Annabel Rodriguez grew up in Boston in a Spanish-speaking home where, from childhood, she was the family translator and advocate. She didn’t think a career in law was within her reach until she got a unique opportunity in college to enroll in a fellowship at the federal courthouse.
Throughout a six-week program with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Rodriguez observed judges listening to complex arguments, met legal professionals who came from various backgrounds, and took workshops in civil rights, public speaking, legal writing, financial literacy, dispute resolution, and more. Fast-forward 14 years, and she is now an attorney volunteering at the very fellowship that gave her the building blocks to launch her legal career.
Annabel Rodriguez, left, stands alongside Julian Mundele, right, a volunteer attorney for the fellowship programs, during an anniversary event at the John J. Moakley U.S. District Courthouse in Boston.
Rodriguez participated in the Lindsay Fellowship for college students. The Nelson Fellowship is for high school students. A number of graduates from each of these programs find ways to give back by participating as adults in supporting the summer fellowship programs.
“Interactions with the students help make their dreams seem possible,” Rodriguez said. “One student told me that seeing a Latina woman doing what she loves inspired her.”
The federal court’s fellowship programs have not only launched careers in the legal field, but they have earned a reputation for attracting young people who are motivated to give back.
The District of Massachusetts welcomed alumni back to the federal courthouse in Boston to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Nelson Fellows program and the 16th anniversary of the Lindsay Fellows program in late July. Since the inception of the two programs, approximately 500 students have participated, learning and practicing valuable legal skills and life skills that they can use within their communities and spheres of influence.
The Nelson and Lindsay Fellowship programs honor the late Judge David S. Nelson, and the late Judge Reginald C. Lindsay. Nelson and Lindsay were, respectively, the first and second African Americans appointed to the federal bench in Massachusetts. Both are described by those who knew them as inspiring role models and mentors committed to giving back to underserved youth. Every summer the court chooses 10 to 12 high school students to be Nelson Fellows and six to eight college students to be Lindsay Fellows. The candidates are selected through a competitive process from a pool of more than 100 applicants from a range of backgrounds.
The current class of Lindsay and Nelson Fellows stands between portraits of the judges named after the programs.
“Judge Nelson and Judge Lindsay would be incredibly proud of the fellows,” said U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein, who has been involved with the programs since the infancy of these transformative initiatives. She and U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley currently serve as co-chairs of the programs.
“The fellows really reflect the judges’ values of giving back,” Dein said. “Through the court — and its partnership with the legal community — opportunities have opened up for students committed to being proactive in their communities.”
Over the years, Dein has seen how the fellowships have not only changed the lives of young people, but the initiative has brought the court and legal communities closer as they have expanded the program.
“Judges, lawyers, and court personnel across the board are deeply invested in the program,” Dein said. For example, in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dein was concerned about maintaining the initiative.
“Everyone rose to the challenge and insisted on maintaining our momentum,” Dein said. With some virtual adjustments, the program continued as planned. “I knew then that nothing would derail our momentum going into the future.”
Dein praised project coordinator Caleb Houston for his role in expanding participation in the fellowships through his proactive outreach and student recruitment efforts. He invites schools into the courthouse for events and facilitates judges visiting classrooms to build interest in the fellowships.
“We create opportunities for personal interaction at the courthouse and in classrooms to ignite the interest and involvement of future fellows,” Houston said. “Students can be very skeptical of the courts. Meeting and working with judges, attorney volunteers and non-attorney court professionals puts a human face on the system that they can relate to.”
Daisy Ogbesoyen is an alumna of the Nelson Fellowship who now serves as the lead fellowship coordinator. The coordinators serve a two-year term with the court – starting the first year as the deputy coordinator and the second year as the lead coordinator.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein, left, Daisy Ogbesoyen, center, and U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley, right, pose for a photo during a fellowship anniversary event.
“I’m a Type A person,” Ogbesoyen said. “I started planning my path in middle school and went through the program while my mother was being treated for breast cancer. The coordinators became my family. I knew then that I wanted to give back to the program, and it is a privilege to do so.”
Fellowship experiences also can have a healing effect on those who feel disappointed by the court system. A young man told Kelley that witnessing a mediation motivated him to explore a career in alternative dispute resolution because he wanted people like his father, who had interactions with the courts, to have a less adversarial experience. He felt that the traditional courtroom was not a place to holistically address all of the complexities of his father’s legal problems.
“This young man came to me in a very emotional state,” Kelley said. “And I was able to talk him through his experience so that he could come out on the other side motivated to get involved, rather than give up.”
That story is just one of many examples of how the fellowships have changed lives and created opportunities to give back while introducing young people to a range of legal careers — with or without a law degree.
Anna Zhao, a former Nelson Fellow, who now works on the professional administrative side of a Boston law firm, credits the program for opening doors to legal careers that most people don’t know are part of the court system.
Anna Zhao, left, hugs U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein, right, during a fellowship anniversary event.
“The program helped me — and other students — come into our passion for the legal field,” Zhao said. “The program does a good job of helping students see and witness legal professionals who look like them and have a similar background. That is why so many alumnae come back to the program as volunteers.”
The Massachusetts initiative has inspired similar court programs, including the Kazen Fellowship Program in Laredo, TX.
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