January 29, 2007
Thirty students from St. John’s School of Law used their winter
break to travel to New Orleans, to help Katrina victims with a
variety of legal problems. Professors Ann Goldweber and Keri
Gould accompanied the students. One and one-half years after
Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the legal system is still trying
to recover. Court files have been destroyed, people are
languishing in jail for months without even being charged with a
crime, and there aren’t enough attorneys to help process the
thousands of insurance and FEMA claims. The law students
spent the week interviewing inmates, recovering wages for day
laborers, advocating before FEMA, and protecting housing and
consumer rights. Students working through the Student
Hurricane Network received assignments from Southeast Louisiana
Legal Services, the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice,
the Pro Bono Project, and Project Gideon.
Photo Gallery
Amanda Golob, 2L, initiated this project at the law school
through the Student Hurricane Network, a nationwide student
organization dedicated to providing long term assistance to
communities affected by Hurricane Katrina. Amanda Golob
commented, “talking face to face with people who survived the
Hurricane and its aftermath, people who lost everything and are now
trying to rebuild what is left of their former lives, was
awe-inspiring. To know that my legal education could be used to
help those in need, improve their lives, or simply bring long
awaited comfort was an amazing feeling. It really showed me how the
skills I am learning at St. John's can be used in the real world
and can be used to bring positive change to others.” The
Public Interest Committee and Sara Mason, Assistant Director of
Career Services, helped make this effort a reality.
Pro Bono Project – Asserting Home
Ownership Rights
The Pro Bono Project provides free, civil legal services to clients
in the Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. Tammany and Washington
Parishes of Louisiana. St. John’s students were assigned to
the family law department, handling small successions (probate).
Successions play an integral role in the revitalization of
Louisiana because families cannot rebuild their homes without first
collecting their insurance and/or FEMA money. In order to get that
money, title to their homes must be in their names. Unfortunately,
many times one family has lived in a home for generations with the
home never having been legally transferred to the younger
generation. The students took those families through the
complex process of succession so that they can get the money they
need to rebuild their homes. The dispersement of half of the city
into temporary housing arrangements after Katrina only increased
the difficulty of this task, as relatives are scattered throughout
the country. A single petition for succession may take two to
three weeks to complete. Students initiated and completed entire
client files from start to finish; in addition to gathering
information from clients and contacting relatives to sign
renunciation forms. This process includes creating court
petitions and judgment forms, detailed descriptive lists of all of
the deceased person’s assets and liabilities at the time of their
death in order to accurately represent the net worth of their
estate, and all necessary property and inheritance tax forms.
Law Students Dienna Ching (2L), Erica Coleman
(2L), and Tracy Romano (3L) volunteered for the Project.
“The St. John’s students were honored to be able to help these
families along that process by writing and filing succession
papers, including renunciations and affidavits of death." Tracy Romano (3L).
“With the help of these volunteers, the public interest
attorneys who run the Pro Bono Project are able to bring their
clients one step closer to moving on with their lives.” Erica Coleman (2L).
New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial
Justice – Recovering Wages for Day Laborers
Students volunteered for the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial
Justice, an organization dedicated to bridging the tension between
African American survivors of Katrina and the recent influx of
immigrant workers to New Orleans. Immigrants (mostly from
Honduras and Guatemala) have come to New Orleans through official
and unofficial channels and obtained jobs as "day laborers." They
stand on corners near local Lowe’s and Home Depot stores, waiting
for construction contractors to come by and hire them for the day.
The students’ specific role was to interview day laborers who
stated that contractors had cheated them out of money earned.
Students filled out wage reports, called the contractors, and
advised them of their legal obligation to pay the laborers.
Zoe Polk (2L) and Lauren Silver (2L)
participated in the Project.
“Because of tensions between the immigrants and the Lowe’s or
Home Depot, there is a heavy police and national guard presence in
the areas they congregate. Another one of our duties was to monitor
police and national guard interaction with the day laborers. We did
not personally witness any brutality, but were told that it happens
regularly. A police car or National Guard Humvee circled the area
at least twice on the hour. Sometimes officers would disperse the
group. We made note of the time this incident happened and the
nature of the interaction. The general feeling among the laborers I
spoke to is fear of the police and national guardsmen. Many have
friends who have been beaten up and held in jail for indefinite
amounts of time. It is my understanding that this is a more
prevalent method of addressing the issue rather than turning them
over to the Department of Homeland Security. Watching the
humvees circle the day laborers and men and women in fatigues with
large guns approaching us was very jarring. I just think that
these are inherent symbols of war and purposely send a signal that
this is a war zone.” Zoe Polk
(2L).
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services –
Protecting the Most Needy from FEMA Recoupment Claims; Asserting
Consumer and Housing Rights
Students volunteered in the Public Benefits Unit of Southeast
Louisiana Legal Services and worked on FEMA benefits recoup
appeals. After Katrina hit, FEMA had to act fast and oftentimes
miscalculated the amount of monies given to individuals. Now, FEMA
is going back and trying to recoup the money from people in need
who had received FEMA assistance. Most of these people are far
below the poverty line and are unable to pay this money back. Also,
many of them were caught in a bureaucratic blunder as FEMA granted
them money, qualifying them as in need recipients and now, over a
year later, FEMA has reneged on this original ruling and is trying
to recoup the money. Students interviewed clients, reviewed
documents and drafted appeal letters to be sent to FEMA. Amanda Golob (2L) and Kelly Sheridan (2L)
participated in the Project.
“I met with a few clients, listened to their horror stories of
what they went through during Katrina, during the evacuation, and
then during the following months as they were sent from state to
state, city to city with no shelter, money or idea of what was to
come next, then after all this to receive federal money to help
rebuild their shattered lives only to have FEMA , a year later, try
and take back that money.” Amanda Golob
(2L).
Other students worked primarily in the area of consumer
benefits. These students drafted petitions against
contractors in breach of contract cases. The homes of clients
had been damaged by Hurricane Katrina, and the contractors they
hired did not perform the work promised, or did not perform any
work at all. Students also met with clients to discuss
strategies for filing for bankruptcy and dealing with their
mounting debt, most of which snowballed after Katrina. Jesse Brown (2L), Lisa Marcoccia (1L), Heidi Roll
(1L), and Michael Sabella (3L) participated in the
Project.
“The trip helped me gain real-world legal experience, while also
helping others. I found it to be very rewarding, and I hope
to do more to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina.” Heidi Roll (1L).
Students also worked in the Housing Unit addressing
landlord/tenant issues. Students accompanied an attorney to
court for an eviction hearing. At court, the attorney represented
several tenants of the same building and also assisted other
tenants of the building who weren't her clients. In the end, she
was able to work out an agreement with the landlord to allow all
the tenants to remain in their apartments. Other clients needed
help getting their security deposit back from their old landlord.
Other problems people were facing included landlords refusing to
maintain the apartments, and securing FEMA trailers and FEMA
grants/loans to rebuild their homes. Keisha Barrow (3L), Luke Kurtz (1L) and Justin
Lacour (1L) participated in the Project.
Project Gideon
Sixteen students participated as one of the groups in
the Katrina-Gideon Interview Project designed by the New Orleans
Public Defenders, the Tulane Law Clinic, and the Student Hurricane
Network. This project was developed to assist the New Orleans
Public Defender’s Office, which has been undergoing serious
transformation since Hurricane Katrina and is confronted with a
huge backlog of cases. One group of students was
assigned to felony cases and the other was assigned to work in the
Misdemeanor Project. In addition to their legal skills, the
involvement of the St. John’s students in this project served to
invigorate the practice of the local public defenders and put the
local criminal justice system on notice that the nation’s legal
community is prepared to help.
1. Felony Project
The students in this group were given active felony cases to work
on. While these cases had been assigned to Public Defenders,
further work was needed to develop them. Students interviewed
clients, focusing on personal information and contacts. Students
received a crash course in criminal law, criminal law in New
Orleans, and the role of the criminal defense attorney.
Before actually interviewing any clients, the students had to
interpret the criminal filings, figure out how to access additional
papers for each case and update the court papers. Next students had
to locate the appropriate detention facility, at least one of which
consisted of temporary tents, and learn to wait and wait until they
could interview their client.
The students listened with compassion and concern to the stories
told by their clients. For many students, this was the first
time they interviewed a client. The students gathered key
information regarding ties to the community, potential witnesses,
and facts which needed to be investigated. The clients were eager
to speak to the students. Many had not spoken to their assigned
lawyer on a regular basis. Some have been incarcerated since before
Katrina and have no context for understanding the devastation to
the city and the criminal justice system.
The students completed a variety of important tasks including
assisting an attorney in developing a strategy for a motion for a
continuance and preparing for a client’s post-conviction
release. They also conferenced the cases with the assigned
public defenders and gained valuable insights into a difficult job.
The students wrote detailed follow-up memos to the defense
attorneys which will aid them in preparing the cases for trial and
/or disposition. Jason Bartlett (1L),
Hugo Basso (3L), Valerie Ferrier (3L), Edward Mario (2L), William
Ng (3L), Janice Oh (1L), Melissa Pond (1L), and Jamie Porco (3L)
participated in the Project. Professor Keri Gould supervised
the Project.
2. Misdemeanor Project
Because of the huge backlog of cases and the loss of funding for
the majority of the Public Defender’s Office, hundreds of people
arrested on misdemeanor charges were left languishing in prisons
for months, without ever even seeing an attorney. The
students were given the names of 33 prisoners arrested on
misdemeanor charges. Their first task was to create files for
each client. This entailed gathering rap sheets, court filing
and police reports. The students then spent three days at the
New Orleans Parish Prison interviewing clients, finding out how
much time they had spent in prison (the official records were often
incorrect), hearing their stories and starting to prepare a
defense.
The students created case files, with all case materials that
existed, for all 33 cases and conducted 17 client interviews at the
Prison. After the interviews, students prepared extensive
memos regarding the facts surrounding their cases. These case
files will be handed over to the New Orleans Public Defender for
representation. The majority of the clients interviewed had
been incarcerated for upwards of six months, without ever seeing an
attorney or being arraigned. Astonishingly, several clients
had already spent more time in jail than the maximum sentence they
could have received, if they had been convicted of a crime.
Dianne Arrue (1L), Chris Conant (1L), Nathan
Kennedy (3L), Shaun McCready (3L), Niranjan Sagapuram (3L), Roman
Shakh (2L), Kimberly Shalvey (3L), and Debra Smith (2L)
participated in the Project. Professor Ann Goldweber
supervised the Project.
“Visiting New Orleans to participate in Project Gideon was
the most amazing experience in my legal career thus far. I
spent four days interviewing prisoners who had been incarcerated
for up to two times the maximum sentence for crimes for which they
had not yet been formally charged. Most prisoners had been in
jail for over a year without seeing an attorney let alone the
inside of a court room. The situation in New Orleans is an
extreme example of the problems that institutional racism and
poverty can cause in a community. Being in New Orleans and
witnessing this first hand has reaffirmed my devotion to doing
public interest work and advocating for social change and
equality.” Debra Smith, (2L).