Dean Chris Guthrie has announced the appointment of Spring Miller as assistant dean for public interest at Vanderbilt Law School.
In the new position, Miller will be responsible for creating public interest law opportunities and facilitating public interest law careers for Vanderbilt Law School students and recent graduates. In addition to expanding Vanderbilt’s public interest career advising program and increasing outreach to public-interest and public-sector employers, Miller will develop a robust pro bono program for students and play a leadership and mentoring role in the law school’s externship and summer public interest stipend programs. She will also teach an Immigrant Advocacy Practicum clinic as a lecturer in law.
“I am excited to announce this appointment,” Guthrie said. “As assistant dean for public interest, Spring will work closely with faculty and staff in the Social Justice Program, the Legal Clinic and the Office of Career Services to support students planning careers in public interest law as well as students seeking to incorporate pro bono work into their legal education and professional lives. She will be a mentor, advisor and advocate for students and graduates, and she will work hand-in-hand with other law school stakeholders to provide public interest programming for the school.”
Miller, a former farmworker legal services attorney, joined Vanderbilt Law School as a social justice placement specialist in summer 2014. She has worked intensively with students seeking public interest fellowships for the past year. “Fellowships are an important pathway into post-graduate public sector work, but there are many other entry points as well,” she said. “I look forward to working with colleagues throughout the law school to expand public interest and pro bono opportunities for all students.”
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University, Miller received her J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. She began her legal career as a Skadden Fellow with Southern Migrant Legal Services, a project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, and remained with the organization as a staff attorney when the two-year fellowship ended. She later served as the managing attorney for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid’s practice area dedicated to the representation of human trafficking victims.
“Our students already have excellent public interest-related resources available to them through Vanderbilt’s academic and clinical programs, career counseling services and student organizations,” Guthrie said. “The appointment of an assistant dean for public interest reflects our commitment to facilitate even greater public interest opportunities for all students during law school and beyond, and I am elated that Spring has agreed to serve our students in this new role.”
Miller’s appointment is effective immediately.
