New COL Clinic Accepting Student Applications Sept. 25-28 for Spring '07
September 8, 2006
The College of Law will open a new, in-house legal clinic for spring semester of 2007. The HeLP Legal Services Clinic is an integral component of the Health Law Partnership, an interdisciplinary community collaboration among Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, the Atlanta Legal Aid Society and Georgia State University's College of Law to improve the health and well-being of low-income children and their families.
The Clinic will offer students the opportunity to develop basic lawyering skills such as client interviewing, counseling and representation, negotiation, research and drafting, and case management. HeLP offices based at Children's Healthcare handle cases involving guardianship, Medicaid, housing, SSI, family law, education and employment issues. HeLP will refer appropriate cases to the HeLP Legal Services Clinic. Each student will be assigned to work on ongoing cases and will interact directly with clients under the supervision of the Clinic's Associate Directors, Prof. Lisa Bliss and Prof. Sylvia Caley.
“HeLP's primary premise is that by combining the healthcare expertise of hospital professionals with the legal expertise of attorneys, we can provide a more holistic set of services to address the multiple determinants of children's health,” explained Prof. Bliss. “The HeLP Legal Services Clinic will provide a supportive environment for students to develop practical lawyering skills in substantive legal fields related to children and families.”
Weekly class sessions will be held to cover substantive and procedural law, as well as Clinic administrative procedures and lawyering skills in general. These sessions will also include more formal discussions of specific case issues. Additionally, students will meet weekly with their assigned supervisor to discuss and evaluate their assigned cases. Students will also be required to be in the Clinic a minimum of seven hours per week.
Work in the Clinic will likely require travel to Children's at Scottish Rite and Children's at Egleston. Students selected for the Clinic will be required to attend an orientation session to be held Saturday, Jan. 13, from 8 a.m. to 1p.m. For questions about the HeLP Legal Services Clinic, contact either Prof. Bliss at 404-651-5278 or lbliss@gsu.edu or Prof. Caley, at 404-651-1923 or sbcaley@gsu.edu.
Course enrollment is limited and requires permission of the professors. To apply, send a resume and cover letter via email to both Prof. Bliss and Prof. Caley. Applications will be accepted between Sept. 25 - 28. Interviews will be held Oct. 3. The HeLP Legal Services Clinic is located on the 6th floor of the College of Law.