LEGAL SERVICES
Juliann Morland DaVee, L’10 Healing patients with the help of legal remedies
10 KU LAW MAGAZINE
STEVE RASMUSSEN
A
rmed with a laptop, portable printer and conversational Spanish, Juliann Morland DaVee spent the summer after her second year of law school providing legal services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers in Illinois. She didn’t know it at the time, but that internship could not have been better preparation for her current job. DaVee, L’10, is the sole attorney for the Southwest Kansas Medical-Legal Partnership. She serves indigent clients in 24 counties, traveling to medical clinics in Ulysses, Liberal, Dodge City, Garden City and Scott City. “I pretty much carry my office with me,” she said. DaVee sees patients of United Methodist Mexican-American Ministry Health Clinics and Area Mental Health Centers – many of them Hispanic residents who speak Spanish as their primary language. Her goal – and the aim of the medical-legal partnership model nationally – is to solve legal problems that contribute to ill health. Cases range from family law to disability law to landlord-tenant disputes. DaVee handles many domestic abuse situations. One woman seeking a divorce from an abusive spouse pulled her hair aside and showed DaVee she had attempted suicide by gunshot. The client expressed gratitude to DaVee for showing her “another way to be happy.” “The practice of public interest law can be difficult, but it has been the success stories where we were able to assist in getting a client out of an abusive home or stand up against a landlord who wasn’t following the law that makes it all worthwhile,” DaVee said. Although she came to KU to study international law, DaVee
Ric Dalke, executive director of Area Mental Health Center, speaks with Kansas Legal Services attorney Juliann Morland DaVee, L’10, center, and Stephanie Waggoner, chief executive officer of United Methodist MexicanAmerican Ministries. The organizations are partners in the Medical-Legal Partnership of Southwest Kansas.
“The practice of public interest law can be difficult, but it has been the success stories ... that make it all worthwhile.” discovered the school’s MedicalLegal Partnership Clinic and became passionate about legal interventions to sustain long-term health. She granted wishes at the Kansas Make a Wish Foundation and volunteered at the Lawrence Homeless Coalition, winning the Robert F. Bennett Student Award for demonstrating “leadership qualities through public service.” “The most important thing on my wall is the Bennett Award,” DaVee said. “That encourages me – that KU acknowledged what I’m doing and
found that service to people was an important career pursuit.” Today she is active with the Make a Wish Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, the Garden City Arts and Circles of Hope, an initiative that partners community volunteers with families ready to make the journey out of poverty. Through clinics, externships and study abroad opportunities at KU Law, DaVee said she gained experience and courage to step out of her comfort zone while creating friendships with people from all walks of life. “I think helping others through the medical-legal partnership is partly about having the legal skills and ability to do so,” she said, “but also about meeting people where they are, building trust with them and an understanding of how you can best help them through the practice of law.” — Mindie Paget