KU law student from Salina wins fellowship to advocate for workers' rights in D.C.

LAWRENCE, KS (03/27/2012)(readMedia)-- Second-year law student Eric Sader has received a prestigious Peggy Browning Fellowship and will spend 10 weeks this summer advocating for workers' rights in Washington, D.C.

More than 500 students from 125 participating law schools applied for this award, and Sader was one of only about 70 chosen for the public interest labor law fellowship. He is currently pursuing graduate degrees at the University of Kansas in law and social work. He is a 2005 Salina High School South graduate and is the son of Dale Sader and Mary Cook. Sader found the award listed in an email from the law school's Office of Career Services and was immediately interested in the opportunity to promote the rights and needs of workers.

"I was incredibly excited and grateful upon hearing the offer to accept a Peggy Browning Fellowship with the American Federation of Government Employees," he said. "It's the largest federal-sector labor union, and the Fund is particularly exciting because it provides mentoring, networking and other support even beyond the fellowship term."

Sader graduated from McPherson College with degrees in history, communications and philosophy and religion. He has returned to McPherson for several summers on KU law school public interest fellowships to volunteer for the Ulster Project, which addresses religious sectarian divide among Northern Irish youth. Outside of the classroom, Sader serves as chief justice of the university's Student Court of Appeals and an audio-reader for the visually impaired. He was named a 2011 KU Man of Merit.

Sader will use his talents to fight for labor justice in the nation's capital.

"As a legal intern, I will be performing legal research and writing involving a wide variety of issues in federal and D.C. public sector labor law," he said. "I will also have the opportunity to prepare appeals and written arguments on behalf of workers. This involves exciting frontline work with client intakes and witness interviews."

After graduation Sader plans to stay flexible, but will focus on using his legal skills to advance progressive causes. He is particularly interested in alternative dispute resolution.

Applicants for the fellowship had to be first- or second-year students in good standing from a Peggy Browning Fund participating law school. The Peggy Browning Fund is a not-for-profit organization established in memory of Margaret A. Browning, a prominent union-side attorney who was a Member of the National Labor Relations Board from 1994 until 1997.

Peggy Browning Fellowships provide law students with unique, diverse and challenging work experiences fighting for social and economic justice. These experiences encourage and inspire students to pursue careers in public interest labor law.