School-Based Legal Clinics

The Steering Committee and the Center on Children and the Law worked in partnership on a School-Based Legal Clinics and Services Roundtable discussion. On May 11th 2001, in Washington, DC, the forum brought together experts and pioneers in the field, along with representatives of government agencies who have an interest in the concept, and those who have or have had successful clinics.

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Based on information from that event, the Steering Committee and the Center began to explore ways to improve existing clinics, and aid in the creation of additional ones in our nation's high schools. At the 2002 ABA Annual Meeting in Washington DC, the two entities released a new publication, How To Start Your Own School-Based Legal Clinic. The book is a guide for members of the legal profession and law school clinics who would like to get involved helping high school teens with their legal problems so they can better concentrate on the business of learning. It addresses important considerations, such as how to locate a facility, how to develop relationships with school administrators and personnel without breaching confidentiality, how to address the myriad of issues that students may bring to the clinic, how to get funding, and how to keep funding through user-friendly evaluation methods. The publication also contains a reference section so that interested youth advocates may contact the existing pioneers in the field for advice and guidance.

This project is the first implementation project responding to the call-to-action in the education chapter of the Committee's noted 2001 report, America's Children Still at Risk.

To order your copy of How To Start Your Own School-Based Legal Clinic, click on the cover above, or contact the ABA Service Center at 1-800-285-2221. Product Code: 5490333. To order a copy of America's Children Still at Risk the Product Code is 5490297.