Public Interest Law Section presents the 2008 Outstanding
Public
Interest Law Students Award
Camille Monahan, left, with Chief Justice Abrahamson.
The Public Interest Law Section’s mission is to
provide a forum for public interest lawyers statewide to discuss and
promote public interest issues and concerns, to encourage and strengthen
the interest and participation of State Bar members in providing public
interest services to individuals and groups, and to enhance the
viability and visibility of public interest law.
Camille
Monahan, Marquette
Camille Monahan is a third-year law student at Marquette
University
Law School. She received a B.A. from Purdue University in 1995 and her
M.H.R.I.R from the University of Illinois in 2001. Monahan has worked
both domestically and internationally on human dignity issues. As a
Peggy Browning Fund Fellow and as a Marquette Law School Public Interest
Law Society Fellow, Monahan had the opportunity to work with labor
organizations on cutting edge litigation and alternative dispute
resolution procedures. As a Temple University Institute for the Study of
Race and Social Thought Research Fellow, Monahan was able to quantify
opportunity disparities for women in Barbados and participate in a
national discussion on the enhancement of women’s
rights.
Karen Siettmann, U.W.
Karen Siettmann, left, with Chief Justice Abrahamson.
Karen Siettmann is a third-year student at the U.W. Law School.
Before
law school, she worked as a paralegal and volunteered as outreach
director for
HeadCount, a national
nonpartisan, non-profit organization dedicated to voter registration and
inspiring participation in democracy through the power of music.
HeadCount registers young people to vote at concerts. During law school,
Siettmann became heavily involved with the Student Hurricane Network,
working at New Orleans Legal Assistance during three trips to the Gulf
Coast. She has been active in the Public Interest Law Foundation,
National Lawyers Guild, SBA, and is a member of the
Wisconsin Law
Review. In 2008, Karen co-authored a
Wisconsin
Lawyer™
magazine article on the
College
Cost Reduction and Access Act. She has completed summer internships
at Community Justice, Inc. and the Dane County Corporation
Counsel’s Office and participated in externships at the Wisconsin
Court of Appeals and Wisconsin Department of Justice Consumer Protection
Unit. She currently is a project assistant for the U.W. Law Pro Bono
Partnership. She plans to pursue a career in public interest law after
graduation.