Interview with C. Elizabeth Belmont, CLPC Director
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| What is the Community Legal Practice Center? | |||
| The Community Legal Practice Center (or "CLPC") is a law clinic that serves the Rockbridge area, with a particular emphasis on serving the elderly and victims of domestic violence. | |||
| This is the Community Legal Practice Center's first year. How did you arrive at the structure and mission for the program? | |||
| I came to the Law School to direct the Alderson Legal Assistance
Program, a clinic that served the inmates at a women's federal prison
in Alderson, West Virginia. That program began in the late 1960's,
and it was distinct from our other in-house clinics (Black Lung and
VCCC) in that students enrolled in the program experienced intensive
client contact and were exposed to the entire range of legal issues
that the Alderson client base presented. When the Alderson program
ended, we decided that we wanted to develop a program that continued
Alderson's tradition of providing student with client contact in a
setting that was not structured around a single legal issue. We also
concluded that it was important for the Law School to have an in-house
program that would serve the local community. I think the CLPC achieves
those twin goals. To some extent, the CLPC mirrors the experience that was offered by the Alderson program. Our focus on elders and domestic violence victims ensures intensive client contact, and also provides students with a range of substantive legal issues to explore. Perhaps going Alderson one better, however, the CLPC trains students in a broader range of skills. Those students who want to be exposed to a counseling-focused practice should find that older clients are a rich source of that sort of experience, while our whole client approach, which includes domestic violence work, should result in regular opportunities to handle litigation. Additionally, the CLPC exposes students to the ethical and pragmatic challenges of practice management. Students learn to make intake recommendations, prioritize among clients' legal matters, manage workload, maintain client contact, participate in docket control, and so on. By involving students in intake decisions, case load management, and other practice management tasks, they will begin to experience and develop intuition about these fundamentals as well. |
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| What do you mean by the "whole client approach"? | |||
| The whole client approach teaches that a client's legal issues do not exist in isolation - -that the legal issue that prompts a client to seek counsel may well be impacted by other legal problems the client has. For example, a domestic violence victim may be very focused on her safety issues and seek assistance in obtaining a permanent protective order. But if she does not address issues such as the effect of marital separation on her residential lease, for example, she may end up right back with her batterer because of the instability of her housing situation. Instead of focusing on a single legal issue, the CLPC will endeavor to address the landscape of legal issues our clients face. | |||
| Why did you adopt this approach for the CLPC? | |||
| The legal profession is becoming increasingly specialized, with young lawyers encouraged to develop expertise in a single area, often to the exclusion of all others. While this approach makes sense from a business development standpoint, and works in large law firms that consist of numerous departments, it has its limitations. First, the legal concerns experienced by individuals - - particularly lower income individuals - - often are not discrete issues that arise in a legal vacuum. Additionally, from a legal education standpoint, once a new lawyer develops the ability to identify and understand the interrelationship between the various legal issues a single client may present, the lawyer will be better equipped to serve his or her clients even if the lawyer's practice is ultimately quite specialized. Metaphorically speaking, a lawyer who sees the big picture, and intuits its importance, will ensure that his or her client is not patching a hole in the roof while ignoring the pipes that are leaking onto the floor. Even though we may only have the skill necessary to fix the roof, we should have the insight to see that our client needs to seek the assistance of a plumber as well, and to recommend that the client do so. The whole client approach helps students develop that insight. | |||
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| Now for some practical questions about the CLPC. How many students are involved? | |||
| At full enrollment, the program can accommodate 10 to 12 students. Additionally, the program can often accommodate a few students who wish to spend more than one year in the clinic. These more experienced students may enroll in Advanced Legal Clinic with the permission of the clinic director. | |||
| What level of involvement do students have in their client matters? | |||
| Although I supervise them, students are solely responsible for their cases. Certain aspects of students' work require my direct involvement - - I must accompany the student to court appearances, I must sign everything we file in court, and I am responsible to review and approve all documents of legal significance that we present to our clients or a court. However, within that landscape, students have full day to day responsibility for their cases. They meet with their clients, formulate strategies for addressing their issues, research and draft pleadings and documents, conduct court hearings, and so on. I am the surety for the legal work my students perform, but to the greatest extent permissible they are the ones doing the lawyering. | |||
| How many clients will a student have at one time? | |||
| During the academic year, from two to five, depending upon the nature and complexity of the client's issues. | |||
| How much time each week do you expect students to spend on CLPC work? | |||
| As is the case with all of the 3 credit clinical programs, students are expected to average 10 hours per week, for a total of 130 hours per semester. Of course, the amount of time spent in a given week will likely vary, with some weeks requiring more than 10 hours work, and some less. | |||
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| Are there regularly scheduled work hours? | |||
| CLPC students are expected to come to the clinic once a day to check their mail and messages, and I ask that they schedule two hours per week as "office hours" so client swill know that they can reach the student during those hours. I also ask that students be available to conduct intake interviews during one two hour slot each week, but the student will only be required to work during that time slot if an interview is actually scheduled. Otherwise, students are the masters of their own schedules. | |||
| Where are the CLPC offices? | |||
| The student carrels and my office are located inside the CLPC on the second floor of the Law School next to the Brief Stop. Additionally, until April 2006 the clinic will have a satellite office in the prefabricated buildings across from the Law School. This office is used for client meetings and other activities. | |||
| Do students receive credit or salary for their work? | |||
| During the academic year, students enrolled in the clinic receive three credit hours per semester. During the summer, students are paid. | |||
| Can work in the clinic satisfy the law school's writing requirement? | |||
| Yes. The law school's policy contemplates this possibility. I can certainly envision circumstances when that would be the case - - when the student produces a significant appellate brief, for example. I have also accommodated students who wish to satisfy their writing requirement in the clinic by helping them develop an independent study that dovetails with their clinic work and has as its end product a substantial piece of written work. | |||
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| How do students join the CLPC staff? | |||
| Once (or sometimes twice) annually, the CLPC will announce to the student body that it is accepting applications. Interested students are asked to submit a brief statement about their interest in the program, and face to face interviews are conducted by the director and one or more current CLPC students. After interviews are completed, the coming year's staff is selected from the applicant pool. Preference is given to those students who will be third year practice certified, and to those who have spent a summer working in the clinic. | |||
| What does it mean to be "Third Year Practice Certified"? | |||
| Law students who have completed their second year of law school and have taken Criminal Law, Evidence and Professional Responsibility may be certified by the Virginia State Bar as eligible to practice under the supervision of a licensed attorney. Among other things, this certification means that the student, accompanied by a licensed attorney, may appear in court proceedings on behalf of a client. While students may enroll in the clinic during their second year, because the CLPC's client often have matters pending in court, a third year practice certification is a distinct advantage. | |||
| Who should students contact for more information? | |||
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I encourage students who are interested in the CLPC to drop by the clinic to chat with me, or email me (belmontb@wlu.edu) to set up an appointment. I always welcome the opportunity to talk with students about the program. Additionally, current and former CLPC students are a terrific source of information. A list of current students is posted on the bulletin board outside our office, and is also available on the website and our community website (http://clpc.wlu.edu). |
