Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
This essay makes the case for law schools to create clinics and externship courses that address the needs of veterans. Veterans legal work offers excellent opportunities to represent individual veterans to obtain the benefits they earned through service to our country. At the same time, veterans clinic work can enlist students in systemic advocacy that changes how institutions address veterans' needs through appellate, administrative, and class action advocacy. Law students who work in veterans clinics develop skills they can readily transfer to other practice areas while working closely with clients and developing their professional identities. Finally, veterans clinics help law schools. They fit well with the institutional frameworks governing law schools, they help students find jobs, and they serve as an attractive focus for external funding. A law school committed to helping veterans can meet any, and perhaps all, of its goals for real-world experiential learning through courses focused on veterans.
Recommended Citation
Jennifer Morrell, Alexander Scherr, Judy Clausen, Hillary Wandler, & Morgan MacIsaac-Bykowski, Law School Veterans Clinics: Helping Veterans, Training Students, Improving the System, 21 U. St. Thomas L.J. 145 (2025).
