All posts tagged: Community Lawyering Clinic

The Community Lawyering Clinic: A Student Advocate’s Perspective

After I completed my first year at Temple Law, I wanted to experience different areas of the law to better understand my own career path. I spent my first summer in an internship doing policy work, after which I decided to also gain some experience providing direct services to clients. Being that my focus is on health law, I was immediately drawn to the Community Lawyering Clinic, operated from Temple’s Legal Aid Office. The clinic, taught by Professor Spencer Rand, serves individuals with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses seeking representation in Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability hearings. Clinic students also draft life-planning documents for clients, such as wills, standby guardianship forms, power of attorney forms, and more. During the clinic, students are matched with a community organization through which they can do outreach. Depending on the organization, this outreach can take on a number of different forms. My community outreach site was Community Living Room, an organization providing psychiatric rehabilitation services for individuals living with HIV and a mental health diagnosis. During my time …