UNM Law students help land grants and acequias with legal assistance - New Mexico Political Report

55 mins ago

Acequias

By Nicole Maxwell | 55 mins ago

The Community Governance Attorney Program, established successful 2019, helps acequias and onshore grants erstwhile they request ineligible assistance by partnering them with instrumentality students.

Elisabeth Gutierrez of Las Cruces and Victoria Lovato of Ojo Caliente are third-year University of New Mexico School of Law students participating successful the Community Governance Attorney Program.

Participants successful the programme presented the Community Governance Attorney Program’s advancement astatine the Land Grant Committee gathering connected Oct. 20 successful Chilili.

“Today is simply a precise peculiar time due to the fact that this is simply a programme that took years of enactment by the (Land Grant Committee) to marque this travel to fruition,” Mark Edwards of the New Mexico Legislative Council Service said. “These 2 students are the precise archetypal pupil lawyer (in the program).”

Both pupil attorneys person past with onshore grants and acequias.

“My full beingness I’ve heard each astir onshore grants:  the good, the bad, the laugh-through-the-tears and it taught maine a heavy emotion of past and a heavy emotion for my community,” Lovato said. “I studied past and Spanish astatine New Mexico State University and erstwhile I came to instrumentality school, I was truly hoping to person an accidental to beryllium guided towards my passionateness and I consciousness this (program) was conscionable that.”

Lovato has a one-year clerkship with New Mexico Supreme Court Justice David K. Thompson that volition hold her entranceway into Legal Aid.

“I americium excited to instrumentality that cognition and skills that I summation and usage them to the betterment of my community,” Lovato said. “I’m precise honored to beryllium a portion of this programme and precise honored to beryllium present today.”

Gutierrez’ household is from the Tularosa country and she has moved astir including increasing up successful the colonias communities.

“I person experiences with a batch of antithetic communities increasing up and I wanted to beryllium portion of the onshore assistance programme due to the fact that I initially went to instrumentality schoolhouse to assistance with h2o issues and h2o law,” Gutierrez said. “I decided going into instrumentality schoolhouse would beryllium a amended mode to bash that.”

Gutierrez studied cultivation economics astatine New Mexico State University anterior to entering instrumentality school.

“I americium truly excited to get started,” Gutierrez said. 

Gutierrez begins her tenure astatine Legal Aid successful Spring 2023.

The Community Governance Attorney Program’s Director Adrian Oglesby was incapable to be the Land Grant Committee meeting.

The programme was established done authorities successful 2019 to supply ineligible services for acequias, onshore grants-mercedes and low-income residents of colonias. 

The Land Grant Committee worked connected establishing the Community Governance Attorney Program since earlier 2014 done meetings with the University of New Mexico School of Law, Edwards said. 

The Community Governance Attorney Act besides provides a tuition waiver for participants and sets up a money and commission.

Legally, the New Mexico Legislature cannot found a assistance program. 

“These students motion a declaration (saying) that they are going to enactment for Legal Aid connected behalf of the onshore grants, acequias and colonias for 2 years aft instrumentality school,” Edwards said. “They’re going to get paid immoderate the minimum introduction level wage is astatine Legal Aid and successful instrumentality for that, the State waives tuition and each different costs for their 3rd twelvemonth of instrumentality school.”