Ready to help in New Orleans

Anna Wislocki, far right, and the rest of this group of law students from the Roger Williams University School of Law, will visit New Orleans next month to help hurricane victims. /
Anna Wislocki, far right, and the rest of this group of law students from the Roger Williams University School of Law, will visit New Orleans next month to help hurricane victims. /

For spring break this year, about two dozen law students and faculty from Roger Williams University are heading south to New Orleans. But it won’t be a typical spring-break trip.
The aspiring lawyers are headed to the Gulf Coast to offer legal assistance to hurricane victims, including help with issues of housing, government benefits and workers’ rights.
“Students will receive training before they go, and when they get there, they will work under licensed attorneys. Then they will fan out in the criminal justice system assisting with issues of housing, Social Security and health care,” said David Logan, dean of the Ralph R. Papitto School of Law.
“There’s a very broad and deep set of challenges,” Logan added. “The local government is still not fully functioning.”
Anna Wislocki, a second-year law student, is organizing the trip through the national organization Student Hurricane Network. The group was formed to help out with legal issues in areas that were heavily affected by the hurricanes of 2005. Wislocki found out about the group in July of last year.
“I thought about five people would be interested, and now we’ve got 18 students going,” she said in a telephone interview.
“Roughly 9,000 lawyers were displaced due to the hurricanes and, of course, the legal situation down there is in crisis,” Wislocki added.
“There are people [in New Orleans] who’ve been ‘doing Katrina time’ – that is, they’ve been held on charges, or simply for being unable to pay probation fees, without having the opportunity to speak to a lawyer, for much longer than they would have served had they been convicted.”
For example, she said, some people have been held for 16 months who would normally only have been held for 30 days. Students will assist the remaining public defenders in interviewing detainees and presenting their results to move the cases through the system.
Some students will work on addressing housing issues – “there’s a big crisis” with public housing, landlord/tenant relations, Federal Emergency Management Agency claims, and property disputes, Wislocki said. “Many people have not been able to return home due to not being able to navigate the legal morass, and law students have been helping clear that path.”
There are also environmental issues, regarding the “huge” cleanup to be done and also looking to the future, “to see how natural resources can be protected or restored,” she said.
Students will benefit from the experience in a number of ways, both practical and on a personal level.
“It’s a chance for students to make law school mean something,”
Wislocki said. “A lot of the students going are first years, and this experience will let them see what their degree can do.”
Roger Williams requires a minimum of 20 hours of pro bono work – not only uncompensated, but also not for academic credit – for graduation, and the students who participate in the New Orleans trip will surpass that, Logan said.
“The tangible advantage for the students is, for many, it will be their first time working with live clients in the legal system and not just reading about it,” Logan said. “And this opportunity and need meshes perfectly with the experiential learning at Roger Williams.”
The school is paying the airfare for the students and faculty, said Logan, but the students are responsible for lodging and food. They sold Valentine’s day-themed items to raise money, and Wislocki said they are also seeking donations from local businesses and others.
“We’re also seeking local lawyers to help mentor, particularly in criminal defense and housing,” Wislocki said. “Steve Fischbach [with Rhode Island Legal Services] has been very generous … and offered to help.”
The students had raised about $7,000 as of press time; they need to raise $13,000 to cover their costs. Most of what they’ve raised has been through “the generosity of Dean Logan and the School of Law,” Wislocki said.

For more information or to make a donation, e-mail Wislocki at annawislocki@gmail.com.

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