Herbert and Nell Singer Foundation Supports Fellows With $3 Million Endowment Gift

Since 2013, the Herbert and Nell Singer Foundation has supported Columbia Law students through postgraduate fellowships and funding for summer internships. Now, a new $3 million gift from the foundation has established the Herbert and Nell Singer Social Justice Fellowship Endowment Fund, which will provide two-year fellowships to graduating Columbia Law School students who demonstrate substantial commitment to pursuing careers in public interest and public service. 

While nine Columbia Law students have received Singer Fellowships since 2015, the foundation’s latest gift, structured as an endowment, ensures funds will be available to support fellows in perpetuity. 

“A hallmark of Columbia Law School is preparing students not just how to think but also to lead—today and in the future,” says Daniel Abebe, Dean and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law. “Through its extraordinary generosity and deep commitment to public interest and public service legal work, the Herbert and Nell Singer Foundation is continuing to ensure that Columbia Law graduates become resilient leaders working throughout the United States to promote justice on behalf of those in need.” 

The fellowship is named in memory of lawyer and philanthropist Herbert Singer ’28 and his wife, Nell. “Throughout his life, Herb was dedicated to supporting organizations and individuals committed to helping others,” says Jay H. Sandak, president of the Herbert and Nell Singer Foundation. “The newly endowed fund further solidifies the Singers’ legacy, and they would be proud that the Singer Fellows are launching truly impactful social justice careers.” The foundation also established, in 2013, the Herbert and Nell Singer Public Service Internship, an endowed fund that provides supplemental summer funding to Columbia Law 1Ls and 2Ls.  

Past Singer Fellows say the support has been transformative. “Receiving the Singer Fellowship is profoundly meaningful to me,” says Gabriela Ornelas ’24, who is halfway through her two-year fellowship in the family defense practice at Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem. “I am dedicated to developing a comprehensive mitigation practice that addresses deeply rooted racial and class biases in civil capital determinations within New York City’s courts,” she adds. “The support and resources provided by the Singer Fellowship are instrumental in advancing this initiative, enabling me to make a tangible impact on the lives of families and contribute to a more just legal system.”

During her Singer Fellowship, Clarisa Reyes-Becerra ’19 worked at the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. “I had the freedom to develop a project based on community needs, and I had the flexibility to adapt my work during a tumultuous time for immigration law practitioners,” she says. Today, Reyes-Becerra serves as a community lawyer and programs director for Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño. “I work with a team of community organizers and community workers to serve Mexican Indigenous farmworkers in the Central Coast of California,” she says. “The ability to choose and shape my career path since graduating from law school with the Singer Fellowship has meant that I’ve been able to continue following nontraditional paths as an attorney, not only providing direct legal services but also engaging in systems-level change through community organizing and policy advocacy.”

Thanks to the Herbert and Nell Singer Foundation’s generosity, says Erica Smock ’95, dean for Public Interest/Public Service Law and Careers, “students have the unique opportunity to make significant, positive impact throughout their time at Columbia Law and long after they graduate.”