Student Receives National Pro Bono Award
Like most recent undergraduates, Vanessa Coe was not sure what she wanted to do after she graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology, with a specialization in Arabic studies, and a minor in French.
Although she was active in community-based research projects during college, she had not thought about attending law school. “Not once in my life did I even consider it,” said Coe.
But, to support her friend studying for the LSAT, Coe decided to study and take the test as well.
Coe chose to attend the NSU Law Center because of the international program offerings. But, once she started law school, she found a different calling. “I always wanted to do something to help underprivileged communities,” she said. “In my first year of law school, I was convinced I made a bad choice, because I couldn’t see how any of what I was learning in law school would help me with that goal.”
During her time at the Law Center, Coe was involved in student organizations and served as the director of North African Legal Affairs for the Inter-American Center for Human Rights, 2010- 2011; president of the Public Interest Law Society, 2009-2011, marshal of the Environmental Law Society, 2009-2010; and treasurer of the Italian American Law Student Association, 2010- 2011. She was also a member of several other student associations.
Last year, during the “Canned Immunity” Food Drive, Coe helped coordinate the student donations. As part of the food drive, first-year law students donate cans in their class to receive immunity from being called on by the professor for that class. As president of the Public Interest Law Society, Coe has organized the event for the past two years. She has also organized smaller events.
However, a bigger and more important opportunity to help her community would come from an email from NSU’s Public Interest Law Center seeking interns at Florida Legal Services, Inc. (FLS). FLS is a nonprofit organization founded in 1973 to provide civil legal assistance to indigent persons who do not have the means to obtain a lawyer by working with local legal aid and legal service programs to improve their ability to provide legal assistance to those in need. Coe jumped at the chance to make a difference and hit the ground running. As part of a project from FLS, she was handed a case with five Filipinos working in the United States on H-2B visas. The H-2B nonagricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary, nonagricultural jobs. When she called the five workers and asked if they had friends who had similar problems with their employment, the project boomed. Within six weeks, she had more than 250 H-2B clients with employment issues. As an intern, she was getting real-world experience and was able to travel to different locations in Florida. She also traveled to other states to meet with workers who had experience similar issues. For Coe, she felt like she was starting her own grassroots movement and making a difference in her community.
Her work on behalf of Filipino H-2B workers led to hundreds of guest workers receiving millions of dollars in back wages. She established relationships with an entire Filipino community in South Florida that had no previous contact with the legal system. The evidence Coe collected persuaded several hotels to not only pay guest workers their back wages, but to also pay a 50 percent penalty for a delay in the issuance of the paychecks. Dan Rather Reports aired a program profiling the abuses of guest workers, which featured cases Coe’s work uncovered in the summer of 2010.
The Law Center subsequently awarded Coe a Florida Bar Foundation Public Service Fellowship for her commitment and dedication. She quickly met her fellowship requirements, which enabled her to return to volunteering, and earn a graduation honor through NSU’s Pro Bono Honor Program. Coe recently graduated with more than 520 pro bono hours, one of the highest from her graduating class.
The most notable of all her accomplishments is that Coe was awarded a two-year postgraduate fellowship by Equal Justice Works (formerly the National Association for Public Interest Law). She is one of approximately 40 students selected from around the country to receive this competitive and prestigious fellowship. She will be continuing her work on a project with Florida Legal Services, where she will advocate for Filipino H-2B guest workers and work to address the employment-related issues associated with temporary guest workers with H-2B visas in Florida. “There is a lack of enforcement, and there are loop holes in the regulations,” said Coe. Although Coe is unsure of what to expect with the fellowship, she is “excited for the curve balls that will be thrown her way.”
For Coe, her favorite memory and experience while a student at the Law Center was receiving an award. “The support from the Law Center’s faculty and staff members and my classmates was fantastic and really motivating.”
Coe’s Awards:
Larry Kalevitch Service Award 2009-10
Awarded by the student body and the NSU Law Center’s Student Bar Association, this award is given to a law student that demonstrates commitment (as far as service and work) to the law field.
Stephanie Aleong Impact Award 2009-10
This award is named after Stephanie Aleong, a deceased law professor, and is given to a student who has made an impact in the community.
Public Service Law Network’s Pro Bono Publico Award 2010
In October 2010, Coe was honored with the Public Service Law Network’s Pro Bono Publico Award in Washington, D.C. She was among many nominees for this national award, the purpose of which is to recognize the contributions that law students make to underserved populations, the public interest community, and legal education by performing pro bono or public service work. Coe was nominated by the NSU Public Interest Law Center and was selected because of her work as part of a project with Florida Legal Services. Her hours of volunteer work will lead to hundreds of workers receiving millions of dollars in back wages. Managing attorney Gregory Schell said of Coe, “In my 31 years as a legal services practitioner, she stands out as the best law student with whom I have ever had the opportunity to work.”
NSU STUEY Award 2011-Law Student of the Year
She was nominated because of her dedication and passion to the student-run Public Interest Law Society (PILS). She was elected president of the organization as a second-year student in 2009-10 and volunteered to serve a second term in 2010-11, something that has not previously happened at the NSU Law Center. Over the past two years, PILS membership has grown, the organization has been recognized by the Student Bar Association, and the students have raised funds for summer public interest fellowships through their annual charity auction.