Every month, Southern Arizona Legal Aid’s Volunteer Lawyers Program (VLP) recognizes a legal professional for their legal volunteerism. The award is a distinct honor. Of the 533 attorneys and paralegals who volunteer their time, twelve are recognized annually for their dedication to access to justice.
Gloria Goldman is the August 2021 Outstanding Volunteer of the Month Award Recipient.
Ms. Goldman is originally from Detroit, Michigan but moved to Tucson in 1974 with her husband. She graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit, but also attended the University of Michigan. She graduated with a degree in deaf education. Before law school, she enjoyed teaching the deaf. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law.
In her legal career, Ms. Goldman has focused her practice on immigration law. She appreciates that she has a very special connection to her practice, as she is an immigrant herself. Her parents were both survivors of the Holocaust, and both were the sole survivors of their respective families. Ms. Goldman was born in Germany after the war, and she came to America as a refugee at only six months old. As she phrased it, the United States gave her family a home when they needed one. Many of Ms. Goldman’s clients come from countries where there are governmental oppositions occurring, and people are in unsafe environments. She recognizes that she shares a commonality with her clients because she too has been helped.
Ms. Goldman admires when attorneys are honest and candid with clients regarding their cases. She has had many high points in her career, as she is often able to help families. She assists her clients with obtaining green cards, and she has in turn received beautiful letters from them. Ms. Goldman also has the pleasure of having her two children, Maurice and Larissa Goldman, work with her at her firm Goldman and Goldman, both having decided to become attorneys. A typical day at work for Ms. Goldman starts early in the office, working with clients, and also doing administrative work. She likes to spend a lot of time preparing her clients.
Ms. Goldman has volunteered at Southern Arizona Legal Aid on cases that involve abused women and children, as well as asylum work. She has also previously completed other volunteer work involving battered women. She is currently handling several direct representation immigration cases for the Volunteer Lawyers Program. She finds volunteering rewarding as she is able to help people that are in need and get results that change their lives.
Ms. Goldman utilizes her free time to travel, volunteering on archeological digs in Israel. She also enjoys the theater in New York. An inspirational figure for Ms. Goldman has been her mother. Her mother survived Auschwitz and raised her children after her husband’s passing.
