NAPIL fellows come to the aid of the less fortunate.

Two women are working hard to help those less fortunate, thanks to a partnership between the National Association for Public Interest Law and The Florida Bar.

In November 2000, 10 new lawyers embarked on year-long fellowships with community-based, nonprofit organizations throughout the state, with half of the funding provided by NAPIL. The Florida Bar, the Bar Foundation, and Greenberg Traurig (with help from Lowndes, Drosnick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, the Quantom Foundation, and other individual contributors), formed a partnership to provide matching funds -- all totaling $880,000.

Through its contributions last year, the Bar helped send Barbara Stallings, a 1999 graduate of Stetson University College of Law, and Laverne Largie, a 2000 graduate of Nova Southeastern University law school, to work at legal services programs in Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale, respectively.

"I have visited with both of them and I'm really impressed with the results they've obtained in their projects," said Paul Doyle, director of Legal Assistance for the Poor Grant Programs at The Florida Bar Foundation. "They're both highly motivated, intelligent, and promising lawyers. They really attacked their projects with a lot of vigor and insight. I think both of them are providing significant benefit not only to their clients, but also to their profession."

Stallings and Largie released their six-month reports recently, chronicling the halfway point in their fellowships.

"I have grown personally and professionally," Stallings said of her work with Bay Area Legal Services' Relative' Caregiver Advocacy Program.

She estimates she has directly assisted 26 individual clients and their families, trained almost 150 people at seven separate events, and reached over 4,500 people in the community through educational materials she produced.

"I think it's remarkable what she's doing, helping to place children with caring family members instead of in foster homes," Doyle said.

Despite her success, Stallings isn't satisfied ... yet.

"Although I am very pleased with this accomplishment," she said, "I would like to increase the number, of clients that I am able to provide direct services."

And she's already taken steps to do just that.

Largie also has tasted success, through her work with the Broward Employment and Training Administration project of Legal Aid Services of Broward County -- a welfare-to-work program that helps low-income residents get education and jobs to boost their standard of living.

"The past six months have been a great, rewarding, learning, and growth experience for me," she said. "My project has had a great impact on the surrounding community."

Doyle agreed Largie's project is "a really critical project in terms of helping to make welfare reform work. She's had a lot of success in making sure it works for the people involved."

Largie was able to provide direct non litigation services (consultation, intake, and referrals) to more than 100 members of the community she serves. She reached an additional 284 people through community education and training, and more than 1,000 people have received education materials she has produced.

"I have learned to overcome obstacles, to fight for what I believe is just, and to never give up when it looks hopeless," Largie said. "Professionally, I've learned a lot about public interest law, constitutional law, and have had experience filing suits against several agencies."

The women were asked to convey in their reports their most gratifying experiences as fellows.

During the initial months of her fellowship, Stallings received a referral from the Bay Area Legal Volunteers Program involving nine children orphaned by their biological parents. The parents had died as a result of AIDS, and seven of the nine children were separated following the death of their parents.

Stallings helped the children's aunt and uncle, who opted to become the children's primary caregivers, receive social and economic benefits needed to care for the children -- two of whom are HIV-infected.

"These experiences have enhanced my legal skills and my knowledge base regarding community resources," she said. "As such, I have had the opportunity to collaborate with numerous organizations and individuals and enhance my knowledge of relative caregiver issues, and to ensure my clients receive the support services that they desperately need and deserve."

Largie filed a suit on behalf of a single parent of four children who was denied education and training. The client was denied services because he had already obtained a bachelor's degree, which Largie argued was a lack of due process. The organization had previously provided training to other degree-holders.

A settlement agreement was reached as a result of Largie's advocacy, and the client was awarded a training stipend and other support services to help him get through school. More importantly, according to Largie, due process procedures are being established for Broward County residents who encounter similar problems.

"I have grown to truly love what I am doing," she said. "I feel like I'm doing good work on behalf of my community and others. ... I think that I've grown the most in my realization of client difficulties. I have been able to realize that it is extremely hard sometimes for my clients to be able to focus on an education when they have. to also worry about things like food, domestic violence, evictions, clothing needs, and drug and alcohol abuse problems."