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Lyn Stewart- Hunter
September 2009
This month, the
VLP has the honor
of announcing Lyn
Stewart-Hunter
as our Outstanding
Law Student
Volunteer. Lyn,
who is entering
her third year at
the James E. Rogers
School of Law, has
volunteered at the
VLP for two
summers and has avidly
participated in
our Guardianship,
Child Support and
Self-Service
Center clinics.
Lyn, originally
from Flagstaff,
Arizona, received
two bachelor’s
degrees in French
and Creative
Writing from the
University of Arizona.
After college, she
worked as a high school teacher at Tucson High, where she
put her love for
helping others into practice.
Lyn then spent
time in Denver, Colorado, where she earned Masters degrees
in Business
Administration, Science in Information Systems, and Public
Administration.
She also served as Lead Legal & Policy Analyst and Lead
Technical Writer
for Qwest Communications International Information
Technologies, as
well as a Technical Writer for a number of different
instrument and
software companies and a Technical Documentation Editor
for America Online
Knowledge Management.
She eventually
returned to Tucson to pursue a juris doctorate so she could
“work
with like-minded people and help animals, trees, and kids.” Lyn chose
to
volunteer with our program due to her interest in “the well-being of
all people,
especially children.” While working with VLP Advocates, Lyn has learned a
great deal about both our community’s legal network, as well as the law in
general. “Our community oozes with amazing, compassionate lawyers
and
others who give
their time to help people” she said, “I have also learned that
having a legal
right, even a constitutional right, doesn't mean much when you
don't have access
to the legal resources you need to exercise that right.”
While in law
school, Lyn has been active in a wide variety of programs and
internships. In
addition to volunteering with the VLP for two years, Lyn has
served as a
Student Research Assistant for the Justice Project, researched
animal welfare
ordinances through the Animal Legal Defense Fund Legislative
Internship, worked
as a law clerk with Judge Warner at the Pima County
Superior
Courthouse, and has done extensive legal research involving mental
health issues in
U.S. prisons and jails as a research assistant to Fred Cohen.
Lyn has a hard time picking a favorite law school professor since
“there are so
many great ones,” but she says she particularly enjoys Donald Large
because
of his love for horses. She also cites Associate Dean Jane Korn as a
standout
due to her compassion and devotion to education. “Professor
Korn makes an
effort to
understand learning theory and the need to address different
learning
styles. She
lectures, summarizes complex issues in handouts, projects
PowerPoints, and
asks questions that make you think (in class, a lot).”
In her free time,
Lyn enjoys working with metal sculptures and jewelry, growing
plants, admiring
horses, and being outdoors. In addition, she has a hobby of
writing for
theater that she can always fall back on.
"In undergrad I wrote plays. If I didn't get into at least one law
school
somewhere
warm I was going to turn my play ‘This Side Up’ into a
musical.
It's about a couple alien families who mail-order pet human
beings from
Earth. In part, it's a Marxist satire on the material nature of
Earth's two
legged inhabitants that I feel can be made far less didactic
by a dozen
huge dancing aliens. Too bad the ABBA songs were recently
taken
though.”
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Past Outstanding Volunteer
Student Awards |
