David Washington, L’15, is the inaugural Penn Law Civil Rights Fellow. The two-year postgraduate fellowship was created by Penn Law and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for graduating public interest students and recent alumni to work with the SPLC’s Special Litigation Practice Group.

As a member of the SPLC’s legal group, Mr. Washington will conduct legal research and analysis and develop theories to support new litigation projects and advocacy campaigns; draft legal memoranda, pleadings, affidavits, motions and briefs; interview witnesses and potential clients; participate in discovery and trial practice; and engage in public speaking and attend meetings and conferences.

“The Southern Poverty Law Center is one of the leading civil rights organizations in the nation,” said Ted Ruger, dean of Penn Law and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law. “This new fellowship will be an important avenue for our students like David to begin long-lasting, fulfilling public interest careers.”

“We are very excited that David will join us this fall,” said Ebony Howard, SPLC’s associate legal director. “The work he will engage in will be hugely instrumental in vindicating the rights of incarcerated people who do not receive adequate medical and mental health care, and others who face injustice in these turbulent times.”