LAW SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS CHOSEN Congratulations to Sofia Baneth and Claudia Barcelo of Raleigh, who each received a $4,000 Wake County Bar Association Foundation memorial scholarship. The scholarships are awarded annually to law students or persons about to enter law school who have Wake County ties and are funded through donations, the annual golf tournament and late fees from district bar dues. The scholarship fund was founded in memory of Edwin S. Preston Jr., former Wake County Chief Resident Superior Court Judge.
Ten years from now, I hope to work for the North Carolina state or federal government, given my interest in public service, so I can provide tangible legal representation and help individuals on a day-today basis, while also influencing policy and law. In addition to employment law, I am interested in housing law and tenants’ rights. Similar to employment, housing is categorically intertwined with individual and economic well-being. Access to housing creates a more equitable society by providing financial stability and acting as preventative health care, protecting individuals from extreme weather and ensuring regular access to running water. Like employment, ensuring greater access to housing helps individuals in a tangible way, which aggregates to strengthen the national welfare and economy. I am interested in employment and housing given how it directly benefits people on a day-to-day basis, but also gets to deeper societal structures that need improvements, which in turn benefit society overall. Ultimately, I entered Campbell Law School to work in public interest law. Beyond law school, I hope to work for the North Carolina or federal government to represent the interests of the under-served. My eyes are set on employment or housing law, given that I can provide tangible legal representation to communities in need, while also influencing essential legal doctrine that can lead to a more just and equitable society in the long term. WBF
SOFIA BANETH 2L, CAMPBELL LAW SCHOOL
Through law school I have dedicated my research to child trafficking, specifically, child sexual exploitation and its attendant cyber crimes. My research not only exposed me to the medical perspectives on human trafficking but demanded in-depth consideration and synthesis of difficult data sources. My investigations in cyber crimes and child trafficking required keen attention to recorded network activity; the tracking of financial data and channels of expenditure; the studying of online codes used in platforms such as Backpage to facilitate trafficking and acquisition; victimology; psychological profile of perpetrators and geo-profiles, as well as the most recent medical and psychological research on sex crimes. Not only was I collecting data, but I was to synthesize it and present my findings. The degree of analytic scrutiny and tenacity demanded by my research is particularly well suited for the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations, where I plan to work upon completing my studies.
CLAUDIA BARCELO 3L, CAMPBELL LAW SCHOOL
WAKE BAR FLYER
Know that my demonstrated commitment to public service stems from my own history as a child-refugee, a survivor of sexual trauma, and as a photosensitive epileptic. In dealing with exile, chronic seizures, and sexual trauma I felt a visceral pull toward a legal career. The Law presented itself the logical conclusion of not merely having survived but having redefined my traumas: from their misery germinated the purpose with which today I punctuate these events: my commitment toward public service. WBF
3
THIRD QUARTER 2021
