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Two 2023 Notre Dame Law School graduates are beginning their post-grad careers as Thomas L. Shaffer Public Interest fellows, addressing housing issues and providing expungement relief in Chicago and rural Kentucky.
Thomas Haracz and Jeanna James, both of whom graduated this month, will have their salaries and benefits covered while they work for two years at nonprofit organizations providing legal services to low-income or other underrepresented populations.
Haracz’s fellowship is with Legal Aid Chicago, where he will serve a group of clients struggling with housing-related legal issues.
“My position will be to represent these clients to stop these evictions and work with certain agencies to prevent these types of evictions from even being filed in the first place,” Haracz said in a news release.
James will be working in her home state with Legal Aid of the Bluegrass in Lexington, Kentucky. She will be helping low-income clients in landlord-tenant cases, as well as with expungement needs.
James will also be involved in a new eviction mediation program and a collaborative project with the city-county government to disburse rental assistance funds.
“An eviction or criminal record can be devastating for people seeking to make financial gains toward more stable and safe housing,” James said in the news release. “A criminal record disqualifies those reentering the community from affordable housing, employment, and higher education opportunities — all of which are vital to prevent recidivism. Those with a criminal record are often barred from public housing and cannot afford or are discriminated against in private housing.”
Haracz came to Notre Dame Law School to pursue a career in public interest and housing issues, according to NDLS. He first became interested in housing issues when he served with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps after graduating from the College of the Holy Cross.
“This work is something I have become quite passionate about in the last five years. I feel it has an impact on the community,” he said in the release. “Access to housing and housing stability are some of the most important of our basic human needs. This fellowship gives me the opportunity to work to improve housing stability to a client base that has unfortunately been overlooked in recent years.”
During his first-year summer, Haracz worked at the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing in Chicago. During his second-year summer, he worked at Cabrini Green Legal Aid, also in Chicago, representing clients petitioning to have their criminal records sealed or expunged.
He also participated in the Notre Dame Law Eviction Clinic and had a public interest externship at Indiana Legal Services.
“I know that a two-year position is not long enough to address and fix every issue with subsidized housing in Chicago,” Haracz said in the news release. “My hope is that through this fellowship I am able to make even the smallest difference to subsections of the community that have previously not had someone to fight for them.”
James chose to go into public interest work after seeing her parents advocate for her sister and friends, who started a club in high school to support LGBTQ+ students, according to the law school.
“I learned, by watching my parents and sister, the importance of standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, and I saw lawyers help both the marginalized and average people like my family,” she said in the news release. “It was my lightbulb moment where I knew I wanted to do the same thing.”
James participated in public interest externships with the Northern District of Illinois and with the Federal Community Defenders in South Bend. She also worked with the eviction clinic during her time at the law school.
“As a ninth-generation Kentuckian and as someone who was fortunate enough to obtain a quality college and legal education, I feel a responsibility to help break our cycles of poverty and incarceration,” she said. “I am so excited to start off my legal career with Legal Aid Bluegrass and to grow as an advocate.”
The fellowship program honors Thomas L. Shaffer, a faculty member and former dean at Notre Dame Law School as well as a 1961 graduate. Shaffer was also the supervising attorney in the Notre Dame Legal Aid Clinic, now called the Notre Dame Clinical Law Center, where he taught clinical ethics and guided students.
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