The Brosnahan Fellowship award selection committee has named its recipient for 2018: Stephanie Bilinski, Family Law Supervising Attorney at the Justice & Diversity Center (JDC).
The fellowship funds a monetary gift to an outstanding JDC employee each year. Bilinski well deserves this honor because she enables JDC to serve over 700 clients in family law, which is the top unmet area of legal need for low-income households. Bilinski teaches attorneys of all backgrounds fundamental family law then supervises and guides their pro bono work on 200 active cases annually.
She also oversees two JDC staff attorneys who counsel 550 pro se litigants a year. Additionally, Bilinski personally brings family law services to two San Francisco nonprofits that assist homeless mothers.
Bilinski’s dedication to having clients’ voices heard in court shows in the way she guides volunteers to advocate strongly for justice, and the strong relationships she builds with judges, court administrators and other nonprofits with which JDC collaborates to serve domestic violence survivors. Bilinski co-chairs the San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium and sits on the advisory committee of the Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic.
On top of her courtroom and community efforts, Bilinski is a strong team builder within JDC. She is one of three JDC attorneys who volunteered to supervise the Legal Advice and Referral Clinic, which means giving up a Saturday every three months. Her co-workers regard her as an advisor and friend, as well as a source of positivity and moral support in work that can be emotionally taxing. For all this and more, JDC congratulates Stephanie Bilinski for her well-deserved selection as the Brosnahan Fellowship awardee.
We thank Joseph Cotchett, Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy, for his generous gift in 2012 establishing the fellowship, named after 1977 BASF President James Brosnahan, Morrison & Foerster, in recognition of his commitment to justice for disadvantaged people.
Learn more about the Justice & Diversity Center’s Family Law Project.
