From the Governor’s office to rural California

How one law student’s career path intersects with rural justice

OneJustice supports a statewide network of nonprofits, law schools, law firms, and businesses that provide life-changing legal help to hundreds of thousands of Californians facing legal barriers to basic necessities.  You – like everyone in our network – are an essential part of this collective effort!

This month we’re excited to feature Lauren Plunkett, a law student at Southwestern Law School as another example of how “It Takes a Network” to achieve access to justice for Californians in need. Lauren volunteered for Southwestern’s two-day Justice Bus trip on April 15-16, where she and the other student volunteers conducted mobile legal clinics providing family law services in Palm Desert an immigration services in Coachella, serving 27 low-income residents.  We were able to connect with Lauren for a quick Q&A about her experience.

Lauren, could you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your path to Southwestern Law School.

As I graduated from the University of Colorado, the thought of going to law school was always in the back of my mind. I was not interested in becoming an attorney per se, I just wanted to know the laws and use that knowledge to help others. After a brief stint as a flight attendant in Washington D.C. in 2005-06, I began my first career as a public servant in Colorado in the Governor’s Office of Information Technology. Over my six-year tenure with the state I held various positions managing several statewide initiatives leveraging technology to improve service delivery in a variety of areas and improving the state’s broadband internet capacity; especially in rural areas. I also became a foster parent to two children, and we began navigating the confusing world of the child dependency legal system. After nearly four years, I adopted the two children that were placed in my care, and we celebrated becoming a forever family on National Adoption Day in 2011.

From these personal and professional experiences, I found my purpose for law school that had been pulling at me since college. I wanted to learn all the laws and policy behind how the states protect children and their families, and my ultimate goal is to leverage the experience I gained in the Governor’s Office with my law degree to implement changes in the systems used by human services agencies, and transform state government operations so they are enabled to truly work in the best interests of children and families.

Tell us a bit about the pro bono and public interest work you’ve pursued during law school!

Since I was young as a girl scout, I have gravitated towards work and volunteer activities where I can listen to people’s needs and direct them the resources available to help them. I want to make a difference helping others because I get such joy out of seeing their happiness when they get what they need, or are listened to for the first time.

Southwestern has no shortage of ways to get involved public interest through its Public Service Program (PSP), various student organizations, and countless summer externship opportunities. I have volunteered for the homelessness prevention law project and for the Teen Court program and have also been active in Southwestern’s Public Interest Law Committee (PILC). I have also had two public interest externships – one at the Children’s Law Center and then at the Alliance for Children’s Rights. Both positions offered opportunities to work with foster youth and were very fulfilling because I saw first-hand what a difference the advocacy I provided made in the lives of other foster youth.

What made you decide to go on the Justice Bus trip? 

I was very interested in participating in the Justice Bus Project because a classmate told me that on a previous Southwestern Justice Bus trip, the students helped the same number of people in two days that the local legal services nonprofit can help in three months! I knew I wanted to be part of the student group who made that level of services possible.

What was your favorite thing about going on the Justice Bus trip? 

My favorite thing about this year’s Justice Bus trip was that it fulfilled my desire to provide assistance to victims of domestic violence and learn more about family law. I helped one client in particular that touched me. She was only 22 years old and was 8 months pregnant. She had only been married 8 months, and had no job and had dropped out of school to be with her husband who had become very abusive to her both physically and verbally. She came to the Justice Bus clinic because she wanted to be able to move back closer to her family to have her baby, stay safe, and get the financial support she needed until she was able to start working again. We assisted her in completing a temporary restraining order that would keep her safe and allow her to begin the divorce process. She was scared, emotional, and very thankful that we were able to help her that day. It felt really good to be able to offer the services that made her feel safe and supported during a difficult time.

Lauren, from everyone here at OneJustice, thank you for being a Justice Bus Rider and for your outstanding commitment to public service!  We look forward to many future collaborations!

A mom caring for her child with cancer.

She launched my path to public interest work.

“What drew you to public interest work?”

For Cheryl, it all started with one caller to the Cancer Legal Resource Center.

I have been asked this question more times than I can count since graduating from law school. I used to never have one answer to this question. My litany of responses has included: I want to help others who lack access to legal services. I want to do my part to close the “justice gap.” I want to be able to do something that matters.

More recently, when I am I asked this question I think to myself, “why wouldn’t I be interested in public interest work?”  However, that internal response would have never come to me that naturally when I started law school.

I will be honest that when I started law school, I did not know where my legal career would take me. Before law school, I worked at a major movie studio and then for the City of Los Angeles.  Two places where I had very little exposure to the law and definitely had no exposure to public interest other than knowing that there were legal non-profits out there, but I definitely could not give you their names.

So where did it all begin?

During the summer after my 1L year, I had the opportunity to extern at the Cancer Legal Resource Center (CLRC) of the Disability Rights Legal Center in Los Angeles. It was there where I started learning more about pro bono and the public interest world. I worked primarily on the CLRC Intake line, where day in and day out I talked to people who had been impacted by cancer, either being diagnosed themselves or family members and even friends of those with cancer.

It was one caller in particular that really helped me understand the impact of the CLRC and the work I was doing. A mother called distraught because her employer was not allowing her to take time off from work to care for her child who had cancer. As I had done with many other callers, I spoke with the supervising attorney about her situation, and then I provided her with information and additional resources that would allow her to advocate for herself to her employer. However, unlike any other caller before, she got a little choked-up, and I could hear the huge sense of relief in her voice knowing that there was a way for her to be able to care for her child.

Now Cheryl runs the Justice Bus Project bringing legal services to isolated communities, such as this recent successful expungement clinic in Watsonville.

My experience at the CLRC is what motivated me to continue to seek other opportunities in public interest. Furthermore, I think the real reason I work in public interest is because of the people I meet and the stories they tell. This is what has kept me coming back.

That is also what drew me to work with OneJustice, running the Justice Bus Project in Southern California. It is an opportunity to work on a project where the work is always “moving” (no pun intended) and changing. In the short time I have been at OneJustice, I have worked with the Justice Bus team and  partners to provide free legal services to seniors, families, veterans, and youth eligible for new federal immigration programs. I’ve met people from all walks of life and have visited towns and cities in Southern California I had never been to or even heard of.  Each trip, there are new people to help with their own stories to tell.

So I guess when I am asked, “what drew you to public interest work?” It really boils down to one simple answer, “the people.”

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Our guest author, Cheryl Banares, is an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow and member of the national Equal Justice Works Veterans Legal Corps.  She joined OneJustice in the fall of 2013 and runs the Justice Bus Project in Southern California, bringing life-changing legal assistance to low-income Californians in rural and isolated communities.