From Fellows to Family
Inner City Law Center’s innovative Fellowship program has created unique opportunities for our organization to build relationships with students from law schools around the country who then go on to become integral parts of our team.
Two examples of this transformative program in action are Cherry Mullaguru and Sam Hecht, who both originally joined us from Harvard Law School as Legal Fellows and have now gone on to become vital, permanent members of Inner City Law Center’s Staff.
Sam Hecht
Q: Where does your passion for public service come from?
A: That comes from my parents. Both of them have dedicated their careers to public service: my mother in government and my father in housing legal aid and social justice non-profits. They inspired me to pursue a career in law and to try and make the world just a little bit better.
Q: What have you learned from your fellowship at Inner City Law Center?
A: During my fellowship at Inner City Law Center, I have learned how to use legal skills to effectively defend people in chaotic circumstances. I’ve also assisted in developing training for new attorneys and creating computer programs to help us better represent our clients.
Q: What does housing justice mean to you?
A: Housing justice, to me, embodies the idea that everyone should have access to secure and safe housing, regardless of their financial circumstances. It also includes a societal responsibility to share the burden of housing costs, rather than placing it solely on tenants or landlords.
Q: Tell us about a time you achieved a great outcome for a client and the impact your work had on the client’s life.
A: One of the most rewarding moments of my fellowship was when I helped prevent a landlord from illegally locking out my client and his four children after I had successfully gotten the eviction case dismissed. The client’s wife had died just two weeks before, and our victory allowed him and his family to bury her without the fear of homelessness looming over them.
Cherry Mullaguru
Q: Where does your passion for public service come from?
A: I went to law school to work in public interest – I am grateful for a career where I can devote my time and energy to helping alleviate extremely stressful and often dangerous situations for my clients. Throughout my career, the people I have served have inspired me and, despite my work often being just a band-aid against a torrent of societal injustice against those dealing with poverty, remind me that broader change is possible because it is necessary. I am an immigrant who grew up primarily in Southern California, and working to protect and improve the housing of Los Angeles residents is an honor to me.
Q: What have you learned from your fellowship at Inner City Law Center?
A: Through my fellowship, I was further able to understand the capabilities and limitations of representing a tenant in court. For my clients, losing their home can mean losing their child’s schooling, losing their jobs, and losing their communities. When I help a client, I can help them move towards having safe, stable housing, which has a huge impact on their lives. However, there are many times when there is not nearly enough that you can do for a client. There are too few resources for my elderly, undocumented clients who became too sick to work and therefore could not afford their rent. There are too many instances where the law and the court system are against our clients, and there is very little we can do for them. These experiences really cemented for me the importance of community organizing and legislative advocacy.
Q: What does housing justice mean to you?
A: Housing justice means housing as a human right. Housing is not a commodity meant to be traded and flipped and monetized with the sole aim of maximizing profits for big companies – it is a necessity for all human beings to live. Our current social and legal structures do not recognize this reality.
Q: Tell us about a time you achieved a great outcome for a client and the impact your work had on the client’s life.
A: I am always happy when I help keep my clients in their homes. In a more recent case, I was able to ensure that a working mother of two young children stayed in her apartment and kept her Section 8 voucher. In another case, my elderly client had been unable to prepare her unit for fumigation (which involved boxing up her entire kitchen, removing all clothing from the apartment, etc.) with just a couple days’ notice. We requested a reasonable accommodation, got her two weeks’ notice before the fumigation, and helped ensure that she understood and complied with all of the necessary steps. The case was dismissed, and she was able to remain in her longstanding, rent-stabilized tenancy.
