Trial Magazine

“I volunteer for the Oklahoma Lawyers for Children, which connects children in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services with legal counsel to represent them when the state moves to terminate parental rights. I recently represented a 9-year-old child when the state successfully terminated the mother’s parental rights. The child will be adopted into a loving, caring home as a result. I handle about five or six cases like this a year on a pro bono basis.”

Derek K. Burch, Burch, George & Germany, Oklahoma City, OK

“I am representing a student who was suspended for participating in the gun violence walkout on Mar. 14. She was the only student in her classroom who chose to walk out. She did not disrupt the class, and the teacher was very supportive. However, school administrators chose to give her a full day of in-school suspension for participating in a 17-minute peaceful protest, even though the school generally gives only a verbal warning to students caught skipping class for the first time.”

Jennifer K. Coalson, Parks, Chesin & Walbert, Atlanta, GA

“I represented a young mother seeking a limitation on the visitation rights of her abusive spouse, who was about to be discharged from prison. I found out that in a single month, she and her daughter lived in three different homes and her daughter was enrolled in three different schools. I successfully helped her limit her spouse’s visitation rights, and later that year, I ran into her at a Christmas party at my grandson’s school. She looked me in the eye and said that the girl in the white dress onstage, who was singing and dancing next to my grandson, was her daughter—and that she was up there because of what I had done for her.”

Stephen B. Jackson Sr., Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, Cedar Rapids, IA

“I worked with a pro bono team of lawyers to defend 14 protestors arrested for trying to stop the construction of the West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline. The pipeline passes precariously close to a rock quarry where blasting is a regular activity, and the companies behind the pipeline have admitted that they have no safety or evacuation plan in the event of a pipeline explosion. The judge found each of the protestors not responsible and, on my urging, noted for the record that the finding was based on our assertion of the necessity defense.”

Andrew M. Fischer, Law Office of Jeffrey S. Glassman, Boston, MA

“I am investigating human trafficking cases around and throughout South Carolina by working with anti-trafficking organizations and individuals. For example, I have done pro bono work on a case brought by Nepalese workers who were trafficked by American contractors during the Iraq War.”

Jodi Westbrook Flowers, Motley Rice, Mt. Pleasant, SC