Experiential Learning at RWU Law
RWU Law is committed to preparing graduates to hit the ground running in the legal profession, and a good deal of this foundational work comes via our 3 “live-client clinics” and the array of programs run out of our Feinstein Institute for Legal Service. These opportunities provide students with excellent, hands-on learning experiences. An earlier blog entry spotlighted the Community Justice and Legal Assistance Clinic and I will cover our terrific externship program later in the summer. This item focuses on the other aspects of our experiential learning curriculum.
Criminal Defense Clinic
The RWU Law Criminal Defense Clinic, under the direction of Professor Andrew Horwitz, took on over 200 cases this year, including twelve cases that were tried to verdict. Clinic students also argued six appeals, prevailing in four. The clinic handled one additional successful appeal, before the Supreme Court of Rhode Island… a complex case with multiple named co-defendants and many other parties, most of whom were pro se, whose cases would be determined by the outcome. Although RWU Law clinic students generally argue their own appeals, including several cases in our Supreme Court, the involvement of other parties in this case made it impossible to obtain the consent required by the student practice rule. For that reason, Professor Horwitz presented the actual argument himself, but not before being vigorously mooted by his students. When argument day came, most of the students accompanied Professor Horwitz to the Supreme Court to watch their mentor. Professor Horwitz said, “It was a very exciting experience for all of us. The unanimous opinion granting our appeal was simply icing on the cake.”
Mediation Clinic
The Mediation Clinic, under the direction of Professor Bruce Kogan, wrapped up its third year of operation with a significant increase in the number of cases mediated by the student-mediators. The expansion was a result of shifting the Family Court work from Washington County one day each week to Newport County and Providence County Family Courts on a twice weekly schedule. Clinic students continued to mediate small claims and landlord-tenant cases in Newport County District Court once a week.
A wide variety of conflicts were referred to the clinic by Judges Erickson, Bedrosian, and DeSegna. In addition to many custody and visitation matters, the Family Court work included several full divorce mediations, which came to the clinic as a result of a cooperative effort between the Family Court, the Mediation Clinic, and the Rhode Island Bar Association Volunteer Lawyer Program. The Mediation Clinic students also assisted the two full-time Family Court Staff Mediators, David Tassoni and Laurie Giarrusso, in mediating more complex matters in Providence Family Court.
Each student mediator handled at least a dozen separate disputes over the course of the semester. Kogan said, “Needless to say, a student who mediates that many separate cases in four months becomes very proficient and develops a portfolio of lawyering and interpersonal skills that will transfer to any future legal position.”
Feinstein Institute for Legal Service
Public Interest Summer Internships
Summer provides an invaluable opportunity for students to gain real-world experience representing low-income clients, learning about the workings of the government, or exploring the policies that underlie our justice system. The Feinstein Institute’s Summer Stipend program provided financial support to 28 students, and current recipients are working locally for legal services, public defender, and prosecutor offices, and around the country doing civil liberties work in New York, indigent defense in Alaska, the District of Columbia, New Hampshire, and New York, and government work in New Jersey, and Massachusetts, as well as in RI.
In addition, eight students received grants from the Equal Justice Works Summer Corps program. This prestigious fellowship provides a $1000 AmeriCorps Education Award upon completion of 300 hours of service at a nonprofit public interest organization. Rebecca Aitchison (RI Public Defender), Jennifer Bartlett (Snohomish County Public Defenders Association, WA), Eric DiMarzio (RI Public Defender), Brandy Hughes (New Hampshire Public Defender), Katie Kelliher (Alaska Public Defender), Heather O’Connor (South Coastal Communities Legal Services), Greg Rosenfeld (Public Defender Service of DC), and Robert Self (RI Public Defender) are in the field this summer by virtue of these grants.
Other award winners: Heather O’Connor was one of only six students who received a Massachusetts Bar Foundation Fellowship for her work at South Coastal Counties Legal Services in their Homelessness Prevention Project and Sarah Mazzochi was one of only two recipients of the “Ms. JD Public Interest Summer Scholarship” for her work at the ACLU Voting Rights Project in Atlanta, Georgia. (Ms. JD website )
Pro Bono Collaborative
Our unique Pro Bono Collaborative continues to provide practical experience for RWU Law students through partnerships with leading RI law firms and organizations that represent the least fortunate among us. See my earlier blog on the PBC. Below is an update…
Street Sights
Kristen Sherman, a partner at Adler Pollock & Sheehan, P.C., with support from 3L Heather Snyder, has been researching and writing a monthly legal column in Street Sights, a newspaper that serves "as a forum for advocates, homeless and formerly homeless individuals, students, state officials, and the general public to share accurate and honest information about homelessness." The PBC team has published four columns, covering issues such as expungement of criminal records and the legal implications of sleeping outside. The column reaches thousands of individuals each month.
PrYSM
The Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM) came to the PBC with questions regarding the barriers faced by Southeast Asian youths seeking a General Education Degree (GED) or trying to re-enroll in school after dropping out. Staff at PrYSM, founded in 2001 “to mobilize Southeast Asian youth into community organizing campaigns,” identified bureaucratic hurdles related to mailing addresses and identification requirements their constituents were facing at the Department of Motor Vehicles. These requirements were delaying, and in some cases preventing, youth from taking the GED or re-enrolling. Kirsten Kenney, of Hinckley Allen & Snyder LLP took the lead role on the project, working with 3L, Jessica Stanford, and they researched the regulatory requirements to determine whether DMV employees were acting in accordance with the law. Had they found violations, the PBC team was prepared to pursue regulatory changes to facilitate easier acquisition of the necessary documentation.
NEW PROJECTS
Youth Pride Project: The law firm of Nixon Peabody LLP is also working with the Family Life Center and the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless to provide individual representation in expungement cases.
Expungement Project : The law firm of Nixon Peabody LLP is working with the Family Life Center and the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless to provide individual representation in expungement cases.
As you can see, experiential learning is alive and well at RWU Law.
