Page 10 - University of Baltimore Law - Fall 2019

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Clinic Student-Attorneys Help Shape Public Policy, Improve Lives
In the BOB PARSONS VETERANS ADVOCACY CLINIC, student-attorneys assisted a veteran with severe depression who was discharged after attempting suicide. The client’s discharge was upgraded from General to Honorable, making her eligible for educational benefits. In another case, a Korean War veteran died from drugs prescribed by the VA. Student-attorneys represented the veteran’s spouse on appeal. The VA conceded errors alleged in the students’ brief and remanded the case.
In the BRONFEIN FAMILY LAW CLINIC, student-attorneys worked with the Reproductive Justice Inside coalition to research and write a model policy on reproductive health care and menstrual products for Maryland’s correctional facilities. Student-attorneys also drafted and filed an amicus brief in conjunction with the ACLU of Arizona, arguing that the state had no constitutional basis for depriving a Mexican father of access to his son, who remains in foster care.
Student-attorneys in the COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CLINIC provided legal and policy support to community residents affected by Baltimore’s water crisis. Student-attorneys prepared and presented “know your rights” materials
to community organizations and provided pro bono legal advice to prevent tax sales in collaboration with local legal aid organizations.
In the HUMAN TRAFFICKING PREVENTION PROJECT, student-attorneys represented survivors of human trafficking in expungement, vacatur and federal commutation cases. Clinic student-attorneys filed the clinic’s first presidential pardon application, as well as the first vacatur case ever submitted in Baltimore County in an attempt to set aside the prostitution convictions of a trafficking survivor who had been exploited since the age of 11.
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS CLINIC student- attorneys represented asylum-seekers from Central America who had fled
gang violence, domestic violence, or a combination of both. Some clients were families who had been separated and detained at the border. Other clients came from East Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Students also conducted regular intakes and consultations for immigrant patients at Johns Hopkins Hospital
in Baltimore, providing advice and counsel to more than 20 individuals,
and wrote and submitted comments
on a new immigrant-focused regulation promulgated by the Trump administration.
INNOCENCE PROJECT CLINIC student- attorneys investigated more than 20 cases of factual innocence, filed multiple DNA testing petitions in Maryland Circuit Courts and presented two cases of factual innocence to the Baltimore City State’s Attorney Conviction Integrity
Unit. In December 2018 and again in May 2019, the clinic, in connection with the Conviction Integrity Unit, secured the exoneration of clients who had spent 27 and 24 years, respectively, in prison for crimes they did not commit.
In the LOW-INCOME TAXPAYER CLINIC, student-attorneys filed three tax-refund suits in U.S. District Court, obtaining concessions from the U.S. Department
of Justice in two of the three. The clinic’s student-attorneys also litigated more than 12 cases in U.S. Tax Court, obtaining favorable settlements or concessions in most, and successfully negotiated offers to compromise with the IRS on the tax liabilities of numerous low-income clients facing medical issues, financial problems and other serious life events.
Student-attorneys in the MEDIATION CLINIC FOR FAMILIES represented clients in mediation and mediated
family disputes in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City. Student-attorneys also made presentations about mediation and conflict resolution as part of the Center for Urban Families’ STRIVE Future Leaders Program, which focuses on enhancing career readiness for Baltimore youth.
In the MENTAL HEALTH LAW CLINIC, student-attorneys successfully argued for the release of individuals from mental health treatment facilities in cases in which procedural errors occurred and in cases
in which the merits were at issue. They also negotiated with parents, caregivers and governmental agencies, such as
the Department of Social Services, to secure voluntary admission or to allow for treatment in less restrictive settings.
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TOP: Eric Simmons, center, thanks UB Law’s Brianna Ford, to his left, for her efforts in securing his exoneration.
BOTTOM: Clarence Shipley Jr. leaves the courthouse after his exoneration, accompanied by his attorney, UB Law’s Michele Nethercott.
In the SAUL EWING CIVIL ADVOCACY CLINIC, student-attorneys advocated for
low-income individuals facing incorrect debt collection actions, tenants living
in substandard conditions, individuals seeking to expunge criminal records
so they can obtain employment, and elderly individuals defending against unsupported claims from former landlords. In addition, student-attorneys worked to improve state policies for unemployed individuals and handled complex litigation to increase access to public judicial records impacting low- income litigants.
Learn more about UB’s clinical law program at law.ubalt.edu/clinics.