Rutgers Law Public Interest programs were celebrated in  late October with the annual Mary Philbrook Public Interest Award celebration in Camden and the People’s Electric Mixer in Newark.

This year was the 35th annual Philbrook celebration, which honored Sharon King RLAW ’93 and Stanley King RLAW ’94 and several law students. The event was sponsored by the Women’s Law Caucus, the Association for Public Interest Law, the Rutgers Law–Camden Alumni Association, and the Camden County Bar Association.

The Kings are South Jersey civil rights lawyers who have been representing plaintiffs in police misconduct and wrongful-death cases since the mid-1990’s. The couple, partners in life and in law practice, have prevailed in scores of David v. Goliath cases, winning million-dollar settlements for victims and families of those killed or injured in violent encounters with law enforcement.

Student honorees were chosen for their outstanding public service contributions in the community or at Rutgers, for demonstrating exceptional commitment to the public interest, all while maintaining a GPA of at least 2.5. This year’s student honorees included Sarah Ballentine RLAW ’20, Lauren Bateman RLAW ’20, Caitlin Flynn RLAW ’20, and Noelle Hanrahan RLAW’20, Liliya Bondarenko RLAW ’21, Sydney Groll RLAW ’21, Morgan Humphrey RLAW ’21, Aryn Keyel RLAW ’21, Jenise Rivera RLAW ’21 and Jason Stump RLAW ’21.

In Newark, this year’s People’s Electric Mixer, hosted by the Public Interest Law Foundation, invited public interest lawyers, law students, and others to a virtual celebration to raise money for summer stipends for students who want to work for the public good. Previous student stipend recipients talked about their summer jobs, working on everything from helping death penalty clients in Georgia to helping at the ACLU. Attendees got to participate in break-out rooms to hear more about their interesting work.