UNH Law’s Warren B. Rudman Center Receives $8K Grant from the New Hampshire Bar Foundation
Concord, NH (March 26, 2020) – The Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership & Public Service, at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, has received an $8,000 Justice Grant from the NH Bar Foundation. The grant will support the Rudman Center Summer Fellowship Program, which provides stipends to students who devote their summer employment full-time, without pay, to non-profits and government agencies that need legal help. The grant will fund a summer fellowship for this summer and the next.
Since 1977, the NH Bar Foundation has donated more than $34 million dollars to various organizations through its Justice Grants and IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts) Programs. The majority of funding supports organizations that provide legal services to low-income people, children, the elderly, victims of domestic violence, and others in the state who have limited access to, or representation in, the justice system.
Rudman Summer Fellows
“We deeply appreciate the Foundation’s $8,000 grant, and its continued generosity to the Law School and Rudman Center,” says John M. Greabe, UNH Law professor and director of the Rudman Center. “Last summer, through the generosity of sponsors like the Bar Foundation, we were able to award $4,000 stipends to 24 of our students,” he explains.
Strengthening the Granite State
Rudman Center summer fellows help a variety of New Hampshire firms, agencies and organizations. Placements over the years include New Hampshire Legal Assistance, Catholic Charities of New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Public Defender Office, the New Hampshire Disability Rights Center, and the New Hampshire Bar Association Pro Bono Referral Program. These organizations provide legal and other help to people in the community who need it most.
Closing the Justice Gap
“The summer fellows program increases the resources available to public-service organizations, and helps more New Hampshire residents, especially those challenged by income and disabilities, gain access to justice,” notes Greabe. “All of our fellows have basic legal skills. Many have hands-on experience from working during the academic year in legal residencies or in one of our law school’s legal clinics. The fellows are eager to work directly with underserved clients. And by tackling growing caseloads in our state, they also help reduce the stress on legal-service providers and overcrowded courts,” he adds.
$12 Million Dollar Impact
Over the past five years, UNH Law students have contributed more than $12 million worth of pro bono (free) legal work to the state through UNH Law clinics, legal residencies and summer placements.
“Last year we raised enough funds from private firms, companies and individual donations – and with grants from the NH Bar Foundation and others – to fund 24 summer internships,” says Greabe. “This year we hope to award even more.”
Donate to the Rudman Summer Fellowship Program
To donate to the Rudman Summer Fellows program online, visit www.unh.edu/give/law and select Rudman Summer Fellowship. Or mail a check payable to UNH Foundation, attention Maria Gudinas, Director of Development at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law, 2 White Street, Concord, NH 03301. Please write “Rudman Summer Fellows” on the memo line.
About the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership & Public Service
The Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership & Public Service serves as a hub for public discourse on the policies and current events that shape our society. The Center provides scholarships to students who have an interest in public-service law, and awards stipends to students working in government agencies and public-service organizations. Additionally, the Center brings policy leaders, public servants, and journalists to campus so that students and the greater community can weigh in on the conversation and hear directly from public leaders. The Center is named after Warren B. Rudman, a U.S. Senator from New Hampshire widely admired for his integrity and willingness to work with politicians across the aisle in order to advance the public interest.
About University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law
Accredited by the American Bar Association, UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law is located in Concord, New Hampshire, and is ranked as one of the nation’s top 100 law schools and, for the 29th year in a row, a top-10 school for the study of intellectual property law.
About the NH Bar Foundation
The New Hampshire Bar Foundation, headquartered in Concord, is the philanthropic arm of the NH Bar Association. The Foundation is a nonprofit, grant-making charitable foundation dedicated to supporting civil legal aid for the disadvantaged and law-related education in New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Bar Foundation promotes the role of lawyers in securing equal access to justice and supports the charitable and educational aims of the New Hampshire Bar and its members.
