(Photo: Delaware Judiciary)
Fund overview:
Justice Randy J. Holland, throughout his long and distinguished judicial career, modeled the fundamental legal principles of ethics, fairness, and justice. The Randy J. Holland Family Law Chair Endowment Fund (RJH Endowment Fund) was created to honor Justice Holland’s legacy and to give meaning to his deeply held belief that access to justice must not be dependent on ability to pay. This Endowment Fund secured funding in perpetuity for an attorney at one of the three Combined Campaign for Justice (CCJ) agencies to provide legal services pertaining to family law matters, including domestic violence and abuse and other civil legal problems encountered by indigent families in Delaware. The RJH Endowment Fund has been established at, and is being managed by, the Delaware Community Foundation (DCF).
Randy J. Holland Fellow:
The beneficiary position created by the RJH Endowment Fund is a two year fellowship that is known as the Holland Fellow. The Holland Fellow will be employed for 2 years by one of the CCJ agencies: Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI), Delaware Volunteer Legal Services, Inc. (DVLS), or Legal Services Corporation of Delaware, Inc. (LSCD). The Holland fellowship began in 2021 and will serve the family law needs of low-income families in Delaware, including victims of domestic violence. By assisting the efforts of these individuals to obtain protective orders, as well as with custody/visitation rights, divorce, and housing and consumer issues, the work of the Holland fellow will help to empower hundreds of people each year, giving them the opportunity to leave their abuser or other unhealthy situations and put them on a path to their own independence and safety. By assisting families facing domestic violence, homelessness, and hunger, the Holland attorney will be supporting Delaware’s most vulnerable residents in their efforts to be safe, health, and secure.
The Holland fellowship was created in honor of Justice Randy J. Holland. Throughout his long and distinguished judicial career, Justice Holland modeled the fundamental legal principles of ethics, fairness, and justice. The Randy J. Holland Family Law Chair Endowment Fund (RJH Endowment Fund) was created to honor Justice Holland’s legacy and to give meaning to his, and CCJ’s, deeply held belief that access to justice must not be dependent on a client’s ability to pay. This Endowment Fund secured funding in perpetuity for an attorney at one of the three Combined Campaign for Justice (CCJ) agencies to provide legal services pertaining to family law matters, including domestic violence and abuse and other civil legal problems encountered by vulnerable families in Delaware. The position created by the RJH Endowment Fund will be a two year fellowship at one of the CCJ agencies: Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI), Delaware Volunteer Legal Services, Inc. (DVLS), or Legal Services Corporation of Delaware, Inc. (LSCD). The first two years will take place at CLASI.
MEET CLASI’S HOLLAND FELLOW
Anna Brousell, was admitted to the Delaware Bar in December 2018. She started at CLASI earlier that year on a fellowship funded by Vice President Joseph R. Biden and CLASI Board member Chris Sudell to handle domestic violence cases. The Holland Fellowship allows Anna to continue to build on her domestic violence experience and the important work statewide of CLASI’s medical-legal partnership program which supports domestic violence and sexual assault survivors, among others.
Anna is a Delaware native, a graduate of Brandywine High School, and a member of the Delaware Track and Field Hall of Fame, and earned a full scholarship to William & Mary College to run cross country. Anna received a Master’s degree in human development and family studies from the University of Delaware, and a law degree from Drexel, where she was lead editor of the Drexel Law Review and graduated in the top 20% of her class.
When asked about the fellowship, Anna said:
As a recipient of the Holland fellowship, I will have a special opportunity to represent clients across legal practice areas and become a well-rounded Delaware attorney. Through the Randy Holland Fellowship we will be able to provide some of Delaware’s most vulnerable individuals with holistic legal services, providing a kind one-stop shop for those clients who seek representation in family law, immigration, housing, public benefits matters and other family law issues. I was able to meet with Justice Holland personally before the start of this fellowship. He provided some inspiring words of wisdom that I intend to carry with me over the next two years as I focus my attention on the spirit of this fellowship: “Everything you do as an attorney matters. A case that may appear small to you is probably one of the most important moments in the life of your client. Always practice with that in mind.”
