Scott Idiart was a law student who clerked at the Olender Pro Bono Project as a Pro Bono Advocate on pro bono matters Summer 2012.  His experience included client intake interviews, working with transgendered people facing persecution in Latin America, victims of domestic violence, a jail visit to a client in detention and even speaking about his work on Bay Area radio station KSJO 92.3.

Scott worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in San José, Costa Rica researching racism, discrimination and xenophobia confronting indigenous groups and afro-descendants throughout Latin America.  As part of his work he prepared reports detailing legislative strategies that some Spanish-speaking countries have implemented to improve the situation of refugee and asylum seekers.
 

Scott studied in the education abroad program at the University of Alcala de Henares at Madrid, Spain and was on the Dean's List at University of California, Davis where he studied Spanish and philosopy.

Scott also worked with disabled children as an instructional aide at the Pacific Autism Center for Education (PACE) in Santa Clara, California where he worked one-on-one with austic children and young adults ages 6 to 22 to improve their communication skills and help them feel more comfortable in social settings.

PACE provides high quality programs for individuals with Autism and its related developmental disabilities, so they may experience the satisfaction and fulfillment that accompany learning, self-expression, self-care, productive work and interpersonal and community experiences.

Scott will worked summer 2012 on pro bono cases we received through direct inquiries, from the AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP), the San Francisco Bar Association's Volunteer Legal Services Program (VLSP) and through other agencies and sources.

Scott stopped by for a reunion and lunch on November 7, 2012 where we all discussed current projects and interesting developments in human rights and immigration law.

We are grateful that Scott helped us with these important cases.  Many clients we represent through our program would be otherwise unable to afford representation.  Statistics show that asylees and others in removal proceedings enjoy significantly improved outcomes with skilled representation.