Students Helping Active Duty Military, Veterans, and Families Through Clinic

“Students helping active duty military, veterans, and families through clinic

03/05/2010

In what has become an especially emotional endeavor, students at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law who have a military connection are helping the families of active-duty military and veterans at the Civil Justice Clinic.
Marcy Karin, Associate Clinical Professor, and Director of the Work-Life Policy Unit, recently recalled watching a student, Patrick Camunez, an Army captain in the National Guard.Camunez was in uniform, talking on the phone to a client serving in Afghanistan.
"The symbolism really hit me," Karin said. "They're helping their brothers and sisters. Patrick has served abroad. He and these other men and women are putting their lives at risk. We need to do what we can to help them."
Camunez, who has worked on cases involving equal employment opportunity, foreclosure, equity skimming, and unemployment insurance, said there is a special connection with the military.
"It is a family," he said. "At some level there is a shared experience that everyone goes through. Whether it is basic training, being deployed, or just knowing how the system operates, you can always find some way to relate to someone else that has been in the military. It is funny because even talking to Vietnam vets who are much older than me we are able to connect on a certain level."
Law studentsMeghan McCauley, left, a
member of the Air Force ROTC, and
Patrick Camunez, an Army captain in
the National Guard, are working on
cases involving military families through
the College of Law's Civil Justice Clinic.
Paul Schiff Berman, Dean of the College of Law, said the effort helps military families while teaching students.
"Through our legal clinics, the College of Law directly serves those in our community most in need of legal services while training generations of law students to be public-spirited lawyers," Berman said. "This initiative is the first of a series of efforts we are spearheading to try to help the military families that give so much for our country."
The Civil Justice Clinic has 10-16 students each semester. Last fall, three of the 10 students were active in the military and many others have family members in the service. Clinic staff have also served our country and have children who recently returned from tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Karin said it pointed out to her the large number of military families in the Valley and what a huge impact the ongoing wars have had locally.At the same time, she learned of several law students who planned to join the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the military after graduation.She saw a perfect connection, and the clinic began taking on cases referred by the American Bar Association Military Pro Bono Project and from local JAG offices.
"The cases provide great experience for the students,” Karin said.
In one of the cases, a student wrote to the general counsel of a lender and explained the situation and the law, which required the lender to reduce the interest rate. Instead of going to court, the Clinic received a letter from the general counsel congratulating it on the student's work, agreeing to the new terms, and wishing the student well in his career.
"The students are learning that you don't always have to sue," Karin said. "Sometimes a letter or conversation informing the party of the law and offering to negotiate works just as well. They are learning that civil litigation actually can be civil.And if you need to go to court to resolve the matter, the law can be on your client's side."
Another student working in the clinic, Meghan McCauley, is a member of the Air Force ROTC and plans to join JAG after graduation. Her brother, a Community Programs Sergeant for the Phoenix Police Department, is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force in the Office of Special Investigations and has been deployed several times. Her father is a Vietnam veteran.
"They are an inspiration to me," she said.
While in the clinic, McCauley worked on a team that drafted a white paper that, among other things, helped highlight employment laws and policies that support servicemembers, vets, and their families in Arizona.
"Policy work is a whole different side of the law," McCauley said. "You learn that wording is an important aspect of policy work because language affects the coverage and interpretation of laws, and you want to make sure there are not unintended consequences for your clients."
Camunez said he is proud that the Clinic is taking on the issue.
"There is a huge veteran population in Arizona," he said. "These veterans are often unaware of the services available to them. Based on the population there is simply not enough services to go around, much less legal assistance."
And Camunez said he gets a special satisfaction from the work.
"I sympathize with their situations and I often know someone who has been in a similar position," he said. "So it often feels like I am helping an old friend, an old solider, or a colleague."
Karin said the policy issues that students are working on are cutting edge, issues of high interest to First Lady Michelle Obama and other stakeholders who believe in supporting our military families.
"These students are getting a unique experience advocating for clients in their community, and the skills they are learning apply to problems right now," she said.