November 15, 2018 – DLA Piper is pleased to announce that Caroline Fish and Lizzy Westrope have joined the firm as its eighth class of Krantz Fellows.
Through the Krantz Fellowship Program, DLA Piper annually selects two new associates to spend their first year at the firm working exclusively on pro bono matters. The firm created the program in honor of Sheldon Krantz, a former partner and director of New Perimeter, DLA Piper’s nonprofit affiliate that provides long-term pro bono legal assistance in under-served regions around the world.
“For the past seven years, our Krantz Fellows have significantly enhanced our efforts to make a positive impact around the world, and they have done so while gaining valuable professional skills that will serve them throughout their careers,” said Lisa Dewey, director of New Perimeter and US pro bono partner for DLA Piper. “We are pleased to welcome Caroline and Lizzy, and we know that they will continue to make important contributions to our pro bono work in the US and abroad.”
Based in the firm’s New York office, Fish will spend half of her time serving pro bono clients in the United States, including prisoner’s rights and asylum matters, and half of her time working with New Perimeter.
“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to dedicate my first year at DLA Piper to pro bono work,” Fish said. “Through my professional background in social work, I’ve had the chance to advocate for vulnerable children and adults, which made a tremendous impact on my outlook and reinforced my desire to work to improve access to vital resources, including legal representation, across the country and around the world.”
Westrope will be based in the firm’s Chicago office and will focus her work on criminal records relief, prisoners’ rights and immigration cases.
“During law school, I learned firsthand how rewarding pro bono work is and what a significant positive effect it can have, and I knew I wanted to make service to at-risk groups a focus of my career,” Westrope said. “DLA Piper’s commitment to pro bono service is truly commendable, and the Krantz Fellowship is the ideal opportunity to build my legal skills while diving into meaningful pro bono projects with the support of the firm.”
After completing the fellowship, Krantz Fellows transition into traditional associate roles within their respective practice groups, while remaining active in pro bono initiatives.
Fish received her J.D., magna cum laude, from St. John’s University School of Law, where she was an International Honors Program Scholar and a fellow in the Center for International and Comparative Law, and her B.A. in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also a licensed social worker in New York state and received her M.S.W. from Washington University in St. Louis. She has worked with at-risk youth in rural Maine as an Americorps member, with youth survivors of commercial sexual exploitation at nonprofits in New York City and St. Louis, on human trafficking and child exploitation cases in the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, in the Chambers of the International Criminal Court as a legal intern, and in DLA Piper’s Paris office as the pro bono intern for continental Europe. She has also published three articles on issues of human trafficking in the National Law Review, the St. John’s Law Review, and the New York International Law Review.
Westrope received her J.D. from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Notre Dame. As a law student, she petitioned to expunge clients’ criminal records, filed clemency petitions, helped litigate several cases alleging inadequate mental health care in Illinois jails, worked to protect the rights of transgender prisoners in Illinois, and traveled to the Swinomish Reservation to improve the tribal court’s ability to protect women against violence. In addition, her article entitled “Employment Discrimination on the Basis of Criminal History: Why an Anti-Discrimination Statute is a Necessary Remedy” was published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology.
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