DEPAUL LEGAL CLINIC SPOTLIGHT
JULIE LAWTON Associate Dean for Experiential Learning Welcome to the Experiential Learning marketing and application period for Fall 2022! While Experiential Learning offers many opportunities including Externships, Practicums and other classroom courses, this newsletter will provide you with details about the work done in our legal clinics. Our seven legal clinics allow you to experience the practice of law while you are still in law school. Students in our legal clinics advocate on behalf of their clients in asylum and immigration, business, civil litigation and health, criminal appeals, family law, intellectual property, and community empowerment law. Students are supervised by experienced practitioners in their fields, while helping clients who truly depend on our legal counsel. If you are interested in connecting the theory you learn in law school with the practice of law, consider applying for a legal clinic! To help you decide which legal clinic is of interest to you, read further to learn more about what your classmates in our legal clinics have been working on recently.
DEPAUL LEGAL CLINIC SPOTLIGHT
Asylum and immigration Clinic • Pg. 2 Business Law Clinic • Pg. 2-3 Civil Litigation and Health law Pg. 3 Criminal Appeals Clinic • Pg. 4 CROAK Community Legal Clinic Pg. 4
For more Experiential Learning Highlights, please visit https://law.depaul.edu/academics/experiential-learning/Pages/Program-Highlights.aspx
ASYLUM AND IMMIGRATION CLINIC Students participating in the Asylum and Immigration Legal Clinic for the Spring 2022 semester have hit the ground running! Divided into three legal teams, the students in this clinic are representing Asylum and Immigration clients in a total of sixteen cases. Many of these cases involve recent arrivals from Afghanistan who are seeking asylum or other special immigrant visa assistance.
“My law school career has benefitted because the work we do in the clinic directly relates to various coursework. I've learned how to analyze cases more closely and understand the legal doctrines better. I definitely became a better student due to my participation in the clinic. The advice I have for future legal clinic students is to take every opportunity you can within the clinic and take it seriously. You are enacting change in someone's life and providing a service that they might not have previously obtained. This is a great life experience, not just because you are actively working on cases but more so because of your interactions with the clients. These people will teach you so much about who you are and what you want your career to be.” - Miranda, Asylum and Immigration Clinic Student
“I cannot understate the positive impact the Clinic has had on my career. I had not taken a single immigration law class when I began my first semester with the Clinic last spring. By the fall, I was confidently leading the work in many of my clients' cases. This would not be possible without the work Prof. Albiol and Judge Fujimoto do to ensure every clinician is prepared to represent their respective clients to the best of their abilities.” – Antonio, Asylum and Immigration Clinic Student
BUSINESS LAW CLINIC
Students in the two-semester Business Law Clinic are making headlines! CBS News featured the Business Law Clinic during a segment in December of 2021 for the impressive legal services its students provided to Chicago entrepreneurs, despite the challenges of the Covid-19 Pandemic. This clinic provides students with opportunities to practice many different areas of business law. Students from this current group are drafting service and shareholder agreements, advising clients on employment law issues and intellectual property law issues, as well as helping a client evaluate
legal options for refinancing commercial property. The Business Law Clinic students are also working collaboratively with the Business and Tech Interns who are conducting risk assessments and advising on sustainable growth strategies. This semester, they are serving a wide variety of clients including a sustainable architecture firm, a catering company, a medical billing company, and a recruiting company. For more Experiential Learning Highlights, please visit https://law.depaul.edu/academics/experiential-learning/Pages/Program-Highlights.aspx
BUSINESS LAW CLINIC A link to the CBS news coverage can be found here. https://vimeo.com/user14179445/review/653880454/74fb42939b The Law Clinic allows me to practice the skills I've learned in class in a real world context. Working with the professors and the diverse Law Clinic team takes that education to a higher level that you can only get from applied work. I love that I can build skills, experience, and connections, all while adding value to real Chicago businesses in an impactful way." - Matthew, former Bus Law Clinic student
CIVIL LITIGATION AND HEALTH LAW The DePaul Civil Litigation and Health Law Clinic recently represented an individual who left a Chicago band in a lawsuit brought under the Illinois Uniform Partnership Act alleging that the other band members failed to give the clinic’s client his legal share of the profits and his share of the value of the equipment the band purchased while he was a member. The clinic also brought breach of fiduciary duty claims against the band members, alleging that they knew of their legal obligations under the Illinois Uniform Partnership Act but still refused to comply with their statutory obligations. The defendants agreed to settle the matter at the pleading stage, agreeing to give the client the exact amount he was requesting from the defendants. The settlement was a victory for the client and also for the clinic, as it was the clinic’s first foray into other areas of law besides employment, breach of contract, consumer fraud, and Americans with Disabilities Act claims. While the clinic will continue to focus on representing indigent and underserved individuals in these areas of law, this case shows the ability of the Civil Litigation and Health Law Clinic to handle cases in other areas of law, living up to its mantra that a good litigator should be able to handle almost any civil claims with the proper preparation.
“I gained valuable information from the countless class discussions about civil litigation and about the relevant cases we were a part of. I also gained valuable information/skills in drafting the cross-examination of the defendant/witness and by having the ability to be involved in trial prep. My advice [for future legal clinic students] would be to step out of your comfort zone and go all in. It's a great type of class and very valuable. Work hard and have fun!” – Luke, Civil Litigation and Health Law Clinic Student
For more Experiential Learning Highlights, please visit https://law.depaul.edu/academics/experiential-learning/Pages/Program-Highlights.aspx
The application period for the Fall 2022 Experiential Learning Opportunities will open on Monday, March 14th. Participation in one of these opportunities is a great opportunity to build your legal resume and earn credits toward the experiential learning graduation requirement at the same time! DePaul Legal Clinic students carry on the University’s Vincentian mission by collaborating on realworld cases and providing legal assistance to indigent members of our community. Experiential Learning Opportunities accepting applications for the Fall 2022 semester include:
-Asylum and Immigration -Business Law -Civil Litigation and Health Law -Criminal Appeals -Croak Community -Domestic Violence Practicum -Family Law -International Human Rights Law Practicum -Litigation Lab -Technology and Intellectual Property
Applications submitted by Monday, April 4th, at noon will be given priority consideration. Applications submitted after the priority deadline will be considered as the remaining space in each clinic will allow. More information about the DePaul Legal Clinics can be found at https://law.depaul.edu/academics/experiential-learning/legal-clinics. Students who have questions about the Legal Clinics and/or the application process can reach out to the Experiential Learning Coordinator, Cassidy Evans, at depaullegalclinic@depaul.edu.
For more Experiential Learning Highlights, please visit https://law.depaul.edu/academics/experiential-learning/Pages/Program-Highlights.aspx
CRIMINAL APPEALS LEGAL CLINIC CIVIL LITIGATION AND HEALTH LAW For the Spring 2022 semester, the Criminal Appeals Clinic has taken on five new clients. These new clients are all indigent criminal defendants, and the Criminal Appeals Clinic will be serving them as pro bono appellate counsel. Each student in the Criminal Appeals Clinic will be assigned a brief to be filed in April on behalf of one of these clients. “I was simultaneously taking LARC III while taking the Criminal Appeals Clinic, and in both classes, the focus was appellate writing. Being able to work on a real appellate brief while working on one during class helped me understand the intricacies of appellate writing. Additionally, the clinic carries real weight in its work and helped me really affirm my passion of criminal law. [My advice for future legal students is] really dive into the material. These are real people are that affected, and their future is in your hand. Get creative with the issues you can raise and understand the value of having your name on a real brief filed with the court.” – Komal, Criminal Appeals Clinic student CROAK COMMUNITY LEGAL CLINIC The Croak Community Legal Clinic: Civil empowers communities through legal education. Law students in the clinic engage in community lawyering by collaborating with local organizations to bring legal workshops to low-income and underserved communities. In turn, clinic students learn practical legal skills that will help them become compassionate and effective advocates. In the clinic, students learn about the issue of access to justice. They also learn ways of closing the justice gap, such as simplifying the law, making the courts more accessible, and meeting the needs of more people through limited-scope representation. Croak students also study the intersection of race and the law, particularly as it relates to the legal issues covered in each semester. Students have provided legal education on divorce, landlordtenant legal issues, legal issues around individual debt, evictions, and unemployment. Last Fall, the clinic continued to focus on the eviction crisis and expanded into the area of health equity. Students responded to these issues by helping people prepare living wills and powers of attorney for health care and property and by helping people seal their eviction records under the COVID-19 Emergency Housing Act. In the Spring of 2022, DePaul’s Experiential Learning Program is sponsoring paid internships for former Croak clinic students to prepare and argue motions to seal old eviction records. The students will also continue to work on community events to educate attendees on their housing and eviction defense rights, including their rights on sealing histories of eviction.
For more Experiential Learning Highlights, please visit https://law.depaul.edu/academics/experiential-learning/Pages/Program-Highlights.aspx
Our Personnel Associate Dean for Experiential learning Julie D. Lawton Experiential Learning Coordinator Cassidy Evans Department Assistant Javier Huazano Padilla Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic Sioban Albiol and James Fujimoto Business Law Clinic Julie Lawton and Steve Wiser Civil Litigation & Health Law Clinic David Rodriguez Civil Rights Field Clinic Amanda Yarusso Criminal Appeals Clinic Maria Harrigan, Gilbert Lenz, Editha Rosario Moor, and Elizabeth Botti Croak Community Legal Clinic Sarah Baum, Courtney Kelledes, and Tony Thedford Domestic Violence Practicum Danielle Ruffatto Family Law Field Clinic Philip Mohr, Robert Zielinski IHRLI Practicum Elisabeth Ward Litigation Laboratory Jim Clark Technology / Intellectual Property Clinic Greg Casimer
1 E Jackson Blvd. Chicago, IL US 60604 Phone 312-362-8294 Fax 312- 476-3304 DepaulLegalClinic@depaul.edu go.depaul.edu/legalclinic
A NEWSLETTER BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING DEPARTMENT, DEPAUL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW
For more Experiential Learning Highlights, please visit https://law.depaul.edu/academics/experiential-learning/Pages/Program-Highlights.aspx