Law School's first assistant dean for public service law is announced

Comstock

By Linda Myers

Karen Comstock has been named the first assistant dean for public service at Cornell Law School, Stewart Schwab, the Allan Tessler Dean of the Law School, announced this March. While public interest law is not new to the Law School, the position was created to give it more prominence and create more opportunities for law students to get involved, said Schwab. "Karen's energy and expertise in this area make her an ideal administrator to take on the task of building our program," he said.

In her new position, Comstock is working full time to enhance the school's public service programs and initiatives and attract support for them. They include enhanced career services for current students and alumni, the summer Public Interest Fellowship program, a low-income protection plan and a grant program for law school graduates in low-paid public sector work.

Comstock had been assistant dean for career services at the Law School since 1998 and has worked at the school since 1994. She was chair of the committee that revised and improved the Law School's loan repayment program for graduates working in public interest law. She has been adviser to the Public Interest Law Union student group at the school and helped energize its Public Interest Fund cabaret fund-raising efforts. The group sponsors talks and promotes discussions on such social justice issues as law and poverty, welfare reform, social inequities, corporate responsibility and governmental accountability.

Comstock earned her B.S. degree at the State University of New York-Buffalo in 1982 and her J.D. degree at SUNY-Buffalo Law School in 1989. She was a public interest law counselor at Brooklyn Law School in 1989-94 and has served on the National Association for Law Placement's public service committee since 1989. She is a member of the pro bono and public service opportunities steering committee of the Association of American Law Schools and the National Association of Public Interest Law. A certified mediator, she volunteers with the Ithaca-based Community Dispute Resolution Center.