Contact:
Jose L. Martinez
(505) 277-5265
Chris Burroughs
(505) 277-1816
CLINICAL LAW: REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE
The University of New Mexico School of Law pioneered clinical law in the early 1970's and over the years has become a recognized leader in the field. In 1997, US News & World Report ranked the Clinical Law Program fourth in the nation, behind Georgetown University Law Center, New York University School of Law and American University.
Every year some 110 second and third-year students rotate through the mandatory Clinical Law Program, which is offered during the fall, spring and summer semesters. The students gain hands-on, real-life experience practicing law. For many, it's the first time they've ever been face to face with a client, presented a case before a presiding judge and made a positive difference in a client's life.
"We are holding our own against schools that are much larger and better financed. We're a small school standing out among many of the nation's most prestigious schools," says Jose L. Martinez, director of the Clinical Law Program. Martinez suggests that the clinical law program receives such high marks for several reasons. The program uses tenure track faculty and is a required part of the curriculum for all students. Also, it emphasizes a comprehensive classroom component, the use of the latest computer technology and has frequent innovation and change. The administration is committed to providing the necessary resources, including funds, faculty, staff and equipment, to make it top-notch. Students' offices are in a modern separate facility where they each have their own work station and computer. They meet clients in private conference rooms and have modern law computer programs and a comprehensive library at their disposal. UNM has had some type of clinical program in place since the early 1960s, starting with a requirement that each student complete 40 hours of volunteer work at the local Legal Aid Society. The Law School hired its first full-time clinical professor, William T. MacPherson, in 1969. "When I was first came to UNM, the law clinic was a voluntary, three-credit-hour, primarily civil law clinic. Soon the law school hired a second and then a third law professor to teach in the clinic. The hiring of additional law professors allowed the civil law clinic to expand its activities, case load and student enrollment," MacPherson recalls. In 1970 the clinical curriculum was expanded to include a prosecution clinic in the local District Attorney's office. Due to the popularity of this clinic, students were selected for course enrollment through a lottery system. "One feature that made the UNM's law clinic different than most other early law clinics was that from the inception the supervision was performed by full-time, tenure track faculty members as opposed to adjunct professors or practicing lawyers as was common experience at other law schools," MacPherson says. Today, six law school faculty work full-time in the program, along with a clinical director and a support staff of five. Even in 1997, it is unusual for a law school to commit as many faculty and resources to its clinical law program. Another factor contributing to the success of the law school's clinical program was the adoption by the New Mexico Supreme Court of a student practice rule which allowed students enrolled in the school to appear in all state courts and administrative agencies and to perform all functions of a licensed attorney clinic under the direct supervision of faculty members. Martinez says that through the years the program has offered a variety of clinics, ranging from criminal defense to lawyering in the global economy and from a district attorney clinic to a tax clinic. Today, the School of Law has four basic six-credit hour clinics including the Community Lawyering Clinic, Law Practice Clinic, District Attorney Clinic and Southwest Indian Law Clinic. Other specialized clinics are added from time to time, as there is interest. Students in the Community Lawyering Clinic assist community groups and organizations work on broad-based community issues, such as homelessness and domestic violence. They take a multidisciplinary approach and work with a variety of professionals -- doctors, social workers, parole officers -- to come to a solution. Another clinic is the Law Practice Clinic where students do a combination of civil and criminal law, generally serving low income persons and the elderly. Clients, who are charged very minimal or no fees, come from the general community and include some eligible UNM staff and students. Criminal cases are generally referred by the state Public Defenders office. The District Attorney Clinic, located in off-campus facilities in the District Attorney's office, continues as one the most popular clinics. Students in this clinic prosecute misdemeanor cases in the local Metropolitan Court. The newest clinic is the Southwest Indian Law Clinic which gives students the opportunity to take cases before tribal courts and represent individuals from various tribes and pueblos. It is run in conjunction with the Indian Law Certificate Program at the School of Law. The four clinics are supplemented and complemented by separate programs for judicial externs, law office externs and alternative dispute externs.
Martinez says that over the past 23 years that he's been associated with the law clinic, he keeps hearing the same message -- that the clinic is a very critical component of a legal education.
"Former students are always returning and commenting that the law clinic was the one thing they remembered most about law school," Martinez says.
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