Opportunities for Law and Pre-Law Students
On the left, meet this year's Binghamton University interns, from left to right: Alex Bouganin, Andrew Baranoski, Laura Moletto, Nicole Kulik, Lynn Rubino and Jordin Rubin. To the right, Suzanne Myette and Rakesh Joshi work together on legal research in our Binghamton office library. Ms. Myette is an attorney from the Boston area, and Mr. Joshi practiced law in India. Both are volunteering while working on admission to the New York State bar.
The Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, Inc. has many opportunities for law and pre-law students. We enjoy a close relationship with the Syracuse University School of Law. At any given point in time, you can typically find several Syracuse University law students on staff as interns/externs in our Syracuse office. Each spring, our Binghamton office also accepts applications for our volunteer Student Law Internship Program. Law students receive hands-on experience in all aspects of litigation in matters including housing, family law, consumer law, elder law, transactional law and other areas.
There are also opportunites for students in our other seven offices. Students from Utica College, Hamilton College, Colgate University, SUNY Binghamton, or any other college or university are encouraged to explore opportunities with us.
Why not start a successful legal career, and make a difference in your community at the same time? To explore student volunteer opportunities, please contact:
Suzanne Reine (Binghamton office) (607) 231-5900
Dan Altwarg (Syracuse office) (315) 475-3127
Cindy Domingue-Hendrickson (Utica office) (315) 793-7033
Terry Whelan (Watertown office) (315) 788-2072
Charlotte Sibley (New Paltz Office/Farmworker Law Project) (845) 256-9096
Legal Justice Internship Program (Binghamton Office)
The Legal Justice internship is designed to introduce talented law students, returning lawyers, graduate and undergraduate students to social justice law within a working legal aid office. We began the program in full force in the summer of 2007 with three (3) law students, one (1) attorney from India, a (1) Binghamton University graduate Student and one (1) BU undergrad.
Program goals were threefold: expand productivity of our attorneys to represent low income clients; encourage adults raised in Broome County to return to our community as professionals; and promote social justice law as a career objective.
The program has been a tremendous success for lawyers and students alike. Law students were given a taste of the fast paced, and sometimes exciting, life of litigation attorneys. They attended court, interviewed witnesses, drafted pleadings and helped develop legal strategies. Their comfort level in the courtroom increased as they assisted in trial and observed courtroom conduct and style. Undergraduate students were assigned to our Landlord/Tenant hotline and Consumer hotline. They interviewed families and individuals with problems such as evictions from their homes, exposed electric wires and improperly frozen bank accounts. Our graduate student was instrumental in developing funding proposals to local foundations to renovate our building.
Students praise our programs as engaging, inspiring and worthwhile. Students say, “I enjoy talking to clients and seeing that they get help with their legal issues. The most rewarding part of interning at LAS is the gratitude that clients express after receiving assistance from our office.” Feedback from lawyers returning to the practice of law offers an experienced perspective, “I’ve enjoyed the camaraderie among the LAS attorneys, paralegals and staff and am impressed with everyone’s passion, ability and committement.”
Legal Aid Society commits a significant amount of resources to the Internship program to ensure its’ success. We review dozens of resumes, interview many candidates and chose the top four, giving priority to students who grew up in Broome County. Mentor-attorneys attend a training session in best practices for supervising students. The managing attorney regularly assesses the quality of the experience for the students and their attorney-mentors through in-person interviews. Attorneys devoted many hours to training their student, who often had no prior legal or even office experience.
In the 2007-2008 academic year, the Legal Justice Internship Program continues with a focus on Binghamton University students and returning attorneys. At present, we have five (5) undergraduates, one (1) graduate and two (2) attorneys considering application to the New York State for admission. Resume review and interviews for summer law students has begun in order to bring the best and brightest legal talent back to serving Broome residents.
Volunteers of the Year
Ruben Leavitt. Our sincere thanks go out to Ruben Leavitt, a Colgate University student who volunteered at our Utica office this summer in our domestic violence unit. Mr. Leavitt took on not just one project, but two: 1) setting up linkages with college campuses to reach victims of sexual assault; and 2) completing a survey of subsidized housing programs to determine how many have a preference for victims of domestic violence seeking to leave their abusers. Thanks to his extraordinary efforts, we now have contacts with campus staff who are sensitive to sexual assault issues throughout our region, and have distributed hundreds of brochures for victims on campus about our services. He also completed a comprehensive survey on subsidized housing opportunities for victims in the region. In addition, he provided much needed assistance to our domestic violence attorneys in drafting divorce complaints for victims. Mr. Leavitt's work will impact services for victims in our region for years to come. We wish him well in all his future endeavors!