Over the years, interns from Miss Porters School, Amherst College, Barnard College, Bates College, Cornell University, Elon College, Northwestern Connecticut Community College, St. Joseph College, Vermont Law School, Rutgers Law School, Quinnipiac Law School and the University of Connecticut Law School, as well as dozens of high school students, as part of the student canvass, have initiated and participated in a variety of local projects.
While it is impossible in this report to include every intern and their work, here are several examples:
James Scrimgeour, a student at Amherst College, worked with the community lawyer in the summer of 1990 and after graduation, returned full-time in 1991/1992, and again in the summer of 1997, while a student at the University of Connecticut Law School. He helped organize the original student canvass, which worked on lake issues and a municipal shade tree inventory. He also prepared drafts of the street tree ordinance and obtained grants for the planting and care of municipal trees. He wrote research reports, letters to officials and newspapers articles on such diverse topics as bovine growth hormone (bGH), potholes and congressional pay raises. As a law student, he helped the community lawyer on a SLAPP case, wrote a memorandum on revocation of a corporate charter, researched issues on cellular tower siting and conflicts of interest. A 1999 law graduate, Jamie served as a clerk for a justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court and is now Senior Counsel, Reinsurance Litigation for The Travelers. He also volunteers as the Director of the non-profit Center for First Amendment Rights.
As a Cornell University student in 1993, 1994, and a University of Connecticut Law School student in 2000, Ami Gadhia worked as an intern for the community lawyer. Working with the student canvass, she researched several “next step” reports on topics regarding municipal issues such as drinking water quality, radon issues, historic resources, sidewalks, roads and de-icing materials and community technology – a basis for establishing a position for an engineer to help citizens understand technical issues facing the community. Ami is now the Policy Counsel for Product, Food, and Auto Safety at Consumers Union in Washington, D.C.
In 2002/2003, University of Connecticut Law School intern Mary-Kate Smith helped the community lawyer organize and conduct the multi-town USA PATRIOT Act Roadshow, researching the law and its flaws. In addition, Commercial Alert, a non-profit organization that monitors the spread of commercialism in communities, requested an analysis of the contract used in Connecticut by vendors seeking to advertise on municipal property. Her analysis of the contract illuminated the corporate scheme of paid advertisements on municipal vehicles. Her report was published on the commercialalert.org website. She penned a number of opinion/editorials on topics from civil rights and the war on terror to the dirty business of cement manufacturing to the nuclear waste crisis and congressional pay raises. Mary-Kate went on to clerk for a justice of the Connecticut Appellate Court and is now in private practice as civil litigator whose practice includes employment, commercial, landlord/tenant, real property and civil rights law.
In 2006, Winsted resident and Barnard College student Ariana McMahon researched and wrote about commercialism in the schools, focusing on vending machines that provide unhealthy drinks and junk food. Published in the local papers, her opinion/editorial was part of the pressure that pushed state legislators to regulate and restrict the placing of vending machines in public schools.
In 2008, Ken Krayeske, a former reporter for the Republican-American and the Register Citizen newspapers and now a student at the University of Connecticut Law School, researched legal issues and helped draft the brief in a case before the Freedom of Information Commission. Filed by the community lawyer, the complaint alleged that the Board of Selectmen violated the law by holding an illegal executive session. He assisted the community lawyer at the hearing, where the Commission ruled that the selectmen improperly convened in executive session and thereby violated the open meeting law. Ken is a committed community activist, involved in state and local issues, and a blogger of note.
In 2009, Gerrit Reynolds, a senior at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University interned for the community lawyer. A state legislator, the head of the House Energy Committee, invited the community lawyer to review the proposal to create a Public Power Authority. Gerrit’s assignment - to research how electricity deregulation worked out in Connecticut and the proposal to create a new state authority to oversee the energy market. The resulting report - Technological Change, Greed and Politics: Why Energy Deregulation Failed in Connecticut and Will a Public Power Authority (PPA) Save Us? – concluded that deregulation failed to produce competition or reduce costs to consumers. Prices increased and only the owners and shareholders of the electric companies benefitted many making record profits. Establishing a Public Power Authority to consolidate the several state agencies that oversee various aspects of the energy market and streamline the energy procurement process, may be less bureaucratic and more cost efficient for consumers. But the idea may be problematic; and must be considered in the context of the existing entrenched state regulatory agency and its demonstrated favoritism of industry over consumers. The report was submitted to the House Energy Committee in September.
From 1994-2006, Winsted resident Diana Britton came to the Office of the Community Lawyer when she was in the 9th grade learning basic office skills. Over the years, working both part-time and full-time, she has managed the library/archives and filing system, upgraded and maintained the computer network and coordinated office supply purchasing, answered phones and greeted visitors. She also designed and helped produce Project brochures. Besides being an Emergency Medical Technician, Diana graduated from St. Joseph’s College and the University of Hartford in the fine arts and plans to teach art to children.
