Howard B. Eisenberg Service Award

Mary L. Ferwerda, Grad '11, Law '11
Milwaukee, Wis.

As a law student, Mary Ferwerda worked with the Marquette Volunteer Law Clinics and remembers saying, “I just want this to be my full-time job.” So it was fitting when she became the first program coordinator for the Milwaukee Justice Center (MJC) Mobile Legal Clinic and, just two years later, the MJC executive director.  A collaborative project of the Marquette Law School, the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, and Milwaukee Bar Association, the MJC provides free civil legal aid to low-income people at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.     

Mary led the MJC’s launch of the AmeriCorps Courthouse Navigators program, now in its second year. Navigators staff the information desk at the county courthouse, where they have fielded more than 30,000 questions to date, guiding MJC visitors through the complicated multistep filing process, which can require up to five stops in three buildings. More than 86% of people who have been helped with filing say it gave them the confidence to take the next steps in their legal process. For these efforts, Mary was named the Milwaukee Bar Association 2024 Lawyer of the Year.

After ten years at the MJC, Mary is now chief deputy clerk of Circuit Court in Milwaukee County, while continuing to serve as the MJC clinical supervisor. It gives her joy to “work with students to develop and refine their professional skills.”

In law school, Mary’s background in counseling and higher education led her to sometimes feel that she didn’t belong. “As [then assistant dean of students] Jane Caspar will tell you, I tried to quit every semester. Thankfully she saw what I could not: I had to finish because my path would take me to the most important work I’ve ever known,” Mary says.

Fun Facts:

What book would you recommend to a young professional in your field?

Poverty, by America, written by Matthew Desmond. It explores the intense poverty experienced in one of the richest countries on earth and some ways to mitigate it. The text includes questions for contemplation and discussion. It’s not an easy book to read but it is an important one.

Name someone (past or present) with whom you’d like to have dinner:

Are they cooking? I am mature enough to admit that I am not skilled in the kitchen! My initial response is my mom. She was always such a champion of anything I wanted to do but never got a chance to see any of my work with the MJC.