Susan Saba is an Equal Justice Works/AmeriCorps Attorney at the Louisiana Bar Foundation.  She serves as a liaison between the public interest law community and students at the two law schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Susan is developing sustainable pro bono programs for both Southern University and Louisiana State University (LSU) law students that will provide them with practical legal experience and help relieve the pressing legal needs of a community savaged by catastrophe.  

David Sadegh is working with Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA) to create a permanent tenants rights organization for the low-income residents of the Houston, Texas area.  Though Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the country, it does not yet have an organization specifically devoted to the legal needs of tenants.  Even before the availability of low-income housing in the area plummeted as a result of Hurricane Katrina, Houston tenants were often at the mercy of unscrupulous landlords looking to maximize their profit margins.  

My project is designed to assist low-income, chronically ill or disabled children with their education issues.  My project has three goals.  First, I will provide direct legal representation to my clients.  

My project helps families affected by detention by providing information and representation to detainees on their bond and deportation cases; advocating for more humanitarian release, alternatives to detention, and other policies that reunify families; and providing family law and social services help to families separated by detention and deportation.  .  

Legal Services of Northern California's Tommy Clinkenbeard Legal Clinic is a clinic aimed at helping homeless people ticketed for illegal camping and other offenses related to their homelessness.  The clinic provides civil legal services and facilitates the Loaves & Fishes Calendar, a court date whereby homeless guests are able to resolve their minor criminal offenses by obtaining a sentence of community service or treatment in lieu of incarceration and fines.  .  

Saura J.  Sahu’s fellowship aimed to help the thousands of working poor who continue to labor for poverty wages as a result of systemic undermining of the living wage laws intended to improve their economic conditions.  Although Saura was based at his host organization’s office in Detroit, his fellowship was national in scope.  

Alex Saingchin is director of the New Jersey Asian American Legal Project (AALP), an initiative of the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund (AALDEF) to address the unmet legal needs of New Jersey's diverse Asian-American communities.  The project provides community education and legal advice by utilizing volunteer lawyers and law students to offer free legal clinics throughout Northern New Jersey.  Moreover, the project employs a combination of community organizing and litigation to empower undocumented Asian-American workers fighting for economic justice.  

Catherine Sakimura works on the Family Protection Project at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).  Her project improves access to family law services for low-income same-sex parent families, with a focus on serving families of color.  Children with same-sex parents typically do not have a legal relationship to at least one of their parents.  

The Immigrant Children Advocacy Project (ICAP) of Catholic Charities, Inc.  fills a desperate need for vulnerable immigrant children located in NC, SC, GA, AL, LA and MS.  Many suffer abuse, abandonment and neglect aggravating an already uncertain legal status in the United States.  

Sabrina Salomon provides legal representation to Haitian women and children who are victims of domestic violence and who may be eligible for immigration status adjustment under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).  Domestic violence, prevalent in Haiti, is considered a private matter, and there are no laws to protect the victims.  Because of cultural differences and language barriers, abused women from Haiti generally do not report abuse and often fail to seek help.  

The goal of my fellowship is to address the unique set of legal challenges that immigrants face in obtaining public benefits.  Presentations and direct representation allow me to inform immigrants about public benefits and to help them overcome the obstacles that immigration status can pose in obtaining and retaining the benefits.  I also work to address noncompliance with Title VI and the failure to provide interpreters, which make it more difficult for immigrants to access the resources available to them.  

Melissa Samuels is advancing the rights of immigrants with HIV/AIDS in the Chicago area.  She represents individuals and families in discrimination, public benefits, immigration and family matters.  To raise awareness of the legal issues facing HIV positive immigrants, Melissa develops advocacy campaigns and conducts community outreach and education.  

My project provides assistance to undocumented immigrant clients in filing for immigration relief including asylum petitions, petitions available to victims of serious crime, domestic violence, and human trafficking.  Additionally, my project involves coordinating the Family Advocates Community Clinic, a medical-legal collaborative between St.  Joseph Hospital Hospital and PLC.  

I partner with legal service providers to develop pro bono initiatives for the under-served parishes in rural areas.  I also organize, train, manage and attend legal clinics to deliver legal advice using volunteer law students and pro bono attorneys at various locations.  My project also allows me to organize campus-based events at LSU and Southern Law Centers to build relationships with student groups, professors and law school administrators to raise awareness of my work and rural legal service needs.  

Monica Saxena works with the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.  The Committee was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F.  Kennedy to address racial discrimination and to move the struggle for civil rights from the streets into the courts.  

Erica Schair works at the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center (RMCLC) as a guardian ad litem, or a child advocate and legal representative.  Erica represents abused and neglected children while focusing on creating an interdisciplinary approach to legal advocacy.  Her project builds on the already successful work of RMCLC and expands its reach by involving the medical and social work communities to provide more comprehensive care to abused and neglected children.  

Lack of special education and mental health services, as well as inappropriate responses to school discipline issues, have resulted in a huge number of students missing school in Bridgeport, CT.  I intend to provide individual advocacy, systemic advocacy, and community training in order to address this need.  .  

I work with homeowners in the Cincinnati area to help them preserve their homes.  These families could either be on the edge of foreclosure, meaning that counseling and advice, combined with a referral to a housing counselor, is the proper approach, or already in foreclosure, meaning that legal defenses in court are the appropriate approach.  In either case, the point of the fellowship is to ensure that needy homeowners are connected with available resources to keep them in their homes.  

Sarah Schriber works with the Children’s Initiative, a project of the ACLU’s Roger Baldwin Foundation in Chicago.  The Children’s Initiative serves as a legal advocate for the constitutional rights of Illinois children kept in government custody, utilizing class action litigation, education, and policy advocacy to secure these rights.  Sarah’s project addresses the mental health and education needs of the more than 500 juvenile detainees at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Cook County.  

At the National Housing Law Project, I work to enforce survivors’ housing rights under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the Fair Housing Act in the Bay Area.  My project focuses on increasing awareness of VAWA’s protections; developing policies that address the needs of survivors; and improving compliance by public housing agencies and subsidized landlords.  Through training of advocates, collaboration with housing providers and policy advocacy on the local, state and national level, my goal is to strengthen housing protections for survivors.  

Haley Schwartz developed the Breast Cancer Legal Project, which serves as a new division of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society Health Law Unit.  Breast cancer patients face categorical legal challenges in all stages of diagnosis, treatment and recovery.  Haley’s project focuses on legal issues such as obtaining SSI benefits; securing Medicare and Medicaid coverage; protecting against job, housing and insurance discrimination; appealing insurance coverage denials; obtaining and maintaining public benefits; assisting with debt relief; and preparing wills and other advance directives.  

Sonya Schwartz, born in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, graduated from the inaugural class of UCLA School of Law Public Policy Program.  Today, advocacy and education work help assure that low-income people know about and have access to vital food stamp benefits.  Sonya's fellowship focused on the loss of desperately needed food stamps in two populations in particular: immigrants and the elderly.  

My project at Pro Seniors is providing pre-foreclosure counseling and foreclosure prevention assistance, as well as foreclosure defense, to seniors in Ohio.  .  

Eve Searls works for the Child Advocacy Project, a new program at The Legal Aid Society of Columbus.  The Child Advocacy Project addresses the educational and medical needs of low-income children with disabilities.  The Project advocates for families using certain entitlement provisions under federal law, in particular the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act(IDEA) and Medicaid’s Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) provisions.  

Petra Seawell is a Fellow at the Medicare Rights Center (MRC), the largest independent source of healthcare information for people with Medicare, in the United States.  MRC provides direct educational and information services to Medicare beneficiaries through its information hotline and interactive online software, as well as policy/advocacy services relating to access to healthcare and quality of care issues that affect beneficiaries.  In her role as Deputy General Counsel, Petra acts as a Project Director on three major grant initiatives.  

Bernadette Segura works on the Texas RioGrande Legal Aid’s San Antonio Legal Assistance to the Homeless project.  The project works to help San Antonio’s homeless find safe, affordable housing and to narrow the gap between the San Antonio homeless residents eligible for mainstream benefits and those actually receiving them.  San Antonio currently ranks first in the nation in lack of affordable housing.  

I am currently placed at the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children (MLPC) at Boston Medical Center.  MLPC is a unique partnership between lawyers and doctors which assist children of low-income families in Boston and across the country by ensuring that the legal issues associated with poverty do not interfere with efforts to promote children’s health.  As an AmeriCorps Legal Fellow, I am engaged in both direct service work and in the creation of volunteer opportunities for law students.  

My project allows me to provide free legal services to senior citizens in three San Francisco-area counties.  The focus of my project is to represent the low- to no-income elder victims of financial abuse in areas including real estate, credit card and construction frauds, and lottery scams.  To proactively combat elder financial abuse, my project includes educating the public and law enforcement agencies by defining elder financial abuse, offering tips on how to protect seniors, and describing the various resources that are available to seniors.  

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Carolyn Seugling works with the National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children, a partnership of the U.  S.  Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.  

Matthew Seymour works with Dallas Legal Hospice to implement the Mobile Legal Services Project, a rural outreach program to meet the civil, health-related legal needs of persons living with HIV/AIDS or terminal illness in North Texas.  Lack of financial resources (especially transportation) makes it difficult, if not impossible, for many rural clients and their families to effectively seek legal help.  In response, Matthew uses a “circuit rider” model to visit rural organizations and provide services in residential and care facility settings for clients unable to travel.  

Studies have shown that children in foster care are far more likely to experience school changes and enrollment delays, be suspended or expelled, and fail to complete high school.  The goal of my project is to protect the educational rights and needs of abused and neglected children in Allegheny County, thereby improving their educational and life outcomes.  I will provide direct educational legal services to KidsVoice clients and work with KidsVoice to improve the ability of the organization and its staff attorneys to provide these services as well.  

People who live in poverty may face an array of legal situations such as a grandparent seeking to adopt a grandchild because the parents are unable to care for him;  or a wife and mother may need to end an abusive relationship.  But they don't have the resources to afford representation to resolve these matters.  The goal of the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project is to find lawyers willing to provide pro bono legal service to those in need.  

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Rachel Shapiro works with Equip for Equality (EFE) to provide legal representation and training to children with unmet special education needs involved in the Cook County juvenile court system.  Partnering with the Office of the Chief Judge of the Juvenile Court and Probation Department, this project centers on reducing recidivism rates, increasing educational opportunities for Chicago's youth and protecting their legal rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  The project focuses on the following identified issues in Chicago: 1) representing children in the court system with both identified and unidentified special education needs; 2) assisting children with the educational problems that they experience when exiting the court system; 3) representing children with disabilities in school expulsion hearings; and 4) exploring the availability of alternative educational programs for these children.  

Cassandra Shaylor, a native of South Carolina, began working with women in prison in 1995.  Through her Equal Justice Works Fellowship, Cassandra started a new organization that provides direct legal services and education to women prisoners in California.  Though the project was based in Oakland, California, it served women in the two largest women’s prisons in the world, both located in rural Chowchilla, California.  

The long-term goals of my project are to establish a system of adequate court representation for all Washington’s foster youth by which an attorney, Guardian ad Litem and/or Court Appointed Special Advocate representation is provided; facilitate full participation of stakeholders in all geographic regions of the state in the foster care reform process; and work with service providers and youth to publish and disseminate a foster youth rights handbook.  

REMARKS FROM THE 2008 AMERICAN LAWYER AWARDS DINNER

http://americanlawyerawards.  

At Americans United, Dena Sher works on two issues where the Establishment Clause and reproductive rights intersect.  Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.  C.  

Lisa White Shirley worked to combat the increasingly widespread use of physical violence against Florida prison inmates.  Her project involved an extensive investigation of prison brutality throughout the Florida state correctional system, with an eye toward documenting the extent to which prison supervisors allowed guards to physically abuse inmates, and in some cases even encouraged them to do so.  She not only litigated against abusive guards, but also worked to establish the liability of their supervisors, wardens and state officials by proving that there was a pattern and practice of disregarding guard brutality.  

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Lucy Shum is focusing on the unmet needs of Medicaid-eligible children with mental illness in Maryland.  For many vulnerable children, the state’s non-compliance with Medicaid law triggers a downward spiral exacerbated by the lack of coordination of care among multiple agencies.  Instead of accessing vital support, parents with scarce resources and little education encounter barriers that they are not equipped to navigate.  

After a twelve-year career as a secretary, Angelique Shupe decided to go to law school, fueled by a desire to serve the needs of low-income clients who may not otherwise have access to legal assistance.  During law school, Angelique interned at the Community Law Office in Mendenhall, Mississippi, part of The Mendenhall Ministries.  After a one-year term as a law clerk for the chancellor of Madison County, Mississippi and a one-year term as a law clerk for a judge on the Mississippi Court of Appeals, Angelique returned to the Community Law Office to develop a Youth Services Program.  

Craig Siegel launched the Access to Justice Project, which aimed to help legal services lawyers respond to a wave of restrictions imposed on their work as a condition of state and local government funding.  These restrictions were often modeled on those imposed by Congress on the Legal Services Corporation in 1996, which tied the hands of the nation's largest group of lawyers for the poor by barring them from challenging welfare laws, litigating class actions, conducting legislative advocacy and collecting attorneys' fees, among other things.  Craig came to his host organization after working for several years as a community organizer, public interest lobbyist and legislative aide.  

My project will address the legal issues of those affected by Hurricane Ike by recruiting pro bono attorneys and volunteer law students.  I will also assist low-income Houston residents with their legal issues even if they were not affected by the hurricane.  .  

Tracy Simmons works with the Children's Health and Education Law Project, a new program at The Legal Aid Society of Columbus.  The Children's Health and Education Law Project addresses the educational and medical needs of low-income children with disabilities.  The Project advocates for families using certain entitlement provisions under federal law, in particular the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Medicaid's Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) provisions.  

Shirin Sinnar works to counteract discrimination in the private sector against Muslims, Arabs, South Asians, and other communities affected by post-9/11 backlash.  Her project is at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, which has engaged in a range of post-9/11 civil rights advocacy.  For example, it represents Hady Omar, an Egyptian immigrant detained and mistreated by the government in the fall of 2001.  

The project focuses on meeting the needs of the poor in Appalachian Ohio by developing lasting partnerships with medical entities in the area and by providing direct representation to clients.  Appalachian Ohio is an area that struggles with widespread poverty and limited resources, making the need for professional collaboration even more urgent.  Read more

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