Joe Gietl will begin law school in the fall of 2010 as a part-time night student at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.  Joe may be starting law school this fall but he clearly is continuing a long road of commitment to assist low-income people to have access to our justice system. 

Joe graduated from Marquette University in May of 2006.  While at Marquette, among other volunteer activities, Joe managed the budget, fundraising and events of an organization that raised awareness of homelessness and placed student volunteers at various community organizations.  After graduating Summa Cum Laude, he worked for three years as a paralegal in Los Angeles, first on immigration issues and then assisting low-income, Spanish speaking clients on housing and benefits issues.  For the 2009-2010 school year he moved back to Milwaukee where he was a Spanish teacher in a low-income Milwaukee public high school.  While he attends law school, Joe will work as a bi-lingual immigration paralegal at the National Immigrant Justice Center.  From these experiences Joe better understands both his clients and their needs, and equally as important he has a realistic expectation of the life style of a public interest law attorney who does not expect to make the handsome salary of attorneys in many other areas of law.   From these experiences he also learned that providing access to justice is not only about getting the win but also about “treating each human being with dignity and respect….”

In his scholarship application to the CBF, Joe makes the statement that he plans to be a leader in the Chicago public interest law community; given Joe’s history the Scholarship Selection Committee confidently awarded the 2010 CBF Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Public Interest Law Scholarship to Joe and looks forward to both assisting him and watching him become that leader.