APPLIED LEARNING EXPERIENCES

It is often in the clinical and applied experiences that students and the community at large reap the greatest benefit.  Applied learning opportunities provide students with hands-on legal training to enrich their educational experience and the community benefits from the enhanced services that result from the work product of the students.

Children's Rights and Family Law Clinic
Students represent real clients with needs that would otherwise go unserved in family law matters.  Students work on cases involving divorces, orders of protection, proceedings to modify or enforce child support orders, special education, school suspension and disciplinary hearings, housing accessability, civil rights of children, emancipation, public benefits, guardianship and AIDS.  Through the Family Advocacy Program (see below), students assist with the representation of children and families in administrativehearings, provide non-litigation advocacy and engage in educational outreach to low-income sectors of the local community.

Externships (family law related)
Students work in partnership with Family Court and the Department of Social Services to provide much-needed legal services including interviewing, counseling, research and writing. 

Advanced Family Issues
In this course students, forensic psychiatrists and other experts on custody issues participate in client interviewing and divorce negotiations in simulated exercises.  Students also write and present a research paper.

Family Law Pro Bono Service
This course provides students with the opportunity to work with actual family law problems, especially those involving low-income persons, and to provide much needed services to the community. Students assist pro bono and legal service providers with client intake and pro se divorce clinics, as well as develop training and other materials.

Family Advocacy Program
This program is co-sponsored by the Family Law and Social Policy Center (FLSPC), the Children's Rights and Family Law Clinic (CRFLC) and the Upstate Pediatrics and Adolescent Center (UPAC) of University Hospital and Upstate Medical University.  UPAC determines whether its child patients require legal assistance to address a specific need impacting the child's health.  UPAC refers these cases to the CRFLC which provides the required legal assistance for many of these cases.  When CRFLC is unable to handle a case, it is re-directed to the FLSPC to be referred to a pro bono attorney in the community .  Students have the opportunity to assist these pro bono attorneys in providing legal services to low-income children and families.

Women in the Criminal Justice System
This course integrates interdisciplinary learning with community service.  Students will have the opportunity to learn from various speakers about the role of gender in criminal law docrine.  Additionally, students will devote approximately 10 hours to assisting battered women in Onondaga County Family Court.