NIU Law grad Marishonta Wilkerson awarded fellowship from Illinois Bar Foundation

The Illinois Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association, has awarded one of its 2015 Post Graduate Legal Fellowships to Marishonta Wilkerson, a 2015 graduate of Northern Illinois University College of Law. During the one-year fellowship, she will work at the school's Zeke Giorgi Legal Clinic in Rockford.

The foundation launched its Post Graduate Legal Fellowship Program in 2014 to fund public interest jobs for recent law graduates. Wilkerson joins two students from Loyola University School of Law and University of Illinois College of Law. It will contribute $25,000 to each of the three fellowships and the law schools will fund the remainder. The law schools were charged with selecting the recipients.

"The need for public interest lawyers far outweighs the number of lawyers willing and able to serve the underrepresented people living throughout Illinois," said Shawn Kasserman, foundation president. "The fellowship program was created to provide on-the-job training for new lawyers while simultaneously helping to fill the gap in legal aid services."

"Marishonta had already stood out in her work as a law student at our Rockford Clinic," said NIU Law Dean Mark Cordes. "This fellowship enabled us to bring her back to the clinic to continue her outstanding work in serving the underserved population - and allowed us to help her launch her career in public interest law."

"I am thrilled to be able to continue the work I started as a law student in the school's civil justice clinic," said Marishonta Wilkerson. Each day is so different at the clinic. One day I could be working on a child custody case, the next a divorce, or another day on a property dispute. I am so grateful for this opportunity to continue to serve the Rockford community, while gaining valuable experience in public interest law."

NIU Law opened the Zeke Giorgi Legal Clinic in Rockford in 2001 and added a juvenile program there in 2011. NIU Law also operates a foreclosure mediation clinic in Kane County and a health advocacy clinic at Hesed House, a homeless clinic in Aurora, assisting patients with legal matters.

For more information on the IBF Post Graduate Legal Fellowships Program, contact David Anderson, IBF executive director, at (312) 726-6072. Further information about the foundation is available at www.illinoisbarfoundation.org.

For more information about NIU Law's clinic programs visit www.niu.edu/law/clinical_program/clinic_offices.shtml.