As the Hofstra Law student-run Veterans Legal Assistance Project offered its most recent biannual one-day law clinic for veterans on Nov. 4, Long Island Herald reporter Frank Luisi was on hand to observe the proceedings and speak with faculty, students and veterans about the needs of veterans and the services the VLAP clinics are able to provide.
The resulting story filed by Luisi, “Hofstra Law Students Lend a Hand to Veterans in Need: University Hosts Pro Bono Legal Clinic to Aid Vets With Discharges, Appeals and Estate Planning,” was published on the Long Island Herald website on Nov. 16. It includes a short video (above) filmed by Luisi.
The article traces the history of VLAP, which was founded by Hofstra Law students with the help of attorney Gary Port, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who is also a visiting professor of law at Hofstra Law, chairman of the Nassau County Bar Veteran’s Law Committee, and an Army Reserve ambassador.
Besides comments from Professor Jennifer Gundlach, VLAP’s faculty adviser, and Judge Gail Prudenti, dean, about VLAP and Hofstra Law’s full-time Robert W. Entenmann Veterans Law Clinic, the article includes the perspective of VLAP volunteer Joseph Scianablo 1L, who served for eight years in the U.S. Marines and was deployed in Iraq, and then served in a New York Police Department domestic violence unit for another eight years, until an injury on duty cut his law enforcement career short.
“Working with victims of domestic violence definitely impacted me,” Scianablo said. “I wanted to continue to help that population, that community, as well as veterans. … As a veteran coming home, I understand the frustrations in transitioning back into civilian life.”
Read the full article on the Long Island Herald website.
View a video (on the WNET Thirteen website) of Judge Gail Prudenti on the PBS program MetroFocus on Nov. 1 discussing VLAP and the Robert W. Entenmann Veterans Law Clinic.
Read a related Q&A (on the LawNews website) with Matthew Goodison-Orr ’17, who as a 3L worked with Gary Port to help a veteran upgrade his discharge status.
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