![\"Deepali](\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/assets\/21865\/student_deepali_doddi_story.jpg\" "\\"Deepali")
Deepali Doddi began her 2L year unsure about what her future would hold. She had considered public interest law, but wanted more exposure to that type of work before committing to it.<\/p>\n Deepali Doddi began her 2L year unsure about what her future would hold. She had considered public interest law, but wanted more exposure to that type of work before committing to it.<\/p>\n
Enter the Law School\u2019s Summer Stipend Program, which provides students with financial support to take otherwise unfunded public interest law positions during the summer months. Unique in size and scope, the program allows more than 100 students each year to pursue legal work with a public service component, providing them with valuable skills, contacts, and experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had taken Professor Hull\u2019s disability law class and really enjoyed it, so I pursued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for my Summer Stipend experience,\u201d says Doddi. \u201cI felt a real connection to the work I did on a disability discrimination case in the Department\u2019s Office for Civil Rights, and that helped cement my decision to work in the public interest sector,\u201d says Doddi. \u201cWithout the Summer Stipend Program, I wouldn\u2019t have had the opportunity to explore this area of the law.\u201d As a result of her great work last summer, the Office for Civil Rights offered Doddi a permanent legal position in the Chicago field office, which she\u2019ll begin upon graduation this spring.<\/p>\n
Last summer, NDLS<\/span> awarded more than $500,000 to participating students, with more than a quarter of that money coming from alumni, student organizations, and the Dean\u2019s discretionary fund (the remainder is federal work study money). This year, Dean Nell Newton will commit even more resources to the program.<\/p>\n