But these lawyers also help clients achieve great joy, when handling an adoption, or helping a same-sex (or infertile) couple make legal arrangements for artificial reproduction, or upon resolving one of the aforementioned distress-provoking matters.
Family and juvenile lawyers must be fluent in substantive law and the procedural rules of many different courts; adept at counseling clients who can be justifiably quite emotional; skilled at negotiating favorable resolutions in extraordinarily high-stakes matters; and comfortable with trial lawyering, often in a context of great uncertainty.
If you want to truly make a difference in the lives of your clients by pursuing a career in family and juvenile law, these are some of the courses you might consider taking:
Clinics and Externships
- Family Advocacy Clinic
- Externships (placements are available in a variety of relevant organizations)
- Juvenile Defender Clinic
Beyond the curriculum, the Career Services pro bono program has many opportunities available for students to explore family and juvenile law. In addition to matching students with faculty to assist them on pro bono projects, the Career Services Office has placed students in a variety of organizations for non credit, volunteer work, including:
- Education Law Task Force
- MA Advocates for Children
- Kids in Need of Defense
- Court Appointed Special Advocates of Boston
- Medical Legal Partnership for Children
- Senior Partners for Justice Family and Probate Court Volunteer Internship Program
- Clubhouse Family Legal Support Project
- Women's Bar Foundation Family Law Project
Additionally, the Office of Professional and Career Development, in conjunction with the Faculty Clerkship Committee, runs a summer clerkship program in which students completing their first year are matched with judges for an unpaid, non-credit experience. Many of the available positions are with Probate and Family Court judges throughout Massachusetts.