Intern Litigation
Summer 2009
Summer internships at LANC are for law students who want to gain
experience working in a public interest setting and desire
opportunities to do more than just legal research. Below are just a
few examples of victories that LANC's 2009 summer interns scored for
our clients:
LANC-Ahoskie Office - Public Benefits
Crystal Russ, MLK intern for the
LANC-Ahoskie Office and a law student at the
UNC School of Law, received a favorable decision in an
extremely difficult unemployment benefits case. The client who
had been accused of leaving 3 burners on in the restaurant she had
been working in was fired for employee misconduct, providing a false
name and a false Social Security number. Crystal realized the
discrepancy in the date of the incident and date of firing,
highlighted the inconsistencies in the employer's testimony and
managed to convince the hearing officer to award benefits to our out
of work client. This win marks the fourth year in a row the
MLK Intern in the LANC-Ahoskie office has gone undefeated!
[Article submitted by Kelly Durden, staff attorney,
LANC-Ahoskie Office.]
LANC-Boone Office - Public Benefits
Joshua Choi, a rising 2L and a MLK summer intern
in the
LANC-Boone Office, represented two Medicaid clients and two
unemployment insurance benefits clients, handling all cases capably
and zealously under staff guidance. He afforded our clients
the dignity of listening to their situations, explaining their legal
options, and steering them through the possible pitfalls of direct-
and cross-examination. Yesterday, Joshua was informed that his most
recent Medicaid client -- who clearly has struggled with alcoholism
in addition to his ailments, which didn't seem to meet a "listing"
-- was approved. He also prevailed in his first UIB case,
displaying a thorough knowledge of all pertinent facts and legal
standards, and guiding the client through what was a difficult case
in which the employer would have attempted to introduce all manner
of hearsay, conjecture and misstatement if Joshua had not been so
well prepared.
[Article submitted by Denise Lockett, managing attorney,
LANC-Boone Office.]
LANC-Greensboro Office - Employment Law
Mike Sprague,
a rising second year law student at
Elon
University School of Law and a summer intern
in our
LANC-Greensboro Office,
questioned why a client, who had worked full time before termination
and for whom we had just won an unemployment benefits case
was only eligible for 13 weeks of benefits at the rate of $75 per
week rather than a larger benefit amount for the full 26 weeks.
This simple question lead Mike to research
the issue and to uncover that the client's former employer had
improperly and significantly underreported wages that the client had
earned as a truck driver. A letter with the
client's W-2 form and pay check stubs showing average monthly wages
of $4,000 was sent to the Employment Security Commission who revised
the benefits calculations. This client's
weekly benefit amount has been increased to $494 and he will receive
this amount for 26 weeks. This means
over $9,000 of extra benefits for the client (assuming he
doesn't find a job before the 26 weeks expire) for the initial
period. Moreover, he will certainly be eligible for whatever
extensions are available. Congratulations to
Mike for making such a positive difference in the lives of our
clients."
[Article submitted by Celia Pistolis, LANC Assistant Director,
Advocacy & Compliance.]
LANC-Greensboro Office - 2009 Summer Interns' activity
Our 2009 summer interns collectively handled 38
hearings, including 29 ESC hearings, 6 District Court hearings and
two small claims cases. They also interviewed clients,
negotiated settlements, prepared pleadings, did legal research, and
investigated substandard housing. The record for number of
hearings goes to IOLTA intern Lauren Jeffries who handled a total of
7 ESC hearings. Our Martin Luther King, Jr. Summer Intern,
Jessica Schulte (2L, Wake Forest University Law
School), handled 3 ESC, 2 Small Claims and 1 District Court TRO.
We had two IOLTA interns, Maggy Vaughn and
Jonathan Perry, who handled 50Bs as well as ESC.
Adding to the total number were ten outstanding unpaid interns with
varied hours: Mike Teague, Lu Johnson,
Meghan Howard, Danny Lyons,
Parisa Houshmandpour, Brett Moore,
Megan Risen, Mandie Tauber,
Tiffany Dyson and Zach Unger.
[Article submitted by Janet McAuley Blue, Managing Attorney,
LANC-Greensboro Office.]
LANC-Greenville Office - Housing Law
Charmaine Ford,
a rising 3L student at
Appalachian School of Law and a
MLK Intern for the
LANC-Greenville Office, negotiated a settlement with one of our local housing authorities
that saved our client from eviction. Our client, who was in
Section 8 New Construction, had her gas and electric shut off as a
result of several months of non-payment. The housing authority
withdrew as guarantor on both accounts, refused to pay their portion
and issued a lease termination notice. Charmaine first
carefully compared the client's utility bills over several months
and for the prior year to ensure that the high bills were not due to
a leak or mistake by the utility company. Once confirming that
the bills were accurate, she assisted the client in getting
assistance with the bills from social services. She then
convinced the housing authority to contribute its share. Once
the bills were paid, Charmaine convinced the housing authority to
rescind its termination notice, arguing that the lease violation
only a minor one. Great work, Charmaine!
[Article submitted by Lesley Albritton, staff attorney,
LANC-Greenville Office.]
LANC-Wilson Office - Housing Law
Taylor Carraway, a third year law
student at
Elon
University School of Law
and a
MLK Intern for the
LANC-Wilson Office, represented a client in a
summary ejectment [eviction] action in small claims
court as a certified law student under the Third Year Practice Rule.
The landlord alleged that the client's failure to pay the rent
provided a basis to declare the lease breached. Even though
the client was unable to tender the full unpaid rent and court
costs, Taylor convinced the Magistrate that the lease did not
provide for forfeiture as required by the case of
Morris v. Austraw. The Magistrate dismissed the
eviction. The client anticipates being able to cure the
default shortly and remain in her home. Congratulations to Taylor
for a job well done!
[Article submitted by John Keller, Supervising Attorney,
LANC-Wilson Office.]
LANC-Winston-Salem Office - Summer Law Clerks
The
2009 summer law clerks provided their reflections of their work
experiences in a special edition of the
LANC-Winston-Salem Office's
"LANC News" newsletter, August 2009.
In photo è (l-r) Jeffrey
Kowalski (Wake Forest University School of Law);
Megan Pinkney (Wake Forest University School of Law);
Daniel Joyce (Elon University School of Law);
Becky Cacaci (Elon University School of Law);
Jonathan Williams (Wake Forest University School of
Law); Beverley Smith (NC Central University School
of Law); Kyle Fountain (Wake Forest University
School of Law).
[Click
here
to view the August 2009 edition of
"LANC-News" LANC-Winston-Salem Office (Special Edition,
Reflections of 2009 Summer Law Interns).]
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are for information and educational purposes only and do not
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order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers
to economic opportunity.