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Launching the Lauren Sampson Fellowship

Education, Employment, Events, Housing, Immigrant Rights, Police Accountability, Race and Climate, Racial Justice

Lawyers for Civil Rights Launches Lauren Sampson Fellowship

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) is committed to honoring the memory and legacy of our colleague Lauren Sampson. We are proud to announce the creation of a legal fellowship dedicated to deepening and expanding Lauren’s impactful work from housing to climate justice and beyond. 

The Lauren Sampson Fellowship will nurture the next generation of civil rights leaders to help fully realize Lauren’s vision of justice and equity. Our goal is to raise $300,000 as an initial investment in the coming months, so that the inaugural Lauren Sampson Fellow can begin working at LCR in Fall 2022. We invite you to join us as we honor Lauren’s memory with the creation of this fellowship.

Fellowship Background

The Lauren Sampson Fellowship is dedicated to the memory of LCR’s legal warrior Lauren Sampson, who passed away on January 30, 2022. Lauren was a distinguished civil rights attorney and community leader. She consistently impressed colleagues throughout the legal community with her powerful legal talent. She played a leading role in many precedent-setting cases, including:

Her legal analysis and commentary was prominently featured in the news, including publications such as the New York Times. A prolific writer, Lauren contributed thought-provoking pieces to WBUR and Commonwealth Magazine. In one of her latest, she called on the City of Boston to require “greenspace plans.” 

Through the creation of the Lauren Sampson Fellowship, LCR will honor Lauren’s powerful legacy while growing and broadening her inspiring work. The fellowship will also help nurture the next generation of civil rights attorneys and leaders. The fellowship will begin in Fall 2022.  

Eligibility

The Lauren Sampson Fellowship will create a full-time employment position for 1-2 years at LCR beginning in Fall 2022. Eligible candidates include:

  • recent law school graduates (with a strong preference for those who have already passed the bar);
  • attorneys who are completing temporary post-graduate employment (such as a judicial clerkship or another legal fellowship); and 
  • more experienced attorneys who are interested in civil rights work.

This opportunity is designed for law graduates. Law students interested in summer internships should consider LCR’s recently-launched Brown Rudnick Civil Rights Summer Fellowship.  

Fellowship Overview

The Lauren Sampson Fellow will be housed at LCR. The fellow will work under the supervision of LCR attorneys. The fellow will have the opportunity to work on the full-range of litigation and advocacy that LCR pursues in the areas of racial justice and immigrant rights. Fellows will gain substantial experience in civil rights advocacy and litigation, including: drafting and filing complaints and motions; conducting depositions and other discovery; presenting oral argument; engaging in administrative and appellate advocacy work; and promoting community legal education. 

LCR is committed to ensuring that the Lauren Sampson Fellow will focus on issues relating to housing and environmental justice, reflecting the advocacy areas to which Lauren dedicated her career. 

The fellowship will be for a one-year period, with the possibility of extension to a second year. As fellowship terms conclude, new fellows will be selected. The continuity of the fellowship will have a force multiplier effect: each successive fellow will make an impact expanding on the legacy they inherit. In this manner, LCR envisions creating a pipeline and community of attorneys who will embody Lauren’s legacy and advance her vision for years to come. 

Commitment and Investment

LCR is deeply committed to creating — and sustaining — the Lauren Sampson Fellowship. To make it sustainable long-term, we are inviting the community to help us honor Lauren by funding the fellowship. Our goal is an initial investment of $300,000 so that we can launch the fellowship in Fall 2022.

LCR has significant experience mentoring and guiding the next generation of civil rights attorneys through fellowships. We have frequently sponsored fellows who are funded from external sources. LCR has also created and hosted dedicated fellowships in the past, including the Ropes & Gray Civil Rights Fellowship formed in 2019), and the recently-launched Brown Rudnick Civil Rights Summer Fellowship. 

Ideally, the Lauren Sampson Fellowship will become a permanent LCR feature. After securing seed funding, LCR will continue to actively attract additional investment to sustain the fellowship across time. 

Committed Gifts

$25,000

Nisreen Sampson

$20,000

Ropes & Gray

$10,000

Scott Lewis

$5,000

Brown Rudnick

Eric Marandett

Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA)

Lisa Pirozzolo & Chris Goddu

Colin & Olivia Van Dyke

$2,500

Anderson & Kreiger

Casner & Edwards

Fair Work PC

Mathilda McGee-Tubb

Jim & Patti Messenger

Nixon Peabody

Oren Sellstrom

Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal & Seth Riseman

Jessica Soto

$1,500

David Lyons

Bryan Seelig

$1,000

Melissa Allison

Conservation Law Foundation

Inez Friedman-Boyce

Bill & Sandy Horne

Yalonda Howze

Kase Jubboori

Annie Lee

Mina Makarious

Chief Justice Margaret Marshall

Loretta Richard

Jenny Rikoski

David Zimmer

Up to $500

Steven Ayr

Laura Brooks

Jeff & Elizabeth Catalano

Barbara Chandler

Linda Davidson

Peter Enrich

Nina Garcia

Paul Holtzman & Carol Steiker

Jennifer Howard

Lisa Jacobson

Michael Lebednik

Rebecca MacDowell Lecaroz

Lauren Milgroom

Maria Belen Power

Christopher Queenin

Timothy Roskelley

Irene SanPietro

Alan Shapiro

Sherry Turner

Mary Rita Weschler

Mike Wishnie & Cathy Edwards

Denise Wolk

List in formation (last updated April 1, 2023). 

If you, your firm, or your organization are interested in helping us create this legacy in honor of Lauren Sampson, please contact LCR’s Executive Director Iván Espinoza-Madrigal (iespinoza@lawyersforcivilrights.org) so that we may add you to our donor list and publicly recognize your generosity.

You can also make a dedicated gift here.

Thank you for supporting Lauren!