On Oct. 4, Florida Coastal School of Law Clinical Programs, in conjunction with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and Three Rivers Legal Services, hosted a Spanish legal information and pro bono intake event in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Coastal Clinical Director Ericka Curran said the event was important for Florida Coastal because serving the underserved is part of the mission of law school.
“We are fortunate to have many bilingual and bicultural students at Florida Coastal who want to use their language skills and give back to their communities,” she said.
Fifteen Spanish-speaking students volunteered to serve as interpreters. Students even prepared food for the attendees, including homemade empanadas.
In addition to the students, the following attorneys and law school faculty gave their time to conduct presentations and offer half-hour consultations: Nancy Aguire, Lisa Ruiz, Rebecca Black, Vanessa Bernadotte, Luke Carnelius, Ardian Gjoka, Maria Zarakhovich, Maureen Porras, Crystal Freed, Karen Winston and professors Kathy Hartland, Ada Hammond, Natalie Tuttle and Sarah Sullivan.
Five attorneys took on special pro bono cases from the event for full representation. Both Vanessa Bernadotte of Bernadotte Legal and Andrea Reyes of Reyes Law took cases for immigrant victims of violent crime.
Bernadotte said giving back and service to the community is simply part of the mission of her firm. She is Jacksonville’s first Haitian Creole-speaking immigration attorney.
Reyes, who herself is an immigrant from Colombia, said she wants to make sure immigrants who are victims of violent crime know it is safe to come forward and that there is help.
Vanessa Zamora Newtson accepted the case of an immigrant child asylum seeker. She contacted Jacksonville Area Legal Aid about taking a child’s case after reading an article in the Florida Bar Journal about the immigrant child crisis.
Ardian Gjoika, an Albanian-speaking attorney, also took on a case to assist an immigrant. He said that pro bono work, in addition to being part of the duty of an attorney, also helps him in his business.
“By doing pro bono work you build trust in the community and it ultimately builds your client base. Once those pro bono clients stabilize their immigration status, they are going to come back to you for other matters and refer other clients,” Gjoika said.
Maria Zarakhovich also took a case, stating, “ I just like to help when I can. It is rewarding.”
Most of the attorneys who participated in the event were members of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, a national specialty bar.
AILA members have a rich history of giving back to the community in Jacksonville. Next up: AILA will be co-sponsoring the Annual “Citizenship Day” legal assistance event April 18 at Florida Coastal. Contact Kathy Para at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, [email protected], if you are interested in participating in this event.