Carolina Health Advocacy Medicolegal Partnership (CHAMPS) Clinic
The CHAMPS Clinic is a collaboration of the School of Law, the USC School of Medicine,
Prisma Health, PH-USC Medical Group, and South Carolina Legal Services. CHAMPS offers
law students the opportunity to work on legal cases that impact children’s health.
Students work in collaboration with doctors, social workers, and other health professionals
on their cases.
The CHAMPS Clinic provides students with the opportunity to engage in interdisciplinary
learning in the context of live-client legal cases. Students take legal cases on
behalf of low-income children and families referred from Prisma and PH-USC Medical
Group. These cases address the social determinants of clients’ health and include
SSI, Medicaid, housing conditions, SNAP, and end of life planning matters. Law students
work collaboratively on their legal cases with doctors, social workers, and other
health professionals. Students also have opportunities to go to Prisma Children’s
Hospital to learn from doctors how to understand clients’ patient records, attend
patient rounds, discharge planning, and ethics conferences. In addition to case work,
the course includes seminar component during which students will learn the doctrine,
theory, lawyering skills, and policy relevant to their case work.
Student Testimonial: Ross Heyl, Class of ’19
The clinical program was one of the most valuable experiences in my time at law school.
Through the clinics, students learn the ‘between the lines’ legal skills that are
not typically taught in the classroom. Skills like communicating with clients, arranging
meetings, billing hours, creative problem solving with other attorneys, and balancing
caseloads are all commonplace in legal practice. The clinical program allows students
a chance to develop these skills while providing important legal services to real
clients. The clinical program is an excellent opportunity to learn professional skills
while applying the legal research, writing, and advocacy to real cases that can have
a huge impact on a client's life. Joining the CHAMPs clinic was easily one of the
best decisions I made in law school.