. . . and adolescents who are aging out of Florida’s foster care system. This grant will allow the CYLC to advocate on behalf of children in the foster care system who are transitioning into adulthood. The focus of this project is to enforce the state’s obligation to foster youth through the provision of mandatory Independent Living Program services, mandatory legal skills training, expanded housing, medical, mental health, and educational services, all designed to prepare foster youth for the “real world.” “The Children & Youth Law Clinic is immensely grateful to the Florida Bar Foundation for its continuing generosity in supporting our students’ advocacy for foster children and youth, and their law reform advocacy on behalf of these clients,” said Clinic Director and UM Law Professor Bernard Perlmutter.
Shook, Hardy & Bacon Foundation Expands Support of Diversity with Grant The Shook, Hardy & Bacon (SHB) Foundation awarded a $10,000 grant to Miami Law to provide stipends to minority students who receive judicial clerkships or judicial internships under the Professional Opportunities Program (POP). The program offers a six-week internship in the chambers of federal, state, and county judges. Since 1990, local law firms have also employed POP students in their summer clerkship programs on an annual basis, and several of these students have continued clerking with the firms and have been offered positions after graduation. “The mission of the SHB Foundation is to increase diversity in the legal workforce,” said SHB Foundation Chair Jay Simpson. “This new grant program should further that goal by making sure that the law students are prepared to enter the workforce upon graduation.” “The Professional Opportunities Program provides a great opportunity for students from diverse backgrounds to gain internship experience with members of the judiciary, and federal, state and local government agencies,” said Marcy Cox, Assistant Dean of Career Development. “These internships will allow students to move forward in their legal careers with a sense of accomplishment and purpose. We are very grateful for Shook Hardy’s support of our students and their commitment to diversity in the legal profession.”
Concert Benefits the Steven E. Chaykin Endowed Fellowship Friends, alumni, faculty members and students gathered at a reception and concert on the Coral Gables campus to celebrate the life of law alumnus Steven E. Chaykin, JD ’76. The concert featured Marcia Ball, Grammy-nominated jazz and blues artist. All proceeds from the concert benefitted the Steven E. Chaykin Endowed Fellowship at the School of Law, which supports students involved with the Center for Ethics and Public Service. Chaykin, a prominent attorney with the Miami law firm of Akerman Senterfitt and a great friend to the Law School, died tragically in July 2008 while on vacation. He was 57. Born in 1951, Chaykin was a native of South Florida. He graduated from Nova High School in Davie and earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Miami in 1973 before attending Miami Law. In the time since, he remained a very active member of the Law School community. He was a member of the Dean’s Circle Committee and served on the advisory board of the Law School’s Center for Ethics and Public Service (CEPS), which honored him with their Friend of the Center Award for Outstanding Service in 2002. Chaykin was also a member of the University’s Citizens Board where he served as president from 2007 to 2008, and he served as an ex-officio member of the University’s Board of Trustees. The first Chaykin Fellow at Miami Law was awarded last year to William Nicholson, JD ’10. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia, Nicholson was a member of the University of Miami Law Review, where he served as Senior Articles Editor. He was also a fellow of the Ethics & Professional Responsibility Program at the Center for Ethics & Public Service. Nicholson is currently working in the law firm of Chadbourne & Parke in New York. “It was an honor to be chosen as the first Chaykin Fellow,” said Nicholson. “Mr. Chaykin was a strong advocate of the Center for Ethics and Public Service, and the Ethics and Professional Responsibility Program in particular. I am proud to be a part of his legacy.”
making a difference FALL 2010
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