The Children’s Justice Clinic (CJC) provides third-year students at the University of Nebraska-College of Law an opportunity to serve as a guardian ad litem in the Lancaster County Juvenile Court under the supervision of the faculty’s Director, Michelle Paxton. Guardians ad litem are attorneys appointed in juvenile court to represent the legal best interests and interests of children who have been abused or neglected. In the CJC, students will learn the skills necessary to represent these vulnerable children by receiving training, consultation and case supervision from the Director and other experts at CCFL.
The CJC started as an idea two years ago. With the support of many individuals at CCFL and the College of Law, we received funding and faculty approval this spring. Over 10% of the third-year class ranked participating in the CJC as their first choice for a clinical experience! In fact, several students identified they want to work in child welfare after graduating or had prior experience working in child welfare. The clinic is open to eight law students and will start this fall. The CJC will be appointed on cases this summer, so that each student will have a case post-adjudication when they start this fall.
Just like those on the training grant who started developing curriculum and training materials for the new model months ago, we will be intensely working on the CJC this summer. Michelle may be stopping by your office to seek your expertise, ask you to train, or provide consultation. If you are interested in working with the CJC students, please let her know! Not only is this project extremely exciting for her personally, but it is also a valuable opportunity for CCFL! Students participating in the CJC will learn so much from the wealth of expertise housed in the Sharp building (and across Nebraska). As a result, CCFL will be instrumental in setting a new standard in the quality of legal representation children receive in juvenile court.