The Expungement Clinic helps low-income Summit County residents seal the record of their criminal convictions. A sealed record enables many people better access to jobs, housing, and volunteer opportunities. Students will learn integral skills in the legal field including record searches, reading court dockets, completing applications to file with the court, and interviewing real clients. UPCOMING CLINIC:
Saturday August 25, 2018
9:00am – 12:00pm
House of the Lord Church
1650 Diagonal Rd.
Akron, OH 44320
All hours qualify as ProBono of Limited Means.
There will be a mandatory training session on Friday,August 24, from 4:30-5:30pm in the Law School Room 301. (You do not need to attend training if you have attended in the past). You will need a laptop for training.
Interested students or questions please RSVP to Jennifer Lattaker at jkl47@zips.uakron.edu.
Registration requires enrollment in class (1 credit) and clinic (2 credits) separately.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED PLEASE REGISTER ASAP.
The Health Law and Policy Clinic (HLPC) will meet on campus for class 5-6 times for 2.5-3 hours/class during the semester. The time will be scheduled to accommodate the schedules of the enrolled students. On weeks when there is no class at the scheduled class times, students will be on-site at Community Legal Aid. Students will also participate in additional clinical hours during daytime hours scheduled around their class schedule. Evening students will need to have some availability during weekdays to take this clinic. However, the instructor is willing to work with interested students to schedule clinic time. Clinic is located at Community Legal Aid in downtown Akron. Clinic students will participate in Legal Aid’s medical-legal partnership, called the Health, Education, Advocacy, and Law (HEAL) Project, which partners with Akron Children’s Hospital, Pathways HUB Community Action (Summit Count), Mahoning Valley Pathways HUB, and Summa Health System’s Women’s Health Center. The HEAL Project integrates lawyers (as well as paralegals and students) into the health care team (which includes doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, counselors, and other professionals) to resolve legal problems that are barriers to health.
Medical Legal Partnerships incorporate individual client representation with practice transformation and systemic policy work. The HEAL Project provides individual assistance to patients of its health care and community partners. It also trains doctors and lawyers to use legal care to improve patient health, thereby transforming both the practice of medicine and of law. Systemic work of the HEAL project organically arises from the health policy issues at stake on a local, state, and national level.
Current systemic and policy issues will focus on (1) continued access to health insurance coverage through Medicaid and other avenues; (2) development of strategy for addressing policy-level concerns in K-12 education; (3) implementation of a Health in All Policies approach in Summit County; and (4) launch of new initiative to empower parents to advocate for their children who are struggling in school; and (5) working with community partners to implement a recently-completed strategic plan to reduce youth violence in Summit County.
Applications open to day and evening students
SPRING 2017 – register now!
Class time: Monday evenings
University of Akron School of Law
Faculty: Marie B. Curry, J.D., M.P.H.
Interested students please contact: Professor Marie Curry mcurry@communitylegalaid.org for an application. Class size is limited.
The Health Law and Policy Clinic (HLPC) is located at Community Legal Aid in downtown Akron. The clinic works with clients who are referred to Legal Aid’s medical-legal partnership — the Health, Education, Advocacy and Law (HEAL) Project — from its medical partners at University of Akron Nursing Center for Community Health, Akron Children’s Hospital, and Summa Women’s Health Center.
Class content focuses attention on legal barriers to health, health disparities, and population health. The clinic provides opportunities for interdisciplinary learning through collaboration with its medical providers, Summit County Public Health, and statewide advocacy networks.
Clinic students will gain skills in the following areas: interviewing clients; identifying legal issues presented by client’s description of their problems; researching law and applying facts to law; investigating legal problem and potential solutions; connecting legal problems to patient health; researching health policy topics related to current advocacy issues, i.e., access to affordable medical care, racial and economic health disparities, local governance through prism of health; and presenting results of legal and policy research internally and externally.
Health Law and Policy Clinic*
Summer 2016
Class Description:
In the Health Law & Policy Clinic, students work as part of the medical-legal partnership team to assist clients with poverty law issues that impact health. Students meet and interview clients onsite at medical facilities, and then assist with various legal aspects of the clients’ concerns like inadequate access to education services, poor housing conditions, imminent eviction, improper denial or reduction in public benefits, lack of health insurance, or need for a simple will and other estate planning documents. Students will also engage in advocacy related to systemic health law or health policy issues, addressing questions of health equity, delivery reform, education, housing, or public benefits. This off-site clinic takes place at Community Legal Aid in downtown Akron, supervised by a legal aid attorney.
Please note following parameters for Summer 2016 class registration:
1. Students who wish to enroll in this class are required to apply to Legal Aid’s summer internship program, which is a ten week program, running from June 6 – August 12. This application is available online: http://www.communitylegalaid.org/node/219/2016-summer-intern-program. Students are expected to participate in the entire 10 week summer program. Any conflicts must be approved in advance.
2. Students must also apply to take the class by submitting responses to the questions below, under “Application.” Application deadline is 4pm March 10, 2016, but may be extended if the class is not full. Applicants will be approved on a rolling basis, so students are urged to apply sooner rather than later.
3. Students will begin class on May 31. Class will be held May 31: 12n-430pm (lunch provided); June 2: 12n-4:30pm (brown bag) and June 3: 9am-12n. Summer internship will begin June 6 (10 weeks @ 35 hours/week).
4. If accepted into the class, students have two options:
a. Students may register for Summer I and take the HLPC for 3 credits for 150 hours of class and clinic time. They may choose to submit the remainder of Legal Aid time as pro bono hours.
b. Students may register for Summer I and Summer II, and receive 6 credits for 300 hours of class and clinic time. They may choose to submit the remainder of Legal Aid time as pro bono hours
Class time (on average): NOTE: 1 hour = 60 minutes
1. 1 hr / week group class
2. 1 hr / week individual time w supervising attorney(s)
3. 1 hr/ week team meeting
4. 1 hr/week class prep time
Students will typically spend 8 hours each week at an off-site medical clinic. Students will be required to show proof of Influenza vaccine, MMR vaccine and either proof of Chicken Pox vaccine or attest to having had illness and otherwise comply with medical site protocol for volunteers.
Textbook: Poverty, Health and Law: Readings and Cases for Medical-Legal Partnership Edited by: Elizabeth Tobin Tyler, Ellen Lawton, Kathleen Conroy, Megan Sandel, Barry S. Zuckerman
Additional Readings: provided electronically (pdf or electronic link)
Application:
Due: 4pm, March 10, 2016
Decisions rendered by noon March 11, 2016
Submit electronically to: Zoeann Powell, zpowell@communitylegalaid.org
1. Name, phone number, mailing address, email address
2. Statement of interest: Why are you interested in this clinic? What do you hope to gain from it? What do you bring to it? 500 word limit
3. Experience: What is your experience with low-income people? 250 word limit
4. Advocacy: Tell me about one time when you had to advocate for someone else? Describe the situation, your role, and the outcome. 250 word limit
5. What year are you in law school?
6. Please attach an unofficial transcript
7. Please attach a copy of your resume
8. Please indicate whether you intend to register for 3 credits or 6 credits for the summer.
Students selected for class will be required to authorize a Legal Aid background check.
Please direct questions to Misty Franklin, misty@uakron.edu; Dean Tracy Thomas, thomast@uakron.edu; or Marie Curry, mcurry@communitylegalaid.org, 330 983 2657.
*Information on this sheet is subject to approval by Law School Administration.
BIO for Marie B. Curry
October 15, 2015
Marie Curry is the Managing Attorney of Community Legal Aid’s Safety and Health Team, which includes the Health Education Advocacy and Law (HEAL) Project, as well as Legal Aid’s Immigration practice. She joined the firm in 2011 as an Equal Justice Works Fellow, focusing on health and poverty issues. She volunteered with Legal Aid for over a year before joining the firm.
Curry is the 2014 recipient of The Denis Murphy Award, which recognizes outstanding advocacy within Ohio legal aid organizations. Curry graduated from Harvard Law School in 1989 and completed a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2011. She has practiced with Legal Aid in Maryland and has worked as a consultant to Ohio based organizations. For several years, she also practiced health law with a private firm in California.
Curry’s advocacy work focuses on policy change that improves population health and reduces health disparities. Through her, Legal Aid is involved in several public health initiatives to improve community health through policy change. She works with a statewide advocacy organization to improve access to affordable health care and is also active member of the community.
For more information about the Health Law and Policy Clinic:
Professor Spring has unfilled externships for the Spring Semester with area trial and appellate judges. Second and third year students in the top 40% are encouraged to apply by November 8th. The externships are for credit and can be for either 2 credit hours (requiring 90 hours worked) or 3 credit hours (120 hours to be worked). Please complete the Clinical Seminar Application Form and forward an updated resume to him by November 8th in order to be considered. These positions offer great experience, valuable networking opportunities and are viewed favorably by prospective employers.