Most of my time at the CFJ was spent in the clinic.  I worked on updating the law in their legal binders to make sure they were applying all current laws as of 2008.  I was also able research the issue for a number of cases that came into the clinic.  Within a span of two days I saw landlord/tenant issues, property deed issues, and products liability/tort issues.

I was also able to complete two research projects for which I had to write memos during my time at the CFJ.  I examined case law on an environmental issue relating to the Spokane River and the cities authority to close a portion of a navigable river due to overhead construction.  I also spent time looking for litigation regarding cost distribution of a mandatory arbitration clause and whether or not the dispute arises out of an employer promulgated plan or an individually-negotiated employment agreement.

Needless to say within a week I was exposed to real legal issues in all areas of law that I have studied in my first year.  I woke up excited to go to work every day and loved the opportunity I had to apply abstract concepts learned in class to issues that were really going to make a difference in the life of an individual.  There have been many times during this first year that I have wondered what area of law I really wanted to practice.  After this experience it is even harder to decide because I got to see how fun and exciting property can be, how simple civil procedure rules can make life, and even the contract dispute was an interesting issue that had real world applicability.

I really felt at home at the CFJ and I truly believe that everyone should love their job and want to go to work everyday.  It was a great overall experience and it reaffirmed my determination to be a lawyer and to make a difference, even in my own life.

by Heidi Tolman

Jetta Hatch and I decided to be adventurous or adventuresome (something to do with adventure) and signed up for a swamp tour on Saturday morning. We were picked up by a van at our hotel and headed off to pick up the rest of our adventurous crew.

First we picked up David from Germany who was in New Orleans attending a physics’ conference. Next we picked up Claudia from Germany who was in New Orleans attending a physics’ conference. Finally we picked up Guido from Germany (but now lives in Switzerland) who was in New Orleans attending a physics’ conference. It was a large conference and none of them knew each other. They were very polite and did not speaking German in our presence. This was even after I told them that I love to speak French in the presence of non French speakers. It turns out that David also spoke French and Claudia spoke Russian. So, with Jetta’s Russian, we were quite a multicultural group.

When we arrived at Jean Lafitte’s swamp tour we were directed to our boat, a barge type vessel with plenty of walking space. The captain gave us a few pointers: keep hands and feet inside the barge, beware of overhanging branches and, most importantly, if we fall in the water, we are on our own. He suggested that we swim over to the bank. He made it clear that he will not be jumping in to rescue us.

We learned that alligators can eat turtles, shell and all – apparently their first stomachs have a killer acid that dissolves turtle shells. We also saw marsh cypress trees and their “knees”(roots) that help to keep the tree afloat.

By far, the most exciting part of the tour was seeing the large alligators snap at the “marsh”mallows that the guide threw in the water and the opportunity to hold a two year old alligator. It felt cool and smooth and had a very strong tail. Thankfully its mouth was taped shut with electrical tape and we were told to hang on to its strong tail so that it would not get away.

The trip was fun and the weather was great. All in all, a great swamp tour!

My task at the IVLP was to research and crystallize the Idaho Uniform Probate Code in Title 15. Many of the calls received at the IVLP are about estates and probate procedures, so I expanded an existing memo that elucidated this area of law for future use on the IVLP website. It was a creative process to anticipate the kinds of scenarios and questions that the average person might have about creating and contesting a will. The research took me in a myriad of directions, from conversations with the DMV about transferring title to inherited vehicles to the Idaho Bureau of Health Policy and Vital Statistics for how to procure a death certificate. I re-phrased the Code’s “legalese” in ways that a non-lawyer could easily understand. I learned about an area of law that is less exotic, but no less important, than other areas of law. It made me realize how integral estate law is in the lives of everyday people.

On Wednesday night, Sarah and I assisted with a workshop for divorce and child support orders. I mainly did child support calculations while Sarah assisted an attorney with a divorce case. This was especially rewarding, since it brought me from legal theory and into the practice of law. I was able to have some conversations with area attorneys about their work and research. There was also a satisfaction about getting to help real people complete their necessary legal work. There was a tangible look of relief on their faces as they walked out the front door with their notarized orders.

I would recommend the Idaho Volunteer Lawyers Program to any law student looking for a placement. The work will vary from week to week, and the staff at the Idaho State Bar loves working with students. I am looking forward to doing some more volunteer work with them the next time I am in Boise.

For more information, visit http://www2.state.id.us/isb/pub_info/IVLP.htm

Lacey Rammell-O’Brien

Here are some highlights:
In 2006 Legal Servoces was involved in 3498 cases.  34% family law, 21% housing and the remaining 45% covering government benefits, health consumer and migrant and Native American issues.

Legal aid has an informative website at http://idaholegalaid.org/Home/PublicWeb/

Legal Aid has offices in Boise, Caldwell, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Falls, Lewiston, Pocatello, and Twin Falls.

Domestic violence legal advice hotline: 1-877-500-2980
Senior legal hotline: 1-866-954-2591; spanish speakers may call toll free 1-866-954-2591

The Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) has been given federal money to distribute to the people of Mississippi. The Homeowner Assistance Program is one of the plans set up to help determine the allocation of these funds, with up to $150,000 granted to homeowners. Applications for the MDA Phase II program are due this Saturday, March 15. Many people need help filling out the application. Others have turned in their applications and haven’t heard back yet, so they wonder if everything is working correctly. Some have already heard back with disparaging news: either they didn’t receive any money or the money they received isn’t enough.

The Mississippi Center for Justice, where I’m working for the week, has been busy handling cases regarding this program. A large group of people are unsure about the application process, eligibility, and other aspects of the plan. With the deadline approaching and news about the program spreading through the community, people are scrambling for help. They have applications to fill out, documents to get in order, and eligibility to determine. Many are unable to do this work themselves. Many others are unaware of the existence of the plan. At particular risk for missing the benefits of the plan are the relocated and displaced, elderly, and disadvantaged.

Several different advocacy groups voiced a concern that the deadline will not give enough time for everyone to file the appropriate papers and asked that the deadline be extended. The legislature decided not to grant this extension and the Saturday deadline remains. Many attorneys are coming into the Center after hours tonight and tomorrow to help people in their finals efforts to qualify for this program. We’ve done a lot of preparation and investigation work on the files that we do have, so they can spend more time on the people that come in later. The work we’ve done this week should ensure that many more people are able to speak with attorneys and receive a resolution for their financial difficulties.

Walking and knocking for three days was an experience that I will never forget. There were moments of sorrow, moments of tiredness, and moments of joy. It was a new experience, for me, to achieve so much emotion in a single interaction with a person.

As I was learning about what we would be doing in the small Mississippi community of Turkey Creek, I was assuming that there would not be much emotion. Come to find out however that emotion was about all you saw. The emotion of those that you were surveying, emotion from the escorts that were showing you around, and emotion swelling inside yourself.

In a community that was affected by hurricane Katrina the people were still living in conditions that would seem to me should have been fixed after three years. One man let three law students enter his FEMA trailer and talk to him about the things going on in his community. He told us about being displaced from New Orleans and moving back to his roots, the community where he grew up. He told us about losing contact with his wife during the storm. She ended up in Houston, Texas and he was in Atlanta, Georgia, and using the computer systems set up in the facilities they could be reunited. The man’s wife just passed away a couple of month ago while still living in the FEMA trailer, right next to the brand new house that was being built for them. The tragic reasoning for this man still being in the FEMA trailer and not in his new home was the mere fact that an electrician had taken his money and done no work. The house was beautiful, but it had no electricity.

We were being sent into the neighborhood to find out the opinions of the people about the expansion of the port that was occurring… and we got story after story about how Katrina affected them. It was encouraging to see these people struggling to rebuild their lives, and heartbreaking even when they had been trying so hard, a multitude of circumstances could still keep them from their goal.

Michelle Harvey

Over the past week a group of us have been working with the North Gulfport Community Land Trust surveying the northern neighborhood of North Gulfport. On August 29, 2005 the city was hit by the strong eastern side of Hurricane Katrina. Gulfport was devastated. Almost three years later, this community is slowly coming back. There is continuous construction, and the city is placing a special emphasis on development according to Smart Code. Smart Code emphasizes preservation of the historic architecture of a community while also creating walkable communities.

The issue we were surveying involved the plans of the Port Authority to expand the local port. As part of the expansion, the Port Authority is planning to build an inland storage facility in North Gulfport. The proposed storage facility is right in the middle of a neighborhood. The facility will require filling in 70 acres of wetlands, making an already low lying area even more susceptible to flooding. Additionally, the facility will be used to store large containers, machinery, and because the need to refrigerate their cargo, diesel trucks running all night.

Erika and I accompanied by our “escort” Shirley set out to find out what members of North Gulfport had to say about the expansion. The Land Trust set us up with escorts from North Gulfport so there would be someone familiar with neighborhood as well as its residents. The comments we received were hardly surprising…most folks had not heard of the expansion much less knew that it was going to be put in right in their back yards. The reactions to our remarks were mixed and often heart breaking. Most importantly the port expansion project is being financed by diverting 600 million dollars from the housing recovery fund. The need for housing is still so great, however, the port is the life line for this community. The port provides jobs and prior to Katrina there were even more jobs. We were talking to folks whose families had worked for the port for several generations. The ideological struggle was obvious in discussing the negative repercussions of having the inland port built so close to their community and going against a company that had given their families so much. Responses we received included, “Its coming anyways…”; “A man can endure almost anything….”. There were people in support due to the promise of more jobs, and the proposed addition also included more casinos with the promise of revenues for roads and schools. When we discussed the positives with people there was a substantial amount of skepticism. One came to the quick realization that politics/racism largely interfered with this neighborhood seeing a dollar of the promised revenues.

The experience has been indescribable. Going door to door and being welcomed into people’s homes was so wonderful. Everyone was so grateful for the work we were doing there and equally appreciative that we are aware of the effects of Katrina nearly three years later. It felt really good to be working for a community that had continuously been ignored by the greater population of MS and giving a voice to people that perhaps hadn’t this opportunity before. The ignorance of the greater population was thrown in our faces when we stopped at a local McDonalds to get directions to North Gulfport. After asking directions we were told by one of the white patrons, “You know that is an all black neighborhood right?” Going door to door for four days allowed us to interact with many lovely people. There is still so much work to be done in Gulfport, but there is an underlying strength that reminds one that whatever the impacts of Mother Nature, people will manage to put their lives back together. Perhaps one of the most poignant conversations I had was with a man named Mr. Johnson*. When discussing everything from the port expansion project to the upcoming presidential elections, his wise words should resonate with us all. He said that in all the talk of rebuilding after Katrina and as well as the upcoming presidential election, there is a vital message missing. Love thy neighbor. If people actually cared what happened to each other regardless of race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, economic status, the world would be a different place. Maybe people would care more that there were still people living in card board boxes, tents, poisoned FEMA trailers, and think twice before putting an industrial facility next to someone’s home.

Anna Faller

Food and Fun at Taranto’s

In our free time, we have been going out to dinner and hanging out at our hotel.

Tuesday night: Crystal Utley, an attorney from MCJ took us to a place called Taranto’s. They served classic gulf coast cuisine – Crawfish served by the lb, 10 kinds of po-boys, Crab (Dungeness, blue, snow), hush puppies and “Southern Pecan” Beer (a beer made 100% from pecans, and actually quite delicious). The food was cheap and oh so tasty! One of the patrons asked the waitress who we were and what we were doing in Biloxi. I guess 20 some “Yankees” sitting in the middle of a small restaurant must have stuck out a little. The waitress told him we were working on Hurricane Katrina relief. The man gave the waitress about $200 to take $10 off of all of our tabs. My tab was only $0.96! I guess we had some good karma.

Wednesday night: We went to the beach for a while after work. It was a nice day. We mostly just hung out, and told some funny stories about swimming lessons. After the beach, we went to a place called “Shady’s” recommended to us by Annette Hollowell, a 3L at Ole Miss and future MCJ attorney. Annette is also the one who recomended that we come to MCJ and Biloxi for Alternative Spring Break. The food at Shady’s was great, a sort of Cajun-Thai fusion.

Today at lunch, Track II went to a place called Desporter’s Seafood and Deli (for the second day in a row). I had an Alligator Sausage Po-Boy with Fried Pickles. It was delicious! It was the first time I had ever had alligator meat or a fried pickle, so I was a bit skeptical at first, but it was a pleasant surprise. Desporter’s has become one of our favorite restaurants here. Lots of seafood, awesome mashed potatoes and gumbo.

Over the last three days NVLSP has kept us rather busy. After working on powerpoint presentations for an upcoming training course we started working on writing case summaries for recent cases from the United States Court of Appeals for Veteran’s Claims and the Federal Circuit. Writing these summaries can be a little bit challenging because the law is not familiar, but it is a great experience because we get to learn the current law for Veteran’s affairs and also because we get to apply some of what we learned in Administrative law.

We have enjoyed sightseeing in the City, and tomorrow we will be touring the Court of Appeals for Veteran’s Claims. Overall this has been an excellent opportunity to work with a non-profit organization that is obviously committed to the rights of Veterans and honoring them for their sacrifice for our country.

Amanda Rekow and Danielle Sigmund

End of day three…..I can’t believe that I am still waking up excited to go to work every morning. It never fails something interesting is happening at this office. My big fear today was the memo…..I was filled with so much fear and dread as I handed my 3 page memo to the lawyer who requested it. I asked him to please not judge me to harshly because I was under duress. This is the first time I have handed in a legal writing for something other than a grade from O’neal. No offense O’neal, you sometimes put fear into me as well but this was the real world and it was just different. It’s not like I can get fired for doing a poor job, I just really want to do well…….More to come tomorrow.

Heidi