Job Searching in 2020
If you’re looking for a job right now, I want to offer solidarity and advice. I just completed a job search this summer and I feel what you’re going through. You will pull through this. In the meantime, I hope these resources can help. There are already many practical tips out there to help you apply for and interview for jobs remotely.
Family Law Assistance Network newest tool for helping D.C. families in crisis.
25 August 2020 Blog, East River of the River Profiles, Featured
In a time when there are many challenges and uncertainties facing the nation, it is important to recognize and celebrate the good in the world. Family Law Assistance Network (FLAN), a joint initiative between the DC Affordable Law Firm (DCALF), Legal Aid and the D.C. Pro Bono Center, is emblematic of that sentiment. FLAN, which opened at the end of March, in the midst of the pandemic, has already served over 200 litigants. Through this initiative, the DC Affordable Law Firm has been able to gain an even stronger presence and foothold East of the River as more than 50% of FLAN clients reside East of the River.
Clinical experiences remain some of the most impactful of law school.
Some experiences are easily forgettable. Others stick with you. But a rare few mold you. I can still recall walking into the Community Development Law (CDL) Clinic at the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law for the first time. At UDC Law, the clinical wing of the building is an exclusive area. It’s the cookie jar on top of the kitchen cabinet, out of reach until you’re tall enough to handle the weight. I did not expect to be nervous to start a class in law school.
Virtual Summer Program? A Positive Experience!
This year, law firms, government agencies, and legal service organizations had to pivot to all-virtual summer internship programs. Virtual programming in general can be fraught with obstacles, but when you include multiple individuals located across the country, with varying access to technology, and no prior experience with an organization, you have a recipe for disaster. On August 6, we brought together interns and summer associates to celebrate the end of their summer programs and to find out how it went. The short answer was, “Great!”
Living and Studying Through the Unprecedented Age of COVID-19
When Dean Renee Hutchins announced that our spring break would be extended due to worries over the COVID-19 global pandemic, to be honest, I was somewhat relieved. I would now be able to use the time that I had previously dedicated to commuting to and from school to catch up on work or sleep. Little did I know that my sense of relief would soon turn into horror when Dean Hutchins announced that we would move to remote learning indefinitely, which meant the second half of my 2L spring semester would be completed entirely at home.
Now that I have completed my 2L year, I can confidently say that the biggest challenge I’m experiencing as a law student during COVID-19 is the lack of community. I didn’t realize the vital impact of campus life to my law school experience until I no longer had access to it. Prior to COVID-19, I utilized professor’s office hours frequently and benefited from in-person discussions of course material, client matters, and writing assignments. Before class, it was helpful to discuss a complex case or confusing concept with my colleagues, and after class, review important takeaways from the classroom discussion while studying in groups. Having an opportunity to engage with my colleagues outside of the classroom by participating in student organizations further solidified the strong sense of community at UDC Law.
The Zoom University School of Law
When I first learned of the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, the last thing I anticipated was how significantly the coronavirus would impact society, my legal education, and my personal life. Shortly after spring break, I received an email from Dean Renee Hutchins informing me that my law courses would be conducted remotely for the remainder of my spring semester at the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law. Although I was concerned, I knew I could rely upon “the process.”
2020 Summer Forum Criminal Law & Death Penalty Panel
by Nefertari Elshiekh On July 23rd, we wrapped up this year’s Summer Forum, with the sixth panel focusing on Criminal Law & Death Penalty. The panelists included: Brandi Harden, Harden & Pinckney, PLLC Callie Heller, ABA Death Penalty Representation Project Daniel Levin, White & Case Bridgette Stumpf, Network for Victim Recovery of DC Liz Wieser, D.C. Office of the Attorney General’s Public Safety Division D.C. Office of the Attorney General’s Public Advocacy Division’s Stephon Woods facilitated our conversation. Bridgette began by talking about the wide array of services with which her organization provides victims. In DC, which sits at a unique nexus of federal and local law, survivors face additional barriers with regard to accountability and transparency because of the lack of elected prosecutors that many local jurisdictions have. Brandi then went on to describe how growing up in Texas as the only black child in her elementary school impacted her view of the law. Her firsthand experiences with an unfair justice system and her Texan perspective shaped her decision to become a lawyer as she felt she had a responsibility to ensure poor people had exceptional representation even if they couldn’t afford a lawyer. Brandi highlighted one staggering statistic: Harris County, in Texas, has more death sentences than anywhere else in the country, and this resonated with Callie, who practiced in Harris County. Callie pointed out the lack of resources provided to attorneys involved with death penalty cases. She helps connect pro bono counsel, who are crucial in filling those gaps, with where the need is greatest. Callie also alluded to the interplay of racial injustice in the work she does through a policy example in North Carolina, where the Racial Justice Act allowed death row inmates to see a commutation of their sentence to life in prison if race was a factor in imposing the death penalty. However, the Act was later repealed, which caused contention over what happens to the six inmates that had applied for or were granted relief while the law was in effect. In June, the North Carolina Supreme Court held that applying the repeal retroactively violated the constitutional prohibition on ex post facto laws. This is a prime example of the importance that policy work plays alongside individual representation in addressing systemic racism in the criminal justice system. In continuing this discussion of racial injustice, the panelists addressed alternative methods to prosecution and the role the Black Lives Matter movement plays in each of their respective organizations. Liz elaborated on the D.C. Office of the Attorney General’s restorative justice program, which addresses accountability for some crimes by focusing on the harm done to victims. This approach aims to empower victims while still holding offenders accountable. Bridgette echoed the impact of such a program by noting that when asked, many victims did not want to necessarily engage in a punitive process, but rather wanted to have a conversation that allowed them to elucidate the harm that was done to them. Brandi expressed her hope that the Black Lives Matter movement is exposing the need to redirect resources to better serve and protect the community. From his own experience in working on cases that address gang violence, Daniel described how the people involved in gang violence often had long criminal histories that started with minor crimes committed when they were juveniles. Without another alternative, they were “thrown into the criminal justice system, and it was a spiral that led to more and more criminal behavior.” He stressed that as a society we have not done enough to find alternatives to help individuals and give them opportunities to get out of that spiral, but it can be beneficial to everyone to shift resources to these areas. He ended with encouraging the audience to “have discussions, invite people in, and listen to them.” Catch up on the conversation and discover pro bono opportunities on social media using #SumFo2020. Nefertari Elshiekh is the 2020 Washington Council of Lawyers Summer Intern.
2020 Summer Forum Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Panel
This week we hosted the much-anticipated Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Panel on July 21st. As our panel noted, this is a moment of great promise and great peril. We have an opportunity to spur real change, but we must seize the moment. Our experts delivered on concrete ways to do just that.
2020 Summer Forum Human Rights & Immigration Panel
The third Summer Forum 2020 panel, Human Rights & Immigration Law, took place on July 16th. We discussed the hot-button issue of immigration and the multitude of ways one can come to an immigration practice or pro bono opportunity.