The Community Advocacy Law Clinic is a 3-credit semester experiential course in which students use their legal education to support the most vulnerable populations in our community: low-income families, children, the elderly, the homeless, and people with physical and mental illness. Under the supervision of the clinical school, students will work with judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, social workers, and others to meet the legal needs of real clients in a variety of issues such as adoption, family allowances, housing, public services, and special education. Law students will attend a weekly seminar and a weekly supervisors` meeting. Law students have the opportunity to support clients from start to finish – admission, through research and strategy, informal advocacy or in court. The two goals of the Community Advocacy Law Clinic are to improve the legal skills of law students and to solve the unresolved legal problems of the poor. CALC is one of more than 70 clinics offering legal services across Ontario. We are members of the Ontario Association of Legal Clinics. For more information on the clinical system, see «Delivering Community Justice Services at Scale: Ontario, Canada.» The clinic offers a strong interdisciplinary background in working with issues of child abuse and neglect, as well as foster children. Students attending this clinic represent children, parents, or the Department of Social Services in legal proceedings, which may be located in Washtenaw, Genesee, Wayne, or Livingston counties. Three clinical law schools, which are specialists in children`s advocacy, each supervise up to eight students and act as counselors, but clinical students make decisions about their cases. You must first call to get a reference.

No walk-ins, please. Michigan Law has long been known for its distinctive educational blend of cutting-edge science and legal practice. In today`s competitive environment, it is more important than ever for new university graduates to enter legal practice. We are so committed to this formative experience that we guarantee each student at least one higher-level clinic, and many take more. Second- and third-year law students can enroll at the Seven Credit Clinic using the law school`s computerized enrollment system. There are no prerequisites for the course. Information on how to register for the clinic can be found here. Some law students are attracted to the clinic because of their interest in child protection law or public interest advocacy.

Others are particularly attracted by the intense litigation experience that often puts students in court. A board of directors elected by clinic members oversees the clinic and develops guidelines on how we do our work. We only see people by appointment, except in an emergency and you don`t have a phone you can call to make an appointment. Please call us or use our online legal advice form to help you with your legal issues. Clinics allow students to gain hands-on experience to help clients who would not otherwise have access to high-quality legal representation and to be a catalyst for transformation in clients` lives. For example, in its six years of existence, our DNA-free innocence clinic has already secured the release of 10 people unjustly accused. The public service is a core value of the faculty of law, and the public service on behalf of the wider community is an integral part of our clinical program. Founded in 1976, CALC has represented thousands of families involved in the child welfare system and trained thousands of students who now hold leadership positions in nonprofits, state and local government agencies, and private companies. Calc graduates often consider their participation in the clinic to be the most formative experience of their legal education. Our staff includes lawyers, municipal articling students, paralegals and administrative staff.

We are also supported by practicum students, law students, paralegals, nurses, social work and occupational therapy students, and other volunteers. From that moment until the end of the semester, the teams participate in a weekly seminar that includes discussions on legal skills and the presentation of case rounds during which the decisions of student lawyers are reviewed. Students at the clinic regularly work with professionals, lecturers, and fellow students from social work, pediatrics, psychology, and psychiatry. Three clinical law schools, which are specialists in children`s advocacy, each supervise up to eight students and act as counselors, but clinical students make decisions about their cases. With this responsibility, students are perfectly prepared for all aspects of their clients` representation, judicial experience and work in the field of child advocacy. For more than 45 years, Michigan Law has offered clinics where students take on the responsibility of «first president» for real clients with real legal needs. Students represent these clients under the supervision of experienced faculty in small and intense environments in classrooms, conference rooms, and courtrooms in Michigan and beyond. The Community Advocacy & Legal Centre (CALC) is a non-profit community legal clinic that helps low-income individuals in Hastings, Prince Edward and Lennox & Addington counties, as well as in the Mohawk Territory of Tyendinaga, with their legal issues from our head office in Belleville, Ontario.

We also have many satellite offices in our three-county service area. Our clinical programs are steeped in michigan law`s interdisciplinary orientation. Founded in 1976, the Child Advocacy Law Clinic includes the work of psychologists and social workers. the Environmental Law Clinic coordinates its courses with the School of Natural Resources and the Environment; Business and engineering students work side-by-side with law students on transactions supported by the Entrepreneurship Clinic and the International Transactions Clinic. and the Pediatric Advocacy Clinic works with health centers to address legal issues that affect the health of low-income children and their families. Most other clinics often rely on experts in other fields or work with them to represent their clients. Welcome to the Child Advocacy Law Clinic, the oldest child rights clinic in the country, where law students represent children, parents and other parties in nursing proceedings under the supervision of experienced faculty members. We are a non-profit legal clinic. We offer free legal assistance to low-income individuals in Hastings, Prince Edward and Lennox & Addington counties, as well as in the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in southeastern Ontario. Please call us if you need help or contact us by post or email (see our contact page).

CALC employees only see customers by appointment at the Belleville office. However, an appointment is not necessary if someone needs our help and does not have access to the phone or the Internet. COVID testing and mask wearing are still in effect for all visitors. Thank you for your patience during this difficult time. These are just a few of the tough questions facing students at the Child Advocacy Law Clinic (CALC), a seven-credit clinic open to second- and third-year law students. Our clinics cover a remarkable range of practice areas, including transactions, litigation and everything in between. Students represent children, families, small business owners and non-profit organizations, wrongful convicts, victims of human trafficking, asylum seekers, startups and manufacturers, organizations that provide business solutions to some of the world`s most pressing problems, and people in need of central civil and criminal legal services. In addition to the direct representation of children and parents in nursing procedures, students of the clinic can write statutes, give training, write articles and deal with objections.

Visit our Legal Services page to learn about the services we offer and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with the latest legal news and events at the clinic. With clinical faculties as supervisors, students prepare for all aspects of their cases, from interviewing clients and witnesses to negotiating with opposing lawyers, writing pleadings, conducting studies, and handling a variety of legal transactions. Michigan Law`s clinical training provides a unique opportunity to train students to think critically and strategically about all aspects of client representation and practice by gaining practical experience in all the core skills of legal practice. CALC`s Board of Directors and staff are proud of our community legal clinic and what it stands for. We explain what we see as our vision – the change we are trying to bring about through our work – the mission of the clinic and the values we apply to all of our work. They will also address the complex legal, social, emotional, ethical and political issues of when and how the state should intervene in family life on behalf of children. All second- and third-year law students interested in gaining litigation experience must apply to the Child Advocacy Law Clinic. While many of our students come to the clinic with an interest or prior knowledge of child protection law, others do not.

The Law School`s commitment to a global perspective also permeates the clinics, providing students with experience in international politics and cross-border transactions. At the Anti-Human Trafficking Clinic, students work with legislators and international human rights organizations to combat modern slavery. The International Transactions Clinic, which represents clients in Tajikistan, Russia, Europe, Africa and the United States, puts students on fast-track paths to become lawyers specializing in international transactions by providing students with practical experience, including in the preparation of cross-border investment documents and advising clients on compliance with the laws of several countries.