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TJSL at Stand Down Event

August 4, 2010

3L Dan Hall and client in court
3L Tina Asturias works with a client
Ed Neusteter 07 helped at Stand Down
VLAC Director Professor Steve Berenson

3L Dan Hall stood before Superior Court Commissioner Adam Wertheimer, where Family Court was in session Friday July 16, on the handball court at San Diego High School – the site of the 23rd Annual Stand Down event for veterans, sponsored by Veterans Village of San Diego.

At Hall’s side was his client, a veteran who was hoping the commissioner would approve the child support agreement Hall had helped him negotiate.

Thomas Jefferson School of Law students represented several veterans at Stand Down and all of the students work with TJSL’s Veteran’s Legal Assistance Clinic (VLAC) at Veterans Village. VLAC is directed by Professor Steve Berenson, along with Clinic Fellow Greg Neil, 08.

Hall, a Marine Corps veteran himself, said “It’s good to see this kind of community outreach for the veterans. It helps them to reestablish themselves.”

“It’s a wonderful experience,” said 3L Tina Asturias, while waiting in line to negotiate for her client at the Child Support Services desk next to the makeshift courtroom. “They (the veterans) experience immediate results and walk away with a smile on their faces. This is why I want to practice law.”

TJSL alumnus Ed Neusteter 07, who also participated in Stand Down, said that “so many good things take place at this event. I wouldn’t want to miss it.”

Stand Down is a three-day event for homeless veterans, and according to the Veterans Village website, “it is designed to transform the despair and immobility of homelessness into the momentum necessary to get into recovery, to resolve legal issues, to seek employment, to access health services and benefits, to reconnect with the community and to get off the streets.” The event served 947 veterans this year.