In the current economic climate, it is incredibly hard for young people to get proper experience in their desired fields. For law students, there are little-to-no options when it comes to receiving training and being mentored by professionals in their chosen specialties. On the other end of the spectrum, many Americans cannot afford costly legal services for even basic civil court proceedings. In an effort to innovate and grow their programs, law schools across the country are attacking both these problems by running legal incubators to better train law students and provide low-cost services to low-income Americans.

Incubators: Training Law Students

The Incubator for Justice, created at the City University of New York, has been successful in preparing recent graduates to enter the work force. Over 40 law schools throughout the United States have now begun offering select students the opportunity to participate in one of these prestigious programs, including major schools such as Rutgers School of Law, the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, and the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. Schools create incubators usually by implementing small law firms on their campuses or in nearby cities in which the students take on a large amount of cases for very little pay.

Most other professions offer graduates a chance to hone their skills under the guidance of experienced professionals. Medical students do internships and residencies, and dentists participate in a similar training program, as do most workers of the medical field. These incubator programs give new lawyers the chance to work under and be led by experienced lawyers and retired judges in certain programs. These programs provide recent law school graduates with many of the tools they need to join a prominent law firm upon completion, continue working toward a legal aid career, or possibly begin their own firm in the future.

Law students often are able to participate in clinics and externships offered through their schools, but this is still not enough training. Incubators are similar to the aforementioned opportunities, although they allow participants to take on a much more extensive caseload. Once law students graduate, they are expected to dive right into the field, although this is very difficult to do when they have not first been given the proper instruction and tools.

Incubators: Bringing Legal Services to the Masses

These programs help not only law school graduates, but also the public. One of the biggest problems in the United States is the lack of affordable legal services, which is needed by many Americans. People of lower incomes often cannot afford legal services due to the prohibitive hourly cost of a lawyer’s time. An incubator program charges $75 or less an hour in most cases, and sometimes they offer their services pro bono.

Millions of Americans lack proper legal representation, especially in cases that could completely change their lives. This is due to the high price of lawyers, how most are concentrated only in highly populated areas, and few can or want to take on work that isn’t very profitable. Many people also end up not being represented because they are rejected when they apply for civil legal aid. It was found that in 70 to 98 percent of the cases brought to civil court in the United States, one or both parties did not have a lawyer present to represent them. There are many programs already established throughout the country that are dedicated to providing free or low-cost legal services to people of low income, although most have very few resources available and few lawyers willing to take on the extra–sometimes menial–work. Given how many law school graduates are unable to find work in the field, more should be encouraged to do this type of work.

One of the most difficult aspects of starting and running an incubator program is finding the proper funds to support it. Many of the schools allocate funds for them, although this is not always enough to run them. The Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University has been running a program that is financed by multiple sources, such as alumni donations and private funds. Michigan State University offers an innovative approach to its program by partnering with government organizations, nonprofits, and other university departments so that participants can engage and practice in a wide variety of subjects. These programs, as well as many others, seem to be thriving, as they have given students genuine experience and have provided legal aid to those who need it most.

It is widely said that it is easier to get into law school these days due to far fewer people applying and enrolling. The current job market for lawyers is abysmal, and so these programs could be instrumental in helping graduates begin prosperous careers. Only 40 percent of law school graduates are employees at law firms, and 20 percent hold jobs that don’t even require a law degree. Considering how astronomically high the average debt of most law school graduates is, it is imperative that they start their careers off on the right foot so that they can pay off this debt and achieve success.

Toni Keddell

Toni Keddell is a member of the University of Maryland Class of 2017 and a Law Street Media Fellow for the Summer of 2015. Contact Toni at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The State Bar of California is considering a proposal requiring that law students provide 50 hours of legal work free or at very low rates to low income clients. The proposal is designed to use law students to combat the problem of a growing number of California residents who need legal advice but cannot afford to hire an attorney.

This trend started during the economic recession that began in 2007, when funding to provide legal aid to the poor plummeted just when many needed it the most. Many California residents were falling into poverty and needed help with matters such as evictions and foreclosures. With decreased funding came increased selectivity on the part of cheap legal resources, which meant that most of the people who needed it did not receive legal aid. Even though the economy has improved, the state bar still believes that over one million California residents seeking legal aid are turned away each year.

One California resident who has been able to take advantage of free legal services is Carlis Pegues, a 64-year-old woman who is claiming that her landlord is trying to evict her. Buried in paperwork and plagued with the thought of losing her home, Pegues found herself at the free legal clinic in Skid Row. Now, every Wednesday, she takes the bus from her home in the Baldwin Village area of South Los Angeles to the clinic. There she is greeted by a group of attorneys and law students who provide free legal advice for one hour per week to anyone who seeks it.

Pegues is certainly grateful for these weekly meetings. She told the Los Angeles Times:

It’s a traumatic, mind-boggling experience trying to get out of this situation when everything is closing in on me, If I have a problem, they don’t look down on me here. They just step up and help.

While one goal of the proposal is to help more people like Pegues, it is also aimed to give law students hands-on experience before they obtain their licenses to practice law. Supporters of the proposed 50-hour requirement say that they hope this experience would help prospective attorneys gain experience and gain a sense of appreciation for how important it is to provide legal aid to low-income residents in California.

However, not everyone is in support of this proposal. Many, particular those who currently work in legal aid, are concerned that the legal aid organizations don’t have the resources necessary to absorb the influx of a large number of volunteers wishing to fulfill their 50 hours. They claim that this is due to a lack of attorneys who can take the time to help these law students, as they are not allowed to represent these clients in court or offer them any legal advice without the supervision of a licensed attorney. On top of this, many organizations have stressed that they simply don’t have the space for these student volunteers to work.

For example, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles is one of the largest of its kind in the state, yet they only accept roughly 10 percent of the law students who apply to work there because they cannot accommodate any more. Phong Wong, the director of the foundation, said:

The need is definitely there. We turn away so many low-income clients because we don’t have the support, the resources to help them. At the same time, there are all these law students who can be put to use. We just need to figure out how to make it work for the clients that we serve.

If organizations such as the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles can find a way to successfully integrate more volunteer law students into their daily operations, then this proposed 50 hour requirement has the potential to benefit everyone involved. If not, a different sort of solution to California’s legal woes may need to be discussed.

Brittany Alzfan

Brittany Alzfan is a student at the George Washington University majoring in Criminal Justice. She was a member of Law Street’s founding Law School Rankings team during the summer of 2014. Contact Brittany at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post New California Proposal: Law Students Must Volunteer in Legal Aid appeared first on Law Street.

There’s two sides to every case. But when the case is about child welfare and the side in need of protection consists of children who cannot defend themselves, the case becomes sensitive. These children need public servants, people who can defend them when they cannot defend themselves. That’s why what Leslie Strauch at the University of Texas School of Law is doing is so important. Strauch is the supervising attorney and clinical professor for UT Law’s Children’s Rights Clinic. Strauch is an excellent example of the type of lawyers our nation needs–she has extensive experience dealing with children and the law. Currently, she helps law students to see the positive impact child welfare law has on society by providing them with the opportunity to aid abused and neglected children.

Law students enrolled in UT Law’s Children’s Rights Clinic participate in trials from start to finish at the Travis County District Court. They receive firsthand experience in researching and preparing the cases as primary attorneys. The Children’s Rights Clinic does not try jury cases every year so kudos are in special order to this year’s participants for their recent victories. This clinical experience is unique to UT Law because Texas is one of the few states that allows family law cases to be heard before a jury.

Strauch spearheaded this year’s first victory with Rebeca Ojeda, an advanced clinic and third-year law student at UT Law. In this case, Ojeda conducted direct and cross examinations of several witnesses, including an expert witness. Strauch and Ojeda were advocating for terminating parental rights, and won the case with a definitive 10-2 verdict. Ojeda expressed feelings of pride for advocating for justice as she watched her clients “nestle into the arms of their future adoptive parents.”

Another student, 3L Brooke Ginsburg, assisted Strauch in this year’s second case. This trial was similar to the first–Child Protective Services aimed to terminate parental rights. Ginsburg received valuable experience by preparing the trial notebook and conducting witness examinations. Strauch and Ginsburg successfully advocated for the child to be adopted by family members. Ginsburg’s firsthand involvement in the case provided her with a fresh perspective. She told The Magazine of the University of Texas School of Law about this new mindset:

The trial put into perspective the importance of each action an attorney takes throughout the life of a case. It was a tremendous learning experience to be part of a jury trial from start to finish. I learned a lot about making arguments and procedural law, but I was most excited to see that with hard work, strategic thinking and preparation an attorney can positively impact a child’s life.

The impacts Ginsburg and Ojeda were able to make on these children through their work exemplifies the importance of child welfare law practice. If more lawyers joined the movement to work as public servants this could benefit both lawyers and at-risk children. It’s not news that many law school grads are having trouble securing work–this is a point that has been drilled into our heads. Yet, we forget to look at the other side and think about the people who are deprived of legal services. In May 2013 The Huffington Post wrote:

A recent report by the non-profit Legal Services Corporation cites estimates that at least 50 percent of Americans who qualify for free legal assistance because of their income or needs don’t get the help they need because legal aid organizations don’t have the funding or capacity to meet their needs. That’s a large number when you consider that 61.4 million Americans qualify for legal assistance from non-profit and government-funded programs — a number that has increased by more than 10 million since 2007.

With more programs like UT Law’s Children’s Rights Clinic, we can begin to close that justice gap. By training more law students for the purpose of public service, they could have a leg up while looking for work, and they could benefit society. After all, how many 5-year-olds do you know who can hire an attorney for themselves? Children make up an alarming number of the millions of people who are deprived of legal aid. The effects the movement toward public service could have on our nation’s legal industry would be hugely beneficial. That being said, this is no easy fix. Resources would have to be redistributed to meet the salary needs of public attorneys and student loan programs would have to be redefined. However, this could be a huge game-changer for the legal field. I think more people should give it a try, and I applaud UT Law and Leslie Strauch for their efforts.

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Natasha Paulmeno (@natashapaulmeno)

Featured image courtesy of [Takashi Toyooka via Flickr]

Natasha Paulmeno

Natasha Paulmeno is an aspiring PR professional studying at the University of Maryland. She is learning to speak Spanish fluently through travel, music, and school. In her spare time she enjoys Bachata music, playing with her dog, and exploring social media trends. Contact Natasha at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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