12 Oct 2022
On October 6, Nebraska Appleseed presented the Seeds of Justice Award to the Civil Clinic at the College of Law. The award honors outstanding legal contributions to public interest law and/or pro bono contributions by private lawyers and law firms advancing the public interest through public policy reform.
The Civil Clinical Law Program is the College of Law’s first formal clinical program. Since 1975, students in the Civil Clinic have had opportunities to represent low-income clients in a wide variety of civil and administrative cases selected by the faculty for potential litigation and trial experience and maximum pedagogical benefit. Over the years, hundreds of students have passed through the Civil Clinic during their time at the College of Law and have had the benefit of the experiential learning it afforded them. Although the primary goal of the Civil Clinic has always been to enable students to develop and hone their lawyering skills by assuming the role of practicing lawyers, those students have also provided thousands of hours of legal services to low-income clients who otherwise would have been unable to afford legal representation.
“The Civil Clinic not only trains law students to represent clients in their individual civil cases, but also teaches those students to use their expertise and resources to advocate for policies and best practices at the Nebraska Legislature regarding legal issues they are working on, including housing issues, family law, and criminal history assistance. They teach the importance of pro-bono representation and public interest legal work in all areas of the law, encouraging law students to provide access to justice and advocacy for all individuals.” – Allison Derr, '18, Child Welfare Sr. Staff Attorney.
For more on the 2022 Nebraska Appleseed Good Apple Awards, visit their website. Photo provided by Mike Machian.