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Greetings,
As many faculty and students have known for a long time, there are unique learning opportunities that come from the mentoring a professor or practicing attorney provides when students represent a client in need, conduct community outreach on a pressing legal issue, or draft a brief or a statement or document for an administrative proceeding.
And as our alumni demonstrate year after year, students who participate in clinics become lawyers who give back to the community as well.
Last year, students at Arizona Law provided 40,000 hours of pro bono service through its clinics.
This work is vital.
Our
Veterans' Advocacy Law Clinic provides students the opportunity to assist current and former military service members with legal issues, including representing these individuals before local Veterans Courts, as well as work on policy issues.
"I gained useful courtroom experience while representing our clients, and I [was] able to hone my negotiating skills while working out plea agreements with the prosecutors," said Sean Estrada, a Class of 2014 graduate who participated in the Vet Clinic. (
Read 2016 article on our website.)
This work is innovative.
Earlier this year, our
Intellectual Property Clinic
launched the Arizona Public Patent Program to help under-resourced inventors in our state who are seeking patent protection. It became a state hub for the US Patent and Trademarks Office pro bono program, making Arizona Law
one of only four law schools in the country to do so.
This work is impactful.
Students in the
Child and Family Law Clinic are dedicated to helping its vulnerable clients, representing children in child protection proceedings.
This work matters...
Until the footnotes,
Marc
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Child and Family Law Clinic Students
Stand Up for Interests of Arizona Children
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Professor Negar Katirai, Professor Barbara Atwood,
Natalie Cafasso ('18), and Chris Lloyd ('17) (l-r).
Source: UA News, Sept. 27, 2017
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In the University of Arizona's
Child and Family Law Clinic, students work in interdisciplinary teams alongside faculty, practicing attorneys, and students from social work and translation, doing all they can to represent and improve the lives of children in protection proceedings.
Professor Paul Bennett, the clinic's director, estimates that 250 Arizona Law graduates have worked in the clinic over the years.
These caring and dynamic alumni now do all sorts of things -- including working in private practice, as lawyers at juvenile and family courts, as a juvenile court judge, as head of the children's section of the Attorney General's appeals division, and as one of the Governor's legal counsel.
A
recent UA News story details a unique experience by several clinic students.
Earlier this year, on behalf of the clinic,
UA Professor Emerita Barbara Atwood asked the Arizona Supreme Court for the opportunity to file an amicus brief in the matter of McLaughlin vs. Jones, a case challenging the Arizona marital presumption of paternity statute (ARS 25-814(A)(1)) as it applies to same-sex couples.
Professor Atwood said that in the amicus brief,
"We were trying to advance a vision of the law that would protect children's interests in predictability and continuity, in having two parents as opposed to one parent, and those sorts of rationales. We were trying to emphasize how a ruling would impact children in general" (UA News).
Clinic faculty enlisted
Natalie Cafasso
('18),
Chris Lloyd
('17), and
Jason Buckner
('17) to research and file the amicus brief. Their brief focused on the effect the case could have on the children of same-sex couples when marriages dissolve. They worked
closely with Professors Atwood, Bennett, and Negar Katirai, who directs the Community Law Group.
Natalie, a transfer student from Hofstra University, said,
"I took on the task of writing the brief with my fellow students because I wanted to advocate for children. The University of Arizona is one of the very few law schools in the country that has a clinic that is catered to representing children. That's why I transferred here, for the clinics and for this type of work. I have experienced everything I thought I would and so much more" (UA News).
Natalie, Chris, and Jason even travelled with Professor Atwood to Phoenix in early June to hear arguments in the case. It was an exciting moment, and one they won't soon forget. For one thing, the court later released its opinion falling on the side of their brief. And, the students made an enduring impact on the life of that child and other children in Arizona.
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BA in Law Students from Ocean University Start Two-Year Residency in Tucson
This fall at Arizona Law we welcomed to campus 14 Bachelor of Arts in Law students from the dual degree program at Ocean University of China in Qingdao, China.
We are thrilled to welcome our wonderful Qingdao students to Tucson.
The students, all juniors, are the first from Ocean University travel to Tucson to take BA in Law classes here full time. They will study in Arizona for the remaining two years of their program.
"We are so honored and excited to have these 14 students complete their legal studies here in Tucson. They will have deep experience studying law in both the United States and China. We hope that they will be the first of many more Ocean University students joining us in the U.S. to complete their studies."
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Meeting in December 2016 with some of our BA in Law students
in UA room at Ocean University of China, in Qingdao.
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Launched in fall 2015, the Ocean University dual degree program now has more than 275 students enrolled. All Ocean University students have the option of spending up to two years in Tucson while obtaining their BA.
Last year, a small group of students visited the UA campus for two weeks, to sit in on classes, talk with BA in Law students and get a sense of what it would be like to live in Tucson.
Ocean University student
Ziyu Shi
acknowledges that the transition to taking classes in English comes with challenges, but says there is ample help:
"There are good resources that I can take advantage of, ranging from physical facilities to intellectual support. Even though the new start is tough, I am making progress and going beyond myself every day. I sincerely appreciate the help and efforts made by the BA in Law program faculty."
The University of Arizona's BA in Law is offered through a joint partnership between the James E. Rogers College of Law and the School of Government and Public Policy.
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Registration is open for our reunion and homecoming weekend events. Click the following links or visit our
homecoming webpage for updates.
The full schedule is as follows:
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Law.com, coverage of Washington University Law following Arizona Law in using both the GRE and LSAT in admissions
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"
@uarizonalaw
#NALSA
preparing fry bread as students line up for food at today's Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration.
"
- @uarizonalaw on Instagram
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Our students across programs demonstrate every day the engagement, preparation, and perseverance that prepare them for the larger world. And they bring enormous diversity of experience and perspective to the UA.
Whether they come from South Tucson, or the eastern part of Shandong Province, where Qingdao is located, our students are among the best in the world. Whether in clinics or classes or the community, we learn from them every day.
Join us for homecoming in two weeks, where you can meet our current students, and share in our joy.
Warmly,
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