DU Professor Lucy Marsh Leads the Tribal Wills Project Team, 0617 COBJ, Vol. 46 No. 6 Pg. 13
| Author | Amy McLellan, J. |
The SideBar
Amy McLellan, J.
DU Professor Lucy Marsh Leads the Tribal Wills Project Team
The Tribal Wills Project allows University of Denver law students to travel to American Indian reservations at the invitation of the tribes to spend a week drafting wills, medical powers of attorney, living wills, and burial instructions for tribal members. The students gain valuable experience interviewing clients, providing counsel, and drafting legal documents, with the assistance of volunteer attorneys.[1]
It always begins with a group meal, a celebration of the mission that we are undertaking, and a gracious thank you from our hostess for joining her on this journey. Professor Lucy Marsh has been organizing and overseeing two to three trips like this each year for the past four years. She was the only person to respond when John Roach, a fiduciary trust officer at the Office of the Special Trustee for Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, reached out to law schools requesting assistance. Professor Marsh is thrilled to have brought together such a large group of caring attorneys and soon-to-be attorneys for this project. You see her excitement in the way that she addresses the crowd, her insistence that we share a meal, and the joy that she takes in embracing the work that is ahead.
There are introductions: the students who have spent vacations and study periods to join previous trips, Colorado attorneys joining for the third or fourth time, local attorneys and students who are new to the Tribal Wills project. “Thing One” and “Thing Two,” Laura Gillen and Larry Rasmussen, Lucy’s friends from Vermont, come to ensure that everyone is fed and able to get where they are needed. Lucy has personally developed a fantastic network of friends and former students who donate time and money to help make this possible. This can only happen with donations, and fundraising is not the primary focus for someone who does all of this in her “spare” time. We are all anxious and excited for the week to come, not knowing exactly how it will come together, but certainly knowing that Professor Marsh will make it all happen.
We stay in a hotel near the reservation. As you drive through the rich landscape of the Southwest, you constantly appreciate its verdant...
To continue reading
Request your trial