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Brenna Durkin
December
2007
Brenna Durkin is a first
year law student
at the U of A. She has
been an
outstanding volunteer
during her first
semester of law school,
participating in
the Domestic Relations
Clinic. Brenna
has quickly absorbed a
large amount
of domestic relations law
in a very
short time enabling her
to help VLP
clients with little to no
assistance from
the supervising attorney.
Her positive
attitude and upbeat
personality give
her a great rapport with
clients and
she handles all comments
and
situations with class.
The VLP is very proud to have Brenna as a volunteer!
Brenna is
originally from Boardman, Ohio. She attended the University of
Arizona as an
undergraduate and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Sociology. She
also minored in both History and Women’s Studies. While
working on her
undergraduate degree, Brenna developed an impressive
community service
record. During the past few years she has volunteered
with The Center
for Adolescent Parents, the Giving Tree Feeding Program,
and Those Who
Care, Inc. She was also a mentor for young teens through
the Tucson Youth
Leadership program. As a first year law student, Brenna
has demonstrated
an enviable ability to multitask – juggling her legal studies,
volunteer work and
employment as a nanny through the Choice Care Agency.
Brenna says that the experiences she has had during her first year
of law school
and
through the VLP have changed her view of our legal system. “I’ve
learned
how
complicated it is! I never knew how much paperwork went into
cases or how
every
little detail could be analyzed to death!” Another thing that has
had a big
impact on her this year is her small-section, torts class taught by
her favorite
professor, Ellen Bublick. Brenna states “I never leave her class
confused and
she
always has time for questions.”
If you want to
catch Brenna during her free time, then you might want to drop by
Sushihama’s where
she goes almost every week for all-you-can-eat sushi. You
might also catch
her watching Grey’s Anatomy and Gilmore Girls during study
breaks. Or you
might find her daydreaming about the beautiful island of Grand
Cayman that she
visited on a 7-day western Caribbean cruise, which she says
“looks like
paradise.”
When asked about her
experience with the VLP, Brenna comments:
“I decided to volunteer with VLP because I knew that as a 1L I would
be
spending a ton of
time reading and learning legal theory. I wanted to be
reminded that
there was a real world out there and that the concepts I
was learning apply
to it. Sometimes in law school you feel lost but at
the clinics I feel
validated and I know that I am doing something that is
really useful. The
people are so thankful and it really makes me feel like
I am making a
difference.”
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Past Outstanding Volunteer
Student Awards |
