Colorado Law received a $250,000 donation, facilitated by the CU Foundation, from the Donnell Initiative Fund to create the Cathlin Donnell Fellowship as a part of the school's Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), which provides partial loan repayment to selected students and graduates, for up to three years, who choose qualifying public interest work.

Through the donation, Colorado Law will be able to provide four to six graduates with LRAP awards and significantly increase the amount of each award to cover one year of loan repayment.

"This donation will allow more Colorado Law graduates to work in jobs they otherwise wouldn't be able to work in, jobs where they can work for the benefit of society," said Assistant Dean Lorenzo Trujillo, the administrator of LRAP.

The Cathlin Donnell Fellowship will provide loan repayment assistance to graduates who are committed to systemic change through their public interest work to improve the lives of those who have been historically disadvantaged, to improve the justice system, or to preserve environmental integrity.

The fund honors Cathlin Donnell (1946-2004), a Colorado lawyer who dedicated her career to solving systemic social problems, particularly as they involved the lives of women and improvements to the justice system. Donnell was a founder of the Colorado Women's Bar Association, served on the Colorado Supreme Court's Gender Bias Task Force and worked on several publications concerning jury reform.