BPI Alumni Spotlight: Eloise Lawrence

Eloise Lawrence

Enjoy the latest from our blog series highlighting former BPI staff, fellows, interns, and directors. Today we’re profiling Eloise Lawrence.

Affiliation with BPI
2002-2004 Skadden Fellow

Current Position
Staff Attorney at Harvard Legal Aid Bureau

Fun fact about yourself
I live on the last working farm in Boston.

 


In what ways did your experience at BPI influence your career path? There are thousands of ways! From day one at BPI I was able to be involved with some of the most interesting, compelling cases related to race, poverty, and public housing in the entire country.  BPI allowed me to contribute meaningfully to work of these cases. It was very empowering for me as a young lawyer to feel that I was playing a real role in cases that were addressing some of the very problems that compelled me to go to law school.

What is your favorite memory of your time spent at BPI? I think some of the most indelible experiences were related to the lead up to filing of Wallace v. Chicago Housing Authority. It was my assignment, along with Kate Walz at the Shriver Center, to find public housing residents and former residents who had moved with a Section 8 voucher willing to serve as class plaintiffs for the case (which was challenging CHA’s perpetuation of segregation by its forced relocation of residents pursuant to the Plan for Transformation.)

We visited with residents in some of the huge high rises that were being being torn down such as Stateway Gardens as well as those residents who had already been moved out into intensely segregated high poverty neighborhoods on the south and west sides. I remember going to one development in which CHA was essentially evicting all the residents by virtue of failing to properly maintain buildings. Almost every unit was boarded up except for this one apartment where a mom and her kids lived. The cement block walls were completely covered with visible mold from floor to ceiling.

Sadly, the Section 8 housing that residents were forced to move into was not much better.  One resident, who became a lead plaintiff in the Wallace case, had the bricks of her home come tumbling down on her while she was sitting outside on the sidewalk cradling her grandchild. These experiences made me realize that third-world housing conditions exist in the United States, and the governmental programs intended to alleviate such conditions can in fact perpetuate them. It is our job as advocates to push against this unacceptable reality.

What motivates you to keep working in the public interest? The only reason I want to be lawyer is to work for individuals and communities who have too often been mistreated, ignored or denied their rightful place in our society. If I am no longer needed in this way, I will go back to being a high school teacher. 

What advice would you give to the next generation of public interest lawyers and policy makers? One of the things we all – as a community – have to figure out is how to create a sustainable way of supporting this next generation. We have a desperate need for legal aid and public interest attorneys, and there are so many young lawyers who want to serve in this capacity, but we do not have resources and the institutions to pay them a living wage. President Obama’s 10-year loan forgiveness plan is a huge step in the right direction, but we need to create the political will to dramatically increase funding for legal services and use the proceeds from large settlements with banks and other institutions that caused the foreclosure crisis for direct services. We also need to ensure that younger advocates can find ways to create public interest law firms or organizations like BPI. It is not enough to have fellowships for new attorneys. We must work collectively to create long-term, sustainable employment. Public interest attorneys at all stages of their career should be advocating for this goal, but I have a feeling the next generation will need to lead the way! We will stand with you.

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