After a 25+ year career in public interest, Dina Merrell is moving on from The Chicago Bar Foundation (CBF) to new adventures. She is a quiet leader who prefers to stay out of the limelight. We are certain that this warm sendoff will embarrass her, but we believe it is long overdue.
Dina is a graduate of IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law and was instrumental in developing their Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) that was established in 2009 for Chicago-Kent alumni. Michelle Vodenik, Senior Director of Public Interest at the law school, recounts Dina’s involvement:
“Dina Merrell was an integral part of LRAP. We counted on Dina’s expertise, as she knew the in’s and out’s of developing funding programs to support lawyers who commit their lives to public interest law. Dina continued her service on the LRAP committee for eight years and has left us with a lasting legacy.
In addition, Dina was well known for mentoring and supporting the next generation of public interest leaders—she was always willing to be a resource to all who asked, and her commitment to public interest law was unwavering. We are so proud to have such a committed public interest leader as an alumnus of Chicago-Kent.”
That is just one small example of the tremendous impact Dina has made in her legal career overall, and particularly in her time at the CBF. Through 16 years of work at the CBF, Dina Merrell built a following of admirers. Dina connected donors, board members and volunteers within the legal aid community to so many opportunities through her careful grant making and relationship development and played a lead role in implementing a number of innovative programs that have made big improvements in access to justice and made our pro bono and legal aid community better for all concerned. We collected only a small portion of praise from her friends and colleagues.
