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George Washington Law School Clinic: Benefits for Clients and Students

published April 15, 2023

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( 5 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
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Summary

The George Washington Law School Clinic offers numerous benefits to both clients and students. Clients receive expert legal advice and representation from qualified law students, while students gain invaluable experience and training in the practice of law. The George Washington Law School Clinic provides free legal services to low-income Washington, D.C. residents and other underserved populations, making justice accessible to those who may otherwise be unable to afford it.


The Clinic has six legal practice areas: criminal, family and juvenile, disability rights, housing and health, immigration, and general civil law. Clinic students are all highly qualified third-year students who are supervised by experienced lawyers. Each student is overseen by a faculty member, ensuring that all clients receive quality representation and counsel.

The Clinic also offers numerous educational opportunities, including seminars, lectures, and other clinical programs. In addition, the Clinic's faculty members provide extensive guidance to students, preparing them for the rigors of professional practice. The Clinic also offers several externships and internships, providing students the chance to work in a live setting, interact with clients, and gain valuable experience.

The George Washington Law School Clinic has had a positive impact on many lives. Clients have been able to secure better housing and access healthcare services, while students have developed their legal skills and gained valuable practice experience.

The George Washington Law School Clinic offers many benefits to both clients and students. Clients can access free legal counsel and representation, while students are able to gain experience and training by participating in clinical practice, seminars, and internships. The Clinic's faculty members provide extensive guidance and assistance to students, allowing them to be fully prepared for professional practice. The Clinic's high quality legal services have impacted many lives, helping numerous clients improve their housing and access healthcare services.
 

Lifting Barriers for Clients and Students

The George Washington University Law School Clinic, established in 1974, has continuously expanded the school's commitment to serving the community. With the mission to furnish exceptional clinical education opportunities to the school's students, effectively advocate for the rights of clients, and provide access to justice for individuals and communities who have been historically excluded from the legal system, the Clinic has sought to remove legal barriers that may prevent individuals and communities from realizing their full potential.
 

Providing Experiences for Students

George Washington Law School's Clinic proudly offers a diverse range of educational opportunities to the school's law students. Through the Clinic, law students receive the opportunity to interact with experienced attorneys who will guide them throughout the legal process while they represent clients. This allows students to develop their skills in the areas of legal research, analysis, writing, negotiation, settlement, and courtroom advocacy.
 

Advancing the Legal System

In addition to the educational opportunities for students, the George Washington Law School Clinic also provides quality legal representation to persons and communities who have been historically excluded from the legal system. The Clinic works to model an effective legal system, providing access to justice for populations who have previously lacked representation. In doing so, the Clinic strives to advance the understanding and practice of law while creating pathways to success for its clients.
 

Positive Impact on Community

The George Washington University Law School Clinic has been able to serve the community by providing students with an opportunity to learn about the legal system through hands-on experience. The Clinic has created a positive impact on the community and has worked to ensure that everyone has access to justice. In addition, the Clinic has served as a safe space for students to gain experience in the legal field and develop their legal skills.

Students working at The George Washington University Law School Small Business Clinic are doing just this in their work to help Kelli Taylor and her business partner establish the Free Minds Book Club in Washington, DC, as a nonprofit organization. The group has launched a literacy program in the DC jail and needs legal help—which is where the clinic comes in.

Setting up a nonprofit organization is very complicated. To establish nonprofit status for the Free Minds Book Club, its founders came to the George Washington clinic for assistance. Third-year law students Joe Swanson and Tonya Summerville have been working with Kelli Taylor this semester. The small business clinic has eight students working there per semester, with a limit of one semester per student.

Swanson, who is focusing on tax law at George Washington, was surprised about the legal issues and the processes needed for setting up a nonprofit, he says. Summerville, too, had not realized how much work it took for an organization to become a nonprofit. Both students, and the six others working at the clinic this semester, work with nonprofits and small businesses, either new or established, on their legal needs.

The Free Minds Book Club works with 16- and 17-year-old prisoners in the DC jail who were charged and convicted as adults. The "club" operates like a regular book club and as a writing workshop. The group reads a book together every two weeks and discusses it, says Taylor. It also works on the prisoners' writing skills. To accommodate the different reading levels of the boys in the group, the club alternates between books for lower and higher reading levels.

This small group of juvenile prisoners is segregated from the general population, with each juvenile boy transferred into the general population when he turns 18. Ironically, because they are separated from other prisoners, they have less access to services provided to the others, says Taylor. Also, they have a few hours of school each day, but no access to a library.

The group's goal is to "get them excited about education again," says Taylor, noting that some of the boys had not been in trouble before now. "A lot of these kids never read a book cover to cover before," says Taylor. When the group reads a more advanced-level book, the boys with lower reading abilities are encouraged to try to read part of it and to participate in the discussion.

Taylor was a journalist covering the justice system when she got the idea for the group, which started up in late 2002. She wanted to establish the group as a nonprofit and was referred to the George Washington Law School clinic last fall.

The student that worked with Taylor last semester helped her to put together the incorporation paperwork for the nonprofit. "I would still have been laboring over those forms if I hadn't had their help," says Taylor. This semester, Summerville has been focusing on setting up the Free Minds Book Club's first board meeting, and Swanson has been working on nonprofit tax status for the group.

There are "big differences" between for-profit and nonprofit organizations, says Swanson. For example, the language in the instrument that creates the entity allows for-profit businesses to "make widgets," says Swanson, but also to become an entity "for any other lawful purpose." So a widget-maker could also sell ice cream or lobby Congress. A nonprofit may not lobby Congress. The document that creates a nonprofit entity restricts the group's activities to the narrow scope of a specific charitable purpose alone.

Summerville, who has also worked in George Washington Law School's consumer mediation clinic, chose the small business clinic this semester to learn more "practical aspects of practicing law," she says. She would like to work with small businesses in her future legal career.

Summerville has enjoyed working with Taylor on the Free Minds project. "It's a really good program," says Summerville, who is helping to make sure the group's first board meeting covers all necessary bases. A nonprofit's first board meeting, she explains, must cover certain procedural things to make it official, such as agreeing on what bank to use, what the roles of the board members will be, and adopting bylaws.

Swanson chose to work in the small business clinic for some transactional experience and also to help out small business owners and nonprofits. While working in the clinic, he says, Professor Jones has taught him not only to spot issues of interest to the client but to communicate well with the client and help to steer him or her towards the best option for the enterprise. "You can always research the law," he says, but if you cannot explain those issues to a client, then you are not helping him or her.

published April 15, 2023

( 5 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
What do you think about this article? Rate it using the stars above and let us know what you think in the comments below.