Aliyah McLaurin Joins Estate Planning Project, within the Veterans Legal Clinic as DAV Charitable Service Trust Fellow 

By: Elaine McArdle

We are very pleased to announce that Aliyah McLaurin has joined LSC’s Veterans Legal Clinic as the DAV Charitable Service Trust Fellow.  McLaurin will represent veterans and their families in the Estate Planning Project.  Her work in the Project will enable her to carry forward her twin passions or providing  legal services for veterans with disabilities and practicing estate planning law. 

“I am thankful to DAV and LSC for the opportunity to continue working with veterans and using my skills to support veterans,” says McLaurin, who graduated from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University in May and joined LSC on September 16. “I am grateful for the opportunity to be selected as the DAV Charitable Service Trust Fellow, and I look forward to furthering DAV’s mission of empowering disabled veterans.” 

“Aliyah has a demonstrated commitment to providing legal aid to veterans in need and a passion for estate planning. We are delighted she will be combining these interests in her work at LSC,” says Destini M. Agüero, LSC deputy director and director of the Estate Planning Project of the Veterans Legal Clinic. 

“Our partnership with DAV is the cornerstone of our advocacy on behalf of veterans. We could not be more thrilled that someone of Aliyah’s talent and dedication to the veteran community will hold the title of DAV Charitable Service Trust Fellow,” says Daniel Nagin, faculty director of LSC and the Veterans Law & Disability Clinic. 

At Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, from which she graduated magna cum laude with an undergraduate degree in Law & Society and a minor in psychology, McLaurin joined the American Sign Language club as a freshman and served as its vice president for two years.  “No one in my family is deaf, but I think it is such a beautiful language and I wanted to be able to connect with deaf or hard of hearing community,” she says.  

At Hofstra Law, McLaurin found a passion for trusts and estates work and planned to practice in that area. “I was really excited about it,” says McLaurin, who founded the Volunteer Planning Advanced Directives student organization at Hofstra and served as president of the Trusts and Estates Law Society. 

McLaurin worked extensively with veterans through Hofstra’s Robert W. Entenmann Veterans Law Clinic. McLaurin spent two semesters representing veterans in discharge upgrade cases and other cases related to their disabilities. “I really loved working with veterans, who were so kind, so sweet, but who went through some of the hardest things,” she says. 

At LSC, she will work with veterans on a variety of estate planning matters, including wills, health care proxies, medical directives, and more, and she also is interested in working with incarcerated veterans. “I feel being here will open so many doors for me,” McLaurin says. “I love being here. Everyone is so welcoming.  And it is such a privilege to be an advocate for the veteran community.” 

 

About DAV (Disabled American Veterans) Charitable Service Trust

DAV (Disabled American Veterans) Charitable Service Trust is dedicated to one, single purpose: empowering veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity. To carry out this responsibility, the DAV Charitable Service Trust supports physical and psychological rehabilitation programs; enhances research and mobility for veterans with amputations and spinal cord injuries; benefits aging veterans; aids and shelters homeless veterans; and evaluates and addresses the needs of veterans wounded in recent wars and conflicts. For those of every era, the Trust also supports programs that benefit the caregivers and families of ill and injured veterans. For more than 30 years, the DAV Charitable Service Trust has played a critical role in the support of ill and injured veterans, their families and caregivers as they navigate the challenges of life after combat. Each year, the organization assists thousands of America’s heroes through targeted grant support of charitable initiatives across the nation. For more information, please visit https://cst.dav.org/