All posts tagged: Expungement Projects

What Joining the Expungement Project Did for Me

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Among other things, my first semester in law school was immediately overwhelmed by emails. Coming into Temple Law as an overly eager, wide-eyed 1L, I struggled with wanting to join every student organization I read about. Knowing that’s not possible, I shamelessly let the provided lunches dictate which meeting to attend each day. By this method, I fell into the Expungement Project by accident. During the general body meeting for the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) committee chairs spoke about their subcommittees and projects. Expungement Project instantly stood out to me. Having worked in several clinics and volunteered at a maximum-security facility prior to coming to law school, Expungement Project sounded like an activity that would keep me grounded and sane throughout my first semester. My first expungement clinic took place in North Philly at the Village of Arts and Humanities. The colorful buildings were unlike those on Temple’s campus—so vibrant and quirky—but before I had time to take it all in, Community Legal Services quickly put each of us to work. The prerequisite training taught …

Emily Bock

Agent of Change: Why I Empower Those Marginalized by the Criminal Legal System

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I have been fortunate to work with many different social justice organizations in my short career, but some of the experiences that have been most dear to me are those that I have had while working with people who are charged with crimes, people who are incarcerated, and people who live with criminal records. I co-founded and currently chair the Temple National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Expungement Project. I coordinate with Community Legal Services of Philadelphia (CLS) to staff intake clinics throughout the city. With my student committee, I recruit, train, and organize law student volunteers to assist the advocates from CLS with their criminal record expungement cases. I also serve as an external coordinator for the Restorative Justice Project at the State Correctional Institution (SCI) at Graterford. In this role, I partner with Haverford College students, faculty, staff, and a committee of brilliant men who are incarcerated at SCI-Graterford. I coordinate volunteers on the “outside,” serve as a liaison between Graterford and the Pennsylvania Office of the Victim Advocate (OVA), and participate in two-day and …