HLS in Focus

3L Emily Murphy shares her experience from the Health, Disability and Estate Planning Clinic: 

As a 2L, I enrolled in one of Harvard Law School’s clinics, the Health, Disability, and Estate Planning Clinic.  Each week the of fall semester, I would spend each Wednesday and Thursday at the Legal Services Center (LSC) in Jamaica Plain.  Jamaica Plain is a low income, ethnically diverse neighborhood in southwest Boston that few Harvard Law students visit regularly.  At LSC, I represented between fifteen and twenty clients who were applying for Social Security disability benefits.  Most of my clients had lived in Jamaica Plain their entire lives.  Because they had no car, several of my clients had to walk to LSC to meet with me.  Some walked several miles in the middle of winter, despite physical pain from their disabilities.

In my first few meetings with clients, I worked alongside an LSC attorney, Julie McCormack.  Julie has overseen the disability clinic at LSC for many years.  Using her expertise in Social Security law, she assisted me and the two other students working on Social Security cases that semester.  As the semester progressed, Julie left more responsibility to me and my classmates.  I met with clients independently, sent letters to the Social Security office, and initiated contact with my clients’ doctors.  I appreciated the trust that Julie placed in me, and I enjoyed serving as my clients’ primary advocate.

One of my clients, who I will call Marisa, is particularly memorable.  Marisa is from Cape Verde and lives in Jamaica Plain with her three-year-old daughter.  She experiences symptoms of fibromyalgia and severe back pain.  Her hands are deformed from many years of heavy manual labor.  She also possesses an IQ that qualifies her as mentally disabled.  She had applied for Social Security disability benefits three times and had been denied each time.  When she came to LSC, I explained to her through a translator the steps we would take to complete her Social Security appeal.  She gave me the names of her doctors—sometimes remembering only the doctors’ first names and the general location of their offices.  After some research, I tracked down her doctors and requested copies of her medical records.  I asked her doctors if they would write letters in support of Marisa’s application for Social Security.  The night before Marisa’s hearing, I stayed up until 2 AM revising her hearing memorandum and preparing documents for submission to the court.

On the chilly morning of the hearing, I met Marisa outside LSC.  She had arrived almost an hour before we had scheduled to meet, and the cold had caused the fibromyalgia to freeze the muscles in her arms and hands. I carried her shivering child and the court documents to the nearest taxi and ushered Marisa in the backseat.  For Marisa, this taxi ride was a rare luxury.  She spent the ride gazing out the back window at the Boston skyline.  By the time we arrived at the courthouse, we had only ten minutes to prepare ourselves before entering the courtroom.

I was so proud to see how well Marisa handled herself in front of the judge.  We had rehearsed the questions the judge would ask her and practiced her answers.  She remained strong as the judge challenged her claims of disability and did not flinch as the judge inquired into her mental aptitude.  After the hearing, Marisa felt relieved, confident, vindicated.  She was happy that a judge had heard her grievances.  She hugged me and repeated “God bless you” in my ear.  I warned her that the judge may not award her benefits, but she was unconcerned.  She had faith in God and wanted no more than to have her voice heard.

Happily, Marisa won her case.  She now receives over $1000 each month in Social Security disability benefits and received a substantial amount of back benefits for her previous months of disability.  These benefits more than doubled her monthly income. 

While I enjoy my hours in the classroom, classroom hours cannot provide the same gratification that I received from my work in the clinic.  Marisa and my other clients had fallen through the cracks of a Social Security system that is less receptive to unrepresented applicants.  With only a few hours per week and the support of Julie, I could help my disabled clients access funds that enabled them to avoid hunger and homelessness.  For the first time, I found real-world value in my legal training.