Students in the DDC work on various types of cases and projects, but the common thread to students’ work is that it deals with legal issues that individuals face in the debt collection process. Most of the clients with whom DDC students work are those who are unrepresented and who have had judgments entered against them in state court collection cases, although occasionally students will work with clients pre-judgment. DDC students also file Chapter 7 bankruptcies for clients for whom bankruptcy is a good option to deal with their financial problems. Finally, DDC students will occasionally engage in legislative and public policy advocacy related to debt collection issues.
3rd Year Opportunities
The DDC is open to up to two third-year law students each semester who provide counsel and legal advice to clients about debt collection issues, and, when necessary, litigate cases involving legal issues that have been identified and will benefit from a full and robust presentation of those issues to the appropriate court. If representation in collection cases is not sufficient to resolve the clients’ legal and financial problems, students may also file consumer Chapter 7 bankruptcies on behalf of clients for whom that would be the best alternative.
2nd Year Opportunities
The DDC is also open to up to two second-year students each semester who are involved directly in all aspects of the DDC except those aspects that require senior certification – mainly, signing pleadings and entering court appearances. As examples of the tasks in which second-year students engage, they more fully research legal issues identified in the DDC’s work with unrepresented debtors, develop and write pleading templates, legal briefs, and other supporting documents for use by the third-year law students during their in-court representation of clients, attend Friday morning collection-related motion hearings at the Lancaster County courthouse to provide general information to debtors appearing for hearings, observe and track hearing outcomes, and engage in legislative and public policy advocacy.
What to Expect
The DDC involves a classroom component, which focuses on general matters regarding client representation (motion practice, ethical issues inherent in 2L involvement and in 3L limited scope and extended representation of clients, substantive issues regarding, among other things, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Nebraska debt collection law, and bankruptcy practice). The classroom component also involves a weekly case review of all cases and projects being worked on by DDC students.
Learning Outcomes: Students participating in the DDC will be exposed to and gain experience in the following knowledge, skills and values: applied legal ethics, legal analysis, legal research, writing and drafting, client counseling, gaining familiarity with court practices and procedures, drafting legal documents (pleadings, discovery, etc.), oral advocacy, negotiation, and gaining familiarity with substantive areas of law including civil procedure, debt collection law, secured transactions, bankruptcy law, and other substantive areas of law presented by the clients’ cases. Students taking the DDC as second-year students will come away from their time in the DDC with an enhanced understanding of all of these areas of law as well as practical experience in working with clients in a manner limited only by their status as second-year students. Students taking the DDC as third-year students will come away with an experience that will expose them to the full range of lawyering skills used by lawyers working with clients in cases that involve debt collection and bankruptcy.