Over the last couple of years that we’ve offered the Bridge Fellowship Program, several fellow graduates have parlayed their volunteer positions into permanent attorney positions, including Erica Corns, SF DA’s Office, Kalla Hirschbein, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Kate Carroll, U.S. Postal Service, and most recently, your classmate Sharon Alkire, who will be heading up a new special LGBT victims of domestic violence unit for the Alameda County DA’s office.
Granted that not all volunteer work becomes permanent, but Bridge Fellowships are a fantastic way to gain additional legal experience while receiving a stipend and separately looking for long-term work - no more than 20 hours/week is required of a Bridge fellow and you are free to leave at any time. When applying for other positions, potential employers love to see that you are doing some legal work and are engaged in the profession.
I know you will find Sharon’s story inspiring:
I knew I wanted to meet and make an impression on Alameda District Attorney and fellow alumna Nancy O'Malley since so many people, including me, admire her progressive, significant work, such as her efforts to stop human trafficking. I found ways to introduce myself to Nancy, and on the fourth try, at GGU’s Judith McKelvey Women's Alumni Reunion, I mentioned to her that I was interested in doing LGBT rights law. She said she’d been thinking about a program to address LGBT domestic violence. I knew that GGU offered a Bridge Fellowship, so I stepped right up and told her I'd be very interested in getting on board. However, it turned out there wasn't a "board" to get on yet. Nancy was asking me to create the foundation of the program for her office, with the goal of increasing cultural competency. There was no way I could pass this up. I used the Bridge Fellowship to help me make this happen.
Three months into my fellowship, I am developing a county-wide program to identify and address issues unique to LGBT victims of domestic violence to improve the cultural competency of district attorneys, victims’ rights advocates and support staff who work with LGBT survivors. I am also working on initiatives to maximize outreach to a wide variety of LGBT organizations and provide systematic public education about the prevalence of same-sex and transgender domestic violence. My supervisors are working with me to turn my Bridge fellowship into a full-time paid position. Part of my work right now is to find potential grants. I couldn't have asked for a better start to my legal career!
If interested, or to learn more about Bridge Fellowships, contact Leeor Neta at lneta@ggu.edu. Bridge Fellowship applications can be found on LCSonline.
