Week of Service in New Orleans: Wrap-Up

Volunteering with Catholic Charities of New Orleans: WCL students Daniel Clark and Jeanna Lee with the staff of Catholic Charities

Most law students spend their two week break between Fall and Spring semesters at home relaxing, searching for internships, and spending time with friends and family.  However, through our student organization, Action for Human Rights, several are able to volunteer their off-time to assist those in need of legal services.

From December 29th, 2013 to January 5th, 2014 several WCL law students traveled to New Orleans  Our week in New Orleans during the winter break combined volunteering at local legal aid non-profit organizations, rebuilding homes through the St. Bernard's Project, visiting and learning about communities most devastated by Hurricane Katrina, as well as an informative panel discussion with AU Alumni regarding the legal employment climate in New Orleans. Although the bulk of our time was spent either providing pro bono legal assistance or community service, there was ample time to enjoy the unique culture of New Orleans. The po-boys, brass bands, voodoo spells, Spanish-French architecture, flea markets, and the many friendly people we met during our stay made returning school a little less than appealing.

The participants of the 2014 Action for Human Rights Alternative Winter Break service trip to New Orleans: Mehreen Rasheed, Elizabeth Dukette, Amber Lee, Greg Evans, Daniel Schneider, Daniel Clark, Nirali Shah, Jeanna Lee, Safiya Hamit, Jordan Philips, James Weider, Jackie Youm, Kimberly Shin, Kamille Go, Anthony Bizien (Raziya Brumfield - not pictured)

The trip itself not only provided valuable time and service to the host organizations and their beneficiaries, but gave the participating students substantive experience in the legal field,  lasting professional contacts, new friends, and fun memories!  The trip was a success and we already look forward to continuing this tradition of service in the vibrant community of New Orleans for years to come!

January 5th, 2014: Volunteering with CASA, Post-Katrina

Eight years after Hurricane Katrina, people in New Orleans still describe their lives in “before the Storm” and “after the Storm” terms. People still remember where they were when it hit and share their stories in vivid detail. The most outwardly apparent signs of Katrina’s lasting effect are blighted properties yet to be rebuilt. But the storm has had different ramifications on various parts of life.

I saw one such effect when volunteering at CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children). The nonprofit matches neglected and abused children with volunteers who advocate in court for their best interests.

In the chaos of Katrina, many children disappeared, or were neglected or abandoned. “If another storm were to hit tomorrow, we wouldn’t have a record of all of our kids in one place, and we wouldn’t know where they all were,” said Joy Bruce, the Executive Director at CASA. In the aftermath of the storm, volunteers and DCFS workers struggled just to ensure their children were alive and well ¾ filing paperwork understandably fell to the wayside. But this dealt a blow to the infrastructure, as CASA started to lose track of the files of many children in the system. So we spent our week sorting through stacks of case files and updating an electronic record of the children CASA had worked with.

            A child entering the foster care system begins a race against time to return to permanency. From the dozens of stories I read, I surmised that the longer a child stays in the system, the more likely she is to never be adopted or reunited with her family; and the less likely she is to do well in school, go to college, or acquire job training.

            These sobering realities seemed at first to contrast sharply with the bright, vibrant city we saw around us. Yet I began to feel that the New Orleans’ vivacious spirit and warm hospitality didn’t come in spite of it’s struggles, but perhaps became more pronounced because of them.

 Mehreen Rasheed

January 4th 2014: First Day Working with AIDS LAW

Today we took a big picture approach to examining the legal issues those with AIDS face, and the justice that lawyers in Louisiana are fighting to deliver through first hand accounts of lawyers, law firm staff, and their cases.

We first met with the lead office executive and the lead paralegal for the AIDS Law firm. After a brief introduction to the staff and tour of the office, we were lectured on the importance of confidentiality and ethics for clients and their personal health information (PHI). We even were each assigned reading on the 1996 HIPAA law and the law’s recent Omnibus provision followed by a 25 question multiple-choice exam on the issue. We all passed. Then, as a group we had a lengthy discussion and learned about: (1) the history of AIDS law in the US and in LA; (2) the history of the firm we are volunteering for, (3) and the current legal and financial issues the firm faces.

We learned all the types of services the firm offers (disability, discrimination, and wills to name a few), and got many detailed explanations of cases the law firm has dealt with, including many real life examples with their accompanying legal issues. We discussed how cases are brought and how to deal with a variety of clients (many of whom are mentally ill, physically sick, or have other life trauma). Each case also had a discussion of the personal element of interacting with the client, and through that we learned about all the social, economic, and health polices that are most affecting those with AIDS.

We then took a field trip to meet with a prominent Louisiana lawyer who is currently working on same-sex marriage cases, and he gave us his legal outlook on the issue. Then, he led a tour to the Louisiana Supreme Court where we met one of the judges, and learned about the unique characteristics of Louisiana’s Napoleonic code, highlighted by a special tour of the rare book room, where we were discussed historical constitutional issues with the lead librarian of the court.

We all then had lunch together downtown, where we further discussed local issues and movements to help the AIDS affected community, and the effects of the Affordable Care Act on that community.

Jordan Philips and Raziya Brumfield

January 4th 2014: WCL Alumni Panel at Tulane University

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the streets were buzzing down Magazine Street on Saturday, January 4^th, 2014. We had our first long break of the week, since the previous Sunday, and we finally had time to explore the neighborhood by our hostel. We found a thrifty hat shop, an amazing donut store with sweet & savory donuts (including a croque monsieur donut), and a delicious Jewish deli (they even had Taylor ham…woah).

After our exploration of the neighborhood and a quick drive-by through the French Quarter, we went to Tulane University to get the dish on the legal field in New Orleans and some advice for law school from AU WCL alumni. We learned that biotechnological law and entertainment law are up-and-coming in New Orleans. Maritime law is another great field of law to practice in Louisiana. All three alumni thought that New Orleans would improve in the next ten years and many employment opportunities would flourish, including within the legal department.

They also said that we should only come to practice in New Orleans if:

1)   We love New Orleans and its particular culture!

2)   We get to know someone in whichever legal field we are interested in because New Orleans is a small community where everyone knows everyone.

3)   And we research and find a particular legal field that is prevalent in New Orleans.

Afterwards, we went to the French Quarter once again and explored the live music and jazz scene of Frenchman Street. We enjoyed the suave sounds of a multitude of instruments, such as the deep calling of a bass, the smooth sounds of a saxophone, the tease of a piano, and the bright resonance of a guitar while watching the football playoffs of the Saints versus the Eagles. Since we were there, the Saints obviously won the game in a dramatic finish.

All in all, we were able to see a bit of New Orleans’ soul and to be tempted into thinking that one day, we may be one of the WCL’s alumni giving advice to the bright-eyed and young law school students visiting the mysterious voodoo queen that is New Orleans.

Jacqueline Youm 

January 3rd, 2014: Volunteering with Court Appointment Special Advocates

On the top floor of one of the downtown New Orleans skyscrapers lies a small office with a big view and an even bigger vision.  CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), a well-established national organization, fulfills society’s fundamental obligations to protect children from neglect and abuse.  They do it all on limited means, as do all nonprofits, but the New Orleans chapter has to work with the added caveat of a lack of infrastructure in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

One thing that CASA does is stay connected to the child and check in on them to make sure their new environment remains a safe place.  It’s the CASA advocate who goes to the home and finds out that the brother who was incarcerated for raping one of his little sisters is out of jail and now living in the same house as one of his other little sisters.  The CASA advocate motions to remove the child from that situation.

Our penthouse views of downtown give a candid picture of how much was lost.  Entire 20+ story office buildings have been abandoned and remain unfinished.  What this means for CASA is that data, documents, and files have been lost.  Just papers.  But I’m realizing that papers sometimes represent people.  At CASA, the papers that were lost are children we have no way of contacting.  The majority of the children that are brought to CASA are those without an adequate support system.  Children whose parents are addicted to crack/cocaine, incarcerated, who have mental illnesses, or otherwise unable to care for their child.

Our team (Mehreen, Liz, Stephanie, Anthony, and I) has been rummaging through boxes of papers, and while the sheer numbers of files we’ve had to sift through are impressive, the dates only go back so far.  There is not the infrastructure yet to find out what happened to all the children.  But I guess that’s the purpose for our being at CASA.  We’re helping build the infrastructure they need so that next time, we can keep the promises that we made to protect the children.

Kimberly Shin

The Soul of New Orleans

It's pretty much the best place on earth.  Everyone says, “hey, how you doing?” to you when you walk by.  There’s a second line for any occasion, happy, sad, good or bad.  Drinking at noon is perfectly acceptable, if not encouraged.  Randomly, the water is cut off because it's deemed undrinkable, so no one goes to work, and everyone just drinks beer instead.  It's almost never cold.  Almost.  But when it's hot, it's damn hot.  But it's okay because you're the weird one only if you're not sweating.  And no one really cares that you’re sweaty, anyway.  Laissez les bon temps rouler pretty much rules the day.  Everyone loves life, some love life a little too much.  Dressing up like a ninja turtle just because it's Tuesday is fine.  I've done it.

New Orleans has soul. Living here is to never want to leave.  But, while the city brings so much joy, she’ll break your heart if you let her.  She’ll bring you to your knees.  Homelessness, joblessness, substance abuse and a broken public school system are blanket terms that don’t even begin to describe this city’s scars.  

The United States incarcerates a greater amount of its citizens than any other country in the world.  Of all fifty states, Louisiana is the Queen of lock-up.  The city with the highest percentage of its population behind bars in this great state, now that’s New Orleans.  

And yet, you can’t help but love it here.  Despite the pain, the corruption, the gut-wrenching sadness, there is hope.  The people of New Orleans are filled with the stuff.  That’s what will keep you here; defending children, defending the poor, defending New Orleans.  

Stephanie Poucher 

January 2nd, 2014: Volunteering with the NO/AIDS Task Force

Today was my second day volunteering within the legal department of NO/AIDS Task Force. NO/AIDS is an organization, which provides a variety of essential services to people with HIV/AIDS. The services they provide includes meal delivery to clients who are unable to obtain food on their own, as well as counseling and anonymous HIV testing. I worked in the legal department of NO/AIDS, which offers a variety of legal services to people living with HIV/ AIDS. Several issues the firm encounters includes cases dealing with discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, helping clients prepare wills and trusts, as well as providing affidavits to clients to allow them to receive public assistance. 

Today I researched and drafted a memo regarding the procedures for filing a complaint using a pseudonym in the Eastern District of Louisiana. It is important that client’s information remains private when they file claims in court. I also conducted client intakes. The majority of the clients needed assistance renewing their Affidavits, which allow them to receive public benefits. I was first trained on the intake process. I reviewed the forms the firm uses to document client information with an attorney and a paralegal.

 After I sat in as an attorney conducted a client interview, I completed the process with another legal intern. It was a great experience to help clients complete essential legal documents that will allow them to obtain public assistance.  During these interviews, clients shared their hardships and experiences. It was rewarding to feel that I was having a direct impact in their life. The population, which NO/AIDS serves, is one that has commonly been overlooked and is in so much need of assistance. The clients appreciated the aid, and the attorneys and staff were a pleasure to work with. 

Raziya Brumfield

January 2nd, 2014: The Right to Live Where You Choose!

Today I worked in the office of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC), which is a non-profit, civil rights organization fighting housing discrimination in New Orleans.  I was finishing up research on the issue of relevant evidence in claims of racial discrimination under the Fair Housing Act, but the more cases I researched, the more disheartened I became.  I wondered if the dates of these cases were correct...could they really be from as late as 2002, 2008, and 2012?  Surely I was reading about situations that were decades old.  Unfortunately, at the conclusion of my memorandum, it was clear that severe and overt fair housing violations were present all over the country.

The stories that came from the GNOFHAC attorneys and from my legal research revealed instances of tenants being denied the opportunity to rent or buy property because of their race, property evictions due to the race of the tenant or of the guests they choose to entertain, or racially-charged insults meant to harass or intimidate.  I knew that racial discrimination currently took place, but I was surprised at the amount of obvious and open displays of racial intolerance, ignorance, and hatred.

The ray of hope came as I began to think about the mission of GNOFHAC and the work that the staff does.  They not only believe in eradicating unfair housing practices in rental, sales, lending, and insurance because it is illegal but also because discrimination “perpetuates poverty, segregation, ignorance, fear and hatred”.  GNOFHAC not only works in enforcement, with clients who face discrimination, but also in the education adults and children, in order to help them understand the importance of being able to live where you choose and to understand what discrimination is and the damage that it causes.  With fair housing attorneys, counselors, and staff members at GNOFHAC and all over the country working together to end discriminatory housing practices, maybe a law student, years from now, when given a research assignment on racial discrimination and fair housing, will pleasantly discover that the relevant cases are indeed decades old.  I am empowered by thoughts of the future.

Safiya Hamit

 

January 1st, 2014: Tour of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans

The Orphan Tattoo

The Lower Ninth Ward Still Waits To Be A Home Once Again

I am finding the history of the St. Vincent’s Guest House, our lodging for the Alternative Winter Break week, to be particularly fitting after our day in the Lower Ninth Ward.  The Guest House originally served as an Orphan Asylum starting in the 1860s, a home for children particularly necessary in yellow fever-stricken New Orleans.  The orphanage was in service until the 1970s, and then was repurposed as the Guest House in 1994.

In many ways the walking tour of the Lower Ninth Ward revealed an orphaned community, ever increasingly abandoned by a city, state, and country that move ever further away from Hurricane Katrina.  The Lower Ninth Ward cannot move from the path of Katrina, because the entire community is still so bound by it.

In the search and rescue efforts, then recovery efforts, various groups applied coded spray painted Xs to mark houses according to the Urban Search & Rescue Task Force manuals.  The “X-codes” or “Katrina Crosses” are lasting marks of the many legacies of the storm.  The cold marks noting death and destruction serve also as reminders of the government’s intervention as a critical element of the legacy that leaves the Lower Ninth Ward in a state of disaster recovery.  I was told that the Xs remain on many homes now again inhabited because the spray paint cannot be easily removed, covered, or otherwise erased.  Because of the nature of spray paint, scrubbing, painting, or sanding often fails to remove these tattoos of the storm that remain on many homes and the dilapidated structures left behind by those many who may never return.

As our tour wound through residential streets of the Lower Ninth Ward, I could not help but see the area as an aging orphan left hoping for a family placement, but ever increasingly concerned that such may never come.  The longer the wait, the less likely.  As time goes by, the anxiety of what will happen only seems to worsen.

Now over seven years removed from the wall of water that consumed his town, beyond the obvious blight and stark poverty, as the community ages beyond the storm, the waning opportunity to resurrect the Lower Ninth Ward obviously weighs on community organizer Ward “Mack” McClendon.  Mack sees and hears so many different concerns from those who come through the Lower Ninth Ward Village community center that he directs, that he can hardly hold one problem in his head before moving to another. 

Mack’s tour was as much a desperate plea for attention by the abandoned, as it was about any specific way to offer help.  One is left to wonder if the Lower Ninth Ward will ever be able to remove its orphan tattoo and again support a community that so anxiously wants to feel at home again.

Daniel Clark 

December 31st 2013: Volunteering with the St. Bernard Project

Today was a construction day for most of us. After spending all day yesterday sitting in the CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for children) office staring at a computer screen and reading cases about child abuse, it was nice to get out of the office and into the field for hands on work. Office legal work is important, but there are some very beneficial things about working in a construction setting that apply to being a lawyer. First, there is attention to detail and patience. Painting trims, cutting plywood, sanding walls, etc. Make one mistake and you may have to restart from scratch. If you’re not paying attention and mess up a cut or paint on brick, it can cost you significant time and money. Second, not only do you build something that’s material, you’re also team building. When you’re working with a large group of people, time spent together laughing, problem solving, and completing a project allows colleagues and friends to bond and become a family. Last, construction can be very therapeutic for your soul. My favorite project was removing a tile flooring from the patio. To do this we used a crowbar and a hammer to slowly remove the tiles. The life of a law student and life in general can be frustrating and tense, but taking my aggression out on a tile with a hammer is satisfying in a way I can’t explain. Attention to detail, teamwork, and finding a way to relieve stress are importation traits to any future lawyer.

 Elizabeth Dukette

December 31st, 2013: Volunteering with St. Bernard Project

Today we worked on rebuilding a house in New Orleans East with the St. Bernard Project. It was a most rewarding experience for me because I grew up a couple blocks away.  New Orleans East is at times a neglected part of the city of New Orleans and has been struggling for a time to return to its original luster ever since Hurricane Katrina. Driving through the neighborhood many houses are still boarded and blighted property is still high. Today we helped paint and prep the interior and exterior of a house on Crowmley street being put on the market for first time homebuyers of the city.

We first met with the field officer of the St. Bernard Project, which is a nonprofit focused on disaster rebuilding, and affordable housing throughout the city. After a brief introduction and icebreaker, we got to work. We were divided into two groups. One group worked in the garage sanding down spackle on the walls of the garage while the other group paints the siding outside.

After we each finished our tasks we broke for a late lunch as an end to the day. Being back in New Orleans East brought back many great childhood memories as well as memories of riding my bike along the canal, walking to church with my grandmother, and stopping for snowballs after school. It was a bittersweet experience because it also reminded me of how much more the city has to go.

Kristine Mbadugha