Family Advocacy Clinic
The Family Advocacy Clinic is a full-year clinic offered for 10 credits (5 credits/semester). Students receive separate letter grades at the end of the year for the clinic work and seminar. The clinic is open to day and evening students, including HJD students in their last two (2) years of law school, and Accelerated JD students in their last year.
Case types: FAC student attorneys will be certified to practice law under SJC Rule 3:03 and will represent individuals in contested family law matters in Suffolk, Middlesex and Essex Probate and Family Court. The type of family law cases include divorce, paternity, custody, visitation/parenting time, child support, and abuse prevention. In addition, student attorneys may represent clients obtaining restraining order and harassment orders in local district courts in and around Boston. Student attorneys are expected to perform all tasks necessary to the representation of their clients from initial interviews to trial. We prioritize clients suffering from the consequences of domestic violence and sexual assault. The FAC works in collaboration with several domestic violence social service agencies, including HarborCOV (located in Chelsea, MA) and the Women’s Bar Association.
Weekly seminar: the FAC includes a two-hour per week seminar and will cover preparation for direct client representation, focusing on family law practice rules and norms. Student attorneys also will work on developing effective lawyering skills such as interviewing, counseling, case theory development, negotiation, oral advocacy, and applying ethical rules to families in crisis. In addition, student attorneys will engage in critical reflection of their performance and explore individual professional identity. One of the FAC’s main goals is for student attorneys to learn and develop insight into the process of lawyering, using family and poverty law as a paradigm for learning. Journals encouraging self-reflection will be required starting in October.
Time commitment: FAC obligations cannot be confined to particular days and must be met as needed depending on the needs of individual cases. Student attorneys will be expected to work on average 13 hours/week on clinic-related work (not including the weekly seminars).
Pre/co-requisites and language ability: students must have completed or be concurrently enrolled in Family Law and Evidence. Students are strongly advised to take a Trial Practice course as trial skills are extremely helpful in the FAC. Spanish-speaking students are encouraged to apply and fluency in languages other than English is preferred.
In addition to the clinic-wide, one-day orientation in August, FAC students must also be available for an FAC orientation in September.
If you have any questions, please contact Professor Maritza Karmely at [email protected].