The PDF which includes endnotes and footnotes in which this article appears can be found in Bifocal Vol. 45 Issue5.
Bifocal: Tell us a little bit about your career and the issues you’ve been working on for the past few years.
Jessica: Prior to joining the ABA, I directed the LAVA (Legal Assistance for Victimized Adults) Project at Indiana Legal Services. The LAVA Project provides free, civil legal assistance to older adults and endangered adults who experience abuse, neglect, or exploitation. I represented many crime victims in civil suits to stop criminal behavior and to recover from the effects of the criminal behavior. I was a generalist and litigated often. I also had the great privilege of working with a diverse group of community partners and of learning how important it is for a team of professionals to address abuse in later life in a thoughtful way. We had community partnerships with professionals in many sectors like law enforcement, adult protective services, financial institutions, area agencies on aging, and disability rights. My experience representing survivors of elder abuse and in defending against unnecessary or overreaching guardianships will greatly inform my work at the ABA. My clients’ stories will remain with me and guide my work.
Bifocal: Is this what you planned when you started Law School?
Jessica: Yes and no. How’s that for a lawyer answer? I went to law school thinking it would be like taking a foreign language. Instead of learning Spanish, I would be studying “legalese.” I was living in Kyarusozi, Uganda before applying to law school and was concerned about the land rights of the community. I wanted to be able to advocate for people losing their land to giant corporations and defend against other human rights abuses. I figured going to law school would help ensure I had a seat at the table in these conversations and would help me understand and speak about the law in policy conversations. I had no intention of practicing law, and honestly, I didn’t know what practicing law looked like.
I got my J.D. and then my LL.M. in international human rights law. I planned to work with the United Nations or some forum applying international treaties. My 1L summer I worked at the Notre Dame Legal Aid Clinic, and I discovered what it meant to practice law and to do so with colleagues interested in the defense of the vulnerable. I soon came to realize that representing the vulnerable at home is what international human rights law looks like at the local level, and certainly my work at Indiana Legal Services with the LAVA Project was human rights work. So, this wasn’t the picture I had when I started to law school, but the idea has remained the same – ensuring just systems govern our communities and defending basic human rights.