August 19, 2002-On September 10th last year, recent law graduates Akira Arroyo and Rebecca Thornton began their first day of work as Equal Justice Works fellows. They expected to spend the next two years as public interest community lawyers working to resolve the day-to-day legal concerns of New Yorkers. Arroyo, a 2001 Fordham University School of Law graduate, planned to tackle--pro bono--the legal needs of locally owned small businesses in low-income New York neighborhoods. Thornton, who had graduated that spring from the University of San Francisco Law School, was excited about the prospect of examining New York City police misconduct.
One year later, like most New Yorkers, their lives and work have been drastically altered by the events of 9-11. Arroyo, who is conducting her fellowship with the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fund, Inc. is now on the front lines of the City Bar's Legal Relief Initiative. During the past months her work has progressed from providing disaster-oriented legal relief to victims and their families to today's more future-oriented legal assistance. Arroyo noted that her project, "Like the City, has moved from immediate crisis management to that of optimistic planning for the future. While still facilitating loans for small business that were wiped out on 9/11, I'm also conducting seminars on how to negotiate favorable lease terms in light of 9/11."
Thornton has seen a total reorientation of her two-year project. She and her host organization, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, have turned their attention to the critical human rights challenges that have emerged during the months following the disasters. The Lawyers' Committee domestic policy team has shifted its efforts to the oversight of investigation, detention and prosecution under the U.S. Constitution and international law. Thornton raises concerns about these changes and cautions, "The political climate nationwide has changed so drastically that the defense of human rights and civil liberties has met considerable challenges. The 9-11 anniversary should be a day of mourning for not only our victims and but also our rights."
Equal Justice Works, formerly the National Association for Public Interest Law (NAPIL), leads the country in organizing, training and supporting public service-minded law students and in creating summer and postgraduate public interest jobs. Through more than eight million dollars in annual donations from prestigious law firms, corporations and foundations, Equal Justice Works funds law students and lawyers in programs that bring justice to millions of low-income persons and families.
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