4/8/04

4/8/04 FIRST ANNUAL PUBLIC SERVICE BENEFIT DINNER HONORS ALUMNI

The Student Funded Public Interest Fellowship (SFPIF) will host its First Annual Public Service Benefit Dinner on Thursday, April 8, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Northwestern University School of Law, 357 East Chicago Avenue.

The event will honor Northwestern Law alumni who have served the public. Special recognition will be given to three alumni, Professor Emerita Dawn Clark Netsch, JD ’52, Graham Grady, JD ’83, of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, and Bill Wilen, JD ’73, of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, for their outstanding contributions in public service.

Professor Netsch is being recognized for her decades of service to the state of Illinois as state senator and comptroller as well as her commitment on behalf of innumerable critical causes; Grady receives recognition for his many contributions to public interest through his work as a public official and a private practitioner; and Wilen is being honored for his efforts to secure affordable housing for Chicago’s low-income families.

The dinner will be preceded by a cocktail reception from 6 to 7 p.m. All proceeds from the event go towards SFPIF grants.

SFPIF is a nonprofit organization run by students at the Law School. The organization is dedicated to funding law students working in unpaid positions at public interest organizations during the summer. The SFPIF Grant was renamed the Len Rubinowitz Public Interest Fellowship in 1991 to honor Professor Rubinowitz’s public service contributions to the Law School and greater Chicago community.

Last year SFPIF raised more than $80,000 and awarded 31 Len Rubinowitz Public Interest Fellowship Grants worth between $2,500 and $3,500 each. They plan to raise at least that amount again this year.

Tickets are $100 for individuals and $900 for tables of 10. $65 of each ticket and $550 of each table are tax deductible. Student tickets are $50. This event is sponsored in part by Lord, Bissell & Brook; Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, LLP; and Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, LLP.

For more information, please visit SFPIF’s Web site or e-mail event co-chair Amy Halbrook.