Student awarded Irmas Fellowship in Public Interest Law

Third-year Gould student Carson Scott has been awarded the Irmas Fellowship in Public Interest Law.

Carson Scott (JD Class of 2020)

Scott, who served as The Barbara F. Bice Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) president for 2018-2019, will complete her fellowship, following graduation, at Immigrant Defenders Law Center, an organization founded by Gould alumna and former Irmas Fellow Lindsay Toczylowski (JD 2008). Scott’s project for the year will be fighting for children seeking asylum in the United States. 

“Under the current administration, there have been sweeping changes to immigration law and our country’s asylum process that have created a humanitarian crisis at our southern border,” Scott says. “The Irmas Fellowship gave me the opportunity to develop a project that combines my experiences as an educator and a law student clinician in response to the ongoing immigration crisis emerging out of the Migrant Protection Protocols. Through this project and my partnership with ImmDef, I hope to use creative litigation to preserve the due process rights and legal reliefs of unaccompanied minors affected by the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy.”

The Irmas Fellowship supports a USC Gould School of Law graduate for a full year in the area of public interest law. The Barbara F. Bice Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF), whose mission is to provide legal services to poor, underrepresented, or disenfranchised groups and individuals in society, administers this fellowship. The fellowship is named for Sydney (JD 1955) and Audrey Irmas, who provided crucial support to PILF and public interest law through an array of activities.