DePaul College of Law student Margaret Kuzma knew she wanted to dedicate her professional life to helping military veterans after she directed a sexual assault prevention program on two different United States Army bases. So much so that she enrolled in law school to help reach her goal.  Now, after being named one of this year’s recipients of  the prestigious Skadden Fellowship, Kuzma will be able to provide low-income military families the type of legal assistance she knows they merit.

“Working with active duty families was tremendously rewarding, but I wanted to do more,” said Kuzma who is in her third year of law school at DePaul. “I decided to go to law school so that I could have the skills and knowledge to actively seek systemic change for military families, sexual assault survivors and other vulnerable populations.  As a Skadden Fellow,  I hope to provide the legal services these families so desperately need and deserve.”

Skadden Fellowships are administered by the Skadden Foundation, which was established in 1988 by the law firm of  Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. The foundation awards scholarships to a select and distinguished group of law students from  around the country who, like Kuzma, aim to put their legal skills to work for the public good. Fellows are identified for the highly competitive two-year fellowships based on their academic performance, demonstrated commitment to the public interest and the quality of a project they design that expressly meets the legal needs of the less fortunate in society.  Each recipient works with a sponsoring organization to complete their projects during the course of the fellowship. The Skadden Foundation pays the fellow’s salary and for any fringe benefits they would receive as an employee of their sponsoring organization.

Kuzma learned about the Skadden Fellowship after connecting with Sarah Klaper, a legal writing instructor at the DePaul College of Law and an Illinois National Guard spouse. Klaper was able to link Kuzma with the  33rd Brigade Combat Team Family Readiness Leader and together the three put together a blueprint for a legal support program. “The three of us discussed all the legal needs of military families and my program was born,” said Kuzma.

Kuzma will work with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (LAF) during her fellowship.  Together, Kuzma and LAF will provide direct legal services to Illinois military families, specifically members of the Illinois National Guard, who face another deployment in 2013.  According to Kuzma, they will offer legal services that cover a range of issues including employment law, consumer protection, housing law and family law.  “My focus on the military community will allow me to holistically address all the families’ needs instead of only those in one particular area of the law.”

While attending law school at DePaul, Kuzma, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, concentrated her studies in the areas of family and public interest law and thrived.  Her efforts were so outstanding that she received scholarships from the law school’s Schiller DuCanto and Fleck Family Law Center and earned one of the center’s most coveted internship placements with the women’s issues division of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

Kuzma is the first DePaul law student to win one of the highly competitive Skadden Fellowships in 20 years. It is a testament to her academic excellence and dedication to helping the underserved.  "Margaret is an extraordinarily worthy fellowship winner and a superior student who is very committed to helping low-income veterans,” said
Leonard Cavise, director of the Center for Public Interest Law at DePaul. “For DePaul to be recognized with a Skadden winner is further evidence that our public interest-oriented programs are being noticed and recognized as among the best in the country.”

Established in 1912, the College of Law enrolled 1,031 students during the 2011-2012 academic year.  Its research centers and institutes focus on issues such as public interest law, family law, international aviation law, dispute resolution, criminal defense and intellectual property law.  Included among DePaul College of Law alumni are state and federal judges, municipal, county and state leaders and two generations of Chicago mayors.