by Alan Dugger
The Nebraska Public Interest Law Fund (NPILF) provides a limited number of stipends to University of Nebraska College of Law students who secure unpaid public interest positions with a host organization that serves an unmet legal need.
2L Alan Dugger, a 2020 NPILF recipient, worked with the Lincoln Commission on Human Rights and reflected on his experience below.
I don’t know if “you never forget your first real brief” is a common saying among litigators, but I’ll certainly never forget mine. Mindy Rush Chipman, my supervisor and head of the Commission, had taken on a pro bono client as part of the Tenant Assistance Project. This tenant was facing eviction over a paperwork error and in a desperate battle to keep herself and her young children housed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although unusual in landlord-tenant proceedings, the judge had asked for briefs to be filed after the customary short morning hearing, which is usually all that tenants get in these cases.
I was, however unexpectedly, offered my first opportunity to write a persuasive brief on behalf of a real client. It wasn’t long after completing it that Mindy called me into her office to go over my work. Opposing counsel had seen my brief and moved to dismiss the case! It was at that moment it struck me that not only was I putting my legal education to good use helping people in crisis, but that work was also having a tangible, positive effect.
My host organization this summer was the Lincoln Commission on Human Rights, and I will continue to work for the Commission during this academic year. From our website, “the goal of the Lincoln Commission on Human Rights (LCHR) is to prevent, respond to, and eliminate all forms of illegal discrimination, and to assure and foster equal opportunity for all City of Lincoln community members.” We take that task on in a variety of ways, from education and outreach to investigation of civil rights complaints submitted by the Lincoln community. We also take that on by being a founding member of Professor Ryan Sullivan’s Tenant Assistance Project (TAP), joining with the UNL Civil Clinic, the Nebraska State Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP), Legal Aid of Nebraska, and many community volunteers to stem the rising tide of evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As members of our community face the threat of illness and high medical expenses, job loss, and potential loss of income, more and more landlords in Lancaster County are turning to eviction proceedings. Evictions are a threat to dignity, stability, and, at this moment, public health. Central to the Commission’s mandate, many tenants also have rights under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act implicated by eviction proceedings. I spent a significant part of my summer clerkship helping tenants advocate for those rights through education and by assisting TAP attorneys with litigation.
Another part of my job this summer was courtroom observation, where I got to witness landlord-tenant court firsthand. It is a ruthlessly efficient system. Typically, a few landlord attorneys arrived at court each morning with a stack of cases. Because tenants so rarely showed up for these cases, the attorneys went through their stacks in under an hour altogether, almost always securing evictions in each case.
When tenants did appear, it was almost always without representation. These tenants would be unaware of their rights under the law or possible defenses. Sometimes, they were offered unfair agreements that, upon signing, would amount to nothing more than an eviction without a court hearing. The calculation, regardless of circumstances, was always the same: if the tenant owes rent, the landlord can evict.
Alan (far right) is pictured with Tenant Assistance Project (TAP) attorneys and Civil Clinic students: (from L-R) 3L Matthew Soltys; Caitlin Cedfeldt ('14), Legal Aid of Nebraska; Professor Ryan Sullivan; 3L Amy Sonnenfeld; 3L Coehn Preble; Laurie Heer Dale, VLP Director; 3L Lydia Mann; and Kala Mueller, Director of Public Interest Programs
From the onset of TAP’s advocacy efforts, this system has significantly changed. It is a privilege to have had a literal front-row seat to watch the transformation of landlord-tenant matters in Lancaster County Court to a far more equitable system. It is a central conceit of our study and practice of law that the law is the best tool we have to provide equitable and fair outcomes in disputes, but this is under the assumption that every party to a case can fairly participate. Now, tenants can do so in Lancaster County, and this alone has radically shifted outcomes for the better. It is a great honor to continue to work on that project through LCHR.
I have had the opportunity to explore a wide variety of legal work this summer, from writing memos and briefs, to drafting legal documents, to working on policy, and producing educational materials. I’ve even drafted an FOIA request. It’s a rare summer clerkship that provides so many different types of hands-on legal work opportunities, and rarer still to have spent as much time as I did in the courtroom, getting to know judges and attorneys and learning from litigators at trial. I consider my clerkship with LCHR to be a fundamental, irreplaceable part of my legal education. It has cemented my interest in trial litigation, policy work, advocacy for the underserved, and impact litigation in the public interest. I would recommend this placement to any aspiring public interest attorney or policy advocate and strongly encourage them to apply.
You can learn more about the Nebraska Public Interest Law Fund (NPILF) and make a donation here.