"Planning the event this year was a very rewarding experience. Working so closely with the placement organizations as well as our own Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono truly allowed me to experience the commitment people have toward justice and the public interest."
Keri Richardson
Class of 2005
The Southern Justice Spring Break Mission Trip, offered through the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono and organized by Keri Richardson '05, allowed five Duke Law students to spend their spring break working in high-profile Southern-based legal institutions."
Planning the event this year was a very rewarding experience. Working so closely with the placement organizations as well as our own Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono truly allowed me to experience the commitment people have toward justice and the public interest," Richardson said. "It amazes me that such talented people have put personal gain aside to help others and ensure that our legal system truly helps those in need. I hope to be involved with the program in some way again, as I have taken so much from the experience."
David Bernstein '06 and Scott Edson '05 worked with the Appalachian Citizens Law Center (Appalred), a free legal service for low-income individuals and familes that is based in Kentucky. Appalred focuses on coal-related issues, so much of the students work involved researching United Mine Workers of American pension claims and surveying property damage caused from coal mining, as well as family law issues such as drafting divorce and child-custody papers.
Three students, Greg Kanyicska '05, Ian Millhiser '06 and Janey Rountree '05, traveled to Jackson, Mississippi to work with the Mississippi Center for Justice, a newly established organization that was created with the help of a grant from the Stern Family Fund, and is headed by Martha Bergmark, the former acting director of the national Legal Services Corporation. At the Center, students worked with incarcerated children in connection with a large-scale reform effort of the juvenile justice system in Mississippi. The Center is collaborating in this effort with the Southern Poverty Law Center further to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice that exposed atrocities against children in two Mississippi training schools.
The students put pen to paper to share their stories, and three are included here.