Class Day Awards

This award is presented annually to a graduating student who best represents a combination of scholarship and leadership, the qualities embodied by ALI-CLE's parent organizations, the American Law Institute and the American Bar Association. ALI-CLE has been providing continuing legal education to attorneys since 1947.

Assistant Dean Eve Biskind Klothen directs the Pro Bono and Public Interest Program, with support from Director Professor Jill Friedman, Managing Attorney William McLaughlin and Assistant Director Pam Mertsock-Wolfe. All aspects of the Program are designed with three goals: (1) to addresses unmet legal needs in the community; (2) to help law students develop substantive legal knowledge, while honing professional contacts and skills; and (3) to help law students cultivate a lifelong commitment to pro bono service. Students receiving the Pro Bono Award have made a significant volunteer commitment to one or more of the Rutgers-Camden Pro Bono Program projects, or have served through local, regional or national public interest legal organizations. They have volunteered at least 50 hours for these projects, including at least 10 hours during their final year of law school. Winners of the Dean's Pro Bono Publico Award for Exceptional Service have completed at least 100 hours. Our projects include:

501(c)(3) Project: Supervised students assist community groups seeking or resolving issues with their nonprofit status.

Bankruptcy Project:  Student/attorney teams assist clients seeking Chapter 7 Bankruptcy relief.

Citizenship Rutgers: Students provide naturalization services to Legal Permanent Resident faculty members, students, staff and their families, and ultimately Camden community members as well.

Domestic Violence Project; Students assist victims of domestic violence in the process of completing complaints and obtaining temporary restraining orders.

Eastern District Prisoner Reentry Project (STAR): Students assist federal parolees with civil legal problems.
Federal Prisoner Reentry Project: Students assist federal parolees with civil legal issues that may interfere with successful reintegration into society, including driver license suspensions and child support.

Financial Literacy Project (FLiP): Students teach Camden youth about credit, budgeting, and identity theft.

Immigration Project:  Students provide legal referrals and immigration advice to area immigrants.

Legal Services Project: Students assist South Jersey Legal Services with intake and casework on poverty law issues.

Life Planning Documents Project: Students assist clients with preparation of wills, POAs and advance directives.
Mediation Project: Student help parties resolve small claims matters without litigation.

Pennsylvania Innocence Project: Students assist with securing the exoneration, release from imprisonment, and restoration to society of persons who may be innocent; they also assist with related policy issues.

Pro Bono Research Project: Students provide legal research to public interest law practitioners, government attorneys, and private attorneys handling pro bono cases.

Street Law Project: Students make presentations to Camden area youth in schools, detention centers, and other settings about practical law as it affects their lives.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA): Students assist low income NJ residents with their tax returns.

Voters’ Rights Project: Students monitor election activities to insure that all registered voters have the chance to vote; also assists with voter registration education.

Dozens of law students contribute hundreds of pro bono hours of service to the community each year. The students receiving Pro Bono Awards are being recognized for their exceptional commitment to the pro bono ethic.

Participants from the graduating class will be acknowledged in the Class Day program.

David Dolgenos was a successful New York real estate, entertainment, and commercial lawyer. He was from a working class family and put himself through law school by working as a dance instructor, construction worker, waiter, and in other jobs. This award is for a graduating student who has overcome similar difficult obstacles in the path to a J.D., such as being a non-native English speaker, the first in a family to attend college, a single parent, disabled, or facing like obstacles; the award, which is funded by the family of Professor Sarah Ricks, is designed to help the student lighten financial burdens while studying for the bar exam.

The Eagleton Institute of Politics offers three competitive interdisciplinary fellowships that provide select Rutgers graduate students the opportunity to further their understanding of the practice of politics and public affairs and to connect their knowledge to their chosen field of study. 

Participants from the graduating class will be acknowledged in the Class Day program.

The Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, named in honor of the late Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and William J. Brennan, Jr., enlists law students in an effort to increase civic literacy and participation in American democracy. The Project prepares gifted upper-level law student “Fellows” to teach a course in Constitutional and civic literacy in local high schools. The aim is to make the Constitution "come alive" for young people in Camden while simultaneously reinforcing law students' mastery of the substantive material and improving their preparation and presentation skills.  The Fellows are selected by the faculty through a competitive process that assesses academic preparation, motivation, maturity, commitment to educational equality and social justice and intellectual interest in constitutional issues. Fellows complete a yearlong course in which they study cases, analyze issues, draft lesson plans and discuss pedagogy. The Fellows spend the fall semester preparing to teach and writing a research paper, and then teach at Camden high schools up to five days each week in the spring. The Fellows coach high school students in the annual national Marshall-Brennan Moot Court Competition and in New Jersey’s Model Congress Program. High school host sites have included: Brimm Medical Arts High School, Camden Center for Youth Development, Camden High School, Christus Lutheran Academy, LEAP Academy University Charter High School, MetEast High School, Urban Promise and Woodrow Wilson High School.

The Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project is supported by funding from a scholarship foundation named for Michael Young, an outstanding Rutgers–Camden law student who died shortly before his graduation in 2004. The scholarship supports teaching assistantships that are critical to the success of the Project.

Participants from the graduating class wll be acknowledged in the Class Day program.

The Mary Philbrook Student Public Interest Awards, given annually since 1999, recognize graduating students for exceptional contributions to the public interest during their years in law school. The qualities recognized by the Student Public Interest Awards are: outstanding public service contributions in community organizations, particularly contributions related to law, justice and the legal system; activism in the Rutgers community; and a continuous dedication to public interest that goes above and beyond that of most law students; and a G.P.A. of 2.5 or above.

Winners from the graduating class will be acknowledged in the Class Day program.

This award is presented to the graduating student who, through academic achievement, motivation, tenacity and drive, shows promise to contribute to the advancement of women in the legal community and in society.

This discretionary award is given to a student who has significantly and/or uniquely contributed to the Rutgers Domestic Violence Pro Bono Project during several semesters of the student's law school career. The Rutgers Domestic Violence Pro Bono Project trains law students to provide legal assistance to persons seeking protective orders in Camden County.