For my LRC family

Although I haven't written a great deal about my actual time at the Legal Resources Centre (for a variety of reasons, but primarily an issue of confidentiality in the legal profession), through a number of posts you will have been introduced to some of my colleagues at the LRC. In the past six and a half months I was given a wonderful opportunity to work with one of the most prominent legal NGOs in South Africa. An NGO who has been involved in some of the most important human rights cases in the new South Africa. But beyond all the organizational stuff, I have also been given the opportunity to work with an amazing group of people who are dedicated to making South Africa a really great place. So, here is my little blurb about my colleagues.

Sorry for the blur - this is right after my camera took a tumble.
But this is part of our office celebrating 30 years of the LRC in Durban. 

First, I have to start with Mahendra. Mahen is our office director and has a rich history with the LRC in both the Jo'berg and Durban offices. He has great stories about times at the LRC with some of the eminent alumni - George Bizos, Arthur Chaskalson, and Chris Nicholson. He is a wealth of information about the struggle for human rights in South Africa, particularly under the 1996 Constitution. But Mahen also makes me laugh on a regular basis. We have great chats... sometimes about the differences between our countries (Mahen has been to Calgary before), where the law is going on a certain issue, the position we should be taking on a certain case, but also the more mundane chats (fish tanks and mobile phones to name a few). I think it took us a little while to figure each other out, but I think we ended up working very well together, being able to challenge each other on strategic decisions in some cases, or working to reason out a strategy in others. So Mahendra, thank you so much for my time here at the LRC and for helping to make me a better lawyer.

Second, to Asha. Those of you who follow my blog will remember Asha from previous posts and my complete and utter admiration for her. Asha is our office manager, but more importantly I think she is also our strongest connection to the past struggles for human rights in South Africa. Asha is a woman who has committed her life to making South Africa the kind of place that it is capable of being. This commitment has, at times, absolutely consumed her life. She is the kind of person who makes change happen and I have so much respect for her. Like Mahendra, Asha and I have had some wonderful chats, particularly during tea time (where we generally seem to be the first people there). She has taught me so much about what it means to be South African, but also what it means to be truly engaged in the society you live in, no matter where it is, and how important this engagement is. Of everything I have learned from Asha, I think this will be the most important.

Celeste, Sbahle and Asha

Willene is an attorney at the office. She is also someone who took Ellie and I in like family (particularly for Ellie at Christmas). Her areas of work are vast and she has provided me with some of the most interesting work that I have done during my time at the LRC. Willene is selflessly committed to her clients and working to ensure that the most vulnerable people in society are taken care of - whether it is young women being kidnapped and forced into marriages, disabled persons who should be recieving adequate housing from the state, or elderly persons who are not being given their proper pensions. I like to think that in many ways, Willene and I are very similar people. We like the tough questions, grappling trying to find an answer. We both realise that the answer is not always a legal answer, and sometimes a policy answer is more appropriate.  Willene, thank you so much for taking me in and becoming part of my South African family.

My office neighbour, Celeste, is one of the most bubbley and wonderfully full of life lawyers I have ever met. This is probably a really horrible thing to say, but the thing I will remember most about Celeste is the news coverage of a double murder. It's a long story, but the case involved the murder of a couple by two of their children and their daughter's boyfriend (they were found guilty just last week and sentenced yesterday). Anyways, the story is quite sensational, but Celeste and I were always quick to open the paper at tea time to see the latest about the crazy Lotter kids and the 'third son of God' (although we were having difficulty identifying who the second son was...). Anyways, Celeste, I have had such a great time working with you and will miss hearing the latest adventures of Migelle. Can't wait 'till you come visit! Or maybe I will meet you some place exciting!

This would be a regular thing at morning tea time.
Celeste is clearly shocked at some story in The Mercury.

Thandeka is, in many ways, the closest to me experience-wise. We were both admitted to the practice in 2011 and are still working with our training wheels a bit. That being said, the work that Thandeka does really helps so many people in their everyday. The most time I spent with Thandeka was on our recent school visits. Long hours in the car chatting about all kinds of things. Thandeka's time at the LRC is also coming to an end fairly soon, so we have both been dealing with the job hunt and commiserating on how much we hate Skype and telephone interviews (the worst). So Thandeka, wherever you end up, I am sure you are going to be a great attorney. Good luck!

Thandeka on a school visit

Our paralegal Ma Cathy is, like Asha, a wealth of knowledge and experience. She is the woman in our office who helps more people on a day to day basis than anyone else. Cathy is from Lesotho and I knew that if the people of her country were anything like her, I would absolutely love Lesotho (and I did). Cathy is always the first person into the office in the morning and always welcomes me with a wonderful smile and good morning. There just must be something about women named Cathy, with a C or a K, they seem to have constant smiles on their faces and make the world a much brighter place.

Zooh, Thandeka and Cathy

The Candidate Attorneys - Emma. Like Willene, Emma and her family have very much adopted Ellie and me. Whether shopping (and she is a terrible influence on me and my pocket book) or having a lovely meal somewhere, Emma and I have shared lots of work and non-work adventures alike. It was really the COP17 March case that brought Emma and I together in the work context. Spending a great deal of time at meetings with the Metro Police and the Municipality, being yelled at by police officers over the phone (we learned that sometimes being the one with the accent seems to help you out when you are telling people something they don't want to hear, but sometimes that is just because they don't understand you) or struggling to get all of the annexures in the right place along with the proper pagination. Anyways Emma, I'm sure this will not be the last I see of you. Who knows, maybe someday I will meet up with you guys in Paris.

Thabile. Oh my goodness. I have to say, Thabile is probably the person at the office who made me feel the most welcome, right from the start. In the first couple weeks we seemed to take a lot of adventures trying to serve documents on people or pick things up in Pietermaritzberg. During this time I got to know a lot about Thabile and also about the differences in culture that we have experienced. Thabile regularly makes me laugh with her latest comparison between the newest technologies, whether cars, phones or laptops. And we have had more than one discussion on the pluses and minuses of working at a corporate firm. So Thabile, wherever you end up and whatever you end up doing, I wish you the very best and hope that you finally decide on a new phone.

During my time with the LRC, there have been four other interns - Catherine, MK, Daniel and Thinn. Catherine was here for most of the first half of my internship, heading back to the States after the holidays. MK is from the East Cape, but an LLM student at UKZN and has been around my entire time here. Daniel, a native Durbanite (or should I say Pinetownian?) arrived from Michigan in February and will continue on for a month after I head home. Thinn is a very recent addition from the UK, having only arrived at the LRC the first full week of March. Each of these interns has brought something important to the LRC. I think working with other interns made me realise the important role that interns play at this office. We are not only here to research and write, but we are also expected to bring our different backgrounds to the discussions; to bring lessons learned. South Africa is a place that in the legal realm seems very willing to take lessons learned from other jurisdictions and that is probably where our role as foreign interns is the most important. I like to think that we also make the office a little more exciting.

Sbahle...I don't know what her exact title would be, but I will tell you she is one of those people that makes our office run so much better. Everyday Sbahle will quietly pass by your door and announce that tea is ready in the boardroom. And as you may have figured out, I really like tea time (even if I don't really drink tea). Sbahle and I also shared some laughs and frustrations when my office had a little waterfall in it. The smell was terrible and, as the water was coming through the light fixture, the room was probably not particularly safe, but Sbahle and I got the buckets out and tried to get the smell out of the room. For all the little things you do around the office (and obviously the big things too), thanks so much.

And to our receptionist - Zooh. One day Daniel and Emma asked me who I would miss most in the office. Knowing that they were actually asking which one of them I liked more, I said, in all honesty, that on a day to day basis the person that I wish I could take with me to any office I worked at in the future would be Zuziwe. She always has the brightest smile and a laugh to go along with it. She is one of those people who carries with her a love for life at all times and shares it with the people around her. She also has a wicked sense of style. Zooh, I will miss you a ton!

My time at the LRC has been a learning experience that I am so grateful for. I will be a better lawyer because of my time here. I also think that I will be a better person because of my time here. So, to everybody at the LRC, thanks so much for everything.