Members of the Temple Law School community donated their time on behalf of the Wills for Heroes Foundation this past Friday. Wills for Heroes is a national non-profit organization that offers free estate planning services to first responders across 29 states.
Lisa Hurlbutt, Director of Public Interest, said the day was an opportunity to give back to those in the immediate Temple community. “We have a large number of first responders right here at Temple University, from Temple police to paramedics and nurses,” said Hurlbutt. “It’s exciting to serve those who serve us right here in our community.”
Dan McKenna, JD ’04, President of Wills for Heroes, said collaborating with Temple Law School was especially rewarding. “Temple does such a great job of instilling the value of giving back,” said McKenna.
Students spent the first part of the day being trained by licensed attorneys before spending the afternoon working with first responders from the Temple University campus and surrounding Philadelphia area. For students like Megan Albright, volunteering was a way to make a meaningful impact in the community while getting valuable experience in the area of estate planning. “Regardless of what area of law I enter into after graduation, estate planning is an important legal aspect of life,” said Albright.
For other students, like Lauren Stram, the day was an opportunity to honor the late Professor Edward Ohlbaum, who passed away this past March and spent much of his life giving back to the community. “As a member of the Temple Law trial team, this seemed like such a great way to remember him and serve first responders from the Philadelphia area,” said Stram.
The Wills for Heroes Foundation was created in direct response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, in which many first responders perished without established wills for their family. “We wanted to make sure that their families were taken care of,” said McKenna. “We can’t protect our first responders, but we can protect their families.”
Friday’s event was the latest example of Temple Law’s strong commitment to the public interest community. Each academic year, Temple places more graduates in public interest jobs than any other law school in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, while approximately one-third of Temple’s graduating class performs enough pro bono work to quality for membership in the Rubin Public Interest Honor Society.