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.

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.

Les Mêmes Droits Pour Tous

Ioana Rusu writes from West Africa:

I first met Mamadou Alpha Barry during a routine visit to La Surêté, the largest prison facility in Guinea, West Africa. A young man of only 23, he had been placed in pre-trial detention since 2004. His family could not afford a lawyer, so he asked our organization to take his case. Several weeks later, we finally located his file and were shocked to discover that all charges against Mamadou had already been dropped--in November 2004. He should have been set free, but someone neglected to convey this information to the prison. Mamadou Alpha Barry walked out of prison a free man on July 7th, 2008, after over 3 years and 7 months of illegal detention.

Mamadou’s case is shocking, but sadly far from unique. The disorganization and corruption endemic in Guinea’s judicial system have given rise to grave and pervasive human rights abuses. I have spent the past 10 weeks working with Les Mêmes Droits Pour Tous – MDT (Equal Rights for All), the only non-governmental organization in Guinea currently providing free legal assistance to adult detainees.
The work is challenging and often extremely frustrating. Some of our clients have already finished their sentences, but have not yet been set free. Others have been in pre-trial detention for many years. Yet others have confessed to crimes they did not commit after having been severely tortured by the police.
During my ten weeks with the organization, I have attended trials and hearings, met with clients, followed-up with cases of illegal detention, and helped raise awareness about police brutality. For more information about MDT’s work and my experience working in the Guinean judicial system, please email me at Ioana.C.Rusu@gmail.com.

Alaska Legal Services

Daniel Carson is working as a summer associate for Alaska Legal Services in Anchorage.

ALS is a non profit organization that provides legal aid to those who can't afford legal help. I have been pleasantly surprised with the type of work I have been exposed to and the people whom I have been working with. I highly recommend anyone in the future to work here.
I have had a lot of exposure to different types & sizes of cases from minor landlord-tenant rights to a statewide class action suit against the state of Alaska which is on appeal with the Alaska Supreme Court. I have been busy with research and doing other various litigation work such as drafting discovery and calling witnesses. The funnest part of that work has been doing detective sleuthing; for instance by going out to a cabin to look around and by calling around and asking questions to the water testing lab and neighbors and so on.

Living in Alaska is certainly like nothing else in the rest of the U.S. You feel very separated and you feel like you are on the edge of the world. It doesn't get dark in the summer and it's hard at first to fall asleep. I stopped riding my bike to work after almost being stomped by a moose with her calves and after reading in the paper of a grizzly bear mauling of a bicyclist on the edge of town, nearby from
where I am staying for the summer. On the weekends I am able to "escape" the town and head south to the Kenai Peninsula for some fishing or hiking with co-workers; the scenery & wildlife is amazing. I feel extremely grateful to the Equal Justice Foundation and would like to thank the Equal Justice Foundation for the opportunity to be able to accept this position in Alaska.

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.