“The Clinic brings students in to advocate for abused and
neglected children-but little do you know coming in that the world
you are being lead into is difficult, harsh, and intricately
complicated. Of course, you expect to get cases and interview
clients and appear in court, but you certainly don’t anticipate the
poverty, the lack of resources, the brutality, and the reality that
a lot of families in New York City endure everyday. As a law
student, I am truly grateful for this experience, but as a person,
I am even more thankful because it has brought an awareness that I
never would have had in any other clinic or law class.”
“At this point I’d like to say that my heart was pouring out for
her, but my mind was more racing about what to do next. I don’t
think I consciously felt anything. I was too busy thinking about
how to help her. I ended up getting down on the floor in front of
her (we had been sitting on a bed and she was sitting on a little
chair in front of us) and telling her it was ok, and that we were
there to help, and I understood she loved and missed her mom - but
I also asked her if she was scared to go home, too. Then I waited.
She eventually nodded and kept crying. I suggested to her different
options – she ended up emphatically selecting the choice of not
going home until mom got better. After that her guard was back up,
she was little Ms. Tough again, but she answered our questions
truthfully. And she was thrilled when I gave her my card, and I
smiled as she programmed my number into her defunct cell
phone.
I have sat through some difficult interviews thus far in my life,
rapid-fire OCI interviews as well as marathon callback interviews
at firms, and I can honestly say I’d never had a harder interview
in my life. To step back and realize I was able to connect with a
9-year-old who had been beaten literally for as long as she could
remember is just a proud moment for me and a testament to the
strength of this clinic because when I didn’t know what to do or
how to proceed, I fell back on everything I learned here (“tell me
more,” focus on the child, instructions so they answer truthfully,
rapport building, pausing for children to think and answer and the
“we can’t tell your mom” approaches) and it worked. Further, she
was happier, she kept talking to me the rest of the time we were
there, she thought we had made a connection as well. It was very
rewarding. Later, I felt the emotion of the situation hit me. And
actually, even more so now that I’m thinking about it and writing
about it.”