Erin Flynn - Volunteer

Co-Teaching the inaugural Street Law class at Legacy LA was a great experience.  Legacy is such a wonderful resource for youth in the community. It was a pleasure getting to know all of the students, and learning about their dreams and desires and how Legacy is helping them reach their potential. It was interesting to learn about this vibrant community resource for youth in the heart of Boyle Heights and about all of the interesting youth development programs that are offered. And, I believe the Street Law class fit in nicely with the other leadership and social justice programs offered.

We surveyed the class in the beginning to find out what topics the students were most interested in. And, we tried to gear our lessons toward the student’s interests. For example, many students expressed an interest in immigration law, so we brought in an immigration attorney one week as a guest speaker. In March, we also arranged for a field trip to Southwestern Law School where the students got to have lunch with other law students; take a tour of the campus; and perform a mock trial in one of the school's mock courtrooms. The students did an impressive job with their closing arguments and they really enjoyed the experience.