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During the Fall 2004 semester, the nine
students of the class of 2005 in DCSL's
Legislation Clinic tackled a wide array
of significant legislative projects. Five
were assigned to work with offices of
members of the D.C. Council. Damien
Bernache worked with the office of
Councilmember David Catania. In
that role, he analyzed and summarized
various bills pending before the D.C.
Council, including the Eyewitness
Identification Procedure Act, the First
Amendment Rights and Police Standards
Act, the Home Court Amendment
Act, the Electronic Recording
Procedures Act, the Prostitution and
Brothel Abatement Act, the Rehabilitation
Services Program Establishment
Act, the Continuing Care Retirement
Communities Amendment Act, the
DMV Reform Amendment Act, the
Taxicab and Limousine Services Reform
Amendment Act, and the Appointment
of the Chief Medical Officer
Amendment Act. In addition, he monitored
and summarized certain hearings
and roundtables of the Council, and
reviewed and analyzed the results of
certain studies and input on pending
legislation, including the study and recommendations
of the State Education
Office regarding DC public and charter
schools.  He also conducted extensive
research and provided input regarding the content and drafting of Councilmember
Catania's bill addressing
racial profiling and pretextual police stops.
Janice Cheeks
worked with Councilmember
Jim Graham's office on various
projects; issues addressed included
Council oversight of the
sale of the Randall School building,
revising the definition of marriage
in DC, and discrimination
protection based on gender identity.
She drafted versions of a Human
Rights Gender Protection
Amendment Act proposal and a
Marriage Definition Act proposal.
Lamont Edwards worked with
the office of Councilmember
Adrian Fenty, and drafted several bills, including a Prohibition on
Video Lottery Terminals Amendment
Act, a Prohibition on Filing
Frivolous Petitions Act, a Hazardous
Waste Penalty Act, and an Illegal
Dumping Act. In addition, he
did considerable research into existing
and pending D.C. legislation
addressing housing policies, including
promotion of low income
housing.
Working with Councilmember
Kathy Patterson's office
and the Committee on the Judiciary,
Leericka Lucas focused principally
on two pieces of legislation—
the Incompetent Defendants
Criminal Commitment Act and the
Omnibus Public Safety Ex-Offender
Self-Sufficiency Reform
Amendment Act.  For the Incompetent
Defendants bill, Lee prepared a
detailed memorandum analyzing
the key points of the bill, summarizing
the testimony received on
the proposal, and identifying suggestions
for improving it. Likewise,
on the Ex-Offender Self-Sufficiency
legislation, she drafted
a lengthy memorandum describing
the purposes of the bill, summarizing
its key provisions, and providing
detailed descriptions of the testimony
received. Leericka's
memoranda were developed for incorporation
into the Committee reports
on the respective bills.
Karen Sawyer was assigned
to Councilmember Phil
Mendelson's office and focused
primarily on three issues—use of
existing utility conduits for development of a District telecommunications network,
renewable energy legislation, and a
living wage proposal. On the utility conduits
issue, she analyzed the existing
statutory provisions, summarized the District's
and Verizon's positions, examined
proposed alternative language, and discussed
the advisability of going forward
with amendatory legislation. On the renewable
energy legislation, she analyzed
a recently passed Colorado Renewable
Portfolio Standard measure. Regarding
the living wage concept, she drafted a memorandum clarifying how a living
wage differs from a traditional minimum
wage, the need for a living
wage standard, the benefits for businesses
of such a standard, how the
costs of a living wage would be absorbed,
and the principal arguments
against such a standard; she also provided
a summary of the testimony
received at a Subcommittee on the
Public Interest hearing on the issue
of a living wage.
Three Clinic students had legislative
project assignments with U.S. congressional
offices. Tom Collinson
worked with Rep. Melvin Watt's
office, the House Committee on the
Judiciary, and the Subcommittee on
Commercial and Administrative
Law. To assist House Judiciary
Committee members' investigation
of voting irregularities during the
2004 presidential election, he organized
an extensive collection of materials
(both traditionally published
and on the internet) discussing election
complaints and problems. He
also provided analysis and talking
points to Representative Watt in support
of the Congressman's proposed
amendment to the 9/11 Commission
Recommendations Implementation
Act to call for the creation of a Civil
Liberties Board, with subpoena
power, for investigating claims of
civil liberties violations by the government.
In addition, Tom prepared
an analysis of H.R. 4412, the Clarification
of Antitrust Remedies in Telecommunications
Act bill, that would
expand federal antitrust laws to address
the telecommunications industry
specifically, which entailed
analysis of Section 3 of the Clayton
Act and the Verizon v. Law Offices of
Trinko case. Finally, Tom prepared
a congressional statement commemorating
the 30th anniversary of
the Legal Services Corporation.
Cherita Gonzales and Allen
Mohaber worked with the office of
Rep. Sanford Bishop. Both worked
on a proposal Rep. Bishop was developing
for the prevention of abusive
litigation. The legislation would authorize
attorney's fees for a prevailing
party in the absence of a justiciable
issue of law or fact asserted by the
losing party. Cherita developed an
extensive memorandum analyzing the
proposed bill, tracing the history of
the courts' methods for addressing
abusive litigation, identifying likely
supporters and opponents of the proposal,
and suggesting some strategic
approaches. She also developed a
draft "Dear Colleague" letter for soliciting
co-sponsors of the proposal.
Allen prepared a memorandum that
provided detailed analysis of the similarities
and differences between the
proposal and existing Rule 11 of the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Apart from the abusive litigation proposal,
each also worked on other issues.
Cherita prepared an analysis of
the H-2A temporary visa program for
entry of agricultural workers legislation.
Allen drafted a lengthy memorandum
on the problems African
American farmers face with discrimination
in regard by the Department of
Agriculture, and of the testimony on
this issue received in hearings conducted
by Subcommittee on the Constitution
of the House Judiciary Committee.
He also drafted a congressional
statement honoring President
Jimmy Carter on his 80th birthday.
Galina Sergen worked with the General
Counsel of the National Council
on Disability (an independent federal
government agency). Most of her
work focused on disability nondiscrimination
requirements and their
implications for U.S. activities outside
the country and for the proposed U.N.
Convention on the rights of persons
with disabilities. She drafted a letter
on behalf of the National Council to
advise Senate and House conferees on
the Foreign Operations, Export Financing,
and Related Programs Appropriations
Act of the need to
strengthen the provisions relating to
protecting the rights of people with
disabilities. She prepared a memorandum
discussing whether the U.S.
Agency for International Development
has a clearly articulated disability
policy in its Official Requests for
Proposals and Requests for Applications.
She also prepared several
memoranda discussing relevant cases
in the U.S. for the consideration of the
U.N. Convention; these included information
on independent living and
transportation issues, a summary of a
roundtable meeting on Consumer Directed Care in Behavioral Health, and
an extensive memorandum providing an
overview of educational rights of persons
with disabilities. She also prepared
a memorandum providing analysis
of the application to the United Nations
of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act.
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