Featured Clinic: Lawyering in the Digital Age

Judith S. Kaye, Chief Judge of the State of New York, announced a collaborative effort with Columbia Law School's Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic at the annual State of the Judiciary Address.

Following is an excerpt from the Address which highlights the Clinic and students involved.

2005 State of the Judiciary Address Excerpt:

The Decision Tree
Our self-represented project is a second Housing Court collaboration, this time with Columbia Law School and its Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic—and I especially thank the two second-year law students who have been critical to this initiative, Alison Monahan and Arinze Ike. The Columbia Law School Clinic helped us develop a Webbased automated system—a decision tree—to guide the thousands of self-represented tenants in rent-stabilized apartments owned or managed by the New York City Housing Authority as they answer nonpayment petitions. We celebrate the initiative that will provide vital answers for these unrepresented litigants facing eviction and homelessness; we celebrate the promise this initiative holds for the many litigants throughout our court system who must proceed without lawyers; and we celebrate a wonderful collaboration with Columbia Law School, which we hope can be continued, and replicated, with New York State's 15 law schools.

For the full text of Judge Kaye's Address, please visit:
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/admin/stateofjudiciary/soj2005.pdf

To view a Webcast of the Address, please visit:
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/ctapps/soj.htm

For more information about the Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic, please visit:
http://www.law.columbia.edu/focusareas/clinics/digital