Kate Heffernan has just completed her law degree with Trinity College Dublin, and was selected by FLAC as this year’s Thomas Addis Emmett Fellowship.
This summer I completed an incredible internship with Washington Appleseed, an organisation that engages pro bono attorneys and community partners in order to address social and economic problems in Washington State. WA Appleseed promotes access to justice for disenfranchised groups by developing new public policy initiatives, challenging existing laws, and helping individuals better understand and fully exercise their rights.
I was invited to assist with WA Appleseed’s work on a research project which aimed to examine disproportionate rates of criminality and incarceration amongst former foster youth. This project was initially conceived of by a group of incarcerated men who are members of the Concerned Lifers Organization and who had all had traumatic experiences in the foster care system as children. The men felt that their experiences had increased their likelihood of offending and that policy reform is required to prevent current foster youth being pushed towards crime. I arrived at Appleseed at an exciting time, when this project was still at a very early stage.
Over the course of the summer, I helped with the scoping of the project by conducting preliminary research into many legal and policy issues surrounding the link between foster care and criminal justice in the US. As the summer progressed, ‘big ideas’ about reform of foster care slowly began to convert to concrete plans for the initiation of real change. My work culminated with a presentation to the members of the Concerned Lifers Organization about existing research relevant to their proposed project. It was a profound experience to visit Monroe Correctional Complex to discuss my findings with men who had suffered the trauma of bad foster care placements and who are now enduring incarceration. The discussion we had was absorbing and deeply insightful as the men were keen to offer their most valuable perspective on potential legislative and policy changes. I was privileged to have been a part of this project and am looking forward to hearing how it progresses as it moves into its next stages.
Throughout the summer, I also spent one day a week conducting legal research under the guidance of Professor Walter J Walsh of the University of Washington School of Law. This was a fascinating experience as I examined the practice and procedure of filing amicus curiae briefs in the US – a jurisdiction where amicus briefs are very frequently utilised by public interest law groups as a tool for social change. I was also lucky to have the chance to join UW law students during their summer quarter evening lectures. I found the UW School of Law to be a dynamic intellectual environment and I very much enjoyed my time there.
In my time off, I enjoyed exploring the city of Seattle and the surrounding natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest.
I was hugely honoured to be given the opportunity to undertake this Fellowship and am very grateful to all who assisted in the organisation of the programme.