Practitioner Testimonial

Practitioner Mercedes Cano

Mercedes Cano has come a long way. 

This once illegal immigrant from Colombia is now a lawyer operating a legal information community center for Hispanic immigrants in Jackson Heights, Queens.

She knows first hand what it is like to be undocumented, homeless, without any English skills and jumping from one low paying job to the next. She now applies her intimate personal knowledge to her legal know-how to answer immigration, housing and benefits questions for the local Mexican and Colombian residents of Jackson Heights.

Like many of her current clients, Cano came to this country for better opportunities when she was 16 years of age. After her aunt attempted to send her back to Columbia, Cano ran away. At the age of 18, she waitressed, washed dishes and took any job that she could get in order to pay for a night of rest. Often she did not have enough money and spent restless nights riding the No. 7 subway train.

But Cano knew that the way to improve her life was through education. After she received multiple surgeries to repair her hearing - she was 75 % deaf - she successfully finished Queens College and then City University of New York School of Law.

Upon graduation she received a $13,000 grant from the Initiative for Public Interest at Yale University and embarked on her next challenge, successfully operating the Centro Communitario de Recursos Legales (Community Center of Legal Resources).

Thanks to her participation in a practitioner network run out of CUNY Law School, Cano did not have to struggle all alone. The network, which brings together like-minded attorneys, has been a savior for Cano, she points out.

The practitioner networks, which were created at CUNY Law School, University of Maryland Law School, and Northeastern University Law School, are part of the Law School Consortium Project. The Project aims to increase access to justice by supporting law schools to expand their educational and institutional mission beyond graduation to include support and service to solo and small-firm practitioners who are committed to serving low and moderate-income individuals and communities.

Attempting such a huge venture straight out of law school is difficult. For instance, in her first year, Cano and her 12 volunteers saw 700 individuals. All those people had very diverse issues, everything from immigration to housing to family law. "You can't possibly be an expert in all legal fields, especially as a brand new law graduate. I just did not know all that much at first," explains Cano.

As a result of the practitioner network, there is always someone available who can answer her various questions. "The way I was able to field all those different legal questions and see all those people in need is through tapping into the attorneys in my network. Without them I would never have been able to do this," she explains. "Without the network I might have had to defer my dream for five to 10 years while I got experience somewhere else. I would not have been able to go out on my own or to help this community right away," she adds.

Also, whenever she has a client who needs help outside of the Centro's mandate, she has a trusted lawyer able to take on the case. "I feel comfortable sending members of my community to the network attorneys because I know that they are reliable and not expensive," she says.

In addition, network lawyers and staff have become mentors and friends. They help draft and review her grant proposals and join her on presenting different legal seminars to members of the Jackson Heights community. "Having the practitioner network, gives me the security that I am not completely on my own," she says.

Although Cano has come a long way, she is still struggling. Now, all her focus is on making the Centro a viable community institution. There is great need out there, as evidenced by the large amounts of people that seek her help, she says. But the money for operation is difficult to raise. Without the support and encouragement from like-minded attorneys in her network, Cano says she would not have been able to keep going. "I think that this program is that bridge that helps people like me to go to the community and to help that community. I am grateful that it exists." 

Written by Victoria Rivkin, a freelance writer in New York City