The Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP) had three great summer legal interns in 2016: Jeffrey Pettibone, University of San Francisco Law School; Jimmy Mulgannon, Santa Clara University Law School; and Katie Blatter Nielson, Brigham Young University.

Each intern was assigned to work with one HAP attorney to get hands- on experience and learn a broad range of relevant skills in a supportive environment.

As an example of the kind of work done by HAP interns, Pettibone worked with HAP’s Landlord-Tenant Supervising Attorney Erin Katayama and was involved in several interesting and successful cases. One of the most memorable cases was the representation of a tenant, who is disabled but working. The tenant rents a room in a flat that had a lot of problems, and the landlord was trying to evict her.

Pettibone represented the tenant at a rent board hearing and won, allowing Katayama and him to use that victory to support their defense in the eviction case. After several successful motions, the landlord gave up and dismissed the eviction case, and the tenant’s housing was saved.

For more inspiring stories from the Homeless Advocacy Project, visit www.sfbar.org/hap.