11.24.23 — Chelsea Diaz ’24 has been awarded a two-year Skadden Fellowship, among the most competitive awards for law students pursuing careers in public interest law. Diaz will spend her fellowship at New Economy Project in New York City. There, she will provide direct legal representation, community legal education, and policy advocacy support to community-based organizations seeking to advance and sustain non-profit community land trusts to foster permanently affordable housing.
“My goal is to support communities of color in New York City as they utilize community land trusts (CLTs) to take land off the speculative market and ensure its uses remain aligned with community needs and values through resident-led governance,” said Diaz, who serves as a student attorney with Northeastern Law's Housing Rights Advocacy Clinic. “Many of New York City's CLTs are based in historically redlined Black and brown neighborhoods and work to combat displacement, foster permanently affordable housing, generate wealth and build organized, self-governed communities. I am eager to apply a community-based lawyering approach to build the legal, financial, and administrative infrastructure needed to foster and sustain CLTs in the long term.”
“We are thrilled that the Skadden Foundation chose to support Chelsea’s important work with New Economy Project,” said Renay Frankel ’06, managing director of the law school’s Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration. “Chelsea is an incredibly dedicated and skilled advocate, and we are proud that Northeastern students continue to be recognized for their steadfast commitment to social justice.”
About the Skadden Fellowship
The Skadden Fellowship Foundation, described as a “Legal Peace Corps” by the Los Angeles Times, was established in 1988 by the firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom to support students who have shown exceptional promise in the field of public interest law. The two-year fellowship gives fellows the freedom to pursue their interests in public interest work, providing legal services to the poor, elderly, homeless and disabled, as well as those deprived of human rights or civil rights. Only 28 individuals nationwide are annually selected for this high honor. To date, the foundation has funded more than 900 fellowships. Ninety percent of former fellows remain in public service, and almost all of them continue working on the same issues they addressed in their original fellowship projects.
About Northeastern University School of Law
The nation’s leader in experiential legal education since 1968, Northeastern University School of Law offers the longest-running, most extensive experience-based legal education program in the country and is a national leader in legal education reform. Founded with cooperative legal education as the cornerstone of its program, Northeastern guarantees its students unparalleled practical legal work experiences. All students participate in full-time legal placements, and can choose from the more than 1,500 employers worldwide participating in the school’s signature Cooperative Legal Education Program. The future of legal education since 1968, Northeastern University School of Law blends theory and practice, providing students with a unique set of skills and experience to successfully practice law.
For more information, contact d.feldman@northeastern.edu.