As a rising 2L at University at Buffalo School of Law, I hope to one day become an environmental attorney so that I can help those individuals most impacted by environmental degradation and climate change. My first year of law school was absolutely amazing and I am so fortunate to have had friends, family, and faculty who supported me through the first year of my legal education. The state of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted all of us and much like my second semester of law school, my internship plans changed frequently.
This summer, I was fortunate enough to receive the New York State Catalyst Fellowship from the NY Bar Association and find a placement with the Crime Victims Legal Network at Empire Justice Center in Rochester, New York. Empire Justice Center is a statewide non-profit law firm whose mission is to make the law work better for all New Yorkers. The Crime Victims Legal Network seeks to help connect victims of crime with agencies and service providers that can help them resolve their civil legal needs. Additionally, on the Crime Victim Legal Network’s website, NY Crime Victims Legal Help, crime victims can access information to help them better understand their rights.
The website features information regarding housing, employment, domestic violence, and personal finances. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the information on the site was no longer accurate because of executive orders and recently passed legislation. The state and federal governments promptly reacted to the impacts of COVID-19 and I was quickly assigned duties and research assignments that centered around these changes In order to provide accurate and detailed information, I was tasked with reviewing changes in the law and creating plain language excerpts for the website.
Despite the many fallouts of COVID-19, I was fortunate enough to be able to work remotely and still provide meaningful services to crime victim advocates. Our team created webinars and shareable resources so that these advocates could stay up to date on the changes in the law due to COVID-19. This meant spending countless hours at my dining room table, with my dogs laying at my side, pouring over executive orders, statutes, and memorandums, to figure out exactly what protections were put in place to help those impacted by the fallout of the pandemic.
In addition to the website updates and webinar series, I attended meetings with attorneys and advocates, researched and developed LGTBQ specific content for the website, and wrote legal memorandums for cases involving victims of crime. I truly enjoyed all of these tasks and experiences because I was able to make use of all the information and techniques I had been learning about in the classroom!
This summer was a rewarding legal experience and I am exceptionally grateful to have worked with the Crime Victims Legal Network. During the course of my internship, I learned that you always have to be adaptive and creative because you never know when things will change. The internet might give you trouble, Zoom links might not work, but whatever it is you have to be ready to figure it out and press forward (and often in a different way). I really enjoyed my time spent with the Crime Victims Legal Network and the work that this team does is nothing short of amazing! Their passion for helping crime victims, advocates, and attorneys is inspiring to say the very least and I will take all that I have learned with me as I move forward in my legal education.