Washington, D.C. – Foley & Lardner LLP announced today that for the second consecutive year the firm will welcome a summer intern from Georgetown University Law Center to assist with its pro bono work with the Archdiocesan Legal Network (ALN).
The internship is part of a firm program designed to encourage law students to incorporate pro bono service into their legal careers and offer them opportunities to provide legal assistance to low-income and indigent clients through placement with nonprofit organizations in D.C.
Foley, with the assistance of Georgetown’s Office of Public Interest and Community Service (OPICS), selected Shannon Baker-Branstetter as its intern for this year. Her internship will last 10 weeks, and she will work with both the ALN, a nonprofit organization in the District, and Foley’s office in Washington Harbour. The ALN’s practice areas include bankruptcy, employment/discrimination, family law/domestic violence, government entitlements, landlord-tenant and wills/probate cases.
Baker-Branstetter will assist ALN with development of community legal education seminars; coordination of client intake; management of clients seeking pro bono legal services; recruitment of volunteer attorneys for clients for a variety of civil law matters; training and coordination of ALN volunteers; building coalitions with other nonprofit agencies serving low-income residents of D.C. and Maryland; and development of ALN newsletters. After seven weeks at ALN, she will spend three weeks at Foley’s office, concentrating exclusively on pro bono matters.
She has a broad background in volunteer service that has shaped her outlook on the types of social services, legal and non-legal, that are provided to low-income communities. Her experience includes serving as intake volunteer with the Employment Justice Center Workers’ Rights Clinics and as a Juvenile Division intern investigator for the Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia.
In addition to its relationship with Georgetown, the firm recently established a summer internship program with the University of Virginia Law School and Just Neighbors, a nonprofit dedicated to providing immigration services to low income clients.
ALN is administered by Catholic Community Services of the Archdiocese of Washington. This program, established in 1989, has assisted an estimated 25,000 indigent clients by providing information, direct legal assistance, and referrals to volunteer attorneys, law firms and other appropriate organizations.