For the 2022-2023 academic year, McGeorge will offer seven specialized legal clinics: The stay at the clinic for more than a semester allowed me to further develop the skills I acquired. During my time at the Seniors and Health Law Clinic, I learned a variety of skills that I will take with me to my first post-bar job. Being in the clinic taught me to understand what it means to lead and lead a meeting, reinforced the importance of organized notes and files, and strengthened my legal research and writing skills. During my time at the clinic, I dealt with a variety of cases ranging from estate planning to financial abuse of seniors. In 2016, the Sacramento chapter of the state`s preeminent Latino legal group, La Raza Lawyers, decided to rename itself Cruz Reynoso Bar Association in his honor. Justice Reynoso helped found the organization four and a half decades ago. Learn more about Judge Reynoso in this video narrated by Brian Lopez, the current president of Cruz Reynoso, `12. And his full obituary can be found in the L.A. Times. What advice can you give students to have a successful experience in your clinic? Our students at the clinic are enriched both academically and personally by helping members of our community overcome a variety of legal challenges. Students will learn to apply legal theory in practice, develop professional advocacy skills, and perhaps most importantly, become thoughtful practitioners and lifelong learners.

In addition, I believe the Homeless Advocacy Clinic will provide students with extremely engaging and enriching learning experiences while providing important legal services to underrepresented sacramentians. Working on cases for unaccommodated clients allows students to apply the theories they learned during the first year or two of law school to practice. They will enhance their legal skills, such as interviewing, counselling, legal writing and oral advocacy, while providing compassionate and empowering representation to their clients. The Clinic for Elder and Health Law (EHL), a civil practice clinic for people 60 years of age and older, provides legal representation to clients in areas such as protection from physical and financial abuse, estate and end-of-life planning, contract disputes, and more. In 2020 alone, the clinic recovered and/or protected $1,424,190 in assets for seniors and waived fines or fees. In addition to community legal services, McGeorge has established three other off-campus clinics, each with a key community partner where students do much of their off-campus work. We have one of only two federal defense clinics in the country where our students conduct court trials and juries in federal courts. Students at the Prisoner Civil Rights Mediation Clinic mediate civil rights claims filed by inmates in federal court. He received the Ninth Circuit ADR Award in recognition of his impact on settling claims under the Civil Rights Act of 1983. Our legal clinics are available to community members who face legal challenges in immigration, bankruptcy, seniors` and health law and who cannot afford to be represented by private lawyers. You will work with students in a law firm supervised by the faculty.

Observe how students develop their self-confidence. For many students, the clinic is the first time they have spoken to a client and participate in the actual work of legal practice. Most come to the experience scared and unsure. At the clinic, I can provide students with the scaffolding they need to explore their legal skills and professional identities. As the year progresses, a student`s confidence grows and grows. By the end of the year, most are ready to “spread their wings and fly”; It is a pleasure and a privilege to be a part of it. For more legal aid, see: www.LawHelpCalifornia.org One of the reasons I was very interested in the McGeorge School of Law was the many legal clinics where students serve as certified law students under the supervision of regular lawyers. Clinics are primarily “student-run,” meaning students deal with cases from admission to graduation, allowing them to gain depth and variety of experiences that you can`t get in the classroom. The McGeorge School of Law offers a variety of clinics ranging from elder and health law to immigration and bankruptcy law.

McGeorge`s faculty and administration deserve immense recognition for founding this clinic. While law school clinics have been serving visiting clients since the birth of clinical legal training, there are only a handful of law clinics across the country that exclusively serve the homeless. The work of Dean Michael Schwartz, Professor Melissa Brown and Professor Dorothy Landsberg to found this clinic is a testament to their visionary leadership and commitment to ensuring that the law school`s clinical program meets the most critical needs of Sacramento and California. Judge Reynoso went not only to college, but also to law school, and later became one of the co-founders and first Latino director of California Rural Legal Assistance. He fought for striking farm workers and advised Caesar Chavez. “If your justice bone is hurt very often, you must be a restless person,” he said. Ten students joined the Elder & Health Law Clinic (ELHC) in the fall, which grew to twelve this spring. Lacey Mickleburgh, our intrepid lawyer and clinical partner, Kendell Bennet, rounded out the team.

While COVID-19 has provided significant access to justice, student lawyers have been able to assist and represent seniors in various legal matters. Cases included estate planning and powers of attorney to give their clients peace of mind, consumer protection from suspicious businesses, elder abuse injunctions, and litigation over financial abuse of seniors. As certified law students, CLS students will be placed in the role of attorney in a law firm that serves low-income clients in immigration, bankruptcy, senior and health law, and homelessness advocacy. Under faculty supervision, students assume primary responsibility for real-life cases, ranging from consulting and advising to drafting documents and litigation in state and federal courts. These concrete experiences and problems that lawyers face in their legal careers are then discussed in an academic setting. One of those unsolicited emails turned into an internship at Berkeley`s Homeless Action Center. The articling was a transformative experience that introduced me to community-based, client-centric lawyer models. I kept in touch with the lawyers at the Homeless Action Center throughout law school, and when I graduated, they hired me as a staff attorney.

Since then, I have been an advocate for the homeless. This experience is why I always encourage my students to expand their networks in the legal community. Service to the community is of great importance to me, and I am passionate about serving vulnerable populations. Before going to law school, I mentored children of prisoners and worked with homeless veterans. After entering law school, I tried to continue serving vulnerable populations, and the Seniors and Health Law Clinic seemed like a great way to help seniors with various legal challenges. Office hours: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CLS is not accepting walk-in applications for legal aid. All others are only possible by appointment. Our on-campus clinics (immigration, seniors and health, homelessness advocacy and bankruptcy), collectively called Community Legal Services (CLS), have been serving our community since 1974. The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors honored CLS with the “Heroes of Human Services” award in 2018. Say goodbye to students and customers.

As lawyers, we are often taught to keep our clients and their concerns at bay. However, the assumptions underlying this lesson are often detached from the reality of legal practice. Our clients come to us in some of the most difficult times of their lives. For many of us, especially those of us who work in the public interest, we are passionate about our work. It`s not just a job, it`s a calling. That`s why I started taking the advice of one of my mentors and teaching a course on ending attorney-client relationships. Honoring the nature of the relationship and putting as much intent at the end as the beginning of the attorney-client relationship brings many benefits.