Cooley Students Assist Hurricane Survivors

Thomas M. Cooley Law School - Practical Legal Scholarship Since 1972

Cooley Law School Academics

August, 2007

GR student Marianne Olsen holds photocopies she made of documents in a lawsuit filed against the Gulfport School District. She was one of two GR students who volunteered at the Mississippi Center for Justice as part of Cooley's Hurricane Legal Assistance Project during term break, August 2007.

GR student Christine Terry researches the location of lots in Gulfport, Missippi, as part of her volunteer efforts with the Hurricane Legal Assistance Project during term break, August 2007.

Five GR Cooley students spent their term break during August, 2007, in New Orleans and Mississippi, helping hurricane survivors with legal assistance issues. The placements were coordinated through the Student Hurricane Network, part of the Law Student Division of the ABA. GR students who participated were Helen Arevalo-Quan, Daisy Benavidez, Melanie Croft, Marianne Olsen, and Christine Terry.

Students assisted in a variety of ways. One student was assigned to the Advocacy Center, where she helped low-income elderly and disabled persons apply for grant money that will be used to rebuild their homes. Other Cooley students were assigned to the Public Defender's Office, Pro Bono Project, and the Mississippi Center for Justice. Some students helped people acquire proper title to their homes so that they could receive money to rebuild; some students interviewed clients and went to court; other students did yard work in the Ninth Ward so that the city wouldn't confiscate people's homes.

The students who volunteered were surprised at how much rebuilding remains to be done two years after Hurricane Katrina. Melanie Croft, a third-year student who volunteered in New Orleans, summed up the experience by saying, "When I look back on our time in New Orleans, I like to think that maybe we saved a home, maybe we repaired a home, and maybe we helped someone move back into a home. I do know that we helped the people of New Orleans realize that they haven't been forgotten."

This Page was last updated on: 09/10/2007