Youngstown Daily Legal News

Two Ohio State law students among those chosen as Justice For All Fellows

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: January 19, 2017

Two Ohio State University law students are among those selected for the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation's Class of 2017 Justice For All Fellows.

The fellowship program allows four outstanding law school graduates to work on projects that focus on urgent issues facing individuals and families throughout Ohio in two-year fellowships that begin in September 2017.

This year's fellows are four women and all third-year law students.

Two are Caitlin DiCresce and Lauren Wert, who are students at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

The other winners are Kristin Riebsomer and Aisha Sleiman.

Riebsomer will be traveling to Ohio from the law school at Indiana University and Sleiman is a fellow from the UCLA School of Law.

DiCresce will be working with the Legal Aid Society of Columbus on a project that will develop holistic services for domestic violence victims.

Wert will be hosted by the Community Refugee & Immigration Services on a project that will create a pro bono project coordinator for unaccompanied immigrant minors.

Riebsomer will work with the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati to improve outcomes for pregnant women.

And Sleiman will be hosted in Toledo by the Advocates for Legal Equality Project to seek development opportunities through community reinvestment and revitalization.

The four fellows worked with the local legal aid organizations to identify the critical needs of low-income Ohioans in the area and then developed proposals around those needs before being interviewed by members of the board and board of trustees of the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation.

"The factors that board considers are the quality of the project, the record of service and the abilities of the fellows to fulfill the proposal," said Jane Taylor, director for pro bono and communications at the foundation. "It's a combination of the individual merit of the fellows combined with the features of the project that is proposed and its alignment with the critical needs of legal aids in Ohio."

Stuart Itani, managing attorney of the domestic unit at the Legal Aid Society of Columbus, worked with DiCresce to develop her proposal.

It stemmed from her interest in advocacy for children and Itani's own observations of how domestic and family law so often touch the lives of juveniles.

"We try in the unit to promote safe and stable households," Itani said. "So in the process of doing all of that work and when I look at ancillary issues, it becomes clear that there are a number of ways that children are adversely affected by domestic issues."

Itani said that DiCresce's work at the society will focus on ways that legal aid can intervene on behalf of children affected by domestic and family issues.

"One of the things Caitlin will be doing is working with schools, working more closely with juvenile justice system partners, juvenile public defenders who may encounter children or youth who are facing delinquency charges when some of those issues may be stemming from a volatile or abusive household, and providing legal services to support children and families," Itani said.

The goals for the legal aid in Columbus and the other participating organizations is that the fellow, while providing valuable services to the organization, also comes away with an understanding of what it means to provide services to the public.

In DiCresce's case, Itani said that she will develop a deep understanding of holistic services for victims of domestic abuse, which are mostly women whose cases often result in drastic changes for their kids.

"She will have an understanding of how different organizations work together to support a whole family, how institutions can work more closely together to address the root causes of family problems," Itani said. "In addition to the fact that she is going to be representing clients, actively working on these cases and know what its like to advocate effectively and creatively in courtrooms and before administrative agencies."

The hope, at the end of the two-year fellowship period, is both that the project is successfully executed and meets the identified civil needs of low-income Ohioans as well as that the fellow gain valuable legal experience.

It's also a foot in the door for many fellows who end up staying in the public service sector.

"We know from our own surveying that the vast majority of fellows who serve in these fellowships continue on in public service positions," Taylor said. "Many of them secure full-time employment at the legal aids.

"That's one thing that we think is an extremely important part of committing resources to these fellowships, that it attracts individuals who are committed to public service."

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