Clinical Law Prof Blog

Anita Sinha Receives 2021 M. Shanara Gilbert Award

Via Profs. Fatma Marouf and Liz Keyes: 

On behalf of the AALS Clinical Section Executive Committee, we are delighted to announce that the recipient of the 2021 M. Shanara Gilbert Award is Professor Anita Sinha who directs the International Human Rights Clinic at American University. We will celebrate Anita on Wednesday, April 28 at 1:30 pm (EST), during the upcoming Clinical Conference, alongside the recently-announced Ellman Award winners. 

Designed to honor an "emerging clinician," this award honors a clinical professor with ten or fewer years of experience who has (1) a commitment to teaching and achieving social justice, particularly in the areas of race and the criminal justice system; (2) a passion for providing legal services and access to justice to individuals and groups most in need; (3) service to the cause of clinical legal education or to the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education; (4) an interest in international clinical legal education; and (5) an interest in the beauty of nature (which is desirable, but not required). We are so grateful to the Awards Committee members for thoughtfully reviewing all the inspiring nominations that came in this year: Donna Lee (CUNY, Chair), Kinda Abdus-Saboor (Georgia State), Brittany Glidden (UC-Hastings), and Laura Rovner (Denver). 

A few highlights from Anita’s nomination: 

• “As Director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic (IHRLC), Anita has prioritized cases and projects that focus on the rights of noncitizens, racial minorities, LGBT communities, and other disadvantaged groups.” Her clinical work includes litigation of Federal Tort Claims Act suits on behalf of Central American families that were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, and documenting human rights abuses facing LGBT Afrodescendants in South America. 
• Her students describe how her teaching “incorporates the importance 
• of applying an intersectional lens to the law into her teaching curriculum for the seminar classes of IHRLC and leads supervision with her students with this in mind. She provides the space and environment for student attorneys to grow as advocates and ensures we incorporate the importance of racial, immigrant, and gender justice in our legal representation.”  
• Her scholarship has focused on “civil and human rights implications of policies affecting noncitizens, including the use of immigrant detainee labor and the practice of immigration detention generally” with pieces connecting immigrant rights and race placed in the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Columbia Human Rights Law Review.  

And as Professor Bill Quigley concluded, “Brilliant, passionate, dedicated to people and communities on the ground, what more can any of us ask for in a partner?” 

Please join us in congratulating Professor Sinha on this wonderful recognition! 

AALS Clinical Section Spring 2021 Newsletter

The AALS Clinical Section has published the Spring 2021 Newsletter, via co-editors Profs. Keeshea Turner Roberts and Dena Bauman:

On this first day of the annual AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education, may you enjoy reading about the program news and announcements from our wonderful community from what was a challenging and unprecedented academic year. 

Download the Spring 2021 AALS Clinical Section Newsletter right here. 

Announcing the Recipients of the 2021 CLEA Awards

The CLEA Awards Committee is thrilled to announce that Bob Kuehn, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Clinical Education at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, is the recipient of the 2021 CLEA Award for Outstanding Advocate for Clinical Teachers. CLEA is equally thrilled to announce that the Irwin County Detention Center Project (a collaboration of six schools’ clinics) is the recipient of the 2021 CLEA Award for Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project. 

Outstanding Advocate for Clinical Teachers: 

Bob Kuehn’s many contributions to clinical legal education and his tireless advocacy for and on behalf of clinical teachers makes him more than deserving of this award. Organizationally, Bob has been on the Board of CLEA, serving as its president in 2011; he is the co-founder and vice president of the Center for the Study of Applied Legal Education (CSALE); and he has served on several AALS committees advancing clinical education and the status of clinical faculty. Bob is also very well known for advocating for the protection of the academic freedom rights of clinical faculty through his work on the AALS Clinical Section’s Political Interference Group and many journal articles and essays. In addition, Bob has authored articles debunking myths about clinical legal education including empirical evidence that: taking clinical courses does not negatively affect bar exam outcomes; universal clinical legal education is feasible and affordable; and clinical education is not responsible for high law school tuition. Bob has also been an active participant in planning conferences and speaking at national and regional conferences, especially about CSALE data.  

For over thirty years, Bob has been dedicated to the field of clinical legal education through his teaching and service. Bob started teaching in the clinical legal education program at Tulane University School of Law in 1989, where he taught in and directed the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic until 1999. After visiting at the law schools of Washington University, University of Michigan, and University of Utah, Bob joined the faculty of the University of Alabama School of Law in 2001, where he was the Associate Dean for Skills Programs and taught both in-house clinical and externship courses. Bob then joined the faculty at Washington University School of Law in 2009, where he has taught in-house clinical and externship courses and has been the Associate Dean for Clinical Education.  

Through his work, Bob has made invaluable contributions advancing clinical pedagogy, teaching, and the implementation of effective clinic and externship courses. On almost every issue affecting clinical legal education, Bob has been a spokesperson through his organizational work, scholarship, and speaking. 

Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project: 

The Irwin County Detention Center Project addresses the welfare and legal rights of women detained by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement at the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Ocilla, Georgia. These women were subjected to non-consensual, medically unindicated, or invasive gynecological procedures at ICDC, many of which amounted to sexual assaults. They suffered severe retaliation when they tried to speak out about these procedures, including actual or attempted accelerated deportation.  

A group of six law school clinicians and clinics formed to help these women: Professors Sabi Ardalan (Harvard Law School); Jason Cade (University of Georgia School of Law); Fatma Marouf (Texas A&M School of Law); Elora Mukherjee (Columbia Law School); Clare Norins (University of Georgia School of Law); and Sarah Sherman-Stokes (Boston University School of Law). Aware of the magnitude of the challenge, they elicited collaborators that included non-profits, private firms, legislative advocates, and community organizers.  

The Project’s advocacy includes a federal class action on behalf of 14 of the women and others similarly situated, immigration proceedings, administrative complaints, and legislative advocacy. The clinics have won stays of deportation for most of the plaintiffs. The Project’s efforts have resulted in the release of nearly all 80 women in ICDC, as well as over 200 men. The work has generated national media coverage and elicited a crucial intervention from 100 members of Congress. Overcoming barriers of geography, access, and the pandemic, the clinics’ work exemplifies the use of multi-faceted strategy and collaborative practice to address a shocking injustice. 

Honorable Mentions: 

The CLEA Awards Committee received numerous outstanding nominations and determined that the following nominations merited an honorable mention. 

University of Alabama Domestic Violence Clinic 

Between 2017 and 2020, the University of Alabama School of Law Domestic Violence (DV) Clinic, under the supervision of Professor Courtney Cross, represented Geneva Cooley, an elderly survivor of domestic violence, who had been sentenced to life without parole for drug trafficking in 2002. As a result of the DV Clinic’s advocacy, Ms. Cooley was resentenced from life without parole to life with the possibility of parole in 2019. The case was the first of its kind and paved the way for several other prisoners to be released. Following resentencing, the DV Clinic successfully represented Ms. Cooley at her parole hearing, and she was released to a transitional home in Alabama. Though Ms. Cooley lived in Alabama, her entire family lived in New York. Through a collaboration with St. John Law School’s Consumer Justice for the Elderly Clinic, Ms. Cooley was able to regain ownership of a family property in New York City and finally returned home to New York in Fall 2020. 

University of Detroit Mercy Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Clinic  

The University of Detroit Mercy Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Clinic provides limited scope representation to low-income non-prisoner pro se litigants who have civil cases pending or to be filed in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division. The Clinic operates under Administrative Order of the Court, and prior to its opening on January 18, 2018, low-income pro se litigants were without free legal assistance options. The Clinic has assisted over 500 individuals and provided more than 10,000 hours of free legal services to date. The Clinic is housed at the Eastern District’s courthouse in downtown Detroit but has operated remotely since March 2020, due to the Court’s pandemic restrictions.  

Duke Law School’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic 

Duke Law School’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic helped secure the release of Ronnie Long, who had spent 44 years in North Carolina prisons for a rape he did not commit. The State convicted Mr. Long by suppressing favorable evidence, including results of tests on evidence from the crime scene that did not implicate him, evidence that ultimately exonerated him. Numerous students worked with clinic faculty on the case over the course of five years, culminating in a hearing before the entire Fourth Circuit that was argued virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case attracted significant national and regional media attention and helped to further highlight the many persistent injustices of our system of criminal law, particularly those suffered by Black men. Mr. Long was the ninth client exonerated through the work of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic since it was founded in 2008. 

Florida State University College of Law Forced Child Labor Project

In response to the UN declaring 2021 the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labor, Florida State University College of Law created the Forced Child Labor Project, which advocates against forced child labor in international supply chains. The goal of the Project is two-fold: 1) to educate the legal community of the pervasive practice of forced child labor in goods we consume; and 2) to enforce Section 307 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 which prohibits the importation into the United States of forced child labor goods. Please view: Cocoa and Valentine’s Day Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC0BtL6BwYE&t=3s. 

University of Nebraska College of Law Tenant Assistance Project 

The Tenants Assistance Project (TAP) was developed to change and improve the representation paradigm that exists in landlord-tenant cases. Since the Project began a year ago, more than 60 Lincoln-area attorneys and several dozen senior-certified law students from the University of Nebraska College of Law have ensured that every tenant that appears for an eviction hearing and seeks assistance is provided legal representation. Law students Alan Dugger, Tessa Lengeling, Sarah O’Neill, and Amy Sonnenfeld have all made significant contributions to the Project, and in doing so have helped many low-income families in the Lincoln community. 

West Virginia University College of Law Immigration Clinic 

The West Virginia University College of Law Immigration Clinic is fighting to represent and empower a long-underserved immigrant population. There is only one other full-time immigration practitioner for a statewide community of 30,000 foreign-born residents and their families, so the Immigration Clinic is bridging the gap through a uniquely holistic legal practice, community education and resources, and systemic advocacy. The clinic is also working to build a local immigration bar from the group up, by facilitating attorney mentorship, developing a CLE certificate program, and recruiting law students who will commit to local immigration practice. 

The 2021 CLEA Awards will be presented at the AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education on Friday, April 30, 12:00-1:00 Eastern. We look forward to celebrating our clinical community! 

The CLEA Awards Committee

Anju Gupta (Rutgers-Newark) 

D’lorah Hughes (Irvine) 

Praveen Kosuri (Pennsylvania)

Perry Moriearty (Minnesota)

Kele Stewart, Co-Chair (Miami)

Jane Stoever, Co-Chair (Irvine) 

CLEA 2021 Awards for Outstanding Advocate for Clinical Teachers and Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project

From the CLEA Awards Committee, announcing the 2021 CLEA Awards for Outstanding Advocate for Clinical Teachers and for Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project, plus those receiving honorable mention:

The CLEA Awards Committee is thrilled to announce that Bob Kuehn, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Clinical Education at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, is the recipient of the 2021 CLEA Award for Outstanding Advocate for Clinical Teachers. CLEA is equally thrilled to announce that the Irwin County Detention Center Project (a collaboration of six schools’ clinics) is the recipient of the 2021 CLEA Award for Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project. 

Outstanding Advocate for Clinical Teachers: 

Bob Kuehn’s many contributions to clinical legal education and his tireless advocacy for and on behalf of clinical teachers makes him more than deserving of this award. Organizationally, Bob has been on the Board of CLEA, serving as its president in 2011; he is the co-founder and vice president of the Center for the Study of Applied Legal Education (CSALE); and he has served on several AALS committees advancing clinical education and the status of clinical faculty. Bob is also very well known for advocating for the protection of the academic freedom rights of clinical faculty through his work on the AALS Clinical Section’s Political Interference Group and many journal articles and essays. In addition, Bob has authored articles debunking myths about clinical legal education including empirical evidence that: taking clinical courses does not negatively affect bar exam outcomes; universal clinical legal education is feasible and affordable; and clinical education is not responsible for high law school tuition. Bob has also been an active participant in planning conferences and speaking at national and regional conferences, especially about CSALE data.  

For over thirty years, Bob has been dedicated to the field of clinical legal education through his teaching and service. Bob started teaching in the clinical legal education program at Tulane University School of Law in 1989, where he taught in and directed the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic until 1999. After visiting at the law schools of Washington University, University of Michigan, and University of Utah, Bob joined the faculty of the University of Alabama School of Law in 2001, where he was the Associate Dean for Skills Programs and taught both in-house clinical and externship courses. Bob then joined the faculty at Washington University School of Law in 2009, where he has taught in-house clinical and externship courses and has been the Associate Dean for Clinical Education.  

Through his work, Bob has made invaluable contributions advancing clinical pedagogy, teaching, and the implementation of effective clinic and externship courses. On almost every issue affecting clinical legal education, Bob has been a spokesperson through his organizational work, scholarship, and speaking. 

Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project: 

The Irwin County Detention Center Project addresses the welfare and legal rights of women detained by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement at the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Ocilla, Georgia. These women were subjected to non-consensual, medically unindicated, or invasive gynecological procedures at ICDC, many of which amounted to sexual assaults. They suffered severe retaliation when they tried to speak out about these procedures, including actual or attempted accelerated deportation.  

A group of six law school clinicians and clinics formed to help these women: Professors Sabi Ardalan (Harvard Law School); Jason Cade (University of Georgia School of Law); Fatma Marouf (Texas A&M School of Law); Elora Mukherjee (Columbia Law School); Clare Norins (University of Georgia School of Law); and Sarah Sherman-Stokes (Boston University School of Law). Aware of the magnitude of the challenge, they elicited collaborators that included non-profits, private firms, legislative advocates, and community organizers.  

The Project’s advocacy includes a federal class action on behalf of 14 of the women and others similarly situated, immigration proceedings, administrative complaints, and legislative advocacy. The clinics have won stays of deportation for most of the plaintiffs. The Project’s efforts have resulted in the release of nearly all 80 women in ICDC, as well as over 200 men. The work has generated national media coverage and elicited a crucial intervention from 100 members of Congress. Overcoming barriers of geography, access, and the pandemic, the clinics’ work exemplifies the use of multi-faceted strategy and collaborative practice to address a shocking injustice. 

Honorable Mentions: 

The CLEA Awards Committee received numerous outstanding nominations and determined that the following nominations merited an honorable mention. 

University of Alabama Domestic Violence Clinic 

Between 2017 and 2020, the University of Alabama School of Law Domestic Violence (DV) Clinic, under the supervision of Professor Courtney Cross, represented Geneva Cooley, an elderly survivor of domestic violence, who had been sentenced to life without parole for drug trafficking in 2002. As a result of the DV Clinic’s advocacy, Ms. Cooley was resentenced from life without parole to life with the possibility of parole in 2019. The case was the first of its kind and paved the way for several other prisoners to be released. Following resentencing, the DV Clinic successfully represented Ms. Cooley at her parole hearing, and she was released to a transitional home in Alabama. Though Ms. Cooley lived in Alabama, her entire family lived in New York. Through a collaboration with St. John Law School’s Consumer Justice for the Elderly Clinic, Ms. Cooley was able to regain ownership of a family property in New York City and finally returned home to New York in Fall 2020. 

University of Detroit Mercy Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Clinic  

The University of Detroit Mercy Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Clinic provides limited scope representation to low-income non-prisoner pro se litigants who have civil cases pending or to be filed in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division. The Clinic operates under Administrative Order of the Court, and prior to its opening on January 18, 2018, low-income pro se litigants were without free legal assistance options. The Clinic has assisted over 500 individuals and provided more than 10,000 hours of free legal services to date. The Clinic is housed at the Eastern District’s courthouse in downtown Detroit but has operated remotely since March 2020, due to the Court’s pandemic restrictions.  

Duke Law School’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic 

Duke Law School’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic helped secure the release of Ronnie Long, who had spent 44 years in North Carolina prisons for a rape he did not commit. The State convicted Mr. Long by suppressing favorable evidence, including results of tests on evidence from the crime scene that did not implicate him, evidence that ultimately exonerated him. Numerous students worked with clinic faculty on the case over the course of five years, culminating in a hearing before the entire Fourth Circuit that was argued virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case attracted significant national and regional media attention and helped to further highlight the many persistent injustices of our system of criminal law, particularly those suffered by Black men. Mr. Long was the ninth client exonerated through the work of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic since it was founded in 2008. 

Florida State University College of Law Forced Child Labor Project

In response to the UN declaring 2021 the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labor, Florida State University College of Law created the Forced Child Labor Project, which advocates against forced child labor in international supply chains. The goal of the Project is two-fold: 1) to educate the legal community of the pervasive practice of forced child labor in goods we consume; and 2) to enforce Section 307 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 which prohibits the importation into the United States of forced child labor goods. Please view: Cocoa and Valentine’s Day Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC0BtL6BwYE&t=3s. 

University of Nebraska College of Law Tenant Assistance Project 

The Tenants Assistance Project (TAP) was developed to change and improve the representation paradigm that exists in landlord-tenant cases. Since the Project began a year ago, more than 60 Lincoln-area attorneys and several dozen senior-certified law students from the University of Nebraska College of Law have ensured that every tenant that appears for an eviction hearing and seeks assistance is provided legal representation. Law students Alan Dugger, Tessa Lengeling, Sarah O’Neill, and Amy Sonnenfeld have all made significant contributions to the Project, and in doing so have helped many low-income families in the Lincoln community. 

West Virginia University College of Law Immigration Clinic 

The West Virginia University College of Law Immigration Clinic is fighting to represent and empower a long-underserved immigrant population. There is only one other full-time immigration practitioner for a statewide community of 30,000 foreign-born residents and their families, so the Immigration Clinic is bridging the gap through a uniquely holistic legal practice, community education and resources, and systemic advocacy. The clinic is also working to build a local immigration bar from the group up, by facilitating attorney mentorship, developing a CLE certificate program, and recruiting law students who will commit to local immigration practice. 

The 2021 CLEA Awards will be presented at the AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education on Friday, April 30, 12:00-1:00 Eastern. We look forward to celebrating our clinical community! 

The CLEA Awards Committee

Anju Gupta (Rutgers-Newark) 

D’lorah Hughes (Irvine) 

Praveen Kosuri (Pennsylvania)
Perry Moriearty (Minnesota)
Kele Stewart, Co-Chair (Miami)
Jane Stoever, Co-Chair (Irvine) 

CLEA Virtual Trivia Night Part 2 - Wednesday, May 19th!

Dear Friends,

Following the success of CLEA's first ever virtual Trivia Night, we are inviting you all to join us for another round of trivia fun. The next Trivia Night will take place on Wednesday, May 19th, at 8pm ET / 5pm PT, via Zoom. We estimate the trivia portion will take approximately one hour, during which you will be able to socialize with your team members and with other teams, and there will be additional time to socialize afterward.

We encourage you all to form teams now. The deadline to sign your team up is May 7, 2021. Team captains: sign up here. Some information about teams and the event:

• Teams may have anywhere from 4-12 members (we recommend 6-10), and team members can be anywhere in the country (or world, really). Each team member will be on Zoom on their own device; no need to meet up in person! During the event, one member from each team will have to input the team's answers using a separate device (a smart phone is great for this). You will be conferring about, and answering, questions as a team, and your team will be competing against a number of other teams (no one person will be put on the spot).
• Teams can include anyone you know. Do you have a group of "conference peeps" you normally meet up with at conferences? Form a team! Looking for a bonding event for your outgoing or incoming clinic students? Form a team! Want to do a social event for clinic faculty at your own school? Form some teams!
• There is no theme for the questions; they could be about anything from 90s pop music to flags of the world to astrophysics. The only rule is that you not cheat by looking up the answers. Use your noodle, not your google!
• The winning team(s) will receive a prize. And this time, to continue the hilarious tradition started by the participants of our first Trivia Night, a special prize will also go to the team that tells the best story of how they met (truthfulness optional).
• The event is free to attend and open to the clinical/experiential community (and your teammates). In lieu of charging for the event, CLEA is accepting donations to help defray event costs here. While we wish we could DoorDash refreshments to all of you, the event sadly will be BYOB.
• Once you have formed a team and decided on a team name, the team captain should sign your team up using this form, no later than May 7, 2021. (Small changes to the makeup of the team will be permitted after that date.)
• If you don't have a team but would like to participate, you may also fill out this form no later than May 7, and we will match you with others looking for a team.
• Closer to the date of the event, team captains will receive a Zoom link for the event, which they can then share with their team members.

We hope to see you there, and don't forget to attend the upcoming CLEA Membership Meeting during the AALS Clinical Conference on April 28 at 10am ET / 7am PT!

The CLEA Board 

Promotion of Brittany Stringfellow Otey to full Clinical Professor of Law

We’re grateful and excited to announce that Brittany Stringfellow Otey has received her promotion to full Clinical Professor Law. She has directed the Pepperdine Caruso Legal Aid Clinic at the Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles for eighteen years, essentially the entire history of our clinical program. Like most law schools, ours has been in a long evolution and growth in its recognition of clinicians’ roles, places, and value. Brittany began as a law student volunteer in the earliest version of our first volunteer clinics, and she has built, led, persevered, dreamed, worked, and thrived through nearly every iteration of clinical rank and status, from pro bono volunteer to full clinical professor.

 
She is a brilliant teacher and lawyer, and she has made truly important contributions to scholarship, learning, and manifesting resilience, wellness, and sustainable strength in the service of justice. She remains a wise, vibrant, empathetic, and effective lawyer after nearly two decades in one of the most demanding practices in the nation, and she imparts that spirit to our students, clients, colleagues, and communities.

 
We are grateful for her as a colleague, and I am grateful for my friend and law partner. This promotion and honor are fitting at long last.

 

Congratulations, Professor Otey!

CLEA Outstanding Clinic Student or Team and Outstanding Externship Student Award

The CLEA Awards Committee is once again soliciting nominations for its student awards. Beginning this year, in addition to the CLEA Outstanding Clinic Student or Outstanding Clinic Team Award, schools can honor students with the CLEA Outstanding Externship Student Award. The addition of the externship-focused award recognizes the valuable work for justice that law students do through externships and provides schools the opportunity to nominate an outstanding and self-reflective externship student for CLEA’s recognition. The awards are given annually at the completion of the academic year.

Criteria for the CLEA Outstanding Clinic Student or Team Award (One Award Per School) and the CLEA Outstanding Externship Student Award (One Award Per School):

For the clinic award, each school must select one student OR one team enrolled in a law school clinic course. A team may be recognized if students work together as a team and it would be impossible or unfair to single out one team member for recognition. Schools may select one student or one team, but may not submit more than one nomination for the clinic award. For the externship award, each school may select one student enrolled in an externship course.

The criteria for the Clinic Student/Team and Externship Awards are:

1.    Excellence in the field work component of the clinic/externship course determined by the quality of the student’s or team’s performance in assisting or representing individual or organizational clients or in undertaking advocacy or policy reform projects;
2.    Excellence in the seminar component of the clinic course or externship determined by the quality of the student’s or team’s thoughtfulness and self-reflection in exploring the legal, ethical, strategic, and other pertinent issues raised in the particular clinic or externship;
3.    For the Team award, the ability of the students to engage in effective collaboration; and
4.    The nature and extent of the student’s or team’s contribution to the clinical community at the law school, legal community, or broader community, if relevant.

Nomination & Selection Process:

Each law school may nominate one clinic award recipient and one externship award recipient. The full-time clinical faculty at each law school with faculty who are members of CLEA are asked to nominate a single student or a team of students from their law school for the clinic award and a single student for the externship award. Recipient students must graduate during or after the academic year in which the award is given. Each school then submits the nominations to the CLEA Awards Committee.

The nomination deadline is May 31, 2021. Please send nominations to the CLEA Awards Committee via this form.    `

In the form, the clinical faculty of each school will be asked to:

*Indicate whether you would like to give the Clinic Student award or the Clinic Team award.
*For the Clinic Student award and the Externship Student Award, indicate the name of the student as you would like it to appear on the certificate. For the Clinic Team award, indicate the names of the students as you would like them to appear on the certificate, separated by commas, or indicate the name of the team as you would like it to appear on the certificate. We appreciate formatting your response to this question in a manner that can easily be copied and pasted into the certificate.
*Indicate the name of the law school as you would like it to appear on the certificate.
*Provide a brief statement (no more than 250 words) of the reasons why each student or team meets the criteria for the award.

The CLEA Awards Committee will issue an electronic certificate, and the clinical faculty can print and present the award at the law school’s graduation ceremony or at some other appropriate time, including remotely, as determined by the clinical faculty. Note that, even for the Clinic Team award, each school will receive one electronic certificate (of which multiple copies can be printed for presentation to the students). Certificates will be issued on a rolling basis (please allow up to one week to receive the electronic certificate).

If you have photographs of the award recipients receiving the certificates, please feel free to send pictures for posting on the CLEA website to the CLEA Communications Committee at [email protected].


CLEA Awards Committee
Anju Gupta
D’lorah Hughes
Praveen Kosuri
Perry Moriearty
Kele Stewart (Co-Chair)
Jane Stoever (Co-Chair)