“I grew up in Maine. My house was like a motel: had lots of strange people living with us if they didn’t have housing. I grew up caring for people without understanding what’s going on.

I met Adrian [from Open Door Legal] at a thing at GGU. It was the first time I ever really heard of legal aid. But I was interested enough to intern there the fall of my second year [of law school].

I learned more in those three months than I did in the rest of law school combined. The hands-on experience made me realize how much I enjoyed legal aid. I wanted to keep doing it. It just felt right. I like how we do all the things.

For example, one of my cases as a temporary family attorney was to represent a veteran in a child custody case. You see, he was being denied custody because of his PTSD. I got him joint custody and he was so happy to just be a part of his son’s life. No one else would have helped him.”

Photography © Dale Tan