Dennericka Brooks graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2007 and accepted a position as a staff attorney at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (LAF), but her path to public interest law was burnished long before that. Dennericka made her commitment to working in the public interest while growing up amidst challenging circumstances, and despite significant law school debt her commitment to legal aid work has never wavered.

At LAF, Dennericka has represented low-income families with a variety of issues from evictions to family law to helping defend against car repossessions. Dennericka’s supervisor at LAF describes her as a strong, smart and compassionate advocate who fights for those who most need it. Her law school professors would not be surprised by this description, as she was one of the select group chosen to be a ChildLaw Fellow at Loyola. Among her many accomplishments in law school were her leadership in developing a law-related service program for Loyola law students to study in Africa and being recognized with a Best Advocate award in the National Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition. In 2004, the CBF also selected Dennericka as the first recipient of the CBF's Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Public Interest Law Scholarship.

Receiving the Anderson Fellowship will only strengthen Dennericka’s commitment to working in legal aid. As Dennericka shared with the Selection Committee in her application, the Anderson Fellowship will allow her to live without struggling to meet her living expenses and will give her some money to help with other expenses of her family while allowing her to realize her lifelong dream to dedicate her life to helping low-income families obtain access to justice.

Dennericka was recently featured as "Advocate of the Month" on Illinois Legal Online: