Advocating for Justice Beyond the Courtroom
Steven Chaplar 19, David Secor 19, Claudia Espinoza 19 CLAS and Creighton Ward (a student from Bryn Mawr College)
An attorneys work for their clients often goes beyond the courtroom, as David Secor 19 learned during his time with 裡橖眻畦 Laws Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic (FLAC). Through his work with FLAC, Secor gained hands-on legal training while representing real clients on critical legal issues.
Working with 裡橖眻畦 Laws Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic and farmworkers in Pennsylvania has been a formative part of my law school experience, said David Secor 19, a third-year student. It was amazing to collaborate with other 裡橖眻畦 Law students and work as a team with an incomparable group of interpreters and clinic staff.
FLAC represents agricultural workers seeking redress for issues including wage theft, workers compensation, dangerous working conditions, unemployment and retaliatory discharge, as well as asylum and visa applications. 裡橖眻畦s clinical program offers students an amazing opportunity to put what they learn in class into practice, and achieve important results for their clients, said Secor.
Under the direction of a full-time faculty member, students working in 裡橖眻畦 Laws six in-house clinics earn credit while serving as the primary advocates for their clientsinterviewing, counseling, negotiating agreements, structuring deals, drafting legal documents and appearing in court. Student clinic interns gain invaluable hands-on experience, while at the same time helping underserved members of the community, many of whom would otherwise not receive legal representation.
Prior to coming to 裡橖眻畦 Law, Secor worked for two years with the nonprofit National Rural Health Association in Washington, D.C., advocating for better health services and community health education in rural and underserved areas across the country, including farmworker and migrant communities. It was important to Secor to continue this type of work, and when searching for and applying to law school, 裡橖眻畦s clinical program caught his eye.
As a FLAC student attorney, Secor has learned that a lawyers work often extends to listening to a persons story and learning more about their community, to sharing and explaining the relevant aspects of the law, to representing a client in court.
Following graduation, Secor hopes to continue working with and advocating for immigrants and underserved communities. He is currently externing with the National Immigrant Justice Center, an immigrants rights organization, in Washington, D.C.