Good Works over Spring Break
While many students took advantage of spring break 2009 to depressurize and (hopefully) study a bit, a group from RWU Law instead flew to New Orleans to provide much-needed volunteer services to lawyers still working on legal matters facing the poor more than four years after Hurricane Katrina. (Actually, this is the third consecutive year that a group from RWU Law, supported by funds raised from the Dean and fellow students, decamped to NOLA for what has come to be known as an “alternative spring break.”)
This year 9 RWU Law students (plus Steve Fischbach from Rhode Island Legal Services) joined with the New Orleans Pro Bono Project, working on behalf of the Broadmoor Improvement Association. Participants included: 2Ls Dawn Euer (the primary organizer and a veteran of last year’s service trip), Alan Lapre, Kate Spillane and Sang Hwa Lee; and 1Ls Lynn Laweryson, Esther Kapinos, Kelly Bennett, Ashlee Reed, and Al Deans.
They worked out of the law firm of Krebs, Farley & Pelleteri and focused on cases involving the epidemic of contractor fraud in the rebuilding effort. Often residents were left with homes partially finished and depleted bank accounts, unable to finish the construction. As an added cruelty, many of the residents received funding from The Road Home program, through which the state distributed FEMA money to residents who were trying to rebuild, are now facing foreclosure. If the homes are not rebuilt, the residents may also have to pay the state back for the money they received.
Here are some reflections on the trip from 2L Alan Lapre and 1L Esther Kapinos:
Working in New Orleans this spring break was amazing! This year we conducted initial intake interviews with clients affected by contractor fraud. Additionally, we reconnected with and updated Pro Bono Project clients’ and their files prior to assignment to an attorney. After the initial intake interview, we wrote a cover memo regarding the specific case. Although it was interesting to conduct legal research regarding contractor fraud in Louisiana, the applicable regulatory licensing requirements, etc., I most enjoyed the direct client interaction. It was a reminder that although as an attorney you must understand the relevant legal issues and be able to articulate the applicable law, it is just as important to grasp the underlying rationales to facilitate the translation into more comprehensible, everyday language for your client. Finally, it was invigorating to meet individuals actively seeking to better their immediate community, such as the entire staff at the Broodmoor Improvement Association. They were kind enough for to provide us with background information regarding the neighborhoods affected and a place to conduct interviews. In all, the experience was great and I hope to participate in another “alternative spring break” next year.
There were two things that really struck me: The first was meeting with a client, sitting in her living room, and just listening to her talk. She talked about Katrina, her experience both before and after the storm, stories about her friends, work, family… I really got to know her in the short time I was with her. But the thing she said that really made an imprint on me was, “I wanted to come back here to New Orleans because this is my home. I missed my neighbors, my friends, my family.” The work we were doing, however “inconsequential” it might seem, was helping to bring one more Katrina victim home.
I was also moved by the appreciation shown for our efforts. And not just the attorneys or the Probono Project, but the clients with whom we spoke, the friends I was visiting down there, waitresses in restaurants, anyone to whom we mentioned what we were doing thanked us… genuinely, from the bottom of their hearts, thanked us. And that’s a feeling I won’t soon forget.
Finally - New Orleans is a FANTASTIC, beautiful, fun, alive city, and it was a perfect place to balance public service work and fun. I hope to go back next year, as I am confident that much work will remain to be done.
