RAPPAPORT CENTER FOR LAW AND PUBLIC SERVICE

The newly-established Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service was created in 2007 as the result of a $5 million gift from the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation and from Jerome and Phyllis Rappaport. The gift was the largest contribution ever received by Suffolk Law School. The first endowed chair in Suffolk's history, the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Chair in Law and Public Policy, was also created through the endowment. The Center builds on the Law School's historic strength in educating, supporting and mentoring students with an interest in public policy and public service.

The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service is home to the already-thriving Rappaport Fellows Program in Law and Public Policy, a highly competitive program established in 2000 to provide access to summer internships, educational programming, stipends and individual mentoring for 12 law students selected annually from among applicants from Boston's six law schools. Designed as a partner of, and complement to, the public policy fellowship program of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston based at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, the Rappaport Law and Public Policy Program since its inception has supported more than 70 fellowships for Boston's law students and has collaborated with Harvard to provide seminars and other activities for the more than 130 students from universities around the Boston area who have served as Rappaport Fellows.

A Convening Point for Programs and People

In addition to serving as the home of the Rappaport Fellowship Program, the new Center for Law and Public Service will initiate new programs and will weave together, optimize and augment Suffolk Law School's many other already-existing government, public policy, and public interest resources and initiatives such as the Summer Public Service Fellowship Program, the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, a variety of public service fellowships and scholarships, and programs providing placement and career advice for students interested in pro bono and public interest work.

The Center also serves as a convening point for state and local policy-makers, policy experts, faculty and staff from other law schools and universities, and citizens interested in public policy, best practices and an improved civic fabric. The Center, located in the Law School's new building in downtown Boston and close to both the State House and City Hall, is positioned to become a major meeting place and forum for engagement in public issues for faculty, students, government officials and policymakers.