CLINICAL PROGRAMS

Civil Litigation Clinic

Faculty Supervisor: Joan H. Strand

For more than 20 years, the Civil Litigation Clinic has provided representation to indigent persons in D.C. Superior Court while training students to work with clients on real cases. Most of the cases handled are family law cases involving issues such as divorce, custody, and child support. Clinic students have assisted parents, grandparents, and nonparents in securing custody of minor children, helped elderly clients obtain divorces, obtained child support awards for custodial parents, and acted as guardians ad litem for children in contested custody disputes. The clinic also takes occasional Small Claims Court cases.

Third-year students participating in the clinic are certified by the court to counsel clients, draft pleadings, prepare cases for trial, conduct examination of witnesses, and argue cases—all under the close direction of the supervising attorney. In addition, students may participate in a cooperative project with the D.C. Bar whereby students counsel pro se litigants in divorce cases.

Jacob Burns Community Legal Clinics
2000 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
(202)994-7463