CALIFORNIA WESTERN’S CLINICS
COMMUNITY LAW PROJECT California Western’s Community Law Project (CLP) believes that prevention is always less burdensome than remediation. The goal of this law student clinical program is to serve low-income, vulnerable, and homeless individuals in the San Diego community by providing free legal advice, assistance in navigating through complex social systems, and referrals to resources that help build self-sufficiency and economic opportunity. CLP accomplishes this while simultaneously developing a commitment to public service in California Western School of Law students. “My favorite part about CLP is empowering clients and educating clients about their rights because it allows clients to protect themselves and prevent further injustice. Clients come to us with a legal conflict they need help solving and often we can get them connected to other resources that may be useful to them, such as resources for housing or government assistance. CLP utilizes volunteer attorneys
from the community and is always looking for more, particularly those who practice in specialty areas that are common areas of concern for clients such as family, estate, and consumer law. The more legal advocates we have at CLP, the more clients we can serve and get connected to crucial information and resources,” said Sydney Castillo-Johnson ‘21, CLP’s Student Manager. To date, CLP has served more than 6,000 clients at our clinics located in downtown, North County San Diego, and City Heights. According to Dana Sisitsky, Esq., Executive Director of CLP, their motto is to, ‘Meet people where they are’ emphasizing how they create an inclusive and accessible pathway to accessing legal services by positioning CLP clinics in locations that are convenient and comfortable for those most in need. CLP also hosts legal community
education presentations across the County, working with our partners to ensure that the programming responds to identified community legal needs and is presented in a culturally and linguistically appropriate way. Since its inception, CLP has received numerous honors including the State Bar of California’s President’s Pro Bono Service Award. CLP is fortunate to have the assistance of up to 16 California Western School of Law students per trimester who participate in this clinical opportunity and approximately 75 local attorneys who provide student mentoring and pro bono legal assistance to clients. CLP would not be able to accomplish this work without the financial and in-kind support of both companies and individuals. You can help support CLP by contributing funds, legal skills, and/or time. To learn more, visit https://cwclp.org/.
ALUMNI NEWSLETTER 19
