Three OU Law Graduates Selected as First Gallogly Public Interest Fellows

Media Contact:  
Mackenzie A. Dilbeck
(405) 325-2227
mdilbeck@ou.edu

NORMAN — The University of Oklahoma College of Law is pleased to announce the selection of three of its 2016 graduates to the inaugural class of the Gallogly Family Foundation Public Interest Fellowship Program. Students Ge’Andra Johnson, Corie O’Rourke and Mary Beth Williams are the first to receive the fellowship. The Program supports recent graduates of a select number of leading law schools across the country. In its first year, the Gallogly Family Foundation selected the OU College of Law to serve as the pilot school for the Foundation’s fellowships.

“The OU College of Law is thrilled and honored to have been selected as the pilot school for the Gallogly Family Foundation Public Interest Fellowship Program,” said OU College of Law Dean Joseph Harroz Jr. “In its first year, the Program will support three exceptional OU Law graduates, each with a unique passion for public interest service. We are grateful to our alumnus, Jim Gallogly and Gallogly Family Foundation Executive Director Kasey DeLuke for choosing to provide OU Law graduates with this remarkable opportunity. Our alumni and friends continue to create opportunities for our students to pursue the careers of their dreams, and we are confident OU Law’s participation in the Program will open the door to meaningful public interest work for our students.”

At at time when funding for public interest legal services is in great need, the Gallogly Program exists to increase the number of people who receive those much-needed services and to help new lawyers pursue a career in public interest law. It is modeled after the prestigious Skadden Public Interest Fellowships.

Each Gallogly Fellowship includes a compensation and benefits package of $50,000 and is awarded for one year, with the option to renew for an additional year. Fellows work for a domestic 501(c)(3) non-profit on a new or existing project within the organization. Qualified organizations provide legal services to the poor and/or those deprived of their civil or human rights. As part of the application process, the Program’s first fellows, Johnson, O’Rourke and Williams, each proposed their own organization and project to the Foundation for consideration.

Johnson will work with Metropolitan Fair Housing Council of Oklahoma, Inc. monitoring fair housing complaint intakes and screenings, investigating complaints to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and serving as a fair housing advocate for petitioners. 

Working with the Washington D.C. based organization, Ayuda, O’Rourke will focus her fellowship on serving immigrants from more than 104 countries by providing legal support in various situations including family-based immigration applications, humanitarian applications and naturalization petitions.

Williams will spend her fellowship working with Oklahoma Indian Legal Services serving low-income Native American citizens of Oklahoma in status-related civil legal issues such as the Indian Child Welfare Act, trust and restricted land ownership, Indian wills and probates and sovereignty.  

“The Gallogly Family Foundation is thrilled to partner with OU Law on this important project,” said DeLuke. “We are proud of our first fellows and are grateful that we can support the critical work they will do serving others.”

Jim Gallogly, a 1977 graduate of the OU College of Law, had a highly successful career in oil and gas, holding many executive positions with Phillips, Chevron Phillips Chemical and ConocoPhillips before being named Chief Executive Officer of LyondellBassell Industries. He led the company out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, transforming it into what is now one of the world’s largest plastics, chemical and refining companies. He currently serves on the Board of Directors at DuPont, where he provides leadership in corporate governance and strategic planning.