The nationally renowned clinical programs at the Joseph F. Rice School of Law provide law students with the skills and learning experiences to be successful practitioners. The law school is home to eight in-house clinics that provide opportunities to learn and practice civil and criminal litigation and transactional skills. Clinical faculty also teach core courses like torts and are published scholars with forthcoming articles in the Georgetown, Duke, Michigan, Wisconsin and Stanford law reviews.
"Clinical faculty at USC are fully incorporated and have the same expectations (for scholarship and research) as other faculty members," says Lisa Martin, director of the Domestic Violence Clinic. This is not the case at many law schools, and it is one of the things that sets the USC Rice School of Law's clinic programs apart from others.
Protecting vulnerable populations
Students enrolled in a clinic not only experience the magnitude of having clients, but they also learn, working under the guidance of clinical faculty, that they can improve the lives and the welfare of individuals and communities in South Carolina.
Martin, who specializes in gender and adolescent issues, says there is an applied perspective clinical faculty can bring to scholarship.
“How (law) works on the books and in practice may or may not serve the goals they were enacted to support," Martin says.
Her recent article, placed in the Georgetown Law Review, discusses the need for increased access to civil protection orders in rural areas.
Students in the Domestic Violence Clinic represent people who are seeking emergency civil legal protection from domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking through the entry of orders of protection in Family Court and restraining orders in the court of Common Pleas.
A Michigan Law Review article written by Clint Wallace, the director of the Tax Clinic and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA), examines the potential harm in withdrawing from 401(k)s and other employer-sponsored savings plans before retirement age. Clinical clients could face these issues, and the students and clinical faculty are ready to help them.
The Tax Clinic provides students an opportunity to have extensive client contact, to conduct fact investigation and legal research and to develop, present and argue cases on behalf of vulnerable taxpayers who would otherwise not have access to justice.
Serving those who served
The law school's position within South Carolina’s legal corridor gives vulnerable communities access to many resources. Meghan Brooks, director of the Veterans Legal Clinic (VLC), says a dedicated space for the VLC will create a clear path to success for clients and students.
The VLC assists veterans across the state. The Horry-Guinard House will soon be the home of the VLC to provide veterans who have sacrificed so much an accessible and welcoming space that ensures their privacy and security.
Brooks looks forward to providing the students with "spaces where clinic students can set up shop. It will become a space where they can learn how to be colleagues in the law."
"We are thrilled to be able to expand the work of our clinics, including by increasing the capacity of the VLC with the Horry-Guignard House. Our clinics provide students the opportunity to learn by working with real clients while also providing significant legal services to underserved populations in South Carolina," said Emily Suski, associate dean for clinics and externships.
There are approximately 400,000 veterans living in South Carolina, many of whom have served in combat zones across the world. Many of these veterans weather employment, healthcare and housing insecurity when they return home and attempt to reintegrate into their families and communities. Federal and state veterans benefits programs are designed to provide holistic support specifically attuned to their needs. Yet too often, marginalized veterans — especially veterans with mental health disabilities — face barriers to benefits access that only legal representation can lift.