GW Law Gulf Recovery Network (GRN)

Paul Waters at NOLA pro bono office space overlooking the Mississippi River.

This year I am the Treasurer for the executive board of the GW Law Gulf Recovery Network.  In that role it is my responsibility to determine how much the trip to New Orleans will cost so that our members can fundraise from sponsors and advocate for resources before the Student Bar Association and the administration.  I also am in charge for collecting the students’ registration deposit and organizing the refund process for expenses related to the trip.

As I described in previous articles available in “my history” on this blog, GRN was created by law students at GW to address the destruction and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  GRN now sends 40 students to New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) where half of the group works to construct houses and the other half lends their legal talents to public service initiatives in NOLA.

GW Law holds a longstanding commitment to public service and volunteerism which has been the guiding reasoning behind the Public Interest Scholars program and the Public Interest Pre-Orientation program.  Similarly, the university community supports public service through the Office of Community service and the university-wide Alternative Spring Breaks program.

I am excited to create new partnerships this year and better integrate GRN into the GW community.  Additionally, I hope to attract lawyers and other policy makers to speak to our group and better acculturate the students of GRN to the developments to the cultural and jurisprudential realities of New Orleans and Louisiana.

If you happen to have a connection to New Orleans and you are interested in helping out or finding out more please let me know!

This article is the first in a series about the activities I am involved in as 2L at GW Law.

Sincerely,

-Paul

P.S.: I love your comments or questions posted here or in my inbox at pwaters@law.gwu.edu.