NEW ORLEANS – Four Louisiana law students have been awarded by the Louisiana State Bar Association for their efforts in providing pro bono legal work while still in law school.
The students represent all four of the state’s law schools.
Denise Farrior, a third year law student at Louisiana State University’s Paul Hebert Law Center, was awarded for her work with the indigent.
As a student attorney with the Juvenile Defense Clinic and the Immigration Law Clinic, Farrior provided pro bono legal services provided in Baton Rouge and Louisiana as a whole. She has also been a volunteer with the Baton Rouge Bar Association Pro Bono Committee, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, Catholic Charities of Baton Rouge and a reading buddy for elementary school students in East Baton Rouge Parish’s public schools. She is a member of the Public Interest Law Society at LSU and was a recipient of the organization’s summer 2012 fellowship.
As a volunteer law clerk last summer Farrior assisted in the representation of children in parental rights termination proceedings for the Social and Health Services Division of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.
Anna Lellelid, a recent cum laude graduate of Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, interned with the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL) and provided pro bono representation to public school students in suspension and expulsion proceedings through Stand Up For Each Other. In her third year of law school she represented indigent defendants in juvenile court and criminal district as court as part of her work with the Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic and Center for Social Justice.
Prior to her activities in law school Lellelid fought for right to housing in Toronto, worked with drug-addicted and homeless First Nations individuals in downtown Vancouver and inmates seeking parole in Kingston, Jamaica. She also provided harm reduction counseling and services to addict populations in Minneapolis and created a drop-in center for homeless and at-risk youth in downtown Miami.
Lellelid plans to continue working to help provide equal access to quality, affordable education on behalf of public school students in New Orleans through Stand Up For Each Other. She will also continue working to end life without parole sentences for juveniles in Louisiana.
Oni Groves, a recent graduate of Southern University Law Center, is currently studying for the Texas State Bar Examination and plans to work in education law and to give her time to those in need.
Groves has been a volunteer with the Baton Rouge Bar Foundation Pro Bono Project since 2011 and also worked as a student intern for the Pro Bono Project offices where she volunteered with several of its projects including Thirst for Justice, Ask a Lawyer and the Self Help Resource Center at East Baton Rouge Family Court.
She also volunteered for Louisiana’s Real Estate Assistance Program and as a tax preparer for low income families with the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.
Katherine Shulman recently graduated from Tulane Law School a concentration in International and Comparative Law Concentration.
Both at home and abroad, Shulman has devoted time to public service. She began her pro bono service before the first week of law school in 2010 during Tulane Law’s service week when she volunteered at a new charter school, Lagniappe Academy of New Orleans and also began working as a volunteer on housing and benefits issues at Southeast Louisiana Legal Services where she stayed for a year and a half.
Shulman also took externship with a community action firm in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she worked on behalf of indigent Argentinian communities on issues relating to legal empowerment for the poor, food rights and access to information. She also worked at the Advocacy Center in New Orleans aiding disabled individuals with issues concerning accessibility, employment discrimination, the Family and Medical Leave Act and special education. In April of 2013, she received recognition from the Tulane Law faculty for attaining over 230 pro bono hours during her law school career.
The students were recognized by the Louisiana State Bar Association, in conjunction with the Louisiana Supreme Court, at the 28th Annual Pro Bono Awards Ceremony on May 21.
The awards recognize legal professionals who have provided pro bono services to indigent Louisianans.
Law students receive pro bono awards from La. Bar Association
