Three FAMU College of Law students were selected to participate in the 2010 Florida Bar Foundation Legal Services Summer Fellowship Program. Second-year law students Sopi Mitil and Johnathon Wright and first-year law student Matthew McLain are among 15 percent of all applicants chosen to participate in the 11-week program over the summer, which began May 24, and continues through August 6. The Florida Bar Foundation received 270 applications from in-state law students and 60 applications from out of state law students. A total of 40 students were selected to participate this year.Mitil was placed with the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association, a bar sponsored, general legal services provider serving indigent clients primarily in Orange County. Depending on the assignment, the fellow could work in the areas of family, juvenile, housing, immigration, public benefits, consumer law or juvenile law.
Wright and McLain were placed with Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida with branches in Orlando and Kissimmee. This is a large, federally funded general legal service provider where the fellow will work with a variety of public benefits matters in Orlando on assisting with fair housing, public housing, private landlord-tenant, and linked family law matters in Kissimmee.