Faculty Supervisor: Peter H. Meyers
Established in 1994, the Vaccine Injury Clinic is the only one of its kind in the country. Students in the clinic represent the families of young children seeking compensation for vaccine-related injuries and death in trial and appellate proceedings before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Clinic participants are specially admitted as student– attorneys in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and, acting under the supervising attorney, have the authority to do everything that an attorney is able to do. Working in two-person teams, students draft legal petitions for compensation, obtain and file pertinent medical records with the court, interview and obtain statements from fact witnesses and medical experts, negotiate with attorneys from the U.S. Department of Justice, participate in trials, including direct and cross-examination of fact and expert witnesses, and sometimes draft appellate briefs and argue appeals. Each student team typically handles between three and five cases during the year and is responsible for at least one trial and/or major settlement negotiation.
The clinic has obtained compensation in a wide variety of cases to ensure that children with severe mental and physical disabilities resulting from a vaccine injury receive excellent care for the rest of their lives. The clinic has also won important appellate victories, including rulings from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit making it easier for vaccine-injured persons to obtain compensation in court.
The Jacob Burns Community Legal Clinics were founded in 1971, and were dedicated in 1991 to acknowledge the generous support of Jacob Burns (LL.B. '24, LL.D. '70). Burns was renowned for his philanthropy, through which he "contributed significantly to the expanding boundaries of knowledge," and left an enduring legacy that improves the lives of many today.
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