News 2016: First UMass Law student awarded Rappaport Fellowship

News 2016: First UMass Law student awarded Rappaport Fellowship
First UMass Law student awarded Rappaport Fellowship

Megan Beyer JD '16 is the first Rappaport Fellow from UMass Law.

The Rappaport Fellows Program in Law and Public Policy provides paid summer internships to talented law students from seven Greater Boston law schools interested in public service. In 2015, Megan Beyer became the first UMass Law student ever to be awarded a Rappaport Fellowship. 

“It was wonderful to see her representing UMass Law among this very accomplished group of law students,” said Leslie Becker Wilson, Esq., who serves as UMass Law’s Director for Legal Career Services. “Megan is interested in ways to combat human trafficking, and through her fellowship, she interned in the Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement (MOWA) where she was able to work on several projects, one of which focuses on gender equality in Boston and closing the wage gap between men and women.”

During her internship, Megan worked with Local 26 Boston Hotel & Food Service Union, the largest hotel union in Boston, to identify specific areas that could be changed through the union that would help decrease human trafficking—by implementing video cameras at the front desk, and training hotel staff on the issue of human trafficking.

“Working with the team, and our leader Megan Costello, I felt that I was instantly a part of a bigger picture,” Megan said. “Life moves fast in City Hall, especially in Boston. When you are able to see how changes in a concrete building can really impact the entire city, you work a little harder.”

Megan chose to attend UMass Law because of its strong mission of public interest. Wherever she lands after earning her law degree, she knows it will include work for those who need the most help. Her Rappaport internship is a great example: MOWA has continued the work she began.