Elon Law welcomed 13 new Leadership Fellows and recognized the professional accomplishments of 14 returning fellows at a Sept. 2 evening reception.
Nine first-year law students and four second-year law students join the Elon Law Leadership Fellows program, bringing to the law school significant leadership experience and strong ambition to excel in law and to engage challenges at regional, national and international levels.
“During my time teaching and working as a paralegal in Virginia, I came across a lot of local and state issues that I wanted to fix,” said first-year Elon Law Leadership Fellow Caitlin Mitchel. “That’s why I wanted to attend law school and develop the skills and competencies to help provide solutions. I am very proud and honored to be a part of this group and a member of the pioneering Class of December 2017 at Elon Law.”
At the Sept. 2 reception, before an audience including Elon University President Leo M. Lambert, Provost and Executive Vice President Steven D. House, Elon Law Dean Luke Bierman and numerous members of the Elon Law faculty, second-year and third-year Elon Law Leadership Fellows reported summer work experiences with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Supreme Court of North Carolina, Office of the Inspector General for the New York State Unified Court System, the North Carolina Business Court (located in Elon Law’s primary facility in Greensboro, N.C.), the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and law firms Dummit Fradin (Greensboro, N.C.), Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP (Raleigh, N.C.), Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox (Washington, D.C.) and Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP (Raleigh, N.C.).
“This summer, as part of my pursuit of Elon’s JD and MBA dual degree, I went to England and Ireland, visiting international corporations, studying international business and comparing employment directives established by the European Union with U.S. employment law,” said Britt Burch, member of the Class of 2016 and a Leadership Fellow at Elon Law. Burch noted that she also worked this summer with the attorney’s office for the City of Greensboro, North Carolina, focusing on employment law and compliance matters.
The Leadership Fellows Program is part of Elon Law’s distinctive Leadership Program, recognized with the American Bar Association’s top national award for excellence in legal professionalism programming.
“We’re off to a great start,” said Chris Leupold, who, as associate professor of psychology and faculty fellow for law and leadership, assists in directing the Leadership Fellows Program with Faith Rivers James, Elon Law’s associate dean for experiential learning and leadership and professor of law. “We’ve already engaged a lot of leadership content and a lot of self insights, really exploring what it means to develop one’s professional identity from day one.”
Elon Law is leading innovation in legal education by integrating exceptional classroom instruction with highly experiential learning throughout the curriculum, including distinctive full-time, course-connected residencies-in-practice, nationally recognized leadership preparation and attorney mentors for all students. Elon offers exceptional value through a two-and-a-half year program with significantly lower tuition. Learn more about Elon Law on the web, Facebook and Twitter.