Wendy Hoffman ’15 is the inaugural recipient of the Jonathan J. Williams Memorial Fellowship, established to celebrate the life and legacy of Jonathan J. Williams ’87, a Vermont Law School alumnus who passed away in 2001. The award, a $4,000 stipend, supports Hoffman’s internship with the Vermont Human Rights Commission for the summer of 2014. The commission’s mission is to promote full civil and human rights in the state, and to protect people from unlawful discrimination.
Williams, who served on the Vermont Law School alumni board for several years, is remembered by Vermont Law School friends and colleagues for his dedication to bringing justice to underserved communities and helping those in need. “Jonathan crowded into his all-too-short career a profound and bewilderingly diverse legacy of service to those most vulnerable and most subject to injustice, both in our local community and our global society,” said Assistant Professor of Law Alex Banks ’87, staff attorney at Vermont Law School’s South Royalton Legal Clinic. Banks graduated from VLS with Williams and also worked with him at Northwestern Legal Services in Pennsylvania.
“In creating this fellowship, we are doing more than simply awarding a cash stipend,” Banks said. “It is our hope that the beacon of Jonathan’s life work and his spirit will inspire Wendy and future recipients to follow his lead in service—to address fundamental injustices and build bridges between culturally diverse communities.”
Vermont Law School offers several public interest fellowships in addition to the Jonathan J. Williams Memorial Fellowship. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/1j0Br2h, email admiss@vermontlaw.edu, or call 802-831-1239.