Emory Report

May 18, 1999

Volume 51, No. 31

Law grad wins school's first NAPIL fellowship Vera Kornylak thought twice about coming to Emory Law School. A 1995 graduate of the University of Chicago with a degree in environmental studies, Kornylak had been accepted by another school with a well-established program in environmental law and wasn't sure what Emory had to offer. But a call to environmental law specialist Bill Buzbee reassured her; he promised he would work to see she received the courses and training she needed. "He surely lived up to his promise," said Kornylak, who had field placements with Emory's new Environmental Law Clinic, the Georgia Center for Public Interest, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and the Environmental Protection Agency. She even took a course on water law taught by an attorney with the EPA. Kornylak's broad range of environmental law experiences paid off. She has won a two-year postgraduate legal fellowship from the National Association of Public Interest Law (NAPIL), the first such honor for an Emory law graduate. This summer she'll head for Tucson with her husband, where he'll pursue a PhD and she'll work with the Arizona Center for Law and the Public Interest on clean water issues along the Arizona-Mexico border. In their spare time, the Kornylaks plan to indulge in their passion for rock-climbing. "We really fell in love with Tucson," she said. "After all, it has rocks and dirty water." --Elaine Justice Return to May 18, 1999, contents page