Marishonta Wilkerson is having a whirlwind year, professionally.

She graduated in the 2015 class of the Northern Illinois University College of Law. She passed the Illinois Bar on Oct. 1 and will be sworn in Nov. 5. Then, earlier this month, the Milwaukee native found out she was awarded one of the coveted Post Graduate Legal Fellowships from the Illinois Bar Foundation. Wilkerson is one of only three recipients of the yearlong fellowship. The other recipients are from Loyola and University of Illinois law schools.

As part of the fellowship, Wilkerson will work at NIU’s Zeke Giorgi Legal Clinic in Rockford, where she will handle such cases as domestic violence, divorce and estate planning for people who otherwise may not be able to afford legal representation.

The Illinois Bar Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Illinois State Bar Association, will give $25,000 toward the work she will do at the clinic, and the NIU law school will provide additional funding.

Gillespie: When you found out you were awarded the fellowship, how did you feel?

Wilkerson: I was shocked, and I was very excited. I’m still like, ‘Oh, I can’t believe this.’ When you go to law school, [it is] competitive. And so, I never felt like I was better than any of my classmates. So, it’s a weird feeling to know that you are selected for this.

Gillespie: What do you hope to gain from this fellowship?

Wilkerson: Well, I’ve always been good with time management. But it’s definitely making me even better at time management and being organized. I just want to learn how to be the best lawyer I can be – for myself and for potential clients. I want to be a client-based attorney, and I just want to make sure that I’m doing things right. When I leave here, I want to have some good, solid skills that can be transferred into any area of law.

Gillespie: You have an undergraduate degree in Spanish?

Wilkerson: Yes. I spent a summer in the Dominican Republic. I spent a semester in Seville, Spain. Then I went back to Madrid, Spain, to teach English for six months.

Gillespie: What area of law do you plan to focus on, beyond the fellowship?

Wilkerson: I’m hoping I that maybe I can do some immigration and criminal work. But I still want to be able to give back and do pro bono hours to help in this field. I don’t ever want not help people get orders of protection or help people get custody, or even help write wills for elderly clients who can’t afford it. But I’d like to work in immigration. I have a Spanish degree, and I would like to use that and reach different people that need help and don’t usually get access to legal representation.