This summer, Legal Interns Lorena Diaz-Germes and Richard Green successfully completed their internship at the Center for New York City Neighborhoods. Here are their reflections on their experience at the Center and the contributions they made toward promoting affordable and accessible homeownership.
From Lorena Diaz-Germes; Albany Law School, Class of 2026:
Pursuing a legal education has been a lifelong dream of mine and soon after starting law school, I found myself immersed in the law student experience — both in the classroom and the community. After completing a 2020 summer internship at Communities Resist, a community-based law office in Brooklyn that helps homeowners combat predatory capitalism, gentrification, and structured racism, I saw the value of helping homeowners assert their rights and protect their homes. I witnessed how easily people were displaced from their homes and faced discrimination, and I vowed to find somewhere where my work would have an impact.
This year, I searched for opportunities in the area of affordable homeownership and housing law and started a legal internship with the Center for New York City Neighborhoods — an organization that has a mission centered on promoting and protecting affordable homeownership in New York so that middle- and working-class families are able to build strong, thriving communities. In my role as a legal intern at the Center, I was able to work on projects that varied both in structure and content. I was tasked with assisting in contract drafting (which is a lot more fun than it sounds!), writing legal memos about Supreme Court decisions, researching the process of responding to subpoenas, presenting a confidential information refresher course to Center staff, abstracting contractual agreements, and more. Each assignment has furthered my knowledge and legal career, and I am ecstatic to have had this opportunity and apply what I’ve learned to law school and in future internships.
This internship has solidified for me that I want to work more in the world of affordable housing and homeowner protection. My gratitude to my supervising attorneys is unwavering, and I look forward to building lifelong connections with them. Each member of the Center’s Legal team took the time to get to know me as an intern, worked with me one-on-one, and made time for me when I had questions about assignments. I was able to brief the team on the projects I was working on and provide my input in team discussions, which was always valued. It was an honor to spend a summer at the Center; the experience has left me inspired and invigorated as I begin a new year of law school.
From Richard Green; Fordham University School of Law, Class of 2025:
My summer internship with the Center for New York City Neighborhoods has been one of the most valuable experiences I could ask for in my journey toward an impactful legal career. Working with attorneys and other staff who are both like-minded and extremely knowledgeable has been both enlightening and inspiring for me.
As I head into my final year of law school, I feel energized and prepared for whatever challenges await me, in large part due to the internship program’s structure. The projects I handled varied not only in format but also in subject matter. One day, I would be collaborating with my fellow intern on a memo regarding the legal risks and ramifications of a Supreme Court decision on the Center and its workplace policies, and the next, I would receive hands-on experience with dissecting a funding agreement and analyzing its terms to ensure organization-wide compliance. One thing I learned from my supervising attorneys is that it’s important to not only carry out your work professionally but also to have a strong commitment to advocacy. The Legal team is both sword and shield for the Center, and their willingness to let me take ownership of my work helped me realize just how much goes into the role of in-house counsel. All of the attorneys on the Legal Team have a clear passion for the Center’s work, and going forward, I hope to embody that same passion in my own legal career.
One of the most remarkable features of this internship is the exposure I gained to the world of affordable housing. I was able to make meaningful connections with both internal and external stakeholders, from staff members advocating on behalf of the Center’s community land trust to [New York] City Council members working on new tax lien sale legislation to further protect vulnerable homeowners, and attorneys at other legal services organizations partnering with the Center to advance the fight for affordable homeownership. Through this experience, I learned that there are myriad ways to advocate for affordable housing, and that there are so many people who work hard every day to do so. As someone from a family that migrated to this country and struggled for years to secure sustainable and affordable housing, I am extremely grateful for the work that the Center does and for the opportunity to contribute to that effort. I hope my summer experience can inspire others to contribute to the world in the same way the Center has inspired me.