law school graduates into Gideon’s Promise partner public defender offices for one year, after which they are guaranteed a full-time position. Since 2011, over 125 Fellows have been placed into more than 25 partner public defender offices across the country. Generously sponsored by their school, each attorney in LSPP is able to gain training and mentorship while simultaneously providing their public defender office with valuable human resources they might otherwise not be able to hire or retain.
This year, 6 law school students will join the public defender community and work with some of the best attorneys in the country. The Gideon’s Promise 2022 LSPP Fellows are:
- Akruti Chandrayya. – University of California, Los Angeles School of Law – Shelby County Public Defender Office (Memphis, TN).
- Jenna Finkle – University of California, Los Angeles School of Law – Still She Rises (Tulsa, OK).
- Catherine Kearney– University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School – Orleans Public Defender (New Orleans, LA).
- Midushi Pandey – University of Texas School of Law – Mecklenburg Defenders (Charlotte, NC).
- Marisa Skillings – Harvard Law School – Knox County Public Defender’s Community Law Office (Knoxville, TN).
- Jasmine Smith – University of California, Irvine School of Law – Cuyahoga County Public Defender’s Office (Cleveland, OH).
Gideon’s Promise President, Founder, and indigent defense expert Jonathan Rapping states, “The Gideon’s Promise Law School Partnership Project serves as a critical pipeline between distinguished law schools and our partner public defender offices. This project ensures the next generation of public defenders and criminal justice reformers willing to serve on the front lines of the effort to realize equal justice in America. “
For more information about the Law School Partnership Project or Gideon’s Promise, please visit www.GideonsPromise.org, or call 404-525-4505.
About Gideon’s Promise
Gideon’s Promise is a 501(c)(3) public defender organization whose mission is to transform the criminal justice system by building a movement of public defenders who provide equal justice for marginalized communities. Founded in 2007 by Jonathan Rapping, the organization has grown from a single training program for sixteen attorneys in two public defender offices in Georgia and Louisiana to a national enterprise with 1,500 participants in 45 public defender offices across 27 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The organization’s initial three-year program for new public defenders has expanded into a comprehensive program model that supports public defenders at all levels of their career.