Indiana Law Students Continue Pro Bono Work in New Orleans
At the end of the week, 18 Indiana Law students will head to New Orleans to lend their legal expertise to the hurricane recovery effort. They will work with the New Orleans City Attorney's Office, Desire Street Ministries, and New Orleans Advocacy Center. This will be the law students' fifth service trip to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast.
Nearly two dozen law students and their supervising attorneys, Jeff Gold and Steve Sharpe, JD'05, spent their winter break helping New Orleans residents with their legal issues.
Indiana Law students join thousands of their peers from around the country during their winter and spring breaks to provide free civil legal services to the poor. Area attorneys are overwhelmed handling up to 2,000 cases each. The group has visited Biloxi and New Orleans to work with clients filing divorces, bankruptcy cases, and secessions.
"Settling an estate in Louisiana is difficult under normal circumstances," said PILF president Jen Nagourney. "But, the process becomes extremely difficult when clients are dealing with the emotional aspects of losing their homes and other hardships created by Hurricane Katrina."
A variety of Indiana Law students are involved in the winter and spring break trips, including LLMs and students not affiliated with PILF. Many have been on multiple trips. "It's rewarding to see law students come together to work for clients they've never met before when they have so much of their own work to do after a grueling first semester," Nagourney said. "For many students, it's a critical event in their law school experience. It's painful to see evidence of this horrible disaster, and painful to note that in many places, physical changes have not occurred. It's incredibly moving to see so many law students from all over the country because they share that passion and work toward long-term changes in this area. We are like-minded people."
In the process, Indiana Law students are creating valuable relationships with New Orleans law firms and networking with students from around the country. "There's a palpable excitement in the air when all these volunteers descend on the area," Nagourney explained. "They are so full of energy, enthusiasm, and hope. Though it's stressful and exhausting to plan each trip, I always come back refreshed and energized to look for more solutions. These trips have given shape and meaning to my law school experience."
There is still much pro bono work to be done, and many will continue their work in Bloomington. Nagourney hopes students will keep these issues in their hearts and continue to do pro bono work even after graduation. "We need to work to make changes in the legal system which will ensure future disasters are less crippling," she said.
The trips have been funded through grants from the IU Student Foundation, the IU Student Association, and the donations of Law School professors and student groups.