Reflections from the Field (Part 6)

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. 

Tawny Holmes, 2L, University of Baltimore School of Law - National Association of the Deaf 

How many people know that the oldest civil rights organization is right in our backyard? That’s right- the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), established in 1880 has its headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.  It focuses on protecting, preserving and promoting civil rights including cultural and linguistic rights for 32 million deaf and hard of hearing Americans. 

The UBSPI grant made it possible for me to intern at their Law and Advocacy Center which was invaluable experience for two reasons:  1) I was able to work closely with their four lawyers including CEO, Howard Rosenblum who is an experienced attorney devoted to improving the life experience and education access. 2) I also was able to interact personally with many clients (NAD receives about 300 calls a day for legal and advocacy assistance from people from all over the United States).  We receive calls via videophone, which I was then responsible to follow up on, and do client evaluation- e.g. take down details of their case and recommend cases to the appropriate attorney to follow through on. NAD selects a handful of cases every year with potential national impact or civil rights importance.  On the calls, I often was touched by real-life experiences of clients being discriminated at work, with their banks, by police, and more. I could see the frustration in their signing and the hope in their eyes that NAD could provide guidance.  This was a good way to see how NAD directly works with the community and how much work is needed to combat the discrimination against deaf and hard of hearing people who simply are people who need communication access.

Also, working closely with the CEO and lawyers, I was able to create projects based on my interest- education policy and parents advocacy because this was part of NAD’s mission and they were open to having me bring my own passion and expertise. This is the benefit of working with a non-profit organization because I could see my work as a result on their website and as a result, I have been asked to give presentations at two national professional conferences on their behalf!