Equal Justice Works Press Release

	press release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 15, 2007 CONTACT: James Carroll Director of Communications Phone: (202) 466-3686 ext. 102	Email: jcarroll@equaljusticeworks.org Web: www.equaljusticeworks.org
EQUAL JUSTICE WORKS APPOINTS CAIT CLARKE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC INTEREST LAW OPPORTUNITIES
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Equal Justice Works today announced the appointment of legal educator and consultant Cait Clarke to head its Public Interest Law Opportunities group. The group administers the largest postgraduate legal fellowship program in the nation, placing new lawyers in two-year assignments at nonprofit public interest organizations where they implement projects addressing community needs. Equal Justice Works also manages the largest justice-related AmeriCorps program in the nation. Ms. Clarke has 18 years of experience teaching, training, and consulting on the law and legal affairs. Most recently as the director of Clarke Consulting she provided leadership and management consulting to nonprofit organizations, public defense and legal aid programs, including Equal Justice Works. She served as a principal and the legal education specialist with Watershed Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based firm specializing in negotiation training. Ms. Clarke was the founding director of the National Defender Leadership Institute at the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, which develops leadership capacity in public defense practitioners nationwide. Ms. Clarke began her legal career practicing criminal defense representing the indigent in Maryland Courts. She then moved to New Orleans to join the law faculty of Loyola Law School as an Associate Professor of Law. Upon completion of her doctorate degree at Harvard, she taught at the Kennedy School of Government's Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and ran the Executive Session on Public Defense. In her community work, Ms. Clarke serves on the Board of Directors of the D.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and is a founding director of Gardenia House Inc., which provides shelter to migrant women and children. She was the co-chair of the National Consortium on Community Problem Solving and recently served as a member of the Advisory Board overseeing the development of the National Center for State Court's new Problem Solving Justice Toolkit. She is extensively published, with law reviews, articles, book chapters and book reviews to her credit. Ms. Clarke holds her S.J.D. from Harvard Law School, LL.M from Georgetown University Law Center's Criminal Justice Clinic, J.D. from Catholic University's Columbus School of Law, and B.S. from Villanova University's School of Commerce and Finance. "We are delighted to have Cait on our management team," said Equal Justice Works Chief Executive Officer David Stern. "For several years we've worked with her on training Equal Justice Works Lawyers. She has a solid background in many of the areas important to us and brings welcome expertise in new areas." Ms. Clarke joined Equal Justice Works as Director of Public Interest Law Opportunities on May 7, 2007. Equal Justice Works, a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1986 by law students dedicated to working for equal justice on behalf of underserved communities and causes. Today, Equal Justice Works is the national leader in creating summer and postgraduate public interest opportunities for law students and lawyers as well as in urging more public interest programming at law schools. For more information, visit www.equaljusticeworks.org. A head shot of Cait Clarke may be downloaded at www.equaljusticeworks.org/images/clarke_5x7.jpg A roster of current Equal Justice Works fellows, their host organizations and issue areas can be found at www.equaljusticeworks.org/fellows/mainpage. - end -
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