2008 Woodie Awards
Three Recent Grads Garner Skadden Fellowships
Erin Archerd
Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: News
Michael Grinthal had heard about South Brooklyn Legal Services by reputation and met with them to discuss his project providing legal services for low-income tenants over the course of a couple of months. Grinthal worked as a community organizer for six years before coming to law school and was a 3-year member of the Tenant Advocacy Project.
"In addition to direct legal services, I'll be working with organized tenants' groups to preserve affordable housing, prevent large-scale displacement, and build the power of those groups to make themselves heard in policy-making," explained Grinthal. "I'll be focusing on three main areas that are exacerbating the housing crisis in Brooklyn: landlords opting out of subsidized housing programs and converting multi-unit affordable buildings to market rate; large-scale new developments that are not affordable and/or displace low-income people; and mortgage foreclosure on multi-unit buildings."
Stein will be working at NAD to increase the accessibility of medical services to deaf people and the hard of hearing.
"The deaf community is woefully underserved by the legal profession," said Stein. "There are not enough lawyers who work with the deaf community, much less who can sign. I also wanted to go to NAD because I would get an opportunity to pick my cases and argue in circuit courts around the country. I knew I wouldn't get that kind of responsibility anywhere else two years out of law school."
Newmark will be providing legal aid to families through their local high school.
"I'll also teach a law class for the students, and maybe even let them help out on cases for some clinical experience," Newmark said. "I hope offering the services at the neighborhood school will increase access for the families and help build connections between the school and community."
Newmark's prior experience in the area, coupled with a desire to do on the ground work, led him back to Oakland.
"With regard to Oakland in particular, I felt a really strong obligation to bring what I've learned at law school back to the community that inspired me to come to law school in the first place," he said. "Also, direct community-level work is not only important in and of itself, but - I believe - necessary for anyone who wants to be making policy or doing advocacy work on a more systemic level. How are you going to make decisions that impact entire communities without any direct experience in those communities?"
"In addition to direct legal services, I'll be working with organized tenants' groups to preserve affordable housing, prevent large-scale displacement, and build the power of those groups to make themselves heard in policy-making," explained Grinthal. "I'll be focusing on three main areas that are exacerbating the housing crisis in Brooklyn: landlords opting out of subsidized housing programs and converting multi-unit affordable buildings to market rate; large-scale new developments that are not affordable and/or displace low-income people; and mortgage foreclosure on multi-unit buildings."
Stein will be working at NAD to increase the accessibility of medical services to deaf people and the hard of hearing.
"The deaf community is woefully underserved by the legal profession," said Stein. "There are not enough lawyers who work with the deaf community, much less who can sign. I also wanted to go to NAD because I would get an opportunity to pick my cases and argue in circuit courts around the country. I knew I wouldn't get that kind of responsibility anywhere else two years out of law school."
Newmark will be providing legal aid to families through their local high school.
"I'll also teach a law class for the students, and maybe even let them help out on cases for some clinical experience," Newmark said. "I hope offering the services at the neighborhood school will increase access for the families and help build connections between the school and community."
Newmark's prior experience in the area, coupled with a desire to do on the ground work, led him back to Oakland.
"With regard to Oakland in particular, I felt a really strong obligation to bring what I've learned at law school back to the community that inspired me to come to law school in the first place," he said. "Also, direct community-level work is not only important in and of itself, but - I believe - necessary for anyone who wants to be making policy or doing advocacy work on a more systemic level. How are you going to make decisions that impact entire communities without any direct experience in those communities?"
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