Welcoming 2025 Fellows from Chicago
On behalf of the Board of Directors, we are proud to warmly welcome two new Tony Patiño Fellows from the University of Chicago Law School class of 2025: Kelly Bridges and Sahar Omer.
Kelly has joined Freshfields LLP as an associate in the Global Transactions practice. Her path to law school was shaped by years of work serving in developing countries, including India and Ethiopia, where she witnessed the consequences of inadequate access to water and sanitation.
Sahar is a Law Clerk at Milbank LLP. Her commitment to law and public service is deeply connected to her roots in Sudan and her hope for the country’s future.
In Their Own Words: Kelly Bridges
Coming to law school was not a straightforward path for me: I enrolled in a Master’s degree program in Water Science, Policy, and Management at Oxford and served in developing countries where access to water and sanitation services are inadequate. I watched a group of children in remote Madhya Pradesh, India, draw water from a stagnant well covered with algae and flies and spoke with doctors at the largest public hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, who were forced to deliver babies in a maternity ward without running water or disinfectant.
These experiences drove me to apply to law school to gain additional skills and tools to ensure that everyone everywhere can access these most basic services. Returning to school after half a decade with my background and specific career goal, I hoped to connect with lawyers who would understand such mission-driven work centered around improving the general welfare of the most marginalized amongst us and was so fortunate to have found that in the Patiño Fellowship community.
Patiño Fellows not only lead with their mind, solving some of the biggest challenges facing communities locally, nationally, and globally pragmatically and intelligently, but even more so, they lead with their hearts: with unmatched kindness. As I look at this next phase of my life, I will approach my work and clients with empathy. More importantly, I will strive to lead with my heart beyond work, supporting those in my life with humility, patience, and kindness as this community has done for me.
In Their Own Words: Sahar Omer
When I applied to law school, Sudan had been experiencing one of the most hopeful periods that I had seen in my life. The revolution that started on December 18, 2018, led to the deposition of 30-year dictator. Every day I checked the news, watched videos and scanned social media posts – and wished that I could have been among the millions of people calling for democracy in Sudan. I thought, “How can I help? What skills did I have to help rebuild this new Sudan?” Central to these discussions was how a new constitution needed to be rewritten – and that’s where my interest became hooked.
The Patiño community was the first place in Chicago where I was able to express my interest in Sudan and comparative constitutionalism and it was legitimately supported. I never left an event without feeling inspired that there were people who wanted to bring positive change to this world, and I could be one of them.
Sadly, the war in Sudan is raging and it makes the talks about constitutional rewriting feel very far away, but I believe that one day this war will end. And the moment finally arrives when Sudan needs to be rebuilt, and when the talks about rewriting that constitution come, I’ll be ready to serve.