By Caitlan M. Sussman, ’22

Rob Clark ’22 spent nearly 500 hours volunteering for the Center for Disability and Elder Law (CDEL) during the pandemic. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Rob to learn more about his pro bono experience with CDEL.

CDEL, founded in 1984, has two primary missions. It offers free legal services to low-income seniors and people living with disabilities in the greater Chicagoland area, and encourages pro bono participation in the community.

Rob began the internship during the last six weeks of summer 2020. He found the work so rewarding that he extended it through the Autumn and Winter Quarters of the 2020-2021 academic year.

Rob’s desire to gain “hands-on experience solving complex problems” first drew him to law school. Having done his undergraduate work in math and economics at SUNY Binghamton and his master’s degree in economics at the University of Pennsylvania, Rob founded and ran a private tutoring business in Philadelphia before deciding on the University of Chicago Law School. “I felt that law would give me a way to have a more immediate impact on the world,” he explained.

Coming into law school, Rob thought he might be interested in public interest work in the long term. Running the tutoring business, however, convinced him that he “wanted to also use the entrepreneurial skills [he] had developed while tutoring.” He decided on BigLaw as a way to combine entrepreneurial skills with legal practice.

The experience with CDEL was an “incredibly diverse internship.” During his six-month internship, Rob spoke with hundreds of clients and developed many ongoing client relationships. In some cases he was their main contact at CDEL and had his own private phone line where they could reach him directly. He was in charge of relaying legal advice from the organization’s attorneys to its clients.

During the internship, Rob drafted adult guardianship pleadings, assisting in matters in which adults were unable to handle their own personal or financial affairs, often due to living with a disability. He also helped with estate planning matters such as simple wills, transfer on death instruments to handle property, and power of attorney documents. In addition, he worked on matters relating to other issues that elderly individuals or persons living with disabilities might encounter, such as collections, banking, or private landlord-tenant issues.

“The clients are always so thankful and appreciative of the effort we put in,” Rob said. “It really means a lot to them.”

The internship helped Rob continue to develop fundamental legal skills, the basic “nuts and bolts of lawyering.” It allowed him to try his hand at the various stages involved in litigation. He drafted complaints, responses to motions to dismiss, and discovery responses. He also had the opportunity to work on transactional pro bono matters.

Rob particularly enjoyed working on property tax matters, helping seniors and people living with disabilities in Cook County obtain the property tax exemptions and recover the property taxes they deserve. Through CDEL, Rob was able to “help[ ] one client recover several thousands of dollars in overpaid taxes.”

Rob highly encourages students to get involved in public interest and pro bono work while in law school and throughout their career. As he explained, it is a unique opportunity to gain familiarity with client work and learn what it is like to be a lawyer prior to starting a legal career. The experience, he said, “developed my ability really to be a legal educator, which is part of our role as a lawyer – we need to explain to clients what is going on.” Speaking about his experience with both litigation and transactional drafting work at CDEL, Rob said: “That type of drafting experience I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else.” It allowed him during his 2L summer to “go to my firm and draft entire motions and responses and get really good feedback because I wasn’t drafting something for the very first time.”

Pro bono work is also an important way to give back to the community, both in law school and in a professional capacity. No matter the practice area, Rob emphasized the importance of incorporating pro bono experience into legal practice. He considers it “an ethical obligation and my way to give back for all the opportunities that have been afforded me to get where I am now.”

In addition to his internship with CDEL, Rob has engaged in other pro bono work through the Law School’s Pro Bono Service Initiative. He has worked with “Know Your IX,” a Title IX advocacy group, to gather data on “reverse Title IX” cases. Prior to the 2020 general election, Rob volunteered with the nonprofit organization, the Advancement Project, “creating resources to aid responses to voter intimidation on the ground.” Rob has also worked with Legal Aid Chicago at the Woodlawn Clinic a few blocks away from the Law School, which allows students to volunteer on a monthly basis to conduct client intake for the organization.

After graduation, Rob will be returning to Cozen O’Connor, the firm where he spent both his 1L and 2L summers, in their Philadelphia office. Rob will start in Cozen’s litigation practice and hopes to pursue appellate litigation while maintaining a pro bono practice. He would especially like to continue working on matters similar to those at CDEL, such as assisting clients with adult guardianship matters.

CDEL is currently seeking interns for the academic year. Rob emphasized that the organization is extremely accommodating of the law student schedule, especially around exam time. CDEL still allows for fully remote internships if the student chooses. For students entering their 3L year, Rob also explained that CDEL provides opportunities to obtain a Rule 711 license to directly represent clients in court. More information about the CDEL internship can be found on Simplicity. Students looking to get involved in other impactful pro bono work may visit the Law School’s Pro Bono Service Initiative page.

Students may draw on a variety of funding sources to allow them to participate in public interest work. In addition to the $5,000 summer stipend the Law School provides, students may receive funding from the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI). PILI, one of the external public interest funding sources available, supports internships for law students at public interest organizations in Illinois during both the summer and the academic year. Students seeking summer funding for public interest work and/or external funding may visit the Law School’s Public Service and Public Interest page.

Lanie Yeames, ’21, is working to get law students involved in court watching projects throughout Chicago.

By Robert DeNunzio, ’21

Lanie Yeames ’21 has always felt lawyers have a responsibility to give back to their communities. After visiting a Cook County criminal courthouse for Criminal Law as a 1L, Lanie discovered court watching projects as a means of improving the legal system that was especially accessible to younger law students. As a result, Lanie was inspired to get involved with the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice, a non-profit that seeks to promote best-practices and transparency in the justice system. “Court watching is a great pro bono opportunity, especially for 1Ls looking for a way to get involved,” Lanie says, “because you don’t need a 711 license or extensive legal experience. You can get plugged in right away within your own community.”

Working at Appleseed during her 1L summer, Lanie participated in a court watching program for immigration bond hearings. The project sought to shine a light on problematic practices in immigration proceedings. “Law school implies the system works how it is supposed to, but in practice that’s not often true,” Lanie says. “On the ground, justice systems are frequently deeply flawed.”

In total, Appleseed and its partners have observed over 200 immigration bond hearings as part of the project. Describing some of the project’s most troubling findings, Lanie said judges sometimes made bond determinations before hearings occur, or made decisions based entirely on the detainee’s criminal record rather than factoring in ability to pay (as required by law). Despite many detainees being self-represented, some hearings for non-English speaking detainees lack a translator. Appleseed has compiled a set of recommendations and best practices for immigration bond hearings based on the project. Lanie has also worked with Appleseed’s Criminal Justice Reform Committee, researching issues related to discretionary parole and compassionate release of inmates and assisted with the implementation of the Early Resolution Program at the Daley Center, an administrative hearing process to streamline domestic relations cases for unrepresented litigants.

After the summer, Lanie remained involved at Appleseed as the Law Student Board Member. She has also begun the process for creating an Appleseed chapter at the law school, which she hopes to be able to resume when COVID-19 conditions improve. Lanie said she has particularly enjoyed working with Appleseed because the organization brings together Chicago lawyers with diverse backgrounds to work on collective social justice issues and reform the courts.

At the law school, Lanie is a member of the Pro Bono Board, the University of Chicago Legal Forum, and has previously been involved in the Exoneration Project clinic. While she is going into corporate practice, Lanie plans to continue partnering with Appleseed after graduation.

Christy Crouse, ’21, has been passionate about serving others since childhood.

By Hunter Hovenga, ’21

Service to others has provided a foundational source of meaning for Christy Crouse since day one.

Crouse, ’21, developed an acute sense of empathy at a young age. This would later become a motivational force, leading her through a vast range of service experiences up to and throughout her time at the law school.

Crouse attributes her drive to help others to her early life in the Dominican Republic, where she lived until she was eight years old. Raised by parents working for service organizations, Crouse notes her tailwinds originate in an upbringing that instilled in her the maxim that “life doesn’t mean much if you aren’t giving back and supporting the people around you.”

Before law school, Crouse—fluent in Spanish and conversational in Mandarin and French—cultivated her passion for international human rights and immigration through work and service spanning numerous government and nonprofit organizations. Most notably, she taught English as a Fulbright Scholar in Tunja, Colombia and worked for the U.S. Embassy in Nepal.

Crouse’s commitment to volunteerism had only intensified by the time she arrived at the University of Chicago Law School.

Crouse hit the ground running her 1L year as a volunteer for the Chinatown Pro Bono Legal Clinic, where she would spend Saturdays assisting Chinese-speaking clients with their legal needs and conducting legal research for volunteer attorneys. This program operated through the Chinese American Service League.

For her 1L spring break, Crouse and the Immigration Law Society helped organize a pro bono trip to a detention center for women and children in Dilley, Texas. Partnering with the School of Social Service Administration, Crouse spent her break alongside volunteer attorneys, law students, and social work students providing asylum counseling and informing detainees of their legal rights.

“I really care about people who are struggling and trying to adapt to a new place, especially a new country. It’s not easy and if there’s anything I can do to make it easier, I want to help.”

Crouse brought her passion for serving the underrepresented to two internships in a split summer after 1L.

At the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, she conducted research evaluating the capacity of a local immigrant legal services organization and created actionable recommendations for how it could improve its efficacy. For Crouse, the experience compelled a realization that “there simply are not enough lawyers to do all of the necessary work to help people.” She notes that the experience taught her the meaning of “legal empowerment,” which she describes as the process of “finding creative strategies to support regular people to help others with legal issues.” Towards that end, Crouse notes that the experience taught her that seemingly simple strategies, such as having someone accompany immigrants to court to observe proceedings and provide emotional support, can go a long way in producing positive outcomes.

Crouse spent the second half of her 1L summer at LatinoJustice PRLDEF (Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund). She researched and analyzed legal questions surrounding immigrants’ civil rights, including assisting with amici curiae for the DACA case before the US Supreme Court and a class action case concerning driver’s licenses for undocumented persons.

Crouse has also made significant contributions to the law school pro bono community through her involvement in multiple student organizations.

As a Committee Chair of the Law Students Association’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Crouse played an integral role in organizing the inaugural Impact Initiative Dinner. In an effort spanning “a year of intense work and planning,” she helped bring together twenty-five South Side community organizations and speakers to attend a dinner to “connect with students, talk about issues of race and inequality, and discuss how we can be better neighbors to the South Side.” She emphasizes that she and her peers are just getting started, with plans to organize a bias training to help students enter and exit communities responsibly, which they hope will open up channels for students to partner with South Side community groups and participate in events.

As President of the Immigration Law Society, Crouse organized a group of students to attend a training with the Instituto del Progreso Latino, where the students learned how to assist individuals with the U.S. naturalization process. She also serves as the Vice President of the Human Rights Law Society, where she assists with communications and organizes lunch talks.

Crouse is also active in the International Human Rights Clinic, where she is currently researching migrant pay gaps overseas for the International Labor Organization. She has already dedicated this year’s Spring Break to conducting fact-finding in Spain and interviewing migrants, policymakers, and employers.

Crouse has no plans to slow down on pro bono and public service moving forward into 3L and beyond. She will be spending half of this upcoming summer working for a public interest organization in Colombia and she hopes to work for an immigration or international human rights organization in Latin America after law school.

During Spring Break 2019, three University of Chicago law students traveled to Tijuana to assist asylum seekers at the U.S. – Mexico border.

By Morgan Daves-Gehrls, ’20

Over Spring Break in 2019, Jacob Hamburger, ’21, Anna Porter, ’20, and Mariah Garcia, ’19 travelled to Tijuana, Mexico to lend their support to migrants seeking asylum in the United States.  The trip was co-sponsored by National Lawyers Guild and the International Refugee Assistance Project.  “We were working with Al Otro Lado, a group that does daily border monitoring and know your rights presentations in Tijuana for those about to cross into the United States and seek asylum,” explains Garcia.   The three volunteers helped with Al Otro Lado’s daily workshops, which inform asylum-seekers about the asylum process.  They also helped conduct legal intake interviews, which allow volunteer attorneys to give advice to those seeking asylum.  “The organization tries to help people think about how to tell their story in a way that is accessible to an officer conducting a credible fear interview, which is the first step in the asylum process,” explains Porter.  In addition to these legal tasks, the volunteers also helped with routine work needed for the project, like cleaning, preparing food, and babysitting.  The project operates out of a borrowed community center in downtown Tijuana.

Al Otro Lado also does legal observations, where lawyers and law student volunteers observe the actions of United States and Mexico border officials to assess their compliance with international and domestic law.  It was during one of these legal observations that Garcia was most impacted.  Al Otro Lado volunteers were observing “La Lista,” a process in which asylum seekers gather in a plaza, sign up for the United States’ tedious numbering system, and wait to hear the numbers called for those who will be interviewed that day.  Mexican government officials removed all migrants from African countries (in this case, Cameroon), alleging that their papers were out of date.  The volunteers later learned that this is a well-known racist tactic that these Cameroonian individuals had experienced many times at other Latin American border crossings.  Al Otro Lado volunteers tried to intervene, but were met with hostility from border officials.  Garcia explains, “they even attempted to claim our simple act of standing near the border crossing was illegal, which is false, and threatened to deport several volunteers. This is apparently a frequent threat that volunteers with Al Otro Lado face.”

Like Garcia, Hamburger was deeply moved by what he experienced while volunteering.  After hearing of highly traumatic events in migrants’ past, Hamburger saw the terrible experience they had while trying to navigate the asylum process. “Regardless of how clearly someone meets the criteria for asylum, they still have to endure arbitrary waiting periods in Tijuana,” said Hamburger.  Migrants are also “subjected to inhumane conditions, family separation, and long detention at the hands of our own government. Seeing this up close is something I’ll never forget.”

Although their week of service illuminated the plight of asylum seekers at the border, the sense of cooperation among asylum-seekers provided a bit of optimism.  “One thing that struck me was the information sharing between the asylum seekers, some of whom had crossed and been returned under the Remain in Mexico program,” explains Porter. “Although the information they are sharing is often scary, it can be powerful. I saw a lot of solidarity between everyone crossing, which often reflects the journey many of them have had to travel to get to Tijuana. It can be dangerous, and the asylum seekers often look out for one another.”

These three volunteers pursued a broad range of professional opportunities after their service in Tijuana, but each is committed to serving those in need.  Hamburger worked at Larry Krasner’s District Attorney’s Office over the summer, in addition to Community Activism Law Alliance (now Beyond Legal Aid), which works extensively with immigrant community groups.   Over the summer, Porter worked at Katten in Chicago, working on a pro bono project with the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic.  She also worked in the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights over her 2L year, and has continued to work in a volunteer capacity.  Garcia is now a Justice Fellow at Loevy & Loevy, a firm that focuses on police brutality, wrongful conviction and prison litigation, and hopes to continue pro bono immigration work.

Joseph Ludmir, ’21, seeks to build understanding and promote empathy at the law school and in legal services.

By Faith Laken, ’20

Joseph Ludmir always enjoyed public speaking, but it was ultimately his desire to connect with clients one on one that led him to the law school. In undergrad, he served as a crisis counselor for survivors of sexual assault in the community. He appreciated his ability to connect with people in that setting, but wanted to be able to provide clients with legal resources to address their needs as well.

For Ludmir, public interest and direct legal aid felt like a natural fit. “I want to be able to make the biggest, most tangible impact on people,” he described. “You can really see the impact of your work when there’s a client sitting in front of you who feels supported because of your work. There’s a sense of accomplishment and feeling of fulfillment being on the front lines.”

During his 1L spring break, Ludmir participated in a pro bono service trip to St. Louis where he externed at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, a nonprofit legal aid organization that provides free legal help to low income individuals and families on civil issues including housing, public benefits, special education, and domestic violence. There, Ludmir worked on a study of the relationship between court proceedings and incidents of domestic violence and assault on clients. He explained how attorneys should be aware of the role that various stressors, including those stemming from the legal system, play in the cycle of violence and should pay careful attention to the needs of their clients during those times.

At the law school, Ludmir has his eye on the effects of stressors on the student body. He serves as the Vice President of Mental Wellness in the Law School’s student government and is dedicated to making the law school community more aware of mental health concerns and available resources. He also started a “Secret Pal” program to encourage more bonding and positivity at the school. Participating students get assigned another student who they leave little notes or small gifts for anonymously until a reveal later in the year. Students might leave each other compliments, words of encouragement, or candy. Ludmir hopes activities like these remind students to take time to check in with themselves, relax, and bond with their classmates.

Ludmir hopes to continue to find innovative ways to connect with classmates and clients during the remainder of his time at the law school and to bring his empathic approach into his future legal career.

Ellen Goff, ’21, values meaningful client interaction and experiences beyond the legal classroom.

By Carly Owens, ‘20

Ellen Goff, JD ’21, has found pro bono work an effective and meaningful way to extend her legal education beyond the classroom, especially during her 1L year. “I prioritized short pro bono work throughout the school year and more immersive experiences on breaks because it reminded me of the reasons I became interested in law and gave me meaningful client service experiences. Looking back on my first year of law school, I realize these experiences were invaluable in expanding my legal horizons.”

After Ellen’s first quarter, she participated in Ascend Justice’s Winter Immersion Program. There, she aided survivors of domestic violence in petitioning the court for emergency orders of protection. Alongside other law students, Ellen interviewed clients, then used that information to draft affidavits and petitions, which were reviewed by the client and attorney and submitted to the court. “This experience taught me how to ask thorough questions while being mindful of the traumatic experiences I was discussing with clients. It emphasized the human aspect of legal practice, something not often discussed in the classroom.”

Ellen also used her spring break to engage in pro bono work. During this time, she volunteered at the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center along with other University of Chicago law students. Through this position, she gained experience in a new area of law – criminal defense. The Louisiana Capital Assistance Center provides defense to low-income individuals charged with capital crimes, which carry the potential of a death sentence. “This experience helped me realize how much I value direct client interaction and has helped guide me in seeking out future pro bono opportunities.”

During the quarter, Ellen enjoys participating in the monthly general service Woodlawn clinic run by Legal Aid Chicago. “I love seeing so many different kinds of cases and working with experienced attorneys to issue-spot real life situations,” she says.  Madeline Franke, the Community Legal Clinics Coordinator at Legal Aid Chicago, appreciates working with Ellen and was particularly grateful for Ellen’s participation in the Woodlawn Clinic in August, noting that “[w]e had one of our biggest client turn outs at that clinic, and with Ellen’s help, we were able to serve over 30 clients during that clinic. She was calm, efficient, and kind to all of her clients and to the other volunteers at the clinic.  We would not have been able to see and advise all of those people without her.”

Ellen has continued volunteering with the Woodlawn Clinic this year in addition to applying her passion for client service through the Police Accountability Clinic at the Law School. In this position, she conducts research, client and witness interviews, and writes memoranda pertaining to torture claims against the police.

Ellen looks forward to continuing to explore her legal interests through pro bono work in law school and is confident that she will carry her passion for public interest with her wherever she works. She believes that no other experiences are quite as intellectually stimulating and rewarding.