The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut Teaches Future Attorneys About Servicemember Specific Laws and Protections

On September 7, 2017, members of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut (“USAO-CT”), including Assistant United States Attorneys Ndidi Moses, Anastasia King, and Natalie Elicker, taught a class focused on the Servicemembers and  Veterans Initiative (“SVI”) to students at the University of Connecticut School of Law as part of a year-long United States Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Clinic course.  In the first half-semester of the clinical course, students are introduced to civil rights law and issues through classroom teaching.  In the SVI class on September 7, 2017, students were introduced to the laws that protect servicemembers’ and veterans’ employment and reemployment rights, voting protections, and financial rights.  There were also provided with background information regarding the seven federal uniformed services, service in the reserve components, and service in the National Guard, as well as information on the critical role of military legal assistance attorneys in identifying potential civil rights violations and helping to protect servicemembers’ and veterans’ rights.  To prepare for class, students reviewed relevant case law, sample consent decrees entered under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”) and Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (“UOCAVA”), the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ’s”) SVI website and brochure, the DOJ’s pamphlet on disability rights issues for returning servicemembers, and USAO-CT’s brochure regarding its Affirmative Civil Enforcement and Civil Rights Unit.  During class, the students worked in groups to analyze hypothetical cases arising under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”) or the SCRA.  Students will spend the second half of the fall semester, and all of the spring semester, working at least 12 hours per week in the USAO-CT’s three branch offices on civil and criminal civil rights cases, including SVI issues.