Cumberland Students and Public Interest and Public Service Activities

Here at Cumberland, we consider our students to be members of the legal profession. Membership is in the legal profession carries with it the obligation to serve the welfare of the greater community. I am extremely proud of the seriousness with which our students approach that obligation.

Earlier in the year, Lisa Borden at the Baker Donelson firm spearheaded a drive to create a volunteer legal clinic at a homeless shelter here in town. Every Wednesday, lawyers from the large Birmingham firms staff the clinic and Cumberland students provide law clerk type assistance. It is a remarkable project which has made a real impact on the homeless population.

Last week, the Cumberland Student Community Service Organization sponsored our annual easter egg hunt which brings scores of children from the Birmingham community and community organizations to the law school to hunt eggs, play games and just have fun. For many of these children it is a welcome respite from very difficult lives of poverty and family discord. It is an event that gets bigger and better every year.

For the past several weeks, our BLSA students have been collecting money, bottled water, juice boxes and nutritious snacks for the students at Glen Iris elementary school to eat during their standardized test week. Studies show tht well nourished children perform better on standardized tests.

Tomorrow, 25 Cumberland students will be volunteering to assist lawyers at the Project Homeless Connect which is a 1 day event where community service providers are mobilized in one location to assist homeless individuals

Last but certainly not least, a record number of Cumberland students will be volunteering their time in public service and public interest law placements in Birmingham and elsewhere through our Summer Public Interest Stipend Program. That program, which functions under the auspices of the Cumberland Public Interest Project provides grants of $2000 to students who agree to volunteer to work for Public Interest and Public Service placements. Our students will be at places like Legal Services and will be volunteering as law clerks to state and federal judges.

I am honored to be around our students who care so much about the community around them. They epitomize the highest calling our profession.