Law Students Spend Spring Break on Road to Justice with Legal Aid

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First-year law student Julian Sharp discusses options with client during Legal Aid of Arkansas' Spring Break on the Road to Justice estate-planning clinic.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas School of Law students Andrew Dixon, Sara Koch and Julian Sharp participated in Legal Aid of Arkansas' annual Spring Break on the Road to Justice. The U of A students partnered with students from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law to provide estate-planning services to elderly individuals in rural communities under the supervision of Legal Aid and volunteer attorneys.

"With the Road to Justice Program, we wanted the students to get practical experience as well as understand the importance and the need for pro bono service," said Greneda Johnson, director of pro bono for Legal Aid.  "The students helped ease the burden of 74 individuals by helping them to plan for their future and save their family from having to make difficult decisions in the event that they become incapacitated or after their gone."

As part of the training Legal Aid provided, students learned about access to justice issues as well as estate planning basics as they traveled around the state. Sharp, a first-year law student, drafted a will for a Legal Aid client in Flippin. 

"During the encounter, she thanked me for helping her because if not for us providing the service for free, she would've had to 'pay an attorney $175' to draft one for her" Sharp said. "For a lot of the people we helped, paying an attorney to draft wills for them was not something they could afford to do. It was really rewarding to be able to help people in such a crucial, and emotionally challenging, moment in their lives."

The three-day trip is funded, in part, by money raised by the University of Arkansas School of Law Student Bar Association. On day one, students volunteered at a Wills Clinic at Marion County Senior Activity Wellness Center in Flippin, serving 30 clients and producing 84 documents. Day two took students to Newport and Jonesboro, where they helped 24 community members and drafted 73 documents. The volunteers met with 20 community members and produced 50 documents in Brockwell on day three. 

"This trip gave me an insight to what actual practice will be like outside of the classroom," said Koch, also a first-year student. "It is so important to be studious and enhance the skills to thrive in the classroom, but getting to enhance your people skills as well as apply the knowledge on property and contracts to real life situations is something that the classroom can't offer. As a student, it gave me a better idea as to what my future career may look like as well as experience for when I do go out and practice."

Accessing civil legal services is a serious challenge for low-income and rural Arkansans. Arkansas has the fewest attorneys per capita in the country, with appoximately one attorney for every 400 Arkansas residents. The state's 25 least populous counties are critically underserved, with one attorney for every 1,729 residents. Legal Aid's Spring Break on the Road to Justice is one way law students and others can help decrease the gap. 

Koch said giving up part of her spring break vacation was well worth the experience she gained during the trip. 

"Although you may not be sleeping in every day or on a typical vacation, coming back to class knowing that you made an impact, as well as gained skills to become a better professional in your field, is rewarding and builds confidence in yourself," she said.