University of Maryland Law Students Travel to New Orleans in the Ongoing Relief Effort BALTIMORE, MD (wypr) - University of Maryland Law School students returned recently from the school's third education and helping mission to New Orleans. They worked with lawyers, judges and home re-builders, helping a lot and learning a lot about themselves. WYPR's Senior News Analyst Fraser Smith reports.

One contingent of Maryland students called itself, the Baton Rouge 10. They were part of a law school brigade working in the courts of the state capitol - taking personal histories of accused prisoners to assist over-burdened public defenders . They were in Louisiana, for the third year in a row, to help with the continuing effort t to rebuild..

They had extraordinary learning experiences - one in particular that many students still talk about.

Early on, a Louisiana judge had a question for one of them, Eric Garvey of Waldorf, Maryland.

What was the difference between Maryland and Louisiana? he asked in open court. University of Maryland Law School professor, Doug Colbert, an adviser on all of the trips, explains what happened next.

TAPE: (26 SECONDS) Track 1 1:01:27
IC: Eric pauses. And thinks and says Louisiana is the national football champion of the world, of the country. The whole courtroom burst into laughter.

Several students thought their classmate had skillfully managed a moment with disastrous potential. What if he had been critical of the Louisiana's treatment of prisoners.?

It showed, Colbert says, how Maryland students think on their feet.

Eric Garvey says:

TAPE: (XX SECONDS), Track 1: 1:13:22
IC: It popped into my head and I said it. Thankfully the judge was an LSU fan. He agreed and the whole courtroom agreed . The people of Louisiana really treated us well and that was a shining example of that. 1:14:38

Several students who made the trip last year, thought New Orelinians were happier this year. Brigid Ryan of Takoma Park says the Katrina project has helped the stricken state in two ways.

TAPE: (40 SECONDS), Track 1 56:00
IC: One is the practical side of actually interviewing a portion of the several thousand people who were displaced and relocated to other prisons. Or who were just lost in the system. I also think there was a spiritual impact. I think over 3,000 students doing anything gets a lot of attention.

And attention from other law students. In the first year, there were about 30 students from Maryland. Last year, the number was 53. And this year, it's 76.

Anne Deedy, a third-year student, who's working now in the Baltimore public defender's office, marvels at how this program has become part of the law school culture.

TAPE: (15 SECONDS), Track 1 1:20:35
IC: It's amazing. Something that started as an idea with a few students has become a rite of passage.

Ingrid Lofgrin, a double degree student in law and social work, says the project re-confirmed her decision to take on such a challenge. She wondered if her law school classmates would share her idealism - and found those concerns more than unfounded.

TAPE: (22 SECONDS), Track 1 ,1:06:22
IC: I was so worried that I wouldn't find kindred spirits here. I felt I would be really out of place and that it would be a personal struggle for me.

New Orleans introduced her to a growing cadre of caring advocates.

TAPE: (14 SECONDS), Track 1 1:06:35
IC: I was so impressed I'm so excited that these people are going to be my colleagues. I really hope that we' really going to be able to make change.

She and others were admiring - and proud - of Eric. He says the football moment was secondary to seeing beyond the textbooks to the stakes involved in having a legal system that works.

TAPE: (21 SECONDS), Track 1 1:16:44
IC: Being a lawyer is about helping people and you lose sight of that. It helped us reconnect. These aren't just names, faceless people. These are real lives and these are real people.

I'm Fraser Smith, reporting from downtown Baltimore, for 88-1, WYPR.
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