Arthur Simpson

Disability Rights Washington
Seattle, WA

Arthur just finished his first year of law school at Seattle University School of Law. He graduated from Temple University in 2006 with a B.A. in English. He will be spending the summer interning with Disability Rights Washington. Disability Rights Washington (DRW) is a private non-profit organization that protects the rights of people with mental illnesses, developmental disabilities, and other disabilities throughout the state of Washington. Its mission is to "advance the dignity, equality, and self-determination of people with disabilities." Its focus on self-determination is best encapsulated by its motto "Nothing About Us Without Us."

Arthur spent six years working with the developmentally disabled in his hometown of Philadelphia. He was involved with the Special Olympics as well as a private company that worked with the developmentally disabled. He is excited to spend his first summer as a law student serving the disabled community in his capacity as an intern.

July 26, 2009

I am now eight weeks into my ten-week internship with Disability Rights Washington. My time with DRW has been deeply fulfilling. I have had the opportunity to strengthen my practical legal skills by partaking in legal research, writing, document review, and investigation. This is what I assumed would be at the core of my internship experience. To a certain extent, it was. But I have also witnessed firsthand what the contraction of state budgets can mean to people who rely on government assistance and entitlements.

As the economic tide has ebbed, it has left a considerable number of people gasping in shallow puddles. People with disabilities are uniquely vulnerable to the contraction of government-funded services, and it has been frustrating to see these services diminish or disappear entirely. This is especially true because in the absence of government funding, there is often no alternative for people who need assistance in order to lead as rich and balanced a life as possible.

On account of my frustration with this state of affairs, it has been life affirming to be involved with an organization that seeks to represent a vulnerable segment of the population. It has also made it very clear to me the that the state of legal service providers in Washington is tenuous, that these service providers are as much at the mercy of state and federal budgets as the people that they serve, and that the services providers are woefully under equipped to provide substantive assistance to all of the people who often desperately need them.

So while I have really enjoyed building my resume and adding to my legal toolkit, the most important aspect of my internship experience has been playing my part in fighting the good fight. Although my abilities have been limited by the fact that I have only completed 1/3 of my legal education thus far, I have done what I could to help, and that means more to me than any benefits to myself that I will be taking with me at the conclusion of my internship.

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June 25, 2009

As I sit down to write this journal entry, I am confronted by the fact that I have been at my internship at Disability Rights Washington for almost a month at this point. I had not reflected upon how much there has been to do, or how much there has been to learn, until I realized that time has been going by so quickly.

When I first arrived at DRW for my summer position, I was somewhat shell-shocked from my first year of law school. Scratch that. When I first arrived at DRW for my summer position, I was moderately to severely shell-shocked from my first year of law school. I had not had time to remember why I had come to law school in the first place since around the time of the torts final of the Fall semester. Luckily, I managed to get a summer position at DRW.

Within a few weeks of starting the internship, I began to answer phones as part of the intake process. Naturally, I can't get into the details of the conversations I have had, but suffice it to say that as I was walking to the bus one day after work, I got a cold, crisp slap of realization. That's right! I came to law school because I like to think of myself as a moral person! That's right! I actually want to help human beings! That's right! I don't value myself on scale of zero to four! That's right! Society is a mess and lawyers are sometimes the only ones who can help!

So anyways, thanks to the work I've been doing at DRW this summer, I now remember what made me decide on law school in the first place. It has also reminded me of why I chose to go to Seattle University for my legal education. And most importantly, it has been a stark reminder of how many people have ended up alone, scared, and powerless on the darkened fringes of our society, and that if future lawyers are unwilling to put their own personal ambitions and greed on the backburner every now and again, nobody is going to be able or willing to extend to them a hand and walk with them into the light that we take for granted.