University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings)’s Post

Here is my first fellow update for my Equal Justice America fellowship: As I finish my first month at Mobilization for Justice, I have learned so much about the housing rights law landscape in NYC. It is a maze with constantly changing paths, creating new patterns we have never seen before and integrating them with unique paths we have not yet walked. As a rising 2L stumbling my way through this system, I see seasoned attorneys just as confused as I am by ever-evolving regulatory schemes. I see how they work every day to apply those schemes to the lives of tenants, all of whom have different stories and problems, in a way that humanizes their experience and advocates for their right to housing. I could only imagine how the tenants feel navigating this system without legal knowledge–that is until Monday, when we did in-court intake. To interact with so many tenants facing eviction and learn about their situations was a stark reminder that the things we learn in law school are things that can house people, or unhouse them. Every law, every piece of legislation, every court opinion, has a practical and lasting effect on the lives of real people, and that effect reverberates outward often infinitely. It is the job of lawyers like those at MFJ to protect these people, to champion the well-being of low-income New Yorkers, and keep them in their homes. It is a reminder that a legal education is a privilege that all law students should be thankful for. No matter how hard it is. We should be thankful that we are being equipped with tools to protect ourselves, and we should employ those tools in the service of others. It also means that we should support tenant advocacy organizations to help people understand their rights and protect themselves, as well. One organization I would like to highlight is Right to Counsel NYC Coalition, which is tenant-led, broad-based coalition that formed to disrupt Housing Court as a center of displacement and stop the eviction crisis: https://lnkd.in/eduETx-3 To help EJA support future law students working toward the goal of providing equal access to justice for all, you can donate here: https://lnkd.in/epFYRcrq #EJAFellowUpdate

Here is my fifth and final #EJAFellowUpdate for the Equal Justice America 2023 Fellowship.   Having completed my internship with Mobilization for Justice Housing Rights Program in early August, I have spent time reflecting on what it means to be a lawyer working in direct civil legal services. I encountered the typical lawyerly work I expected, such as drafting litigation documents and learning about eviction defense strategies. However, as I have discussed in a prior fellow update, it is also often the job of lawyers to meet with clients in their homes. These are usually follow-up visits after conducting in-court intake. During both intake and home visits, it is the role of a lawyer to issue-spot the client’s situation, to ask the right questions in order to understand what elements of their case are strong or could be problematic. For most of the time, however, a lawyer to a client is also perceived as a therapist, a social worker, and a friend. Clients want someone to not only represent their legal interests, but to listen to them, to console them, to help them to cope with the stress of legal proceedings and how to avoid being involved in future ones.   A lawyer’s job is to balance their zealous advocacy with their ethical obligations to protect and pursue a client's legitimate interests, while also not crossing personal boundaries, both their own and the client’s. It is extremely difficult to not be emotionally invested in your client’s situation, especially when working in housing rights law. Eviction proceedings are stressful and threaten a tenant’s sense of safety and security, as well as their physical and emotional well-being. As a tenant’s rights lawyer, you are working with your client because they are most often in incredibly difficult situations. Every client has a story tell, and it is a lawyer’s job to be able to listen to that story and ensure that the client feels heard and respected, while also not making themselves susceptible to burnout by taking that emotional weight home with them. As I move forward in my legal career from this internship aware of the amount of burnout that occurs in the public interest field, I am lucky to have worked with great role models at MFJ who showed me how to be a passionate and empathetic advocate who pursues the client’s interests while also preserving their own emotional well-being, even if I am not always successful as a young lawyer in doing so.   To help EJA support future law students working toward the goal of providing equal access to justice for all, you can donate here: https://lnkd.in/epFYRcrq

TODAY IS THE DAY! Appalachian School of Law’s Third annual Giving Day is now! We are humbled and thankful for the generosity of the Goff-Street Foundation. Their gift will help to support important education in the Appalachian region. GIVE NOW: https://lnkd.in/ePUet4bt #givingday #ASLGivingDay #ASLGivingDay2023 #makeadifferencetoday #makeadifference #asllaw #lawschool #asl #AppalachianSchoolofLaw #appalachianschooloflaw

Here is my second #EJAFellowUpdate for the Equal Justice America 2023 Fellowship: I knew that becoming a lawyer would entail research, and a lot of it. At New York Law School (NYLS), 1Ls are required to take a year long “Legal Practice” course, which teaches us how to write memorandums and appellate briefs, as well as interview clients and engage in negotiations. To complete each of these assignments and activities, we were taught how to utilize secondary sources as touch stones for orienting yourself in a new area of law or legal issue, to dig deep into case law, and conduct preparatory work on understanding both your client and your adversary’s background, goals, strengths, and weaknesses. So, entering my summer internship at Mobilization for Justice (MFJ) and as a research assistant with NYLS Professor Britney Wilson, I knew that my ability to research various legal (and non-legal) issues would be paramount to productive, meaningful work. What I did not expect, however, was the power of wielding curiosity and creativity in your research. After doing in-court intake with a client at MFJ, the first step is to understand their housing situation. We start by asking, “Is their unit rent regulated?” This question is integral to our ability to help these potential clients, since being in a rent stabilized or rent controlled apartment affords those tenants additional protections that other tenants in market rate apartments do not have. Sometimes we know immediately whether a client’s unit is rent regulated in some way. In other situations, we may have the opportunity to argue that the unit should be regulated. In that latter situation, we become investigators. Was the apartment built before 1974 and does it have 6 or more units? If it was built before 1974 but only has 5 units, are there additional illegal living spaces that could make it de facto rent stabilized? If it was built after 1974, did the building take a tax credit that rent stabilized the units? If the unit used to be regulated but the landlord claims it is not anymore, was it deregulated illegally? Essentially, how can we argue that it is or should be rent stabilized? These are just some of the questions that we ask ourselves during initial research, and each one of them carries with it a thinking process driven by curiosity to come up with creative ways to protect our client. All this to say, when people think of the legal profession, they think about lawyer’s researching and then arguing. However, to win a case, we cannot underestimate the power of being a curious learner, as well as a creative researcher and strategist, because that very curiosity and creativity can prevent someone from being evicted, even if the odds were initially against you. To help EJA support future law students working toward the goal of providing equal access to justice for all, you can donate here: https://lnkd.in/epFYRcrq

Empowering diversity within the legal field isn't just about breaking barriers; it's about building a future where justice truly reflects the multifaceted society we live in. This is why I've chosen to donate to LMU Law School's diversity program. By supporting initiatives that promote inclusivity and diversity, we're not only fostering a more equitable legal landscape but also ensuring that the voices of all communities are heard, respected, and represented in the halls of justice. Together, we can create a legal profession that embodies the richness of our collective experiences and perspectives. Let's be the change we wish to see in the world. #DiversityInLaw #BeTheChange #InclusiveJustice #dordicklawcorp

I can’t believe it’s my final update as part of my Equal Justice America fellowship! During my time at Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, I was able to work on housing, family and domestic violence, and consumer law matters. I got to play a pivotal role on a consumer law trial, write a few research memos, conduct client interviews, work on a special project researching local landlords who filed eviction cases the most frequently and compiling the standard form leases used by those landlords in order to help future clients who don’t have a copy of their lease, and prepare for a Virginia Employment Commission hearing, among other things. One of the hardest lessons I learned while at CVLAS was that no matter how much you want to, sometimes you just aren’t able to help a client. Sometimes clients did not check their mail or did not understand legal notices that had been sent to them and ignored them, and by the time they came to CVLAS for help, there was not much we could do. Having difficult conversations with clients and having to tell them that we would not be able to help them was a challenging but necessary part of working at a legal aid organization. The importance of having compassion for clients and recognizing that what you are telling them is hard for them to hear is something that I will take with me into my future work. Being at CVLAS this summer also showed me how necessary legal aid organizations are to ensure that low-income people have equal access to the justice system. Many people will need legal assistance at some point in their lives, but private attorneys charge hundreds or thousands of dollars for legal services. When a person is facing a matter like wage garnishment or eviction due to nonpayment of rent (as many of CVLAS’ clients were), they cannot afford to hire a private attorney. If they want legal help, they can only get it through a legal aid organization. Otherwise, they are forced to represent themselves, and they frequently lose their cases due to their lack of knowledge and understanding of how the legal system works. The existence of legal aid organizations is crucial, as they provide vital services to people who would otherwise be at a severe disadvantage solely because they didn’t have enough money to hire an attorney. Please consider donating to Equal Justice America to allow them to continue providing fellowships to law students who are doing important work at legal aid and other public service organizations across the country. University of Virginia School of Law.  #EJAFellowUpdate https://lnkd.in/gaaG2_rq