Jun., 2010 - Mecklenburg County Bar

Do you
remember
Show & Tell Day?
Do you remember the excitement you felt as a
child on the special day when it was your turn
to bring in your prized possession and share it
with your friends and classmates? For the
Mecklenburg Bar Foundation, Show & Tell
Day is today. We asked some of your
colleagues whose agencies receive financial
support from the MBF to share with us, in
their own words, what the Foundation’s
support means to them. We are excited to
share with you just a few of the ways your
gifts to the Foundation have made a difference
in the lives of others over the years.
Anne L. Crotty—
International House
“Grants from the MBF have been
invaluable to our immigration law clinic at
International House.” So begins the email
from Anne L. Crotty, immigration attorney for
International House (IH). Ms. Crotty goes on
to outline some of the projects your gifts have
funded, including: training in Program
Management and advanced training in family
immigration; purchase of a web-based case
management system, which enables IH to
track cases and enhance client services; and
obtain Bureau of Indian Affairs accreditation
for the IH senior paralegal. International
House has also been awarded a McMillan
Fellowship each year for the past three years.
“The BFF has played a major part in helping
our clinic grow from its ‘start-up’ roots in
2002 into a major provider of family and
naturalization immigration services for lowincome
clients. I frankly don’t know what we
would have done without the BFF funding.
Perhaps we could have somehow financed the
continuing education, the case management
system and the prerequisites for BIA
recognition and accreditation, but I don’t
know how. I have to say that our clients are
able to obtain high-quality services due in
large measure to the funding from the
Foundation. We are deeply grateful.”
Show & Tell with Your BFF
Spencer B. Merriweather III —
Former McMillan Fellow
Former McMillan Fellow Spencer B.
Merriweather III writes: “When I applied for a
McMillan Fellowship in the summer of 2003,
I couldn’t possibly have imagined how
significantly it would impact my career as an
attorney. In that summer after my first year of
law school, I was fortunate to have secured an
internship in the Mecklenburg County
District Attorney’s Office, but I worried how I
would survive a summer in Charlotte since
the internship did not offer a stipend. The
McMillan Fellowship I received helped me
meet my living expenses in Charlotte, while I
engaged in a noteworthy public service. That
summer, I prepared court motions and legal
memoranda, and I even got to assist two
Assistant District Attorneys in a murder trial.
By the end of that summer, I had enjoyed a
fulfilling practical experience in the law, and
unlike friends doing public interest work
elsewhere, I didn’t have to incur substantial
debt to have that experience.
All that said, for me, the true benefits of
the McMillan Fellowship weren’t realized at
the end of summer I received the stipend. In
fact, the true benefits of the Fellowship
continue to be realized every day I get to go to
work at a job for which I have such great
passion. Without that Fellowship, I may not
have found the sense of happiness and
fulfillment I found when I returned to the
District Attorney’s Office as a prosecutor.
Without it, perhaps I may not have been as
eager to learn about the shining example of
integrity and courage offered by Judge
McMillan. Without the Fellowship, perhaps, I
may not have been introduced to a
community of lawyers as spirited and collegial
as the Mecklenburg County Bar.
Simply said, I was honored to be a
recipient of the McMillan Fellowship, I feel
lucky to have been introduced to my career
because of the Fellowship program, and I’m
proud to be a member of a Bar that continues
to support it.”
Brett A. Loftis—
Council for Children’s Rights
The Mecklenburg Bar Foundation is vital
to the Custody Advocate Program of the
Council for Children’s Rights. With your
support, we are able to represent children
caught in the middle of high-conflict
custody disputes. The program, started in
1987, has helped thousands of children
through parental separation over the last 20
years. The following story highlights just
one of those needs:
Meet Sam. What happened to Sam’s
family was not unusual. In fact, it is
becoming increasingly common. But this
fact did not make the whole mess any
easier for a nine year-old.
Your father is a bad man, his mother told
him. His father had, after all, cheated on
Sam’s mother – but did that mean he
loved Sam any less?
Your mother is crazy, don’t listen to
anything she says, his father told him. She
had, after all, developed an addiction to
pain killers and had threatened suicide
on more than one occasion – but did that
mean she loved Sam any less?
It seemed to Sam that the world was
closing in. The family he knew was
ripped in half, and he was being asked to
choose. In all the fighting, someone
forgot that Sam is not a bargaining chip;
someone forgot that a child’s needs
should come first in a custody
arrangement.
Recognizing the anger with which Sam’s
parents were discussing their separation
in court, and not knowing what would be
best for Sam, the judge appointed the
Council for Children’s Rights Custody
Advocacy Program to his case. The staff
attorney and two volunteers immediately
began working with Sam and his parents.
They met with each parent separately.
They interviewed Sam’s grandparents,
teachers, and doctors. They met with
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2 June 2010 www.meckbar.org