Wayne State University Law School student Marcela Darris was one of 35 law students in the nation selected as a fellow for the Rural Summer Legal Corps (RSLC), a partnership between Equal Justice Works and the Legal Services Corporation.
Darris, a rising second-year student, will be hosted by Legal Services of Eastern Michigan where she will assist the organization’s housing practice group on eviction diversion programs in participating courts located in the northern region of the organization’s service area. She will also engage with community partners to secure housing assistance for tenants.
RSLC supports law students in serving rural communities each summer. Student fellows spend eight to ten weeks hosted by LSC-funded civil legal aid organizations where they help to address some of the biggest challenges facing rural communities. Selected from 460 applications, the 2021 class of Rural Summer Legal Corps Fellows includes 35 students from 32 law schools who will work at 32 LSC-funded civil legal aid organizations across the United States and its territories, providing critical legal assistance to people in rural areas.
“I am so honored to have received the RSLC fellowship and to assist rural communities through the Legal Services of Eastern Michigan,” Darris said. “I know that this fellowship is not only an opportunity to learn, but to help others who are in need of legal aid services. Finding and getting accepted into a fellowship that aligns with my values is an exciting place to be after my first year of law school.”
Darris is vice president of the Black Law Students Association for the 2021-22 academic year and is a member of the Latinx Law Students Association. She is from Rochester, Michigan and graduated from Wayne State University in 2017 with a bachelor’s in criminal justice and Spanish, and a minor in Latinx and Latin American Studies.
