
Heather McKinney
Host: Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas
Sponsor: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime
Current Fellow
Laura is providing outreach and legal services to low-income seniors in Blue Ridge Legal Services’ (BRLS) service area, with special focus on seniors in Shenandoah, Warren, and Allegany Counties, which are the rural areas most distant from BRLS offices.
Isolation and misinformation endanger seniors in rural areas, especially during a pandemic. Additionally, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities may provide residents care according to a formulaic plan that prioritizes institutional efficiency over residents’ rights and autonomy. Often, seniors are simply not heard as individual persons.
Laura has always gravitated toward vulnerable clients in her law practice–children, disabled persons, mentally ill patients, and incapacitated persons. She believes that every person both wants and deserves to be heard and that due process of law for every person is a difficult and worthy ideal.
In addition to providing direct legal services to victims of elder abuse, Laura will work with multiple interdisciplinary organizations to increase awareness and provide education to law enforcement, social services, financial institutions, and the general public.
Host: Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas
Sponsor: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime
Current Fellow
Host: Prairie State Legal Services
Current Fellow
Host: Alaska Legal Services Corporation
Sponsor: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime
Current Fellow
Host: Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc.
Sponsor: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime
Current Fellow