Ricardo Santiago is a second-year law student with a strong history and commitment to service and volunteerism. While still in high school, Ricardo logged over 350 hours volunteering as a liner at the National Runaway Switchboard (now the National Runaway Safeline), handling calls from youth in crises, including runaways, missing children, mental crisis, and suicides. Since then, he has lent his time and skills to organizations such as Quest Theater Ensemble (now closed), providing free theater to the underprivileged communities for at least six years. He is also a member of Shriner’s International, a fraternal organization supporting Shriner’s Hospitals for Children, treating all children regardless of their ability to pay in specialized pediatric care such as Burns, orthopedics, and cleft palate.
Ricardo came to law school after working in consumer bankruptcy, providing relief to individuals and families filing Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases, and personal injury, helping clients deal with life-altering injuries due to the negligence of others. As a law student, Ricardo is the Training Manager for the Self-Help Web Center at the Daley Center, where he helps train fellow law students to provide legal information and assist pro se litigants fill out court forms, pleadings, and complaints. He also volunteered with the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) by screening applicants for immigration benefits. Ricardo currently works as a law clerk for an immigration law firm. In January 2020, Ricardo traveled to New Orleans with the Student Humanitarian Network where he served as a volunteer law clerk for the Public Defenders Office.
Ricardo is very proud to serve as the Director of Outreach for the Student Humanitarian Network, and, as an organization, we are lucky to have him.