A journalist by trade, Kamau had been imprisoned for expressing his views against the government, and he longed for freedom. But when he arrived in America, the money went fast, and without secure immigration status and a social security number, he had few job prospects.

Kamau ended up at the East San Jose Community Law Center, referred by a refugee organization. He told his story to Santa Clara University law student Ann Renzi, and a lawyer at the center decided to take his case. Over the next few months, Renzi, under the supervision of attorney Lynette Parker, compiled documentation for Kamau's application for political asylum. Kamau interviewed with an immigration officer and then waited three more months, a time he says was filled with anxiety and uncertainty.

Finally, in July 2002, he was granted asylum.

"I knelt down to thank God for his decision," he wrote that summer to the center. "I also thanked Him for leading me to [you]."

Kamau's case is just one of thousands the center has handled since it was founded a decade ago by a group of Santa Clara University law students hoping to provide legal assistance to San Jose day workers who'd been cheated out of their pay.

The center's beginnings were quite humble, operating out of a former warehouse in Alum Rock, with cast-off furniture and no heating and air conditioning. And despite a move to sleek offices at the corner of Keeble and The Alameda a year ago, the center still serves as a place for the disadvantaged in the community to receive free legal advice and representation, as well as a place where Santa Clara University law students can gain academic credit and real-life work experience.

At the center, law students do the interviewing, paperwork and court representation, while a supervising attorney provides guidance and legal advice in the areas of immigration, small-business development, workers' rights, workers' compensation and consumer rights. With a staff of about 120 students and four attorneys, the center can assist more than 2,000 people a year.

"First-year students come to school with the desire to help the community, and we want to keep that fire kindled," said the center's executive director, Rose Garden resident Cynthia Mertens. "One of the ways to do it is to give them an opportunity to do something like this."

Many students describe the experience as not only fulfilling , but also a wake-up call to what life is like for the impoverished.

"This has been my first interaction with low-income people on a personal level," said third-year law student Trevor Caudle, who specializes in workers' compensation cases at the center. "It's brought home to me that there are people all around us and with us who have major legal problems and can't get the help they need. They don't have anywhere else to go—they put their legal lives in your hands."

Sheryl Ainsworth, another third-year student, agrees. "I don't think I understood before how many people were out there with legal problems," she said. "When you're here you see it case after case—people who don't make much money and basically we're their only resource."

Most of the cases that come through the law center are ones that private lawyers won't take because of the level of complexity and the lack of money involved, according to Mertens. The center is also one of the few in the area that provide advice and representation for political-asylum applicants and those situations covered by the Violence Against Women Act, making it a magnet for some of the most difficult and sensitive cases.

"Some of our cases are very, very emotionally charged," said Mertens. "Some of our cases would be a challenge for an attorney with many years of practice, and yet students are trained how to deal with those clients."

While many of the clients are referred to the center through outside agencies, some visit after attending one of the center's outreach workshops, held in ESL classes and day-worker centers throughout the San Jose area. In that program, law students lead classes, under the supervision of an attorney, on topics like employment and consumer rights. The workshops not only help people to realize when they've been taken advantage of, Mertens said, but can prevent legal problems down the road.

"We feel very strongly that if we can reach people before they get into trouble, they're going to be much better off," Mertens said.

As for the students, Mertens hopes that they will carry their memories and experiences working at the center into their own practices after graduation and continue a commitment to public service in the form of pro bono, or free, legal work.

After heading up the center for 21Ž2 years, she says that it's easy to see how the program sustains the idealism with which students begin law school. Meeting client upon client and hearing story after story, few students grow numb to the problems brought before them. In fact, the experience has the opposite effect.

"We see them catch on fire and just want to do more," Mertens said.

For more information about the East San Jose Community Law Center, call 408.288.7030 or visit 1030 The Alameda or http://www.scu.edu/law/esjclc.