Have you ever read The Awkward Yeti? It's an online comic strip featuring Heart (a carefree, magic-loving dreamer) and Brain (a logical, reality-embracing cynic). Hosting Shannon Garcia, a Lewis & Clark Law School student who clerked with us for a year and a half, was like having our very own Heart in the office.
Shannon is passionate and enthusiastic about making a difference in people’s lives through her legal work. As legal extern and volunteer, she’s participated in all aspects of wage-and-hour and discrimination cases, investigated claims, drafted federal complaints, researched obscure areas of the law, and participated in trial preparation. She also kept us thoroughly entertained with her sunny disposition and amazing sense of humor.
Shannon believes that the work she has done while at NWJP has positively impacted low-income communities and has helped her to remain focused on the altruistic reasons that propelled her to pursue a legal career in the first place.
This month, Shannon is graduating from law school with a Global Law certificate and she hopes to continue working with communities in Oregon that are experiencing poverty. Regardless of what her future holds, we know one thing is certain: she will continue being the Heart wherever she goes.
Go forth and do justice, Shannon!