A Paralegal Gains Unique Insights on the Law
As an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University majoring in Public Health and Political Science, a legal career wasn’t on the horizon for Baltimore native Samiha Abd-Elazem. But her interest developed when she began tutoring incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people through a college program. “I wanted to look at the harm caused by the legal system and help tell the stories of those facing injustice,” she recalls.
Her two years as a paralegal at NSBHF, and in particular her work with clients who were wrongfully convicted, confirmed Samiha’s professional path. Samiha is currently a Public Service Scholar at Boston College Law School and started law school in Fall 2024 with more experience than most aspiring attorneys. “You can get so much experience here, probably more than other places, and be exposed to unique insights on the law,” says Samiha.
Samiha directly experienced all aspects of complex federal litigation during her tenure at NSBHF. This included working directly with partners on deposition preparation, providing paralegal support during a damages trial, and facilitating numerous case filings. Samiha recalls sitting with a client during a deposition in which NSBHF attorneys questioned a notorious former detective responsible for the client spending over two decades incarcerated. “Our client was so strong to sit and hear all those things,” she says. Samiha regularly met with clients and provided support to clients who are returning home with the pain, loss, and psychological damage that comes with spending years in prison.
“We rely on paralegals to do so many different things, to be creative about how we’re looking at new sources of evidence,” says Christina Mathias, one of the attorneys who regularly worked with Samiha. “What makes Samiha so great is she is a problem solver – she asks a lot of questions early on, learns how we put the cases together, what’s important. She’s incredibly resourceful, she just knows what to do.”
In one of Samiha’s cases, for example, the case team asked her to review 30 boxes of primary materials related to a client’s over two decades in prison. Samiha went through every box and helped piece together every encounter, interview, recording and official act that led to the wrongful conviction. Her comprehensive review included examining the voluminous evidence of the actions of a notorious former detective and a client’s personal documents. Reflecting on her review of a client’s prison journals, legal writings and – most poignantly – a high school yearbook detailing hopes and dreams for the future, Samiha shares “Sometimes we can get lost in how crazy these cases are — the egregious police misconduct — but it’s important to also focus on the person, who they are and what they went through, what they lost,” she says.
