UM Lawyer FALL/WINTER 2006-07 • Student networ

Student network fills post-Katrina void
by coordinating legal-aid volunteers

by Jeannie Waller


UM law student Allison Korn (holding check), co-founder of the Student Hurricane Network, is honored along with other members of the organization for their work in providing legal assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Korn and the SHN received the Lexis-Nexis Martindale-Hubbell Exemplary Public Service Award during the 2006 Equal Justice Works awards banquet in Washington, D.C.

When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2005, third-year law student Allison Korn of Memphis wanted to help. So she called coast organizations that, though grateful for her offer, were too overwhelmed to accept assistance.

Undeterred, Korn continued her efforts and helped create the Student Hurricane Network, a law student public-service group that works as a liaison between coast organizations and law-student volunteer groups to provide legal aid relief.

After a year of diligent work, the founders of the SHN met together for the second time in Washington, D.C., this October. This time the reunion was motivated by celebration rather than work because the students were there to receive the Lexis-Nexis Martindale-Hubbell Exemplary Public Service Award during the 2006 Equal Justice Works awards banquet.

A year earlier, in October 2005, Korn attended the Equal Justice Works conference in Washington, where she met Tulane law student Morgan Williams. He shared her passion and worked with her to co-found SHN. Together, they and a handful of interested law students from different schools met with a couple of administrators.

Equipped with blank paper and black Sharpies, the students brainstormed the beginning of SHN, deciding that the group would serve as an infrastructure or “middle man” to connect law-student volunteers with coast relief groups.

The 2006 Equal Justice Works awards banquet was held Oct. 19 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. The Equal Justice Works organization (formerly the National Association for Public Interest Law) was founded in 1986 by law students dedicated to working for equal justice on behalf of underserved communities and causes.

Today, Equal Justice Works is the national leader in creating summer and postgraduate public-interest opportunities for law students and lawyers as well as in urging more public-interest programming at law schools.

After the conference ended, the founders blazed on with their effort, meeting through conference calls and dividing up tasks. Korn became director of the Mississippi projects and chair of the development and administrative committee.

In less than one year, the SHN secured a financial sponsor, accepted charitable donations and assisted 56 schools in planning trips to the coast. “We grew simply by word of mouth,” Korn said.

The first volunteer groups arrived on the coast by Christmas 2005, and Korn said they were amazed at the devastation they saw in New Orleans and Mississippi.

“Mississippi looked like a huge hand came and knocked down everything in its path,” she said. “New Orleans looked like something nuclear.” To date, nearly 15 UM law students have participated on coast trips, and several more have provided logistical support by providing names of people and organizations to contact or updates on repair work in their hometowns.

Korn admits the SHN has taken much more time than her law classes, but the hard work has been rewarding. “The volunteers who go remain dedicated to their work,” she said.

As for the future of SHN, Korn said the group has experienced growing pains that point to future success. “The transitions have gone beautifully,” she said. “I see the work continuing well into the future.”