ND Law School names 2019 Bank of America Foundation Fellows

Lauren Andrini, Jake Crammer, and Tashiana Stafford, three members of Notre Dame Law School’s Class of 2019, are this year’s Bank of America Foundation Fellows.

This year, the fellowship covers the cost of salary and benefits for two Notre Dame Law graduates to work for two years at a city agency or nonprofit organization of their choice and for one Notre Dame Law graduate to work for one year at a city agency or nonprofit organization of their choice. The fellows’ work must advance community sustainability, and fellows must provide legal services to low-income or other underrepresented populations.

Through the Bank of America Foundation Fellowship, fellows create their dream jobs. They select the organizations where they want to work and design the projects they will complete at those organizations.

Tashiana Stafford

Andrini will be a Bank of America Foundation Fellow at Kentucky Legal Aid in Owensboro, Kentucky, Crammer’s fellowship will take him to the Inner City Law Center in Los Angeles, and Stafford will complete her one-year fellowship at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Chicago.

All three students said the fellowship is enabling them to do the type of public interest work that inspired them to pursue a legal career.

“I am so thankful for this opportunity,” said Andrini. “Notre Dame Law has truly blessed me beyond what I ever could have imagined. I’ve always been passionate about assisting underserved populations and the fellowship gives me the chance to have an impact on many people who otherwise may not have access to legal representation.”

When awarded the fellowship, Crammer said, “I am grateful and humbled by Notre Dame’s willingness to fund my project. I decided to pursue law school so I could learn tools to help people facing consumer debt issues and housing issues, and this project combines both. Inner City Law Center has a long tradition of fighting for fair housing in Los Angeles, and I am excited to continue that tradition.”

Stafford said, “I’m honestly honored to be able to represent Notre Dame in the social justice work that I will be doing in my hometown. When I came to law school, I knew that I wanted to be a civil rights attorney; Notre Dame has nurtured that desire in ways that I could not have imagined.”

Andrini will provide direct legal assistance to low-income individuals in western Kentucky, with a focus on the impoverished rural population.

Andrini earned her bachelor’s degree in political science at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Andrini has been working to advance the public interest since before law school, tutoring children at the Refugee Education Center and Justice for Our Neighbors, where she helped refugees fill out immigration forms. She has continued her commitment to public interest while in law school. During the summer after her 2L year, she interned at the St. Joseph County Public Defender’s Office, Juvenile Justice Center and was a research assistant for Professor Jennifer Mason McAward, for whom she performed research on the impact and constitutionality of hate crime legislation. During the spring of her 3L year, Andrini interned for the National Immigrant Justice Center, where she represented an individual seeking asylum.

Through his project, Crammer will provide direct legal services and community education programs that tackle the economic barriers to housing impacting low-income and homeless individuals in Los Angeles.

Crammer earned his bachelor’s degree in theology from Seattle Pacific University. He dedicated himself to a public interest career from the first day he stepped foot on Notre Dame’s campus. He interned for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office during the summer after his 1L year, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Economic Justice Project in Montgomery, Alabama, the summer after his 2L year, and for the National Immigrant Justice Center during the spring semester of his 2L year. He also volunteered at the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic over winter break of his 1L year, participated in the Economic Justice Clinic at Notre Dame Law School, served on the Moot Court Board, and served as a member of the Notre Dame Law Review.

Stafford’s one-year project consists of a three-part advocacy initiative defending the educational rights of inner-city youth dealing with trauma stemming from gun violence.

Stafford earned her bachelor of arts in English literature and legal studies from Northwestern University. While at Notre Dame Law School, Stafford has taken advantage of many public interest opportunities, including externing for the City of Chicago Department of Law’s Federal Civil Rights Litigation Division during her 2L spring and the summer after her 2L year, interning for the Chicago State’s Attorney’s Office in the Felony Trial Division, serving as a research assistant to the Notre Dame Clinical Law Center during her the summer after her 1L year, participating in the Economic Justice Clinic at Notre Dame Law School, and volunteering at the Westville Prison through the Moreau College Initiative.

Stafford has taken her commitment to public interest global, as well. While participating in the Notre Dame London Law Program this semester, she worked at the Islington Law Centre in London on international immigration and asylum cases.

Andrini, Crammer, and Stafford are in the fifth class of Bank of America Foundation Fellows.

The fellowship launched at Notre Dame Law School in 2015. Past fellows have completed projects in Chicago, Detroit, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington, D.C. Current fellows from the class of 2018 are completing their fellowships in Albany, Chicago, and San Francisco.