Day 323: (A Little) Summer Law Practice

Photo by Ethan Robertson on Unsplash

I’m doing my darnedest not to do any immigration law work. I’m almost there.

That may sound like a weird goal for the director of an Immigration Law Clinic. But there’s a method to the madness.

Managing for Law Student Practice

New students in the clinical law program and in immigration practice need cases in just the right posture: pre-screened for available claims but not yet fully developed or filed. Students need to apply their skills in working with clients to develop facts, craft legal arguments, and present those arguments to the immigration agencies.

Unfortunately, cases don’t end there. Delays, procedural intricacies, and follow-up tasks require continuous monitoring and management — sometimes for years.

Although these tasks often aren’t burdensome for an experienced attorney, they can be a little mystifying for a clinical student. I eventually realized that clinical students were having difficulty focusing on their lead cases because they were distracted by the management of older cases. Although long-term case management is an important aspect of practicing law, you have to focus on the basic skills first.

Managing the Practice

For that reason, we stopped assigning students to most cases in this post-submission management stage. I and an invaluable adjunct attorney divide and monitor those cases. When needs arise, we often handle the task ourselves. Sometimes, if a student is available and the task would be a good learning opportunity, we may hand the task off to them.

As we learn how to manage the unusual demands of an immigration law clinic practice, we’re able to choose cases less likely to require extra management. But it can’t ever be completely avoided.

Some law schools employ staff attorneys to help with this type of case; other clinics are directed by attorneys with no other responsibilities outside the clinic.

At WVU, that’s not our life (for better and for worse). I’m blessed to have an adjunct attorney with a whatever-it-takes attitude. She takes over the case management during most summers, giving me a break to focus on research and writing.

Still, a few tasks remain on my plate in the summer. If I’m the only person with a relationship with a longstanding client, or if the agency has to speak to the counsel of record, or if some institutional memory is needed to tease out complexities, I’ll handle it myself. And if we’re training new students over the summer, I’ll participate in weekly meetings to help guide their learning process.

Running a law school clinic is one part teaching, one part law practice management, one part practicing law, and one part community development. As a combination of all four of those things, it’s really like nothing else.

I’ve learned more in the past seven years than I ever knew I didn’t know. I suspect there’s still a great deal to learn, and we’re game to take on the challenge.