Reflections from the Field (Part 5)

This past summer, UBSPI (in conjunction with the Maryland Legal Services Corporation and the University of Baltimore School of Law), funded 15 UB Law students to intern at public interest organizations to gain first-hand legal experience serving a variety of communities.  Over the next few months, their stories will be highlighted on Out in the Streets.

1Ls and 2Ls:  Are you interested in applying for a $4,000 grant to support your public interest work this summer?  Applications for 2012 grants are available here.  Remember:  Much of our funding comes from our annual public interest auction, to be held this year on March 9. 

 Hayden Barnes, 2L, University of Baltimore School of Law - MVLS/Project Heal

I interned at The Harriet Lane Clinic/Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The broad diversity of cases was stimulating. Clients presented with a broad range of issues, including family law, estate planning, landlord-tenant disputes, special education concerns, and government benefits.

During my internship: I attended MVLS staff meetings; conducted numerous potential client intake and interviews; attended over twenty Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings; assisted in the first-ever Project HEAL at HLC/CC Brief Advice Clinic at East Baltimore Medical Center; prepared six medical record reviews and five memos in preparation for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit denial appeals; pursued the Social Security Administration to properly process an appeal that had been lost and re-submitted three times since 2008; drafted template letters to be filed with the Maryland State Department of Education each time a client is unlawfully sent home from school or the administration fails to provided required documentation five days in advance; prepared informational brochures on bankruptcy, unemployment benefits, health insurance, and workers compensation for clinic visitors and walk-in advice clinic attendees; prepared an interactive “Jeopardy”-style PowerPoint for clinic medical residents on the services available in the clinic; assisted a grandmother with an Informal Kinship Care affidavit enabling her to make medical decisions for her grandson; participated in interviews with two parents in a best-interests case and accompanied my supervising attorney to the court to review confidential court reports; attended court-ordered settlement conferences in which my supervising attorney, was the settlement facilitator; participated in a Family Law Hotline shift that my supervising attorney conducted; visited and toured a non-public school for children with special needs; and drafted closing letters in sixteen cases. I sincerely appreciated the experience I gained at Project HEAL.