Past Recipients
- Recipients for the year 2011
- Recipients for the year 2010
- Recipients for the year 2009
- Recipients for the year 2008
- Recipients for the year 2007
- Recipients for the year 2006
- Recipients for the year 2005
- Recipients for the year 2004
- Recipients for the year 2003
- Recipients for the year 2002
- Recipients for the year 2001
- Recipients for the year 2000
- Recipients for the year 1999
- Recipients for the year 1998
- Recipients for the year 1997
Recipients for the year 2011
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
William Sampson Fellowship
Thomas Hudson worked with the PILA division of FLAC, researching and writing memorandums on the class action procedures of America and various European countries. His research focused on the barriers to creating class action procedures in Europe, America's long history with the procedure, and the ability of class actions to contribute to human rights litigation. Thomas' understanding of American civil procedure greatly assisted PILA in their understanding of the differences between the US and Europe on the class action front. Thomas also had the opportunity to contribute many pieces to the PILA Bulletin. He wrote on public interest legal developments in Ireland and the UK, such as Shell's admission of liability for oil spills in the Bodo region of Nigeria. Thomas also wrote an editorial piece analyzing the effect of Wal-Mart v. Dukes on the American class action procedure and how Europeans should interpret that case when considering whether to adopt such procedures.
Recipients for the year 2010
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
Jeff Walsh, a law student at Trinity College Dublin, was the recipient of the Fellowship in 2010 and spent nine weeks working in Seattle as a legal intern with the Washington Appleseed Centre for Public Interest Law. Based in an office donated by law firm Riddell Williams, Jeff worked on three challenging projects. The first concerned the rights of pregnant and parenting girls in juvenile detention and involved compiling a 'know-your-rights' pamphlet outlining services and entitlements. The second project surrounded the issue of access to education for homeless children. Jeff was responsible for making Freedom of Information requests to see if school districts were meeting their legal obligation of providing transport for homeless children to attend school. The final project involved access to social security for the disabled. Appleseed has been preparing a syllabus for the CARES organisation which will be giving classes to people with disabilities on various topics such as the different benefits and supports available.
While in Seattle, Jeff attended classes at the University of Washington which were given by various professionals such as prosecutors, judges and police officers. This gave a first-hand view of the practical legal structure in Washington and the US as well as the differences between the US and Irish legal systems.
Recipients for the year 2009
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
Helen Nolan, a third year law student at Trinity College Dublin, was the successful candidate in 2009. As part of the Fellowship, Helen spent eight weeks as a legal intern with the Washington Appleseed Centre for Public Interest Law.
Much of Helen's time was spent working on pro bono issues in a large corporate firm, Foster Pepper, which had taken on many of the Appleseed's projects. Helen was involved in two particular projects during this period. The first of these concerned access to transportation for low-income individuals in Washington. Helen researched how insurance rates are calculated, the power of the Insurance Commissioner to reform insurance law and alternatives to car ownership. Helen also examined the merits of using alternative data sources, such as utility bills, to improve credit scores for those with 'thin credit.'
In addition, Helen attended seminars in the University of Washington for law students who were working in legal internships over the summer term. As part of these seminars, she met judges, public prosecutors and defenders, bailiffs and others working in public law.
William Sampson Fellowship
In 2009 the recipient of the William Sampson Fellowship was Kristine Duncan. She started work assisting with the follow-up Shadow report to the Third Periodic Report of Ireland under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Kristine researched and summarised the State's progress on amending the Enforcement of Court Orders Bill as well as the lack of progress on the rights of transgendered persons and same-sex couples. Kristine also worked with FLAC on the launch of the organisation's report on debt enforcement (To No-One's Credit).
She assisted in work on the joint Social Welfare Casebase, which was created by Northside Community Law Centre and to which FLAC is now contributing casework summaries. Kristine's knowledge of similar casebases in the United States helped make the decision summaries of cases FLAC has brought before the Social Welfare Appeals Office as helpful as possible to those who are involved in taking similar cases to appeal.
Recipients for the year 2008
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
The recipient of the 2008 Fellowship was Kelly Mackey, a postgraduate law student at Dublin Institute of Technology.
Kelly spent nine weeks as a legal intern with the Washington Appleseed Centre for Public Interest Law in Seattle. Much of Kelly's time was spent researching the response other states have made through legislation to predatory lending, and in particular to payday lending. Her role was to document the legislative caps on such loans in other states and alternative credit options. She was also tasked with summarising a recent District of Columbia Appleseed report, "Hometown Prosperity: Promoting economic self-sufficiency and opportunity for low-wage workers and their families", and adapting it to suit the legal and social environment in Washington State. Kelly researched and collated a report on possible avenues for a pro bono relationship to be established between firms of solicitors and non-governmental organisations in Ireland.
William Sampson Fellowship
Kyle Silk-Eglit was the Willam Sampson Fellow in 2008. He spent most of his time at FLAC on a case involving the marriage ban (repealed in 1974) which prohibited women from working in the public sector if they were married. In his research, Kyle uncovered a landmark EU case, Emmott v Minister for Social Welfare, which held that the implementation of a statute of limitations would be stalled if a Member State to the EU had failed to properly implement an EU directive. Thus, if Ireland's equality legislation did not properly account for the EU Equal Pay for Equal Work directives, then the statute of limitations could potentially be stalled and the case could move forward. FLAC is currently evaluating the likelihood of this option. Kyle was a valued part of the FLAC team duing his time in Ireland and we wish him every success with his future studies and work.
Recipients for the year 2007
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
Claire McHugh, a student of the Kings Inns, Dublin, received the fellowship in 2007 and spent two months as a researcher at Washington Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest, Seattle. She worked with a team of pro bono attorneys on a project addressing the special needs of pregnant or parenting girls in Washington's juvenile justice system, and authored an op-ed in the Seattle PI on this issue. Claire also worked with a senior fellow at Appleseed on updating a national report on funding early education in the United States. She attended a weekly seminar at University of Washington for law student interns, with guest speakers from Seattle's legal community, and undertook independent research on US constitutional jurisprudence on affirmative action.
William Sampson Fellowship
Elizabeth Hawkins, a student of Law and International Studies at the University of Washington, was the recipient of the 2007 William Sampson Fellowship. Elizabeth spent her time at FLAC researching and analyzing the Habitual Residence Condition and whether or not such a condition complies with international treaties, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
During the course of her work with FLAC, Elizabeth was able to participate in a number of events that allowed her to gain a broader understanding of Irish legal culture, including the Law Reform Commission's annual conference, a presentation by the newly created Garda Ombudsman, and meetings with other local NGOs to address current issues.
Elizabeth also spent part of the summer at the Northside Community Law Centre, where she updated the social welfare appeals case database and drafted a submission to the Equality Tribunal.
Recipients for the year 2006
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
This year's successful applicant was Nicola White, a postgraduate law student in Trinity College Dublin. Nicola went to worked as a researcher at Washington Appleseed, where she gained practical experience in public interest law. Appleseed is a non-profit organisation made up of a network of public interest law centres, which seek to address injustices in their communities, through education, legal advocacy, community activism and policy expertise. Washington Appleseed raises the profile of law and policy as mechanisms for social justice. She worked with a team of pro bono lawyers to improve access to dental care for children living in poverty, and undertook research into the rights of incarcerated juveniles. Nicola also attended classes at UW on public interest law.
William Sampson Fellowship
For this year the Fellowship was awarded to Cecilia Boudreau, a student of law at UW. During her time at FLAC Cecilia worked on a social welfare brief for the forthcoming report on Direct Provision. She carried out an analysis of where the authority lies of the laws, rules and regulations underpinning Direct Provision, as well as attending meetings and compiling statistics. Direct Provision is the practice introduced by the Irish government in 1999 of dispersing asylum seekers entering the country to various locations around Ireland where they would have their basic accommodation and welfare needs provided for directly.
She also did some background research and reading on a report (forthcoming in February 2007) on civil debt. In particular, Cecilia looked at international treaty law, decisions of European court under convention under imprisonment for debt as well as caselaw in various jurisdictions.
Recipients for the year 2005
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
The recipient of the Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship for 2005 was James Mulcahy, a final year law student at University College Dublin. James attended classes in the University and worked with the Public Interest Law Group, taking on a number of research projects on constitutional, human rights and prison law. One such assignment was on a constitutional challenge to an initiative limiting tax increases in Washington to 1% per annum, which resulted in a serious reduction in public service funding. Another was on the rights of detainees to access religious services, especially those held in segregation. James also undertook some private research on costs/lawyer fees in public interest litigation, comparing the differing approaches in the US, Ireland, UK and Australia.
William Sampson Fellowship
The recipient of the William Sampson Fellowship 2005 was Letty Coffin, a second-year law student at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. Letty primarily worked on one research project at FLAC, examining the affects of the Habitual Residence Condition in Ireland on a number of groups including migrants, returning Irish emigrants, missionaries, carers, victims of domestic violence and children. The habitual residence condition makes access to certain social welfare payments in Ireland conditional on having lived in the country for two years. She look into the experiences of some NGOs working with these groups, also in view of potential test cases. Letty researched the concept of habitual residence, looking at the implementing legislation, administrative guidelines, Irish and EU case law and the co-ordination of social welfare systems between EU member states.
Recipients for the year 2004
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
Rose-Alice Murphy was the recipient of the Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship. At the time, she was finishing her last year at University College Galway in Corporate Law. During her two-month stay in Seattle, Washington, Rose-Alice worked at the Public Interest Group, a law firm that takes cases in the field of public interest. She completed research projects, sat on meetings with prospective clients and worked on an appellate brief.
William Sampson Fellowship
John D. Smelcer was the University of Washington, Seattle Law School William Sampson Fellowship. During this time at FLAC, John was involved with the Data Collection Programme and helped in researching and writing a widely admired paper on Amicus Curiae in Irish Courts: A Potent New Tool for Public Interest Law in Ireland. The paper describes the role of public interest law in jurisprudence and the surfacing of the new field of law in Ireland.
Recipients for the year 2003
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
Laura McGowan, who received a Barrister-at-Law degree from King's Inn, was the 2003 recipient of the Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship. While in Seattle, Washington, Laura worked at the Government Accountability Project (GAP) where she learned great amounts about the role and impact of the legal system on achieving social changes
William Sampson Fellowship
Suzie Love, a first-year law student at the University of Washington, was the William Sampson Fellow for 2003. While at FLAC, she worked on research for a paper that studied the health care system in Ireland, and compared it to other European nations such as Denmark and Sweden. As part of her research, she interviewed members of the health care community. Her research showed the great need for reform and improvements that legal services can bring to the Irish health care system.
Recipients for the year 2002
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
The recipient of the Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship of 2002 was Paul O'Connell, a second-year law student at Trinity College Dublin. In Seattle, Paul worked at the US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR). He was involved in research of legal issues regarding complaints brought to the office. Furthermore, he carried out a comparative research project comparison (between the US and Ireland) on the access to education in each country.
William Sampson Fellowship
In 2002, Scott Richard Anderson was the William Sampson Fellow at FLAC, where he worked with the Irish Traveller Movement through an analysis of the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act of 1998. Scott was in the process of completing Master of Arts degree in International Studies and a Juris Doctorate in International and Comparative Law at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Recipients for the year 2001
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
Maeve Ní Líatháin received the Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship in 2001. She had completed her Barrister-at-Law degree in King's Inn and she worked with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project during her stay in Seattle.
William Sampson Fellowship
Arlene Nand, a first-year law student, was the recipient of the William Sampson Fellowship. Her work at FLAC included research on civil legal aid around the world, with a focus on the USA, Canada and Australia.
Recipients for the year 2000
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
As the 2000 recipient of the Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship, Aoife Nolan spent that summer in Seattle working on research for a private lawyer for an application to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, and in starting a joint human rights centre between the University of Washington and Seattle University.
William Sampson Fellowship
Flannary Collins and Nathan Kryszak were jointly awarded the William Sampson Fellowship. Their work at FLAC included research on policy by the Irish government in regards to the issues of asylum seekers to the country and work for the original FLAC website.
Recipients for the year 1999
Thomas Addis Emmet Fellowship
Nuala Ní Mhuircheartaigh became the first Thomas Addis Emmet Fellow. Nuala was a student at University College Dublin, completing her final year. During her time in Seattle, she worked at the Federal Public Defender's Office, where she was involved in cases dealing with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and the detention of several individuals who had been ordered for deportation from the U.S. She also researched the U.S. system of class action procedure.
William Sampson Fellowship
Kelly O'Connell, the William Sampson Fellow 1999, came to FLAC in the summer where she completed research started by Erin Healy in 1998. The research was on class actions in Ireland. Her conclusions showed that interest group representation would eventually achieve to the ultimate access to justice.
Recipients for the year 1998
William Sampson Fellowship
Erin Healy came to FLAC as the second William Sampson Fellow. She began research that summer on the topic of class actions. Her work would be finished by Kelly O'Connell the following year.
Recipients for the year 1997
William Sampson Fellowship
Matthew Miller was FLAC's first William Sampson Fellow. That summer, he worked on a paper that showed the benefits of amicus curiae and public interest briefs in the US and the practicability of introducing both to the Irish legal system.