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By: Allen J. Greer ‘25
During my time this summer as an intern with Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project in their housing department. I was able to have many great experiences. I will always remember VLP, and the impact I made in the limited amount of time I was helping families with housing. One experience stuck out for me. It was at AOM “Attorney of the Morning”, where low-income tenants that are facing eviction in landlord/tenant proceedings are helped by lawyers to understand their rights and have representation. It was a busy day of doing intakes, and I tried my best to give everyone a smile symbolizing that they had someone in their corner. Unexpectedly, a child ran up to me on the seventh floor of Buffalo City Court and said to his mother “HE LOOKS LIKE ME!”.
As a Black man and future lawyer, I never understood the importance of representation so much as in that moment. It is comforting to people to have someone with similar life experiences, and who can relate to how certain cultures express their emotions. For a better future and hopeful children, the need to see themselves in positions of being a lawyer, engineer, doctor, teacher, and the list goes on. I now feel even more strongly than before after going through, and in some cases still having, imposter syndrome, that I belong here in law school more than ever not only for my children but for little black boys and girls who will see me one day and say, “He looks like me.”
Unfortunately, at this point and time in our countries history it would seem many would like to be color blind and treat everyone the same by ignoring historical factors that may have led certain groups of people to having higher housing disparities. Access to housing, healthcare, the justice system, and even living in areas with more pollution has never been blind to targeted groups of color. [1] To properly address these inequalities it takes the willingness to admit they exist, and not just saying everyone is the same so we have a false comfort for some, and a disregard of others lived experiences. An honest look into historically excluded peoples, not because they lacked merit, didn’t work hard, or even when they excelled, but were relegated to be less than their counterparts. If justice is truly to be blind and the law is supposed to be fair for everyone, then in a city such as Buffalo NY where thirty-three percent of the population is Black people, there should be higher concentration of lawyers, professors in the Law School, and judges that are Black and have empathy towards people who have struggled.
The best people to solve a problem are the ones who have had to live through it. Buffalo is such a diverse and magnificent city for different cultures, and it is also the city of brotherly love. This was expressed very clearly after the Tops Shooting where Andre McNeil, Margus Morrison, Katherine Massey, Celestine Chaney, Geraldine Talley, Pearl Young, Heyward Patterson, Aaron Salter Jr., Ruth Whitfield, and the youngest Roberta Drury were killed by a racist in an act of gun violence [2]. Buffalo came together collectively to address the hatred that accosted our beautiful city. It is in that same spirit we can collectively make Buffalo heal, and uplift every community by being brothers and sisters in arms against all injustice, including the injustice of excluding people who represent a very large portion of those present in housing court that I saw over my short time. The road to a better tomorrow is seldom easy, but it is an endeavor worth doing none the less and I know my city of Buffalo can be the domino that sets into place a more diverse and unified nation. Where one day there will rarely be a Black child who says very loudly to their mother about a future attorney “HE LOOKS LIKE ME!”
I would like to send a big shout out to University at Buffalo School of Law Summer Public Interest Funding and Fellowship Program. As some will gather from the title, this blog is about opportunity and diversity in the law field. By providing funds to law students in public interest work, it lets us have experiences, and help others who we might not be able to otherwise due to financial situations of the student.
I’d also like to give a very special thanks to the Erie County Bar Association: Volunteer Lawyers Project. My experience with their housing department was amazing. Seeing lawyers and paralegals coming together to help some of the most vulnerable people in our community was amazing. It was only made better by the fact that I felt the difference I made in real time for some cases.
Last, but far from least, a very heart felt thank you to the Law Alumni Association Fellowship. I can honestly say what a world of difference those donations make to students like me. Due to several situations, I would not have been able to continue my internship without the kindness of our amazing alumni.
Name: Allen J. Greer ’25
Fellowship: University at Buffalo School of Law Alumni Association Fellowship
Placement: Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project
Location: Buffalo, NY
One things I learned from this fellowship: “In a world where you can be anything be kind.”
UB School of Law Responds 