USC Law Students Represented at Conference

Students share pro bono efforts, network at public interest conference

—Submitted by Lindsay Toczylowski

Three USC Law students traveled to Las Vegas recently to represent USC at the Trina Grillo Public Interest Conference, themed "Communities Building Social Justice."

Third-year student Lindsay Toczylowski, 1L Becky Raizman and 1L Elena Taryor attended the conference, sponsored by the Society of American Law Teachers and hosted by the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, on March 7 and 8. Their participation was made possible by the USC Office of Public Service.

Toczylowski, Raizman and Taryor participated in a variety of conference panel discussions focusing on identifying effective models for pursuing social justice work, addressing funding, student debt and mentorship issues, and brainstorming how existing legal delivery systems can be expanded or become more effective. They sought to promote the image of USC Law as an institution dedicated to social justice by speaking and sharing their work at all of the discussion sessions and by posing questions to the speakers.

Students Taryor (far left), Toczylowski (middle)  and Raizman (far right) met alumni Preis and  Howarth at the conference

The students also found ample opportunities to network with law students from all over the West Coast as well as with the faculty of UNLV.

Two USC Law alumni attending the conference met and had lunch with the students: Jim Preis '78, director of Mental Health Advocacy Services, who spoke on a panel about starting your own nonprofit, and Joan Howarth '80, a current faculty member at UNLV and incoming dean of Michigan State Law School, who gave a moving tribute to her friend and colleague Trina Grillo.

The Las Vegas location provided a rich site for a focus on entrepreneurial social justice lawyering and organization-building because of Nevada’s near complete lack of legal services. The students were surprised to learn that the UNLV student immigration clinic is the only service provider in the entire state of Nevada that provides free legal services to undocumented persons. The dearth of legal services, and the desire to raise awareness about the lack of access to justice in Las Vegas, was one of the main reasons UNLV chose to host the conference this year.