GW Law’s David Boord, JD ‘26, was selected for the two-year Skadden Fellowship, a program that provides recent law school graduates with the opportunity to pursue a full-time public interest career.
David is one of just 34 law students across the country selected for the fellowship. He will work at the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska in Anchorage, focused on a project to combine strategic litigation, political advocacy, and community outreach to advance housing rights for low-income rural Alaskans.
David was inspired to work on rural housing and homelessness in Alaska after spending last summer as a legal clerk for Earthjustice in Anchorage. In that position David learned about how climate change and infrastructure challenges have made it difficult for rural Alaskans, and in particular Alaska Natives, to access affordable housing in rural parts of the state.
“My job had several trainings on working with Alaska Native clients, which is where I learned about the exacerbated effects of climate change impacting housing infrastructure in remote parts of the state,” David said. “In law school, I’ve focused on environmental and housing justice, and the unique problem my project seeks to address lies at the intersection of the two.”
In addition to funding David’s project and position at the ACLU, the Skadden Fellowship will provide him with training, feedback, and consultation on his project as well as connections to a network of over 1,000 fellows from throughout the project’s 30 year history.
David relied heavily on the GW Law Career Development Office in his preparation for the fellowship. He worked with Jessica Battle, Assistant Director of Career Counseling, who served as a sounding board while he was putting together the project and helped him practice interviewing. He also worked with Erin Kelly, Assistant Director of Career Counseling, to set up a mock interview with GW Law Associate Dean of Public Interest & Public Service Law Alan Morrison and GW Law Associate Dean of Experiential Programs Carmia Caesar.
"The Career Development Office is thrilled that David Boord '26 has been awarded a Skadden Fellowship,” said Suzanne Hard, Associate Dean for the Career Development Office. “David was an incredibly strong candidate, and I am so proud of the way members of the GW Law team supported him throughout the application process. Whether it was one-on-one counseling from Assistant Director Jessica Battle, or Associate Director Erin Kelly's coordination with Dean Alan Morrison and Dean Carmia Caesar to provide mock interview support, this work shows the strengths of our community and our commitment to helping students achieve their career goals."
Students who are interested in pursuing a project like David’s, whether it be for the Skadden Fellowship or something else, should not be afraid to reach out for support and guidance, he said. David contacted many experts on environmental law, public interest law, and the rural Alaskan community for advice and support on his project.
“When it feels like so many people are cheering you on, it’s one of the most motivating feelings and was the most effective thing for me to push away thoughts of self-doubt or imposter syndrome,” David said. “Each conversation also made me increasingly excited to return to Alaska to reconnect with all the people I’d met and to carry out my project.”
You can see the full list of Skadden fellows and learn more about David’s project at the Skadden Fellowship website.