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Joanna Gaughan
February 2009
The VLP is pleased
to announce that
Joanna Gaughan has
been selected
as our Outstanding
Law Student
Volunteer for the
month of February
2009. Joanna is a
second year law
student at the U
of A and participated
in the
Guardianship Clinic during the
fall semester.
Joanna did an incredible
job in this
Clinic. She has a very good
understanding of
guardianship law and
has excellent
client management skills.
Clients would come
in nervous and
fearful, and
Joanna would be able to
calm them down and
put them at ease. She displayed skill and professionalism
beyond her years
and was an easy choice for VLP Student of the Month.
Joanna originally
hails from Brooklyn, NY but says “most people say they would
never guess it –
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing!” No matter
where she started
out, Joanna has become one well-traveled woman. She’s
visited Japan,
China, India, Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Morocco, Ghana,
Guatemala, Costa
Rica, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Her world
travel has helped
Joanna learn to speak four other languages: Spanish, French,
Portuguese and
Thai. Joanna’s studies, like her travels, have been pretty wide-
ranging. She has
a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Society (an inter-
disciplinary
major) from Cornell University and two master’s degrees; one in
Education and one
in International Law and Human Rights.
Since landing in
Tucson, Joanna has really enjoyed her time at the U of A’s
College of Law.
Her favorite classes have been taught by Professors Lee
Tucker and Brent
White. Joanna appreciated Professor White’s enthusiasm
for teaching and
his willingness to share his own legal experiences. As for
Professor Tucker,
she says he “was excellent in teaching Persuasive
Communications and
has been a mentor for me.”
Joanna chose to
become involved with VLP because she “was excited about
the chance to get
hands-on legal experience, to help real people in need of
assistance, and to get to
know some local attorneys.” Joanna also thought that
the courtroom experience
available through our programs would be a great
opportunity “to become
comfortable speaking in court.”
When asked what
she feels is the most important thing she has learned from
volunteering with
the VLP, Joanna replied:
It’s hard to
pinpoint just one thing. Learning about the procedures for
various types of
cases has been extremely useful, and the courtroom
exposure has been
invaluable. Overall, participating in the VLP has
made me much more
secure in my abilities – now I know that when I
finish law school,
I’ll be a confident and competent attorney.
Outside of school,
Joanna likes to relax by going salsa dancing, doing yoga, and
watching Top
Chef and Project Runway. She also goes to her favorite
restaurant,
Blue Willow,
for a tasty meal and some time with friends. And as for her plans
for the future,
Joanna hopes to one day “open a non-profit legal services agency
specializing in
services for victims of domestic violence, unaccompanied minors
going through
immigration procedures (SIJS), and refugees and asylees.”
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Past Outstanding Volunteer
Student Awards |
