Summer legal positions are extremely competitive this year, yet four Syracuse
University College of Law students have been selected for the esteemed Equal Justice
Works Summer Corps program that provides critically needed legal assistance to
low-income and underserved communities. Summer Corps members are engaged
with a broad range of issues and gain first-hand experience and legal skills in areas
such as client intake, individual representation, research and writing. This year, a
record 1,184 applications created an extremely competitive selection process for just
420 positions nationwide.
The second-year law students selected, along with their placements, are Sovereign
Hager, Farmworker Legal Services of New York in Rochester, N.Y.; Nina Hong, Law
Students in Action Project-Legal Assistance of Western New York in Geneva, N.Y.;
Brenda Lopez Romero, Georgia Legal Services in Atlanta; and Sadiq Mohamed,
Broward County Public Defender in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
"My internship with Farmworker Legal Services of New York will enable me to
understand how legal rights and theories can be used to advocate for a group of
workers that has largely been considered an exception to existing labor laws," says
Hager. "I look forward to conducting legal research and outreach to migrant farm
workers regarding issues such as civil rights, current labor law protections, human
trafficking and pesticide exposure."
The students will each receive a $1,000 AmeriCorps education award voucher upon
completion of a minimum of 300 hours of summer service at a nonprofit public
interest organization.
