Family Defense Clinic

Family Defense Clinic
The Family Defense Clinic defends families facing intervention by child protection agencies and family courts by representing parents and other caregivers accused of neglecting or abusing their children and engaging in systemic advocacy projects. The clinic focuses on child neglect and abuse law, analyzing how effectively it serves it stated purposes of protecting children and its impacts on highly regulated low-income communities and racial justice.
Project work
Student attorneys in the clinic represent individuals facing allegations of abuse or neglect in New York City Family Courts. Student attorneys work with clients, clients? families, service providers, and professionals from a range of disciplines. Casework may include interviewing and counseling clients, investigating cases, preparing court pleadings, negotiating with opposing counsel, advocating in court or administrative hearings (in evidentiary or other types of hearings). Casework requires collaboration with student attorney case partners as well as partner legal services organizations.
Student attorneys have weekly supervision meetings with the professor in which they propose their plans for their cases, discuss and reflect upon their work, and the actions of others in the legal system in their cases.
Seminar
The clinic seminar will introduce student attorneys to the key substantive law and lawyering skills necessary for fieldwork. The seminar will also provide opportunities to think critically about the structure, operation, and effectiveness of the legal system, and role of attorneys for parents and other parties within that system. The seminal will ask student attorneys to consider what an ideal legal system would include and how family defense lawyers and other lawyers can help create such a system.
Student attorneys in the clinic can expect to:
? Develop client-centered, trauma-sensitive lawyering practices;
? Analyze family regulation by the child neglect and abuse legal system;
? Build trial advocacy and other court advocacy tools, including written and oral advocacy;
? Engage in in-depth fact investigation, including interviews of witnesses and discussions with professional service providers;
? Reflect on recent child neglect and abuse law reforms and their impacts;
? Think expansively about family defense advocacy and the role of defenders and other attorneys;
? Build client narratives and hone negotiation skills;
? Collaborate with interdisciplinary experts.