Students to work as racial, economic justice fellows

Florida A&M University College of Law students will get the chance to see first-hand the roles attorneys can play in and out of the courtroom to fight racial and economic inequality through two new fellowship programs recently launched at the school.

Two racial justice fellows started this fall: Ray Benson, a third-year

FAMU Law student, and Cassidy Mauth, a second-year student.

They are paired with attorneys from the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which helps people with felony convictions regain their rights, and Florida Rural Legal Services, which fights for farmworkers.

An economic justice fellowship will welcome its first students in January.

The fellowships are part of a Florida Law Schools’ Consortium For Racial Justice, created in response to George Floyd’s killing by a Minneapolis police officer last year, said Mark Dorosin, professor and director of legal clinics and field placements at FAMU Law.

“I think there is a diversity of interests certainly among the students but I think there’s a real core of students who are drawn here particularly because of the mission and the history of this law school and that commitment to social change and to providing resources to excluded communities and residents,” Dorosin said. “That mission and that history is powerful and it really pervades the institution.”

Both Benson and Mauth plan to work in the criminal justice system after law school, Mauth as a public defender and Benson as a prosecutor.

“This may not seem as though it’s along those lines because people have this idea that prosecutors just send people to prison,” Benson said. “... It is important that the prosecutor sees the defendant as a person. It is important that members of the jury see the defendant as a person so that you can get the best solution for the community as a whole, but also for the defendant.”

Mauth envisions herself fighting for people accused of crimes, often forced to defend themselves with limited financial resources.

“I have always been more service-based,” she said. “I think I will end up at a public defender to start because I just think I do prefer the public sector and nonprofits and government jobs versus a private firm.”

Exposing future lawyers to the ways legal rules can encroach on people’s rights is just as important a lesson for the students as the actual work they help with, said Angel Sanchez, who leads the Attorney Assistance Program at FRRC and places fellows with attorneys who supervise their work.

“I don’t even think it’s just a part of the goal,” Sanchez said. “I think it’s as important as the restoration of the voting rights for individuals that they are serving. One of the things that Amendment 4 revealed to people is that the impossible becomes possible when people start seeing the humanity in their neighbors and the ones that have been stigmatized.”

Amendment 4 created a pathway for people who lost their voting rights because of a felony conviction to have those rights restored.

The fellows also worked with Florida Rural Legal Services, an experience both said opened their eyes to the working and living conditions farmworkers often endure.

Benson

Mauth