November 14 , 2007        

Malik Rahim Visited Touro Law Center
Co-Founder of Common Ground Discussed Ways the Legal Community
Can Help Restore Justice in the Post-Katrina Gulf Coast Region

Central Islip, N.Y. – On November 8, Touro Law Center hosted a one-hour exclusive New York area appearance by Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground, a community initiated volunteer organization dedicated to assistance, mutual aid and support throughout the post Katrina Gulf Coast region on Thursday, November 8. The visit was coordinated through Touro Law’s Student Hurricane Network, in conjunction with the Black Law Students Association, Student Bar Association and Public Interest Law Students of Touro.

Rahim was the first to deliver food, water and medical supplies to thousands of low-income residents unable to evacuate the lower 9th Ward of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He was relentless in restoring hope to those who felt as though they had been abandoned.

Rahim’s efforts have inspired a deepened sense of civic responsibility for hundreds of law student volunteers from around the nation who have since joined the cause. His visit to Touro is designed specifically to increase awareness in the law school community as to the severity of the ongoing legal issues still outstanding in the Gulf Coast region and the myriad of ways the legal community could help restore justice in the area.

“There is still a lot of work to be done in the Gulf Coast region and law students are a motivated group of individuals who are able to really make a difference,” said Thomas Maligno, Director of Public Interest and Executive Director of the Public Advocacy Center who also is the advisor to the Touro Law Student Hurricane Network. “Our students are dedicated to restoring justice and helping in whatever way they are able. Student interest in becoming volunteers has increased each year since the hurricane.”

Since Hurricane Katrina, law students from around the country have volunteered to help solve legal issues in New Orleans by working with legal agencies in the region. Last year, thirty-one Touro Law students went to New Orleans during their spring break through the Student Hurricane Network student organization. Touro Law will be providing DVD copies of Malik Rahim’s speech to all other law schools in New York.

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Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center has a cutting-edge academic plan and a new 185,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art law campus adjacent to and working with a state and a federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York. Touro’s new campus provides a one-of-a kind learning model for law students, combining a rigorous curriculum taught by expert faculty with a practical courtroom experience. Touro, which has a student body of approximately 750 and an alumni base of more than 5,000, offers full- and part-time J.D. programs as well as graduate law programs.

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