During the Spring 2003 semester, the nine students enrolled in the HIV/ AIDS Legal Clinic — Nyree Adams, Natalie Brocklebank, Chuck Detling, Ipori Lake, Toni Maschler, Arian Noma, Luzelennia Ramos, Victor Varga, and Todd Zinicola — provided legal representation to over 50 clients, many of whom had multiple legal matters to resolve.

These legal matters included helping parents make future custodial arrangements for their children should they feel they would become unable to continue care because of declining health. Following passage of the District’s Standby Guardianship law in June 2002, clinic students forged new ground as the first to petition Superior Court to appoint a standby guardian for their clients’ children. Students advocated for clients with disabilities before the Social Security Administration for disability benefits and wrote wills and advance directives for clients who wanted to shore up their future health and financial decisions.

Tiffany Bowers, ’03, was the first student to petition the Court for appointment of a Standby Guardian. At the hearing, the judge asked her to explain the meaning of the law, which she was able to do to his satisfaction and the petition was granted. Natalie Brocklebank, ’04, also appeared at a Standby Guardian hearing where she had to explain to the non-custodial father that he still retained rights to his child. She also obtained custody pendente lite for one of her clients.

In addition to standby guardian hearings, students participated in custody hearings. Todd Zinocola, ’04, appearing in court five times during the semester, was successful in obtaining custody and child support orders for his clients. Toni Maschler, ’04, had a difficult custody case in which she dealt skillfully with opposing attorneys and was able to help her client work out an agreement. She also helped a client obtain a civil protection order ex parte in a domestic violence case where the respondent could not be found. Toni petitioned the court to allow alternate service of posting, which was not a common procedure in DV cases. Victor Varga, ’04, representing his client in another pendente lite custody hearing where the opposing party did not appear, successfully argued for an award of temporary custody. Ipori Lake, ’04, helped a client prepare to file an uncontested case for joint custody by obtaining a consent from the non-custodial father, who agreed to the wishes of the client.

As an introduction to the practice of Social Security disability law last spring, the students were fortunate to have a presentation from Thomas G. Flanagan, III of the Disability Determination Division (DDD) of the Rehabilitation Services Administration. Mr. Flanagan is one of several case examiners at DDD who makes the disability determinations for claimants before the Social Security Administration. From Mr. Flanagan, the students learned that their representation of clients with Social Security claims was not adversarial and that the goals of the student representative and that of the examiner were one and the same – to ensure that those clients disabled by HIV/AIDS received Social Security disability benefits. The students worked closely with the examiners, building the clients’ case files and filled any evidentiary holes identified by the examiners. Examiners and students worked in a collaborative spirit, much to be the benefit of the claimants with disabilities.

Student Luzelennia Ramos, ’04, exemplified this collaborative spirit. Working closely with the claims examiner, she diligently sought the critical medical and school performance evidence to show that a child, previously denied disability benefits at the initial consideration, indeed had disabilities. That child was recently awarded SSI benefits. Students Arian Noma, ‘04, and Chuck Detling, ‘04, wrote strong advocacy briefs in support of clients disabled by HIV/AIDS. Nyree Adams, ’04, wrote a definitive legal memorandum on the issue of clients with disabilities and their inability to meet the work requirements under welfare reform and the alternate POWER program that is available for them.