🚀 go-pugleaf

For immediate release                   Contact: Debbie Selinsky
May 9, 1994                             (919) 681-8055
                                        SelinskyD@
                                             mail01.adm.duke.edu

Note to editors: Wes Powell, (919) 682-3042, and Rick Peltz, (919)
383-4546, are available for interviews regarding their
participation in Duke law school's Pro Bono Project.  For more
information on the First Amendment Workshop at Githens Middle
School on May 11, call Debbie Selinsky at the Duke News Service.


DUKE LAW PRO BONO PROJECT CONTINUES TO GROW,
DEVELOPS NEW COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMS


     DURHAM, N.C. -- Wes Powell, who helps AIDS and HIV-positive
patients write their wills, and Rick Peltz, who is working to
explain the relevance of the First Amendment to area middle-
schoolers, represent the diversity and reach of Duke University
School of Law's thriving Pro Bono Project.
     Established as a formal volunteer program three years ago by
law faculty member Carol Spruill, the project has grown rapidly. In
the first year, 87 students participated, and in the second year,
180 total law students were involved in organized pro bono -- "for
the good" -- work for those who can't afford legal services.
     During the 1993-94 academic year, a total of 225 law students
volunteered, offering a variety of much-needed services to the Duke
and Durham communities. They were supervised by 93 area
professionals.
     Two new projects designed to promote student involvement in
public interest issues were organized within the law school this
year by the Pro Bono Project, said Spruill, who just completed
another poverty law seminar for third-year law students. She said
both a luncheon series featuring speakers from public interest-
related areas and a book club focusing on the reading and
discussion of related books have become popular activities among
students.
      New pro bono individual and group projects include Peltz's
educational project in a local school and the AIDS Wills Project,
a service project headed by faculty member Carolyn McAllaster and
recent law school graduate Powell.
     Peltz, a first-year law student from Baltimore, has made the
First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which deals with freedom
of speech, press, assembly, petition and religion, the basis of his
studies.  While he hasn't yet decided if he'll become an attorney
focusing on media issues or a journalist focusing on legal issues,
Peltz has had a strong interest in freedom of press and expression
since his experiences as editor of his high school and college
newspapers.
     Peltz will present a workshop on the First Amendment with a
member of the North Carolina Press Club Wednesday (May 11), an
affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women, to 26 eighth-
graders in Lance Scott's class at Githens Middle School in Durham.
     Using a variety of participatory teaching methods suggested by
the national Student Press Law Center and materials prepared by the
First Amendment Congress, Peltz said he hopes to communicate some
basic understanding of the amendment's importance.
     "The really important thing that we want to convey to the
students is that the First Amendment isn't just something vague
floating out there that doesn't affect them.  They will encounter
it as young people, perhaps, for example, in the form of censorship
of the school paper," he said in an interview.
     While the First Amendment workshop falls in the arena of
educational projects, the AIDS Wills Project provides specialized
services to a growing number of needy Durham residents -- those
with AIDS or HIV. The program will continue through the summer.
     The project began with McAllaster, who had been volunteering
her individual services as an attorney to area AIDS and HIV
patients.  She received so many requests from people wanting
assistance with living wills, wills and powers of attorney that she
sought student volunteers from the law school.
     The project was exactly what Powell, a Brownsville, Tenn.,
native then in his last year of law school, had been seeking.
"Making a will and a living will are good ideas for everybody, but
especially AIDS patients, who know they will reach a point when
they can't communicate their health care needs," Powell said in an
interview.  "Durham and North Carolina have been hard-hit by AIDS,
not only the gay male population but particularly the African-
American population.  Until I became really involved in this
project, I didn't realize how many people there were who needed the
kind of services we can provide.  A living will, which enables the
patient to make advance decisions about his future health care,
lets AIDS patients rest easier, knowing they've taken the burden of
decision-making from their families and loved ones."
     McAllaster had worked primarily through the AIDS Service
Project of Durham to connect with AIDS and HIV-positive patients
who live in the Fitts-Powell Apartments, a federally-funded
apartment complex in Durham for people who are disabled,
particularly from AIDS, and with the AIDS Community Residence
Association's Blevins House, a Durham residential facility
providing care for six AIDS patients.
     While student director Powell and faculty supervisor
McAllaster hoped they'd get eight or 10 volunteers at the law
school for the AIDS Wills Project, 35 students signed up for the
program this year.  Students, who worked in pairs, saw a total of
around 15 clients this academic year, while Powell personally had
about 12 clients this year.
                              -----
     For more information on the Pro Bono Project or any of its
programs, call Carol Spruill at the law school, (919) 684-6848.
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