{"id":3007,"date":"2026-03-16T10:41:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/march-2026\/?p=3007"},"modified":"2026-04-08T11:23:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:23:24","slug":"law-students-see-veterans-challenges-on-asheville-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/law-students-see-veterans-challenges-on-asheville-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Law Students See Veterans\u2019 Challenges on Asheville Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"group<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By: Caroline Daly, University Communications and Marketing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNC School of Law students learned about the intersection between military, veterans, and law on a trip to Asheville, where they assisted veterans acclimating to life after the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to be more effective advocates for their current clients. And they\u2019re going to be better North Carolinians because they\u2019re going out to do pro bono work and help veterans,\u201d said John Brooker<\/a> \u201903, Wade Edwards Term Professor of Law and director of the Military and Veterans Law Clinic<\/a>. \u201cMany students have family members or friends in the military. What these folks are doing is learning in the clinic about veterans affairs by taking it out of the book and putting it into real-life practice, which makes them more effective advocates and North Carolinians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students worked with the Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry, which runs the Veterans Restoration Quarters, a shelter where veterans can live rent-free for two years. The facility offers life skills and job training, three meals a day, counseling appointments, Veterans Affairs benefits, and drug and alcohol rehabilitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About eight Carolina students joined Wake Forest School of Law students on the visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving a job and being fed three meals a day is what most people need to get back on their feet,\u201d said Mya Fernandez, a third-year Carolina Law student who went on the trip. \u201cGiving people a sense of purpose and a place to stay helps the most.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students also met with officials from the Buncombe County Veterans Treatment Court and watched proceedings in the Buncombe County Adult Drug Treatment Court to learn how to be more effective client advocates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to learn from real judges, court administrators, prosecutors, and defense counsel in the courtroom while meeting everyone involved in the process,\u201d said Brooker. \u201cThis helps them understand on a deeper, granular level how the process works versus just reading a conviction on paper and making a judgment based on that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students then toured the Veterans Affairs hospital in Asheville, learning about the physical and mental health challenges that veterans face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooker was an attorney in the U.S. Army, defending soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. As a disabled veteran with PTSD, he now advocates for veterans facing these challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur clients have mental health struggles, so our students are going to talk with actual providers who treat them every day and share their experiences,\u201d said Brooker. \u201cThis helps them learn from those providers about what are the biggest challenges they face, what they\u2019re going to learn from them, what\u2019s the thing we can do to help the most. They build networks and relationships and learn firsthand by doing versus by reading.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of their trip, students met with law school alumni in the Asheville area and reflected on what they had learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt really was an amazing opportunity to get to see the resources and people willing to help,\u201d said Fernandez. \u201cI had never had any experience working with veterans prior to coming to the Military and Veterans Law Clinic, but I\u2019ve been able to put myself in my client\u2019s shoes through this opportunity. If you are willing to help in any small way, I would get involved, as veterans greatly appreciate the help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooker agreed, \u201cLaw students can better understand what resources are out there, what their clients are going through and learn more about the intersection of addiction and criminal law. We\u2019re getting students out of the four walls of our classrooms in Chapel Hill and seeing this happen in real life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carolina Law students didn’t just read about the challenges veterans face after leaving the military. They went to Asheville to see them firsthand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3252,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3007"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3412,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3007\/revisions\/3412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.law.unc.edu\/spring-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}