Katharine Edwards, 2L, awarded Peggy Browning Fellowship

The Peggy Browning Fund has awarded a 10-week summer fellowship to Katharine Edwards, a second-year student at Lewis & Clark Law School. Katharine will spend the fellowship working at the National Employment Law Project in Seattle, WA. The application process is highly competitive, and the award is a tribute to her outstanding qualifications.

In 2016, the Peggy Browning Fund will support nearly 70 public interest labor law fellowships nationwide. Securing a Peggy Browning Fellowship is not an easy task, with over 325 applicants this year competing for the honor. Peggy Browning Fellows are distinguished students who have not only excelled in law school but who have also demonstrated their commitment to workers’ rights through their previous educational, work, volunteer and personal experiences. Katharine Edwards certainly fits this description.

Katharine first became interested in workers’ rights when she was attending University of Washington for her undergraduate degree. She took a course on the history of the labor movement and was fascinated and empowered by the impact that individuals could make by finding strength in coming together. Katharine focused her history degree on the history of the labor movement. During college she also worked as a maid; seeing firsthand the level of abuse and oppression that low wage workers face, and knowing that many of her coworkers were helpless to prevent it, motivated her to become an advocate for workers’ rights. She chose to attend law school at Lewis & Clark specifically because of the opportunities to get involved with labor and employment causes in the Pacific Northwest. During her first summer, she worked as a law clerk at Northwest Worker’s Justice Project, assisting low wage, contingent, and immigrant workers in employment law issues, and hopes to stay involved with the organization.

The Peggy Browning Fund is a not for-profit organization established in memory of Margaret A. Browning, a prominent union-side attorney who was a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from 1994 until 1997. Peggy Browning Fellowships provide law students with unique, diverse and challenging work experiences fighting for social and economic justice. These experiences encourage and inspire students to pursue careers in public interest labor law.

Story reprinted from a February 21 press release by the Peggy Browning Fund.