Summer Stech 2006 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Aid Society of San Diego, San Diego, CA Sponsor(s): Latham & Watkins LLP Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth University of San Diego School of Law, 2006

Summer Stech works with the Children and Youth Advocacy Project (CYAP) in San Diego, California. Her project focuses on outreach and assistance to families in underserved communities who have children with developmental disabilities. Summer will provide advocacy and legal representation in connection with Individualized Education Program meetings, mediations and related due process hearings. In addition, Summer will help provide direct representation and transition education programs to youth with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 22. Summer's project will provide information about rights and obligations in a contract, renting an apartment, custody and child support and other relevant legal issues. Summer will be the only attorney in San Diego County focusing solely on the legal needs of developmentally disabled children and youth. Her work provides much needed legal representation to individuals with disabilities and ensures their inclusion in the San Diego community. She is well-suited for this Fellowship, having worked as a Special Education teacher in the San Diego Unified School District both prior to and while attending law school and having worked with persons with disabilities as a law clerk first with Protection and Advocacy Inc. in San Diego and then with Disability Rights Advocates in Berkley, California. She has also worked as a legal intern for both the Special Education Legal Clinic and the Children's Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law. Summer was also involved with several public interest activities at the University of San Diego School of Law. She served as president of the Public Interest Law Foundation and assisted the organization in raising over $40,000 for the school's loan repayment assistance program during her service. Summer was also a recipient of an Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair scholarship and a Summer Community Service Grant.