By American Bar Association
New York University School of Law student Marianna Apostolakis and Anthony Black, a 2025 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, recently received the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity’s annual LGBTQ+ Public Interest Scholarship Award.
The scholarship is intended for law students and/or recent law school graduates studying for the bar who are working or will be working in the LGBTQ+ space doing public interest work.
Apostolakis is in their second year at NYU School of Law, where they are a member of the Reproductive Justice Clinic, intake chair for the Identity Documents Project, TGNCI+ chair of OUTLaw and a parole advocacy volunteer. They graduated from Smith College with a B.A. in English and the study of women and gender in 2018. Prior to law school, Apostolakis co-founded a grassroots organization to uplift and center queer and trans communities in Connecticut. They spent their 1L summer at Manhattan Legal Services as a part of the LGBTQ+ and HIV Law Unit, where they assisted clients with asylum applications and public benefits access. They will pursue a career as a civil rights and movement lawyer for queer and trans justice and liberation.
At Northeastern, Black served as the 2023-24 vice chair for inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility in the Student Bar Association. They also served on the Queer Caucus Executive Board. In addition, Black was awarded the Massachusetts LGBTQ+ Bar Association’s Alexander G. Gray, Jr. Scholarship; served as a board member of Trans Resistance of Massachusetts, a non-profit transgender advocacy organization based in Boston, Massachusetts; and is a former New Leaders Council Boston fellow.
Black gained practical legal experience as an intern at the Florida Health Justice Project, JRI’s Health Law Institute, and most recently, Southern Legal Counsel, where this fall they will serve as a legal fellow for the organization, addressing health-harming legal needs among transgender adults.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2025/08/lgbtq-public-interest-scholarship-recipients/)
New York University School of Law student Marianna Apostolakis and Anthony Black, a 2025 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, recently received the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity’s annual LGBTQ+ Public Interest Scholarship Award.
The scholarship is intended for law students and/or recent law school graduates studying for the bar who are working or will be working in the LGBTQ+ space doing public interest work.
Apostolakis is in their second year at NYU School of Law, where they are a member of the Reproductive Justice Clinic, intake chair for the Identity Documents Project, TGNCI+ chair of OUTLaw and a parole advocacy volunteer. They graduated from Smith College with a B.A. in English and the study of women and gender in 2018. Prior to law school, Apostolakis co-founded a grassroots organization to uplift and center queer and trans communities in Connecticut. They spent their 1L summer at Manhattan Legal Services as a part of the LGBTQ+ and HIV Law Unit, where they assisted clients with asylum applications and public benefits access. They will pursue a career as a civil rights and movement lawyer for queer and trans justice and liberation.
At Northeastern, Black served as the 2023-24 vice chair for inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility in the Student Bar Association. They also served on the Queer Caucus Executive Board. In addition, Black was awarded the Massachusetts LGBTQ+ Bar Association’s Alexander G. Gray, Jr. Scholarship; served as a board member of Trans Resistance of Massachusetts, a non-profit transgender advocacy organization based in Boston, Massachusetts; and is a former New Leaders Council Boston fellow.
Black gained practical legal experience as an intern at the Florida Health Justice Project, JRI’s Health Law Institute, and most recently, Southern Legal Counsel, where this fall they will serve as a legal fellow for the organization, addressing health-harming legal needs among transgender adults.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2025/08/lgbtq-public-interest-scholarship-recipients/)
