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LAW STUDENTS WILL ROAM MICHIGAN TO HELP
VETERANS
-- "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."
Mike Gardner of the Vietnam
Veterans of America Chapter 154 checks out the University of
Detroit's mobile law unit to learn about a program that will
provide free legal services. (photo by Amy Leang, Detroit Free
Press) |
Previous story on UDM program here...
http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfAPR07/nf042207-8.htm
Story here...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/
education/2007-04-22-students-vets_N.htm?csp=34
Story below:
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Law students will roam Mich. to help vets
By Kristen Jordan Shamus and Tamara Audi, USA TODAY
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, said the school's dean, Mark
Gordon. Law clinic volunteers recognized a growing need among veterans,
he said, 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
Anthony Mosko, 24, 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 start-up 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."
Shamus and Audi report daily for the Detroit Free Press
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Larry Scott --
