{"id":2637,"date":"2023-09-27T18:55:20","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T18:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/?p=2637"},"modified":"2024-09-10T20:46:57","modified_gmt":"2024-09-10T20:46:57","slug":"peoples-parity-project-seeks-to-make-the-law-work-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/peoples-parity-project-seeks-to-make-the-law-work-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"People\u2019s Parity Project Seeks to Make The Legal System Offer Justice for All"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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By Adam Stone<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"\"
Andrew Loewen, J.D. \u201922<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Andrew Loewen sees a fundamental problem with the way the law works.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Simply put, \u201cthe legal system is not delivering justice for most real people,\u201d says <\/span>Loewen, J.D. \u201922.<\/b> \u201cPeople can\u2019t afford the lawyers they need. They don\u2019t know how the law works. The legal system favors those with the right background, the right connections, and bigger bankrolls for endless litigation.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

To raise awareness, Loewen founded the UBalt Law chapter of the People\u2019s Parity Project (PPP), a national organization that describes itself as seekin<\/span>g to \u201c<\/span>unrig the legal system<\/span><\/a>\u202fand build a justice system that values people over profits.\u201d<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>

What makes justice inaccessible? It\u2019s not just the cost of going to court. \u201cOne thing PPP has highlighted is the fact that people are locked out of courts in the first place, because they sign away their rights through contracts that come with arbitration agreements,\u201d<\/span> says Loewen, who is currently a legal fellow with the Public Rights Project. Consumers and employees alike find, too late, that such contracts work against them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Melissa Murphy, J.D. \u201924<\/figcaption><\/figure>

As <\/span>incoming president of the UBalt group, Melissa Murphy, J.D. \u201924,\u00a0<\/b>is in the midst of a two-year PPP fellowship. She\u2019s looking at state courts, \u201chow judges get to the bench, what their professional background is, what their racial background is, their social-economic background,\u201d she says. \u201cAre those decision-makers actually reflecting the population that they’re serving? And if they’re not, how can we make those changes?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Murphy worked previously as a paralegal in the nonprofit world, supporting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault who couldn\u2019t navigate the law on their own. Then she went to a private firm, \u201cand I saw firsthand how expensive it is to have somebody with a legal background to guide you through the system,\u201d she says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cI wanted see how we could bridge the gap, so that that you don’t need a ton of money in order to get access,\u201d she says. And law school seems to her like the right place to have those kinds of conversations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

PPP on campus \u201cis making connections with the different student groups,\u201d Murphy says. Environmental law issues for example have a parity component, as do workforce and housing law. \u201cWe trying to make the connections so that we are all working towards similar goals.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Laura Grant, J.D. \u201923<\/figcaption><\/figure>

UBalt PPP immediate past president Laura Grant, J.D. \u201923<\/b>, worked for an employment law firm before coming to law school. \u201cI saw how the corporate world tends to take advantage of low wage people through these complicated legal restrictions,\u201d she says. \u201cEmployment contracts, nondisclosure agreements, non-compete agreements all had a real effect on people.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

When students are learning the law, \u201cthat\u2019s the perfect time to instill the kinds of values that People’s Parity Project has,\u201d she says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

With PPP helping to bring parity to the fore, \u201cstudents can be thinking about increasing access to justice, while they’re actually studying the law,\u201d she says. \u201cThey can talk about these things in class. And when they’ve graduated, they are already thinking: OK, what can I do to make things better?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Grant said that newly minted lawyers have a special obligation to think about issues of fairness and equity, and that doing so will make them better at their jobs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cWe’re expected to guide our clients through some of the most stressful times in their lives,\u201d she says.<\/span> \u201cI have that credibility, and it’s important to use for the benefit of people who don’t have it. Recognizing that I’m in this position to help people have access: that makes me a better lawyer.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Through its PPP chapter, Loewen says, UBalt Law can help the legal profession make incremental progress on these complex issues.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u201cPeople don’t necessarily go to law school so they can change the world,\u201d he says. \u201cBut we can shine light on the power that people do have, and the impact that they could have.”<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Adam Stone<\/strong> is a writer based in Annapolis.
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By Adam Stone\u00a0 Andrew Loewen sees a fundamental problem with the way the law works.\u00a0 Simply put, \u201cthe legal system is not delivering justice for most real people,\u201d says Loewen, J.D. \u201922. \u201cPeople can\u2019t afford the lawyers they need. They don\u2019t know how the law works. The legal system favors those with the right background, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3596,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2637"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2637"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3397,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2637\/revisions\/3397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}