green hall news
On the green
U.S. Army Capt. Lawrence Indyk, center, with his wife, Brenda, left, and son, Samuel, present an Afghan-made rug to Dean Gail Agrawal.
Law student, Army veteran gives Afghan-made Jayhawk rug to KU It may look like your average Jayhawk fan gear, but woven into the crimson- and blue-tinged rug at the University of Kansas School of Law is a story of economic development and diplomacy in war-torn Afghanistan. Lawrence Indyk, a third-year KU law student and a captain in the U.S. Army, found himself stationed last year at Bagram Air Field, near Kabul. Each Friday, local merchants held a bazaar, setting up small market stalls just inside the base’s main gate. With U.S. soldiers as their customers, the locals sold electronics, clothing, souvenirs and mementos. Indyk always noticed one particular stall occupied by a woman peddling handmade rugs. He learned that she was a member of the Afghan Women’s Handicraft and Commercial Association, a program supported by the United States in its effort to enhance relations, develop the Afghan economy and elevate the conditions and status of women in Afghan society. He inquired and discovered that
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the woman welcomed commissions. The process was simple. Indyk brought in a picture of the design he wanted her to recreate, selected the size, put down a small deposit and returned a few weeks later to pick up the custom, hand-woven rug. Indyk recently presented his selection – a full-color Jayhawk on a field of black, flanked by the words “Kansas School of Law” – to Dean Gail Agrawal and the law school. The wool rug measures roughly 18 inches square and remains on the same wooden frame on which it was woven. It has been framed and will be displayed prominently in Green Hall.
news briefs By Mindie Paget makes the postgraduate fellowship opportunity available for the May 2009 graduate. “I really believe medical legalpartnerships are the way of the future. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of long-standing animosity between doctors and lawyers,” Arellano said. “Attorneys with health care backgrounds are perfectly suited for working with these partnerships because we know how to navigate both worlds.” The grant seeks to enable the law school to participate in efforts to expand and enhance the medical-legal partnership model in Kansas. The position it creates is the first of its kind in the country. Medical-legal partnerships aim to improve the health and well-being of individuals, children and families by integrating legal assistance into the medical setting. KU Law launched its Family Health Care Legal Services Clinic in January 2008 in partnership with Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care in Kansas City, Kan. Working under faculty and clinic staff supervision, law students provide legal assistance to clients referred to them through the medical clinic, engaging in interviewing, counseling, negotiation and other aspects of the legal process. Arellano earned her bachelor’s in nursing from Texas Christian University, where she was an active member of Army ROTC and Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society. After graduation, she was an Army Nurse Corps
Alumna becomes first fellow to KU Law’s medical-legal clinic Trinia Arellano was a nurse before she was a lawyer, so she is ideally suited for her first job out of law school. Since September, Arellano has been serving as the first fellow to the law school’s Family Health Care Legal Services Clinic. A three-year grant from the Sunflower Foundation of Topeka
Trinia Arellano, L’09