Atlanta, GA – April 22, 2021 – Gideon’s Promise, a public defender organization dedicated to transforming the criminal justice system by improving the quality of legal representation for low-income individuals, is thrilled to announce our 2021 Law School Partnership Project (LSPP) Fellows. LSPP places recent law school graduates into Gideon’s Promise partner public defender offices. Since 2011, over 120 Fellows have been placed into more than 25 partner public defender offices across the country. Generously sponsored by their school, each fellow in LSPP gains training and valuable mentor relationships. In turn, the recent graduates bring new energy and a client-centered, mission-driven outlook to the offices they serve. LSPP places students from all over the country in offices they may have otherwise never been connected to and allows them to make a meaningful difference in the system and the lives of their clients.
This year, 10 law school students will join the public defender community and work with some of the best attorneys in the country. The Gideon’s Promise 2021 LSPP Fellows are:
- Mark Anliker – University of Notre Dame School of Law – Hamilton County Public Defender Office (Cincinnati, OH).
- Arianne Bennett – Boston University School of Law – Orleans Public Defender Office (New Orleans, LA).
- Marissa Crook – New York University School of Law – Still She Rises (Tulsa, OK).
- Hannah Greenhouse – University of Michigan School of Law – Montgomery Public Defender Office (Montgomery, AL).
- Nathan Hartman – The George Washington University Law School – Luzerne County Public Defender Office (Wilkes-Barre, PA).
- Hayley Hofmann – University of California, Los Angeles School of Law – Stanton Trial Office of the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy (Stanton, KY).
- Thaisa Howorth – University of Texas School of Law – Elizabethtown Trial Office of the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy (Elizabethtown, KY).
- Simon Lu – University of Texas School of Law – El Paso Public Defender Office (El Paso, TX).
- Addie Maguire – Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law – Orleans Public Defender Office (New Orleans, LA).
- Joseph Yankelowitz – University of California, Los Angeles School of Law – Mecklenburg Defenders (Charlotte, NC).
Gideon’s Promise President and Founder 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 1,000 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.
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