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While growing up, Hamner was always involved with women’s rights advocacy, but it wasn’t until she was a women’s studies student at Georgetown University that she realized that she could incorporate her passion for women’s rights with her future career as an attorney.

After her first year at UF Law, Hamner said she needed to engage in more grassroots, progressive politics that she was used to as a high school and undergraduate student. As a result, she decided to pursue a master’s degree in women’s studies while simultaneously earning her law degree.

Advocacy work has always been in her blood. Even as a high school student Hamner was an activist for women’s rights. She worked tirelessly promoting pro-choice issues and organizing peaceful protests. Her advocacy work continued “unofficially” throughout her days at Georgetown University where she was involved with feminist advocacy for the reproductive rights of females.

After her second year of law school, Hamner applied her passion for advocacy work at a summer externship with Florida Institutional Legal Services (FILS). Following the experience she gained while interviewing incarcerated women with FILS, Hamner knew she was destined to practice public interest law and continue her quest to protect incarcerated women’s rights.

Her master’s thesis, which was an analysis of women’s prison narratives, was also inspired by her experiences with FILS. While completing her thesis, Hamner realized the importance of incarcerated women’s advocacy. “Woman-specific issues are overshadowed by the high male population and low percentage of women in prisons,” she said.

From day one of working with FILS, Hamner knew she wanted to work closely with the organization for years to come. The busy law and master’s student continued volunteering with FILS during the school year and then became an Equal Justice Works Fellow at FILS upon graduation.

She said she was thrilled to become an Equal Works Fellow because it “created my dream job.” The program allowed her to combine her passion of representing the rights of incarcerated women and litigation. “Being able to know I’m a representative of some of the people who are the most voiceless is very powerful,” she said.

Hamner is currently in her second year of the Fellowship, which will end in October. But the Vero Beach, Fla., native said she plans to stay at FILS as a staff attorney and has no plans of leaving Gainesville. The people of Gainesville are very much in touch with the community and care about this city, she said. “We love the sense of community — it has a small-town feel but not stifling.”

Although she can’t help all those in need of representation in the prison system or accomplish as much as she wants, she does make her “small victories” ring loudly to help incarcerated women gain equal rights in the prison system. It is important to make sure that the courts pay attention and respect the rights of prisoners, she said.

“We can’t represent everyone, but we hope to empower them to feel better and let them know that there are people aware of the situation and are trying to do something about it.” It is important that they know “their humanity is valued,” she said.

Hamner’s current advocacy project includes the publication and distribution of the Florida Manual for Incarcerated Parents, which is designed to help prisoners navigate the Florida family law system and understand their rights and responsibilities as parents. “Since 85 percent of women in Florida prisons are mothers, we are hoping to reach thousands of incarcerated women with this resource,” she said.

In the future, she said she hopes her advocacy work will reach out to an even smaller portion of the prison population – transgender prisoners. “They are more invisible than woman in the prison system,” she said.

For additional information about the Equal Justice Works Fellowship visit Career Services or www.equaljusticeworks.org.

The specialty of elder law is different than other areas of law. “It is usually not adversarial; it can be intergenerational,” she said. It can involve entire families and be geared towards clients planning for their own future. “One gets to be involved in the planning for his or her own life,” she said.

“Recent studies allege that more than one-third of the U.S. population over 71 will suffer from declining mental abilities or mental illness. The elder lawyer is increasingly in demand,” Baldwin said. It is important to make plans early for yourself before it’s too late and family members or the government have to begin to guess what you might want regarding your health, valuables, money and funeral arrangements.

Elder law attorneys help individuals plan for the future through information and communication including counseling over an extended period of time. “One objective of the elder law attorney is to assist individuals in taking control of their own lives,” she said. “This process includes assisting clients with the creation of vital documents, such as health care surrogates and directives, power of attorney, preneed guardian and wills.”

Too often individuals call on elder law attorneys in emergencies and at the last minute. “The preparation of important legal documents becomes an exercise done for or to the elderly or impaired individual rather than in cooperation with the older or impaired client,” Baldwin said.

Some people are hesitant to meet with an elder law attorney and face the reality of aging to plan for unexpected accidents or illnesses because of the negative label of “elderly” and the concept of mortality. “In our society the term elder or elderly is often not a term of respect but almost a pejorative term, a label that can be dehumanizing or debilitating,” Baldwin said. But the experience of planning early in regards to one’s life provides the opportunity to be empowered, she insisted.

As the baby boomer generation ages, more elder law attorneys will be necessary. Even though Baldwin enjoys working with the older generations, her ideal clientele includes a wide age range of individuals. “My goal is that when they are children or grandchildren they can come to talk about how they can be best prepared to live and to die,” Baldwin said.

In an ideal situation, individuals would meet with an elder law attorney early enough to provide adequate time to carefully craft a long-term plan and the necessary legal documents for their future. “Rather than use the documents as instruments of control, punishment, reward or ways to divide families, the documents developed with the elder law attorney can facilitate the individual’s opportunities to say thank you and effectively and efficiently distribute valuables, treasures and memories,” she said. The documents can facilitate decision making and health choices.

While a personal will can cause family strife, Baldwin is adamant that it can also serve as a helpful and sentimental value for loved ones. A written statement included in a will is the last chance to share memories with loved ones and say thank you. It is never too early to begin this compilation of messages to be left behind for family and friends to cherish forever, she said.

“Elder law is an invitation,” Baldwin said. “It is an opportunity for individuals to dare to assume the responsibility for one’s life plan and have the courage to ask others to share and assist in the implementation.”

Third-year UF Law student Jesus Suarez (pictured left with Rep. Dean Cannon, right) found this to be true as a visiting student at Florida State University College of Law while interning at the Florida House of Representatives.

The current Legislative Intern Program has 12 graduate students, including 10 second-and third-year law students, who work in various offices within the Florida House of Representatives. Of the 10 law students in the program, nine are students at Florida State University College of Law, which leaves Suarez the lone Gator in the bunch. But being the only Gator does not faze him because of the support of UF alumni in the area. “There are tons of Gators in the Capitol and throughout Tallahassee,” Suarez said. “It feels like home.”

With an undergraduate degree in finance, Suarez has served as a staff member to the Florida House of Representatives Economic Expansion and Infrastructure Council and said he enjoys the spontaneity of his job. “The great part is there is no typical day — different challenges every day,” he said.

Throughout his internship, Suarez has co-authored interim projects, bills, amendments and staff analysis. “During the course of the session I am responsible for tracking the progress of the bills I have been assigned as they make their way through both chambers,” he said. Along with the opportunity to witness how a bill is created and then introduced, Suarez said he has enjoyed the opportunity to meet with different legislators. “It is a very hands-on experience,” he said.

After graduating this May, Suarez will return to his hometown of Miami, Fla. to join the Miami-Dade Office of the State Attorney. Suarez said he believes that learning firsthand through his internship how laws are created will serve as a great asset when deconstructing laws as a future litigator.

Students in the Legislative Intern Program work part time from September through January and can choose to work full time from February through May to help with the demanding workload that comes with the legislative session. The State of Florida pays the interns’ tuition for a full year and provides compensation for the hours worked.

Suarez found the internship opportunity through career services and said he recommends anyone to learn more by visiting career services and the Legislative Intern Program Web site.

Even though he is miles away from his UF Law professors and fellow classmates, Suarez said he would have never passed up the chance. “For a law student there is no greater opportunity than to work with the state Legislature,” Suarez said.