Student Post: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Washington, DC

By Tasha LaSpina

This past summer, I interned for a magistrate judge at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and it was a great learning experience. My judge’s calendar at first consisted of only civil cases, but then she switched to a criminal docket later in the summer. The civil cases were usually employment discrimination claims that involved requests for attorney fees. The criminal cases tended to be sentencing hearings.

Most of my time over the summer was spent doing legal research and writing, which I then submitted to the judge in the form of internal memos or “Report and Recommendation” documents. After the judge had a chance to review my documents, we would discuss my findings and talk about the strongest and weakest aspects of particular arguments. What I enjoyed most about my internship was when, just before a hearing, the judge would call me into her chambers and ask me to imagine what I thought each side would say in response to a particular question from her. I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk through these scenarios with the judge, because these exercises helped me to learn to think on my feet and to improve my oral argument skills. I also liked having the opportunity to then attend the court proceeding for each case, to see if the parties did in fact raise the arguments that I had anticipated that they would give in response to the judge’s questions.

I also really enjoyed learning more about the inner workings of a federal courthouse, and having the chance to see judges, lawyers, marshals, and law clerks in action. The internship allowed me to get a great behind-the-scenes look at how federal cases are handled, and enabled me to gain the kind of hands-on experience that one cannot get from a classroom. In particular, because I had the opportunity to attend daily court proceedings, I was able to see a lot of different lawyering styles during the course of the summer, from government attorneys, defense lawyers, lawyers working on cases pro bono, and even a few pro se clients. It was great to observe the different communication styles, writing styles, and argument styles in action, and by the end of the summer I felt that I had picked up a few good tips about how to present myself in court. These tips that I picked up from the counsel I saw over the summer have already be an asset to me in my current clinical casework, and I know they will continue to help me in my future career as a prosecutor.

A judicial internship is a great learning experience for anyone considering a career in litigation or for any student who is thinking of clerking after graduation, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia was an especially exciting courthouse in which to intern, because of the many high-profile cases that are heard there each day. I'm grateful for the EJF funding that enabled me to spend my 2L summer pursuing this type of internship. I would not have been able to undertake this internship without EJF’s support.

The Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn, New York

by Dan Soleimani

This summer, I’ll be interning with the Juvenile Rights Practice of The Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn, New York. My work this summer will be evenly distributed between two very different types of law: Juvenile Justice and Termination of Parental Rights. In working on juvenile justice cases, I will be the attorney assigned to representing juveniles accused of having committed crimes in New York City. Like any typical criminal defense attorney, I’ll be responsible for evaluating the government’s case against my client, investigating the facts of the alleged crime, and ultimately representing my client at trial in the Family Court of the NY Supreme Court (the trial court of the NY state court system). This will be a fantastic opportunity to practice my legal writing and litigation skills on a daily basis. I’ll be spending the other half of my summer representing individual juveniles in an entirely different context.
When a parent or guardian has neglected his/her legal duties to a juvenile, the government may choose to bring a civil action against that parent or guardian in order to terminate his/her parental rights, and remove the juvenile from that individual’s custody. New York is understandably concerned about the interests and well-being of the juvenile during this complicated and often heartrending process. As such, attorneys in The Legal Aid Society are assigned to represent the child’s interests during the investigation and prosecution of the government’s case against the child’s parent or guardian. I will be spending the other half of my summer representing children who have become ensnared in this unfortunate process. My role will not be to tell the juvenile whether they should stay with their parent (if the court allows it), or whether they should leave their childhood home and move in with a foster family. Instead, I will have the responsibility of being the child’s voice at the hearing, and expressing my client’s wishes and interests to the parties at bar.
Perhaps the most appealing dynamic of a summer internship with The Legal Aid Society is the opportunity to work in two very different fields of law. Although I’m committed to working on some sort of juvenile rights issue post-graduation, I still haven’t settled on a particular field of law. I’m confident that this internship will expose me to a wide range of juvenile rights issues, and will help me further hone my interests. Also, the internship will give me a fantastic opportunity to develop my litigation skills. Both components of the internship will allow be to be in and out of court, in hearings and trials, almost every single day this summer. However, since the position is unpaid, there is no way I could have accepted this unbelievable opportunity without my EJF summer funding.

Northwest Defenders Association, Seattle, WA

By Samual Eilers

I am a 2L at Georgetown University Law Center. I came to law school specifically to become a criminal defense attorney. This Summer (Summer 2010) I will be interning with the Northwest Defenders Association (NDA) in Seattle, Washington. NDA is a private, non-profit organization committed to equal justice and the defense of individual liberty. Its attorneys and staff represent clients in criminal and civil proceedings and work to improve the justice system. With investigators, paralegals and social workers, the attorneys defend adults and juveniles against criminal charges in King County Superior Court, King County District Court, and Seattle Municipal Court. NDA attorneys also represent parents and children in Dependency proceedings and respondents answering Contempt petitions.

I will have a limited license to practice law under the Washington Admission to Practice Rules (APR 9). Rule 9 Interns are supervised by an experienced NDA attorney. My supervising attorney will be Dave Roberson (L’91, Georgetown), who is the Deputy Director of NDA. At the beginning of my internship, I will undergo an intensive, week-long criminal law and procedure review, along with extensive trial advocacy training. Then, as an APR 9 intern in the District Court Unit, I will be fully responsible for the representation of adult clients charged with misdemeanors, including arraignment, investigation, interviews, motions, bench and petit jury trials, and sentencing. I will also have the opportunity to represent juveniles charged with misdemeanors and to second-chair felony trials. Finally, I will assist Felony Unit and Dependency Unit attorneys with various legal research and writing assignments.

Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia

This summer, three EJF recipients interned at the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia (http://www.legalaiddc.org) Betsy worked in the public benefits unit and Drake and Jason both interned in the housing unit.



Betsy:
While I have assisted attorneys with interviewing clients, conducting research, writing briefs, and fact-finding for a variety of public benefits cases, the most exciting case I worked on this summer was an appeal to the federal district court for judicial review of a decision by the Social Security Administration (SSA) based on a due process claim. This case involved extensive research into the SSA’s regulations and policy statements, the judicial review provisions in the Social Security Act, and the federal cases interpreting these rules and laws, including the applicability of the Due Process Clause. I considered this case to be pretty unique, since most public benefits cases focus on administrative procedures and appeals, and extremely compelling, because the client is homeless and suffers from several serious disabilities. I am continuing to prepare research for the brief to be filed this fall and I am hopeful that the suit will be successful.

I’ve loved working with Legal Aid to assist clients who have faced difficult barriers to obtaining the benefits they need to survive and who otherwise could not afford legal help. This summer has revived my commitment to working as a public interest lawyer, and I am thankful for EJF’s support.

Jason:
For ten weeks at the Legal Aid Society of DC I assisted dedicated poverty attorneys representing low income clients in landlord-tenant and other civil matters in DC Superior Court and local administrative agencies. My responsibilities included drafting motions and memoranda, formulating trial strategies, and researching evidentiary issues. I also performed client housing inspections and had the opportunity to spend ample time at both Superior and Landlord Tenant Court shadowing Legal Aid attorneys in the many stages of trial practice.

Working at Legal Aid Society definitely helped me better understand the nature of public interest lawyering. I chose Legal Aid because I wanted to work on the frontlines of social justice and the organization did not disappoint. From listening and observing the uphill battle the majority of DC’s indigent population faces daily and the personal satisfaction I received from supporting them and helping them fight back, I know I will continue public interest lawyering.

Drake:
As an intern in the housing law unit, I helped serve low-income clients facing eviction and other housing crises. In the District of Columbia, like many jurisdictions, Landlord Tenant court is extremely difficult to navigate without a lawyer, especially for residents with disabilities, limited English proficiency, or limited knowledge of their housing rights. I witnessed first-hand the value a lawyer brings to low-income residents who were able to prevent eviction, secure repairs to dangerous and unlawful housing conditions, or negotiate more fairly with their landlords because of Legal Aid’s assistance.

While I am dedicated to building a career in direct legal services in the D.C. area upon graduation, it would have been more difficult for me to work at the Legal Aid Society without summer funding from the Equal Justice Foundation. The internship was invaluable for my future career. I learned local law and procedure, strategies for motions practice and navigating court proceedings, and best-practices for legal representation that I will carry with me upon graduation. It was an honor to work with such talented and dedicated attorneys and to make a small contribution to the ongoing work to increase access to justice for D.C.’s low-income residents.

Children's Law Center, Washington, DC

By Allison Green

The first few weeks of my internship at the Children's Law Center (CLC) in Washington, DC have just flown by. CLC is a non-profit organization that advocates for children and families. It's largest project is the GAL division, which provides attorneys who represent "the best interest of the child" in child abuse and neglect proceedings. The office also has a Family Permanency Project, which represents caregivers in custody and adoption cases, and a Health Access Project, which works in local medical clinics to address systemic issues that cause health complications for young people.

I've already had the chance to do some really fascinating work. I've observed a number of court hearings, agency reviews, treatment team meetings, and consultations with clients. I've also done substantial research for my supervising attorneys, including legal research on family law issues as well investigation into local social services. The best experiences have been getting to know clients and their families, who are truly inspirational. Each interaction has affirmed my ongoing commitment to this work.

In addition to the first few days of training provided by CLC, there have been lots of opportunities to keep learning along the way. I've already attended an advanced GAL practice training, a caregivers representation training, and a host of other presentations on lawyering skills intended to keep us interns up to date on current issues in the field. My supervisors are also terrific about helping to make this summer a tremendous learning experience. Whenever I observe their work, they take the time to explain their legal strategies and decision-making processes. Especially when dealing with complex family law matters, these are things I can't learn from textbooks, so its great to learn directly from practitioners in the field.

I'm so grateful for the EJF money that has enabled me to spend a summer at this wonderful organization. I'm looking forward to the rest of my time here, and to returning to campus in the Fall feeling refreshed and reinvigorated about my legal career.

National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty

Luis Rodriguez writes from D.C.

As a Georgetown University graduate student in law and public policy, I have spent the last eight months as an intern for the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP). I feel that my time here has contributed to ending the criminalization of homelessness through human rights law and public policy, although there is still a good deal of work to do.


Many cities across the US have shown a trend of criminalizing life-sustaining activities, such as sleeping and eating, that people experiencing homelessness must perform in public places as a result of having nowhere else to go.

NLCHP uses a human rights framework in arguing against the criminalization of homelessness, which focuses on protecting the fundamental human dignity of people experiencing homelessness. During my time here, I had the opportunity to prepare a memo arguing that a city ordinance that limits sharing food with homeless individuals in public places violates the human right to food. This summer, human rights fellow Allison Garren and I wrote memos arguing that a city's various measures criminalizing homelessness violate various human rights. Our memos will be used in future NLCHP litigation.

In addition to violating human rights and constitutional law, the criminalization of homelessness is harmful to public policy, as these measures are not the most constructive methods for ending homelessness. I have also had the opportunity to write an article presenting constructive alternatives to the criminalization of homelessness, which will be published in the near future. This article is based on the premise that cities should stop inappropriately using the criminal law system to remove homeless individuals from public spaces and start implementing more constructive alternatives that address the root causes of homelessness and poverty, such as providing non-coercive outreach services that engage people experiencing homelessness by providing them with low-barrier permanent supportive housing without any strings attached.

My experience with NLCHP has given me great opportunities to make progress on these important issues. I would like to thank Georgetown Law's Equal Justice Foundation for funding my internship this summer and NLCHP for giving me this opportunity. I hope I can be part of NLCHP's work to end homelessness in the future.

Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia

Jonathan Tucker writes about his experiences interning with the Housing Unit of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia

This summer was a fantastic experience. Interning with the Housing Unit of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia gave me an opportunity to help some of the most vulnerable in DC. Those who are impoverished have needs for legal services beyond the average citizen. By extending legal services, one helps clients resolve legal problems and acquire a restored self-respect and dignity.

Many of the clients I saw at Legal Aid clients were desperate for help. They were often on the brink of homelessness. Many had been taken advantage of. One client came in complaining of becoming sick given her apartment’s conditions. She was asked, what was the code violation? She responded, "I have mushrooms growing out of my carpet." Helping such individuals improve their lives brings mutual joy. This summer’s experiences also gave me confidence that I can help individuals in meaningful ways.

Some may say that with more than 110,000 - nearly one in five - District residents living below the federal poverty line, the need for help creates an overwhelming challenge for legal services. Yet, it should be noted that the work performed by at the Legal Aid Society of DC extends far beyond their clients. Through briefing the courts and making convincing arguments in court, systemic improvements occur as judges are educated and previously erroneous assertions in the common law can be whittled away. The District is fairly progressive, but it’s common law presents opportunities to improve conditions for the poor. By researching varied topics, such the equitable defenses of laches and clean hands, elements of an oral tenancy, accord and satisfaction, to name just a few, I helped individual clients and laid the potential ground work for providing greater justice to others.

For others interested in pursuing legal services I would recommend DC Legal Aid. The organization is managed with the efficiency of any large firm. However, the personalities make the work fun and enjoyable. Those who work at DC Legal Aid are not their for a pay check. They love their work and their dedication to it is reflected in infinite ways. I have no regrets to having dedicated my 2L summer as I did.

Rebecca Project for Human Rights

Anna Carpenter shares her experiences:

This summer, I worked as a law clerk at the Rebecca Project for Human Rights (RPHR), a national legal and policy advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. RPHR works to promote policy reform, justice and dignity for vulnerable families. The organization works at the nexus of the child welfare, criminal justice, and substance abuse treatments systems that impact the lives of vulnerable families. RPHR works to address the pervasiveness of violence against women and girls, the draconian conditions that too often characterize maternal incarceration, and the dearth of access to health and healing for incarcerated mothers and their children—RPHR frames these issues in a human rights context.

I began working with RPHR during the spring semester, when I was enrolled in Professor Aiken's Motherhood and Criminality course. As part of that experiential learning class, I worked for RPHR and supported their work to send the shackling of pregnant incarcerated women. In the United States, most state and federal prisons engage in the horrible practice of shackling women during pregnancy and childbirth. Women are routinely shackled, with hard, heavy iron shackles, across their stomachs (including during transportation to the hospital while they are in labor), by their legs and by their wrists. Women are usually shackled to the hospital bed throughout
labor and childbirth. All of this, despite the presence of guards in the room and despite the fact that most incarcerated women are non-violent offenders.

This summer, I continued to work on the shackling issue by conducting national survey of state policies on shackling. I was also able to write an amicus brief for an 8th Circuit case where a civil rights claim was brought on behalf of a woman who was shackled in Arkansas. My time with RPHR has truly been gift in my personal and professional life. I respect and admire the staff and their approach to the work. I would encourage anyone seeking an amazing summer work experience to contact this inspiring organization.

Southern Environmental Law Center

Sarah Nealen shares her experiences:

Greetings from Charlottesville, VA! I have been working with the Air and Energy group at the Southern Environmental Law Center, almost exclusively on an effort to halt the construction of new coal-fired power plant in southwest Virginia. The plant, which is currently being built by Dominion Virginia Power, will emit a variety of pollutants into the environment around southwest Virginia, including the Clinch River and several federal wilderness areas. It will also lead to an increase in mountaintop removal mining, a form of strip mining in which the forest is cleared from a mountain and the top of the mountain is blown off with explosives. The resulting debris is dumped into a nearby stream, a practice known as “valley fill.” In Wise County, where the new plant will be located, 25% of the county has already succumbed to MTR, and another 8% is slated for destruction.
I began my summer a few weeks before a public hearing to finalize and vote on air permits for the facility, so there was plenty to do right out the gate. I was able to accompany my attorneys to the hearing and meet our clients, who have formed a grassroots coalition fighting to save their community and their way of life. We were able to get much stricter air permits than had been proposed, but they were still issued and the company was able to begin construction. SELC has now appealed both the State Corporation Commission’s decision to allow Dominion to recover the costs of the $1.8 billion plant through its ratepayers and the Air Pollution Control Board’s decision to issue air permits not in compliance with the Clean Air Act. The last few weeks of my internship have focused on writing initial drafts of the petitions for appeal of the air permits. This has been a fantastic learning experience, and I am grateful to the Equal Justice Foundation and its donors for making this summer possible.

Earthjustice International

Rania Rampersad writes from California:

After interning in a United Nations refugee camp in Kenya last summer (an internship that was also funded by EJF), I realized how difficult it is to help refugees once they have experiences the violence and trauma of war and displacement. I decided I wanted to do something to prevent people from becoming refugees in the first place. Many experts believe that climate change could cause as many as 200 million refugees by the year 2050, so I decided that focusing on prevention of climate change would be a great way to make a long term difference for a lot of people.

Working at Earthjustice International in Oakland, CA has turned out to be a fantastic summer experience! This organization is well known for their groundbreaking work on human rights and climate change. For example, they helped bring a petition on behalf of the Inuit people to an international commission regarding human rights violations caused by climate change. It was wonderful to spend the summer working on such cutting-edge legal issues. It was also a great learning experience to be able to work on a large variety of writing tasks, including a brief for litigation with the EPA, a policy paper for a United Nations Committee, and a memo evaluating potential international environmental claims.

The best part was being able to utilize the insights I acquired last summer working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Because of this past experience, I was able to share my knowledge of the international refugee assistance process to inform our policy report’s discussion of climate change refugees here at Earthjustice International. My supervisors’ willingness to solicit my opinions and include me in discussions was a welcome surprise and reminded me why I love working for non-profit organizations.

The Equal Justice Foundation has given me two invaluable experiences that will help me to start my career in public service with direction, commitment, and the knowledge that it is possible to make a difference, even before you graduate!

United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees- Panama

Shani Adess writes from Panama:

This summer I worked with the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees and the Panamanian Red Cross in Panama City, Panama. Panama’s location, directly north of Colombia, has made it a prime asylum state for refugees fleeing Colombia’s decade’s long conflict. Unfortunately, adding to the numerous problems that asylum seekers and refugees regularly face, such as trauma, poverty, physical and mental health issues, and the loss of contact with family and friends, Colombian asylum seekers and refugees in Panama also face an extremely restrictive national refugee policy, and generalized anti-Colombian sentiment among the Panamanian population.



As a result, asylum seeker and refugee families often face significant obstacles when attempting to obtain rights under Panamanian law, such as residency, work permits, etc. Working with the Panamanian Red Cross, a partner of UNHCR, I developed for future implementation a livelihood program that would help provide employment opportunities or vocational training for refugees. I also participated in training sessions, prepared specifically for the national police, in order to advocate for refugee rights and promote awareness of the situation asylum seekers and refugees face in Panama today.
Working with both UNHCR and the Panamanian Red Cross gave me an invaluable opportunity to meet directly with both urban refugees and refugees in the Darién, the jungle located between Panama and Colombia- where the road literally ends. This is a unique experience that I was so glad to be able to take advantage of. Usually, UNHCR follows a policy of encampment in rural areas, often due to host governments’ restrictions; Panama is one of the few countries where urban refugees make up a majority of the refugee population. Still, I was able to experience was a ‘refugee camp’ would be like, visiting refugees living side by side with indigenous groups in an area well beyond the beaten path.
Without the Equal Justice Foundation fellowship, and your kind contributions, I would never have been able to accept this summer internship. As a rising third year law student, I was under significant pressure to follow the norm and accept a firm job. After years of doing public service oriented internships, my bank account would never have afforded me the opportunity to go abroad and work for free. It has been a long time goal of mine to work for both UNHCR and the Red Cross- and now I was able to do both, and hopefully I will continue doing so in the future!

National Women's Law Center

EJF Vice-President Anya Prince discusses her summer at the National Women's Law Center:

Currently, women make 77 cents to every man's dollar. Public interest law students make, on average, 0 cents to every law firm summer associate dollar. Thanks to the stipend provided by Georgetown's Equal Justice Foundation, this summer I am able to work towards pay equality for women while actually being paid for my summer, public interest work.



This summer I am working at the National Women's Law Center in the Employment and Education team. This opportunity has provided my with many chances to work for women's equality both in the workplace and in schools. For example, this week I was able to attend an exciting rally to raise awareness of the need to pass equal pay legislation in the Senate. At the rally I was fortunate to hear great women leaders of our time, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Lily Ledbetter, speak about women's pay equity and their fight to get equal pay legislation through Congress.

Throughout the summer I have also been able to work on a variety of projects ranging from doing research on an appeal of a Title IX, athletic discrimination case to working towards ensuring that pregnant students are not discriminated against in their high school and college educations to writing posts for the NWLC Women'stake blog. I have really enjoyed working in the Washington realm of the mixture between law and policy. I have learned a great deal about how legal advocacy can be paired with policy work to affect meaningful change. Additionally, I have been able to participate in a few coalition meetings which have taught me the importance of working together with many public interest, civil rights organizations to champion broad, effective change.

My internship at NWLC has given me the opportunity to research and write about federal Title VII and Title IX cases, as well as dabble a bit in some of the state laws protecting women's rights. I have also been able to participate in the legislative process and help to research findings for proposed bills and work with Senator's offices to draft language for the bills. This breadth of knowledge I am gaining is invaluable. After this summer's work I look forward to a lifelong commitment of working in civil rights and employment rights.

I am thankful everyday that I go to work that I am able to participate in such an amazing organization with empowered and passionate women and men. As a rising 3L, it was intimidating to accept a public interest job instead of a firm job. However, the Equal Justice Foundation and its donors made this decision easier and I am so glad that I am able to have such a fulfilling summer.

Law Offices of Jon W. Norris

Kathryn Gravely shares her experiences:

After working for the Public Defender Service (PDS) here in Washington, D.C., I am now working for a PDS alumni who went out on his own as a private criminal defense attorney and founded the Law Offices of Jon W. Norris. Mr. Norris is rated by his peers as one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the District of Columbia, as reported in Washingtonian and Super Lawyers Magazine. Mr. Norris’ practice is unique in that he does not advertise his services, but rather receives his client’s through referrals from clients and other attorneys. He also takes a number of pro-bono cases, as favors to D.C. Superior Court judges, and represents indigent individuals who are in need of a defense attorney. I had the opportunity to witness Mr. Norris’ most recent pro-bono case, a Felony 1 sexually abuse case, where the jury hung 11 to 1 not guilty. The government decided to dismiss the case the following week.



My job consists of law clerk and investigative duties. As a law clerk I am responsible for organizing case jackets for trial and making sure that the appropriate motions and discovery letters are filed. I work with two other law clerks in the Law Offices and each of us is assigned particular cases to work on. My investigator duties include serving subpoenas, finding and interviewing both government and defense witnesses, and taking statements from government witnesses.
In the end, I get to second chair any trial involving one of my cases and act as Mr. Norris’ assistant throughout the proceedings. This is an exciting opportunity that provides a lot of experience both inside the courtroom and within the Metropolitan community. It certainly has opened my eyes to a demanding world of anticipation, pressure, and skill as a trial attorney.

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid

Rebecca Koford is spending her summer at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Eagle Pass, Texas, and loves her job!
Below she shares some experiences:

One of my clients cries every time I talk to her, and I'm trying not to smile while remembering this, but it's difficult. Horribly inappropriate, I know. But I love that I have clients, and I love it even more that I can actually help them detangle their legal knots.

It feels good to be useful to clients and use some of the things I've learned in the past two years of law school. It feels better to know that a client is sleeping better at night because they're no longer living in complete terror of losing their home, job, or children. It doesn't feel so good to see someone find out that no one in her family wants to help her out because they think she's a lost cause. But at least she has someone on her side.

I've gotten to do a lot in the short time that I've been in Eagle Pass. In the past four weeks, I have interviewed clients in (mangled, but improving) Spanish; written memos, replies, responses, and requests for disclosure; sued somebody; countersued somebody; sat in on hearings in a judge's chambers; and today I visited federal court and jail (twice).

I'm even working on a hot button issue: the border wall. The west side of Eagle Pass hugs the Rio Grande, and the federal government has temporarily condemned land along the river to survey where it wants to put the wall. This is upsetting some of our clients who use the river and the adjacent land for education, research, and even their livelihood. They will not be able to do any of this if the wall is built where the government is proposing. So one of the things we're trying do (and that I spent a large chunk of the last week working on) is to get an injunction so that if the wall is built, it is put in a more sensible location and doesn't completely prevent access to the river.

So thank you to everyone who donated to EJF. Without you, I wouldn't have my dream job this summer.

International Organization for Migration

Zeynep Darendeliler shares her experiences from Sarajevo;

I work for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. IOM is a Geneva based inter-governmental organization working to improve a host of conditions that impact or result from voluntary and involuntary migration. Therefore, its broad mandate includes refugees, internally displaced persons, labor migrants, returnees etc.

Currently, I have been assigned to one of IOM Bosnia’s ongoing projects called the NATO Trust Fund (NTF) Programme, funded by NATO Member states. Bosnia and Herzegovina is undergoing a Defense Reform process, through which it is downsizing a significant portion of its former military personnel. After the disarmament and demobilization stage, in an effort to ensure peace and stability, and foster economic recovery, the NTF Programme aims to reintegrate these discharged personnel into civilian life and the labor force. For this purpose, the NTF Programme has already assisted beneficiaries with in-kind assistance such as equipment for start-up or expansion businesses, vocational courses for employable qualifications, or machinery / livestock / seeds for agricultural ventures. At this point, the Programme is trying to find service providers, development NGOs, municipalities, cooperatives etc in order to coordinate with IOM in ensuring sustainability of these business and agricultural ventures.

For example, many discharged personnel already had skills to work as blacksmiths, tinsmiths, welders etc, and as a concrete project, IOM assisted them with equipment for metal work ateliers. These personnel now have the skills and the tools, but they still have to find markets, business partners etc to sell their products. So, IOM is trying to contract with organizations that offer business training and consulting in an effort to organize such beneficiaries into clusters, enabling them to reduce costs through group purchases, refer overflow business to each other, or achieve the scale necessary to apply as a group for large-scale jobs, particularly in the construction industry, a growing sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

My role in all this is to:
- research and identify institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina with such existing training and consulting programs;
- draft a proposal tailored to the types of services they provide and the potential cooperation between them and IOM;
- contact them with these proposals;
- if the cooperation will go forward, draft a Memorandum of Understanding defining the obligations of both sides in the cooperation;
- again, if the cooperation will forward, and the services will be partially funded by IOM, draft Terms of Reference to contract with the institutions and define the terms of the grant.

In short, the internship is a great mix of policy, real-world contact and negotiation, budgeting and funding, and legal drafting. Further, it offers an illustrative window into working for an inter-governmental organization, working at the local office of such an organization and implementing projects on the ground.

Most local IOM offices generate their own funding through project grants and, due to this, do not possess a budget to compensate interns like myself. So, my summer internship here would not have been possible without EJF funding, and I truly appreciate the value of this opportunity as I plan to work in the areas of migration and development, preferably at such a local office, upon graduation.

Timap for Justice

Niloufar Khonsari is working at Timap for Justice this summer in
Magburaka, Sierra Leone. Below she shares some of her experiences:


The first picture is of me and some workers doing an investigation at a gold
mining site. An American gold mining company has failed to pay its workers for their services and since terminated them. Through Timap for Justice, we went to the site to speak with the manager of the site and to do further investigations before writing a letter notifing the company, the labor office, and the police station.



The second picture is of me talking with the paramount chiefs during a travel clinic. The chiefs in the town of Malong confiscated farmland from one farmer eleven years ago and fined him several times for removing a neighboring farmowner's vegetables. There has been no oversight, and this poor farmer has been unable to pay his fines because he has not been permitted to harvest his bananas from his farm. Timap for Justice is holding a formal meeting with the paramount chiefs and the farmer next week after conducting some investigations with the local court (where the issue was also brought, but allegedly ignored).

A recent United Nations Development Program ranking of health, education, and standards of living ranked Sierra Leone last out of 177 countries. The World Bank classified Sierra Leone as "severely indebted." The minimum wage is only about 21,000 per month (ca. US$ 7.00 per month). Corruption is massive, and "justice" (as in most places in the world) is only accessible to the wealthy.

The injustices I have read about, seen, and felt recently, has made my last month's work with the NGO I am interning at that much more rewarding. It is truly an invaluable organization in a country with so many injustices and paralyzing poverty. Being surrounded by amazingly beautiful and strong people, facing the kind of poverty and problems that I wish on no one but am grateful to be able to help address, and learning from the paralegals and founders of the organization, have made my time with Timap for Justice a humbling and invaluable experience.

Sierra Leone is divided up into chiefdoms and districts. I live in the Tonkolili district, under the Kholifa Rowalla Chiefdom. In the last month, the organization for which I have been working as a legal intern, is called Timap for Justice. "Timap" means "stand up" in the Krio language. I work with two paralegals, Zainab and Hassan. Mondays through Thursdays we work in Magburaka town, where our office is located. We conduct mediations, do intakes, go on follow ups, talk to chiefs, officials, etc. On occasion, we also travel outside of Magburaka for investigations as we did for the gold mining company case, of which I posted pictures some time ago. On Fridays, we have a mobile clinic where we visit other Chiefdoms in our district and encourage the village people to report problems to Timap for Justice. The most common cases my office has handled during my stay include family disputes, corruption by chiefs and other authority figures, land disputes, breaches of contract, and employment related disputes.

The paralegals, Hassan and Zainab, who I am working with, are amazing. They are really good at feeling out the people they help. They let them know they understand and they're thorough when informing their clients of their options to address their issues. Working for Timap for Justice and with amazing paralegals like Hassan and Zainab has shown me how much I need to be doing this kind of work right now and in the future.