Diana, 2L

I felt so inspired after watching the Emmy Award Winner documentary named "Made in L.A./Hecho en L.A." The documentary follows three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles' garment sweatshops who sue retailer Forever 21 for labor rights violations. The documentary was shown at the law school by the Northeastern National Lawyers Guild Student Chapter. The documentary personally resonated with me because my mother worked in garment sweatshops for over 18 years. Seeing how hard my parents worked to support my sister and I is what motivates me to work hard. One of the main reasons why I chose to become an attorney was to work with individuals on immigration-related issues. Watching this documentary reminded me what a privilege it will be to work as an attorney and to have the capacity to impact an individual's life through my work. To learn more about the documentary check out the website at: http://www.madeinla.com/

Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL) is trying to expand their immigration law curriculum. Currently, the law school is in the process of interviewing candidates to fill a faculty position for immigration law. NUSL offers a couple of immigration courses like Immigration Law and Refugee and Asylum Law. In addition, NUSL students can also learn about immigration law by working with various Co-Op employers who focus in immigration law. The law students are also very active and have started a group that meets on a weekly basis to discuss various immigration law issues. Personally, I am all for creating an Immigration Law Clinic. Nonetheless, the law school does offer an array of law clinics in other legal areas like: Criminal Law, Domestic Violence, Poverty Law, Public Health and Prisoner's Rights. Check out the link for more information on NUSL's clinics: http://www.slaw.neu.edu/clinics/clinics.html

While waiting in between sessions of the American Bar Association(ABA) Judicial Clerkship Conference today, I noticed the notes I had written in my padfolio. These notes included my first interview with the nonprofit legal services I worked with before coming to law school. I remember feeling so nervous about that interview because I really wanted to convince the attorneys that I wanted this position to see what lawyers did before I took the big step in applying to law school. Now, three years later, I am at this ABA Judicial Clerkship Conference, which encourages law school students to consider applying for Judicial Clerkship, and I can't believe how far I have come. Its amazing how far a dream can take you!

I'm at this conference thanks to CLEO who sponsored me to be here. The ABA Judicial Clerkship Program (JCP) encourages students to pursue clerkship opportunities while introducing judges to students whom they might not ordinarily consider as potential clerks. JCP is designed to bring judges and under represented law students together through structured networking activities. Approximately 50 judges from across the country are participating at this conference with the goal to motivate under represented law students to apply to judicial clerkships.

Honestly, I think it would a great opportunity to clerk for a judge after law school because the experience really hones research and legal writing skills. Unfortunately, I lack the confidence in my legal writing ability because I just started writing in that capacity. I just have to remember that with persistence and hard work my legal writing ability will improve.

On another note, I found a place to live in El Paso, TX for my summer Co-op. What a relief! Can you believe the rent is only $400 a month and it includes all utilities and furniture. All I need to bring with me is my luggage full of clothes. I will keep you posted on future updates about my first summer Co-op!

Spring break has finally arrived and I couldn't be any happier. This semester is flying by so fast and I could sure use this week off to review all the materials that have been covered this semester. Spring break in law school is not truly a vacation but a work vacation (what an oxymoron). I will work on a summary judgment memo, review and organize my class notes, write essays for scholarships and finally work on the social justice project for LSSC. For a recap, LSSC (Legal Skills in the Social Context) is a unique course that operates in small "law offices" of approximately 14 students. In the spring semester, the law office works on a social justice project which entails an extensive real-world legal research project on behalf of a community-based or public service organization. The social justice project is a class in itself, so this semester I am enrolled in Contracts, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Legal Research and Writing and the Social Justice Project.

My law office is working on a social justice project focused on researching the various difficulties in beginning small businesses, specifically within the minority immigrant community of Worcester, MA. My law office is working on behalf of the Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts ("LACCM") who has received various complaints from the Worcester minority immigrant community about the various difficulties of starting a small business. Our law office is split into smaller groups of 3 or 4 students working on a different aspect of the project. My group is responsible for conducting focus groups in Worcester, MA with minority immigrants who either started or attempted to open a small business. We have conducted two focus groups--one with African and African American entrepreneurs and the other with Hispanic entrepreneurs. In addition, we interviewed personnel from City Hall and various nonprofit organizations that assist entrepreneurs who want to open small businesses in Worcester, MA. At this point, I can't discuss our findings but the experience has made me appreciate the contributions small businesses really bring to a community.

So far, the experience of working in this project has taught me how to work in a group setting, how to interact with a client, and how to write and put together a publishable report detailing our findings using extensive legal and anecdotal field research. In April, our law office will hold an oral presentation to LACCM and to the entire law school about our report.

That is all for now … till next time!

Wow! Believe it or not, the end of my first year is creeping up. I don't know where the time went. Wait…I do! I spent it studying for hours without end. In a couple of weeks, I will have to pack, move my belongings to an apartment in Jamaica Plain, and fly out to El Paso, TX to start my Co-Op.

Speaking of Co-Op, today I submitted my Co-Op funding application. The law school offers free funding for students who do a public interest unpaid Co-Op. I also applied for other scholarships. Cross your fingers… hopefully I get some funding because I need to pay off some bills.

The law students at Northeastern are very active in organizing events to expose and educate students on different cultural issues. On Tuesday, I attended my first Passover Seder which was organized by Northeastern’s law student organization Jewish Law Student Association. I wish I took pictures so I can demonstrate how nicely organized this event was. In addition, the Latino Law Student Association (LALSA) in conjunction with many other student organizations is conducting a fundraiser to raise money to purchase undergarments for women in detention centers. Sadly, many of the women living in detention centers are only provided with one pair of underwear. For more information on this issue check out this link: http://www.amnestyusa.org/immigrant-detention/page.do?id=1641031

That is all for now till next time.

I've been in El Paso, TX for almost two weeks.  I am living at a place called Casa Puente which provides short-term housing to volunteers who come to El Paso.  The Director of Casa Puente was nice enough to pick me up from the airport.  Upon arriving at Casa Puente, I met three other housemates who are also doing volunteer work at El Paso.  Two of my housemates are law students at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and one is an undergrad student at Georgetown University. They are also interning at a non-profit legal service provider that assists persons seeking asylum and children detained by the government. Luckily, Casa Puente is centrally located near the downtown area of El Paso, it's close to the Juarez Border and its only six blocks from my job.

In Casa Puente, I have my own room and share a bathroom with one other person.  The house comes fully furnished, I only had to bring clothes, shoes, and toiletries.  There is a fully stocked kitchen and a barbeque grill on the porch.  To top it off the rent is only $400 a month.  I spent the first Sunday grilling some kabobs and drinking some homemade sangria!

I am working at Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project (PDNCRP).  Check out their website for more information: www.TexasCivilRightsProject.org. PDNCRP focuses on litigating issues involving Civil Rights, Disability Rights, Immigrant Rights, Prisoners Rights and Economic Justice issues.  There are four law clerks including myself working at this organization for the summer. 

My first day consisted of a training program followed by reading the training binder. The rest of the week I worked mainly on legal research pertaining to ADA issues (American with Disabilities Act) and on domestic violence issues.  Due to confidentiality obligations, I can't elaborate too much on the specifics of my assignments but I will try to share as much as I can. In addition, I visited the Federal Courthouse in El Paso to witness my supervisor being sworn into a new district in Texas.  Just to clarify, in order for an attorney to practice in a certain district he/she has to be sworn in by a Federal Judge. 

This is it for now. Till next time and enjoy some of the El Paso pictures located below.

My House in El Paso, TX.   

My job at El Paso, TX.

Mural inside the office.

El Paso is growing on me. I would highly recommend that more Northeastern law students come to El Paso, if not, Texas for a Co-Op. This city girl will always have Texas in her heart. Thank you Texas for allowing me to feel at home here.

For July 4th weekend my friend and I went camping to Ruidoso, New Mexico and on our trip back to El Paso we stopped by the White Sands National Park. These white sand dunes are considered a natural wonder of great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand that engulf 275 square miles of desert and created the world's largest gypsum dune field. Check out the pictures to see what I mean.

Other interesting piece of news was a survey that revealed that El Paso, Tx is rated the 3rd safest city in America. The article states that if the immigrant community represents a large proportion of the population, you're likely in one of the country's safer cities. San Diego, Laredo, El Paso-these cities are teeming with immigrants, and they're some of the safest places in the country. The article further states that El Paso's embrace of its immigrants might be a big reason why the low-income border town has remained one of the safest places in the country. See the link to the article for more information:

http://www.kdbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=10649488&nav=menu608_2

After living here for the past weeks, I will concur with El Paso's Mayor John Cook when he states that El Paso embraces and welcomes its immigrants. When I first came here I expected more immigrant backlash or anti-immigrant attitudes but instead I have seen the opposite from the El Paso community. I've been impressed with how much the Mexican culture is integrated with the El Paso community. For example, the City El Paso has gone to court (and lost) in an effort to prevent construction of the border fence within its boundaries, and local officials have resisted federal efforts to enlist local police for immigration enforcement, arguing that it would make illegals less likely to cooperate with police.

I will end my blog today with a great quote, "Most people in Washington, D.C., don't understand our philosophy here that the border joins us together, it doesn't separate us." El Paso Mayor John Cook.

Till next time y'all!

White Sands National Park

Ariel View of El Paso, TX

Ariel View of both El Paso, TX amd Juarez Mexico.

How fast this summer is passing by. I have one more week left before the end of my summer co-op.

In honor of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), every July my supervisor sues private businesses and the government for not compiling with the ADA. Specifically, she sues these entities for whose buildings are not accessible to people with disabilities. In preparing for these lawsuits in the past two weeks, I have worked on pleadings and discovery requests for these lawsuits.

In addition to working on ADA cases, I also had the opportunity to accompany my supervisor to meet a prospective client being held in a detention center. Last week I interviewed a prospective client at the Otero County Detention Center who wants to sue the detention facility for not providing her with adequate medical treatment.

In other news, last week I attended a fundraiser event where my supervisor, Briana Stone (2006 NUSL Alum), was awarded the Community Security Award for her civil rights work. Ms. Stone was granted this award for her stupendous work as the attorney on a case where 14 plaintiffs sued Otero County, N.M. Deputy Sheriffs for racial profiling, unlawful stops, and other civil-rights violations while targeting undocumented immigrants in Chaparral (a city in New Mexico).

The lawsuit stemmed from incidents in which the deputies harassed, interrogated residents, and searched homes in Chaparral while trying to find undocumented immigrants in 2007 and 2008. The case was settled and the deputies agreed to not inquire about a person's immigration status in minor cases, not to "hold" a person who is not under arrest for federal immigration officers, and the department will accept the matricula consular (consulate-issued identification card) as a valid ID.

It has been an honor to work with my supervisor and her staff who do such great work for the El Paso community. Thanks to Paso Del Norte Civil Rights project, I've worked on projects that dealt with a wide variety of civil rights issues affecting groups such as the LGBT community, people with disabilities, immigrants, victims of domestic violence, prisoners and workers' rights.

See the picture below taken at the award dinner. In the picture is also another NUSL Alum, Loni Hodge (2006 NUSL Alum) who works as a public defender at Las Cruses, N.M. In addition, Chris Benoit is the lawyer in charge of the workers' rights project for Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project. Veronica Carbajal works as an attorney for Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid and Chloe Walker is my co-worker who is also a rising 2L and currently attends University of Houston School of Law.

Until next time.

From Left to Right: Loni J. Hodge, Veronica Carbajal, Briana Stone, Chloe Walker, Me, Chris Benoit.

I can't believe I completed my first Co-Op. I finished my first Co-Op by filing two lawsuits. As my last assignment, I worked on the pleadings and discovery requests for two lawsuits involving violations of the American with Disabilities Act.

One lawsuit involved suing the biggest mall in El Paso, Cielo Vista Mall, for not providing accessible pathways to people with disabilities. The second lawsuit was against a famous El Paso taco chain, Chico's Tacos, for not providing accessible seating or restrooms for people with disabilities.

I worked on the two lawsuits from beginning to end which is very rare to accomplish in a summer internship because of the short time span. I conducted field investigative work, interviewed the plaintiffs, wrote the pleadings, discovery requests and filed the lawsuits in court. To top it off, Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project in conjunction with another organization, Desert ADAPT, protested at the Cielo Vista Mall on July 29, 2009.

Below is a news article and a video from the protest aired on the nightly news in El Paso. I come out on the video.

Link to the News Article
http://www.kvia.com/global/story.asp?s=10816118

Link to the Video

This officially marks the end of a great Co-Op experience. This Co-Op has taught me that the best part of being a lawyer is advocating for individuals who want to enforce their rights. At this Co-Op, I advocated for individuals that included, persons with disabilities who wanted to enjoy equal access to business establishments, for a transsexual to be granted HIV medication and hormone treatment while being detained at a detention center, and for victims of domestic violence to be granted immigration relief for being a victim of a crime. Thank you Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project for allowing me to experience the role of being an attorney.

As my winter Co-Op, I was hoping to work for a judge to work on my research, writing skills and to get a perspective on what judges look for in the cases they rule on. I won't be hoping anymore because I will be heading to Philadelphia for my winter quarter co-op to work for the Judge Dolores Sloviter at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Judge Dolores Sloviter was appointed to the Third Circuit by President Carter and she was the first and only woman to serve as Chief Justice in the Third Circuit. Needless to say I am very excited about this opportunity.

This past weekend I secured a sublet in Philly so I am all set to go. I have less than one month until finals and will start my winter co-op the week of November 30th. I only have two final exams one on Immigration law and the other on Family law. Wish me luck!!