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Katherine Anderson Sanchez
November 2010
The VLP is
delighted to announce
that Katherine
“Katey” Anderson
Sanchez has been
selected as our
Outstanding Law
Student Volunteer
for the month of
November. Katey
is a 2L at the
University of Arizona
and has
volunteered in the VLP’s
minor guardianship
clinic. Katey
was the ultimate
professional at
each of her
clinics. She was calm,
collected and
efficient during
hearings without
sacrificing her
empathy towards
clients. She is a role model for
volunteers in this clinic and the
VLP
is very proud to count her among our volunteers.
Katey brings a
unique perspective to her law school class. After completing a
Masters in
Education from the University of Arizona, she worked as a Spanish
and Social Studies
teacher for TUSD for six years. Anyone willing to spend
their days with
emotionally-charged, pre-teens in the midst of puberty has
some gumption, but
Katey showed that she really is one tough cookie by
spending a year
teaching at the Catalina Mountain School. This facility is
operated by the
Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections in Tucson for
juvenile
delinquent males. At this facility, Katey helped develop
individualized
curriculum plans
for the students as well as aided in their preparation for the
G.E.D. exam.
During her teaching career, Katey advocated for student
progress and
helped them develop success plans. With her past history of
working with the
disadvantaged within our society, it is not surprising that
Katey decided to
begin advocating for those in need by volunteering with the
VLP.
Katey’s interest
in the VLP was peaked during orientation as a 1L. “It seemed
like a fun and
interesting way to get some real experience, not just reading and
writing,” Katey
asserts. When we asked Katey to tell us the most important
thing she learned
from volunteering with the VLP, she replied, “I learned that it
is very important
to translate legal speak into regular language for your clients.
Being in law
school, we forget how to speak like humans and turn into Law
Robots.” She
continues, “Working with the VLP reminded me of the
importance of
translating my words and thoughts into regular language.”
Fortunately,
translating legal terminology comes easy to Katey. Katey is a
bilingual Spanish
speaker and served as a school-wide translator at the
schools she worked
at. She has also interpreted for the VLP’s Spanish-
speaking clients.
Her experience as an interpreter allows her to better relate
to clients and
overcome the disconnect they feel when receiving legal advice
that sounds like
it’s in another language. It’s one of Katey’s most helpful traits.
A big contributor
to Katey’s bilingualism is the fact that she studied abroad for
a semester in the
Dominican Republic during her undergraduate studies at the
U of A. She chose
the Dominican Republic because she was in an
interdisciplinary
and internationally focused B.A. program that allowed her to
focus on
development in the Caribbean. But she feel in love with the country
while she was
there and now calls Puerta Plata, a city in the Dominican
Republic, her
number one place to vacation.
In addition to her
volunteer work with the VLP, Katey is impressively active on
the James E.
Rogers College of Law campus. She is a 2L writer for the Arizona
Journal for
International and Comparative Law and the Secretary for the Latino
Law Student
Association for the 2010-2011 school year. Her favorite law school
professor is
former dean Toni Massaro because “she was able to teach the legal
concepts and make
them applicable to real life.” Although Katey feels her view
of the legal
system has not changed in result to law school, she now
understands the
legal system better.
Katey is a local
Tucsonan and loves the benefit of having authentic Mexican
food readily
available that comes with living in the Old Pueblo. Rigo’s
on south
4th
Avenue is definitely her favorite place to dine, yet recently Sur
Real, with its
dancing and great
food, has worked its way up her list. Katey’s favorite hobbies
include jogging
and hanging out with her three kids. When asked about her
dream job,
Katherine remarks her dream job would have to be: “Lawyer or hair
dresser, although
I have no skills in the hair dressing arena so I hope law works
out for me.”
Based on her skills as a volunteer, we have a hunch that it will.
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Past Outstanding Volunteer
Student Awards |
