Students opt for ‘Alternative Spring Break’ experience

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The words “spring break” often evoke images of beaches and relaxation, but for two students at Penn State Law, spring break was the perfect opportunity to gain hands-on legal experience. The Alternative Spring Break trip is an annual event that provides students interested in public interest law with an opportunity to enhance their legal education by extending learning outside of the classroom and into the community

Mingxin Li, a 2L, and Thorsten Swider, a 1L, spent their spring break week in Washington, Pennsylvania, at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services, Inc. office to gain valuable public interest law experience. The organization provides free legal services to low income residents of Greene, Fayette, Somerset, and Washington Counties, and the week the students spent there exposed them to all aspects of the day-to-day work of the legal services office. Li and Swider observed the attorneys as they worked with indigent clients on issues including divorce, housing eviction, minor criminal offense expungement, protections from abuse, Social Security benefits, and many other specialty areas.

“This experience offered good insight into less publicized areas of the law,” said Swider. “It was nuts and bolts sorts of things that you might not see in other types of legal settings.”

The break also exposed Li and Swider to the lowest level court of Pennsylvania, where hearings occur in front of special masters rather than judges, and visits to the prothonotary’s office are commonplace.

“The proceedings were very real and practical,” said Li. “Not at all like learning from a book.”

The best part of the experience, according to Li, was being able to work with lawyers and learning how to deal with clients firsthand.

“These lawyers were incredibly professional, and I learned a lot of effective attorney skills,” said Li. “For students who aren’t sure what they are interested in pursuing, it’s a great experience to see if you’d like to pursue public interest law in the future.”

“I would absolutely recommend the alternative spring break to 1Ls. It’s an opportunity to do substantive work and see the actual court process,” said Swider. “It’s great exposure to what you’re actually aspiring to do, and something most first-year law students don’t get. It’s also a noble and necessary service, and it feels good to be helping.”

This year’s trip was organized by Elizabeth Ramos, who is in her third year at Penn State Law. She has taken the trip herself in the past, and decided this year to give back as President of the Alternative Spring Break Initiative, and enable more students to participate in the program. She was assisted by Ryan Dickinson, Vice President of the Alternative Spring Break Initiative.