Update #2

The CVLAS Richmond Interns have been very busy!

Just a taste of some of the legal stuff we’ve been up to:

Emily and Airen survived a four hour trial, and Airen cross-examined a witness.

Cayman has been tirelessly working on memos to the Special Appeals Examiner for unemployment cases.

Alec wrote a memo that got his case dismissed (a good thing!).

Morgan did her first unemployment hearing yesterday.

Amanda is currently in court seeking a protective order for a client.

Krista is quickly becoming the resident expert on guardianship and child custody in Virginia.

We all took a break on Friday and attended the Legal Aid Awards Luncheon at the Virginia State Bar Conference in Virginia Beach. Even though the weather was cold and windy, we all still enjoyed our brief visit to the beach! We had a little time before lunch, so we stopped by the Expo where we picked up lots of free swag, like Lexis pens, coozies, decorative paper clips, cotton candy, beach balls, margaritas (!!), and the plastic sunglasses we are wearing in two of these pictures.  

Alec, Cayman, Amanda, and Morgan trying not to get blown over by the wind

Alec, Cayman, Amanda, and Krista on the beach with their new free sunglasses

The girls (minus Airen who couldn't make it) at the Legal Aid Awards Luncheon
(Blogger keeps rotating the picture & won't let me unrotate it... you'll just have to turn your head sideways, sorry!)

We have also visited a few local spots for lunch, including Lift, Nick’s International Foods (where you must be very particular about ordering...very Seinfeld-esque), and the food carts by MCV. We recommend them all!

Bringing back the blog

After two and a half weeks of working here in the CVLAS loft, we're finally getting around to putting up our first post. We've been hard at work on all sorts of issues: custody disputes, divorces, bankruptcies, unemployment, you name it... 

Yesterday most of us took a break from the loft and attended a conference put on by the Virginia Poverty Law Center explaining updates to relevant areas of Virginia law that will come into effect in July. We especially appreciated how the explanations of upcoming changes gave us better insight into the legislative process in general and how specific policy goals are achieved. We are also grateful to Cayman and Alec for being so savvy in consumer rights and winning fun prizes for us. 

Cayman won a "magic firefly" (in case you're not aware, it "soars to incredible heights!" and "glides down with awesome spiral action!"). It also comes with a "high intensity light for day or night launches," but so far we have not been able to find this light. It must not be very intense. Needless to say, the loft is a perfect location for firefly launches into the conference room. 

Alec won a "mystical tree," which is an "amazing tree [that] grows like magic." It does, in fact, grow like magic. At 9ish AM this morning it was just some cardboard twigs, and now, at the end of the day, it looks like this! 

That's it for now!