Summer 2009 - Cumberland School of Law - Samford University

Students Benefit from
Public Interest Stipend Program
Each year, students are invited to participate
in the Cumberland Public
Interest Project, including the
Summer Public Interest Stipend
Program, which provides grants ranging
from $1,200 to $2,000 to students who
wish to work for uncompensated public
interest placements. Stipends are awarded
based on the educational benefit of the
proposed work experience, the benefit to
the community of the proposed work
experience and the student’s expressed
interest in pursuing a career in public
interest work.The stipends are available
through the Henry G. and Henry U. Sims
Foundation, the generosity of alumni and
other fund-raising efforts.
This summer, a record number of
Cumberland School of Law students are
volunteering 6–12 weeks of their time in
public interest and public service placements.
Placements range from the governor’s
legal office in Montgomery,Ala., to
the International Criminal Tribunal at The
Hague in the Netherlands.
The Public Interest Stipend Program
allows students to experience the importance
of public service that they might not
have otherwise. Here, four students share
how the program affected their views,
career paths and priorities.
Edmonds Parlays
Internship into New Career
Brad Edmonds ’09 had been thinking
about law school for more than 20 years.
With a variety of degrees under his belt,
including an M.B.A., doctorate of music
and master’s in psychology, he had worked
in many fields, had published more than
16 SUMMER 2009 • THE CUMBLERLAND LAWYER
BradEdmonds
250 political/economic commentary
articles on the Internet and had written a
book by the time he was 38.After he and
his wife, Linda, married in 2006, they