WilmerHale is proud to announce the recipients of the 2024 Payton and Pickering Fellowships. 

Maura Douglas has been selected as the firm’s next Payton Fellow. The Payton Fellowship commemorates John A. Payton’s commitment to justice, equality and opportunity. She will spend her fellowship at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). As a Payton Fellow, Douglas will participate in the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, where she will work to build and defend an accessible, inclusive and equitable democracy free from racial discrimination. Douglas brings to this fellowship her experience in voting rights pro bono work, including a Voting Rights Act case in which a team of WilmerHale lawyers represent clients challenging Georgia state house and senate district maps that dilute the voting strength of Black Georgians.

Meghan Koushik has been selected as the firm’s next Pickering Fellow. The Pickering Fellowship, named in honor of our founding partner John H. Pickering, commemorates his lifelong devotion to public interest and pro bono work. Koushik will spend her fellowship at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), where she will defend the civil rights of Asian and Asian American communities in New York. As a Pickering Fellow at AALDEF, she will participate in litigation, direct services, and policy work on issues including immigrant rights, voting rights, economic justice, and the elimination of anti-Asian violence. Koushik brings to this fellowship her experience in pro bono impact litigation for reproductive rights as well as direct representation of individuals seeking humanitarian immigration relief and release from immigration detention.