Working at Legal Aid this summer has been an eye opening experience. I am still working there as a volunteer even though school has started and hope to continue volunteering until I have my baby. I find it very rewarding to work with these clients despite some of the difficulties I may have described in other posts. My experience also motivated me to sign up for the law school's Domestic Violence Civil Clinic. In the civil clinic we are learning how to work with a very delicate population-- the survivors of emotional and physical abuse. I already have some experience talking to survivors at Legal Aid and I want to learn how to relate to and help these people best. Once of my most memorable Domestic Violence cases was a young woman who was raped multiple times by an ex-boyfriend. The ex-boyfriend threatened her and said he would hire a fancy lawyer and destroy her reputation. I made sure I emphasized that she did the right thing by filing a police report and coming to Legal Aid. I think it is important to recognize how difficult it must be to talk about such a personal trauma. I look forward to learning how to become a better advocate for these people and continuing to give back to my local community.
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