Larry Futrell

The most memorable part of my summer was…

I will never forget meeting the first client that I would ever represent in court. As a single mom living in
public housing, her living conditions were inhabitable; not to mention, she was facing summary
ejectment. Upon interviewing the client, I knew that she deserved competent advocacy. Therefore, I
committed myself to learning everything I could about the summary ejectment process. I was then able
to build my case around defenses such as tender, retaliatory eviction, and minimum rent. Although I did
not win this case, the Magistrate found me very convincing and competent. Moreover, other citizens in
the courtroom asked for my business card to possibly represent them in the future. While flattered, I
was forced to inform them that I had not taken the bar yet. Such circumstances gave me the confidence
to represent other clients throughout my internship.

What did this summer experience teach you about yourself or the role you want to play as a lawyer?

Growing up, I aspired to affect change in my community and positively impact citizens. Through working
in the LANC-Ahoskie local office, I was able to get a glimpse at what life would be like as a staff attorney.
Although each day brought something different, each day required that I utilized attention to detail,
yield empathy to each client, and apply the skills that I learned in law school to strategize solutions for
clients in need. Working in a local office provided me with the opportunity to complete a myriad of tasks
from researching special topics, drafting demand letters, filing answers and counterclaims, representing
clients in court, and so much more. While representing tenants in summary ejectment cases are
paramount alone, sometimes the time constraints also added to the pressure of the task at hand. Due to
the rich experience that I gained this summer, I can confidently approach my last year of law school
knowing that helping my community as an attorney is something that I was born to do. LANC helped me
overcome my fears of the future through daily opportunities to prove to myself that I am more than
able to become a leader in this profession. Overall, LANC taught me the importance of utilizing strategy
and empathy to impact lives. Therefore, as a future attorney, I can’t wait to utilize such skills to impact
the members of my community.