When Equal Justice America talks about building the next generation of public interest lawyers, the impact extends far beyond a single summer.

A’Niya Robinson is one example.

As an EJA Fellow while attending Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, A’Niya gained hands-on experience working on issues affecting people who might otherwise go without legal representation. She received two EJA Fellowships while in law school and worked on immigration and workers’ rights issues as she developed her commitment to public-interest advocacy.

Today, A’Niya continues that work as a civil-rights advocate. Her career has included developing advocacy campaigns, building coalitions, engaging communities and working on issues affecting people impacted by inequitable systems.

Her path illustrates one of the long-term goals of EJA’s Fellowship Program. Fellowships do more than add badly needed capacity to legal aid organizations for a summer. They give talented law students an opportunity to discover how their skills can be used in service of others and to begin building careers committed to access to justice.

Since 1993, thousands of EJA Fellows have taken that first step. Many, like A’Niya, have gone on to become leaders in civil rights, legal aid, public policy and other fields where they continue working to make the promise of equal justice more real.