UW law student, judicial clerk land prestigious fellowships

Two winners of Skadden Fellowships – presented annually to law students or judicial clerks around the nation who have shown exceptional promise in public interest law – are from the Law School.

The Skadden Fellowship Foundation chose third-year law student Samantha Webb Kading and 2004 graduate Jessica Shoemaker among the 25 national winners.

“We are delighted that Jessica and Samantha were selected and that they will be able to contribute their skills to communities in need of legal services,” says Kenneth B. Davis, Jr., dean of the law school.

Fellowships are awarded for one year, with the expectation of renewal for a second year. The foundation pays a salary of $37,500 and all fringe benefits to which an employee of the sponsoring organization would be entitled.

This is the second time that two individuals connected with the UW Law School have won the fellowships in the same year.

“This is a testament to our excellent students and the faculty who teach and inspire them,” Davis says. “I know that the work Samantha and Jessica will do with their Skadden Fellowships will be a true credit to the UW Law School and an invaluable benefit to the people they assist.”

Shoemaker, currently a law clerk for Judge Daniel M. Ebel in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 10th District in Denver, will work with the Farmers Legal Action Group in St. Paul, Minn., to advocate in defense of low-income family farmers in minority communities around the country.

Kading is sponsored by the Land Tenure Center and by Wisconsin Judicare in Wausau. She will work with the state’s 11 Native American tribes to promote consolidation of landowner interests in fractionated Indian trust land by conducting an educational campaign on land transfer techniques and by drafting land transfer documents.

The Skadden Fellowship Foundation, described by the Los Angeles Times as a “legal Peace Corps,” was established in 1988 by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, a law firm with offices in 22 cities around the world.