Fighting breast cancer is a daunting challenge: medical, social, emotional and, at times, legal. One in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. The diagnosis is devastating to all affected but for low-income women it is especially critical.

Haley Schwartz developed the Breast Cancer Legal Project after discovering that breast cancer patients faced categorical legal challenges in all stages of their battle to survive.

For patients with limited resources and lacking systems of support, Haley felt that a legal advocate should be an essential part of a patient’s support system. An advocate has the skills and ability to work within the legal aspects of the medical, economic and personal issues that arise when patients are debilitated by their illness.

Haley’s project focused on legal issues including, but not limited to, obtaining and maintaining public benefits; appealing insurance coverage denials; and preparing wills and other advance directives. She believes that knowledge of these legal tools and access to legal services needs to be incorporated into patients’ care plans. To make this possible, she helps train volunteer attorneys and paralegals to educate patients, medical service providers and advocacy groups.

What began as a project for an Equal Justice Works Fellow is now a new division of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society Health Law Unit. In 2009, Haley was recognized by the American Cancer Society for her work as Director of the Breast Cancer Legal Project, receiving a Lane W. Adams Quality of Life Award.

Haley Schwartz
2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow
Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc., Atlanta, GA
Sponsor: Ford & Harrison LLP
Emory University School of Law, 2005