WNT Announces 2024 Employment Law Scholarship Winner
July 1, 2024
The Charles E. Joseph Employment Law Scholarship awards $1,000 to a law student preparing for a career as a plantiffs’ employment lawyer.
Working Now and Then awarded the sixth annual Charles E. Joseph Employment Law scholarship in June 2024. The $1,000 scholarship, which supports law students considering careers in plaintiffs’ employment law, will go to Jeff Harris for the 2024/2025 academic year.
“As a first-generation student, I worked hard in my undergraduate program to leave with as little debt as possible,” says Harris. “I will be doing the same in law school, and this generous scholarship will be a great help to making my goals easier to reach.”
Harris will bring over a decade of experience in construction and operations management to law school. In particular, Harris’s background in risk management informs his educational and professional goals.
“I have spent my career working to ensure that the people I am in care of know their rights and exercise them when necessary,” Harris relates. “Unfortunately, the reality is that it can be challenging to do at times, even in our modern world.”
In the fall, Harris will attend Cleveland State University College of Law.
The 2024 scholarship cycle saw a record number of applicants from many highly-qualified current and incoming law students. As part of the decision process, the scholarship committee reviewed essays on the biggest challenge facing workers’ rights. Harris drew on his professional experience to assess the challenges workers face in exercising their rights.
As Harris argues in his winning essay, companies will neglect employee welfare unless it becomes a core value, posing a significant challenge for advocates of workers’ rights. The essay will be featured on the Working Now and Then blog.
In 2024, the scholarship committee also recognized runner-up Taylor Niederland, an incoming law student at Boston College Law School. “I am excited to commence my law school education and incredibly grateful for this scholarship opportunity,” Niederland says.
Niederland’s essay examined the exploitation of undocumented workers who fear employer retaliation.
The scholarship, named for Working Now and Then founder Charles Joseph, supports future employment attorneys fighting for workers’ rights. It also recognizes exceptional law students with bright futures in the field.
The WNT Blog will publish essays from winner Jeff Harris, runner-up Taylor Niederland , and several honorable mentions. The series, titled Law Students on Workers’ Rights, will begin publication in July 2024.
In addition to the law student scholarship, the Working Now and Then Undergraduate Scholarship will award a $1,000 scholarship to an undergraduate student considering a career in employment law in December 2024.
Working Now and Then is a resource on workers’ rights. Charles Joseph, the founder of Working Now and Then, also founded the New York employment law firm Joseph & Kirschenbaum.