CRIMINAL LAW/ADVOCACY
The Spirit of Service While most law students across the country enjoyed a well-deserved break from their studies during the holiday season, a group of Widener Law students traveled to the Gulf Coast to assist the Public
“We are excited to be taking Widener’s spirit of service on the road and putting it to work in Orleans Parish.” –Arlene Rivera Finkelstein, Director, Public Interest Resource Center
Defender’s Office there, which is still trying to recover from the case backlog created by Hurricane Katrina.
Top: Marks on boarded-up buildings around New Orleans show the flood level during Katrina. Middle: Nazim Karaca helps with paperwork to process Louisiana prisoners.
During the first week of January, nine student volunteers conducted in-depth interviews with jailed defendants awaiting trial in Orleans Parish—one of the hardest-hit areas of the storm. Students drafted memos on their interviews and gave them to the Orleans Public Defender’s Office in an attempt to help move inmates’ cases forward. Widener Law professors Judy Ritter and Arlene Rivera Finkelstein accompanied and
supervised the students. Ritter directs the Pennsylvania Criminal Defense Clinic on Widener’s Delaware Campus. Finkelstein directs the Public Interest Resource Center on the Delaware Campus. Both helped train the students in preparation for their trip, in conjunction with the “KatrinaGideon Interviewing Project.” The project is named after the landmark case, Gideon v. Wainwright, in which the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that states are constitutionally obligated to provide counsel to indigent criminal defendants. “We are excited to be taking Widener’s spirit of public service on the road and putting it to work in Orleans Parish,” said Finkelstein. “Our students will get a taste of the good they can do as attorneys, and while they are making this meaningful contribution, they will get real, practical experience for the future.” The Widener Law students joined students from Fordham and Brooklyn law schools in visiting Orleans Parish. However, Widener is the only Philadelphia-region law school to send students to the Gulf Coast for the Katrina-Gideon Interviewing Project during the winter break.
Bottom: Students Lisa Vetro and Dave Iannucci work on a case.
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