Law students give up spring break
to offer legal help in New Orleans
Five Washington and Lee University students from the School of Law will forgo a traditional spring break to provide disaster relief to Hurricane Katrina victims through a class they helped design.
The students will travel to the Gulf Coast to provide legal aid as part of the university’s new Hurricane Practicum course. The program is designed to give law students the chance to apply the legal issues they learn to real situations.
To prepare for the legal services they will provide on their trip, students of the practicum course have discussed topics ranging from language for access ordinances to land ownership and housing property rights.
Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in August 2005, killing more than 1,800 people and causing an estimated $80 billion in damage. The tens of thousands who evacuated the area returned to find their homes demolished and their livelihoods destroyed.
The trip will be the students’ second spring break service trip to provide legal aid and manual labor for Katrina victims. The first service trip inspired students and faculty, including third-year law student Diane Meier, to set up the practicum.
“The physical destruction of Hurricane Katrina may be fading, but people forget that there are still an overwhelming amount of legal issues involved,” said Meier. “Most of these people can’t afford to pocket the expense of a property rights expert.”
Meier says the students’ first visit last year motivated them to establish a program to continue their work on the Gulf Coast. She envisioned a program that would involve long-term research projects studying various legal aspects of the disaster.
Meier contacted Loyola Law School Professor Bill Quigley, a speaker at last year's Hurricane Katrina symposium at Washington and Lee, to discuss continuing their work with a rebuilding effort. Quigley put Meier in touch with organizations in need of legal aid, and W&L professors Mary Natkin and Denis Brion designed the curriculum.
Law students have worked on projects that could have a real impact on Katrina victims in preparation for their trip. In one project, students partnered with the Mississippi Center for Justice to research the eligibility of FEMA trailers for cities. In another, students compiled a handbook instructing out-of-state attorneys about the title laws of Louisiana.
Meier and her fellow students are excited about the upcoming trip, despite having to give up spring break.
“I will be doing work that could be life-changing for some people, and that’s why I came to law school in the first place,” said Jennifer Lin, a second-year law student.
Produced by
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