Supporting Fellowships that Help Older Survivors of Domestic Violence Regain Agency Over Their Lives

By Laura Roach, program manager at Equal Justice Works

October is nationally recognized as Domestic Violence Awareness Month and this year’s theme is #Every1KnowsSome1 to highlight how common this form of abuse is in our communities. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men experience domestic violence in their lifetimes, resulting in impacts like injury, safety concerns, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, and needing victims’ services such as legal assistance.

The population of the United States is getting older and the proportion of older adults is growing—people age 65 are expected to represent 21.6% of the population by 2040. As the older adult population grows, so does the potential for elder abuse to become more prevalent.

Elder abuse is already a pervasive and underreported problem, with studies showing that 1 out of every 10 people age 60 and older experience some form of abuse. A significant portion of abuse in later life is perpetrated by a current or former spouse or intimate partner, which classifies the victimization as domestic violence. Domestic violence later in life is distinguished from other forms of elder abuse for being perpetrated by a current or former intimate partner to gain and maintain power over the victim through violence or coercive tactics, such as isolation, threats, intimidation, manipulation. Perpetrators of domestic violence also often exploit their victims financially, making it more difficult for the victims to escape the abuse.

Equal Justice Works Fellows in the Elder Justice Program provide trauma-informed civil legal services to older adults who have experienced one or more forms of victimization, including domestic violence. Since the program first launched in July 2020, the 22 Fellows have provided direct legal services to more than 1,000 older victims of crime across 11 states. Of the older adults served by Fellows, 12% of them received services related to domestic violence.

In one case, client Susan* was being stalked by her former intimate partner who sent messages from fake phone numbers and social media accounts, and used her social security number to fraudulently take credit cards out in her name. Fellow Megan Wood at Prairie State Legal Services in Illinois helped Susan obtain a two-year order of protection from her former partner, but the stalking continued. Megan advocated for Susan with the State’s Attorney, and the abuser was charged with two different misdemeanor violations. To remedy the credit card fraud and identity theft, Megan worked with Susan to place a credit freeze and contacted the credit card company to have the debt written off as fraud so that Susan would not be responsible for it.

Many older adults are vulnerable to abuse because they require support from a caregiver. Fellow Andrea Marcin at Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Services helped her client Stanley* escape from exploitation perpetrated by his wife. Stanley’s wife of 25 years had isolated him from his family, forced him to work well past retirement age, and neglected his medical needs. She also took out at least two life insurance policies on his behalf and a fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan using his old business’ information. After enduring much abuse, Stanley confided in his daughter, and she asked him to come live with her so she could help support him. To help Stanley regain control of his finances and credit, Andrea worked with him to execute a Power of Attorney naming his daughter as Agent so she could help him cancel fraudulent accounts and policies. Andrea was also able to get the fraudulent PPP loan cancelled before it was disbursed.  With Anrea’s help, Stanley is living safely and is happy to be able to see his grandchildren.

Domestic violence can have long-lasting and devastating effects, but lawyers can help victims regain agency and independence. For example, Fellow Caitlin Corey at Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas (LANWT) helped her client Eva* begin to recover from an abusive marriage. Eva’s spouse had abused her physically years prior, and the violence had evolved into verbal and emotional abuse. To cope with the trauma, Eva stayed in one bedroom of her home and never ventured into the common areas when she was at home. The police were called multiple times when verbal arguments with her spouse escalated to the point where Eva feared for her safety. Her abusive spouse also stalked her at work. Caitlin worked with Eva to secure a temporary restraining order and to file for divorce. Additionally, Eva received support from a social worker at LANWT to draft a safety plan. Caitlin reports, “I am grateful I have had the opportunity to represent the client and even without the divorce being finalized, I have seen how the client has been able to start the healing process and how this divorce will help her recover after decades of abuse.” Recently, Eva’s divorce was finalized, and she was granted exclusive use and possession until the home is sold.

This October, Equal Justice Works recognizes Domestic Violence Awareness Month and all those victimized by their partners. We will continue to support Fellowships that help survivors of domestic violence recover on their own terms and regain agency over their lives.

*The name of the client has been changed to protect privacy.

Visit here to learn more about the Elder Justice Program Fellows who are addressing the gap in civil legal services for victims of elder abuse and exploitation.

The Elder Justice Program is supported by an award from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), Award Number 2019-V3-GX-K033. This federal funding is supplemented by funds from private donors. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this product are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

By Rochelle McCain, Equal Justice Works National Advisory Committee Member. Rochelle is also the executive director of the professional development office and co-director of the externship program at University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Equal Justice Works will host its annual Conference and Career Fair virtually from October 21-23, 2021. The Conference and Career Fair provides a wonderful experience. Whether it is someone’s first time or someone has previously attended, there is always something to inspire, recognize, and galvanize law students and the public interest legal community. The air is electric; as students move through the conference space (including the virtual space, as was the case last year and will be the case this year) and engage with public interest advocates. I am consistently reenergized each year by participating in events such as the keynote, concurrent sessions, table talks, and formal and informal networking moments the event provides. It is one of the events I look forward to every fall term!

Here’s some advice for law students looking to stand out and maximize their experience at this year’s career fair:

Set the Stage: It is easy to be distracted or disengage while attending a virtual event. Try to carve out dedicated time to immerse yourself in the conference by reducing any distractions. Also, be sure to take time to identify your goals and aims so you can make your time count.

Be Prepared: Take some time to acclimate yourself to the virtual platform well before you need to attend interviews or attend any concurrent sessions/workshops. Try to organize yourself and create a plan for navigating each day. Think about creating a “must do”, “can do”, and “may do” list, so you have options and alternate plans.

Pace Yourself: Virtual engagement, whether interviews or networking, can require significant bandwidth. Take moments to recharge so you can meaningfully connect with employers and benefit from the programming.

Stay Engaged: Make the moments you have with employers and professionals count. Many remember what it was like to be where you are now and have a wealth of information to share. Treat each and every conversation with employers as you would an interviews. Be prepared to quickly market your interest, skills, and experience. Think about and prepare a short pitch for yourself as time will be of the essence.

Follow-up and Follow-through: The Conference and Career Fair can provide a connection or be the start of a broader/greater conversation to come. It will require you to follow up with those you interviewed as well as those you had the pleasure to chat with during the event. Employers may have long days meeting hundreds of students, so taking the time to follow up after an exchange to reinforce your interest or continue the conversation will make you stand out. Create a system to track the employers you’ve submitted your resume to at the fair, so you have a comprehensive list. It’s a good idea to jot down other notes too, right after you speak with each employer. This will help you to stay consistent, in case you land a follow-up interview with the same person. Taking notes will also help you to effectively follow up with a call, email or formal letter.

Be Authentic: Many students try to fit the ideal prototype of what an employer is seeking and can lose themselves in the process. While you want to incorporate everything you have learned to ensure you are presenting professionally, you do not want to completely assume another persona. Many employers can spot this instantaneously. Let your interest, skills, experiences, and personality shine. Remember to be your best professional self, and it will resonate with others.

Visit here to learn more about the 2021 Conference and Career. If you have any questions about the event, feel free to reach out to [email protected].

Looking for more advice on how to prepare for the event? Check out these helpful posts from our law school engagement and advocacy team:

• How to Make the Most Out of the Conference and Career Fair
• How to Stand Out as a Candidate at the 2021 Conference and Career Fair
• How to Launch Your Public Interest Career with Equal Justice Works

By Joey Carrillo, 2021 Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by Discover Financial Services and Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Joey is hosted by Legal Aid Chicago.

Our collective understanding, research, and response to domestic and gender-based violence has come a long way in the last 40 years, however, there are still many gaps in our social service, healthcare, and justice systems.

After spending three semesters representing survivors of domestic violence in order of protection cases and taking a research seminar on Intimate Partner Violence Law and Policy at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, I found that most service providers focus their programs, resources, and training on hetero- and cis– normative dynamics. This leaves many organizations unresponsive and ill-equipped to handle the needs and nuances of domestic violence in the trans and queer community. This is incredibly concerning, given the research that repeatedly confirms the prevalence of gender-based violence in the LGBTQ+ community. According to a 2017 University of California Publication, gender-expansive minorities and those with a history of same-sex relationships are at a higher risk of psychological, physical, and sexual IPV relative to heterosexual and cisgender people.

My identity as a gay cisgender latinx man, my passion for LGBTQ+ rights, coupled with this jarring evidence inspired the creation of my fellowship project, LGBTQ+ Anti-Violence and Safety Project (LASP) at Legal Aid Chicago. LASP provides culturally-responsive legal services, outreach, and education for LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic, sexual, and dating violence. LASP focuses on two intersectional queer populations—low-income and young survivors—both groups being statistically overrepresented in IPV prevalence research.

Through identity-affirming representation, LASP utilizes the protections of Illinois Anti-Abuse laws to secure civil protective orders and other legal remedies to close the justice gap and increase access to life-saving protections for the LGBTQ+ community. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) reported in 2016, that 64% of LGBTQ+ survivors did not seek a protective order out of fear of further stigmatization by either legal service providers, courts, or law enforcement. In 2017 the NCAVP reported that, 44% of LGBTQ+ survivors who attempted to access services like emergency shelters, were denied because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In effect, LGBTQ+ survivors are either too afraid to seek help or are turned away when they do. It’s clear that having culturally-responsive legal representation is imperative for queer survivors navigating systems not designed by nor for them. For public interest lawyers working with survivors of domestic violence, it’s important to stay educated and vigilant to the ways in which a person’s identity can adversely affect their personal relationships and their experience interacting with our inflexible justice system. The barriers experienced by queer and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities can vary greatly. The reality is that law enforcement officers, judges, and court personnel often do not understand these dynamics and it’s up to us to educate the people working in these systems through advocacy and community education. It’s going to take the conscious commitment, culturally- responsive training, and unified advocacy to make our system truly equitable for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity and I am so thrilled to join so many in this critical work.

To learn more about Joey’s work advocating for LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic violence, visit his Fellow profile.

Maya Wiemokly, a rising 2L at Wake Forest University School of Law and a 2021 Student Fellow in our Disaster Resilience Program, shares her summer of service experience, and discusses how her Equal Justice Works Fellowship helped to build her legal skills outside the classroom.

I began my Equal Justice Works Student Fellowship at Disability Rights Texas (DRTx) passionate about advocating for marginalized groups. My social work degree led me into law school with a desire to build resilience in marginalized groups and deconstruct the systems that oppress them. The crossover between disaster and disability law seemed like the perfect place to start. I had no idea that it would be so formative in determining my future career! This summer has confirmed my desire to work in the public interest sector and bolstered my knowledge about certain underserved communities.

My experience at DRTx felt like the perfect melding of social work and the legal profession that I have been searching for. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with my supervisor, Fellow Stephanie Duke in the Disaster Resilience Program. She allowed me to take on tasks that seemed daunting at the time, but each new experience gave me the confidence to jump headfirst into the next assignment. By the end of my Student Fellowship, I was able to help draft a comment to the Federal Register, a legal guidebook chapter on accessibility in disasters, two ABA resolutions, a policy update from the recent Texas legislative session, and a writ mandamus—just to name a few. Stephanie also allowed me to shadow her in almost any meeting. These included Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s Task Force on Disaster Issues Affecting Persons who are Elderly and Persons with Disabilities, ABA Disaster Legal Services, and FEMA Office of Disability Integration and Coordination Stakeholder meetings. I have also been able to work on six client cases. In some cases this was as simple as making a couple phone calls for updates; for others I was able to do research on property restrictions at their residence, talk about vaccine hesitancy, or create a list of local resources based on client needs.

My Equal Justice Works Student Fellowship in the Disaster Resilience Program brought me awareness of the systemic issues that exist in disaster response, and specifically how that impacts the community of people with disabilities. No matter what specific area of law I practice within public interest, my knowledge of ADA regulations, the Stafford Act, FEMA assistance, and community partnerships will make me a stronger advocate in any role. This Student Fellowship truly has been the experience of a lifetime and I will forever be grateful for all that I have been able to learn and experience.

The Equal Justice Works Disaster Resilience Program is committed to ensuring that all disaster survivors have an equitable recovery and are resilient for the future. For more information about law student component of the program, please visit here.

The Disaster Resilience Program is currently funded by the Bigglesworth Family Foundation, California Community Foundation Wildfire Relief Fund, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and individual contributions. 

WASHINGTON, D.C., SEPTEMBER 21, 2021—Equal Justice Works, the nation’s largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law, today announced the inaugural members of the Equal Justice Works Alumni Advisory Council.

The Alumni Advisory Council (AAC) is a non-fiduciary advisory board comprised of a diverse group of 15 Equal Justice Works alumni who provide advice and counsel in support of the organization’s alumni engagement initiatives. AAC members work in partnership with the director of alumni relations to:

• Build lifelong relationships between Equal Justice Works, its Fellowship alumni, and current Fellows through programming, communication, and volunteerism
• Advance and promote Equal Justice Works mission and programs
• Represent the interests and concerns of alumni, while also representing interests of Equal Justice Works to its alumni

The AAC was appointed through an open call and competitive selection process led by the council selection committee comprised of Equal Justice Works staff.

“Equal Justice Works is proud to introduce the new members of its Alumni Advisory Council,” said Lynbea Toombs, director of alumni relations at Equal Justice Works. “With the establishment of this new council, I am excited about the opportunities that will arise from the council’s leadership. Our overall goal is to build, strengthen, and engage our alumni network and advance our mission and programs in ways that bring value to our alumni and the broader Equal Justice Works community. We are grateful for the council’s commitment to the organization, and we look forward to leveraging their unique perspectives and talents to uplift our mission and shared vision of achieving our nation’s promise of equal justice for all.”

AAC members are appointed to serve three-year staggered terms and may be reappointed for one additional consecutive three-year term. Members are reflective of the diverse strengths, Fellowship programs, geographic distribution, professional accomplishments, and public interest disciplines of the Equal Justice Works alumni community.

“I am thrilled to welcome the inaugural members of the Alumni Advisory Council,” said Annie Lee, civil rights attorney at the U.S. Department of Education and chair of the Alumni Advisory Council. “Together, we will assist with recognizing alumni achievements and foster stronger alumni-Fellow relations. This is just the beginning for the AAC, and I hope it will continue to advise and support Equal Justice Works in the decades to come.”

Below is a list of the members of the Alumni Advisory Council:

Executive Committee Members:

• Annie Lee, 2014 Fellow
  Chair
  Civil Rights Attorney, U.S. Department of Education
• Antoinette Balta, 2011 Fellow
  Vice-Chair
  Executive Director and Co-Founder, Veterans Legal Institute
• Anonymous, 2014 Fellow
  Secretary
  Civil Rights Advocate, Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General

Alumni Advisory Council Members:

• Heather Abraham, 2016 Fellow
  Director of the Civil Rights & Transparency Clinic and Associate Professor of Law, University at Buffalo School of Law
• Andrew Cederdahl, 2016 Fellow
  Assistant Iowa Attorney General, Iowa Department of Justice, Consumer Protection Division
• Laura Huizar, 2012 Fellow
  Immigrant Worker Justice Program Director, National Employment Law Project
• Meghan Kempf, 2012 Fellow
  Associate Director of Policy: IDD and Mental Health Services, Office of Chief Counsel, Texas Health and Human Services Commission

• Samantha Kubek, 2016 Fellow
  Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor/Director, Hofstra Law School
• Runako Kumbula Allsopp, 2002 Fellow
  Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia
• Alicia Moon, 2014 Fellow
  Deputy Legal Counsel, Executive Office of the Governor, State of Michigan
• Aurora Martin, 1999 Fellow
  Co-Executive Director and Founder, Front and Centered & PopUp Justice

• Michael Pope, 2010 Fellow
  Executive Director, Youth Represent
• Erik Provitt, 2017 Fellow
  Identity and Fraud Consultant, Equifax
• Timothy Riveria, 2007 Fellow
  Associate Attorney, Hammonds, Sills, Adkins, Guice, Noah & Perkins, LLP
• Jeremy Rosen, 2000 Fellow
  Director of Economic Justice, Shriver Center on Poverty Law

Visit here for more information about the Equal Justice Works Alumni Network.

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About Equal Justice Works

Equal Justice Works is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that creates opportunities for lawyers to transform their passion for public service into a lifelong commitment to equal justice. As the nation’s largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law, Equal Justice Works brings together an extensive network of law students, lawyers, nonprofit legal aid organizations, and supporters to promote public service and inspire a lifelong commitment to equal justice.

Contact
Heena Patel
Marketing and Communications Director
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 202.466.3686

My Impact is a conversation series from Equal Justice Works, using interviews with alumni to shine a light on what’s possible with an Equal Justice Works Fellowship. In honor of National Preparedness Month, Equal Justice Works Marketing and Communications Director Heena Patel spoke with Brittanny Perrigue Gomez, a 2018 Fellow who served in the Disaster Recovery Legal Corps. Brittanny currently works as the disaster benefits team manager at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.

Brittanny Perrigue Gomez could not imagine having any other career. “As long as I can remember, I have wanted to be an attorney in some form or fashion,” she said.

Interested in exploring a public service career path, Brittanny chose to attend St. Mary’s University School of Law for its supportive and community-oriented learning environment. The school has a “focused curriculum on public service and getting out in the community and doing that kind of work,” explained Brittanny. While at St. Mary’s Law, Brittanny took advantage of these learning opportunities by participating in law school clinics and federal government internships and externships, which helped her to land her first post-law school job at the US Small Business Administration (SBA) working on disaster loans.

 When Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas in 2017, it destroyed Brittanny’s parents’ home. Brittanny took inspiration from this life-changing experience to make a career shift, and focus on dedicating her time and energy to help people, like her parents, navigate the many legal challenges that arise following a disaster. When she saw a posting for an Equal Justice Works Fellowship at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), she knew it was the perfect fit. “It allowed me to take my newfound legal ability [from working at the SBA] and apply that in a way that I could help individuals that were living through something that I had once experienced in my life.”

In 2018, Brittanny joined the Disaster Recovery Legal Corps, where she worked alongside 23 other Fellows to provide free civil legal services to communities affected by disasters in Texas and Florida. As a group, the Fellows leveraged their combined knowledge and expertise to better support disaster survivors—discussing cases on monthly calls, by email, and when they would meet up at conferences around the country. “We took those opportunities to discuss overarching trends that we were seeing happening within these disaster agencies…[and to] collaborate on how to build community partnerships with various disaster volunteer agencies and organizations, as well as long-term community partners that may have been established,” said Brittanny. “[We would also] come up with plans and strategies on how to engage in community education and outreach in a meaningful way.”

Brittanny’s experience in the Disaster Recovery Legal Corps also showed her the value of being a well-rounded lawyer and the importance of having a basic understanding about multiple areas of law so you can be a better advocate for your client. “When you work with a disaster survivor, it’s not necessarily one legal issue. It’s not just FEMA, it’s not just a title clearing problem,” explained Brittanny. “Disaster survivors, they also get burnt out. So sometimes as an attorney, you’re not just being their lawyer, you’re being their advocate, you’re being their cheerleader.”

Since her Fellowship, Brittanny has remained at TRLA where she now works as their disaster benefits team manager. In this role, she manages a team of 10 attorneys, paralegals, law clerks, even Equal Justice Works Fellows, who work on mostly natural disaster issues. “The work I was doing as an Equal Justice Works Fellow, I’m still doing every single day at TRLA… but I’ve also been able to expand a little bit into some other areas that also impact disaster survivors, because you know, you never really stop learning as an attorney.”

When asked to share advice for Equal Justice Works Fellows who will begin their Fellowships this month—Brittany encouraged them to embrace what they don’t know. “There’s no point in faking it until you make it. If you don’t know it, you don’t know it, so find great mentors, and really invest that time in identifying exactly what you don’t know. And then work to gain that knowledge,” she commented.

Before wrapping up the conversation, Brittanny advised Fellows and new lawyers to take time to think about their individual disaster plan and if they are truly prepared for a disaster. “Because if you can make sure that you, as an organization or as an attorney are taken care of, then you can turn around and use your ability as an attorney to provide services to the community at large,” she said. “There’s that phrase you hear in legal aid all the time, ‘you have to put your oxygen mask on first, then you can help others.’ It’s the same for disaster preparedness.”

To learn more about Brittanny’s work advocating for people impacted by disasters both during and after her Equal Justice Works Fellowship, watch the full interview here.

Interested in kickstarting your public interest law career as a 2022 Equal Justice Works Fellow? Visit here to apply for a 2022 Design-Your-Own Fellowship before the September 20, 2021 deadline!

By Brooke Meckler, director of law school engagement and advocacy at Equal Justice Works

This fall, Equal Justice Works will host its annual Conference and Career Fair virtually from October 21-23, 2021.

The Conference and Career Fair provides a unique opportunity for students to interview with public interest employers from across the country for internships and post-graduate positions. It is also a one-stop shop for career growth for public-service minded law students, with networking opportunities with over 150 employers, résumé reviews, workshops, and panel discussions. Here’s what students need to know to make the most out of this year’s virtual fair.

Test-run everything before the event!

In advance of any virtual interview or career fair, always ensure you are comfortable with the platform being used. This means navigating the system before the event, knowing how to access your interviews and table talk, and testing out your camera and audio. For the Conference and Career Fair, this means you should be familiar with Pathable before the day of the event. Make sure you know how to log in and navigate the platform and app so you can take advantage of all the conference has to offer. Our platform has multiple features that allow you to connect and follow up with employers, which you should learn about prior to the fair. Test-running your experience also allows us to troubleshoot any issues in advance of the event and any interviews you have lined up.

Treat virtual interviews like in-person interviews.

“Arrive” to your virtual interview on time, and dress the way you would if you were meeting with the interviewer in person. Be polite, interested, and friendly to all individuals involved in the process, whether it be the administrator of the event, someone who welcomes you to the interview, or the interviewers themselves. As with any interview, be prepared to talk about anything you included in your application materials. In the event that you have to cancel or reschedule your interview, reach out to our team as soon as possible.

Attend Table Talk and Conference Sessions!

Many students are not taking advantage of table talk events, which means that those who do attend will really stand out with employers. Students should come to table talk knowing some information about the organization and show curiosity and interest. For the Conference and Career Fair, you’ll be taking advantage of the “Talk Now” feature during Table Talk to connect with employers from over 150 organizations! And here’s a hot tip: even if you already have an interview, attend table talk so you can get the inside scoop beforehand. There are also excellent sessions throughout the conference focused on topics like racial justice, housing, immigration, and environmental law. Public interest leaders from across the country serve as panelists and share incredible insights on their practice areas. During this year’s conference, we are excited to invite Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta as our keynote speaker to talk about her inspirational career. You can either join these sessions live, or watch the recordings afterwards if you have an interview during the session.

Visit here to learn more and register for the 2021 Conference and Career. If you have any questions about the event, feel free to reach out to [email protected].

By Sabrina Bernadel, 2020 Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by Danaher Corporation. Sabrina is hosted by the National Women’s Law Center.

Even though all students have a right to an equal educational opportunity, not all students are afforded equal access to that right. I witnessed this reality early in life. For years my family moved around quite a bit, and it wasn’t until I was older that I realized education played a large role in those decisions. Because my local public schools lacked resources to support all students, my parents were forced to sacrifice basic needs, like stable housing, so they could afford schools that would provide high-quality education to me and my brothers. My experience drives me to work toward an education system that no longer forces families to make such sacrifices.

Thousands of families across the country face similar barriers to access to high-quality education, especially when their children are pushed out of local or affordable schools because of who they are. Students—Black girls, particularly—are often pushed out of school through discipline policies rooted in racism and sexism. As an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), I’m working to ensure all students have equal access to education by helping schools and policymakers center Black girls in discussions about school safety, highlighting the race- and gender-based harms of school-based police, and advocating for police-free schools that better support girls of color.

Through my project, I engage in federal and state policy advocacy, working with members of Congress to edit legislative text on school discipline to be more inclusive and to eliminate the role of police in schools. I also advocate directly to state lawmakers, by writing support letters to state legislatures asking them to reallocate school policing funds to mental health services and other student supports. Currently, I am developing a telephone helpline service that will allow me and other volunteer attorneys to provide legal assistance and know-your-rights information to students and families who have experienced discrimination in school discipline or interactions with school police.

For Black girls in this country, school was not safe even before the pandemic—and although the pandemic has changed the educational landscape in the United States, it has not changed how bias influences the way educators and school police discipline Black girls. In July 2020, a Black fifteen-year-old girl in Michigan was sent to a juvenile detention center at the height of the pandemic’s first wave for violating her parole because she didn’t submit schoolwork or get up on time for school. In January 2021, an armed school police officer showed up at a young Black girl’s home in Missouri to confront her about a failing grade in her virtual ceramics class. Even in some of the few schools that went back to in-person learning in early 2021, police violence against Black girls persisted, as demonstrated in the viral videos of two teenage girls who were knocked unconscious and tased by a school police officer in their high schools.

As students return to in-person learning this fall, they need and deserve more than the status quo. This school year, I plan to address the ongoing, discriminatory practices girls of color face, as well as the new challenges caused by the pandemic, by helping girls bring administrative claims to the Department of Education, publishing research on the impact of school police on Black girls, and continuing to push for federal legislation that prioritizes students supports over police. In the coming months, I am eager to work with students, families, and other advocates to emphasize that whether students are learning in person or online, schools should ensure that the most historically marginalized students are safe, included, and afforded an equal access to the education guaranteed to them.

To learn more about Sabrina’s work advocating for educational equity and keeping schools safe for girls of color, visit her Fellow profile..

By Abigail Adkins, 2019 Equal Justice Works Fellow cosponsored by Darden Restaurants, Inc. and McDermott Will & Emery. As a Fellow, Abigail was hosted by Southern Legal Counsel, Inc. in Gainesville, Florida.

I began my Equal Justice Works Fellowship in fall of 2019 as Florida schools and communities, still grieving the horrific school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, grappled with new laws mandating additional security measures. Policymakers turned a critical eye to programs offering youth diversion from the juvenile delinquency system and protections for individuals with mental illnesses. News articles referred to them as “teenage time bombs.” Immense pressure was placed on school staff and administrators to prevent the next tragedy, but at the outset, little guidance was given on how to do so.

Working at Southern Legal Counsel, a statewide nonprofit law firm, I started researching the policies school districts had in place and discovered that of the sixty-seven counties in Florida, all of them had different crisis intervention plans and many relied on law enforcement rather than mental health services. Even where rapid response mental health workers were available to help students de-escalate, few long-term services were available to help students with their long term emotional and behavioral needs. Instead, the most vulnerable students cycled through involuntary psychiatric hospitals. Florida’s Mental Health Act, referred to as the Baker Act, does not give parents the right to intervene once an involuntary hospitalization has occurred.

I co-counseled with Beverly Brown, a 2010 Equal Justice Fellow and staff attorney at Three Rivers Legal Services, to file a series of special education due process complaints involving children with mental health needs. One client, Sage*, was a middle school student with PTSD and bipolar disorder. She required consistent, non-confrontational behavior interventions by trained staff to prevent her from having aggressive outbursts. These services were listed in her individual education plan (IEP), but due to lack of resources the school had never provided them. She had been repeatedly restrained by school resource officers, Baker Acted and cycled through hospitals, juvenile detention centers, and different schools. She did best when in a residential treatment center, but Medicaid would not fund placement beyond six months. The administrative ruling required the school district compensate Sage for the time and services she missed.

School safety took on a different dimension when the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close in 2020. The focus of my Fellowship shifted to advocating for the provision of disability-related services and accommodation for students in remote learning. Increased numbers of families faced food and housing insecurity and teachers reported feeling overwhelmed and unsupported.

As students go back to school under new CDC guidelines, with contrary public health and safety messages from the state of Florida, student mental health must continue to be a priority. Many students are behind, not just academically, but in their social-emotional learning as well. While my Fellowship ended earlier this year, I am excited to continue my work at Southern Legal Counsel pursuing legal challenges to the Baker Act and other measures where students are improperly restrained, arrested, or excluded from the classroom and treated as threats rather than children in need of help.

*The name of the client has been changed to protect privacy. 

To learn more about Abigail’s work advocating for comprehensive school- and community-based mental health services for at-risk students in Florida, visit her Fellow profile here.

My Impact is a conversation series from Equal Justice Works, using interviews with alumni to shine a light on what’s possible with an Equal Justice Works Fellowship. In this installment, former National Advisory Committee Member and public interest attorney Kaile Bennett spoke with Max Tipping, a 2015 Fellow cosponsored by Greenberg Traurig, LLP and Steptoe & Johnson LLP. Max currently works as the policy director at Community Spring, an organization he cofounded.

Max Tipping believes in the power of community, and the meaningful role that community members play in effecting sustainable change. For the past six years, his work has focused on policy and legal advocacy around housing and homelessness.

“I didn’t always want to be a lawyer,” Max said. “It [wasn’t] until later in college that I started working on issues around housing and homelessness. That’s kind of when I started to piece together that these were bigger structural issues.”

Motivated to make a difference, Max joined the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless (Legal Clinic), where he served as an Equal Justice Works Fellow from 2015 to 2017. As a Fellow, Max supported families at risk of homelessness in Washington, D.C.’s rapid re-housing program. Under rapid re-housing, the D.C. government provides temporary rent subsidies to families in the hope that they’ll eventually gain financial stability. While the program is well-intentioned, Max discovered that many families plunge back into homelessness when the subsidies end. At the Legal Clinic, Max authored “Set Up To Fail,” a report that examined data on D.C.’s rapid re-housing program and the slew of problems that families face while enrolled in the program. “Decision makers viewed [rapid re-housing] as the answer to all family homelessness in D.C.,” commented Max. “I think we succeeded in showing that it’s a little bit more complicated than that. There are actually a lot of folks who are ending up in a worse position because of the way this program is being operated.”

Max also shared advice for law students and recent graduates interested in applying for an Equal Justice Works Design-Your-Own Fellowship. “If you’re able to intern ahead of time with an organization that you might want to build a project with, that’s really as good as it gets,” he said. “They want to know who you are, before they sign on to supporting your project.” Max credits much of his Fellowship success to his supervisor Amber Harding, a 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow. “She had the expertise of how to make a Fellowship project work… of how to adjust and build it,” he said. “You come up with all these lovely plans and then when you put them into action in the real world it is messy.”

Since completing his Fellowship, Max has been busy working at Community Spring, a nonprofit organization he cofounded that aims to “both dismantle structural poverty and also spur economic mobility at a grassroots level.” Community Spring brings together people who are experiencing poverty to participate in paid fellowships where they design and build a campaign to address structural drivers of poverty in their communities. Recently, the organization ran a pilot program with four fellows who worked on designing and launching a peer support network for people who are coming out of incarceration.

Before wrapping up the conversation, Max offered some words of wisdom for those looking to start their own nonprofits. “As a lawyer you tend to be analytical, which I think for this kind of position can bleed into over-analytical, which can then lead to self-doubt” he said.

“Taking the leap into starting your own organization takes a lot of faith and it’s a lot of risk. So, you have to have the ability to kind of just push through that and not doubt yourself, but keep moving forward.”

To learn more about Max’s experience advocating for people experiencing homelessness, watch the full interview here.

Interested in kickstarting your public interest law career as a 2022 Equal Justice Works Fellow? Visit here to apply for a 2022 Design-Your-Own Fellowship before the September 20, 2021 deadline!