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DePaul Legal Clinic ‘rookies’ now seasoned veteransBy Stephen Anderson In mid-1973, Texas Rangers rookie pitcher Jim Bibby pitched a no-hitter – a miraculous achievement for a first-year competitor. It was comparable to the victory that same year by the “rookie” staff of the DePaul Legal Clinic. Facing off against a more experienced team, the clinic represented a Latino community organization versus the Cook County Board of Election Commissioners. The issue was whether bilingual ballots should be provided. The clinic won at trial and in the Appellate Court. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision. The DePaul Legal Clinic had just opened 35 years ago on the ninth floor at the College of Law. Its mission was to meet the legal needs of the poor. Associate Dean Howard M. Rubin, a 1971 graduate, recalls that this innovation “established clinical legal education as a permanent addition to the law school curriculum.” Rubin, who has been a clinic director for 35 years, elaborated in an anniversary mailing that “DePaul became a pioneer in incorporating live client representation into the academic program.” Rubin and Thomas J. Kelly were directors in the 1970s. Cook County Judge Norman Eiger served as a mentor-lecturer during the clinic’s first two decades. Within three years of its founding, the legal clinic was restructured so it could also represent moderate-income clients – the “working poor” who were not eligible for legal aid but could not afford attorney fees. In 1977, the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Section recognized the clinic’s innovative legal services to working poor clients by presenting to it an Award of Achievement. During the 1980s, supervising attorneys at the clinic were certified as guardians ad litem and attorneys for minor children by the Cook County Domestic Relations Division. Between 1989 and 1991, the clinic joined the Isaac Ray Center and the Rush Medical College Department of Psychology in legal representation and psychiatric evaluation of endangered children. The clinical program was reorganized into specialty clinics in 1996. Among them were intellectual property, community development, criminal appeals, asylum and immigration, and disabilities rights. An educational model nationally, the DePaul Clinic in 1998 was host to the Midwest Clinical Conference. Representatives of 19 law schools discussed teaching, case development and clinical issues. The U.S. District Court in Chicago presented its Award for Pro Bono and Public Interest Service to the legal clinic in 2001. Establishment of a death penalty clinic by Prof. Andrea Lyon opened new challenges for law students. In 2003, they earned a parson from the governor for a Death Row inmate by preparing documents for the appeal and clemency hearings. Throughout its 35 years, the DePaul Legal Clinic has provided growth educational opportunities for countless students, both in Illinois and other locations. They have forced a health insurance provider to cover physical therapy for an insured’s child who had cerebral palsy. They have helped homeless people expunge adverse records so they could gain employment and turn their lives around. During 1999, clinical students participated in a Spring Break Border Project in Texas to represent detainees being held near the border with Mexico. They have obtained a judgment against a hotel for installation of a wheelchair lift for the disabled. They helped win political asylum for a Burmese student who was kidnapped by the military. Interaction of DePaul Legal Clinic students with faculty and with each other have inspired and nurtured better lawyers. One graduate noted, in the 35th anniversary mailing, that the clinic “became more than just a workplace for me but also a second home.” Another, Lisa S. Jacobs, has become assistant director of judicial education for the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. Her clinical work “changed the trajectory of my career and, in fact, my life,” she said. Two 1981 graduates, Edward I. Grossman and Thomas J. Paprocki, bonded during clinic work and later that year founded the Chicago Legal Clinic to represent South Side steelworkers who had lost their jobs in a mill closing. Paprocki, who has become auxiliary bishop of the Chicago Catholic Archdiocese, remains as president, while Grossman is executive director of the organization’s growing network of neighborhood clinics and various advocacy and advice facilities. “I am proud to have been the leader of outstanding clinical professors, a great group of student attorneys, and a dedicated support staff in one of the nation’s most innovative and successful law school clinical programs,” Rubin said. Quoting St. Vincent DePaul (“The poor are your masters. You are the servant.”), Rubin noted the university’s “Vincentian mission of service to the poor and underserved” that resulted 35 years ago in formation of the legal clinic. Few Rookies of the Year in baseball have ever been able to claim such fulfilling, rewarding careers.
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