thedrifter
04-23-07, 02:28 PM
Students mobilize to give vets free legal aid
By Kristen Jordan Shamus and Tamara Audi - Detroit Free Press
Posted : Monday Apr 23, 2007 11:35:04 EDT
DETROIT — Chances are, only one of the recreational vehicles traveling Michigan’s highways this summer will carry law students and legal documents instead of vacationers and a bed.
The students, from the University of Detroit Mercy Law School, will be on a mobile mission to take free legal aid to military veterans.
Law schools around the country are stepping up efforts to help veterans, but the Detroit program stands out for its law-on-wheels approach, said Stephen Lessard, the student liaison to the American Bar Association’s committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel. In his ABA role, Lessard keeps tabs on the aid law schools around the country offer to veterans and military personnel.
“To the best of my knowledge, Detroit’s mobile office is unique,” said Lessard, a law school student at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Detroit’s law school initially used the RV-turned-office to take legal aid to senior citizens and immigrants, law school Dean Mark Gordon said. He said law clinic volunteers recognized a growing need among veterans and decided to start visiting veteran centers.
“They served our country. They protected our freedoms. As law students and, as an institution of legal study, it’s the least we can do,” said 24-year-old Anthony Mosko, a first-year law student from Cincinnati who plans to help with the veterans clinic.
Pat Daniels, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 154 in Mount Clemens, said veterans often need support they don’t get when they return home.
“We deal with World War II veterans on a daily basis, right through with kids coming home from Iraq today,” he said. “We need to take care of our veterans.”
Gordon and Lessard said veterans often need help getting disability benefits, figuring out Social Security and working through complex family matters, such as child support.
Tyrone Chapman, who runs the Detroit Veterans Center, a 104-bed transitional facility for homeless veterans, said the free legal service could make a significant difference in the lives of his clients.
“To know that [UDM] is going to do this sort of mobile legal clinic is certainly something we could benefit from,” said Chapman, who served in the Vietnam War.
The RV, a used Ford, has 45,000 miles on it. The bed was pulled out to make room for a private interview room with a desk and chairs. Documents are stored in what used to be the shower. Velcro is attached to staplers and tape dispensers to keep them from sliding around when the vehicle moves. The driver: a law professor and immigration attorney.
Gordon said UDM is paying for the roughly $100,000 startup costs for the rolling clinic, but he hopes the state, private donors and other attorneys will step up to help.
If there’s enough support for the program, Gordon said, UDM would like to add a second mobile law office. The plan is for the first one to hit the road in May.
“Everybody’s read about what’s happening,” Gordon said. “It’s a call to service. We want to answer the call. We want our students to answer the call.”
Ellie
By Kristen Jordan Shamus and Tamara Audi - Detroit Free Press
Posted : Monday Apr 23, 2007 11:35:04 EDT
DETROIT — Chances are, only one of the recreational vehicles traveling Michigan’s highways this summer will carry law students and legal documents instead of vacationers and a bed.
The students, from the University of Detroit Mercy Law School, will be on a mobile mission to take free legal aid to military veterans.
Law schools around the country are stepping up efforts to help veterans, but the Detroit program stands out for its law-on-wheels approach, said Stephen Lessard, the student liaison to the American Bar Association’s committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel. In his ABA role, Lessard keeps tabs on the aid law schools around the country offer to veterans and military personnel.
“To the best of my knowledge, Detroit’s mobile office is unique,” said Lessard, a law school student at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Detroit’s law school initially used the RV-turned-office to take legal aid to senior citizens and immigrants, law school Dean Mark Gordon said. He said law clinic volunteers recognized a growing need among veterans and decided to start visiting veteran centers.
“They served our country. They protected our freedoms. As law students and, as an institution of legal study, it’s the least we can do,” said 24-year-old Anthony Mosko, a first-year law student from Cincinnati who plans to help with the veterans clinic.
Pat Daniels, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 154 in Mount Clemens, said veterans often need support they don’t get when they return home.
“We deal with World War II veterans on a daily basis, right through with kids coming home from Iraq today,” he said. “We need to take care of our veterans.”
Gordon and Lessard said veterans often need help getting disability benefits, figuring out Social Security and working through complex family matters, such as child support.
Tyrone Chapman, who runs the Detroit Veterans Center, a 104-bed transitional facility for homeless veterans, said the free legal service could make a significant difference in the lives of his clients.
“To know that [UDM] is going to do this sort of mobile legal clinic is certainly something we could benefit from,” said Chapman, who served in the Vietnam War.
The RV, a used Ford, has 45,000 miles on it. The bed was pulled out to make room for a private interview room with a desk and chairs. Documents are stored in what used to be the shower. Velcro is attached to staplers and tape dispensers to keep them from sliding around when the vehicle moves. The driver: a law professor and immigration attorney.
Gordon said UDM is paying for the roughly $100,000 startup costs for the rolling clinic, but he hopes the state, private donors and other attorneys will step up to help.
If there’s enough support for the program, Gordon said, UDM would like to add a second mobile law office. The plan is for the first one to hit the road in May.
“Everybody’s read about what’s happening,” Gordon said. “It’s a call to service. We want to answer the call. We want our students to answer the call.”
Ellie