Clinical Assistant Professor Gail Thomas meets with students in the Domestic Violence Clinic.
Clinical Programs The support and cooperation of several agencies allows students the opportunity to serve clients while developing their practice skills under the guidance of clinical faculty and extern supervisors. The Legal Clinic was awarded a grant of $40,000 from the Lawyers Trust Fund this year. Funds from LTF have supported the work of the Legal Services to Older Persons clinic for more than 20 years. The Clinic’s work is also funded by the Older Americans Act through the Egyptian Area Agency on Aging. The Domestic Violence Clinic is funded, in part, by a Violence Against Women Act grant through the U.S. Department of Justice. Additional support comes from a grant through a collaboration with Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance. 2009-10 Service Civil Practice/ Elder Law Clinic Domestic Violence Clinic Public Interest Externship
Clients Students Cases Students Student Placements
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Law School’s Self Help Legal Center coordinates with Jackson County Legal Self-Help Center In October, the SIU School of Law Library was announced as one of three locations in Jackson County where people who do not have a computer or internet access can come to use a computer to access the Jackson County Legal Self-Help Center. The internet-based center is a program of Illinois Legal Aid Online and the Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice to provide legal information directed to lower income, unrepresented litigants in Jackson County. “It was here, at the SIU School of Law that the first internet-based legal self-help center was established,” said Teri Ross of Illinois Legal Aid Online. “We are happy to be able to build on the strong tradition of the law school in being a leader in the provision of legal information to unrepresented, lower income people by opening this new self-help center,” she said. Librarians and law students are trained to assist patrons with finding legal information on the website. “No legal advice will be provided to people who use the internet-based center,” said Ross. “Only a licensed attorney can provide legal advice. The Jackson County Legal Self-Help Center can be accessed online at http://jackson.illinoislegalaid.org.
The website and legal information is developed and updated by Illinois Legal Aid Online, an Illinois nonprofit corporation. Similar centers have been opened in more than thirty counties of all sizes throughout Illinois. “While the legal self-help center is not an adequate substitute for representation by an attorney, it does provide legal information which can be helpful to the unrepresented litigant when he or she must go to court without an attorney,” said Joseph A. Dailing, Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice. The law school’s Self Help Legal Center, which has operated since 1998, receives an average of 51 calls and 11 e-mails per month. Between July 1, 2009 and July 1, 2010, the Center’s Website had 245,653 visitors. A grant from the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation through Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance provided the funding to purchase a computer, printer and supplies for the new legal self-help center. The Illinois Equal Justice Foundation receives it funding through an appropriation from the Illinois General Assembly. 23