W&L Alum Wins Legal Fellowship
Rich Cleary, a 2009 graduate of Washington and Lee and a second-year student at Columbia Law School, has received the 2013 Honorable Charles L. Brieant, Jr., Fellowship from the New York Bar Foundation.
Under the $5,000 fellowship, Rich is working this summer under the supervision of the Hon. Loretta A. Preska, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He is researching and writing about issues facing the court as a whole.
In a news release announcing the fellowship, Rich said: “It is an honor to have been selected as the Brieant fellow. I am grateful for the financial contribution to my legal education. The opportunity to intern for Chief Judge Preska in this capacity is particularly meaningful.”
After graduating from W&L, where he was president of the Executive Committee of the Student Body, Rich earned an M. Phil. from Trinity College of the University of Cambridge in international relations. Prior to entering law school at Columbia, he worked as a research assistant for the American Enterprise Institute.
At Columbia, he’s a James Kent Scholar, which recognizes academic distinction in each of the three law school classes, a member of the Law Review, and co-president of the Federalist Society.
The president of the New York Bar Foundation, Cristine Cioffi, said: “The Foundation is pleased to recognize Richard Cleary with the Charles L. Brieant, Jr. Fellowship. He is an accomplished young man with a bright future ahead of him. We expect that this fellowship will be the first of his many career accomplishments.”
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